The day after his usual routine Liam logged into the game. He was greeted with a rge number of messages.

  Most of those only asked him about the pn for the day, but Silver Bde’s sounded rather urgent.

  [Silver Bde: Mirage, we meet?]

  Liam was still in Lomen Vilge where he went off yesterday. But since he was a few mie, the other party members had already scattered.

  [Bleary Mirage: Sure. Now?]

  [Silver Bde: Yes. Are you still in the vilge?]

  [Bleary Mirage: Yeah.]

  [Silver Bde: Good. I’m ing.]

  Liam waited for a few minutes before the tall female warrior with a fair, straight face approached him.

  “M.”

  “M. Now. What’s sent today?”

  “I want to hire you.”

  “Hire? For what?”

  “To clear the dungeon ahe server annou in the name of my pany.”

  That’s ued.

  Liam was surprised. Not because someone wao hire him – he had takey such jobs in his old life – but because Silver Bde had her own pany.

  “Sure, I accept.”

  “What? But I haven’t told you aails yet. Furthermore, are you really this fident iing the first clear?”

  “Your timing erfect. I was just thinking about how to buy my sister a sole when you appeared. And for your sed question:

  If I seriously want to take first clear, no one will be able to take it away from me!”

  Silver Bde stared at Liam in a daze. The young man excluded a fidengraved in his bones, giving off the aura of a person at the top.

  A momehe young woman forcibly coughed.

  “Alright. How do we set up a tract?”

  “Let me ask.

  C? we make tracts in the game?”

  Silver Bde was taken aback as a meical voice sounded from the air around them.

  [Yes.]

  “Are they legally binding?”

  [No. But viotion will result in a perma ban form the game.]

  Liam nodded his head. This was somewhat different from his past life.

  Silver Bde pondered for a moment before :

  “Why don’t we set up a traside and out of the game?”

  “Sure. I’ll send you my address ter.”

  “Alright. And… thank you.”

  Liam waved his hand, not taking it to heart.

  “Should we gather the party then?”

  “Are we preparing for the dungeon?”

  “Yes. I want everyoo level up at least ooday. On top of that we should get our hands on a healing skill.”

  “Sure. You know best.”

  Nodding his head, Liam sent out party invitations.

  The others accepted one by one. When it was Radiant Shield’s turn, a message appeared instantly.

  [Radiant Shield: Guys, Sun’s Knight won’t be ing.]

  [Cye: Did something happen? Is he ok?]

  [Radiant Shield: Yeah, don’t worry. He just prioritizes studying for now.]

  [Cye: Bummer.]

  [Silent Acacia: ’t bme him.]

  [Radiant Shield: Yeah. But I have another friend who would like to join us if you guys are ok with it.]

  The party chat fell silent for a moment.

  [Silver Bde: Mirage, hoeople do we need for the dungeon?]

  [Bleary Mirage: Ten would be the best case.]

  [Cye: So many?]

  [Bleary Mirage: Yeah. If we want to clear it with our levels, ten will be necessary. So, if you guys know some people you ihem.]

  [Silver Bde: Right, I still o discuss with you guys. I, as representative of my pany, would like to hire you. I hope we get the first clear server annou!]

  [Radiant Shield: Really?!]

  [Silent Acacia: Sure. NP]

  [Quickstep: Good idea.]

  [Cye: Yeah! Nie, Silver!]

  [Balm: Is this appropriate?]

  [Silver Bde: Let’s discuss it face to face ter.]

  Radiant Shield stared at the messages before his eyes, not knowing what to do. After a few seds he decided to log out and inform Sun’s Knight.

  However, pared to his other dormmates Sun’s Knight was rather well off. Earning money wasn’t enough to shake off the unfortable feeling ing others down. Thus, the man deed calmly.

  Radiant Shield rejoihe game, where the party already decided to gather io.

  It didn’t take long for all of them to meet at the town square. Radiant Shield also informed his friend Kelvin, eared quickly.

  The young man looked just like in real life except for the vely short hair hidden under a bck hood.

  “My valiant panions, this hief is going by the name of Bloody Edge! He will be a valuable addition to our party!”

  “My bde is ready to slice through the dungeon!”

  The others did their best to hold back their ughter. Obviously Bloody Edge’s speech was just as bad as Radiant Shield’s.

