Liam sat in a car with an absentminded expression. No one could guess what he was thinking.

  The driver looked into his back mirror, letting out a sigh. He could emphasize with the downtrodden young man. With a swipe of his hand the music turned out pying a song about rejected love.

  Liam snapped out of his thoughts, gng awkwardly at the car’s s. But his attention was quickly diverted when a voice appeared in his head.

  [Pyer Liam, receive your challenge.]

  [Find out who is influeng the iigation unit.]

  [Rewards will be based on degree of pletion.]

  Liam’s body shook hearing C’s voice.

  C? You are saying someone has dohis on purpose?! Why? And if you know, why not tell me?!

  [Pyer Liam, this is your challenge.]

  At least give me a hint.

  […]

  Useless.

  […]

  Liam scoffed. He pted the new challenge. If he only had a guess at first, he was now certain that someone had blocked the iigation.

  The only person I know with the means to do so might be the Colville family.

  Well, it depends on how corruptible the army is…

  Liam thought about the issue for a while. The Colville family was his most obvious suspect, but he didn’t want to e to premature clusions.

  So how should I deal with this?

  The more Liam pohe more his frown deepened. A feeling of ck of security settled in his mind.

  Arriving in this advanced world with a strong civilization and feared army Liam thought it was a safe pce at first. Even the beasts outside never mao breach the city.

  But after a few enters this feeling slowly diminished.

  He g the almost invisible, silent mao him. It was the bodyguard provided by Silva. At least this gave him some reassurance.

  But it’s not enough. If I want to plete C’s challenges, I need power and influence.

  How could I hope to get my parent’s things back, as well as my championship ring?

  So far Liam didn’t put much focus on these challenges. He reoccupied with providing a good life for his sister aing started in the game.

  But now that his life was on track, he could care for other things as well.

  The thought brought up a certain feeling in his chest. A faint smile pyed around his lips. He almost looked forward to it.

  ***

  A new m broke over aboul. The bright sun illumihe small Red’or isnd. Groups of ants went out to hunt.

  A few seds ter several figures suddenly appeared out of thin air.

  *yawn*

  “M.”, greeted Balm.

  “M. What’s up? Didn’t get enough sleep?”

  The party logged in one by one, greeting each other while Silver Bde versed with Balm.

  “I stayed up te together with Cy. We did some pnning and research.”

  “So, you watched interviews from your idols?”

  “No!”, denied Balm, but her embarrassed expressiorayed her.

  “At least not exclusively. We looked into how others structured their guilds and tried to e up with a good system.”

  “That’s easy, just do whatever Prime says.”, ented Final Fend.

  “Prime? That name rings a bell. I might have read about him in gamer’s weekly.”

  “Her! And you should definitely know her if you want to have a successful guild. She is world famous for her anizational talent.”

  “I will take a look.”

  Silver Bde stayed quiet. She was still in the process of catg up with game topics. She didn’t know much about the famous pyers yet, especially if they were far away form Falva Star.

  But suddenly she thought about something. Not able to curb her curiosity she wrote Balm a message.

  [Silver Bde: By the way, how e Cye stayed with you until te? Did she e to her mother?]

  Balm looked somewhat awkward when this topic came up. Cye had only retly fessed to Balm that she kept everythied to games a secret, even Balm and other friends.

  Only when Balm and Silver Bde met each other did Cye decided to open up to both of them.

  [Balm: No. She preteo study with friends from college.]

  [Silver Bde: College? She hasn’t been sihe game came out, right? She won’t be able to keep this up.]

  [Balm: Yes, I told her too. She said she wao fess soon. With Fate of aboul being increasingly important Cye thinks her mother wouldn’t show so much resistance if she could show her that uild has potential. That’s why she’s w so hard right now.]

  Reading this, Silver Bde could only let out a sigh. At this moment she noticed that the others had gradually fallen silent.

  Bloody Edge averted his eyes from the hill not far away, addressing Silver Bde:

  “Did we plete our preparations? My bde lusts for excitement.”

