Second World

After submitting the report of his kingdom faction chain quest, Jack received 4,000,000 exp points, 80 gold coins, and 30,000 merit points.

The exp points he received immediately filled up the exp bar for his Lightning God Blessing. Now, if Jeanny could copy the divine gems and magic crystals, all he needed to upgrade this divine skill to the final form was a divine crystal. Peniel had told him that she didn't know of a sure way to get this material, but Jack knew where he could find at least one because he had seen this legendary material in the past. He was just not sure if the owner would let him borrow the divine crystal to be copied. He might try asking later.

Since he could now level up his classes again, he made sure to change his exp setting back to 35:35:30 for Blade Dancer, Archmage, and Beastmaster respectively.

The kingdom faction chain Quest in his quest list was now updated to, Wait for Prince Alonzo's coronation.

"That's weird," Jack said. To which Peniel responded, "About what?"

"This kingdom faction chain quest," Jack said. "Its main difficulty is stated as SSS. We are at the end of the quest already, but there is not yet any part of its quest with SSS difficulty. The one we submitted just now with the civil war is only categorized as SS difficulty."

"How do you know it's the end of the chain quest already?" Peniel asked.

"Duh, look at the current update. It said, wait for Prince Alonzo's coronation. What happens after that? He becomes a king. The quest's objective is to help him become a king. Won't it end then?"

"I guess it is weird. Perhaps some other thing will happen before that?"

"Hm… Maybe. Whatever. We'll deal with it when it happens. Now… Let's see what I can get for being a marquess."

After receiving 30,000 merit points, Jack's nobility rank had increased to Marquess. A Marquess rank required one to have total merit points of 50,000. Jack's nobility badge now contained 60,970 merit points. The next rank was Duke, which required total merit points of 250,000.

He couldn't wait for that to happen. At that time, he would see Duke Alfredo as an equal.

His available merit points for exchange were 49,540. He was now checking the list to see if anything caught his fancy.

*

Marquess (Individual):

- Hire a special elite companion = 2,000 / week

- Use gold mining cave = 200 / 3 hours

- Use training cave (level 50-60) = 300 / 5 hours

- Use training cave (level 60-70) = 600 / 5 hours

Marquess (Guild):

- Royal Hounds = Hire a pack of one hundred level 70 Royal Hounds that roamed around Guild Headquarters for one week. Cannot be controlled. Will attack those that are considered hostile. Can detect invisible intruders (only one pack can be hired at a time) = 3,000 merit

- Armored Cavalry Insignia (Limit: 1) = Convert trained Cavalry unit to Armored Cavalry unit = 6,000 merit

- Mana Boost (cooldown: 1 week) = Boost mana production speed for the next 3 days = 500 merit

- War Boost (cooldown: 1 month) = Boost guild soldiers' attributes by 100% for the next war summon (only one boost can be bought at a time) = 5,000 merit

*

Jack didn't see anything that he wanted from the individual section. His Arlcard was already a better companion than the one offered here. The gold mining cave provided a high chance of getting high-grade blacksmith materials, but he already had the Transformation Prism for that. With their guild now at level 4, they would be able to upgrade their guild training cave to cater to those of level 50 and above.

The royal hounds sounded like perfect guards to watch their headquarters since they could detect invisible trespassers, but he didn't think these royal hounds were urgent. They got their mascot, Captain Whitebeard, guarding their guild core anyway. Any invisible enemy would still need to become visible once they started attacking the barrier protecting their Guild Hall.

"This war boost, does it have an expiry date?" Jack asked. "I mean, if I buy it now and the next war only happens five months from now, will it still take effect?"

"It will still take effect," the officer behind the desk answered.

"Then what about this cooldown?" Jack asked.

"The cooldown will start from when the guild army is summoned for war. Not from when you buy the boost."

"I see… In that case, I want to use my merit points for these three," Jack said. He clicked the options for the Armored Cavalry Insignia, mana boost, and war boost. He spent 11,500 merit points for those three. With their guild at level 4, they would require many resources to build the new structures, which included mana. Not to mention, they already had a few things that possessed daily mana upkeep, which reduced their mana income.

He also spent another 2,500 merit points for the building boost and training boost from the Earl section, to improve the construction speed of new structures and retrain their lost guild soldiers.

Jack returned to Heavenly Citadel afterward. John and Jeanny were already back as well. They met inside the Guild Hall. Domon, Leavemealone, Jet, and Grace were also there. Grace was chatting with Captain Whitebeard.

"Yo! Captain. I am curious. Do you mind showing me your true form?" Jack said after he arrived.

