Second World

The Raven's Den looked like a high-class pub in real-world terms. It was nothing like the Thug's Nest in the slum district. There were several outdoor seating areas for people to drink and chat on both the ground floor and the second floor.     

The interior was dimly lit by small lamps along the cool grey stone walls. The tables and chairs were far enough apart to allow decent space to move around. On a stage in one corner, a group of bards entertained the guests with their songs. Maids in alluring outfits circulated around the tavern bringing patrons their orders.     

Jack asked a passing maid, holding a tray with cups of ale, where he could find an Outworlder called Silverwing. She called a free colleague and asked her to escort Jack to Silverwing on the second floor.     

The second floor appeared smaller because much of its space was partitioned off into private rooms. Jack followed the maid to one of these rooms. She knocked on the door, which soon opened.     

Jack recognized the person that opened the door. It was Silverwing's beautiful second in command, Bluedaze. Seeing it was Jack, she invited him in. Jack thanked the maid and entered.     

The room was an enclosed space with no windows. The walls were made of what looked like fiberboard, a good soundproofing material somewhat out of context in the medieval setting of the city. Silverwing probably chose to meet in this private room to keep what they were discussing a secret. This secrecy intrigued Jack.     

There were six people in addition to Bluedaze sitting on leather sofas around a ceramic table. Jack recognized Silverwing, the old man, Sinreaper, and the runner-up in the Tutorial leveling competition, Warpath.     

Silverwing and Sinreaper nodded with a smile when they saw Jack, while Warpath displayed a hostile gaze. The other three were women Jack didn't know; a beautiful young woman, a beautiful adult woman, and a beautiful middle-aged woman. All three exuded elegance. Jack wondered how Silverwing met these three generations of striking ladies.     

Silverwing stood up and made introductions, "I believe you have heard of Mister Storm Wind, who came first in our Bay City tutorial ranking."     

"He was just lucky; there is nothing special about him," Warpath muttered.     

Silverwing chuckled at the comment while Jack ignored him. Silverwing proceeded to introduce the others to Jack, "You already know my teammates and me, and you should know Warpath here as well."     

"Yes, the runner-up," Jack commented, smiling.     

Warpath smashed his hand on the table with anger, "What did you say, punk?! How about we have a duel right now to decide who is the runner up?"     

Jack was surprised. Not by Warpath's sudden outburst though, but due to the fact that the ceramic table was fine after being slammed with such force. It was sturdier than the real-world equivalent.     

"And the ladies are?" Jack turned to the three women.     

Jack's indifference infuriated Warpath even more. He was about to erupt again when Silverwing cut him off.     

"This is Jeanny. Then we have Selena. I believe you have heard of her as well? She took sixth during the tutorial level ranking."     

Now that Silverwing mentioned it, he vaguely remembered her. These two were using common names; could they be using their real names?     

"And this is Queen Magenta," Silverwing said, gesturing to the middle-aged woman.     

'Holy shit, now that's clearly an alias,' Jack thought. He had met a shameless man who called himself Saint, and now he met a contender who did not shy away from calling herself Queen.     

The woman gave Jack a short disinterested glance, letting Jack know that the woman had an arrogant attitude.     

"These three ladies are from the guild Wicked Witches. Queen Magenta is their co-leader," Silverwing continued. "Please take a seat, brother Storm Wind."     

Before Jack even sat down, Queen Magenta said, "You told me that you would be bringing a reliable helper, co-leader Silverwing. Have you forgotten how important the operation is? We have hired the great champion Mister Warpath, but you've invited a nobody!"     

"How can you say that?" Bluedaze responded. "Mister Storm Wind had the first rank title in the tutorial ranking. Certainly, that speaks to his strength!"     

"Don't interfere when leaders are talking, little girl," Queen Magenta answered haughtily. "As Mister Warpath said, this Storm Wind was just lucky. No one in the gaming community has ever heard of him. How can he be considered our equal?     

"Co-leader Silverwing, you are a co-leader of a large guild; you should know better. I am starting to wonder why you retain your position with that kind of judgment."     

"That's right," Warpath commented with a sneer as he picked up his cup of ale and drank it.     

Bluedaze was about to retort when Silverwing stopped her. He simply smiled at their insults and glanced at Jack, afraid that Jack might feel offended. Jack, however, was indifferent. He copied Warpath by taking the cup of ale that had been prepared for him and drank it.     

Silverwing then said to Queen Magenta, "I understand the gravity of our coming operation, and I can assure you that Mister Storm Wind is crucial to our success. After all, the group with the highest ranking member will get the item we are both after. If you are so sure that our chosen helper is inferior, shouldn't it be better for you?"     

"Heh, I don't think you can find anyone that will be better than Mister Warpath here. But still, if you bring a useless person, our whole operation might fail, and that would be a waste of everyone's time."     

"If that happens, then White Scarfs will compensate you," Silverwing said with confidence.     

"Heh, that's a bit better." Queen Magenta said with a sneer.     

"Now, shall we start our discussion?" Silverwing asked.     

Queen Magenta gave a slight nod.     

Silverwing then looked at Jack and Warpath, "We are inviting the two of you to help us on a mission. It is a joint operation between our two guilds; White Scarfs and Wicked Witches. And the mission is to clear a dungeon."     

"A dungeon?" Jack asked.     

Silverwing nodded, "The dungeon is in a ruin located at the foot of Mount Thenias south of the capital. The dungeon is similar to those in other VR RPG games; it is a separate world filled with monsters and we need to defeat the dungeon boss to clear the dungeon. The reason why we need to clear this dungeon is the secret of our two guilds. It's sufficient for you two to know that we need one of the reward items for clearing this dungeon."     

"How do you know what reward item you get from clearing this dungeon?" Jack asked.     

"We have people who research this kind of thing. A common player like you doesn't need to ask such questions," Queen Magenta stated.     

"Our people found the information in the library," Silverwing didn't hide their source of information.     

Queen Magenta frowned at his impropriety. She didn't know that Jack's message was why Silverwing had sent people to scour the library. Silverwing wouldn't have find out about the information so early if not for Jack's message.     

Silverwing continued, "Our two guilds have joined hands to clear this dungeon because, currently, only we know this information, and both guilds have tried to clear the dungeon individually and have failed."     

"It's that difficult? Even with the support from all the members of your guild, it still can't be cleared?" Jack asked.     

"The reason is not that we don't have enough members. It's that we don't have enough experts. The dungeon limits number of people that can enter. Only a party with no more than ten members can challenge the dungeon."     

"Ten…," Jack mumbled while giving it a thought.     

"As you know, all of us have been thrown into this game world without much preparation. Our guilds are just splinters of our full membership. It's unknown if most of our experts have also come into this world. The ones we have in this city are limited. We each failed when we tried to clear the dungeon with the experts we have in our guilds. The difficulty is very great, but, in our opinion, we can overcome it with enough top experts. And that is what precipitated this meeting."