"This is so cool! I can't believe I'm here in a guild's crafting hall of sorts!"
I shout as I roam around the building alone. Yeah, I wandered here with Wind in our tour earlier, but just the size of its interior and its resemblance to <Initio's> <Crafting Hall> is enough to make my jaws drop in awe. But I'm still shocked to see how the guild managed to build this large building as their personalized crafting hall. I wish Wind and I had our guild house of our own.
"...Hm...?"
Huh? Did I hear someone just now? I turn to look around the empty floor to check. But so far, I see no one is here. I would guess it might be Wind, but even if he's here, he might be using the first-floor facilities by now.
"D-Di...he...?"
So I'm not imagining things. Someone is here! But where...
CLANG!!! CRASH!!!
W-What the heck? I hear voices in one of the [Magecrafting] stations just now. I want to leave after hearing that, but judging by the noise, I can't do so without knowing that they are okay or not. With that, I rushed towards the source of the noise behind one of the stations.
"Hey, are you okay?" I call out, hoping that someone would answer. But when I reach the source, I gasp to see a white-haired young boy in a yellow robe, gray shirt, white tie, and light blue pants and shoes. When they see me, their eyes widen and they gasp.
"U-Uh... a girl?" I mutter in confusion. They do look like a girl from their hairstyle, but their clothes say otherwise. Before I can do anything, the kid got up and left in a hurry. "H-Hey! Wait! I didn't mean to hurt you! Come back!"
Despite I tried calling out to him, he doesn't turn back. I guess he's a lot like me before Wi- I mean Hayate opened up to me. I'm guessing befriending them will be more difficult than Annie. And I can't force them to be friends either. For now, I should try to replenish some potions and make new ones for our upcoming adventures.
----
"Alright, now that's all settled, it's time we should decide our next plans for the upcoming update," Ellia says as she walks to Anton's side as Yuzoku, Barry, Lizo, and Katrine sat in front of the table and their guild leader.
"If I recall, the devs hinted that they are adding a new system and event to coincide with it," Katrine says. "Though the real question is what kind of system they are going to add."
"There should have datamine information about it, right?" Yuzoku suggests. "Maybe we should check that out and..."
"Oh no... we promised that we're going to play this game without any spoilers. Besides, Star will kill me if we do that, even to my little sister," Anton rejected. "Besides, you saw how angry she is after what happened earlier."
"He's right, Yuzo. Plus, it will be too boring if we know things too early."
The rogue growls before turning his head away from the group.
"Even if we're going in blind, how are we supposed to know what's next for the game? I mean, we have to be prepared for anything, right?"
"That's true. Although, those two brothers might be keys to the next update."
Everyone raise their eyebrows as they stare at their leader.
"U-Um... I-I don't get what you're saying, leader," Lizo spoke up.
"Yeah, what do those two have to do with everything?" Katrine added.
"Well, I'm not the manipulative type, but remember the kind of game we're facing right now. Advanced AI, [Hidden Quests]... Those two might have unlocked something that we didn't. Not only that, I just heard some rumors from the NPCs recently."
"Rumors from NPCs?" Barry asked. "Is that even possible?"
"I don't know if you already know about this through a forum or other social network sites, but most NPCs often chat with each other when we're not interacting with them," Anton explains. "Lately, they are talking about a kingdom called <Lucidus> with their soldiers and their accompanying research party visiting this country after the [Hidden Quest]. It's one of the main kingdoms of <Volo> and it's the Human country of the game."
"And let me guess. They are here to investigate what happened in the <Tested Woods>, right?"
The guild leader nods yes.
"We still have no idea how to get to <Lucidus> yet. But we need to make contact with the soldiers during their stay first. I heard some of them just arrived in town, so we might have a chance to do so."
"I get what you're saying, Lead!" Katrina says as she stands up. "Barry and I will gladly volunteer to chat with the <Lucidus> people!"
