For the next few minutes Cyclone pulled item after item. In this forgotten cave in the middle of nowhere continuous cheers could be heard. As soon as the first unique equipment appeared, the atmosphere reached its peak and never cooled down. Cyclone's luck was on full display. She thought the goddess of luck had ignored her during the previous fight, but little did she know that this was only to concentrate all her luck for this moment.
The rewards were extremely generous. Cyclone continued to pull and pull, her mind in a daze, like someone addicted. But after she pulled the fiftieth item the bag's opening suddenly closed by itself. From one moment to another the bag rose to the air and shot out of the room at an insane speed. It raced outside, raising a cloud of snow behind it as it passed over hills and plains.
Far away, in the Eternal Flame Tribe. Troll Chief Oraxc was sitting on his throne, laughing boisterously. His eyes were focused on a table not far away on which an old man in ragged clothes stood, carrying a heavy bag on his back. Who else could it be but Meyhran?
Suddenly a whistling noise reached their ears. From one moment to the next a light flashed, and a smaller bag stopped right in front of Meyhran. The old man didn't even react. He grabbed the smaller bag, stuffed it into the bigger bag, and continued talking to Oraxc.
"So fast!"
The bag had already landed in Meyhran's hand when Liam and his friends reacted to the sudden change. Cyclone was amazed and dejected at the same time. This was the most enjoyable looting session she ever had. Not even killing a world boss was this exciting.
"Ok, no need to be greedy. We already got rich rewards here.", comforted Silver Blade.
"You're right. Cyclone's luck was on full display today. Except for some dubs the other items were all quite good."
"Only quite good? You guys are really spoiled", laughed Liam. "Everyone of us got at least one unique item of the set they are wearing. You can replace so many rare items. That's a comprehensive upgrade."
"Yeah, I agree with Liam. We should be happy. Especially Quickstep with her additional unique weapon and Bloody Edge with his two unique set items.", said Fortune while playing with the new ring on her hand. Although it was only of rare quality, it increased her INT and had the effect of strengthening her next attack after she missed the previous one, which was great for her [Arcane Bolts].
Everyone nodded and adjusted their minds. They already had some of the best equipment on the server currently. It was unhealthy to set their expectations too high. Meanwhile Radiant Shield walked towards Bloody Edge, giving him a heavy pat on the shoulder, saying:
"I am really happy for your, my friend. The difficulty of replacing all your set equipment is not low. This will be a good start."
"Yes. This makes things quite a bit easier."
"Haha, and from your expression you are happy with the result. Come, let us share in your joy!"
Bloody Edge understood what Radiant Shield meant. He posted the description of his new headgear, a leather hood with a demonic face mask, in the chat.
[Oresdin's demonic mask
Category: Unique, Set
Level requirement: 57
Physical Defence: 17
Magical Defence: 11
Dexterity: +11
Agility: +14
Effect 1: If your targeted enemy has higher current HP than you, your physical damage increases by 8% for the next 5 seconds. (cooldown: 200 seconds)
Effect 2: Every time you are hit by an attack, you have a chance of 10% to transfer 25% of the damage to the closest enemy. (cooldown: 80 seconds)
Effect 3: If your enemy is of the chaos faction, you have a 5% with every attack to affect them with fear. (duration: 2 seconds) (cooldown: 120 seconds)
Two-piece Set effect: After you receive healing from an external source, all your own methods of HP recovery are strengthened by 20%. (duration: 3 seconds) (cooldown: 50 seconds)
Three-piece Set effect: Increase your critical strike chance by 3% for every attack of yours which deals below 500 points of damage. This effect can stack up to five times. Also, increase your physical damage by 3% for every consecutive attack without a critical strike. This effect can stack up to five times. (effect duration: 7 seconds) (effect cooldown after five stacks: 100 seconds)
Four-piece Set effect: ???
