The Guild of Entangina Empire is the largest Guild organization in the world. The Guilds are a way for adventurers to get together and make some money on the side by helping others. Adventurers perform various tasks, such as hunting monsters around the kingdom and killing bosses. A civilian may also request adventurers’ services, but this will be done from their own pocket.

Rhea walks into the guild building full of luxury and people. It almost looked like an Inn with all the people. She arrived at a perfect time as well. Due to the panic caused by God's actions in the South, many of the guild members took the less risky jobs and even quit to travel somewhere safe. She is amazed by the craftsmanship of every stone that made the building. The Guildhall was beautifully decorated with weaved red carpets and a reception area made from marbles. As she walks to the reception admiring the most welcoming sight, she is greeted by the reception desk.

“Hello! How may we help you today?” Asked the receptionist.

“I’m looking for a job… could you help me with that?”

“Of course, but before I can assign you a task, can you show me a certificate of your rank?”

“What rank?”

“All adventurers must have a rank to obtain a job.”

“But I don’t have that.”

“That’s fine. Since you do not have one, we will assign you the lowest rank we have, which in this case is copper.”

“So, how do I obtain a higher rank?”

“Well, the guild will assign you a rank based on your execution of tasks. Could you hold on one moment, let me bring you the paperwork.”

“Yes, go ahead—I’ll wait.”

The receptionist walks into a back room and brings out a lot of paperwork. These legal documents protect the guild from any misconduct a member might have during their adventures.

“Here we are. Okay, now I need you to sign these forms.”

“Could you tell me what I’m signing?”

“These are the rules and regulations of the Guild. To obtain a job, you must sign these forms.”

“I see. That’s fine then.” Rhea signs the papers without even reading them. This is a sluggish thing to do (read your legal documents, people), but she thought that since Grismala had suggested it, it must be safe.

“Perfect! Now I need you to wait over at the tables in the back. I will come to you with your copper trinket and a copper tier job.”

“Okay.” Rhea goes to the tables where the receptionist pointed. She waited there for roughly half an hour before the receptionist came back. With her was another enormous pile of paperwork. “Damn it, more of these papers…”

“What was that? I didn’t hear.”

“Oh, it’s nothing, so what are those papers?”

“These are all the jobs available for a copper plate adventurer. Due to a lack of personnel, these jobs have been piled up. Feel free to take whichever you want. Here is your copper badge. Wear it as you adventure so others know you are in our organization. Take your time to pick something out. When you do, come back to me, and I will assign you that task.”

“Thank you very much for all the help.”

“It was no problem. Good luck!” The receptionist leaves the room and returns to helping others.

There was a pile of paperwork in front of Rhea. She looked at the pile alone and wanted just to go home and sleep.

“I suppose I have to start somewhere,” Rhea speaks to herself as she looks through the papers. As she browsed through the pages, she noticed a peculiar form with a picture of someone she knew. “This is Doctor Bango. Oh my God! He is alive! He needs help with something! I must help him!”

Rhea rushes to the reception desk with the paper in her hand. The task was to help Doctor Bango with an experiment, and the pay was significant.

“Oh, you have picked out a task already. Okay, then I’ll assign you this task. Please wait a moment.”

“Oke!” Excited about finally being able to meet with possibly the last survivor of Hupu village and her former mentor, she is filled with joy.

“I have assigned you the task of assisting Doctor Bango. Here is his address. Go to him directly.”

Rhea bursts out of the doors of the Guild to the address given to her by the receptionist. Traveling to the doctor's home was difficult since she did not know the city, but she could get there regardless.

Doctor Bango’s new home was weary of age. He did not have much money to spend since he lost everything back in Hupu village and was barely even surviving. From outside, the house looked rather sad.

“So, this is Doctor Bango’s home..” Rhea walks to the door and knocks.

“WHOS THERE?” yells an old man from inside.

“Doctor Bango! It’s me, Rhea! I’m from Hupu Village!”

“Rhea! What are you doing here? How did you find me?”

“I saw your poster at the guild. It says you need help with something.”

“Oh yes! I remember now. Yes, yes. Come inside!”

