Sora had just separated from the rest of the group, heading towards the alchemy shop. He would need money to help build structures and facilities on his territory. For now he would only be able to build a small camp, since territory buildings and resources were a hefty price. Blossom and LeeLee went to the Shopping District to start recruiting members for ‘Rising Phoenix’. LeeLee was already very nervous so she let Blossom do most of the talking, LeeLee would examine people and let Blossom know if they meet the requirements. LeeLee had a good eye for people, that’s the only reason Sora suggested that they go together. As soon as Blossom said they were recruiting they were swarmed with players. Drazi and Angel said they had some guild related business to take care of and left right as they entered the city.

Sora walked into the alchemy shop to pick up some vials to make mana potions, he figured that he only had a day or two before the recipe starts to be found by other players so he wanted to make as much profit as he could before then. He also planned to sell the extra recipe he had in the auction house before other players could find it themselves, once players find it the price will rocket down. Sora picked up 544 vials and left the alchemy shop to set up shop near the fountain again.

The Shopping District seemed a little empty, since most of the players were crowded around one side of the area, trying to be recruited by Blossom. Sora set his shop up in the same spot he did last time and began filling vials with water. It was a tedious process but thinking about the amount of money he would make helped him push through it.

…..

Gentle Water had been standing at the side of the Shopping District, watching as players rushed to be recruited into ‘Phoenix Rising’. All these players would trade everything they had just to join the guild and Gentle Water happens to have a personal invitation from the Guild Master himself. She would think back to the conversation she had with Sora and try to remember exactly how he said it. She thought maybe it was all just a joke, maybe it would be too presumptuous of her to think that someone at the top of the gaming world would actually invite her into the guild. She let out a small sigh as she had a feeling of defeat, it seemed that she looked down on herself.

Gentle Water took a couple steps towards the crowd of people, thinking about pushing through and joining the guild. She stopped before she could take her third step and turned around, she decided to walk around the Shopping District to clear her head.

Gentle Water started browsing through wares, still trying to find more mana potions from random players. She started to take a familiar path as she found herself walking towards the fountain located in the middle of the courtyard. She realised that she subconsciously took the same route that she had taken the day she found Sora. She didn't think too much about it and continued walking towards the fountain.

Sora was currently plucking flower petals off of some Azure Spirit Flowers and dropping them into a vial full of blue liquid. He had been making the potions for a long time now and let out a sigh of relief as the last petal dropped into the vial. Sora was not officially ready to start selling potions. He drew in a big breathe, getting ready to shout out to advertise his wares. As he looked up he saw Gentle Water standing in front of him so he let his breathe out instead of shouting. She seemed to be surprised one moment, happy the next, and sad towards the end.

“Oh, so it’s Miss Gentle Water, have you come to fulfil your promise?”

“...Have you seen the crowd of people who want to join your guild?”

“How could I have missed them, they are making so much noise that it was hard to ignore them.”

“...”

“Miss Gentle Water?”

“Why me?”

“...What?”

“Why did you invite me to join your guild before you even created it? Couldn’t you fill the slot with much higher level players?”

“If all you see is levels, then maybe I was wrong to invite you.”

“What else is there in this game? Isn’t that what makes guilds strong?”

“No, power makes a guild feared, not strong.”

“...”

“I’m sorry Miss Gentle Water, but I’m going to have to break our promise.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t think you're ready to be in my guild.”

“...You’re probably right.”

“That mindset is exactly why, come back once you have a little more confidence. A weak will only hurts people who rely on you.”

Gentle Water walked away with a sad look on her face, she had wanted to buy more mana potions but she had too much on her mind at the moment. Sora let out a small sigh, he didn’t like being so harsh on her but it was for her own good. Sora was in a bad mood now but still needed to sell his potions, he began shouting to sell his wares.

…..

Sora once again ran out of potions and had to send players away without buying anything. He had been creating and selling mana potions for the entire day, not being able to take any breaks. He made a lot of money from selling the potions, making a total of 121 gold from his Beginner Mana Potions of Extended Spirit and 75 gold from his normal potions. Sora now had nearly 500 gold coins to work with. Sora noticed that Blossom and LeeLee still had a huge crowd around them, meaning they have yet to take a break. Sora checked his guild members and was surprised when he found out that only 167 players have been recruited. LeeLee must have been very strict in the requirements, which was definitely a good thing. Sora messaged the two girls and told them to take a break.

Sora watched as the crowd slowly dispersed and showed a tired Blossom and LeeLee standing in the middle of where the crowd used to be. When they saw Sora they walked over to him, they looked very tired since even Blossom had lost her energy that she seemed to always have.

“Good work today, how about we grab a bite to eat.”

“Please, I have been suffering from the hunger debuff for most of the day.”

“You didn’t even take a break to eat…”

“There were too many people, I wanted to get through them all but more just kept coming.”

“Alright, the meals on me then, you can pick wherever you want to eat.”

“Let’s just go to our normal restaurant, I want a quiet place… Oh, could I invite my grandpa? I said I would recruit him once the crowd cleared up but it never did.”

“Sure, I’m interested to see what this man will be like anyways.”

