Li looked down at his hand of darkness wreathed bark, at the slender, twig-like fingers that gently gripped a bright red seed. Around him, the sounds of Arboretum murmured: the gentle swaying of a summery breeze, the whistling of Rocs and Sunbirds as they soared through the azure blue sky, their great wings casting shadows over the trees below, and the scurrying of little critters as they scampered or skittered through dew drop laden grass.

A small square patch of soil covered by marble pathing lay invitingly in front of Li, a nice little pit already dug out for the seed in his hand.

"Like, is that all we get? Going through a whole-ass hidden dungeon and fighting a gauntlet of endgame bosses including annoying ones like Helios, Kaguya, and Skoll and Hati, we get one seed? We legit got scammed," said Oceanmaster.

Oceanmaster's character gesticulated wildly, his hands made of flowing water undulating with his agitation. He was a water sprite for his base race and now that he had been maxed out at level 100+, he had gone through being a water elemental, high water spirit, and now was an Ocean Vein, meant to embody the vast strength and scale of the great ocean tides themselves.

His body was a humanoid shape of flowing water, his eyes two flashing dots of yellow that could change color to depict his mood or health state.

Right now, his eyes were a light shade of red to mimic annoyance. Around his body of water was an iridescent rainbow aura, the type you would see after rain, and adorning his chest, arms, and head were shining pieces of Celestial gear even though the first expansion to release Celestial gear had come out just two weeks ago.

Oceanmaster was an exceptional player, quite a bit stronger than Li in most scenarios, but he had a bad habit of constantly complaining and voicing his laziness, though when it came down to it he was still one of the most reliable people that Li knew.

"It wasn't that bad," said Li. "All bosses we fought before. Dungeon wasn't too bad either. Based off the hints the devs gave about the hidden area, I had an idea that we'd be fighting sun and moon related monsters."

"Yeah, sure we didn't die and lose our stuff or get ganked, but doesn't mean we should get basically nothing for it. Besides, we only got out with our skins intact because you've got an insane PvE sense. Imagine if a party went in there without it, like, oof, I don't even want to imagine getting through so many random traps and ambushes."

"PvE? That's what you're good at. I'm more just a curious guy with a lot of spare time and money on his hands."

"Sure, I'm really good at actually fighting the monsters in dungeon dives and raids and challenge bosses and whatever, but you're the one that finds all this stuff out, man. You've got like this, crazy fifth sense or something, you know? Hidden content isn't even hidden with you around."

"You mean sixth sense," corrected Li.

"Fifth, sixth, eighth, whatever," said Oceanmaster as he crossed his watery arms. "I'm just saying, if you're gonna be using your detective tier insight, you should get paid for it, right? One seed isn't enough.

Detectives do get paid, right, //BEAST//?"

"I am not a detective," said //BEAST//. Her feli ears twitched – the only sign of annoyance visible with her crossed arms, stiff and straight posture, and neutral expression.

"You're some kinda police or something, though," said Oceanmaster proddingly. He pointed a finger to Li. "He's the one that figured it out, too. Realized you were logging in from timezones that had batshit crazy things like bombings or serial killings happening in them."

"I don't think she wants us to pry into it much more," commented Li, and Oceanmaster understood Li's tone, the kind laced with just a bit of authoritative push that he used when directing his party through dungeons, and backed down on the topic.

"Okay, I'm just saying we should get more than this," said Oceanmaster.

"This is Celestial-tier," said Li. He held up the seed towards his two trusted party members. It was the size of Li's palm and shaped like the pit of a peach. It looked almost like a jewel of crimson, but within, there were visible sparkles of gold that popped like tiny little firecrackers every so often before fading.

"Nobody except you would complain about getting a celestial-tier item."

"Alright, you've got a point, but, like, we don't even know what it does."

"So we'll find out," said Li simply.

Celestial tier items were mysteries in that their effects were unknown until they were used or equipped, so one could only guess depending on their flavor text and background lore what they could do.

"The Everfortune Blossom. A seed of fortune forged from the essences of sun and moon, summer and winter. With thanks it is watered, and with gratitude its blossoms fall, shining the bright light of fortune during the darkest of nights," recited //BEAST//.

She cocked her head to think, the black leather top hat staying balanced atop her head. "That's quite poetic. I like it. In a way, it's fitting that the first adventure we go on as not just a party, but as a real guild gets a sign of luck as a reward."

"The guild is just us by the way," said Oceanmaster. "Not that I mind, you know, I absolutely love you guys, but like, we're basically bottom tier, and when the big dogs like Night Raiders and Omega Alliance realize that we have the very first celestial tier seed to ever be released - something that can be planted and reused -, you bet your ass they're gonna be hounding us day and night.

I can make Evolved Megalodons, Abyssal Krakens, Leviathans, and other monsters and buy some good defenses for the Outer Sanctum and //BEAST// can force people to duel her in the Medial Sanctum, but Guild Raids are coming up soon, and what we got isn't exactly the best.

This seed better do some batshit insane crazy stuff like giving us invulnerability forever or else we're going to be in for a bad time."

"I can kill them when the time comes," said //BEAST// confidently.

"PvP and one on one, sure, but entire guilds? Yo, you're on something if you think you can take them. And the top dogs in those guilds can go toe to toe with even you as well. Even if you isolate raids into duels, you're not going to solo more than three top level players."

"Don't worry about it," said Li. Though Li knew Oceanmaster was an energetic, antsy, and emotional person, Li knew that Oceanmaster was still grounded in reality, always worrying about rational things.

Every guild had to go through a server wide timeframe where their guilds were open to raids, and although guilds could opt out from them, they still had to be open to raids atleast once a month to maintain their status. If the top tier guilds did come crashing down on Arboretum, a newly formed guild, to take this seed, there was precious little the three of them could do about it.

"What?" Oceanmaster said in surprise. "You have a plan?"

"Yes," said Li, and Oceanmaster calmed down, his red eyes turning green as he placed his utmost trust in Li.

Li continued. "But even then, I can't guarantee our success. But you can't spend all your energy worrying about the future or else you'll stop enjoying the present."

Li waved the two of them closer. "Come on, let's see what happens when we plant it. This is what we're here for, after all, right? To celebrate our first successful quest. Our first success as a guild. The first of many, hopefully.

Just because we might fail later doesn't mean we can't enjoy what's in front of us, right?"

"Well, you've got a point there. Sorry about being a downer," said Oceanmaster.

"Atleast you're self-aware," commented //BEAST//.

"Oh, well, you, whatever," said Oceanmaster as he struggled to come up with a comeback to //BEAST//.

"Self-aware is good. The world needs more of it," said //BEAST// as she tipped her hat and smiled and came to Li's side. Oceanmaster followed, his eyes green and happy.

Li smiled, and though his smile did not show through his virtual avatar, he knew the others could feel it.