Dream Avenue

Liam watched his friends fading into existence one by one.

"Great to see you again, my friends!"

"Ready to establish our guild?"

"I'm hyped!"

Cyclone looked around anxiously. As soon as all the original members were back, she urged them to hurry up:

"Go, go! Our guild needs to be the first!"

Everyone agreed with the young woman. The honor of being the first guild couldn't be described with words.

"Mirage, hey! Are you listening?!"

Liam reacted suddenly, his absentminded eyes focusing back on Cyclone.

"Sorry. I just received a message."

"What message could be important right now?"

"C just sent the 5.000.000 credits Star Gazer owed me."

Chaos erupted immediately. Some party members gloated Star Gazer's misfortune, some congratulated Liam, and some wondered how the transaction worked.

The last point was also headache-inducing for Liam as C withheld the money until he gave her a legitimate bank account. His black credit card was not enough anymore.

"Guys. Guys!", interrupted Cyclone suddenly. "I'm also happy for Mirage, but we really need to go now! Don't you want to be the first to establish a guild?"

Cyclone's words convinced her friends easily. The honor of being the first guild couldn't be put into words. Seeing this, Liam didn't harp on the issue and led everyone towards the guild association.

But as soon as they left their property, Liam's friends slowed down, marveling at the luxurious building which had appeared next to their headquarter.

"I remember this being a construction site, right? What happened?"

"Well, they finished it. Now it's an auction house.", explained Liam. "But we can study it later. Let's find the guild association first!"

"You're right."

Noticing the bulk of the players slowly gathering in their direction, the party left hastily before being stuck in the crowd. They walked a short distance towards the nephilim's wing-formed mountain, approaching a compound not far away.

The guild association didn't look much different from the typical buildings in Duabalis City. It had nothing of the grandeur felt from the auction house.

Instead, it consisted of a compound including multiple low houses, made and decorated from natural materials.

Liam led his party to enter the central building. Most of the interior was taken over by multiple registration desks. Noticing that a few players were already talking to the workers, Cyclone immediately grew anxious:

"Mirage, we are late! Do something!"

"Don't worry. We should be fine."

"How can you say that?!"

At this moment an annoyed voice answered her coming from one player close to the reception:

"What do you mean 'not eligible'?!

We came here to register our guild 'Land of the lawless'! You f*cking do your job now or I'll smash this place in!"

"Sir, please calm down. Your guild doesn't fulfill the necessary requirements. Please come back in a while."

Watching the scene, Cyclone let out a deep breath but then another worry came to her mind.

"Mirage, do we fulfill the necessary requirements?", whispered the young woman.

"Of course!"

"Then why are we still standing here?!"

Liam sighed, throwing Cyclone a side-eye.

"Aren't you our guild leader? It's your job to talk to the assistant."

"Oh…"

Cyclone smiled wryly, grabbing Balm by the arm, and approaching one of the receptions.

A kindly smiling human woman received them warmly:

"Welcome, adventurers. How can I help you?"

"I want to register…"

"Don't even try it! These idiots refuse to work! Hey, what…"

A rough male voice suddenly interrupted Cyclone. The guild leader of Land of the Lawless spewed poison at everyone coming close.

But just as he was about to draw his weapons, two soldiers standing by the door walked over, gripping his arms with steel-like hands.

"Hey, let me go… Hey! F*ck you NPCs!"

The party watched with question marks in their eyes as the man was dragged out of the building, his struggles proving futile.

"My apologies, adventurers. This is not a daily occurrence in our guild association."

"Ah, no, that's not your fault.", responded Balm hastily, putting on a polite smile.

"Thank you. So, back on track. What can I do for you?"

"Right. We came to register our guild."

"Great! Please fill out this form."

The receptionist took out a piece of paper and a quill from below her desk, pushing it over.

The form asked a few questions like the names of the guild leaders and at least ten members. However, one collum surprised Cyclone and Balm, which requested them to designate a plot of land as the headquarters of their guild.

Now everyone realized where Liam's confidence came from.

Cyclone and Balm dutifully filled in all the information and handed the form back to the receptionist.

