Upon closer look, it wasn't really a building, but more of a cave, with an archway with 2 giant doors. At least 10 meters high, he guessed. 2 guards stood on either side, probably to help keep order. One of the guild's receptionists sat at a table to the right of the doors.

A small pathway led the way in, as far as he could tell. Both doors were shut, but there was still a small crack in between.

"Is it not open yet? Doors are still shut," Daru asked, as he looked around. He couldn't spot a single familiar face in the crowd.

"Oh, it's open, but there's like a limit to the number of people that can enter, since according to them, it's an easy dungeon. Which is why there's so many people waiting here."

"So, when can we go in then?"

"There aren't as many people as when I first came here, so we still have maybe 30 minutes."

Daru stopped and looked at Gav. "Why'd we come so early? It doesn't take half an hour to find a party."

"Because it's first come first serve. If you're not ready, you get skipped. And it is going to take a while, since, well you know, mages aren't that-"

"Okay, fine, I get it, mistakes were made, blah blah blah." He rolled his eyes and sighed. "By the way, what happens if you die?"

"Um, well, as far as I know, there shouldn't be a death penalty, but this was my first death so I'm not sure. See the table?" Gav replied, pointing at the 2 NPCs. "They're from the guild, so just ask them if you have any questions. I'm gonna go look around for a bit, so go... do stuff, I guess."

He vanished into the crowd.

Earlier...

"Hey, excuse me." A warrior walked up to a small table on the side of a street. It was loud and bustling, as players bought and sold items. Despite this, the person behind the table heard him loud and clear, looking at him lazily.

"Oh, hey. You here to buy anything?" Bell asked. "I've got some iron armor and-"

"Yeah, no, do you have any potions?" The warrior cut him off.

"Oh, sure, right here," he said, putting some on the table.

The warrior picked one up and examined it. "Only 13%? And it's so expensive, too..."

"Hey man, making these isn't cheap. Take it or leave it," Bell replied. The tone of his voice didn't change.

"Urgh... I'll take 2." He dropped a few handfuls of Zil on the table.

"Alright, thanks," said Bell, scooping up the change.

The warrior walked off, muttering under his breath. "Goddammit, I shouldn't have trusted that guy. What a ripoff."

Bell sighed. Before, he was just a random face in a sea of players, all trying to turn a profit. Iron armor soon became basic gear as iron ore was easy to find, causing him to make his prices lower and lower, even after the quality went up. There were plenty of times where he'd give away 2 or 3 items for less than half their worth.

But then Daru came in and asked to make a deal. That's when things got better, and a lot better.

The potions were better than what everyone else had been making, letting him set the price at whatever he wanted. Plus, it attracted tons of customers, which led to him being sold out in equipment after only a few hours each day.

The only problem was the 80% cut he promised. However, there was a loophole. He only had to pay up for the first day. After that, he just handed over spare change. Luckily, the guy hadn't noticed a thing.

Ugh... I still need a few hundred before I can get the upgrade. Why is everything so expensive? If only...

How Daru had made them in the first place, that was the question. None of the forums online showed any new information, and he had already tried raising his level, with no luck.

Someone tapped on the desk, and he raised his head.

Great. This guy.

They wore plain clothes, no armor, from what he could tell, and a mask that covered the bottom half of their face. A cloak shrouded most of their equipment and their bag.

"Hey, what can I do for-"

"Hand over your potions. All of them." The guy said, their voice cold and on edge.

Bell sighed internally. Since the potions that Daru made were so much better than the rest, there were at least a few of these guys coming by each day. Dark, moody, teenagers with an inflated ego and with the thought that crafters ought to hand over their creations willingly and for free.

He pulled out three potions. "30 Zil each."

Ghost scooped them up with one palm, clicking his tongue. "What happened to the good ones? You trying to scam me with this garbage?"

"I don't have any more of those."

"Then make some more! That's your damn job!"

Bell sighed. "Listen. Pay up, or get out."

"Oh? I thought I was the customer. Shouldn't I be the one to make my decisions?"

Bell clenched his teeth. "Pay up, or I call the guards."

Ghost tsked. "Alright, alright, here's your money, wimp. But next time, when you're out hunting..." he trailed off, walking away.

"Yeah, yeah," Bell waved him off. He was the same as all the others, full of pride and empty threats.

"You don't have enough money to afford a single potion? I wonder if you're this broke in real life."

100 Zil for a single 10% potion was a huge ripoff. Thankfully, the game was about as realistic in real life when it came to pain. A few broken limbs later, he got back his hard-earned money.

"Hey! Stop looking or buy it already!"

