Chapter 5

The New Eden Guild

Pristine returned to the inn in Alfao and submitted the bear meat items to the bar cook. As a reward, her breakfast is on the house. With the three other members of the Adventure Club, they had roasted bear meat for a hearty breakfast.

"I called you here today to officially invite you to our guild, New Eden," Rhinestone said. She looked at Firequeen and gave her a nod. Taking that signal, Firequeen took out two items and placed them on the table. They were silver-colored emblems. Engraved on an emblem was a tree with a mask on its trunk.

New Eden Guild Emblem

It is made out of the rare Mytherial Ore. It displays the user's loyalty to his guild.

Mind Spells Resistance bonus: 5%

Enchanted Skill: Guild Point Travel

Rhinestone Cutter, Vice-Guildmaster of New Eden, has invited you to join the guild. Accept? Yes/No

"Yes!" Raylight said as she accepted the guild invitation. Pristine clicked on 'Yes', accepting the invite. Firequeen Anna made a relieved sigh, then started to describe the guild.

"New Eden's purpose is the exploration and discovery of new areas around the frontier zones of Tataria. Although this game has been around for a long time already, the area explored by the players is small compared to the entirety of the world. Right now, most of the players are content with what they have. There are many hidden dungeons within the explored zones, and the high rank players are holding events to prevent boredom. It's been two years already since the explored zones have stopped expanding, and that is due to the mountain range blocking further conquest to the North. The bigger guilds have tried to cross the mountain range only to fail. They encountered extremely strong monsters and complicated dungeons. Since then, it's called the Range of Demon Beasts. New Eden aims to cross that zone and pave a path to the rest of the continent."

"I've been wondering, why is everyone moving to the North?" Pristine asked as it caught her attention.

"You haven't tried going South, right?" Rhinestone asked. Pristine nodded in confirmation. "Past the southern forest is a zone known as the Bottomless Chasm. It extends to the North on both sides and meets with the Range of Demon Beasts. A player once tried going down the chasm, fatigue caught up to him and he fell. He died without reaching the bottom. Even the NPCs also call it that. According to the game lore, the chasm was formed long ago during the age of the Gods, on one of the battles that Gods fought over domination of the land."

"Back on topic, New Eden currently has eleven members with the addition of you two. Only us four belong to the same school, the other seven are from different places. Our base is hidden outside the player-controlled city, Richiedom. It's a secret base, so it's only accessible by using your Guild Emblem to set a travel point on the Travel Portal, or using it near the entrance.

"The rules of the guild are simple. Do not disrespect the other members. Talking about real life matters in front of other guild members you don't know in reality is prohibited. Performing any actions that would lower the reputation of the guild is obviously not allowed. And lastly, have fun exploring Tataria."

Pristine and Raylight equipped the emblems. Pristine placed it on her chest, while Raylight used it as a hair accessory. Looking at the emblem on her chest, Raylight suddenly seemed to remember something. Rummaging through her inventory, she took out a dark-colored longsword, some coins, and a simple leather armor with a chest-plate.

"Back in the Shadow Wolf dungeon, remember that hiding spot I was in during the boss fight?" Raylight started. "I found a corpse there with some items, and one of them was for a quest. I took it back and found the corresponding NPC. It was the poor sod's ex-girlfriend! She's an old lady now though. If only you saw her, she cried so much it almost tore my heart out. She then gave me that armor she said she used back in her adventuring days, some coins, and this sword which belonged to the dead guy! So here's your share."

"Uh, thanks," Pristine said, not knowing how to respond and took the items.

Iness's Armor

This armor once belonged to the adventurer Iness. She used this armor since her beginner days. She used to travel to the mountain range to the north where she scavenged for magic ores long before it turned into the Range of Demon Beasts. She has enhanced this armor with the magic ores she found.

Physical Damage Reduction: 5%

Elemental Damage Reduction: 5%

Mind Spell Resistance Bonus: 5%

Movement Speed Bonus: 5%

Enchanted Skill: Auto-repair

Enchanted Skill: Sharpen Blade

Enchanted Skill: Increase Reflex (Expert Rank)

Item Requirements

Strength: Apprentice Rank

Dexterity: Apprentice Rank

Dewin's Longsword

This longsword once belonged to an adventurer named Dewin. With this sword as his only companion, he roamed the continent to challenge powerful foes, both human and beast. He was unmatched in one on one battles, and he once defeated a fallen angel. The angel's blood enchanted this sword with a powerful skill.

Enchanted Skill: Foresight (God Rank)

Item Requirements

Strength: Expert Rank

Agility: Expert Rank

Dexterity: Expert Rank

For such low requirements, the bonus effects were a bit too overwhelming. Pristine wondered if the items equipped by Raylight had better bonus than these ones. She kept the sword in her inventory, and wore the leather armor over her tunic. It fitted just right. She then unequipped the 'Butchery' skill, and a new skill 'Light Armor Mastery' was learned and took its slot.

"Any other questions?" Rhinestone asked.

"I already have some of my stats and skills raised to Apprentice Rank," Pristine said. "Isn't that too fast?"

"No, not really. You went and raid a dungeon all on your own, and raising stats and skills to Expert Rank won't take too long. The ranks after that is what takes forever to raise. There are requirements for changing from Expert to Master, and Master to Grandmaster, and the said requirements are unknown. Those who successfully ranked up past Expert won't tell others except for those close to them. It's an effort to maintain power over others." She had a bitter smile when she mentioned that last sentence.

"Don't worry, everyone else in the guild has already consented to share their knowledge regarding the rank up past expert to guild members," Firequeen said. "So you should do the same."

"Okay!" "I'll keep that in mind." The two agreed.

"With that, you two would have to try and raise your stats and skills as much as possible before the joint operation on Friday," Rhinestone said.

"We'd like to watch over you, but we are busy with other important stuff to take care of," Firequeen added.

"Send us an e-mail if you need anything."

The two seniors then left Pristine and Raylight.

"What do we do now?" Raylight asked.

"I'm the beginner here, so why ask me?" Pristine replied with a serious face.

"Oh, right. You were so reliable I forgot, hehe." She scratched her head and started to think of what to do.