“Let’s go,” Fayte said.

  They exited through the only door, traveled up a flight of stairs, and emerged into the guild hall of the Guild Association. Outside of the employees who worked there, Adam, Aris, Fayte, Kureha, Lilith, Susan, and Titania were the only ones present. According to Fayte, only the Pleonexia Family had formed a guild on this continent aside from them.

  Clarise was standing in her usual spot behind the counter along with the other workers. Her eyes brightened when she spotted them, a smile split her face, and she raised her hand to wave them over. The group traveled to her. She clasped her hands and bowed her head when they reached her.

  “Welcome to the Guild Association, all of you. I’m guessing you’re here for a new quest?” she asked.

  “Yes, though we want something different from the ones we have taken thus far,” Fayte said.

  “Oh?” Clarise cocked her head to the side.

  “We want a quest that will yield a high number of experience points. I don’t mind if we don’t make as much money. Do you have anything like that?” she asked.

  “Hmm.” Clarise crossed her arms and hummed in thought. “We do have a few quests like that… but these quests are far above your current level. I can’t really recommend taking them.”

  “May we see them?” asked Fayte.

  “Well… I suppose you can take a look at them,” Clarise said after a moment’s hesitation.

  Quests in Age of Gods were listed by the optimal level needed to complete them. They were often grouped into levels of five, with the lowest quests being 10 to 15 levels, and the highest currently being 45 to 50 levels. Adam didn’t know if 50 was the level cap, or if it meant there wouldn’t be any higher-ranked quests until someone reached level 50.

  They followed Clarise to the same office where Fayte signed the contract that made their guild official. Everyone sat down on the couches. Adam found himself sitting between Aris and Susan. He didn’t know how that happened since Susan tended to stick next to Fayte like glue, but when he looked her way, she offered a tentative smile even as she blushed. He smiled back.

  “Here are the current highest-level quests we can offer,” Clarise said as she came back from the desk and placed a stack of papers on the coffee table. She leaned back with a frown and placed her left leg over her right. “I normally would never even let you see these quests until you reached an appropriate level, but you’ve all proven that you can take on quests far above your current levels.”

  This has to be our Reputation at work.

  Reputation was, in a nutshell, the opinion people had about a person as a result of social evaluation on a set criterion based on their performance. Completing quests and killing monsters with a 1-Star or above ranking were the easiest ways to accumulate Reputation. If a person’s reputation was high enough, they could be granted quests above their current level, gain more favors from merchants, and receive higher rewards for the same quest than someone who had a lower reputation.

  Their average Reputation as a guild was currently 1.2 million. That was more than high enough for Clarise to decide they could accept quests above their level.

  Fayte grabbed a paper from the top stack. It was a type of papyrus paper or maybe something made from goat skin. Lacking in the perfectly sharp edges and smooth surface of paper in the real world, this was yellowed with age and had a crinkled feel.

  “A powerful monster army is threatening our village. Please send your strongest warriors past haste to help us. Reward: ten million experience points, one hundred thousand ability points, and two million gold coins. Level required to participate: Forty-five to fifty,” Fayte read out loud. She glanced down at the bottom of the page. “It says this must be completed in four days. What happens if no one accepts the quest?”

  “If no one accepts the quest within four days, then Solum’s mayor will deploy his army to quell the monsters. That’s what we have been doing since before the otherworlders arrived. However, doing this puts a massive strain on our forces. Only a few of our numbers are at the level required to accept quests like this, so we always end up losing a lot of people.” Clarise paused, then leaned over and cupped a hand to her mouth as if about to share a secret. “The last time a monster army appeared, our army and the entire village was wiped out.”

  “Do monster armies appear often?” asked Aris.

  “Quite often, though most of them aren’t very powerful,” Clarise confessed. “This particular army just happens to be incredibly strong. All of them are level 40 and above. There’s also an entire army of them, so you can assume there are around ten to twenty thousand.”