They advertised it as "ancient armor found in the dungeon." When he examined it later, it turned out to be the noob equipment on the verge of breaking. He took a bit more time with that one.

Ghost: an infamous Pker, liar, cheat, hunter, and ranker. Also Ghost: coming in at 9th place on the leaderboards.

That same person was walking away from Bell's stall.

He grumbled. Three crappy potions wasn't going to be enough for today. But if he wasted any more time, he'd fall behind on the boards. Shitty crafters overpricing their garbage.

Whatever. He could just go hunting again in the dungeon. Hopefully his supply would last long enough for him to find some more.

And later... Well, if it was convenient, he'd go get his revenge. Couldn't let a little kid show him up. He'd overheard the kid talking with some people earlier. Seemed like he was pretty close with them. Noobs, the lot of them, though one of them piqued his interest.

He's got a sister, right? Bit pretty, too. What if I gave her a little scare, huh? After all, it's just a game...

Hum de dum... He's taking a while, isn't he.

Daru sat on a bench, his legs crossed. He propped up his head with his hands as he stared lazily into the crowd, looking for his brother. He looked around him, counting the number of players he didn't know to pass the time. A few of them sported new equipment, one with a red fur hat, another with a thin blue scarf. Probably some sort of cosmetic, since as far as he knew, there weren't any red or blue rabbits running around.

Every now and then, someone would come by and stare at him, only to turn away. He didn't really get what it meant- maybe they just didn't like his face or something- but it didn't matter since Gav was looking for a party already.

Suddenly, a hand came down and patted him on his shoulder. He turned and saw, not Gav, but another familiar face.

"Thought I recognized you. How's it been, Daru," said Jarvis. He looked completely different from the last time they had seen each other, as he wore some sort of leather armor- it was definitely thinner than iron armor, but looked just as strong. He also had a cloak, which, as Daru saw on the inside, had numerous small knives in multiple pockets. Most noticeably, he was smiling.

"Oh, damn, it's you! Damn, this is uh.. Ah, whatever, everything's fine."

"Nice, nice... This is actually like really nice timing," he said excitedly, "since Bell isn't coming today, so do you wanna-"

Daru looked away. "Yeah... sorry, but my brother's actually looking for a party right now, so..."

"Oh." And now he was back to normal, a thin line drawn across his face.

"Maybe next time then?" He shrugged. Jarvis didn't seem as much of a casual player as he did, however, so it didn't seem like they would.

Jarvis slumped his shoulders but tried again. "...Are you sure? I mean, there aren't a lot of solo players here..." He whipped his head around. "Yeah, Bell's definitely not coming."

"...Yeah, I'm pretty sure, man. Sorry. Plus, I'm literally a mage," he said, gesturing to himself. "Wouldn't I just be dead weight?"

"Oh, no, no, no, you're not that..." Jarvis inspected him. It didn't seem like there was much of a change from the last time they had met, except for the iron armor. And, to be honest, from what Examine gave him, he hadn't really been leveling either.

"Okay, maybe a little..."

"See? So yeah, go find someone else." He waved him goodbye as Jarvis walked off, a little dejected.

3 figures sat a small distance away from the dungeon. Skye sat on a rock, inspecting her bow. Nearby, Jade polished her sword, trying to remove spots of rust and grime from cutting through monsters. Normally she wouldn't have taken the time to do so, but it was a prototype using a newer material, so she wanted to keep it nice and shiny. From an outside perspective, it was just a regular iron sword, but upon closer examination, they might find this:

Armite Iron Sword(C): An iron sword coated and treated with small amounts of Armite Oil. As such, the item has lost some of its durability, but in exchange is given a slight chance to set what it cuts on fire.

After many experiments with Armite Ore, most of which ended up in death, the community found that it wasn't stable enough to be made into any type of ingot. Faced with this, the majority of the blacksmithing players decided to give up on it. However, one player decided that just using it as a grenade was a bit boring, and through a little digging, found that it was used for an oil with the fire property. The oil by itself did nothing, but when spread onto other items, would grant the property to them.

A lengthy video discussing all of this was posted on the forums, which is where Bell picked it up.

Which led to the weapon Jade polished carefully on her lap.

Meanwhile, Ten sat a little distance away, trying his hand at making potions. He stirred the pot slowly, staring intently while avoiding the hot air.

When it finally came to a boil, he tossed in a few Heartgrass and covered the pot with a shield. Then he dug through his bag and pulled out a few glass vials.

Jarvis approached the crew, taking a seat on the grass.

"Any luck?" Skye asked, looking up and focusing on him.

