After the two fights against two world bosses a leisurely period followed for Liam and his friends. Well, except for Bloody Edge who could be seen in the gym every free second to the point where his friends were worried that he might get injured if this continued.
Other than that, everyone settled well in the guild house. A bunch of teenagers and young adults living in one house together naturally caused much chaos and amusing moments. Be it Cynthia always trying to catch Liam and Silva sparring or Kel falling asleep during movie night and only waking up after the friends stacked more than five pillows on his head.
But the friends were not only having fun but also took care of their responsibilities. They made great use of their state-of-the-art gym, constantly improving their skills and movement. Silva even stated that she felt that the fourth stage of martial arts, Blood Strengthening, was not far away. Those with some knowledge about martial arts like Rachel and Liam were amazed and could only say that Silva was indeed a genius.
After the fourth stage of martial arts came the fifth stage, starlight stage. Someone reaching the fifth stage would be called a starlight master, respected in the entire martial arts circle. Their strength would be about equal to a well-equipped level 100 player. However, while the path for players ended there, the path of martial artists was only beginning.
Between a newly advanced starlight master and a ten-star starlight master was a massive chasm. With every stage it became more difficult to advance. It is said that if one reached the stage of a starlight master after the age of thirty there was no hope to ever become a ten-star starlight master. Only a starlight master below the age of 25 had a real hope of ever reached the highest rank, the pinnacle of the universe.
For example, Edward Edel Colville, current head of the Colville family, was a nine-star starlight master. He reached the rank of a new starlight master at the age of 27 and it was difficult to say if he could take that last step.
But now Silva was close to advancing to the fourth stage at the age of 20 or 21 at the latest. There was hope to become a starlight master before turning 26. If she managed to do so, she would receive even more favour from the family. Successful both outside and inside the game chances would be high for her to become the next family head. However, all of that was still years away.
Silva casually explained these things one day during dinner and was quickly embarrassed by the admiring eyes of her friends. After all, being close to the fourth stage still meant being a few months away.
But not only personal improvement was one of the responsibilities of the friends, but also the improvement of the guild house. After Liam's old community moved in, they gratefully took some of the basic staff positions. The daily routine allowed them to step by step get used to a regular life again. And since the gaming house wasn't opened to the public yet, there was not much pressure on them.
However, this was not enough. The guild house needed managers, accountants, electricians, and more. Especially hiring electricians proved somewhat troublesome as they faced some competition. Mara Hailey, the daughter of Doctor Merida Hailey, arrived on Falva Star. As one of the chosen ones who could communicate with C it was her job to open an experience centre where people could enter Crunaboul even without their personal console, similar to what Dream Avenue was planning. Thus, they had to fight over the skilled personal and even hire some from neighbouring planets.
On the way to opening the guild house to the public this was one of their bigger obstacles, which was actually good news. They could have encountered much worse troubles. Finally, the gaming house was set to open two weeks from now.
Meanwhile the news about the event 'War on the Void' spread, and the players were going crazy. Thanks to the increased EXP gained from quests during the event the players were charging towards level 50. It was also a good time for new players like Trey, Liam's old friend, to catch up. As more and more players reached level 50, the accumulation of preparation points sped up. There were even people queuing to get some of the more generous quests and fights broke out from time to time.
Three weeks passed and the excitement didn't decrease. Liam and his friends completed one quest after the other, reaching level 57 in the process. They almost did nothing else except for fighting one guild war which they finished in record time thanks to their opponent trolling after realizing they were against Dream Avenue.
A new day arrived. It was the start of the week, and the event was nearing its peak. Liam and his friends appeared at the guild headquarters in Duabalis. Silver Blade did a quick check on the current progress.
[Large-scale event: War on the void]
[The order faction has decided to strike at the void lingering in hell and you as adventurers have been enlisted to assist in the preparation. Your efforts have a chance of shaping the story of Crunaboul. Complete quests to gather preparation points. After the limit of points has been reached, the event will begin. Of course you will be handsomely rewarded for the points you gathered.]
[Your points: 2525]
[Preparation points: 9.963.225/10.000.000]
Without question the friends should be among the players with the most points. According to rough estimates there should be about 40.000 players above level 50, mainly thanks to the increased EXP. But most of these players were newly advanced. They wouldn't have more than a hundred points. Having more than 1000 points would already elevate one to the ranks of the top players.
However, the friends didn't rest on their laurels. One could never have too many points.
"Let's hurry up, guys! Not even forty thousand points left. That's nothing. We need to finish at least one last quest before the ten million are reached!"
Cyclone was quite anxious. Under her urgings the friends quickly left the headquarter. Yesterday evening after completing a quest the friends were surprised to find a unique quest which didn't exist before in their list. It promised a full one hundred points, more than any other quest. Of course no one wanted to let this quest slip through their fingers. After a teleport and a brief ride, they again stood in front of Lewriova.
At this time there was an even larger crowd than usual. Except for Lewriova's fans there was also many players receiving or completing quests. Lewriova didn't ignore the players this time but patiently handed out one quest after another. From gathering material for the armor of soldiers to finding clues about mighty artifacts.
Liam and his friends were hesitating what to do. But eventually they decided to push their way through. Right now, every second was important, and no one could spare consideration for others.
"Hey!"
"Are you looking for a fight?!"
"Oh, it's Hotpot!"
"Hotpot, I'm a big fan!"
"Guys, don't you see that Hotpot is trying to reach Lewriova? Make some room!"
The friends were surprised as their fame actually helped them at that moment. A few people stepped aside to make way for them. Although others were disgruntled, they were in the minority and didn't dare to stir up trouble.
"Thank you, guys! Thank you!"
"Very nice of you!"
"If you come to the opening of our gaming house, I will give you a shirt for free, okay?"
Silver Blade sighed inwardly as she heard Balm say this. She hoped that this wouldn't lead to trouble for them. Well, this was a problem for later. Now the friends reached the front of the crowd. Lewriova was handing over some rewards to another group before Silver Blade took the lead to talk with the gorgeous NPC.
"Your Holiness! We received news that you have trouble finding someone?"
"Oh, it is you, adventurers! Great, I can indeed use your help in this matter. Have you heard of Zelgor the Titan?"
Silver Blade pondered for a moment. The name sounded familiar, but she didn't know the details. Luckily, their encyclopaedia could provide a brief description. Zelgor the Titan is part of a special race with only a few members known throughout the history of Crunaboul. Long ago he became a friend of Inerwos, a prominent original nephilim. Sadly, Inerwos died while fighting the void. Since then, Zelgor has hidden himself from the world.
Nodding, Silver Blade answered Lewriova:
"Of course. The titan's fame reaches all corners of the world. How could we not have heard of him."
Lewriova's expression turned strange. Liam couldn't help but chuckle. Silver Blade realized that she might have said something wrong, but she didn't show any embarrassment. In fact, her expression was so full of confidence that Lewriova doubted whether it was her who was lacking information. The nephilim put the topic aside and continued:
"Well, this makes things easier. Before Zelgor hid himself from the world he left some notes for the broken council. In times of emergencies these notes can lead us to Zelgor. However, I don't have the time right now. Adventurers, can I hand this important task to you?"