  “… Let’s set this one aside for now.” Fayte placed the quest on the table before picking up another one. “Quests like that usually require either multiple medium-sized guilds to form a raid party or a larger guild to accept the quest. We only have seven members, so I’m not sure we’re equipped to deal with this.”

  “What about this one?” asked Aris before clearing her throat and reading off the quest she had grabbed. “Help. A ship full of undead pirates is attacking Hargeon Harbor. Please find this ship and destroy it. Reward: twelve million experience points, five hundred thousand ability points, and two million gold coins. Level required to participate: 45 to 50.”

  “We might be able to do that one. It also offers more experience points as a reward,” Adam said.

  “Which means it is probably even more difficult than the monster army quest,” Fayte added.

  “The monsters are probably at a higher level than the ones we’ll face if we go up against the monster army, but there will be less of them.” Adam rubbed his jaw in thought. “The ships used in this world are galleons. They’re typically around five hundred tons. That means they’ll have a total of about one hundred and eighty men. If we assume every pirate is at level 50, then we should be able to defeat them if we play it smart.”

  “Hmmm. Where is Hargeon Harbor?” asked Fayte.

  “It’s about ten days east of here,” Clarise supplied helpfully.

  “So it would take ten days to reach.” Fayte grimaced. “Let’s add it to the maybe pile.”

  Adam understood where Fayte was coming from. Ten days in the game world was the same as ten days in the real world, meaning they wouldn’t be gaining experience for ten whole days. In that time, who knew how much experience the other players would gain. Of course, given how hard it was for players in this game to level up, Adam imagined Levon and the others were in the same boat, but the worry that they might be overtaken was always present.

  They went through several more quests, but all of them were either too difficult or too far away. Trying to hide his frustration, Adam reached out to the last quest on the table, glanced at it, and nearly did a double-take.

  “A dungeon with unknown but powerful monsters has recently been discovered. The soldiers Mayor Paxton sent in to investigate never returned. Your job is to investigate the dungeon and, if possible, clear it. Reward: Thirty million experience points, five million ability points, and eight million gold coins. Level required to participate: 45 to 50.”

  “That sounds like the most dangerous job present,” Titania said with a dry voice.

  “But it’s also the closest one here. It says the dungeon is only located three days away. Also, thirty million experience points are enough to let you, Aris, Susan, and Lilith level up with a single quest. I think we should take it,” Adam defended his choice.

  “I don’t know…” Fayte bit her lip. There was a heavy risk involved with a quest like this. At the same time, this was easily the best quest they could ever hope to receive. It was true that a quest like this would let everyone but Adam, Titania, and Kureha level up.

  “I think we should do it,” Aris said.

  “Why am I not surprised you agree with Adam?” Titania asked, rolling her eyes.

  “Because you know Adam is right?” Aris offered.

  “Because you’re both idiots,” Titania shot back.

  “I also believe we should accept this quest,” Lilith said in a quiet voice.

  “You are just as bad as Aris!” Titania snapped.

  “Let’s hold a vote. All those in favor of accepting this quest, raise your hand,” Fayte said.

  Neither Fayte nor Titania raised their hands, but Adam, Lilith, and Aris did raise their hands. A fourth hand suddenly rose into the air, causing everyone to look at Susan, whose shoulders were scrunched as she timidly looked at everyone present.

  “Su?” Fayte spoke in a questioning tone like she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

  “W-we’ll never get anywhere if we don’t do something,” Susan defended herself. “We need to get stronger, right? I’m aware there will be risks involved, but if we take the safe route, we’ll never be any stronger than everyone else. Wasn’t it because we took so many risks that you and Lilith gained your hidden classes?”

  “I… yes, you’re right,” Fayte said at last, sighing. “I forgot that completing our goals was going to come with high risks. If I can’t afford to take risks now, I’ll never be able to take them later when I really need to. Okay, we will take this quest.”