Doctor Bango lets Rhea inside his home. It was run down as expected. There were lots of medical tools inside the house. Apart from that, there were also small tubes where small rats were kept. Many doctors experimented with rats for their medicine, so nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

“Please take a seat, Rhea.”

Rhea looked around the room. Slightly disgusted at the sight, she was still happy that Bango was alive.

“So, how are things with you, Rhea? How is your father?”

“He is no longer with us.”

“Oh?! What happened?”

“It’s a sensitive topic, I'd rather not discuss it.”

“Your father was a saint! Please tell me what happened. He was my best friend.”

“Please, let’s talk about this another time.”

“How unfortunate. Very well. So back to my first topic, how are things with you?”

“I’m good, thanks for asking. How are you holding up? You heard what happened at Hupu village?”

“Yeah… a pity.”

“A pity? Only that? What’s the matter with you?”

“Well, nothing can be done about it. I was there, you know.”

“I’m sorry for your loss. I know how much you loved your wife and kids.”

“Speaking of! Please follow me.”

Doctor Bango stands up from his chair in a rush, excited to show Rhea something like a kid who wants to show off his toys.

“Where are we going?”

“Come, come!”

He leads Rhea to his bedroom. There was a large table with the corpse of his dead wife on top of it. Rhea freaks out at the sight of her. All of the bodies at Hupu village were burnt, and somehow, she was in front of her eyes.

“Rhea, remain calm! Please, we don’t want to disturb the dead.”

“Uh, doctor? Don’t you think you should burry her?”

“And why would I do that? Listen, Rhea.. you are the only one I can trust with this matter. Please hear me out.”

“Uhuh?”

“I know that necromancy is forbidden. I know that I know, I know! But there is some hope left. I was in the Great Library, and there might be a way to bring her back.”

“Have you gone mad?”

“On the contrary, I’m more hopeful than ever. Based on my findings, we could theoretically return her soul to her body if we can gather enough materials.”

“What materials is it that you speak of?”

“Well, for starters, we must ensure her organs are intact for the ritual! But don’t worry about that, that will be my job. Your job is to gather one essence of purity and essence of chaos.”

“Where can I get the materials that you require?”

“Well, for starters, I believe that the witch Grismala has the essence of purity.”

“She is not a witch! Watch your tone!”

“She is! Why? What’s she to you anyway?”

“She is my mentor. She is teaching me the ways of the magic.”

“Oh? Perhaps you can help me with the ritual as well. Hehe.”

“Yeah. Just watch your tone.”

“Ok! Sorry! Back to topic.”

“So, where do I get the essence of chaos?”

“That is slightly more difficult. We have to create it.”

“Create it? How?”

“Don’t worry about those details yet. Go to Grismala and see if you can steal that essence of purity from her. The essence of purity is held in some sort of a small capsule that she wears as a necklace.”

“Steal it? Why not just ask her for it?”

“That witch would never give it to you willingly.”

“I won’t steal it.”

“Bah! Please, Rhea! This is my wife we are talking about here! There is only one chance we have to bring her back!”

“I’ll see what I can do, but I certainly won’t steal it.”

“You have my gratitude. Truly. Oh, that reminds me, I must work on creating that essence of chaos. Please, go to Grismala and get the essence of purity from her.”

“Okay then, Doctor, I’ll see what I can do.”

“Make haste! We do not have much time. Also! Before you go. Don’t tell anyone about what you heard here.”

Rhea rushes out of Doctor Bango’s home. She is slightly conflicted about bringing a dead person back to life. It just seems wrong to her, but due to her respect for the doctor who thought her magic, she decided to help him anyway.

Doctor Bango watches through the window as she leaves his home. Upon her leave, he runs to the basement. There were hundreds of unconscious bodies and a mystic fog in the basement. In the middle of it was a stone table with an Orb.

He walks to the orb and cuts his finger entirely off of his hand. The blood spilled all over the orb. The orb begins to glow after a few seconds, and a voice could be heard from the orb.”

“Any progress on your end? Doctor?”

“Apologies, my lord, the essence of purity is still with Grismala.”

“And what about the essence of chaos? Do you have that for me yet?”

“I’m working on it!”