"Nope. I don't think there are any solo players over there." He sighed, rubbing his neck.

"Really? I thought you said you saw Daru though."

"Well yeah, but he's here with his brother."

"Oh, we could just ditch my sister then. I'm sure she can just party up with her own friend group."

"He also had the beginner equipment, and he said he would just be dead weight anyway."

"Well then, what do we do? Should we just go in with 5 people?"

"E-Excuse me," said an unfamiliar voice. "Are you guys full, or is there room for one more?" A young man, their face and body completely covered, walked up to them.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, we were just needing another person. So anyway, we just need to know what your class, level, and name are."

"Oh, really? Okay, so I'm, uh, a rogue, I'm only Lvl 7- sorry, it's not that high," he shrugged. "And I go by Ghost."

"Ghost? Sounds familiar...whatever, welcome to the crew I guess. Lvl 7's not that bad, you know. You can help cover the rear with-" Skye pointed at Jade. "That's Jade, by the way."

Underneath his mask, his shy demeanor flickered for a moment. This was going to be too easy.

A few minutes after his talk with Jarvis, Gav came back.

"You found one?"

"Yep. Come on, let's go."

They walked over to a group of 4, two boys and two girls. One boy walked right up to Daru and extended a hand.

"Nice to meet ya!" he said. "Mind if ya shake my hand?"

Daru took it, a bit confused. The boy gripped it firmly, squeezing it for a second before letting go. Daru winced. He could feel the strength behind it for sure.

"Oh, he's actually not that bad! I mean, for a mage." The boy grinned. "Sorry, that probably hurt a little, didn't it? Name's Hal, by the way. Judging from how that felt, I'd guess you're around 10 ATK?"

"Huh? Oh, that's pretty close, actually," said Daru, a little surprised. "Do you do this with everyone or something?"

"No, he only started doing it recently." said the other boy. "Hal wanted to see if there's actually a difference in like small numbers or if the game's bullshitting when it comes to stats."

He continued. "Also, I'm Milo, and the two back there are my cousins- they don't talk a lot. The taller one's Rei, and the shorter one's Rui." Rei simply waved in reply, while Rui pouted.

"Hey! I'm not short," said Rui, walking up and hitting Milo on the back of his head. "And I wasn't not talking, I was just waiting for you to finish," she finished, crossing her arms.

"Rei..." Daru asked, pointing, "and Rui? Sorry, I don't see much of a difference, in height at least."

"Hmm," said Milo, ignoring Rui. "Okay, well then, Rui's the one that just talked, and Rei's the other one. Sound good?"

"...I guess?"

"Okay, let's get down to business," said Gav. "Also, like I said a few minutes ago, I'm Gav, and this is Daru."

"Cool! So, I'm a warrior, Lvl 6. Milo's a Lvl 7 archer, and Rei and Rui are both Lvl 4 mages," said Hal. "What about you guys?"

"I'm a Lvl 7 rogue, and Daru's a Lvl 4 mage," replied Gav.

"Alright! Well, we probably don't have the best odds, but at least there'll be other parties to support us." Hal said.

"Anyway, you guys are ready, right? We reserved a spot so we're next in line."

"Wait, what? How'd you reserve a spot?" asked Gav.

Milo shrugged. "Ah, I'd rather not say," he replied. "I mean, come on, everyone's got their secrets."

"Come on, just give me a hint."

"Oh, you want a hint?" Rei butted in. "I guess you could try being a decent human being, ya know."

"Uh, excuse me?" Gav said confusedly.

"Rei!" Milo shouted.

She grinned. "Just do like errands and stuff for the townspeople. Treat them like human beings, and they'll pull some strings for you here and there."

"Oh, so it's like that, I see."

Wait, so I could get a quest from Cathy? I'll check later.

Milo pulled Rei aside, pushing Hal in front.

"Why'd you tell them?" he whispered, though a bit loudly.

"Why not? It's not like it's a secret or anything. It's just having some basic human decency," she said.

"Rei! They can hear us!"

"Milo, you suck at whispering, you know that right?"

"But like- oh, never mind." He said, facepalming.

Suddenly, a bell rang. The doors to the dungeon opened as a weary, tattered party of 6 shambled down the steps.

"Next, please!" One guard yelled as a guild staff walked up to the party.

"You folks got everything you need? Potions, weapons, all that stuff. Last stop before heading in, blah blah blah, you know the drill."

"You two got what ya need," asked Hal. Gav gave a silent nod in affirmation.

"Great!" He turned to the staff. "We're all set!"

The staff nodded.

"Follow me," he said.