  “Are you all sure about this?” asked Clarise. “I know I’m the one who’s letting you take on this quest, but please understand there’s a very high risk involved. You otherworlders might not die, but you’ll still drop an entire level if you’re defeated.”

  “We’re sure,” Fayte said for all of them.

  “Guess that’s it then,” Titania lamented with a groan. “Why oh why did I join this group?”

  With their quest decided, the group traveled back to the guild house. Their goal now was to go through their inventory and select what items they should bring on this quest. Dealing with logistics was important even for small guilds like them.

  The vault was a large space filled to the brim with shelves and chests, all of which looked stuffed to bursting with items. Chests contained items like potions. Each chest was made with some kind of magic that allowed them to hold more of a single item than any inventory space ever could. The chestmaker who built them said that each chest could hold up to ten thousand of any one item.

  “We should definitely take [high-grade health potions] and [high mana potions] with us, but what else do we need?” asked Fayte as she pulled [high-grade health potions] from the chest and set them on the ground. They were elaborate vials filled with sparkling red liquid. Gold traversed the glass and held the cap in place. The [high mana potions] that Susan was removing from the chest next to Fayte’s looked the same, but they contained blue liquid instead of red.

  [High-grade health potions] recovered a total of +1,500 health and [high mana potions] restored +1,000 magic points. They were currently the most powerful recovery items Adam had seen. He hoped they would find something like an [elixir] or similar item, however, since even the [advanced health potion] was not powerful enough to restore him to full health after he used [Blood Sacrifice].

  “We’ll want to carry tents, of course,” Adam said. “If we can clear out a spawning point of monsters, we can use the tent to remain safe when we log out.”

  “We should also bring buffing items,” Aris added. “I know we have Titania and her songs, and they work great, but we might need some extra oomph if we end up facing a super strong enemy.”

  Adam had already pulled out fifty [tents]. A person’s inventory could only hold ten. Since he didn’t know how long it would take them to clear this dungeon, he felt it was best if all of them carried the maximum number they could

  “We should also have [cure-alls] on us. We’ve got enough that all of us can carry one hundred each.” After removing all the [high-grade health potions] they would need, Fayte moved over to the chest containing the [cure-alls] and began removing those as well. She had spared no expense in making sure they were fully stocked on every recovery item currently available.

  Once they were stocked up on every item they needed, the group sans Titania and Kureha logged off. It was twelve o’clock by the time they finished stocking up. They all needed to eat lunch.

  As Adam opened his eyes and surveyed the living room, he realized why Age of Gods’ creator had decided to implement a time compression system. Given how realistic this game was, it would be very difficult to complete quests in a timely fashion. By compressing time so one day on the outside equaled ten or even twenty days on the inside, players could take on quests that would involve traveling fast distances and complete them all within just one or two real-time days.

  “Mmmmmaaaaaaaaaah…”

  Stretching beside him as she sat up, Aris released a loud yawn and raised her arms above her head. She smacked her pink lips several times. When she noticed Adam watching her, she smiled and leaned over to kiss him. Sitting on Aris’s opposite side, Fayte frowned and looked away.

  “Adam… I’m hungry,” Aris said, her stomach gurgling at the same time.

  “I’ll make something,” Fayte offered.

  “I can make something,” Adam said, standing up.

  Fayte raised a hand and smiled. “You’re always cooking for us now. Let me do the cooking this time. I have to show off my skills every once in a while, or you two might forget how skilled of a chef I am.”

  Adam had been cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner ever since Aris had woken up. That was because he wanted to be the one who cooked for Aris. It was something he had been doing for several years now, and it was basically his pride that he could cook for the girl he loved. But he did recognize that Fayte also enjoyed cooking.

  He gracefully backed down. “Okay. I guess I’ll sit here and wait patiently.”

  Fayte looked pleased and said, “I’ll have lunch made soon. Why don’t you two just play some Street King V while you wait?”