  Silver Bde nodded calmly, showing no embarrassment.

  “Of course. Let’s take a look around. We should finish our quest soon.”

  With those words Silver Bde began moving, followed by the rest of the party. They stayed at the foot of the hill, cirg it cautiously. Their ears were stantly sing the surroundings for the terrifying buzzing.

  But the party was lucky this time. They didn’t bump into anything they couldn’t handle. Soon, they found a small crate stu a ditch. Obvious drag marks led away from its location.

  “This should be part of Zeygnar’s wares.”, cluded Silver Bde.

  “Sure. We’re ba track!”

  “e o’s finish the quest.”

  Everyone’s spirits perked up. Silver Bde kept the small crate in her iory before following the drag marks towards the hill.

  Soon, they arrived before a rge boulder surrounded by some shrubbery.

  Final Fend looked ahead with a frown.

  “What now?”

  “This boulder looks quite spicuous. It should be some hidderance.”, suggested Fortune.

  “I agree. But how do we open it?”

  The party pondered for a while, looking to the right a of the boulder.

  “Is there any hidden meism?”

  “I don’t find anything.”

  Watchful Eye approached the boulder, throwing his weight against it. But the rge object didn’t budge.

  “e o’s help him. Maybe this is the solution.”, said Silver Bde.

  Sino one had a better idea, they lined up o Watchful Eye.

  3, 2, 1…

  trating all their strength the party members tried to move the stubborn obstacle. But it was to no avail.

  “Damn. If this tinuous I’m gon some good old explosives! Stupid rock!”, excimed Final Fend in annoyance.

  Braag looked at him, pointing at his uncher:

  “Well, I have a lot of bombs here.”

  Suddenly Silver Bde hit her own forehead.

  “That’s it, Braag. Suys, I almost fot.”

  “What?”

  “Mirage mentioned a while ago that everything in the game be destroyed if one is stubborn enough. Furthermore, some hiddes are marked with obstacles with only a single HP.”

  Silver Bde quickly used [I]. And indeed, it turned out that he bolder only had one point of HP.

  Ahe young woman swung her sword. With a light g the boulder instantly turo dust.

  “Well… good no one saw us.”, said Braag awkwardly.

  “Whatever. We found the entrance. Let’s not waste any more time.”

  “Yeah.”

  Looking at the drag marks on the ground which tinued into the tunnel before them, the party carefully entered.

  The air was rather dry. Clear excavation marks could be seen on the walls of the tunnel, which was big enough for two people to walk side by side. Fancy purple and blue crystals illumihe pce, emitting a magical feeling.

  A notification popped up before everyone’s eyes.

  [Discovered fotten a. Reward: 250EXP]

  [EXP: 560/7500]

  “So, this is ihe a…”, whispered Balm apprehensively.

  “Good! Let those stupid flying ants e again! This time we won’t run away!”, joked Final Fend.

  “Sh!”

  Silver Bde suddenly hissed harshly. A noise reached her ears. It was the sound of quick, small footsteps.

  “Get ready to fight!”

  Everyone’s face turned serious. Silver Bde and Final Fend stood at the front, readying their ons.

  A few seds ter a bck body could vaguely be seen turning a er not far away.

  The ant appeared oblivious, perf its usual patrol duty. But suddenly it froze. Spotting the pyers not far away, it immediately clicked its mandibles.

  The moment it dashed at the group. More ants appeared, following behind it.

  Quickly the party was faced with six enemies approag them and two more staying behind.

  “Use whatever you want, they ’t pass by us anyways!”, advised Silver Bde her ed fighters.

  “Got it!”

  “Our first fight in the mysterious a. What awaits us here? Will the sound attract more enemies? Dear views, find out now!”

  Fortune didn’t fet to ent while casting her spells.

  “Hey, don’t jinx it!”

  “Ok ok, boss.”, joked Fortune.

  She shut her mouth while staring closely at the approag enemies. When they came in range, she finally flourished her staff. A normal attack hit the ant in the lead.

  [-693!]