Second World

”Are you on the way to the Dungeon as well?” Jeanny asked.

”I am,” Jack replied as he picked up the last loot on the ground.

”We are almost late, we better leave now,” he added.

Jeanny agreed, they then decided to go together since they were heading to the same place.

”So you all are from the Wicked Witches?” Jack asked.

”We are,” Jeanny answered.

”Will all of you enter the dungeon as well?”

”No, only a party with maximum of ten people can enter. I will be the one that enter together with Warpath and three others from our guild,” Jeanny answered. ”Them three will be securing the area around the Dungeon entrance.”

”You are the helper for the White Scarfsʼ side, right?” The female Magician asked. ”Why do you not come together with White Scarfsʼs team?”

Before Jack could answer, one of her companions had already given her conjecture, ”they did come together, right? Do you not remember he was with a team that defeated those Ogre and Cave Trolls. They must have gone to the ruins first.”

”I see,” the female Magician said as if came to realization.

”I didnʼt realize White Scarfs experts could be that strong. I always thought our guild had better experts despite lesser members than them at the moment,” the Ranger said.

Jack was amazed by their ability to weave their opinions into a story. They had asked him a question, but now they were happily chatting without even needing his answer. Jack had a feeling that they might even had forget his existence there. He didnʼt mind thought, saved himself from trying to create an explanation. He only smiled at the situation as they walked together to their destination.

When Jack saw some red dots not far to the front, he told the girls to make a detour.

”Why?” They asked. ”Our destination is straight line forward if according to the map.”

”It will be faster,” Jack said.

”How can taking a roundabout way be faster than going straight? You donʼt make any sense,” the female Magician insisted.

Jack was perplexed. He couldnʼt just tell them that he could detect hostile monsters at the front, could he? Not that they would believe him anyway.

”Could it be that your teammates who had gone ahead first, informed you to take the roundabout way?” Jeanny asked.

”Yes! They said there are monsters in front, so we will get hold up if we head straight. It is better if we avoid them,” Jack immediately played along. He was thankful again for their imaginations in creating a story.

He took the lead as he guided them along the way, evading the monsters in the grove. Not long after, they were close already. They could even hear some other people chatting in the distance.

”Weird, why is it that it felt like our journey suddenly become so peaceful? We have been fighting monsters a lot before, but we didnʼt even see any for the last few minutes,” the female Ranger commented.

”We must thank Mr. Storm Wind for leading the way,” Jeanny said. ”Your teammates are very kind to give you such guidance so we can save time.”

Jack just replied with a smile, he did not intend to correct their misunderstanding.

”We are still late thought, it was passed 8 AM already,” the Magician commented.

”Letʼs pick up the pace then,” Jeanny said.

They were only late by ten minutes, Jack didnʼt think it was a big deal, but he followed them in increasing his walking speed. As they came nearer to the meeting point, they found out the chatting they had heard was not those of the merry kind. In fact, it sounded rather intense.

As Jack climbed up a sloping cliff, the ruins came into view. The ruins in front of him indicated that there used to be majestic structure in place there. Now, not a quarter of its former self was left, but he could still see its grandeur from what was left. He could see half of a ribbed vaults that implied a large hall was there in the past. Some of the walls were still standing held by several flying buttresses.

Jack could identify the dungeon entrance at one glance as it was an energy portal at the furthest part of the ruins, resting on a steep cliff. The portal had silvery surface that constantly changing, as if made of liquid material.

Underneath the ruins, Jack could see many people gathering. There seemed to be two groups which were having a discussion at the moment. Jack came over with Jeanny and the others and surprised to find out that apart from people from White Scarfs and Wicked Witches, there were also people from Death Associates. Scarface was having a talk with Silverwing and Queen Magenta. Red Death, Bigarm, Stonecleave, and also Blackjack was standing behind him.

Red Death looked at Jack when she noticed him coming. There was a glint in her eyes when she looked at him. She soon returned her attention to Silverwing and Queen Magenta. There was another person who stared at Jack, but unlike Red Death, he kept his stare on Jack with hostility. Jack ignored Blackjackʼs stare and he Inspected the ones he knew there using his God-eye monocle.

Most of them had also increased by one level like Jeanny. Selena and Silverwing were now level 14, Sinreaper, Bluedaze, and Queen Magenta were level 13. They must have grinded for experience yesterday in preparation for todayʼs dungeon. Warpath was still level 14 same as yesterday. There were also Honeycomb and Dashrunner who he had not met for a while, they were also level 13. Grimclaw on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen.

He then turned his attention to the Death Associatesʼ people. Scarface and Red Death were level 14, while Bigarm, and Stonecleave were level 13. Blackjack who was hanging out with them was also at level 13.

There were several other players who Jack did not recognize, who stood beside Scarface. When Jack saw their names, he immediately knew which guild they were from. They were from another famous guild called Corporate United. This guild was unique as it required their members to change their in-game username or alias when they joined the guild, they had to add a corporate rank before their name.

The ones he saw here had the names of Manager Steelhand and Assistant Manager Ironhand, who were level 14 Fighter and level 13 Ranger respectively. Supervisor Killmonger who was a level 14 Fighter. Associate Trustaide and Associate Clearsky who were both level 13 Magician. Associate Clearsky was the only female amongst them.

”Peniel, is there any way to change your name?” Jack asked Peniel after seeing those Corporate United people.

”No, why do you ask?” She answered from her hidden dimension.

”Nothing important,” Jack said with a grin. Those Corporate United would regret to have followed their tradition in this game world when they found out that they could not change their names. In previous games, they often changed their rank names when one of them got promoted or demoted. This rank names allowed them to clearly distinguish their positions in the guild. If they could not change their names, they would stay with lower rank name even if they got promoted, this would certainly create chaos amongst them.

”What are you smiling about? You have been late and you still have the guts to smile,” Warpath criticized when he saw Jackʼs grin.

Jack frowned. The heck was this guyʼs problem? Did he seriously try to pick a fight whenever they met?

Queen Magenta who heard Warpathʼs words, turned around. She looked at Jeanny who had come together with Jack, and said with displeasure, ”Why are you with that nobody? I told you to follow me to come here already this morning. Because you are hanging around with him that you become late and show lack of discipline.”

”No, itʼs not like that,” Jeanny protested. ”We were attacked by strong monsters, and it was only because of Mr. Storm Wind that–”

Queen Magentaʼs face turned ugly when she heard Jeanny was defending Jack. She cut her in mid-sentence, ”you should choose the people you hang around with more wisely. If you hang around with rubbish, you will also become a rubbish. You are only in this guild because of your family. Do not flatter yourself as if you are an important person in the guild!”

She did not bother to hear Jeannyʼs explanation anymore as she turned back her attention to the people of Death Associates and Corporate United.

Warpath gave a mocking smile after Queen Magentaʼs insults on them. Jack ignored him. He said to Jeanny, ”Donʼt bother about that granny, she must be having her period today.”

😉