“Don’t give me attitude. I could kill you even from here.”

“I know. Sorry for my behavior. My wife, you can save her, right?”

“Yes………… I can save her………”

“Every time I look at her beautiful face, I want to reunite with her again. Thank you for this!”

“Don’t delay further. Make that essence of chaos as fast as possible.”

“Yes, my lord.” Doctor Bango returns upstairs and quickly patches up the severed finger. He was in excruciating pain, but the thought of bringing back his wife outweighed everything else.

Rhea returns to Grismala’s Palace. There were fewer guards outside than there were usually. As she looks around for someone to let her inside, she sees Grismala outside talking to diplomats.

“A Global conflict! That’s absurd. Nothing like this has ever happened before.”

“Yes, and with God leading his own nation, it would be impossible to stop such a juggernaut. We must crush them in their infancy.

Rhea walks towards them. As Grismala and the diplomat notice Rhea, they decide to go their separate ways.

“Grismala! Wait up!”

“What is it?” Grismala replied with an angry look. Well deserved as well. She was swamped dealing with the affairs of the kingdom.

“Grismala, who was that man?”

“Don’t concern yourself with this yet. What is it?”

“I decided to listen and went to help the guild. I even got a quest!”

Finally, some good news for Grismala. Everyone had been quitting left and right, so she was very frustrated. “That’s wonderful! I suppose I have some spare time right now, come with me. Let’s talk.”

Grismala and Rhea walk inside the Capital. The capitol building was a magnificent castle that made the guild building look cheap. Inside was not as well maintained, however. You could see apparent damage to the furniture and thousands of weapons and ammunition lying on the ground.

“What’s with the weapons?”

“Oh, that, we are currently producing magical weapons to use in the coming conflict.”

“I see.”

Grismala and Rhea walk to a table to sit down. Exhausted from a long day of work, Grismala took off her jewelry, including her necklace, and put it on the table.”

“So, what is it that you wanted to talk about?”

Rhea looked at the table. The necklace looked precisely like what Doctor Bango had described it. She decides to keep the little detail a secret, contemplating whether she should steal it.

“Well, the job I got is pretty straightforward. I have to gather some materials for a doctor.”

“Oh, how wonderful once again. Some good news finally in a world filled with only bad ones.”

“So, what’s up with you?”

“I hate to admit it, but everything is falling apart.”

“Why, what happened?”

“The Southern Empire was crushed, completely.”

“How do you know of this?”

“I heard about it from my diplomats…. Well, that’s not exactly true, I suppose. I was watching the entire thing happen.”

“Wait, what?! How?!”

“Farsight magic allows the caster to watch a specific location they have been to from far away. It does take a considerable amount of magical power.”

“Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat! That’s incredible!”

“On the contrary, it’s rather a curse than anything. To watch all those people die like that.”

“So, God, huh, I’ve seen him only once. A terrifying sight.”

“What was he like?”

“He looked more like a demon to me than anything. He was terrifying! Scratch that. I think even demons are far less scary than him.”

“That bad, huh?”

“He had an enormous sword as well. With a swing, he completely destroyed the defenders. So, tell me about you. What’s going on?”

“Nothing good. The bureaucracy has been stretching a bit thin here and there, and lots of people are quitting their work. Not only that, but as you might have heard, the recently crushed southern empire is seeing some activity.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I’m talking about hundreds of thousands of lower-level demons building a settlement down there.”

“A settlement? Demons? On our world!?”

“Yes. Shocking that those animals would even get along. Apparently, they are trying to copy the tower that Lucious has built-in his kingdom. From what I hear, the tower should be twice the size of Lucious's upon completion.”

“Why would God want to build such a monument?”

“Oh yeah, I forgot that you are new to magic. The altitude your host is standing on, the further the range you can cast a spell. If God’s Tower is completed, he can cast devastating magic from far away. In short, if it’s completed, we will be subjected to serve him eternally.”

“That’s a scary thought.”

“He has already used the tower at least once as a test of sorts. It was successful as well. Devastating plagues and locust swarms hit the regions around our kingdom, specifically farmlands. Because of this, we are in short supply of food.”

