Guild Summit

"Wow."

Sung-jin said aloud; he got surprised that the story of the Spider Hill was so deep, especially that monsters had feelings.

"I know that some monsters have intelligence, but they are few and far between. But the system makes it sounds like a petty spider could fall in love. And that it isn't normal for a spider female to kill the male; it's just nature!"

He swiped his hand across the information tab, dismissing it. He was a bit confused since it was his first time seeing this information.

"Does every dungeon have this kind of story?"

He questioned, thinking back to the previous times he conquered dungeons.

"I have never seen the 'new information' notification popup after clearing a dungeon. Maybe it has something to do with the hidden quest?"

He scratched his head.

"But I have done hidden quests before… And there weren't any notifications after them."

Sung-jin couldn't make head or tail of it, and he got frustrated about it.

"Arhh! Never mind. I will figure it out at some point."

He laid off his thoughts and turned towards the blue gate that materialized after the fight with the Spider Queen. He wasn't fully satisfied yet, and even though he had a hard time with the Spider Hill dungeon, something had caught his attention.

"The Adventurers Pants the Spider Queen dropped has a set effect, and since this dungeon isn't the hardest, maybe I can collect every piece in the set and get the bonus?"

He said, ignoring the fact that he was close to dying just a few minutes ago.

"A hidden quest can only be completed once, so the Spider Queen should be much weaker than what I fought against. The only downside of running this dungeon is that I won't get any experience by killing the mobs."

Sung-jin contemplated if it was worth running the Spider Hill dungeon just for a few armor pieces.

"The only experience I will get is from the Spider Queen and the Spider King, but the king only spawns rarely, and the queen is too low level in comparison to me that she wouldn't give much experience."

He said with a melancholy tone. He couldn't find a good reason to run the dungeon anymore, but as soon as he looked down at himself, he quickly found an excuse.

"I do need to wear something else than shoes and pants… And the clothes in town cost money… And I don't have any money… Yep, it's decided. The dungeon is free to use, meaning I will get free armor in exchange for wasting my time. So, let's go!"

Sung-jin found a reason to continue clearing the dungeon, and he hurriedly went towards the blue gate to get out and start over.

"This will take a few days, I think. I'm not guaranteed an armor drop every time, so I have to grind for a long time."

He said as he went through the gate.

…

"Everyone, quiet down!"

A woman with long dark hair, a tall and slim body, with a busty front said aloud, making the other eight people around the round table quiet down.

"As you wish, milady."

Minjun jokingly said, making a few of the members around the table giggle a bit. But Cho-hee didn't say a thing and just looked irritated at him. She quickly continued her talk when the people were done giggling.

"As you all know, we are all gathered here at Kintroies guild hall because of something important—"

She tried to get the conversation going, but she suddenly got interrupted.

"It better be important. I hope for you that the reason is a breakthrough or something, or I'm going to get mad. Do you know how far away Kintroies is?"

A big and muscular man with dark hair looked irritated at everyone around the table. He had just landed in Kintroies right before the meeting started after he had traveled across the continent. So he was a bit tired and irritated.

"Don't be so bitter, Man-shik."

A woman that looked like she could go for teen sternly put Man-shik in place.

"Please go on."

She said quickly after, signaling to Cho-hee to continue. The muscular man said nothing and just sat looking like he had got a scolding by his mom.

"Thanks, Claire."

Cho-hee started her talk again after the interruption was dealt with.

"Let me get straight into it since I don't want to bore you too much. But a few days ago, Minjun and his guild took down the world boss Fenrir, and as a result, they got this."

She reached into her inventory, pulling out a shiny crystal-looking rock. It emitted a dark blue light as she laid it in the middle of the table.

"Uh!"

A unified confusion around the table could be heard.

"It's the World Fragment. What about it?"

A middle-aged man with brown hair asked aloud the question in everyone's mind. But his question was answered right after Cho-hee laid a similar-looking stone beside the other.

"Uhh!"

The confusion got louder, and everyone looked at each other with many questions in their heads. It's the first time they had seen the World Fragment in a long while and there now being two made no sense to them.

"The world boss dropped this?"

Claire asked.

"Yes, it did. That's why I wanted this meeting with you all. And as you probably know, the first World Fragment got dropped by the dragon Vitra, back when the first generation was the only one in this world."

She said, holding the first World Fragment in her hands as she talked.

"We paid the ultimate price of a comrade for this, and we still don't know its purpose."

She said with a somber tone and made the other's flinch at the mentioning of a comrade.

"But this time, no one got hurt, only thanks to Minjun, though. But now we know that the World Fragment wasn't a coincidence, and I can confidently say that it is probably the key out of this world."

Cho-hee talked for a while about her theory, sparking up a discussion between the members.

"That's all well and good, and let's say the fragments are the key. But how many do you think there exists of these. Because if it takes five years to get two fragments, we might not be alive when everyone is collected."

The middle-aged man questioned. He was concerned about the drop rate of the World Fragments, and since world bosses only rarely spawned, it could take decades before the game was over.

"I can't answer that, Yon. But know that we have two fragments, in my opinion, we should use more time to investigate them and hopefully come closer to an answer."

Cho-hee answered to the best of her ability even though she knew nothing more than anyone else in the room.

"I think we should let the Dragon's Guild do that."

Claire came up with a proposal, but she was quickly met with critique.

"Why? I think it should be the Twinblades guild!"

Minjun objected to Claire's proposal in a high manner. But he was quickly put in place by the others.

"You do know that the Twinblades guild is the one protecting the towns? How would they be able to look for information in the wild?"

Yon interrupted him, making him sit down in his chair again.

"Yon is correct. Man-shik and his guild can't be doing a lot of dungeons, and since your guild is always so proud of being the best raid guild, why don't you just take the job?"

Cho-hee made a strong argument, and Minjun couldn't come back with any and just sit silently in his chair.

"Okay, now we know who collects information; I think I'm not needed here anymore."

Man-shik said as he stood up from his chair and walked towards the exit. The discussion had been going on for a good while, and now that they decided the Dragon guild would do the most information collection, there was no reason for him to stay anymore.

"I will go now; my guild needs me. Just call me when you have more information."

He said and walked out the door.

"Yea, good job everybody! I'm gonna go too!"

Claire said shortly after in a high spirit manner. She quickly stood up as well and said goodbye to the other guild leaders.

"We're counting on you!"

Everybody said as they left the building, leaving only Cho-hee and Minjun back.

"Arhh!"

Minjun scratched his head in frustration. He didn't want to be the information collector, but since everybody agreed, he didn't really have a choice.

"Don't worry; you just have to look more closely at the details when raiding."

Cho-hee comforted him, but it sounded more like pity to him.

"Yes, yes, I know. I will go too."

He stood up and said goodbye to Cho-hee. He was a bit unhappy as he went out the door of the guildhall.

"I would say it was a successful meeting."

Cho-hee sat back alone with a smile on her face.