Second World

”Attack? By who?” Jack asked.

”Who do you think? The coalition! We need you here as soon as possible,” Bowler replied.

He also received Jeannyʼs message at this time which turned into a chat room. ”Hi, Storm, Iʼm with Bowler here. Glad that we finally can contact you again. As Bowler mentioned, the coalition is targeting us. They have learned about our Guild Headquarter and its function. They also know that they can take it over as long as they destroy our headquarters ʼ core.”

”When have they started the attacks? What is the exact situation at the moment? Are you still holding out?” Jack asked.

Jeanny replied, ”They started making their moves once our protection period is over. Each guild sent its best troops to attack.. Only one guild will take over the headquarters so they were not planning to cooperate. Itʼs a good thing we have a few native soldiers trained already at the time, so we managed to repel their attacks.”

”Yeah, you should see their faces when they were attacked by these native soldiers. It was priceless!” Bowler sent his messages. Jack could imagine the guy laughing at the other end.

”So, you managed to kill many of their members?”

”We did. But after that fight with you in Crestfall Plain, they have wised up. All of them wore Amulet of Rebirth before a big operation,” Jeanny replied. ”After that, they stopped. We thought the native soldiers have deterred them and they have given up. But then many of our guild members who are outside our territory got attacked by the coalition members. They then resumed trying to get into our headquarters. Small scale harassments, they changed tactics to test our defenses, and they had started to work together again by then.”

”Now our members can only do their activity inside our guild territory. One-third of the new members had quit already because of this,” Bowler added.

”They had started already since the protection period is over? I thought John said everything is fine and nothing that I need to worry about.”

”That guy is too stubborn to admit that he needs help. Also, at that time, the situation is looking to be still manageable. Now, the coalition is already in an open war with us. We have had several more serious skirmishes with them these few days. John had managed to repel them with his strategies using the native soldiers, but it seemed that they are done testing the water. They are currently in the process of gathering all their members for one full force assault.”

”When will they attack?”

”From the information we have managed to gather, they should be making their attack tomorrow morning.”

ʼTomorrow morning… Should still be enough time,ʼ Jack thought.

”I will be there tomorrow morning,” Jack sent the messages to the two.

”Bro, you are not coming over now?” Bowler asked.

”There is still another thing I need to do, it will better ensure our winning chance,” Jack replied.

”You do what you must, we will try to hold on until then,” Jeanny said.

”Thanks, I wonʼt make you wait long.”

After finished with the messages, he turned in the direction of Themetus city. ”Letʼs go, we are short on time.”

Pandora dashed forward with superb speed, leaving a long streak of fire in her wake. It took her only roughly two hours before the view of a large settlement was seen from afar. Jack saw that the size of the city they were approaching was not less big than the capital. It was just missing the impressive palace, but in the palaceʼs absence, there was a tall narrow tower at the center of the city. At the top of this tower was a very bright light that continued to shine. It was as if a second sun to the cityʼs surroundings.

This was the second main city in this world that Jack had witnessed. Its splendor was not any less than the capital Thereath. Domon had told them that this was also the city where he had appeared after he went through the gate from the Tutorial phase. Many other outworlders had also come to this city with him.

Jack saw on his radar many blue dots around as they got into the vicinity of the city. Many players who were traveling or grinding monsters also stopped and turned to look at the extremely fast streak of fire that was rushing towards the city. Some even turned and ran back to the city, expecting this was some kind of an event where a monster attack a city.

Jack stopped right in front of the city gate entrance. There were some soldiers standing guard there, similar to Thereath. They were blocking the entrance when they saw a high-moving steed coming at them.

The players near that city gate looked on in awe as they witnessed Pandoraʼs remarkable appearance, but they didnʼt dare to approach. They experienced some kind of unsettling and intimidating jitters every time they gazed at the Nightmare.

Jack and Domon climbed down from Pandora before Jack unsummoned her. Seeing that they were just some outworlders, the soldiers parted and allowed passage for the two. Jack took this chance to ask the soldiers for the place he was looking for. The players continued to watch on the two as Jack and Domon went inside the city.

Themetus was a bustling city, not less crowded than Thereath. There were as many players and natives as there were in the capital. Also many shops around. Jack, however, didnʼt have the time to look around. He had an emergency at hand. He needed to be fast. The two went directly in the direction provided by the soldiers, with Peniel flying close to them. Jack was looking for a carriage as they went, but find none, so he just settle with walking.

While he was passing through, Jack did not forget to use Inspect on most of the players. He was rather down to find that the mainstream players were already at level 29 and 30. There were even a few that were level 31. The level advantage he had gained from the expedition had been nullified. He was even behind some of the top players now. One solace was, he did not yet see any elite class on these players yet, even the one with level 31.

He opened the guild interface and looked at the members. It seemed most of the core members that had followed him in the expedition were still ahead of the mainstream players. They were around level 32 and 33. Their advantages had also shortened, probably because they focused more on developing the guild rather than leveling up these past few weeks. There was also the matter of the coalition harassing them, so their development was more constricted.

One member surprised him though, Fierce Flame, she was at level 34 and was an Elite Marksman, one of the elite classes branched out from Archer class. So, the girl had been the first one in the guild to have become an elite class. Come to think of it, she was always a lone combatant, went off and doing things as she liked, just like him. So probably she focused more on developing herself rather than joining the group activity in developing the guild.

Seeing that, Jack was more determined to succeed in his elite class trial. As the top combatant of the guild, it would be an embarrassment if he was behind the others.

After a long walk, they arrived outside of a huge structural complex that was extremely similar to the League of Championʼs building in Thereath. Jack looked closer and found that this building was indeed also owned by the League of Champions. Four buildings were situated outside the central structure connected by a long enclosed passageway. Each of the four buildings had its own entrances.

Each of these buildings was the academy where one could request a trial to become the elite class. The four buildings corresponded to the four elite classes branched out from the Warrior class. Jack went first to the one that was meant for the Weapon Master class trial. The building had sculptures of multiple kinds of melee weapons surrounding it.

”Okay, this is where you go in,” Jack said to Domon. They had discussed beforehand what was the most suitable elite class for Domon. The three of them agreed the Weapon Master class was practically made for the old man, considering that he was proficient in all types of melee weapons.

”Just follow the instruction when you go in,” Jack said.

”Instructions? Hm…” Domon mumbled.

”Donʼt worry, I will follow him,” Peniel said. ”Your trial location is closed by, so I will be able to aid him while you go over there.”

”Okay, thatʼs a good arrangement as well,” Jack said, then added, ”ah, before that, let me add you to the guild first.”

Jack sent his grandfather a guild invite, he then guided him through the process of accepting the invitation. Afterward, Jack told them to wait for him after they finished. But just in case if Jack had to leave first, he informed Domon that he should ask around for a place called a Zone portal and used that place to teleport to a place called Heavenly Citadel.

After giving out his instructions, he watched the two went inside the Weapon Master Academy building. Only after the two disappeared inside the building, did he open his message. He had heard a message notification while he was still talking to his grandfather. It was from Jeanny. ʼHad the emergency escalated?ʼ Jack wondered as he read the message.

”Who is this Domon you just recruited,” Jeanny asked. ”He had two talents!”

ʼOh? Itʼs not about the emergency,ʼ Jack thought. ”He is someone close to me. How do you know he had two talents?”

😉