“Can’t you just fertilize the farmlands with magic and make them grow again faster?”

“I could, but that would take too much magical power, and as of now, we are confident that God is currently standing at a power level of around 500 or even more. I have leveled up only once in the past hundred years and am now at around level 240.”

“Couldn’t he just wipe us out right now if that is the case?”

“Yes, he could. He is too petty to do that, though. The God I know likes to drag out a fight just to cause as much suffering as possible. He doesn’t know my plans yet, which is perfect. He will walk right into my trap if all goes to plan.”

“The thing with the obelisks, right?”

“Correct! There is more to it, but I cannot yet disclose that part with anyone.”

“And the person you were talking to was talking about a global conflict? What was that about?”

“We were just discussing what the future may hold for us. If God establishes a demon nation in the Southern Empire, all human forces have no choice but to unite to fight them off. But that’s also tricky because knowing God; he would convert other nations to his will. If that happens, we will all be fighting each other and, ultimately, would lead God to victory.”

Lancel walks into the hall where Grismala and Rhea were talking. He looked rather pale. Rhea notices him walking toward them and tells Grismala to turn around to greet him. As they stood up, Rhea quickly grabbed Grismala’s Necklace from the table.

“Brother! What are you doing here? I thought you were going to train the recruits today.”

Lancel looks at Rhea and greets her before continuing his conversation with his sister.

“I already trained them, don’t worry! Speaking of, what’s Rhea doing here?”

“She came to give me a report on how things are on her end and get this. She just enlisted as a guild adventurer.”

Lancel turns towards Rhea and hands her a magical potion of agility. This potion temporarily recovers life force and increases the user’s movement speed by an unknown amount.

“Please, take this. Being an adventurer is a rough job. With the state of the guild these days, most jobs are often much more dangerous than thought, and often they aren't even adequately investigated.”

“Thank you very much, Lancel. I appreciate it.”

“Hey, I’m not busy for the rest of the day, how about it. Do you want to form a party? I’ll help you with whatever you’re doing.”

Grismala stares at Lancel, who is trying to escape his duties like everyone else, and feels upset.

“But brother, you still have a task to do.”

“Don’t worry. I can do that later.” Lancel whispers in Grismala’s ear. “Listen, there must have been a reason why Varis wanted to keep her safe. We must protect her until we uncover something useful.”

“I suppose your right, but you will train those soldiers later, or I’ll have your head.”

“Hah! As if you can even take it. But of course, I'll carry through my tasks, don’t worry.”

Grismala hands Rhea one of her silver wood staff in hopes that she can learn more efficiently with a better weapon. Silver wood is expensive, so it’s considered more than a generous gift to most. But she had no choice on the matter, for Rhea was important in some way.

“Rhea, I must head out now. Please be careful when handling that staff. It’s very delicate. Lancel! Look after her, will ya?”

“Yes, please go already.”

Grismala casts a teleportation spell on herself and vanishes.

“So, Rhea, where are we headed to?”

“I’m kinda hungry. How about you?”

“We elves don’t need to eat often, but I guess it doesn’t hurt. I know an excellent Inn we can go to grab a quick meal.”

“But… don’t you think your sister would be angry if she found out you are out eating and drinking?”

“Naaa, I do that anyway, don’t worry about it. I think she would be even more upset if I let you go on an adventure on an empty stomach.”

Rhea begins to burst out crying.

“What’s the matter?”

“No, it’s nothing. It’s just that I was beginning to feel like no one cared for me anymore. My father was the only one who said stuff like that to me!”

Lancel put his hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her. “Damn it. I shouldn’t speak like this with her. She’s too emotional!”

“There there, It’s okay. Everything’s going to work out fine!”

“You really think so, Lancel?”

“If you only look at the sadness of life, you will only create further sadness. Cheer up!”

Rhea wipes her tears with her shirt. She was still wearing the same ragged clothes she had from the village. It had begun to tear a bit.

“How about we grab you some new clothes as well, probably magical ones, so they don’t spoil as fast.”

“But aren’t they expensive?”

“I said I don’t worry about anything. I’ll take care of it. We better hurry before night falls! Let’s go!”

