"Finally. Cheers to Antares!"
The sound of glasses clinking against one another filled the Oakstone Tavern that evening as everyone from Twelve, Kitty, and also Wolfhound gathered to celebrate my advancement to Bishophood.
We had put all the tables together so that everyone could sit together around the merged tables and enjoy the feast. I sat at one end of the table with my closest friends/grinding party mates : Kitty, Wolfhound, HellWitch, Lazarus, ZhaoYun, and Livina.
At the other end of the table, Ingenious slammed his glass against the table dramatically. A wide grin spread on his face as he looked in my direction.
"Finally. Antares, my lad. How many times did I tell you to finally level up? I am so glad that I get to see you reach this milestone before the Dimensional Master literally eats us all up."
Everyone around the table broke into laughter. The nudges coming from left and right caused me to spill my drink on the table, but I didn't care. It felt good to be able to celebrate.
"Is Antares such a slow leveler?" ZhaoYun giggled.
Ingenious and ArrowRain nodded. "Totally. But to his defense, all Healers are. Auren also took ages to level."
"Hey, hey," Aurendiria pursed her lips unhappily. She pointed at Ingenious and ArrowRain and wagged her finger as if she wanted to issue a warning, "To my defense, I have never once rejected your invitations to grind! If anything, it is your fault if I don't get as much experience as you guys do!"
The table broke into laughter again.
It was such a fine night. The drinks were refreshing and the food was good. Such a night was rare to come by, especially after all the events that came to pass. After the initial congratulatory speech, we all started to chat and enjoy the dinner in smaller circles all around the table.
"I can hardly believe it," Kitty said in a low voice. "How many months has it been?"
God, that was a tough question. I put down my glass and furrowed my brows. "Less than a year? I think?"
"We all lose the sense of time in here," HellWitch said. "Honestly, I also cannot remember."
"All I know is that there were so many things to do," ZhaoYun commented. "Aaah~ it feels weird to be in here. I never thought that I would end up being reincarnated into a game."
"You say that NOW???" Livina laughed. "What level are you already? It is a bit too late to say that!"
ZhaoYun grinned. "That only means that I enjoy it too much."
A lot of resident players had decided to move on with the game for fear that Afterlife Dream was going to crumble soon. Kitty and Wolfhound were among the few who stayed true to their commitment to continue living in Afterlife Dream as residents. Naturally, since they would not be going through what we did, they were very curious.
"So... what comes after the fourth job?" Kitty asked excitedly.
I did not know. ZhaoYun took another sip from his drink and then started to give us a lecture. "If you are asking about the original game, I can tell you that they are just going to increase the level cap slowly. First 150, 160, then 170. Once the players get bored and a lot of people are quitting, we will get something like the fifth job advancement."
Livina pulled a long face. "Ewww. More job advancement?"
"Hey, why not? Unless you want to just grind to all eternity?"
"That's not what I mean. It seems to be another hurdle to pass. It is also boring."
"Well, thankfully we are currently living in a terror-filled version," ZhaoYun replied with a chuckle. "The appearance of the Dimensional Master had shaken the game thoroughly. What used to be readily available is no longer there. Everyone is struggling and the future is bleak."
"Speaking about the future, how many Life Points did you all get from the carnival event? Did you get everything that you needed?" I asked.
My friends nodded in unison.
"Wolf and I got all the raid equipment," Kitty said cheerfully. "It is wonderful!"
"Yup. Laz and I traded all our Life Points for Lucky Stars. Best decision ever," HellWitch told us happily.
I myself managed to trade the Life Points for Health benefit and then traded the rest against Lucky Stars as well.
"Seems that we are all set," Livina mused. "Everyone must be pretty happy?"
"There are still the level 120+ raids," ZhaoYun commented.
"And then?"
"And then, the Dimensional Master."
Upon mentioning the level 150 raid, our corner fell into silence. Ingenious and ArrowRain came over and slapped me on my back one after another.
"Hey hey hey why so gloomy? The hero of the party must be happy! Show us your spirit!"
"Ouch!"
"We are just talking about the Dimensional Master," HellWitch explained. "Heavy topic, hard to digest."
Ingenious and ArrowRain exchanged glances.
"Do you want to tell everyone?" ArrowRain nudged Ingenious. "Or should I?"
"Tell us what?" we looked at the both of them
Ingenious laughed. "Fine, I will tell them."
He grabbed a glass and a spoon from the table and tapped the glass with the spoon to get everyone's attention.
"Everyone, I have something to say."
Everyone stopped their chatter and looked at Ingenious full of expectation.
"The number of players who reached level 150 already passed 30. Today we met up and agreed to send a full party tomorrow to do the level 150 raid as a squad for the first time."
Aurendiria quietly got up.
"Auren?" ArrowRain called to her. Auren shook her head with a smile. "I think I drank too much. Excuse me."
After she left, everyone focused their attention back on Ingenious.
"That was so sudden," Cecilia remarked. "Have you all thought about this properly?"
"Certainly, we are all terrified about the prospect, but there is no other way," ArrowRain admitted. "We all want this nightmare to end. There is no way around it other than defeating the final boss himself."
"So... it is a combined raid with Dominion, right?"
"Yup."
Some players groaned while some others pulled a face.
"I know, I know. They are despicable. But look, we are all working together for the greater good."
"Are you not... afraid?" Kitty asked in a low voice.
"Of course we are," Hime replied. "But again, there is no other way. The game is changing rapidly. I don't think we will fix anything just by waiting around and hoping that a miracle happens."
"What are your plans?" I queried. "Surely you have made some preparations."
"Oh yes, we did. We already set up the squad. Tomorrow at 9 AM we will go there together and enter as a squad. We have the best of the best players with us, minus BlackPuma of course. I am not that arrogant to claim that we will beat that wretched boss on the first try, but I am sure that we will not do too shabbily."
ραпdα nᴏνɐ| сom Ingenious winked at us.
"After we come back from our first try, we will take you to do the advanced raids to earn the next end-game equipment. Look forward to it."
I laughed.
"Just pay good attention to your well-being and come back safely," I implored. "That is the most important thing, really."
"Of course."
"Oh yes, speaking about preparation..."
Hime looked in my and HellWitch's direction. "You two have been quite dependable in raids. Do you mind serving as our trackers?"
"Trackers?" HellWitch and I repeated simultaneously.
"It's just in case things go wrong again," Hime explained. "it is rarely used in this game, but I checked before and it is still working. The idea is to have you track one or more of us, and then find out at which point something goes wrong. IF something goes wrong."
Silence fell upon the table after Hime was done with her explanation. Neither HellWitch nor I was able to answer. It was such a bad premonition.
ArrowRain put an arm around HellWitch. "Don't make such faces. We are going to be fine. We just think about this because, well, we think that we could have planned better if we knew where what went wrong with BlackPuma."
"We will be fineeeeee. Don't worry," Ingenious said while pouring himself another glass of grape juice. "So, will you two serve as our trackers?"
"We can also do it," Livina offered. "The more people the better, right?"
Hime shook her head. "Nope. More trackers mean more lagging in the system. Two is enough."
"We are not exactly depending on the internet to play. Do we even lag in here?" I frowned.
"Oh, I don't know. Just don't do it. Don't take chances. This run is risky enough without added disturbances."
HellWitch and I thus agreed to serve as trackers. After half an hour had passed, I noticed that Aurendiria did not come back.
"Excuse me," I said, rising to my feet and exiting the tavern to find her.
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