After a few minutes Liam finally came to a decision. The most important object to obtain was a small, round token engraved with the symbol of the guild association.
This inconspicuous token was called a 'Territory war order' enabling the guild holding it to start a war to claim their own territory, which would be a major source of income for any guild, extremely important.
It was one of the goals of each guild to hold as many territories as possible. But war orders could only be claimed during guild wars at an enormous cost.
The first order was still obtainable, priced at 1000 points, clearly to give all guilds a chance.
Obviously Force of Nature also knew about its importance as Earthquake didn't hesitate to spend the bulk of their points on the order.
But from this point on it would be increasingly difficult to buy. Liam knew that the second war order would be priced at 5000 points. Although the rewarded points would ramp up over time, Liam estimated that they wouldn't be able to get another war order before the fifth guild war.
This wasn't entirely bad, however, as establishing their first territory would already come with a huge workload.
Apart from the order Dream Avenue spent most of their points on various pieces of paper.
Rare recipes for their blacksmiths and alchemists would prove to be a valuable source of revenue while two scrolls carrying powerful spells served as an investment into future guild wars.
Liam hoped they wouldn't need these scrolls any time soon. After all they couldn't encounter guilds of Force of Nature's calibre every time, right? Yet it was prudent to be prepared.
Speaking of preparation Liam told Cyclone to spend the points they had left on equipment with resistance against dark magic, which would be needed for the next dungeon.
After Force of Nature had already said goodbye several minutes ago, Dream Avenue finalized their selection. Cyclone communicated with C and the guild was kicked out of the battlefield, returning to their guild hall.
Coming back from the battlefield everyone could finally relax. The players who had been eliminated earlier approached, urging the rest to describe how the war unfolded.
Worry-free chatter immediately spread through the guild hall. But suddenly a voice drowned out all the sound, drawing everyone's attention to Fonor who had appeared at the door with a red head, looking like he was about to explode:
"Where did you all come from?! Damn it! Don't you see that we are laying the floor? Out! Out! You are obstructing my work!"
Everyone stared at the NPC not knowing how to react finding the situation comical. Turning towards Liam, Cyclone asked with a worried expression:
"Expert, what should we do? Are we really delaying the construction?"
"No need to worry. The construction will be completed tomorrow no matter what we do."
"Phew, can we ignore him then?"
Liam chuckled glancing at Fonor who continued to angrily scold the players.
"It depends on the NPC. Some will just give up. But some will continue to be annoying the whole day."
"What will Fonor do?"
"What do you think?"
Meeting Liam's eyes Cyclone could only smile wryly. Resigning herself she gave the order in the guild chat to evacuate the guild hall.
The players felt funny as they followed their guild leader's order. Forced outside, the atmosphere was somewhat disrupted. While some players stayed and talked, others left to do their own things.
Cyclone overlooked her guild members proudly with a feeling of accomplishment. After winning the first guild war they were on the right track and there was less work for her to do.
Liam and his friends talked for a while more before dispersing as well, deciding to take the rest of the day off.
Balm was excited, finally able to practice alchemy. Liam gave her some advice before training his blacksmith profession as always accompanied by Serena.
He fully enjoyed the advantages of being in a guild. All kinds of materials were stored in the guild treasury which he could buy with contribution points.
As a way to attract and train profession players these materials were even provided at a discount. With the contribution points rewarded by the guild to everyone after the war, Liam would be able to train for a long time.
However, his freedom was short lived as an announcement suddenly sent a shock through the guild chat.
[Server Announcement:]
[Please congratulate Galaxy on setting a new record for the dungeon 'Kelsnim's Invasion', clearing it in 7 hours and 34 minutes.]
[Galaxy thanks Colville City Military, Brayan Colville, ... for their generous support.]
At first Cyclone didn't care too much for the announcement. After Hotpot cleared the first dungeon 'Reylar's Curse' they lost their interest, allowing many others to break their record during the recent month.
Many similar announcements had appeared therefore, with the record currently not even held by one of the top guilds.
However, she couldn't ignore the commotion in the global chat, reading through a few messages.
"Seven hours? How did Galaxy do it?!"
"Did they ignore the guild war?"
"Impossible, right?"
"Shouldn't the guild war be the most important for a guild?"
"You won't believe it!"
"What?"
"Hey, guy upstairs, did you leave? What is this? Clickbait in the chat?!"
"Sorry, sorry. I had to write my friends. Listen, everyone! I'm currently at the guild association and you won't believe what I've seen here!"
"F*ck, if you continue doing this, I will find you and beat you up! And I'm not talking about the game!"
[Player Double Fist has been suspended for three days for threatening violence.]
"o7!"
"o7 to our fallen brother."
"Hahaha, deserves him right. But really, spit it out up there!"
"Ok I won't keep you in suspense! They guild association clearly states that Galaxy won their guild war!"
"What?! Won a guild war and cleared the dungeon?!"
"Impressive!"
"Wow, what a gamble. What if they had encountered Force of Nature or Dream Avenue?!"
The chat was on fire, fervently discussing. Eventually a vague trend could be found praising Galaxy for their daring, some calling them the strongest guild.
Cyclone gritted her teeth, writing in the party chat.
[Cyclone: We need to do something! Break their record!]
[Silver Blade: What use would it be? The guild war is already over. Our achievement wouldn't be that outstanding.]
[Cyclone: Ok. Then let's enter the next dungeon! Mirage!]
[Bleary Mirage: Calm down. The next dungeon starts at level 30.]
[Balm: I agree with Cyclone, though. We just beat Force of Nature, one of the strongest guilds, and no one is talking about it.]
[Cyclone: Even our guild members are restless.]
[Balm: Please come up with something, Mirage.]
[Bleary Mirage: Don't worry. I'm unhappy as well. I have an idea, but I don't know if you dare to do it.]
[Cyclone: What? Of course we dare! We're the number one party after all!]
[Balm: And number one guild!]
[Bleary Mirage: Alright. Then we will conquer the dungeon in hard mode! But let me warn you in advance. I know just as much about hard mode as you guys.]
Liam's declaration caused various emotions among his friends. Yet everyone agreed with his idea knowing that clearing the hard mode would indeed allow their reputation to soar once again.
Some of Liam's friends were secretly happy that Liam wouldn't be able to present them with the solution, hoping to get their own chance to shine.
Liam discussed the dungeon some more while cleaning up his workplace. Serena felt somewhat disappointed, but she understood that Liam couldn't stay.
She gave him some of her food wishing him good luck. Liam promised her to spend a whole day together after he was done while leaving with a heavy heart.
Soon the friends gathered outside of the guild hall. They went on a shopping tour buying some items which might prove useful in the dungeon, especially items with defence against dark magic.
Cyclone was quite annoyed. They had just stored such items in their guild treasury but since Liam had considered the next dungeon beforehand, the level requirements of those items were too high for the current party.
After buying up everything which might prove useful the party headed for the teleporter, quickly arriving in Duabalis Harbor.
A bumpy ride later they were back at Kelsnim's Invasion. The fight here still continued with valiant soldiers clashing against the invading demons. The gigantic sea monster could still be seen, its head embedded in Saltae.
The crowd of players had reduced but one could see groups coming and going all the time. Kelsnim's Invasion was the focus for a lot of players.
Liam didn't waste much time, directly talking to the soldier at the gate, selecting hard difficulty, entering the dungeon for a second time.
[Welcome, adventurers!]
[You have entered the dungeon 'Kelsnim's Invasion'.]
[Hard Difficulty]
[Only Players levelled 20-27 admitted.]
[A player can only die twice during a single run.]
[All EXP earned will be stored and only given out upon completion of the dungeon.]