Both Rhea and Lancel travel to a clothing store. Grismala, who cast teleportation on herself, went to the senate. They were supposed to be holding a meeting to discuss the future of the human race. All nations except Barman Empire sent diplomatic envoys to their kingdom.

The Senate council room was an enormous building. There were seats assigned for each delegate for each nation. In the middle of the room, there was a large podium where the most powerful ruler, in this case, Grismala, would be behind and address all nations.

Grismala walks up to the podium and begins delivering her speech as everyone watches quietly.

“Fellow members of the humanoid race. I know we do not share many interests, but one thing we do share is our will to live. All of you have heard of what happened in the Southern Empire. God has been reincarnated into this world once more. I may have had the power to rival him in the past, but he has grown beyond our comprehension. We must unite our forces together, and we must do it fast!”

The diplomat of the Karbonian Empire stood up from his desk to speak. “If what you say is true, and the events that transpired down south is the work of God, then there is no way we can stop him with a united front.”

Other diplomats agreed with what he said. “Yes, exactly so. How do you expect us to beat him?”

“I know the situation is dire, but in this situation, we have no other choice. To survive, we must unite all our nations under a single leadership.”

“And how are we to know that you aren’t using this as an excuse to usurp power from every nation yourself.”

“I don’t have to be the one to lead the nations. We can unanimously vote on a person to elect as our leader. And we must do it fast.”

“Why are you in such a rush to unite us all?”

“We don’t have much time, as I said! I observed the actions down south; things are worse than we thought. God is forcing his demonic servants to build him a tower twice the size of Lucious’s. If they are successful, God will ultimately enslave us all. This is a matter of protecting our free will from that monster.”

The entire council room went quiet. The new revelation about God’s plans made every diplomat there begin to panic. This was like having a sharp knife right under a person’s throat.

The diplomat of the Karbonian Empire was none other than Tristan. He was the most well-known diplomat in the world for his way of expressing and persuading the masses. If he were convinced of something, everyone else would follow suit.

Tristan went up to the podium and looked up at Grismala. He then began to tell everyone his view on the matter.

“Let’s be realistic, everyone. Grismala is the only reason we are still alive today. Agreed? Now, if what she says is true, and God has sided with demons, then it’s only a matter of time before he comes to us. We must strike first.”

“But what are we supposed to do?” said the crowds of people gathered at the event.

Grismala spoke loudly so all could understand. “Hear me. We need the financial support of all nations: magic weapons, food, everything. We must be fully armed to the teeth. God will make his next move in months from now. We must strike first!”

“But how will we strike back?!”

“As we speak, Emperor Lucious is marching his army here. He will arrive soon. From here, we can cast devastating magic on the tower God is building. This will require a tremendous amount of magical power. That’s why we both have to cast it. Logically, the moment we strike, God will retaliate, and that is where you come in.”

The crowd is shocked to hear that the Holy Nation is siding with them. The Holy Empire, under the command of Lucious, has served God for generations, making this a grand act of betrayal.

Tristan, sensing tension in the air, asks the obvious question on everyone’s minds. “Why would Lucious side with us now after all these years?”

“It’s not a matter of him helping us now. I suppose there is no point hiding it now. The previous vessel God had on this world was not destroyed by only me. I was assisted in my endeavor with the help of Emperor Lucious. Without him, we wouldn’t be standing here either.”

The crowd begins to yell at each other, and chaos wreaks havoc.

“How could we trust that sinister emperor appointed as the Holy Empire’s leader by God himself. His name alone is proof that we shouldn’t trust him!”

Another delegate spoke up to represent his own country. “Yeah! That Lucious could be playing us for fools. No one knows when he will betray us!”

Tristan attempts to take control of the situation by yelling to quiet everyone down. “Behave yourselves, everyone! Remain calm and listen! There is no room for complaints here. Either we all stand together, or we die together.”

“We fight then!” everyone finally unanimously agreed on something.

Grismala seeing the pattern Tristan was going with proceeded to take further control of the situation and continued to state her plans showing her confidence as a leader. “Lucious and I will use artillery spells to hit God’s construct in the Southern Empire from here. Your task is to prepare for a frontal defense. We will not need any reserves. Put everyone in the frontlines! We have approximately two more months to gather enough magic to strike.”

