Second World

Jack promptly accepted his friend request. He bet he was the only one inside Leavemealone's friend list.

Leavemealone stood up, "I will be leaving too."

"Want to come to my Guild Headquarters? It will be safe there. If those…"

"No," Leavemealone answered before Jack finished his question.

Jack decided to not push his luck. He originally wanted to invite this lone monk to join his guild, but it seemed like a tall order. Jack was happy to just get this monk into his friend list. 'One step at a time,' he said to himself.

The guy left soon, Jack decided to not wait for Peniel in the room. Peniel didn't show up on his radar, but after his mana sense improved, Jack could sense a tiny thread of energy that linked him with his familiar. So, he headed in that direction.

Jack came out to a porch overlooking the front street of the tavern. Peniel was sitting by the railing looking at the busy street below. Carnelia was nowhere to be seen, Haon must have gone far enough to force the fairy to teleport over.

Jack just stood beside the fairy as he joined her in watching the street. They stayed like that for a while until Peniel broke the silence, "Aren't you going to say something?"

"Uh, um… I'm not sure what to say… Cheer up…?"

"… You are hopeless," Peniel sighed. She then stood up on the railing. "I can't believe these were all made by someone."

"I think everything that exists was made by someone or something, even my previous world. At least that's what I believe. You simply find out about yours," Jack replied.

"But we are made for entertainment!" Peniel retorted.

"Yet, you become something more. I think sometimes inventions walk down a path never intended by their creators. Your world might have originally been meant for entertainment, but after fusing with the energy of our world. I said it has taken a life of its own. As Mae said before, she believes your world is evolving. It is no longer something that is just entertainment for us, players. Every native in this world, including you, has your own purposes and desires. I say that is as real as you can get."

Peniel glanced at Jack, the gloomy mood on her seemed to have diminished. She said, "Thanks. I feel a lot better now. By the way, who is Mae?"

"Oh, right. You were not there. Wilted Tree's real name is Mae Ligna."

"Mae Ligna? Isn't that…"

"Yes, it's the name described in this stone," Jack took out Chris Memory Stone. "Turns out Haon also had the same stone exactly like this."

"Haon?"

"Leavemealone's real name."

"Then why didn't you give Mae this stone? It said to give it to her, right?" Peniel asked.

"She has already left after saying her name. I didn't have the time to show her. She is currently at a place where I can't reach her. Not sure if this stone is important, probably just a prank from a bored programmer. I will show it to her the next time we met."

"So, what are you going to do now?"

"What are we going to do, you mean? We are together in this. That Apollyon threatened the balance of this world. If he became a God, he can do whatever he wishes. I doubt he will just leave us or the natives alone. He will most likely become a tyrant that demands us to follow his every whim. We cannot allow that to happen, for the natives or outworlders, we are in this struggle together. So, we are going to grow stronger. Strong enough to oppose him."

"Are you going to tell this truth to the others?"

"To the core members of the guild. Mae thinks that not everyone has the willpower to face this struggle. As for the natives, I will have to leave them in the dark."

"I guess that's for the best," Peniel said. "I don't expect they will take the news as well as I did."

"I'm proud of you," Jack said.

"Where did that come from?"

"I'm serious. You are strong. As you said, not everyone might be able to face this kind of truth like you."

Peniel flew to Jack's shoulder. "I still have to take care of you. You will be lost without me."

"That's true," Jack replied with a smile.

"So, where will we go from here?"

"First, we go back to Heavenly Citadel. The others need to know this truth and prepare. They will be dragged into this struggle sooner or later. Apollyon is aiming for world domination, after all. Then, we will continue our Faction chain quest. Themisphere needs to be strong. That means it needs to be under one leadership. The current fractured authority between the three princes will just weaken the country. It won't be able to survive an invasion when Apollyon strikes. We need to assist Prince Alonzo's ascent as soon as possible."

"Do you know how to start looking for Aubelard Maxius? Themisphere is too big to search aimlessly," Peniel asked.

"I've some ideas. We will talk about that later," Jack said.

The two used the Zone Portal and reappeared inside Heavenly Citadel's Teleportation chamber. Jack checked his friend list and saw that John was inside this headquarters while Jeanny was not. He went to the Guild Hall where John would most likely be. If he was not, then Jack would send him a message.

On the way, Jack saw some of the women he had saved in Tranviste, they were cleaning the hall. 'So, this was what Jeanny meant by having the women work here,' he thought.

The women saw him and immediately came to greet him. Jack was their savior, after all. Jack chatted with them for a bit. Turned out some of them had a talent for cooking, so Jeanny had assigned them to the Kitchen, another structure the guild had built. With constant ingredient supplies, they and the other player cooks in the kitchen continued to supply beneficial foods to the other members. One of the women even had a knack for blacksmithing and had taken an apprenticeship under Kirsi.

Jack was glad that they were happy here. He continued heading to the Guild Hall after saying goodbye to them. When he entered the hall, John was indeed there. The guy was still playing with the hologram platform as usual.

"Expert, fancy seeing you here. Are you lost or something? No one is attacking us at the moment," John greeted.

Jack ignored the sarcasm. "Where is Jeanny? I need to gather some of our most trusted members for a discussion," Jack said.

"We found another monster settlement. She was raiding it with most of our other core members. They had just started engaging the settlement before you enter. It should take them some hours to clear it. Just wait here if you want to meet them."

"Why aren't you with them?" Jack asked.

"The settlement is a small-sized filled with level 30 to 33 monsters, too easy. Though the loots might still be good, the exp isn't much, so I just let the side characters do the labor."

"Where is the place? Maybe I can speed things up if I go," Jack said. He was too used to the guy's cynicism to bother commenting.

"The fight might be over already by the time you arrive. But if you still want to try to go, here is the…"

John stopped in the middle of his sentence.

"What's wrong?"

John gave him the sign to wait. He seemed to be chatting using messages with someone.

After a while, he turned to Jack, "they had been ambushed."

"Ambushed? By who?" Jack asked.

"Crowd of Sins," John answered.

"The coalition? Are they going on an offensive on us again?"

"No. It is just that one guild, and I think it is a coincidence. Their scout must have found the monster settlement as well. We simply get there before them. But seeing the opportunity, they must have thought this is a golden opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. Our team is being besieged from two fronts, the settlement monsters and the Crowd of Sins. They were blocking the exit so we can't disengage from the settlement as well."

"Is my grandfather with them?"

"He is. Jeanny sent him to the rear to hold the line against the guild. Thank goodness that old man sees it as self-defense, so he complies."

"They should be fine then?"

"You are very confident with your gramps, eh? I need to point out that from the report, Crowd of Sins probably brought three hundred players. Our team who attacked the settlement was less than one hundred players. Your gramps might be strong but he was not a true gamer. Without properly utilizing game skills, smarter players could simply bombard him with spells. With enemy numbering three times and they still have to contend against the monsters, I don't see a good chance of victory on our side."

"Give me their coordinates," Jack said.

John did so. "I'm not sure if you can make it in time," he said.

Jack opened his map. He and Peniel looked at the coordinates John had given. The place was coincidentally not too far from a small town Jack had passed during his journey to the Sangrod Empire. This small town was one of those where only Themisphere faction members could access. Jack had already linked its Zone Portal with Heavenly Citadel.

"If you go from that town, with Pandora's speed, we should be able to arrive within one hour," Peniel said.

"Good. Tell them to hold out for at least one hour! I'm coming!" Jack said and immediately ran back to the teleportation chamber.

John added Jack to the group chat, before he typed, "Hold out, our hero is coming."