  “Wele.”

  “o meet you.”

  After a round of introdu everyone looked at Liam, waiting for him to take the lead.

  The veteran gathered everyone, leaving through the western gate. They followed the path through the outer forest for a while before diving deeper into the foliage.

  The light was dim, and the leaves rustled. From time to time some wolves attacked, but they posed no challeo the party.

  Soon, a shabby vilge came into view. Mounds of dirt served as its walls, protected by a single flimsy gate.

  Two figures stood in front of it. With hairy bodies, sharp cws and a thin tail behind them.

  “Huh? What are they?”

  “Those are Ratkin, a branch of the beastkin. They be found everywhere in aboul.”

  Suddenly Bloody Edge’s body trembled.

  “Beastkin? Are you talking about a mix of humans as? Doesn’t this mean… catgirls?”

  Silver Bde scoffed at the smaller man.

  “Tzz. Men… You even fell out of your role.”

  “Maiden, you won’t uand. Catgirls are a man’s greatest pursuit.

  Am I right?”

  Bloody Edge turo the other men. But while Radiant Shield nodded embarrassedly, Bleary Mirage and Silent Acacia looked away, cleverly avoiding involving themselves in the discussion.

  Fortunately, before Bloody Edge could tinue, a squeaky but cold voice rang out.

  “Who goes there?!”

  Two pairs of narrow eyes stared at the party, the guards raising their spears dangerously.

  “We are only adventurers searg for work. Do have something for us to do?”

  The two guards looked at each other. But before they could give an answer, a small hatch opened withie and an envelope was thrown out.

  One of the guards read it quickly, eying Liam’s group.

  “To the west of this pce is a small fort occupied by the Lame Locust bandits. Kill them and bring us their tokens. We will reward you.”

  Cye looked strangely at the vilge before them.

  “What an odd quest. Why are they so hostile?”

  “Because we first o farm reputation.”, expined Liam.

  “Oh! And with enough reputation we will be able to ehe vilge?”

  “Yes. And we take more quests.”

  The party naturally uood quickly as they followed Liam towards the west.

  Suddenly Cye grinned.

  “Mirage, do we o clear the bandit ir? Is there a boss and lots of loot?”

  The quest they received only asked them to gather at least 20 tokens, not going into detail.

  But Liam only shook his head.

  “You try.”

  Cye didn’t uand until the first bandits came into view. They were a pair, light bck clothes and with scarred faces.

  [Lame Locust ScoutRank: on

  Level: 9

  HP: 650/650]

  Cye looked at the area ahead, a notification reminding them that they discovered the Lame Locust Fortress.

  The forest thinned, revealing dozens of bandit groups roaming around. The scouts were obviously only the weakest among them.

  “Ok guys. Standard procedures. Acacia pulls and we kill. We should be able to do this easily.”

  With a sign from Liam, Silver Bde took the lead, the party calmly.

  Everyone accepted as they began their fight. Two bandits spriowards them, daggers glinting uhe sun.

  Silver Bde and Radiant Shield stood like an insurmountable wall, their shields weling the attacks.

  [Stance -10]

  The tanks lost a siderable amount of stance, but in a fight against normal mobs this wasn’t of much , as they were susceptible to stuns and simir crowd trol.

  Thus, the two bandits fell quickly uhe group’s assault. They dropped a few s, a token, and gave 24EXP each, a solid amount.

  he group trained in this post of the day, leveling up quickly. The old party members all reached level 6, making it halfway towards level 7.

  Bloody Edge was somewhat behind, not yet reag level 6.

  Satisfied with the day’s aplishments, the group returo the Ratkin vilge.

  Immediately the two guards’ tiny eyes lit up, their faces showing kindness.

  Cye cocked her head, gng at them strangely:

  “Why are they so happy? They don’t know if we killed the bandits yet!”

  Liam chuckled while one of the guards spoke up.

  “Honored adventurers, please ehe vilge leader wants to see you.”

  The guards quickly opehe gates, letting Liam and his friends in.

  A small vilge with houses made from mud and cy appeared before them. A few Ratkin scurried about, most of them w on some farmnd close to the dirt walls.

  However, the group didn’t tinue further as time was running out. They agreed to meet at the same porrow, logging out.