"Sure, no problem," the mouse said and he transformed abruptly into a hulking rat-like giant with shark-like teeth. Captain Whitebeard's true form's head was right above Jack. His savage red eyes were looking down at Jack with what appeared to be a smile, a weird scary smile. "What do you think?" He asked.

"Um… Maybe it's better if you turn back," Jack replied. His monocle confirmed that Captain Whitebeard's true form was indeed level 68 Rare Elite Beast.

The rat reverted to its tiny cute self. "It's truly liberating here. I won't be able to turn into this form as I like in the Village of Peace. I'm truly enjoying my time here," the rat said.

"Yeah, good for you," Jack said. He then asked John, "How long would it take to upgrade the Hero Altar?"

"With the building boost that you have just bought, one day," John answered. "I originally wanted to build the Vault which is available after our headquarters reached level 4."

"Vault?"

"It is a guild facility functioned like the city's Bank. Guild members can store their belongings inside this vault, including their gold coins. My intuition tells me that there will be more wars coming in the future. Those that continue to die will find Amulet of Rebirth's cost to be beyond their wealth. The smart players who can't afford an amulet of rebirth are already placing their valuables inside the bank. So if they die, the ones they lost are only their levels and the equipment they wore at the time."

"If it's the same, why waste our resources to build one? Our members can just use the bank in the city."

"Although the function is the same, there are also differences. Unlike our real-world bank, this game world's bank charges people a fee to use its facility. The more items you put into the bank, the higher the fees. Our guild vault is free for members, but the space is limited. Level 1 vault gave every member a storage space the size of their inventory bag. If we upgrade the vault's level, the storage space will increase."

"I see. It will be a great service for our members if we build that vault. More players will flock to us if they know we got this kind of facility."

"I need to tell you, people, something about guild's vault, though," Peniel said. "If you get invaded by other guilds and your guild core is destroyed. Aside from losing a portion of your resources and guild hostage token, all the items inside your vault will also be taken by the winning guild."

"Oh…," Jack, John, and Jeanny uttered at the same time.

"Well, as long as we don't lose, it won't matter, right?" Jet said.

"Yeah, right! There is no way we lose!" Jack exclaimed.

"Well, whatever. Anyway, I will prioritize the Hero Altar first," John said. "I assume you want to use the Hero Token, right? The upgrade should be completed by tomorrow morning."

"Yes," Jack replied. "In that case, I will stay here till tomorrow to use that token. After that, I have to leave again."

"Figures," John remarked.

"Where are you going?" Grace asked.

"The Valley of Tempus," Jack answered.

"That place with warped time?" Domon asked. He had been to that valley before. "Why are you going back there?"

"There is a special class trial for Archmage class at that place," Jack answered.

"Special class?" The ones, who were still unaware, asked.

Jack and Peniel then explained to them about the special class.

"I should arrange to send our core members' archmages to that place as well," Jeanny said.

"Don't. Let me make sure about this special class first," Jack said. "Only I can go in and out freely from that place using Pandora. For others, they might get stuck inside the valley without a way out. I can't stay there and ferry people in and out just so they can get their special class. We will see what this special class does and how its trial goes first, then we think about having others take it as well."

"I don't think it will be that simple. Special class is usually random occurrences," Peniel said. "If it is fixed at one place like this, then most likely it is a one-time deal. If you successfully get this special class, I don't think it will be available for others anymore."

"So, there is nothing we can do to increase our chance of getting a special class?" Jeanny asked.

"Every league faction has the chance to offer a special class to its members. But as I said, it is random. It is not something that you can exchange with your faction points. This is usually bestowed by the higher-ups of the faction. Perhaps if you improve your standing in the faction and get friendly with one of the higher-ups, you might get an offer for a special class."

'Hm, higher-ups of a faction?' Jack's thought went to Gruff and Janus. But since he was trying his Archmage special class in the Valley of Tempus, he could forget about Janus. "Maybe I can try asking Gruff the next time I visit the League of Champions," he said.

Peniel, who heard that, said, "I said offered. If Gruff hasn't offered you, it is unlikely he will give it to you even if you ask. You can only wait as you improve your standing in that faction."

"All right then, I will just spend today grinding inside Training Cave and the Ice Throne Legacy dungeon while waiting for the Hero Altar's upgrade," Jack said.

"You are going to the dungeon? Count me in," Jet said.

"Me too," Grace said as well.

"Sure… but before that, let me sleep first. You guys aren't exhausted? We just spend the whole night fighting in a war."

"Now that you mention it. Yeah, I think I will go have some shut-eyes as well," Jet said.

"Me too…," Grace repeated her words.