Exile grinned at everyone as their haul was placed on the table in front of him. The Raider's Horn was full of excited chatter as Ragnarok's members looked on with eager expression. Clay and the other original members were busy gathering everyone's details. Such as how many stat points they already had. This way they could fairly distribute the orbs to raise the overall strength of the Pantheon.
Of course, Exile still planned to make sure that he, Clay, Burri, Un, Leggy and Desa remained a level or two above everyone else. This was solely to maintain order in the Pantheon and prevent anyone from getting any funny ideas. Once the information was collected, Clay called the weakest player up to the table, where Exile handed him an orb.
Upon using it, he reported his new stats to Clay, who told him to take a seat. It turned out the orb had belonged to a relatively strong player. Turning this member from their weakest to the second strongest new recruit. This process continued where they always called up the new weakest member. If one orb was not enough, they received another.
Once every player had reached level 5, it was Clay and the others turn. These five quickly reached level 7. What surprised everyone was the fact that they still had more than half of the pile left to go through, despite reaching this point. Before the next round began, Clay insisted that Exile raise his level to 8 first. Arguing that Exile deserved to be a level ahead of them because it was his plan and spell that made this possible.
Although he disagreed with this, the new members took Clay's side. They argued that they would feel more secure with a strong leader to back them up when they needed it. Exile let out a long sigh before picking up the closest orb. Once he absorbed it, he waited to see what he would gain. However, his eyes went wide in shock!
[You have permanently received +9 Strength, +7 Endurance, +5 Speed, +2 Authority]
[Congratulations! More than 70 points of Divinity have been detected! You have reached Level 8!]
[Congratulations! More than 80 points of Divinity have been detected! You have reached Level 9!]
He quickly realised that this orb had belonged to a player who was level 5. Hence the huge increase in stats. They had already seen something similar with the orb that Midas had received, but they assumed it was likely the only one. Most of the orbs had belonged to players around levels 2 to 4, so it was quite a shock for him to jump two levels because of this!
The bar erupted in cheers as he told the others the results he received. But before long, they settled down to continue distributing the spoils. In the end, Clay also advanced to level 9 just barely. Desa, Un, Leggy and Burri settled in the upper end of level 8. Beans and Midas managed to break through to the lower end of Level 8 as well, much to the jealously of their comrades. Winter ended up a few points short, but she was satisfied with being the strongest amongst the rest. Overall, their weakest member ended up only a few points into Level 7.
Exile nodded happily at the results. Barely an hour ago their weakest member was only level 3, so this had been an amazing haul. 'Our foundation is strong now, and I'm close to Level 10. I wonder what will happen.' Exile let out a sigh as the members began to discuss their new spells. 'It's a shame Aeri won't fall for this a second time and everyone will be cautious to keep their distance from now on.'
He had to admit that it was a risk to expose Cleansing Flame to so many enemies at once. Its range was only suitable for close to mid-range, so as long as they avoided stepping inside that zone, his strongest spell would be useless against other players. 'Still, it was worth it. We've given them a scare and they'll be unlikely to try anything soon. Hopefully, most of these orbs belonged to Kaleidoscope. That should set them back and give us time to prepare.'
As he was thinking about how his enemies would react to this move, a nagging sensation appeared in his mind. A deep frown appeared on his face for several minutes as he tried to figure out what the cause was.
"What's that look for?" Clay laughed as he slapped Exile on the back. "Look at what we've achieved! We're probably the strongest Pantheon in Valheim now! How can you not be happy?"
"I just feel like I'm missing something..." Exile let out a soft smile as he gazed around at the crowded bar. "Something important..."
His eyes fell on Beans, who smiled nervously at him before she turned back to her conversation with Midas. What the two were talking about was anyone's guess, but that sight jogged something in Exile's memory.
"That's what it is!" Exile exclaimed in a low voice full of shock as his eyes remained fixed on Beans.
"What are you talking about?" Clay hummed as he raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
"Donna! DonnaThaGreat!" Exile groaned as he realised what was bugging him. He felt stupid for not realising it sooner, but he had been caught up in trying to deal with everything quickly. Causing him to overlook this matter for too long. "Neither Midas nor Winter mentioned her! Even though I sent them to her territory for their challenge! There's no way she just sat back and let all these new players steal her followers!"
Clay frowned as he wondered why it was so important to Exile that their members had not been challenged by Donna. However, he could sense that Exile was extremely troubled by this matter. Before he could question Exile on the matter, a system announcement interrupted them. Causing everyone to become silent as they listened to it in shock...