Restriction: Bound upon wearing, AGI above 160 points
Fighting fire with fire. This was the mantra of Infernal Hunter Oresdin. With methods some might consider demonic he hunted down everyone daring to cause the deaths of the innocent. But his real target had always been the demon Infry. One day Oresdin saw the opportunity to finally kill Infry. From that day on they both disappeared. But somehow Oresdin's iconic mask found its way into your hands. Are willing to take up the Infernal Hunter's mantle?]
Everyone curiously studied Bloody Edge's set item, comparing it to their own. A boasting competition was just about to start but Silver Blade cut it short:
"Guys! We really don't have time for that now! Graveyard of Heroes might be coming any moment."
"Yes, ma'am…", replied Cyclone like an annoyed schoolgirl, earning her a brief glare from Silver Blade.
However, everyone knew that the tank was right. It was time to leave. Thus, the conversation stopped as the party hurried up the stairs and left the ice cave.
"They are coming…", said Watchful Eye solemnly.
Everyone felt their chests tighten as they stared at the distance where what looked like a long black snake was moving through the snow. Those were at least two hundred players. Did Graveyard of Heroes have so many players in the vicinity?! Or did they have a teleporter close by? The friends were curious but perhaps now was not the time to ask. Instead, it was better to get as much distance as possible between them and the crowd.
Ten flying mounts were summoned swiftly. The party jumped on their backs and rose to the air. With twenty times their basic movement speed the party shot into the distance. Even Radiant Shield gathered all his courage. He didn't dare to fall behind.
While flying the friends saw two players among the chaos faction crowd also taking to the air. However, with everyone travelling at roughly the same speed how could they catch up? Soon, Liam and his friends left the chaos faction crowd behind.
"Didn't make it in time."
"That was to be expected I guess."
"Damn, I thought I could defeat Hotpot today."
"And I paused a quest for this…"
Listening to all the murmur behind him, Kaleido sighed lightly but didn't say anything. He had spread the news in the global chat to not only attract his own guild members, but also other chaos faction players scattered in the Eastern Mountains. However, he stated from the beginning that the chances of catching Hotpot were not big. No one could accuse him of anything.
Liam and his friends didn't think too much about the chaos faction after leaving them behind. Thanks to their flying mounts they could come and go as they pleased. Soaring through the clouds, diving straight down, racing through the snow. The feeling was extremely exhilarating. This kind of playing around was not only for fun but also helped the party familiarize themselves with the sensation of flying.
Thanks to their flying mounts, the way back was a lot faster than before. They also didn't have to take a detour towards the Eternal Flame Tribe. Instead, they directly returned to Icehaven.
The party was warmly welcomed by the beastkin. They went to the tavern and celebrated the successful treasure hunt with a cup of delicious Sorov Brew. After spending an enjoyable time together, the friends took the teleporter back to Greypine Town.
From then on, a time dedicated to Dream Avenue started. Time flowed like a river and four days passed in an instant. For the friends these days were enjoyable but still productive. Dream Avenue emerged victorious from another guild war. The friends joined other members in completing guild quests in an effort to push Dream Avenue towards rank 3. Meanwhile the first sub-guild named Sub Avenue was finally established. Trey became its guild leader, and the members were all players with high potential even if their levels weren't up to par yet.
Through completing quests, Liam and his friends earned some EXP and reached level 61. It had to be said that with level 60 the friends gained access to a new bunch of dungeons. However, they decided not to care for normal mode. Hard mode would be accessible with level 65, and it was enough to achieve the first clear there. For normal mode they could just send other teams. Even if they didn't get first clear it didn't matter as people didn't pay much attention to normal mode anymore.
However, this notion was set to change as something unexpected happened one day. C's voice once again rang through the entire order faction.
[Server Announcement:]
[Please congratulate The New Number One on being the first to achieve the first clear of the dungeon Emyel's Demise on normal mode.]
[ The New Number One thanks 'Do you dare to meet us in hell mode?' for their generous support.]