Astre sat in Apollo's tent on the black chair. Currently, he was wearing a black and gold robe that was given to him since his armor was undergoing repairs. The rest of his team most likely rested in their bunk beds.

The atmosphere was tense since he returned. He didn't consider it too surprising. He had just brought the guild up to third place on the leaderboard. He had expected second place, but somehow during the night, Draq gained two hundred points. At the same time, two Star of Genesis vanished from the leaderboard.

Apollo wasn't currently present, as he was presently readying himself after waking up. Andre, on the other hand, was awake and, as per usual, glared daggers at Astre. Clarrie sitting on her green throne joined the high officer in his endeavor of trying to burn holes in Astre's head.

"Tell us your stories of glory, Astre!" shouted the orc Robert, standing up from his red chair.

"Calm down, we are to wait for the Young Master before any report takes place," reminded the silver-haired elf for the second time. Then with spite, he added, "Our leader will decide whatever his performance was adequate of his position."

"Young master?" Astre repeated inquisitively.

Andre clicked his tongue in annoyance, "If you must know, I'm Young Master's personal attendant and second cousin."

"Now, now," calmed down Lily sitting on her blue throne. With a little smile on her blue lips, she continued, "Considering his achievements, I don't find any reason to be so hostile to him."

"Lily," Andre resounded sternly, "You should leave such judgment to Master Apollo."

"Hmmm," she let out thoughtfully. "How many points did we gain in the attack on that camp, and how many people did we lose? Robert?"

"Well, around thirty, and ten, but all those people lacked guts!" answered the orc.

"And how many did our new black lose?" the demoness added to her question.

Clarrie refuted with a frown on her face. "That's not a comparison. He went against some small guild anyway. Jones could have done the same."

"With six people, five of which he rarely even took on mission and one that never worked under him?" countered the demoness. "Also, who said that Astre would lose against those small guilds? Or who lost people to some adds that's boss Astre has taken down?"

"That's enough," stated the high officer.

Lily looked at Astre and smiled at him. The adventurer simply nodded back to her. While on the outside, the smile looked gentle and pleasing, Astre could feel the hidden motives from far away. Whatever it was something predatory, or wanting to get into good graces of someone who had a chance of going high in the guild hierarchy, he didn't know.

"Can I ask about the current state of the Queen of the Dead situation?" Astre decided to question a little. He felt whatever it was, was going to be big.

The elf and the scout's leader stayed quiet. Astre was ready to drop it, but to his rescue came Robert, who looked as if he remembered something.

"Oh, right! I went to sleep after the attack last night, so I don't know the details either!" the orc stated loudly. "It sounds exciting! Are we going to fight them!?"

"Defeating them would be the most optimal result; they are currently in fourth place just behind us. Overall, with confirmed two members of genesis and four regular members, they are worth nearly four hundred points," the high officer stated.

"Two?" Astre said, surprised. He didn't expect two prominent players to work together. He knew Jenny and Tom worked together, but that was a bit different, he still didn't know who Jenny was in the game.

"Zesimos is accompanying Harbringer," the elf informed reluctantly. Then he sighed and ordered, "Clarrie, inform both of them about what you found out."

The scout looked uncertainly at Astre, but she sighed, and with one hand supporting her chin, she explained, "Our scouts, with high-speed mobility abilities, got to the mountains last night. Few of them have abilities that made climbing the cliffs easier, so they covered a lot of ground.

"Overall, I would say they mapped half of the mountain zone. We discovered few destroyed camps, and following the trail, they found an army moving through the mountains. Thanks to identification, they found they were designated as undead mobs.

"Before they could get away, Harbinger found them out and killed a few. The rest did their best to escape, but magical barriers and sealing magics blocked a lot of them. They barely managed to report the name Zosimos, through short-range communication before they died. Overall we lost five scouts. They were our best too." She finished with a complaint.

"Zesimos, huh, that's tough," Astre commented under his breath.

"Oh, is Zesimos that strong?" asked the half-orc. "I know he is Star of Genesis, but I never heard much about him. Something about him being crazy."

"Crazy?" inquired Clarrie, confused. "He is some mage, right?"

The silver-haired elf corrected his glasses. For a while, the high officer had an exasperated look on his face. Astre only noticed thanks to both of them sitting across each other. The high officer noticing his stare stated, "Want to share what you know?"

Astre thought about it for a moment before he shrugged, "I only know the stories. Never meet Zesimos myself. They were already hardly playing before I started taking the game seriously."

"Get to the point," Clarrie spoke harshly.

Astre looked at her for a second before continuing, "All I know is that he is the only player who was able to reengineer the magic systems. With mana and elemental manipulation, he can reproduce the spell pattern and use spells he doesn't have. I heard he made original ones too."

