After Liam's explanation the friends fell into thoughts, pondering the marvels Crunaboul had to offer. Well, Quickstep and Silent Acacia were more looking forward to potential fights found in a famous zone of danger like the Western Domain of the End. Soon, the friends reached the coast. They retracted their thoughts, boarded the rowing boat and returned to the ship. Silent Acacia retrieved the anker, Liam hoisted the sails, and Quickstep took control of the steering wheel. Their ship left Small Haven Island and entered the vast Western Ocean.
Silver Blade took out Ruxor's map and handed it to Quickstep. The Domain of the End was undoubtedly expansive, circling the entire world. Even if one searched the domain for years, they might not be able to find Zelgor. Only with the map would they be able to approach the exact spot. Ruxor marked some places for orientation like the Flood Dragon Manor the friends had visited previously and White Wizard Island, a famously powerful force which had allegedly existed since the birth of humanity.
Thanks to the map Quickstep wouldn't get lost as she navigated the vast ocean. This time the journey was quite long even with the fast-travel mechanic of the game. The friends idled away on the ship, observing the beautiful ocean scenery. From time-to-time magnificent islands could be seen, traces of huge sea beasts appeared, or proud birds passed above their head. Yet even this became boring after a while.
Cyclone had found a way to combat her seasickness by distracting herself. She was browsing the global chat and all kinds of menus and her friends also joined in after a while.
The global chat was mostly caught up in the excitement of the event. More than 30.000 people had reached level 50. They were vying for quests, searching for teammates, or boasting about their accomplishments. Even the usual hot topics couldn't cause much of a stir.
Occasionally someone would defeat a world boss or boast about finding rare equipment in the world chat. Usually this would lead to some discussions but now people barely paid attention. Even the much-discussed ranking list didn't have much of a priority right now. Although a while ago Phoenix Feather took back first place which caused some excitement.
Outsiders were confused how she managed to overcome Hotpot, who were the first to reach level 50, and thus were obviously the first to join the big event. No one knew that Phoenix Feather went crazy when she learned of the increased EXP rewards from Cyclone. She spammed so many missions, her points almost rivalled Hotpot's. Additionally, she received levelling advice from Liam according to their agreement. With both of these advantages and a single-minded dedication she eventually managed to overtake Hotpot, drawing some positive attention towards Nest of Flames.
Meanwhile Liam, Quickstep, and Silent Acacia had to spare some time from time to time to fight with Earthquake. Although the latter was shocked to realize that he couldn't achieve a single victory, his skills increased greatly. Thus, he showed major improvements when he fought in the PvP arena, enough to earn a brief time in the spotlight, which was also great for Force of Nature's reputation.
Even the other top members of Force of Nature profited after Earthquake relayed some of the things he learned to them.
Such topics only occasionally came up in the global chat between all the conversations about the event. Cyclone read for a while before she felt that it became repetitive and placed her attention elsewhere. With a thought a menu opened in front of her, showing the current development of Greypine Town.
After the challenge started by Galaxy the territory was guaranteed two months without war. This was great news for all interested parties. Many companies reached out to Dream Avenue to rent land in the territory. There were businesses from the real world which saw the game mainly as advertisement opportunity but also those like the Divine Alchemy Organization which only operated in game, opening a grand store in Greypine Town.
Even Dream Avenue, which at this point had four intermediate alchemists, found it difficult to compete with this merger of skilled alchemists. The guild's own shop was only the second most popular in the territory. Of course, not having to pay rent they could lower prices to a level others couldn't match. But doing so would obviously chase away all other businesses. This was not in line with Dream Avenue's strategy. There were guilds who focused on production, opening multiple shops in their own territories, keeping everything in their own hands. This was perfectly fine, but it wasn't suitable for Dream Avenue.
Dream Avenue would rather earn their income through rent and the gold earned by the territory itself. And the strategy paid off as Greypine Town had a great attraction to players due to the various services it offered.
On one hand Dream Avenue would offer to upgrade equipment for others. Of course, they had to mainly focus on their own guild members but for a few hours per week they would also sell this service to outsiders. The same was true for the training hall. This building, which could replicate enemies killed by Hotpot, was unexpectedly popular. Warriors seeking to hone their skills and fans chasing after their idols were both interested in the training hall. Thus, it was also rented out for one day each week.
Other than the training hall the territory had some more special buildings to offer. The Research Building would occasionally produce recipes for the profession players to learn. A small church dedicated to the goddess of life blessed those coming for prayer. A library could be browsed to improve obscure stats like 'Knowledge' or 'Nature', which were useful for some quests.
Those buildings and more were useful for the players. But also the NPCs were living much better than before. The residential buildings had been rebuilt and improved. The wall was fortified. The mine had been secured. The miners were protected by watchtowers. The surrounding animals had been intimidated. Trade routes had been opened. A supply of pelts had been organized.
Much of it had been achieved through the tireless work of the guild players, who completed the territory citizens' quests, thus improving the territory. This was also reflected by the numbers.
The territory's population had recovered, barely breaking through the mark of 20.000 people. Thanks to the players' efforts their happiness was high, causing them to pay more taxes, and the gathering rate of resources had also vastly improved. Right now, the territory's population increased by 210 people per day. They produced 80 tons of food, 8 tons of wood, 4 tons of stone, and 0,4 tons of metal per day. The guild received a tax of 1,4 gold per day of which they had to hand over 40% to the Rising Basilisk Empire for protection, leaving them with 0,84 gold. However, thanks to the rich resource production they even had a surplus which they could trade with other guilds, earning gold and special resources.
Cyclone worked through the statistics and nodded, satisfied. The management of the territory was still in the hands of Final Fend and Braag, with Balm, Sun's Knight, and her overseeing important matters. The two managers did a good job. However, thanks to Dream Avenue's popularity they weren't really facing any major obstacles anyways.
Reaching the end of the report Cyclone could only smile. This was where the total income of the territory through rent and tax was summarized. 91,5 gold! More than 900.000 credits! Although this couldn't cover the expenses of the guild it was still a great help. Furthermore, this was only the beginning. Dream Avenue already had a second territory war order. Should Greypine Town reach an impasse one day they could conquer another territory at any time.
Right now, Dream Avenue's finances looked bright. They earned money from shops, the territory, sponsors, and item trades. The latter shouldn't be underestimated. With Liam's knowledge he could naturally predict which items would increase in value because of upcoming dungeon raids or the discovery of new areas. Thanks to these various sources of income and with the generous assistance of Galaxy, Dream Avenue had finally succeeded in integrating all their willing members into tier 1 and 2. Only about 50 players remained in tier 3 and 4, enjoying the freedom without responsibilities. However, they still had a strong feeling of belonging to the guild and happily took on various quests. Really, they didn't work much less than the other members.
Cyclone smiled happily as she concluded checking the guild's statistics. But suddenly she felt her stomach churn. She had run out of things to distract herself with…
Slightly panicked Cyclone did her best to suppress her seasickness. She looked towards her friends, trying to come up with any topic to start a conversation. Fortunately, right at that moment Quickstep's voice rang through the air:
"Get up you lazy bums! We reached our destination! Up ahead: Western Domain of the End!"