The next morning Liam and Serena woke up late, something which hadn't happened in a long time. After a sumptuous breakfast they stepped outside Merida's clinic.
Serena looked towards the sky, enjoying the sun on her skin. Opening her palm, she caught a few snowflakes in her black glove. With a bright smile she pulled her new, favorite red coat tighter.
Liam glanced at his sister, glad that she liked the clothes he bought her, thinking that they made her look like a well-off young lady.
For him it was also the first time that he seriously thought about what to wear. A modern, thick, dark-blue jacket hung over his shoulders, combined with a pair of washed-out black trousers.
Liam knew he probably wouldn't win a modelling contest, but it was good enough for a casual day out.
Soon a car arrived and took the siblings away. After a short drive they reached an area at the edge of the upper-class district consisting of multiple large buildings.
Liam glanced upwards in awe, following the sturdy bridge carrying broad rails from here to the outside of the city with his eyes.
On Falva Star trains drove about twice per hour, each of them offering a lot of room for passengers and cargo. They were heavily fortified, able to protect themselves in case of a beast attack, at least until the army arrived.
Passing below the rails the car soon stopped next to a conspicuous building close to the train station. When the siblings got off the car, they found two young women waving at them.
"Hey! You are Liam and Serena, right? Nice to meet you for real!"
"Hello!"
Liam looked at the women, one blond and one red-haired, and quickly understood their identities.
"Nice to meet you, Cy and Mel!"
"Hi!"
The four friends needed a few seconds to warm up but with Cyclone's lively personality they soon conversed happily.
A few minutes later a new car arrived, stopping before the entrance. Two men in casual clothes, looking like your everyday shopper got off and looked for inconspicuous spots in the surroundings.
Only a moment later did the door open, revealing a woman wearing a broad scarf, covering a large part of her face.
But even her inconspicuous, baggy clothes couldn't hide her stunning figure. Luckily the friends decided to meet at a side entrance of a shopping center, so there wasn't that much traffic.
"Ah!"
A low shout could be heard, causing a few people to look strangely at Cynthia. But the young woman only had eyes for her idol.
Fortune rolled her eyes, approaching the group.
"Could you please keep it down, or else all my precautionary measures will be wasted."
"Sorry, Fortune. Ehm… Hi, Fortune!"
"Ok, ok. Why are you so excited? We see each other every day. Nice to meet you all. And don't call me Fortune, my name is Rachel Dourand."
Cynthia's eyes became even brighter.
"Your real name? Rachel? Aren't you always extremely protective of your real name?"
"Yes. That's why I hope you can keep it a secret. I'm showing you quite a lot of trust here."
"Don't worry. We won't let it slip.", nodded Liam solemnly.
Meanwhile, Balm wore a thoughtful expression asking Rachel:
"Did you say Dourand? As in Dourand Electronics?"
"You actually know this name?"
"Yes. I heard it from my father. He is working in the same industry."
"Not bad. Yes, that company belongs to my father."
"Your father has a company?", asked Cyclone straightforwardly. Just looking at her face, Fortune could guess what she wanted to ask.
"Yes. But we are pretty lowkey and only market towards other companies. I can ask if my father would be interested in sponsoring our guild, but don't get your hopes up."
"Oh, no no, I didn't mean it like that."
Cyclone waved her hands in embarrassment. Luckily a familiar car arrived at that moment.
"Oh look, Silva is coming!"
Everyone turned their heads, watching a familiar taciturn man get off and open the back door, revealing a tall woman wearing a fluffy white cap above her curly, shoulder-long brown hair.
But when everyone looked at her, another door opened and a young man in conspicuous modern clothes jumped out. He looked around, quickly noticing the group and laughed loudly:
"Haha, hey, everyone! Thanks for taking me along!"
Rachel immediately lowered her head, noticing a few curious looks. If she had known that Felix would attract attention so quickly, she might not have agreed when Silver Blade asked if she could bring her brother along.
Silva also noticed the situation. She threw a side-eye at her brother, telling him to tune it down.
Felix apologized hastily. He didn't want to antagonize his new friends at their first meeting.
With the whole group gathered, the mood quickly became lively. Only Serena held herself back. Silva noticed that the young girl seemed to be apprehensive towards her. She didn't understand the reason but also found no good time to ask.
Liam lightly patted his sister while they entered the shopping center. It was a vast space with dozens of big stores. But the group was here for a specific one close to the entrance.
Soon, they stood within a spacious store which was built like an arcade. People could freely test 'ancient' games on 'old-fashioned' consoles here.
The store wasn't too crowded, allowing even Fortune to move with some freedom. However, the people coming to such a place were naturally avid gamers. They not only recognized Fortune, but even the others.
The group had to spend a few minutes to pacify their fans before they could have some fun.
They quickly gathered before an old PC, watching a team of five playing a strategy game. Felix's eyes lit up as he felt it was time to prove his knowledge:
"I've played this one before! It's an old strategy game, which was once the most-played game in the federation!
See, you have two teams of five players. You choose one of 459 champions, and your goal is to destroy this core here. But first you need to get rid of those towers…"
Liam blinked his eyes incredulously listening to Felix. Why did this sound so much like a game from his past life? Letting his eyes wander around the gaming area he was met with a strange sensation.
He watched a team of five buy weapons and rush B. He watched a single player swing his pickaxe to destroy a cartoonish chest and reveal a bunch of weapons. He watched a girl speeding through a realistic-looking city, chased by police.
Suddenly Liam felt a tug on his sleeves, bringing him out of his stupor.
"Borther, come!"
For a moment Liam didn't know what Serena meant. But noticing how everyone approached a PC, he realized that his group wanted to play a round.
Being the last to sit down, Liam and Serena landed in a separate team. Cynthia grinned brightly as she joined them, causing Silver Blade to look at her strangely:
"Cy, why did you wait so long?"
"Of course it's to play with the expert!"
"Hey, this isn't Crunaboul! You don't even know if Liam has played this game before. If you want an expert, you have to join me!", reminded Felix unhappily.
"Nah, I trust in the expert. I'm sure you know this game, right Liam?"
Looking at the laughing Cynthia, Liam didn't know what to say.
Luckily two random people came at this time, taking the free spots, causing the game to begin.
After a short discussion Cynthia convinced Serena to go to the bot lane together with her, while Liam roamed the jungle.
When the game began Felix aggressively pressured the midlane but was quickly frustrated as Liam always showed up just as he was about to go for the kill.
Simultaneously Liam somehow managed to get Cynthia ahead, while Serena was happily healing her.
Liam was glad to see Cynthia and Serena get along well on the botlane, and made sure not to let them suffer any hardships. Very much to the distress of Fortune and Balm opposite them.
Luckily everyone had their fun even though the game ended rather one-sidedly.
Trying out a few more games the group were amazed when Liam proved his prowess in most of them. Although he wasn't an expert in all games, he simply had more experience than most of his friends. Only Felix could go head-to-head with him, kindling a small rivalry.
Afterwards the friends grabbed something to eat, spending their time leisurely until Silver Blade brought up a topic she had been thinking about.
She suggested establishing a gaming house for their guild. In her mind it should contain everything from flats for the core-members to large community spaces to discuss tactics.
After some pondering, everyone involuntarily glanced at Liam, wondering if Silver Blade came up with this idea to protect their expert.
However, Cynthia and Mel didn't think much about it. They were extremely hyped up, knowing that all the top guilds had something like this. Even if the guild members didn't live there, gaming houses served as physical headquarters, representing their guilds to the outside.
The two guild leaders were naturally overjoyed, but how to finance the project remained to be discussed.