The trio began walking towards the restaurant they usually frequented. On the way there LeeLee gave a small report on some of the people she had recruited that included things like their strengths, weaknesses, profession, classes, and of course their character. LeeLee seemed even more exhausted than Blossom since she had to be around people all day, which was not something she liked. Sora decided to send a small welcoming message to the members of his guild as they walked towards the restruant.

“I would like to welcome all players who were able to join ‘Phoenix Rising’. Although I can’t promise you much right now, I can at least promise that I will have your back. I hope everyone here can say the same to their fellow comrades. For now the guild will be very casual, just continue with what you were doing until further notice. Thank you for joining my guild.”

The guild chat started to explode with introductions, the chat was very quiet before Sora had sent his message. Now the chat was hard to keep up with, it seems that Sora had created a chain reaction.

The trio finally made it to the restaurant, Sora went to get the food while Blossom and LeeLee both fell into their seats and rested their head on the table. Sora sat down and gave the girls their food. They both slowly picked at the food as they were finally able to gain a little more energy. It turns out that the main reason why they were so exhausted was due to the hunger debuff. Once they ate a little bit they were able to sit up straight again, they really did push themselves hard. Sora looked at the two girls and was happy to see that his judgement wasn’t wrong. Recruitment was mentally exhausting and they had to do it for the entire day, a lot of people would have tapped out half way through. Blossom and LeeLee both showed their determination to help the guild, making Sora reconfirm their loyalty.

“My grandpa is outside and can’t seem to find the restaurant, can you go get him mister fisherman? You guys would get along really well since you both like to fish and I don’t want to move anymore.”

“Sure, where is he?”

“He should be on this street but he keeps walking into the wrong building.”

Sora got up and started walking towards the door of the restaurant. Just as he exited the door he ran into a familiar face. It was the old man who he had fished with at Crater Lake. Sora and the old man both smiled as they shook hands.

“Hehehe, I didn’t think I would see you again. How have things been boy?”

“A lot has been going on, I would love to go fishing again soon, have you found any good fishing spots?”

“Indeed I did, there’s a river that connect to Crater Lake that has huge fish with every catch. I doubt anybody would have trouble setting a new personal record there, haha.”

“We will have to go fishing again soon then.”

“I looked forward to it, hahaha. Hey, since you're here can you help me find a restaurant? I’m supposed to be meeting with my granddaughter and I can’t seem to find it.”

“...What’s your granddaughter's name?”

“Serah… is something wrong?”

“Is that her username or real name?”

“Boy you're acting weird, it’s her real name. Trying to get close to my granddaughter already huh? Well, I suppose I wouldn't mind marrying her off to you.”

“What about her username?”

Sora had a hunch of who his granddaughter is, he ignored the comment about marriage as he braced himself for the answer. Now that he looked at the man, there did seem to be a resemblance between the two.

“I think she goes by Blossom or something like that… or was it Sister?”

“...Sister Blossom?”

“That's it! The one who has been in those server announcement things. Did you know she was already in the first guild ever created? I don’t know how important that is but she has been a lot happier recently so I’m guessing it’s a good thing. She had me worried for a bit there, at one point she was so disconnected from everyone… Ah, sorry for rambling on, it’s good to have someone to talk to, helps get worries off my chest.”

“That’s fine, your granddaughter happens to be in this restaurant. Follow me.”

Sora had guessed correctly, it looks like the old fisherman was actually Blossoms grandpa. The last bit of information was a little worrying, apparently Blossom had some things going on that even worried this old man with nerves of steel. Sora wanted more information but also didn't want to pry into her life too much, he decided to talk to Blossom about it at a later time. The two men walked back into the restaurant, when Blossom saw her grandpa she had a sudden burst of energy and went to give him a big hug. Then at the same time, both Blossom and the old fisherman started to introduce Sora.

“This is the man I fished with at Cr-.”

“This is Ethereal, our guild leader and th-”

Blossom and the old man both looked at Sora, confusion apparent in their eyes. Sora decided to break the awkward silence that followed by introducing himself.

“I’m Ethereal, the guild leader of ‘Phoenix Rising’ and also the person who was fishing with Grandpa Blossom at Crater Lake.”

Grandpa Blossom flinched at the awkward nickname he was given, an old man like him was given such a degrading name. After thinking about it for a while he found it a little funny and let out a hearty laugh. Blossom was still a bit confused, she looked back and forth between Sora and her grandpa before it finally clicked.

“This is the man who you said set you on a path?”

“Th-that… I don’t think I said it like that.”

“You definitely did, you were basically praising him.”

“Stop over exaggerating things I say! What about you? You seemed to go on and on about-”

“Ok stop I’m sorry I over exaggerated!”

Sora simply laughed as the group sat down at the table together to talk. They started talking about how they met and what they had done together. Grandpa Blossom half listened like he had heard the story a million times already. Blossom listened intently, afraid to miss a single detail of what happened between Sora and her grandpa. The group laughed and enjoyed themselves as they reminisced about the adventures they had. Sora invited Grandpa Blossom, whose actual username was just ‘Retired Fisherman’, into the guild and gave him a bit of information. Sora smiled as he looked at the player list for his guild, he already secured a master blacksmith and a master fisherman. His next step was to build his outpost in Frost Peak Mountain.