"Besides the apology, there's one more thing. I'd like to know if either of you are interested in joining a guild."
Asuna: "What is that?"
Kirito: "A guild is... simply put, it's like a club in school. A group of like-minded people who work together. Mr. Diabel, are you planning to form a guild?"
Kirito first explained what a guild was to Asuna, then turned to Diabel.
"Yes, I do have that in mind. As you've seen from this raid, with organized action, we can greatly reduce the difficulty and casualty rate, and increase the success rate. Your skills and actions are very impressive, so for the sake of clearing this game faster, I'd like to invite you both to join my guild so we can clear floor bosses like this in the future."
Although he didn't get the special reward, Diabel didn't care too much, as he would have other chances. This raid also showed him the impressive strength of Kirito and Asuna. Seiya didn't seem like the type of person who would be easy to recruit, so he would start with Kirito and Asuna.
Asuna had both looks and strength, and if she joined, his guild would have a huge draw and would attract more and more members. As for Kirito, his strength aside, he was also Seiya's good friend. If Kirito joined, Seiya might follow. With the "Saint's" reputation and wealth, their guild could grow very quickly.
Diabel's calculations were clear. However, to his sincere and "righteous" invitation, Kirito and Asuna's answers were...
Kirito: "I'm sorry, but I'm used to being a solo player. Even Seiya doesn't play with me anymore. And I don't like being constrained. But if there's another raid like this, you can always count me in."
Asuna: "My situation is similar to his, so I'm sorry."
Asuna was actually lying. Unlike Kirito, she wasn't against joining a guild. But after what Diabel did, even though she had forgiven him, she couldn't bring herself to trust him. If she were to join a group, she would rather join one with Seiya and Kirito.
Kirito, a video game fanatic, was easy to read both inside and out. Seiya, on the other hand, was outwardly cheerful but seemed to have a gloomy side. He was mature and smart, and she just found out about his sharp tongue. She couldn't tell what kind of person he was, but she was certain of one thing: Seiya was not a bad person. She didn't need a reason; it was just a woman's intuition.
Perhaps, as Seiya had said, she and Kirito were just two naive and innocent high schoolers. But it didn't matter if they didn't understand the wickedness of society; Seiya did. And if even Seiya didn't want to talk to Diabel, it meant the man wasn't trustworthy.
Meanwhile, on the second floor, Seiya had no idea that Diabel had tried to recruit Kirito and Asuna and was rejected. As soon as he arrived, the system that had been dormant for a long time suddenly told him that his system startup mission was complete and that he should find a safe place and enter the "Dream of the Heart."
Seiya quickly found an NPC inn on the second floor and rented a room to ensure his safety. He then entered the so-called "Dream of the Heart." It was a vast, pure white space with many unopened doors. He had arrived by walking through a long corridor and pushing open one of the doors. He then realized that the door he came through was just one of many.
Thud—!
Shortly after he entered, another door opened not far from him. When Seiya saw who walked through, he was instantly dumbfounded. The person was a male clone of himself, except he was wearing a black school uniform.
The two Seiyas stared at each other for a moment, then quickly accepted the situation. It was already outlandish enough to be a transmigrator. At this point, any other supernatural occurrence wasn't out of the question.
"So, you're also me, but you transmigrated to the Prince of Tennis world?"
After a brief conversation, the two Seiyas finally understood what the system's true "cheat" was. After making physical contact, the SAO Seiya instantly gained a lot of memories and abilities. It was as if he had always had them. Since they were both Seiya, there was no rejection during the memory and ability fusion. It felt completely natural.
The Prince of Tennis Seiya felt the same way. In his world, as a student, he naturally played tennis. After all, if you didn't play tennis, it was hard to get anywhere in that world. Because of this, he had developed great physical fitness and dynamic vision. Although they were both middle school students, their physical fitness was still far from an adult's. But now, after the fusion, they discovered that their combined physical fitness was as strong as, if not stronger than, an adult's!
Besides the physical enhancement, they also felt that their other abilities had been greatly improved. The SAO Seiya gained the Prince of Tennis Seiya's excellent dynamic vision and endurance. The Prince of Tennis Seiya gained the SAO Seiya's swordsmanship, reflexes, and burst power.