New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Astaroth had already found the answers to this, since he had activated his Perfect Mana Sense when the sound disappeared, and found traces of mana inlaid into the walls.

As they kept walking toward the room they were promised, he inspected the walls. He could see lines of mana following the bricks, imbued with some kind of lettering.

He guessed there was a formation to block out unwanted eavesdropping. As a bonus, the formation absorbed the stray noise from the busy front desks.

There were so many applications to magic that he needed to learn. Every day he stumbled upon new uses he wouldn't have thought of on his own.

He wished Aberon had taught him some of those, but then again, Aberon had only ever taught him the basics. Maybe when he could return to the village, Aberon would part with more knowledge.

He already guessed he had taught Violette more things than him, but he refused to be jealous of her. He would simply have to wait until the old man shared those bits of knowledge with him.

Upon arrival at a large room in the back part of the building, they walked into a conference room. There was a massive table in the center, made of some kind of exotic wood.

The walls were garnished with shelves upon shelves of books. It gave the entire room a feeling of opulence, but also tranquillity and gravitas.

Astaroth and Phoenix could tell many important meetings had been conducted in this room. Meanwhile, Violette and Gale were busy looking at the tapestries hanging next to the windows.

As the players sat on one side of the table, the man that had brought them here pulled out documents from thin air. Astaroth was slightly surprised.

'Did he materialize them? Or maybe the NPCs also have an inventory.'

The man sat opposite the players, laying the documents on the table. Phoenix was the first one to grab the papers, scrutinizing them with her discerning eyes.

The papers contained the requirements to form a guild, as well as the terms binding to the guild management fees associated with the organization. Phoenix read everything carefully.

Once she was done, she nodded to Astaroth, before laying the papers down again.

Nothing was off about the terms, according to her.

"Now that you have read the documentation, I would like to further make sure you understand what they contain."

Astaroth and Phoenix nodded, their faces serious, while the two younger players were still zoned out, observing the room.

"To form an officially recognized guild, you will need three things. The first one is five beings that sign the documents. You are already four here, so if you have a fifth person in mind, you can have them sign it later or come here now."

As he finished saying that, a function unlocked in the four players' interface. The guild function appeared to them, and inside it, they could invite other players to the guild.

Astaroth immediately sent out invitations to Athena, I'die, Gulnur, Silent, and after a few seconds of thinking, he sent one to Khalor, too.

It didn't take long for most of those to accept the invitation, as their names magically appeared on the guild charter document. The attendant smiled and nodded in approval.

"Good. With this out of the way, let us move on to the second requirement. The management office requires a one thousand gold fee for all the bureaucratic work to officialize your guild across the nation, and beyond."

Astaroth pulled out a thousand gold from his reserves, making a large pouch of gold appear on the table. The attendant jumped a bit at the sudden thump of the pouch, before smiling again.

Astaroth smiled back, pushing the pouch forward across the table.

"Do you need to count it?"

"That won't be necessary. I believe as a Knight you have enough integrity to be trusted."

"Good. Then what is the third requirement?"

"The third requirement can be resolved at an ulterior date. You will need an official base for your guild, as well as a name for said guild."

When he finished saying that, everyone whose name appeared on the charter suddenly received a quest. The quest required them to find or purchase a base for the guild, with the reward being an official guild seal.

They would need to complete that part fast, if they wanted to join the guild war and stomp down on Aces High's ambitions. But before Astaroth of Phoenix could accept the quest, it was accepted and completed instantly.

A check mark appeared next to the name of the quest completer. Athena had been the one to fulfill the requirement.

She also sent a message through the now-available guild chat.

'I had already found a place that I was planning on buying. Now I know what to do with it. You are welcome.'

Astaroth chuckled.

'What a resourceful woman.'

The attendant, seeing the requirement suddenly grey out on the document, smiled again.

'These players came prepared. What a refreshing change.'

"The last thing I need from you is a name under which to call your guild. Have you thought of one already?"

Phoenix was the one to talk this time.

"Yes. I think we can all agree with the name, 'Paragons'. Am I right?"

Violette and Astaroth nodded. Gale didn't know what it stood for, but since he was new there, he didn't want to disagree with them.

The man wrote the name on the charter, and soon after, the paper floated upward before burning in a flash of flames.

"Congratulations on forming the guild Paragons. I will deliver your seal to your guild master's inventory."

"Wait. We didn't pick a guild master…" Astaroth said, confused.

The three other players next to him looked at him in confusion.

'He is so dense sometimes,' Violette and Phoenix thought.

"We picked one. It's you, silly," Phoenix said.

"What?!"