New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

This was huge!

Astaroth only nodded in satisfaction. But more good news came in next.

*Event successfully concluded! Congratulations to the guild Paragons for their tenacity and unwavering will!*

*Generating rewards*

*Rewards generated successfully!*

10 Million Exp points to each player

5000 Gold to each player

Treasury content of the Bastion has been doubled

5000 guild reputation points

Evolution Fruit (Guild Leader only)

The sudden influx of Exp made every player present jump with joy. Ten million may not seem like much the further your level went, but it was still a massive amount.

And that amount was aside from the Exp they made from killing all the monsters. From the horde, which was originally about four thousand strong, only a little over three hundred remained.

Almost everyone in the party levelled up. The only outliers were Astaroth, who already needed an insane amount of Exp to level up, and Morticia, who was missing only a sliver to do so herself.

Aside from those, Astaroth's spirit and Genie didn't benefit from the additional ten million Exp, so they didn't level up either. But Astaroth paid it no mind.

His current aim was to complete the reason they came here in the first place. They still needed to reach the Bastion's stronghold and officially make it their own.

From what Athena had explained to them outside, she had gained the right to the land from the tribe of Wild Elves outside. But the Bastion itself was no longer considered theirs, ever since the horde of monsters had taken it as their own.

Astaroth had half hoped that making Leon join their guild would fix the issue, but it seemed like that wasn't enough. Astaroth turned to look at Leon.

"Can you direct us to the stronghold? Or better yet, guide us there?"

Leon huffed at the demand, since he hated taking orders. But he was now under Astaroth by the guild rules, so he still did as asked.

Astaroth had an inkling of an idea where the stronghold would be, but the less time they wasted searching for the exact room he wanted to be in, the better for their next objective.

Leon guided the group inside the gigantic tree that stood in the center of the Bastion. The inside looked like what most of them had expected, with the features holding their majesty, albeit their unkempt appearances.

What surprised the non-Elvish players was that most of the decorations or walls seemed like they had been grown this way, not carved or built. The interior all seemed part of the same piece of wood.

I'die and Athena were familiar with this architecture, since most Elvish structures were like this in cities and villages. They still did not know how it was done, though.

After many twists and turns inside the tree structure, which resembled a ruined palace, they reached a large open room. At one end of the room, a large slate of stone was leaned on its side.

From all the leathers, clothes and shiny things strewn across its surface, Astaroth could tell this was where Leon had made his throne, for lack of a better word.

But when Astaroth scanned the stone, he grinned from ear to ear.

*Ownership Pillar (Unclaimed and temporarily destroyed)*

Astaroth used some telekinesis to clear the top of the stone.

"Hey! That was my bed!" Leon exclaimed.

Astaroth looked at him with a frown.

"Make one somewhere else. I need that stone standing upright."

Leon grumbled slightly under his breath. He had been living there for decades and being forcefully moved out peeved him.

But he could hardly go against the guild leader's orders anymore.

After clearing the surface, Astaroth identified what would have been the previous location the pillar was standing. With some more magic, he picked the pillar up and slowly moved toward its destined resting place.

Seeing his efforts, Violette and Phoenix helped him out. The stone pillar was massive, so with their joint efforts, it took less time to put it upright.

After a few seconds of uneventful watching, the pillar finally stood upright again, now back in its crevice, after many years.

A flash of light shone in the room, half blinding the people present. Once it was done, the stone pillar looked like new, all traces of time and wear gone.

Astaroth smiled as he approached it.

When he put his hand on the cold, hard surface, he received a system prompt.

*Ding!*

eαglesnᴏνel *Do you wish to make this fortress your new guild headquarters?*

* Yes / No*

Astaroth immediately pressed yes. As he did, a worldwide announcement resounded.

*World Announcement!*

*Guild Paragons is the first guild to take ownership of a fortress! For their efforts, they will be rewarded with resources and gold for upkeep, as well as an additional 5000 world reputation points!*

*Congratulations to guild Paragons!*

Astaroth almost slapped his face when he read the announcement.

'I wanted to keep this quiet for as long as possible! Why didn't the system let me decide to announce it or not?!'

Seeing his discomfit face, Phoenix giggled lightly.

"It's a good thing no one knows where we are. We would get swarmed by other guilds trying to take it from us, otherwise."

"Let's make sure it stays this way…"

Astaroth didn't want to check in the guild treasury just yet, even though he was strongly tempted. He had something else in mind first.

His inventory contained an apple of some sort that hadn't been there previously. The Evolution Fruit.

He had been thinking of whether to give it to Genie, or keep it for himself, for later. He wondered if he could even consume it.

But another idea came to his mind. His gaze locked on Leon.

"Leon. Tell me something."

"Huh? What?"

"How long have you been in the semi-legendary state?"

Leon thought for a while, before shrugging.

"I don't remember how long exactly. It's been decades, at least. Why?"

"If I had a way of assuring you traversed that last stage, what would you do in exchange?"

"What?!" Leon exclaimed.