"Doesn't every mage manipulate the spell patterns to some degree?" Lily asked. A cold wind flew throughout the tent.

"Yes, any good mage does," confirmed Astre. "But they still operate by what system gave them. On the other hand, from what I understand, Zesimos can recreate the spell patterns and force them upon the system."

"That sounds ridiculous," Clarrie noted. "Have you ever seen the imprinted pattern on a scroll. That's like some 4-D puzzle stuff. Sure the simple mana bolt spell is just a dot, arrow, triangle, and circle, but even that can blow up in your face. Learning every pattern or creating your own, would be something, someone, with more than twenty-four hours in a day, would have trouble doing."

Astre knew that. He did it often since he edited his runes and combining them without supporting abilities or skillsets. It did blow up in his face so many times he stopped counting too. They were weaker too, considering they lacked correct skillset enhancements. He wasn't going to mention that.

Continuing his explanation, he added, "He is not doing that, at least as far as I know, he learned how the magic system works. From it, he separated it into the simplest parts and is using it as one would use a programming language."

"You say as if it was simple," Clarrie stated doubtfully.

"It's not, the magic system was designed by the team that designed the AI controlling this game," Astre informed. "Honestly, he is the source of the rumors that WGames offered Stars of Genesis work. I'm sure they would want someone who could take apart their algorithms from the outside."

"Still, those symbols and figures are complex. I have doubts that anyone could draw them in the middle of the fight," voiced Lily.

"Maybe some ability that lets him speed up his time perception?" shrugged Astre. "Or he can save patterns and use them later. Maybe he inscribes it onto something. He could also carry five thousand scrolls and can use them from his inventory. It's also possible he is just a sham and has a legion of mages creating convoluted runes and combining them."

"So, shortly and simply," Robert asked.

"He can use any magic, and you can expect him to be able to counter most things he can react to," Astre finished.

"You know quite a lot," Andre commented, breaking his silence.

"I investigated the rumors, wondering whether it was an approach that I could copy. Who wouldn't want to be able to use any magic in any situation? But, it proved too complicated and not worth the time," Astre explained.

Astre wanted to swap to such a versatile magic build, but after doing his research, and still remembering the complicated shapes he saw each time he cast magic in his old build, he ended giving up. He simply didn't have the time and resources to devote to such an undertaking.

From all of the hours he wasted on trying to decipher the magic system, he only gained the ability to edit the runes. And that was only because he ended up remembering a lot of ready and completed formations and combinations.

He always had a good memory. In school, he would often remember math and physics formulas and solve tests with them. While, in truth, he never understood them at all.

"I'm here!" A cheery and full of energy voice echoed through the air. The flutter of sheets being moved caught everyone's attention in the tent. A man in golden armor with a big simple entered the room from the second part of the canvas, which was his personal quarters.

Apollo stepped through the room to his throne and sat down on it with a smile on his face. "Oh? Is something wrong? What's with those fallen faces!? We are doing quite well thanks to all our hard work, and soon we will all share a glorious moment."

"Yeah!" shouted Robert. "If we take down that undead's lady and that super-smart magician, we will have this in the bank!"

"With my and ours might the win is certain!" announced Apollo. "Astre!" the guild leader called to the adventurer. "You did amazingly great! Just as I expected from you! If you could tell us the tales of your exploits!"

That was a bit grander than he expected. Still, Astre straightened out and pulling out his notes, proceeded with the explanation, "On day one of the tournament at 23:45, we performed an operation against the guild Hydra. Their team was made of seventeen people in total, four rogue-types, seven warrior-type, five mage-type, and..."

"Calm down, Astre," Apollo interrupted with a confused smile on his face. "This is not a military. You can speak more casually."

Astre switched his gaze from the guild leader to the elf next to him, getting nothing from the high officer's poker face, he looked at his notes and closed the window. In the end, he simply retold more or less what happened throughout the four encounters, and the boss fight, without much colorization.

Once he finished, he sat down. During his explanation, he didn't mention the key he found at the end. The object didn't resemble a regular key either. It was an octahedron blue crystal formation that was less than two inches long with inscribed symbols all over it.

Currently, it was hidden inside Astre's body, just right under his bowels. He had done it to protect himself from any inventory scanning abilities. Item detection ability could still find it, but they would need to know what they were looking for. He healed the cut he gave himself with a potion when he changed into the robe in a private booth.

