Second World

He took the same trip which he had taught the guild. He saw an increased number of Death Associates and White Scarfs teams during his trip. He had even met one occurrence where the two teams of those opposite guilds were having a verbal dispute.

Fortunately, it didnʼt end with a fistfight. If it did, he would be troubled about which side to help. Helping White Scarfs would expose his disguise, while helping Death Associates would hurt his conscience. He tried his best to avoid the teams from these guilds along his remaining journey.

He did the quest half-heartedly. Nevertheless, he still scored 67 hunter points and 1 gold, 91 silver coins from the run, after subtracting the coins he needed to give to the guild. Since he had collected many hunter points, he used 90 points to exchange with one of the items in Bronze Hallʼs exclusive list. Well-Done Steak, a cooking recipe for Expert grade.

He sent a message to Ellie, who was about to close the restaurant, and arranged to meet. Before he went over, he visited the City Administration Bureau to hire another 3-star regular worker and one special worker with a cooking skill, they would start working tomorrow morning. He spent 2 gold and 35 silver coins for the two workers. The special worker alone cost 2 gold coins

The special worker was not differentiated by stars like the regular worker, instead they were classified based on the level of their skill. A worker with Apprentice level cooking skill cost 1 gold, which was actually lower than the cost of hiring a 5-star regular worker. While one with Expert level cooking skill cost 2 gold, which was the one Jack was hiring.

There was also a worker with Master-level cooking skill that he could hire but cost more. He saw no point for him to spend the coins, because the administrator informed him that the worker only came with their skill, they werenʼt equipped with any recipe. They could only cook recipes that were registered under the restaurant, so there was no point to hire a Master-level cook since at the moment he still had no Master-grade recipe.

After completing the procedure, he went to the restaurant, Ellie and Bill were already waiting outside the restaurant. Jack gave Ellie the recipe for the Well-Done Steak. She was surprised by the gift, she knew how difficult to get a recipe of expert grade. She didnʼt stand on ceremony, she learned the recipe at once.

”What effect does the food gives?” Jack asked.

Ellie didnʼt answer, she instead just show Jack the projection.

Well-Done Steak (Expert grade)

Recover 300 HP

Increase experience received by 20%, effect last for 6 hours

Ingredients: Beef, Salt, Butter, Rosemary

Increase experience received? Jack was pleasantly surprised. This was a very popular effect for every player who wanted to level up fast. It might not give any boost in combat ability, but everyone would want to eat this food before they went out for grinding normal monsters.

Ellie did not share his enthusiasm. She instead looked at the projection flatly.

”Somethingʼs the matter?” Jack asked after seeing her expression.

”The ingredients,” She said. ”Two of them are common ones, Beef is expensive, but we can still find it in the market. But Rosemary, we havenʼt seen this ingredient anywhere in the market.”

Jack pondered about it, and said, ”it was probably something that we get from the wilderness. Never mind, I will keep an eye on it. I will let you know if I find some.”

Ellie nodded. She was happy enough to learn a new recipe.

Jack then told them about the two new workers that would join tomorrow. They were relieved after hearing it. They admitted they had been looking for an opportunity to talk with him about getting additional helpers. They did not expect Jack to be one step ahead of them.

After bidding them goodbye, Jack was about to enter Amyʼs Bakery when he noticed a group of familiar figures a few buildings away from him. His Dragonʼs Eye vision allowed him to see farther than normal players. He recognized several amongst the group as Silverwing and his buddies. He decided to go over to greet them.

While he was on the way, he noticed another person. He was surprised to find the person there, especially nearby White Scarfsʼ people. This other person was with his group standing at the opposite side of the street from White Scarfʼs group.

Silverwing noticed the approaching Jack and gave him a warm smile. ”Brother Storm Wind, we meet again,” he greeted.

”Are you guys having a showdown here in the middle of the street?” Jack asked as he looked between Silverwing and the person on the opposite street.

Silverwing gave Scarface a look, then replied to Jack, ”no, they are the same as us, surveying the neighborhood to determine which place to build a guild base.”

”You have enough money already to buy a plot of land?” Jack asked with a shocked expression.

Silverwing chuckled, ”not yet, but in around two or three days more we should be able to scrounge enough to purchase one.”

Two or three days, that was still impressive, Jack thought. If he remembered correctly, at least 100 gold coins were needed to purchase a plot of land. He had gotten lucky with the Property Deed. Otherwise, he was not sure when he would be able to collect 100 gold. Even if he spent every day doing hunting quests. With three trips each day which was already considered very fast for the average players, he could only collect around 6 to 8 gold coins.

Only three days had passed since he informed the two guilds of his efficient route, but in another two or three days more, these guilds would have 100 gold coins. A collection of people working together was indeed more efficient than striving alone, this would always be an irrefutable fact. Not to mention, the numbers of advanced class players in the guild would only increase, which meant the speed by which they collect coins would only become faster.

”There is no more point for you to look at this plot, we will be the first one to buy it,” he heard Scarfaceʼs voice who had come to approach them with Red Death by his side. She was giving a hostile glance at Jack, as if eager to ask him for a duel.

Silverwing laughed at the comment, ”I thought brother Scarface was interested at the land on the opposite street.”

”No, after checking, I prefer this one here. You will give face to me now, wonʼt you?”

Bluedaze who was standing beside Silverwing frowned after hearing, she uttered, ”we had marked this place first, how shameless can you be?”

Silverwing calmed her down, his amicable smile was still on his face. He then said to Scarface, ”I will always try to give face to brother Scarface, but in this matter, Iʼm afraid I canʼt relent. After all, it was a matter of importance in guild matter.”

Scarface didnʼt seem perturbed. ”It doesnʼt matter, this plot will still be ours. I heard you said you still need two to three days to collect the coins? Our side will sure to get enough sum in two days. So I suggest you better look for an alternate option.”

Silverwing didnʼt let go of his smiling expression, ”I see… If brother Scarface is intending on fighting with us for this plot, then may the best guild wins. I do hope that you will go easy on us”

”Heh,” Scarface chuckled. ”Although I have no doubt as to which one of us is the best guild, I will still wish brother Silverwing the best of luck.”

Jack had the urge to slap them both. This was what he hated the most from guild politics. So much pretension. Why didnʼt they just throw down the towel and had a fight to settle things once and for all? Rather than going with this roundabout conversation while anyone here already knew about the animosity between them?

Red Death who had been paying attention to Jack from the corner of her eyes, spoke out, ”you seem to have an opinion?”

”Me?” Jack was clear that she was trying to provoke him. He wasnʼt one that liked to intentionally look for trouble, but he was not one that backed down easy as well. ”I was just thinking, if I go around killing the teams you have working on the hunting quests. Would you still be able to collect enough coins in two daysʼ time?”

😉