Immediately a prompt appeared in front of the party members asking them to confirm their belonging to the Dream Avenue Guild and telling them that they were prohibited from leaving the guild within the next two months.

Naturally everyone agreed, which instantly replaced the message with a new one.

[Congratulations, Player! Guild 'Dream Avenue' has been created successfully! C wishes you success on your journey!]

Bright smiles bloomed on the friends' faces as they looked at each other with anticipation for the future.

Simultaneously an announcement rang in their ears.

[Server Announcement:]

[Please congratulate Dream Avenue on being the first guild to be established! A feat worthy of being remembered.]

[Server Announcement:]

[Basic guild information can now be looked up in the guild association.]

[Guild quests will now be issued.]

[Guild wars will begin in seven days.]

But it still didn't stop there for Cyclone and Balm, as C had another surprise for them.

[Accomplished achievement: Teamwork makes the dream work.]

[Received title: Guild master]

[Effect: You are rewarded with 'Blueprint: Rank 1 Guild Hall']

[Even the gods and devils smile upon the first guild in all of Crunaboul.]

Cyclone stiffly turned towards her best friend, smiling at Balm:

"Hey, Balm. Your hands are shivering!"

"So are yours…"

The two women looked at each other before breaking out in bright laughter, hugging each other tightly. The party shared the happy moment with them, congratulating each other. The global chat was going crazy, but the friends ignored it.

Suddenly the guild association's door opened, and a familiar man came in.

"Congratulations! Sorry for being late!"

"Sun's Knight! Morning!"

Everyone greeted their guild's manager when Cyclone approached him with a mischievous grin.

"Hehe, manager. Don't you think some punishment is in order for coming late?"

"You're right! Sorry, guild leader. What do you have in mind?"

Looking at the man's serious face, Cyclone was immediately disarmed.

"Ehm… well, I wanted you to begin setting up the guild system…"

"So, you want me to do my job?"

"Yes…"

"Sure…"

The situation turned somewhat awkward, prompting Balm to ask Liam how to navigate the guild menu.

He patiently explained to her the basic points like guild rank and guild points, before telling her to give managing rights to Sun's Knight.

The latter quickly went to work, diving into the menus, aided by the game's and Liam's explanations. Knowing that this would take some time the party went back to their headquarters.

On the way Cyclone and Balm were swarmed with requests from people wanting to join their guild. However, Sun's Knight told them to hold off for now.

The manager planned to set up a comprehensive system, separating guild members in categories.

Basic members would be placed from Tier 4 to tier 1. Tier 4 members were loose players without wages but also without responsibilities while Tier 1 players were basically formal employees.

Furthermore, they needed special categories like alchemists, blacksmiths, or core teams like the original Hotpot.

But to do all this Sun's Knight needed some trusty players to interview the potential members, which had to be approved by Cyclone and Balm.

The two women slowly realized how extensive managing a guild could be. Luckily the party members reassured them, offering their full support.

When they came back to their headquarter, the plaza was already teeming with players. A huge crowd initially swarmed towards the auction house, eager to explore it.

But at some point, a player spotted the inconspicuous shield close by. Only then did the crowd collectively remember some news from a few days ago.

Chaos broke out when more players with all kinds of intentions arrived, sieging the plot of land as they found themselves unable to enter it.

The party spotted the situation from afar, freezing in place. Before someone noticed them, they hastily turned around and gathered within a small tavern.

"Great! We just became a guild, and we already find ourselves blocked out from our own headquarters!", complained Cyclone, angrily shaking her fist.

"Don't worry, I'm sure this will settle in a couple of hours."

Suddenly Silver Blade interrupted with a strange expression:

"Oh, guys…"

"Silver? What is it?"

"Final Fend just wrote me. Our guild members are stuck…"

"This… insolent!", exclaimed Cyclone. "Is there nothing we can do? Can people always come and block our door?!"

"We can build a teleporter.", explained Liam.

"Great! How do we do this?"

"Well, first we need an architect to construct out guild hall. Everything else comes later."

"Why do you get my hopes up…"