He had a feeling that the item could be valuable, and he didn't want to be forced to give it away. Without any hint where or what it would unlock, it could prove to be a pointless endeavor. The constant touch of crystal also irritated him slightly, but he didn't let that show. He was sure that if his pain setting were any higher, he wouldn't be able to keep up the facade. He would have lowered it a bit if he could, but he only had access to those options in his player lobby.

"Well, you could work a bit on your delivery, but overall you did well, amazing!" applauded Apollo. "See, Andre, and you were worrying about him running away or trying to undermine our operations. Who was correct once again?"

"He did an adequate job," Andre admitted with a grimace. "It's your choice anyway."

"Cannot accept his mistakes as always," Apollo spoke, shaking his head. "Don't worry about it, Astre. You worked admirably in my name!"

Astre was slowly getting fed up with it. Still, he nodded, "Thanks, I will do my best."

"Good, good," Apollo shouted. "In light of our new achievements, I appoint Astre, the strategist for the operation I titled 'Death to Dead Raiser!'"

The rest of the tent went silent. Even Andre had a look of surprise in his eyes for a second. Finally, he spoke, "Are you sure Young Master?"

"Yes, it's already decided," affirmed the guild leader. "We don't have our usual assets in this tournament. Astre already proved he can achieve results with methods we never tried and fewer resources. Well, then, I will be preparing, make sure to put me in a spot where I can shine."

With that, the gaudy man left the tent, leaving everyone in suspended silence. Then Robert laughed, and spoke, "If you are going to plan this, this will be truly interesting!"

"Are we really going to follow his orders now?" grumped Clarrie, clearly dissatisfied.

"Are you going to go against Apollo's word?" Lily questioned with a smug smile on her face.

"Andre?" Clarrie called pleadingly.

"Actually, it may be a good idea," Andre stated to the scout's leader despair. "As Young Master said, we don't usually operate under such limited conditions. Of course, I will overlook all the planning."

"Fine..." the girl on the green throne gave up.

"Astre, you can begin now," demanded the elf.

The adventurer caressed his blond hair. He didn't expect they would throw such responsibility to fall onto his shoulders. He really questioned whatever Apollo wanted to win, or just was playing around with a toy his father bought him. At the same time, it was a chance.

"Understood," he said, standing up. "Can I see the maps that were made?"

Clarrie voicelessly opened her inventory and spread a large sheet of parchment onto the table. He whistled as he saw the large area that the scouts covered. The jungle area, they were in, was easily at least thirty miles wide and long, forming a square. To its east was a sea, to the north was a desert area, and to the south, he saw the beginning of tundra.

The mountains were to the west as he noticed before while climbing a tall tree. The areas were not fully covered, but from what he saw, the tournament may be happening on an island. The sea on the east side continued on the map to both up and down.

He looked at the mountains, and from the looks of it, there was only one path leading from jungle to the next zone that was gentle enough to guide a lot of people through.

He needed to ask, "What are the movements of the Harbinger and her people?"

"Our scouts didn't dare to get close again," Clarrie huffed. "From the looks of it, they are heading for the jungle. I don't think they have any scouts. They may have chosen this direction since our scouts tried to run here."

"I see," noted Astre. "Where are they currently? The general location will be enough."

"Here," she said, standing up and marking an area around ten miles away from the exit of the mountains to the jungle.

Astre considered it, "How long would it take us to walk up those cliffs to this flat area near the entrance to the zone."

"We could probably make it there in four to five hours if we started moving soon. Our camp is around ten miles away from there." Andre explained. "The jungle is not ideal for quick passage, much less this slope here." The elf pointed to the mountain entrance.

"How fast is the undead army moving?" Astre continued his questioning.

"They are not fast. They are mostly fumbling through the mountains looking for trails. The undead servants are probably unable to do it. I think they only listen to simple orders and only use abilities during fights," stated Clarrie, still keeping her hostile demeanor.

"I see, so probably they won't get there before us, if we prepared there, a fort or something we could thwart them on the passage," Astre mumbled his ideas. Then looking over the map, he noticed some markings close the area he pointed beforehand. Pointing at them, he asked, "What are those? And is this giant volcano?"

"Yes it is, it's in the middle of the mountain zone, half a mile wide, a mile higher than any mountains," Clarrie answered. "The markings show cave system underneath the rocks, one of our scouts was good at finding those. He died to that mage."

"I'm guessing the entrance is behind this waterfall?" astre said, pointing to a marking on the map. Rapid currents entered from there to the jungle zone. "That means it's just below the entrance to the zone from our side."

"Robert, can I ask what your team is mostly made of?" Astre asked, looking at the orc, who was starting to look bored.

"Hm? Oh right! Warriors, of course!" the red team leader answered loudly.

"Any details?" the adventurer requested.

