“Isn’t that the guild leader? What’s he doing here during the beta?” Not expecting a familiar face to appear this early on in the game’s lifespan, Valyr could not help but rummage through memories from his past life, specifically memories that contained information regarding the guild he had been a part of, as well as its core personnel.
The person Valyr was currently watching through the World Net was the leader of the Pandora’s Crafts guild, taking on the in-game name of Nephilim. Though his in-game name said otherwise, Nephilim was someone Valyr came to know in his past life as someone who had a cheerful and outgoing personality when interacting with his fellow guild members, making them feel as if they were part of a larger family.
As for the guild itself, Pandora’s Crafts was a guild where most of its members were focused on production classes and lifestyle skills. Unlike most guilds, where the main purpose of the establishment of their guilds was for large-scale combat, Pandora’s Crafts was made with the purpose of giving a safe haven to those who sought to pursue production classes to the pinnacle, allowing them to use their time more on honing their craft rather than spending it on becoming more experienced in combat.
However, even though Pandora’s Crafts was a guild that focused on production, that did not mean that there were no members from the guild that excelled in combat. Aside from Nephilim, the leader of the guild, there were also a handful of members from the guild that specialized in combat.
Though, with how all of these members still took up production classes as their subclasses, incorporating their production skills into their combat style, Nephilim had given the group an apt name, calling the group Pandora’s Box.
Nevertheless, the cheerful and outgoing Nephilim Valyr could remember from the past was nowhere to be found in the livestream he was currently watching, which allowed to see all of the players that had spawned in Clossbay City. At the moment, Valyr watched Nephilim follow each and every order of one of the other players that had spawned alongside Nephilim in the city, as if the latter had full control over the former’s life.
Watching the player that ordered Nephilim for a bit as he rummaged through his memories, Valyr eventually recalled who the player was, slightly tilting his head in confusion as he did not know that the two had that kind of relationship before he had met Nephilim. “The leader of Halcyon…”
Void_Guardian, the leader of Halcyon, was someone Valyr rarely interacted with in his previous life, even though he was part of Pandora’s Crafts’ core as an above average blacksmith. From what he could recall whenever he saw Nephilim and him converse with one another, Nephilim was all smiles, while Void_Guardian would look at the former in disgust.𝒪𝚟𝐿𝐞xt.𝒞𝑂𝐌
However, even though Void_Guardian was like that to Nephilim in his previous life, the two guilds were in an alliance up to the later versions of Greater Beyond, with Pandora’s Crafts providing the items that Halcyon needed, while Halcyon offered the manpower Pandora’s Crafts needed for certain tasks.
With that in mind, he could not help but find the current interaction between the two players odd. “Did Nephilim go through something during the beta version and the time I met him in the past for his personality to change that much? Why is Void_Guardian treating him that way?”
Lightly scratching his head in curiosity as he continued to watch the livestream on the screen before him unfold, Valyr eventually thought that there was not much point in him finding out the reason behind his previous guild leader’s change in personality, only thinking that it would’ve been interesting if he did find out. “Then again, I don’t have the right to meddle in his affairs, especially now that I’m an NPC.”
“But that doesn’t mean I can’t help him out a bit while it’s still the beta version.” Nevertheless, that did not stop him from thinking of aiding his previous guild leader during the beta version, recalling the kindness Nephilim had shown to him in his previous life. “Though all of their progress would be wiped once the beta ends, at the very least, I’ll give him a better idea of what to do once the public version starts.”
“The only problem is… how do I start interacting with them first?”
As he pondered over the various possible ways he could make first contact with the players in the city, Valyr went ahead and pulled up the chat function, informing Tryndall that he was already on his way to Clossbay. In response, Tryndall told him through chat that he should have a safe journey and to not rush.
After that, Valyr asked him if there were any updates on the quest the two of them had, with Tryndall telling him that there was. However, rather than tell Valyr what updates had transpired since he left Clossbay through the chat function, Tryndall said that it would be better if the former heard it from him personally, prompting the two to set a time and place for them to meet up once Valyr had returned to Clossbay.
“Speaking of which, I should probably start finding ways to make money while at the city.” Closing the chat function as he moved the screen with the livestream to his peripheral vision, this thought soon surfaced within Valyr’s mind, prompting him to take a look at the satchel of money he had brought with him, which contained the value of roughly 10 gold coins.
Though 10 gold coins would be more than enough for Valyr to live like a king in Astarto Village for months on end, that same amount would only last him slightly over a week at most in Clossbay City.
Bitterly smiling as he thought about how much money the satchel contained when Wells first gave to him, Valyr thought about setting up a smithy of his own in the city, making a mental note to ask Arcenne and Tryndall about the specifics of setting up one once he had arrived.
“I should also add Arcenne to my friend list once I get to Clossbay.” As he pondered over other ways he could make money while in the city, Valyr eventually recalled the offer Gabriel had given to him at the combat training hall before he left Clossbay, wondering if the offer was still valid.
With all of these thoughts in mind, Valyr went ahead and made a mental list of things he would do once he had arrived in Clossbay City again, spending most of his time during the journey watching the players’ livestreams through the World Net at day, while allowing the horses and himself to rest at night.
Eventually, three days had inadvertently passed.