New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

For now, only Astaroth, Phoenix, and Athena had access to the furthest part of the tree palace. And Athena had not yet ventured into it, wanting to wait on the guild masters.

Phoenix messaged her, mentioning that they were about to open the guild treasury. Athena instantly replied that she was on her way.

By the time the pair made it to the door, the elf woman came running in, almost out of breath, but excitement covering her face. She had been holding back her urges to look inside.

I'die had outright refused to know, since he didn't want to fall prey to possible greed. As for Gulnur, he cared little, probably because of his rich upbringing.

"Are we ready to open this baby up?!" Athena asked, out of breath."

Astaroth laughed.

He walked to the doors, setting his hands on them. Pushing with all his might, the doors slowly slid inwards.

An underwhelming interior revealed itself. The three players expected a room filled with gold, equipment, and rare materials, but the room was almost empty. In the center, four pedestals were raised.

On these pedestals, one ring each, glistening in the artificial light. Athena and Phoenix seemed rather disappointed, but Astaroth's smile only widened.

He knew from meeting with the guardian of Sunpeak that spatial magic was something that existed. And by how the system had emphasized that their rewards were plentiful, and only finding these four rings instantly brought his mind to that.

"Well, this is anticlimactic," Athena said, her shoulders dropping.

Phoenix also looked dejected.

But Astaroth was already walking to the pedestals. As soon as he grabbed all the rings, his eyes widened, and he burst into laughter.

"Ahahaha! This is great! It's like it's my birthday in advance!"

Phoenix looked at him weirdly, walking towards him.

"Are you okay? Did you finally lose your mind?"

As she asked that, Astaroth spun around, throwing one ring toward her.

"See for yourself!"

Phoenix grabbed the ring and frowned. In her eyes, the name of the ring appeared.

*Ring of Storage*

No description other than the name was available. But by the name alone, she could guess what it did.

"Storage rings? What's so great about that?"

She looked at Astaroth weirdly again, unsure why he was so excited.

"Not the rings. What's inside. Focus on the ring, and think of opening it like your inventory."

Astaroth lobbed another one at Athena, while Phoenix focused on the one in her hand.

Athena deftly caught the ring, doing the same as Phoenix.

A moment later, both women started screeching excitedly.

In Phoenix's hand, was a ring containing gold. An ungodly amount of it.

When she focused on it, the menu for the inside of the ring opened, revealing its contents.

*Storage Ring*

0/60 items slots taken

10 million gold pieces

Athena, on her side, had a ring containing materials for the base.

*Storage Ring*

4/60 item slots taken

10,000 uncut lumber pieces

10,000 uncut stone blocks

1000 iron ingots

1 million food units

Phoenix was in heaven. They could use this gold for so many things, including buying equipment or bartering with other cities for services they still didn't have.

Athena, on her side, was amazed at all the materials. She had been sending players and NPCs to gather the materials for the construction of guild buildings.

They wouldn't need to do it to bolster their defences quickly, now. And the food units meant they could hire NPCs to help defend the fortress if they wanted to.

Astaroth had other plans for the food, though. He wanted to use the promise of food, shelter, and payment, to attract NPCs to the fortress, further pushing his plan of founding a city.

But he didn't want only Elves. He would need to send someone to all the cities of different races, and try to get them to come here.

If he could make a multicultural city like Sunpeak, then they would rise quickly in this world. Which was his intention.

He had guesses about what world reputation gave, basing his thoughts on what normal reputation gave. But for now, those were barely speculation.

For now, he was still looking at the other two rings in his hands. These he was even more happy to have.

One of the two contained only a single item, which he almost cried in joy when he saw. Had he kept going on his plans without finding this, it would all have amounted to nothing.

*Storage Ring*

1/60 item slots taken

Kingdom building Wright

He inspected the item, having a clue of what it meant.

*Kingdom Building Wright*

This document means the world has recognized you as a possible ruler. It allows you to establish your kingdom wherever you lay claim to lands. This document means you can lawfully build your kingdom without having other rulers besmirch your claim.

Tears of joy almost slid down his cheeks.

The next ring was also good, but interested him less. It would be of great service to the guild, though.

Astaroth skimmed through its contents, seeing as it was full to the brim. It was filled with equipment of various types.

But the reason it was a good thing for them was that all the equipment inside this ring was of elite grade and higher! He didn't see a single piece of equipment under that grade.

It disappointed Astaroth not to have any rare materials, but the results were still great. Having all these rewards assured them they could go on with their current goals.

Astaroth kept the ring with the Wright in it and threw the other one to Phoenix.

"I'll let you handle all that. The last ring is better for me to hold on to."

Phoenix was curious.

"What's in it?"

"It's a surprise."

Astaroth winked at her. She frowned, but when she opened the other ring now in her hands, her frown disappeared.

"Oh, my god! We're fucking rich!"