“If we fall, we fall fighting together!!!!!!” Cheered the crowd.

Tristan notices a critical missing detail in their plans. “So, who will lead the united forces of all our empires?”

Grismala, in an attempt to take control, delivers the second part of her speech. “The most logical choice would be me. I know you are opposed to it, but I came up with a plan on the counter-offensive while everyone else complained.”

“I agree. We must entrust the future of the humanoid race to Grismala. She has saved us in the past. Let’s put our faith in her one more time.” Said Tristan.

“So, is everyone in favor?”

With no other choice, the crowd agreed to appoint Grismala as the head of the military of all human nations. As everyone takes their leave to spread the word and prepare for the future, Grismala feels a weakness in her legs, as if her aging had caught up with her. From across the room runs Tristan to catch the falling elf.

“Grismala! Are you okay?!”

“I’m not sure. This is the first time this has happened to me. What is going on here?”

“Grismala looks down at her neck and notices that her necklace with the essence of purity is missing. This necklace was the reason why she was able to maintain her body for hundreds of years.

“Where did it go!!”

“Where did what go? I don’t understand.”

“Let go of me!”

“Okay, calm down! What’s wrong?”

“My necklace, it’s gone!”

“Is it important in some way?”

“You fool, that necklace is the rarest treasure in the world! If that necklace is broken, my age will catch up with me, and I’ll die!”

“Do you remember where you left it?”

“Uh. Oh yes! I took it off when I was talking with a colleague.”

“There you go then! You best make haste to get it!”

Before leaving, Grismala humbly bows to Tristan, thanks him for catching him, and apologizes for her behavior. Tristan accepts her apology and they go their separate ways.

Grismala returns to the Capitol building in haste to get hold of her necklace. Waiting for her outside was Lucious with his Holy Army.

Grismala invites only Lucious inside. She was in a hurry to find the necklace. They talked about their plans as Grismala looked around for her necklace.

“Grismala, how did the meeting with all the nations go?”

“It went as to be expected. Those morons sometimes can’t get a clue that we are all in this together.”

“Don’t you sometimes wonder why we dared betray God, to begin with?”

Grismala turns towards Lucious and stops her search for the necklace. “Don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet, old man! Plus, I have a surprise for you. The answer to your question is obvious. God was trying to enslave us all, so we betrayed him.”

“I suppose your right about that. I just wonder what things would have been like.”

“Instead of wondering that, help me find my necklace.”

“Your necklace? Wait! YOU’RE TELLING ME YOU LOST IT?! DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE SCALE OF THIS BLUNDER?”

“I KNOWW! I NEVER TAKE MY EYES OFF THAT THING! PLEASE HELP ME FIND IT!”

In a panic, Lucious and Grismala throw around everything they find in the room to find the necklace. But it’s nowhere to be found.

“COULD IT HAVE BEEN STOLEN?”

“I don’t know! If it was stolen and broken, I'd be dead right now, so we know it’s not broken yet! Please, Lucious, without that necklace, every spell I cast could kill me! Go find it for me!”

“You should be more careful with things like that! I’ll find it for you!”

“Thank you!!!”

Lucious hurries out of the room and orders all his men to scatter around the city. All the holy soldiers are adept at finding rare magical items due to their intensive training. They could cover a substantial amount of area in a short time and find it before anything unforeseen happened.

As everyone searched the city for the necklace, Alinta, who had entered the city, found Doctor Bango’s new home. She knocks on Doctor Bango’s door. The moment he opened the door, she put her foot in front of the door to prevent it from being closed.

“It’s you! You killed my daughter, you demon!!!”

“Calm yourself, Doctor Bango. I come to you because God has commanded me to.”

“Why would God associate himself with the likes of you!”

“Ask him that when you see him. For now, my assignment is to protect you.”

“Protect me!? From what?! You?!”

“No, you old fool, you realize the magic you are trying to cast is dangerous, right? I’m here to make sure you don’t die when you create the essence of chaos.”

“Very well then! But I’ll be watching! don’t try anything sneaky!”