Chapter XXXIV - Sterling City

King of the Sewers slain!

1810+1991 EXP

Gold Chest dropped!

Gold Chest dropped!

<Spell Created - Mana Slash Lv 0 {0%} unlocked!>

<Error... Mana Slash is incompatible with current class. Mana Circuit damaged... Mana Slash locked>

Marcus was at a loss for words, he had never heard of the Mana Circuit being damaged. 'How am I going to fix this?' he thought. This isn't something he thought would be within the scope of the game, but somehow he had done something he shouldn't have and it had costed him more than he gained.

<Congratulations to the party of Nobody, Artox, Mawu and Lisa, the first party to clear the Dungeon Sewers of Despair on Insanity Mode! Your greed knows no bounds!>

Fame +10

Diamond Chest dropped!

Everyone cheered as they had finally taken down the King of the Sewers. Excitement filled the air as they had received two golden chests thanks to Mawu's Rummage skill and because of the first clear, they had gotten a top tier chest!

While everyone was discussing what could be in the diamond encrusted chest, Marcus walked up to it and immediately opened it, reaching into it and pulling out a crystal-looking token. It was almost oval in shape but it had more rounded ends, almost as if someone had created a coin and then stretched two sides of it out.

"Why didn't you let me open the chest!" Mawu exclaimed as he threw his hands up in frustration. Marcus turned around and smiled and held up the coin.

"It's a guaranteed drop and luck doesn't play any factor in it." Marcus replied before tossing the coin over to Mawu.

[Guild Creation Token]

Rank: Gold

Allows the user the creation of a Platinum ranked guild. Please see an Administration Office in any Capital City to use. Additional Requirements are needed. Restricted to Sterling City.

The rest of the party gasped out loud. Due to Volume 1 of Marcus' Ultimate Guide to the World, it was revealed that there multiple tiers to guilds and as the rank's increased, so did the benefits to the guild. However, they were shocked to find that there was a guild tier that exceeded Gold rank as Platinum wasn't included within the Guide.

Bronze Tier Guilds - Basic Guild Hall, enough to house up to 50 members. Only available locations are along the Outer Walls within a city. Restrictions to twenty per city.

Iron Tier Guilds - Increased Guild Hall size, enough to house up to 100 members. Basic Crafting Stations included in adjacent rooms within the Guild Hall. Available locations are available within the Crafting Districts within a city. Restrictions to ten per city.

Silver Tier Guilds - Increased Guild Hall size, enough to house up to 200 members. Crafting Stations upgraded to intermediate tier and are enclosed within basic facilities allowing for more professions. Addition of Stables for mounts. Available locations are allowed within the Residential Districts within a city. Restrictions to five per city.

Gold Tier Guilds - Guild Hall included on a small estate, Guild Dormitory included allowing up to 500 members to live on location. Crafting Facilities upgraded to high tier increasing the number of available professions, Stables size increased and includes an Aviary. Includes a Training Ground with tutors up to Tier 3. Allowed locations are alongside inner wall. Restrictions to two per city.

Platinum Tier Guilds - Estate size increased, Dormitory size increased to house up to 1,000 members, including private residences for the Guild's Management. Crafting facilities upgraded to a Workshop including Masterwork facilities for all professions. Stables increased to allow room for a Hatchery. Training Grounded upgraded to Training Hall including Class Tutors up to Tier 6. Additional spaces available for building unique buildings. One location is available within the Noble's District. Restrictions to one per city.

The Guild size was restricted to the type of creation token, and each token had a limited number of available slots. This was a balancing method to prevent the bigger guilds from bullying the smaller guilds as every guild size was essentially equal in force. The smaller guilds could always join forces to take on the bigger guilds. The only difference was that the bigger guilds were getting a bigger piece of the pie. This allowed the builder guilds to increase the gap between the smaller guilds.

"This was the only thing I wanted from this dungeon. You guys can have all the rest." Marcus smiled as he took the Guild Creation Token back and placed it into his inventory. "When we reach Sterling City, we should all get a ton of fame. This will complete one of the three remaining requirements to create a guild. The last thing is we need one more member..." Marcus was scratching his chin thinking on who he could ask...

Mawu opened the two golden chests and the twins had received four pieces of Green equipment to upgrade their armor. Mawu took a chest piece and a hood for his class, meanwhile Lisa took a ring and bracelet that increased her spell power. The party had gotten another 2 gold out of the chest increasing their total to 6.

The party began their long trek out of the sewers as Marcus explained his theory on how to create a skill.

"I think you have to recreate the actions that the AI has determined the skill to be linked to. I'm not entirely sure as I have never heard of this. I was lost in figuring out how I managed to create Overhead Slash, but when Artox unlocked Battle Cry, it dawned on me that it was possible, and I went about trying different things. I had felt something during the fight with the King of the Sewers and managed to create a new ability, but it back-fired and I was punished by the system, my MP stat has been reduced to 0 and I can't seem to get more." Marcus explained as they had just returned through the first boss room and was back at the entrance.

"I'll try and help you guys and see what we can do to unlock more skills for you guys, but let's get to Sterling City first and get our rewards and create a guild so we have privacy." Marcus said as he exited the portal out of the Sewers of Despair. Everyone glanced at each other and followed him out of the portal.

Outside the dungeon the party began their journey once more along the country-side now passing by farmlands that were within view of Sterling City. The massive walls were hardly in view at the moment but as the group drew closer to, the walls became more imposing. They had finally reached true civilization. As they approached the Eastern Gate, a large line of wagons and peasants were waiting for entry into the City and the group took their place in line.

Sterling City was the central hub for the race of Humans in The World. As with most MMOs, The World allowed players to create one of many races, each race had their own starting village and their own Capital City within the kingdom of that specific race. Sterling City was a massive 150,000,000 square meter medieval metropolis, (this is extremely large for a medieval setting, but in today's time it's honestly smaller than most cities) and was only the third largest city in the entire game, the other two of which were not part of the Order of Balance.

The city was alive as the roaring beast churned out hordes of people going about their daily lives. The city was bustling as commerce was flowing and shop keeps were shouting for business. As anyone who has lived in the city knows, those who don't put in the effort are quickly left behind in the dust by competition. With a population of over 1.1 million, Sterling never slept, there was always things to do and just because the sun set, didn't mean the city took a break.

As they were nearing the front of the line, one of the guards recognized the group and came over "Oh it's you four who saved the patrol from the sewers! No need to wait in line, come! Follow me!" He said as he turned around and walked towards the gates. The party followed and as they got closer, the guard spoke with his superior and saluted before going back to collecting the toll to enter the city.

"Greetings adventurer's! Thank you for saving my men from the sewers. I'm the Captain of the Guard, come with me and we shall get your access tokens." The Captain turned around and entered the barracks next to the gate where the soldiers were stationed. Inside he sat down at his desk and opened a drawer, he took out four brass tokens and held them out to the adventurers. "These are valid for 48 hours. Afterwards it will become useless. Do not lose it under any circumstances, the penalty is jail-time. Before the time is up, you can return and we can re-issue another to you for a fee."