Soul Art Online

Soul Art Online

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 7: Rest and Rewards

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- Arthas -

I woke up to the soft feeling of Veena's embrace the next morning.

It was the second day I was waking up to this and that helped me reign my surprise more. That was not to say I wasn't embarrassed at the situation.

To further increase my embarrassment, I felt my lower head become harder at the sight in front of me.

Scolding myself inwardly at my thought for the woman who was trying to help me out in such a time, I shook my head and slowly tried to calm down.

She was holding me tightly and any kind of movements would have awakened her and I didn't want her to see me in this situation.

Yesterday had been stressful for everyone and I didn't want to wake up so soon. So I decided to lay down for a while too.

Almost an hour later, she shook slightly and I looked in her direction to see her awaken.

Her grip on me became lighter and I took the opportunity to move away….although a small part of me could feel the reluctance when I did so.

Me leaving the bed finally woke her up.

"Arthas. Did you wake up?"

"Yes."

"Hmm, alright. Give me a few minutes."

"Sure. Take your time. I just wanted some water." I replied before taking one last look at her and leaving the room.

I am pretty sure I heard a chuckle.

She was really trying to get a rise out of me….as usual.

In all this time, I had figured out that she liked getting me flustered.

It was usually when she wore a towel when she came out of the bath.

I wasn't bothered by this as it was her way of showing her closeness and trust.

Anyways, today was a big day for us.

Today, we were going to get rewarded for the whole World Mission.

The quest had been updated after the fight ended yesterday but it was still not completed.

World Quest - 1

The Beginning of the End

A great danger is opening its eyes as chaos has started to spread all over the continent.

Brace up and fight against the approaching darkness for a chance to survive.

Objective: 1. Attend the City Lord's Summons.(Completed)

Objective: 2. Choose a Gate to protect.(Completed)

Hidden Objective: 1. Talk to the City Lord and become the guardian of a Gate.(Completed)

Objective: 3. Defend the gates after the start of the war.(Completed)

Objective 4: Attend the Award Ceremony.

The Award Ceremony was going to be held in the afternoon today so we still had a few hours left.

I went and got refreshed and took a bath before Veena was up.

By the time I came out, she was already dressed and preparing for breakfast and Shiroe was there too.

We sat down together for breakfast and discussed our future plans.

"So….you were followed by people when you came here?" I asked Shiroe who nodded as he took a bite of his pancakes.

"This was to be expected as we stood out too much in the World Mission. People were bound to notice."

"I am not worried about them noticing us. What I am worried about is what they would do about it." Shiroe said.

"Oh….do you mean try to discover our so-called secret?" I asked and he nodded again.

"You have no idea how persistent people can be. Even in my gaming days, we were hounded by people who wanted to know how we cleared such high level raids."

"Any suggestions on what we should do?" I asked. 

"To be honest, I am not good with these things. Kanami was the one who took care of the people and did most of the talking."

"So no ideas?" I asked.

"Well….it's not like there are no ideas….I just don't know how effective they will be." He confessed.

"Let's hear it. Maybe it will give us some hint on what to do." I asked.

"We can….give them what they want?" He said finally.

"Huh?"

"Well, from what I am imagining, most of them will want to know how we did what we did….so we just disclose the information. We don't need to give them anything personal but the information about the quest is something we can relay as it doesn't have any use anymore."

I raised an eyebrow at his suggestion and he explained further.

"The only reason we could even do so many things was because you saved that girl in the Knight Class Advancement Quest. Without it, we probably wouldn't have been able to do anything and have to fight normally like other people. In a way, it was a factor of luck. Then again, it could be a unique case due to us being the first team who cleared that quest which would mean we were just faster than everyone else."

I nodded understanding his reasoning.

"As for how we hunt….well, it's not as if they are some insane game breaking cheat methods. The only reason we could do so is because of our personal skill levels, teamwork and focused grinding to level up. Even if they knew, they would probably not be able to replicate it."

Yes.

It's not like no one is going to figure out that using Chili Powder on monsters works as well. People are already using baits and other items made by Herbalists. We were just the first to use them and that gave us an advantage and our lead over everyone else.