"Yeah! We... What?!" Barry does a double-take as he turns to his guildmate.
"Glad to hear that, Kat. As for Yuzoku and Lizo, you should try locating them to make sure they are still in <Initio>."
Lizo weakly nods while the rogue groans.
"Do I need to team up with him again?" Yuzoku mutters.
"What about me, Leader?" Ellia speaks up, which Anton smiles in response.
"Do you expect me to explain something so obvious to you?"
The female hunter smiles as she crosses her arms.
"I get it. I'll prepare my gear for <Tested Wilds> then. I hope those two did something to calm the monsters down a bit. Speaking of which, what about them?"
The guild leader hummed as he scratches his chin.
"Knowing my cousin, I hate to ask the brothers without turning her into a rage monster. I guess we'll leave it up to chance, but just in case, we should let them know about those two."
"Now that you mentioned it, where are they? They are a bit late to the meeting," Barry asks as he looks around the room.
The [Force Blade] members look around the room, which they notice someone is missing.
"Odd. I thought they were finished tuning up their staff by now."
----
Finished! It took a while since I've had to switch recipes to use with the [Mass Production] skill, but I've managed to create enough potions for our next adventure soon. And as much as I want to make an all-new potion, I doubt I can right now. While we do have Bai Hu's gifts, I feel that I'm not ready to use them right now. And since I haven't been playing the game due to my exams, I don't have enough herbs to make one. Even I can't do [Magecrafting] right now because I don't have enough materials to make a new staff and Wind told me not to do the same craft style as before after what happened when I made my [Plasma Staff]. I wish I could do something more here. Staying here for the potions would be a waste of our stay.
CLUNK!!!
Oops! My mind has gone so blank, that I accidentally swung my arm around the table and knocked something off of it. I quickly pick it up in hopes that I didn't' break it. However, I stop when I saw that it was a hardcover blue book and for some reason, it has strange writing on the front of it. When I opened the book, the pages have that strange writing as well. Did that boy/girl from earlier leave it in here? If it does, then should I give it to Mr. Anton until then?
[Litera Language detected.]
Huh? Was that the game's voice just now?
[Activate passive [Litera Language] skill.]
Before I can look around, I notice that the front cover of the book is somehow glowing white. And after a few seconds, I gasp at what I see. Somehow, the strange writing on the cover changed to English! I figure the game just glitched when I picked this book up. But I think I might have done something that might cause this change. Still, I don't want to spend the whole day here wondering how it works. So I'll just start reading through the writing on the cover.
"[Signatio: The History and Culture of the Insignis]. Huh? I never knew a book like this exists."
I open the book again to double-check and to my surprise, the strange writing changes into English as well. At least it doesn't just affect the front cover of the book. But judging by the content and title of it, it looks like a history book of sorts. Namely, it talks about the [Insignis] race, and from what I recall on my map, <Signatio> is one of the countries here in <Volo> located in the land of <Lingua>. I doubt this belongs to a bookstore, so I'm guessing...
"H-Hey... Y-You there..."
Huh? That voice...
"T-That book... I-It's mine... P-Please... Give it back..."
I knew it. That must be that kid from earlier. Looks like this book must be theirs. I guess I should turn around and give it b-
Eh?
"I-I'm warning you. Give that book back to me n-now!"
Before I realize it, I find myself face-to-face with the kid's staff with the gem on the top glowing in bright red.
----
Wind's Masteries
[Archery] Level 18
[Woodcrafting] Level 7
[Swordsmanship] Level 16
[Cooking] Level 6
[Wind] Level 15
[Physical Enhancement] Level 15
[Hunting] Level 14
[Blacksmithing] Level 1
----
Kazu's Masteries
[Arcana] Level 19
[Thunder] Level 15
[Wind] Level 14
[Alchemy] Level 13
[Magecrafting] Level 10
[Magical Affinity] Level 17
[Scribe] Level 4