As the four boss hounds collapsed, the golden barrier surrounding the formation flared, bathing the entire chamber in blinding light.
A system notification pinged. This time, it was a single, brief line.
[System: Morren has successfully repaired the magic circle.]
Cheers erupted across the raid.
"Hell yes! Is it over?"
"Look, Morren's stepping out!"
"We actually did it!"
Amidst the celebration, Lila swept through the boss corpses to collect the loot. The drops were underwhelming: four Legendary items, eight Epics, and ten Rares. Not a single Ascendant-tier piece. Clearly, without Kael's absurd luck carrying them, the drop rates were abysmal.
They did, however, score a few unique items:
[Tower of Valor (Common Relic)] - Level 1
Increases the Strength of all Guild Members by 1%.
[Three-Eyed Hound's Skull (Offering)] x2
Adds 1,000,000 Offering Points to a Relic.
Another Relic. Lila had no idea how the leveling curve for Relics worked, but judging by the million-point offerings, they likely required a colossal amount of experience to upgrade.
Gathering the raid, Lila approached Morren. The old NPC stroked his beard, a warm smile on his face.
"Morren, is there anything else we need to do?" Lila asked.
He shook his head. "No. You have done exceptionally well. The ninth-floor formation is now entirely Unbreakable."
"What about the eighth floor?" she probed. "Does that formation need repairing, too?"
"The eighth floor is not my jurisdiction," Morren replied dismissively. "Come, let us leave."
This time, there was no confirmation prompt. The world blurred, and an instant later, they materialized outside the Infernal Spire.
Before their eyes could even adjust to the light, shouts rang out.
"They're out! They actually survived!"
"Holy shit, they were in there so long I thought they wiped for sure."
"Those girls actually cleared it? I thought you guys were messing with me."
Lila blinked, realizing a massive crowd had gathered around Captain Ron. Fortunately, Crimson Bloom had spawned on the Spire's base formation, keeping a safe distance between them and the gawking onlookers.
Lila frowned. It had been half the day; she hadn't expected an audience this large. She turned to her mage. "Eira, open a mass portal. Let's get everyone out of here."
"On it," Eira chirped, beginning her incantation. Three seconds later, a teleport nexus stabilized in front of them.
Just then, a voice called out over the crowd. "Guildmaster Lila! Wait a moment!"
Lila looked up to see Silverwind, the Priest and Guildmaster of Silverwood. He was waving a folded fan to catch her attention. "Guildmaster Lila, a word, please!"
Silverwood was currently the top-ranked guild in Freya's Cradle. It wouldn't hurt to build a rapport.
"Send the others through first," Lila told Eira. "I'll follow up shortly."
Eira nodded. With a flash of arcane light, the first twenty players vanished. A moment later, she returned and ported out the remaining nineteen.
Lila walked over to the rival guildmaster. "Guildmaster Silverwind. What can I do for you?"
Silverwind snapped his fan shut and offered a respectful nod. "Congratulations on surviving the Infernal Spire, Guildmaster. If you don't mind me asking, what exactly was the quest?"
"A Guild Upgrade quest," Lila replied bluntly. "Completed on the ninth floor."
Silverwind's eyes widened. "A Guild Upgrade? Which NPC gave it to you?"
Lila saw no reason to hide it. "General Oscar at his estate in Crescent City. He doubles as the Guild Steward for the Mythrosia Empire. But I only got the prompt after meeting a hidden prerequisite—having one hundred Level 35 players in the guild."
Silverwind inhaled sharply. "A hundred Level 35s? That's insane." His own guild only had about forty players at that level. It was clear Silverwood wouldn't be securing the server's second guild upgrade anytime soon.
After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Lila took a portal back to Freya's Cradle. Once inside the city limits, she made a beeline straight for General Oscar's estate in Crescent City.
Oscar didn't waste her time with dialogue. He handed over the quest rewards immediately. A cascade of system notifications flooded Lila's vision:
[System: Crimson Bloom escorted Morren to the magic circle. Completion: 20%.]
[System: Crimson Bloom successfully upgraded to a Level 2 Guild.]
[System: Crimson Bloom defended Morren during repairs. Completion: 40%.]
[System: Crimson Bloom defended Morren during repairs. Completion: 60%.]
[System: Crimson Bloom defended Morren during repairs. Completion: 80%.]
[System: Magic circle absorbed 100 or fewer attacks. Completion: 100%.]
[System: Failures: 0.]
[System: Congratulations. You have completed the quest with a (Flawless) rating. Reward: 275 Acres of Guild Territory.]
Two hundred and seventy-five acres?!
That was over 1.3 million square yards—roughly a 1.2-mile square block of pure real estate. When Corin built his Windsong Manor, he'd only needed ten thousand square yards. Crimson Bloom's new territory was the equivalent of a hundred and thirty Windsong Manors combined.
[Please select your Guild Territory location.]
A holographic map of Crescent City materialized before her. Lila skimmed the options, noting zones categorized as 'Inner City' and 'Outer City'. Only one available plot sat adjacent to the main city teleport nexus. It was roughly 1.5 million square yards in size.
Geographically, it was the absolute heart of the downtown district.
Without hesitation, Lila claimed it. It was clearly a premium plot reserved exclusively for the server's very first guild. In real estate, it was all about location. Why build anywhere else when you could plant your headquarters right next to the central transit hub?
Just as Lila thought the rewards were finished, a server-wide announcement blared.
[System: Congratulations to Crimson Bloom for becoming the first Level 2 Guild! Reward: Random Uncommon Relic.]
A private message followed immediately.
[System: You have obtained the Tower of Everspring.]
[Tower of Everspring (Uncommon Relic)] - Level 1
Increases the Max HP of all Guild Members by 2%.
Stepping out of General Oscar's estate, Lila felt a little dazed. The avalanche of rewards was hard to process all at once.
Following her minimap, she navigated to her new guild territory. She recalled this area previously being a dense block of NPC housing. Now, it was a massive expanse of empty land. She had no idea where the system had relocated the evicted NPCs.
From the outside, it was just a low perimeter wall encircling a barren dirt lot, looking entirely out of place amidst the bustling, opulent city streets.
Lila approached the main gate and looked up. The entrance was modest, bearing a simple wooden plaque that read Crimson Bloom. Both the gate's size and the plaque's cheap design left a lot to be desired. She mentally noted to upgrade it the moment she had the resources.
She stepped over the threshold.
[You have entered Crimson Bloom Territory.]
Inside, a basic, unadorned Guild Hall sat in the center of the dirt lot. A lone NPC stood near the entrance. As Lila approached, his nameplate resolved: [Crimson Bloom Guild Steward].
Instead of speaking to him, Lila opened her guild management interface. A massive list of "Constructible" buildings populated the screen, each requiring various resources to build. Currently, the guild's resource stockpile sat at a flat zero.
However, one tab on the main hall page caught her eye: Relic Slots: 0/3.
Smiling, she immediately slotted her three Relics into the interface.