  “Ooooh! That’s a good idea,” Aris said, sending a grin Adam’s way. “I still haven’t gotten my revenge on you for my previous loss.”

  “If you think you can beat me, you’re more than welcome to try,” Adam said with a smile.

  “Oh, it’s on now! Let’s do this!” Aris pumped a fist into the air before walking to the television and setting up the old-school console.

  The rest of Adam’s time in the real world was spent beating Aris at Street King and eating the delicious sandwiches Fayte made.

  Dangerous Waters

  It took two days to reach the dungeon mentioned in the quest. Adam, Aris, Fayte, Lilith, and Susan traveled east just like the map told them to. None of them had ever been out this way. Watershore. Hope Village. The Deadlands. Even the magic academy. All of it was located to the west of Solum.

  Much of their journey took them across a vast plain that seemed to stretch on forever, though that was something of an oxymoron since they ended up entering a forest after a day of travel. The group rode on horseback to speed up their travels. Even then, it still took a long time before they reached the forest spoken of in the quest.

  Everyone logged out after Adam set up a [tent] for Kureha and Titania. His fairy companion had complained about how they were leaving again and Kureha whined, but it wasn’t like they could stick around. Their bodies didn’t stop working just because they were playing video games. They had to use the restroom, eat, hydrate, and move around or their bodies would grow lazy.

  Adam and Aris made dinner that night—orange-glazed pork chops with salad, red wine, and a small parfait for dessert. Fayte had complimented them on their cooking.

  “You two really are quite the pair. Even your cooking complements each other.”

  While Aris had beamed brightly at the words like she’d been paid the highest compliment, Adam had seen the loneliness in Fayte’s eyes. He wondered what he could do to make her less lonely. There was nothing he could think of, however. His mind kept drawing a blank every time. He’d only briefly entertained the thought of trying to set her up with one of his assassins, but the very thought made his blood run cold. Besides, Fayte was currently trying to get out of a marriage. She didn’t need someone meddling in her relationships right now.

  After getting some sleep, the group logged back into Age of Gods and entered the forest. The forest’s name was the Weeping Willow Forest. According to rumors Fayte had gathered when preparing for the journey (courtesy of Clarise), the Weeping Willow Forest was known as such because of the harmless [Weeping Willow] monster that made this place its home. There was only one of them located deep within the forest’s very center. If someone found the [Weeping Willow], they would be awarded its sap, which gave someone one thousand skill points when ingested—or so the rumor went.

  While one thousand skill points wasn’t a lot of Adam, plenty of other players would kill to get one hundred skill points. It was more than enough to upgrade the average skill several times.

  Of course, no one had seen this monster in many years. Adam wasn’t even sure it existed.

  Many of the monsters located within the forest were around level 30 to 37. As expected of a forest, the monsters there mostly consisted of plant types like the [succubus flower] and animal types such as the [man eating bear], but there were also the [treants]. They were technically a plant. In fact, [treants] were nothing more than gigantic trees. However, according to Titania’s [Scan], they were listed as a wood-type monster.

  Among the many varieties of monsters, the [treant] was the least numerous, but also the most dangerous. They were massive trees over twenty stories tall. A single swing from their branches did around -1,000 points of damage and was guaranteed to knock a player off their feet. Every [treant] had the same glowing red eyes, a gaping maw in their bark like that of a snarling mouth, and numerous roots and branches they used to attack with. The non-star ones could only use physical attacks. However, there was the occasional 1-Star [treant] who could use magic.

  None of that mattered to Adam and his party.

  Having dealt with monsters far more powerful than this, the group made short work of all the monsters within the forest and continued on without much delay. It was a far cry from when they had journeyed to the magic academy and struggled against the [storm wolf] monster, which tended to hunt in packs. Adam was sure that if they chose to return that way, they would make short work of the [storm wolf] pack that had ambushed them last time.