"I dunno, around thirty left? Andre knows better than me, ask him," the orc said yawning.

Astre looked over at the high officer for answers, the elf sighed and spoke, "In red team, we have seventeen specialized warriors, five tanks, eight spell blades, all lightning magic users. Blue team, currently has nineteen mages, seven support type, twelve with offensive magic. The green team has twelve scouts left, eight archers, two assassins, and two rogues. You know about your team, my team, and at the same time, Apollo's guard has eleven people left, all warriors. From the 110 people we had, not including crafters, we have 84 people left, including us."

Astre thanked and sat down. Cherry's list showcased one hundred twenty people as it updated for the final time before he entered the capsule, he guessed it included the crafters. He took it in for a while before speaking, "I may have an idea."

Astre was currently traversing underground caverns with Andre following him. The caves looked to be made of limestone, and the ceiling was always more than ten yards above him. The high officer was riding a silver horse as he traveled behind.

"Why are we here again?" the elf asked, annoyed. "We should be overlooking the blockage construction."

"I'm wondering whatever we can make it easier for ourselves. If my idea can work out, this would allow us to take most of the undead army without doing much," Astre said, striking a rock with hardened part of his gloves.

He left the materials from the boss he defeated with the crafters together with his armor. Taking it as a cue to upgrade it along with fixing it, they ended up affixing the scales and skin of the beast to it. The gloves, shoes, and forearms of the outfit had black scales attached to it, while the leather was used to add padding to the thigh part of the trousers and the chest.

The cloak now additionally to green fabric and golden embroidering had black outlining cloth. It was purely decorative, symbolizing his team membership. The golden sun emblem was still attached to his right arm.

With the upgrade, the armor was also brought to a higher grade, now being a legendary grade, and with it, thankfully a name change. The crafters didn't carry any name changing tags with them, so it was left with a system-generated one.

Mantle of Fallen Guardian - Legendary Armor

Cloak and clothes made from the mane of Mythical Phlegon and the beast forgotten by time. Crafted with level four Tailoring skill by Rickert.

Reduces damage taken by 40%. Reduces chances of being detected by 50%. Improves speed by 50%. Reduces the weight of the user by 20%. Increases the jump-power of the user by 75%. Increases damage done with fists and legs by 20%.

Additional effect: When not in combat, the ensemble will automatically repair itself.

"Do we have anyone with earth magic and any earth shaping abilities?" Astre asked, touching another rock, it was slightly warm.

"Yes," affirmed the elf. "Just what do you want to achieve?"

"Drop their army into a pit few hundred-yard deep, filled with lava if I can find if there is a way to get it here," Astre said, using Analyze on another rock formation.

The rocks here seemed all to be quite soft. There appeared to be pockets of warm water beneath the rocks everywhere. Few good earth shakes would probably cause half of this area to collapse.

The high officer looked scrutinizingly at Astre, "And how do I know that you won't drop us into a pit with them?"

"Not very trusting, are you?" Astre noted, "Well, we can always fight head-on, but I feel like we will have to bear heavy losses that way. Even if we build a successful blockage and prepare a few traps and strategies, we would still be underestimating our enemy. We also have a chance to surprise them that way."

"No one would expect Sunnies to prepare a sophisticated trap," Andre said grumpily, by now it seemed to be the constant state of the high officer attitude. "It could work, especially since you are a demolition specialist, but it's also a perfect chance to betray us."

"And how would I do that?" Astre decided to play the game.

"I'm sure you can think of some ideas. You have already proven how resourceful you are," the elf answered.

"I feel like you have deep issues," Astre spoke. "Look, what could I gain by betraying you here?"

"Chance to win the tournament? Isn't that's why you entered it? I highly doubt someone like you would suddenly decide to join a guild. Especially since you rejected invitations from us and everyone else multiple times." Andre stopped his horse and waited vigilantly.

Astre straightened out and turned around, watching the elf he shrugged and spoke, "When you defeated me, it was a real reality check. My earning have been falling down. Lately, my farming spots being discovered one by another. I have been thinking of myself as some hotshot, that was going to be the amazing black horse who could achieve everything by himself."

"What I want to say," Astre finished. "Maybe it's time to sit and calm down. A secure officer position in a guild could grant me that."

The high officer looked at the adventurer meticulously, trying to find any deceit. Astre was surprised how well he said that himself, but he didn't feel like he lied. In a way, all but the last part was the truth.

The elf turned around on his horse, "I need to overlook the fort building."

"Fine, I will look around a bit longer, maybe I can think of something else," Astre waved with his hand still turned to the rocks, analyzing them.

"What are you talking about," the elf spoke, "Let's go for your earth mage."