"I think Shiroe's suggestions are quite good." Veena spoke for the first time in the discussion and we looked at her.

Seeing us focused on her, she elaborated further. "Tell me what we were discussing the day before yesterday?"

I remembered and answered. "About how to make a guild."

"Exactly. We can use this information as an attraction for people to join our side." She said and it was actually a good plan.

"That's right." Shiroe nodded. "I can imagine many players, at least the lower level ones, would totally gather around us for such things. Remember, even basic information and class advancement information were up for sale."

"And that's not all." Veena continued. "Remember our situation."

I looked at her confused.

"In the game, trapped, fighting for a chance to get out….that situation." She rolled her eyes, making me blush. "Anyways, our main goal is to get out of this game by beating it….and the more players….the better chance we have to do so. I think giving other people this basic information and ways to hunt more efficiently….we are enabling the lower level players to level up quickly and thus increase the chance of us beating the game."

That….makes a lot of sense.

Till now, I had been considering myself alone but as we know….it's almost impossible to beat an MMO alone.

Especially this one, where we weren't exactly competing against one another but rather the game itself.

The more players who are higher level, the more access we will have to stronger people and the more the chance to clear the game.

"Anyways, we can spread the news after we make our guild and use it to attract people as Shiroe said."

"Yeah….about making a guild." Shiroe suddenly spoke and we looked at the man. "Apparently it's not that easy."

"Huh? Don't we have to just sign up our names with the City Lord?" I asked.

"No. I used the time yesterday to talk with some of the high level Knights and find out more information. We can form official teams by just registering at the Adventurer's Guild but to make a guild, we need several other things. I was confusing the two earlier."

And then he went on to bring a piece of pen and paper and make a list.

"One member in the Sixth Tier or higher as the Guild Leader."

I knew that already but there were other ways too. I had read the information the first time I had visited the Hunter's Lodge. While I didn't read the Guild part further, I knew there were other guilds too.

And sure enough Shiroe continued. "Good thing there are other ways to get past that but the conditions become stringent."

"We would need to satisfy several other conditions. First, we would need someone to be at least a Fifth Tier. We can soon get that covered with you." He ticked off the first one.

Yes, I just needed to get two more levels for the Fifth Tier so it can be done.

"Second, we need a property, possibly a house or building as the official base of the Guild."

That….will be hard.

"Can we rent it?" I asked.

"Well, there were no mentions of having a permanent address so I guess rented places will work too."

"That's doable."

We did have enough to rent a house for two years or so even before the whole raid and that amount has only increased during the raid due to all the drops and whole trade we did of the healing items.

"Lastly, we need official permission from the City Lord and the country to establish a guild. This is the hardest part as generally people have to make some huge contribution towards the country to be allowed this….or just pay one million gold coins and get the Guild Order."

"How much?!" I asked, stunned.

"Yeah….I was shocked too. I guess they want people to make contributions towards the country rather than just pay their way into making guilds. It will probably be some quest or something." He explained.

I was still trying to comprehend the concept of one million gold coins.

Fucking hell, that would take us years….

"But hey, there are apparently several benefits of having guilds too. The guy couldn't tell me everything in detail but guilds can be upgraded by levels too. Bronze, Silver, Gold Ranked Guilds. Each of them supposedly grants some form of blessing as he called it, to the Guild Members."

"Blessing?"

"I guess it must be some kind of bonus stats or buffs or something…." Shiroe shrugged.

How much and what kind of buffs are we talking about?" I asked, suddenly interested.

Shiroe shook his head. "No idea. But it doesn't exactly matter, does it. Any kind of extra and free buff will attract people to join our guild."

"And not many people will be able to make guilds so it will be hard for anyone to compete with us." Veena added.

"True. That means, next up we have to put the hunt for a Guild Order on the list of things to do. I said.

"Yes. But even then, we can always try to socialise with other people and try to form an unofficial guild of sorts." Veena said and we agreed.

We discussed some more things before it was time to go to the Town Square to attend the Award Ceremony.