Fate's Reversal: The Divines Return

As the atmosphere back in town turned into a foreboding gloom. Hollow Stance, Gentle Whisper, MagicsSlave, and the others split up and ventured into various Hard Mode dungeons. They were the spearhead team that facilitated the sufficient functions of the guild.

Their dungeon runs in turn supplied the guild with the materials—stone, metals, cloth, leather, etc. needed to support the Union. In turn, they received Guild Contribution Points as well as suitable gear upgrades. Today, they ventured into a new bunch of dungeons that were underway yet currently uncleared.

Currently, many guilds were following behind Ethereal Conviction and attempting to clear the dungeons that had Elite Modes; not all of them did. The prerequisite to a dungeon having an Elite Mode was to be over Lv.40 and be at least a 20 Man Team Dungeon. Not every dungeon fulfilled these requirements.

They came in 5, 10, and 20 man varieties. Moreover, the ones which didn't weren't the notable dungeons anyway. At best, they would award Silver Ranked gear albeit at a low chance and production materials. Dungeons with Elite Modes were the true stepping stones into the upcoming hinted Squad Dungeons.

However, as they entered the dungeons figures also entered directly behind them. Unlike other games, <World's Destiny> was littered with a substantial amount of instanced dungeons. Meaning, there wasn't an absolute to war over the clearance of dungeons.

Of course, there was always competition for the First Clear as that was where the best drops were guaranteed. But, there were also rewards for beating other's records present in Hard Mode and higher runs. This was healthy competition, the reintroduction of the rewards back into the circulation of profit—this increased the economy of the game.

…

Entering their respective dungeons, the split teams hustled to resolve any obstacles that took place inside of the run. However, unknown to them behind them. Various teams of people appeared and entered behind them. Notwithstanding their entrance, these dungeons were instanced so there was no chance of meeting, but that wasn't their objective at all.

Forgoing intentions to defend, the parties which entered played in a suicidal fashion. Relying heavily on potions and healing classes to sustain them. It was unknown just how much gold they were flushing down the toilet to go as far as hinder the rewards of a guild. Nonetheless, orders were orders and they followed even if reluctantly.

…

As he slew countless Frost Wolves, Kaiden's bronze forehead became slick with sweat. However, his gaze remained steely as he shifted from monster to monster. At this time his previously empty experience gauge filled up to 32.02%. It had to be known from the beginning to now, only two hours of in-game had elapsed.

Meaning, with his experience bonuses—Kaiden gained on average ~16% experience per hour. Compared to the snail pace leveling of the general populace, this could be called substantial. However, inwardly Kaiden was disgruntled.

He secretly wished he was a mage or a class with an extensive area of effect damage. But, he was a swordsman and even his area of effect skills was relatively limited—they couldn't truly be called large scale when mage counterparts existed.

"Ugh, this is becoming tedious...Elites aren't enough."

Slightly irritated, Kaiden tested the fortitude of Angurvadal. It was never described what the durability of Angurvadal nor had he even needed to repair it, unlike Nightfall. Channeling copious amounts of Sword Force into Angurvadal it began to radiate.

100 points...500 points...1000 points…

As the amount increased, unlike with Nightfall there were no system messages that greeted Kaiden's view. However, the radiance of Angurvadal shifted to a deeper hue as a low humming noise began resounding. But, that low humming noise soon became a violent screech as the amounts of Sword Force flowing within the sword reached over 1000 points.

As the points approached the maximum threshold, Angurvadal began to violently vibrate threatening to escape his grasp. As a result, Kaiden tightened his grip on the fine sword—its durability was unquestionable.

While gazing at the mass of monsters in the distance, Kaiden smiled playfully. Dragging his index and middle finger across the blade, Kaiden lowered his stance as his right leg extended. "Sing."

Muttering one word, Kaiden executed Illusive Sword Torrent. However, it was no usual torrent—it was humongous. Empowered by ȯbsċėnė amounts of Sword Force the usually ~6 meter arc was over 20 meters large and visibly thick.

*SCCCCCCREEEEEECHHHH* *FWIIIIIM* .

*BOOM*

As the torrent sliced through the air it created a clear and piercing screech. What ensued was one word—devastation. Because of the angle of his stance, the torrent crashed into the ground some distance away.

Even Kaiden had a slight look of horror on his face when he looked down at Angurvadal. This was a weapon that would be able to handle mass destruction! The ground before him was demolished as a mass of Frost Wolves disappeared. Moreover, it was still raining large boulders.

If the Eight Insurmountable Titans were capable of refined destruction then what Kaiden just caused was unrefined obliteration. However, it was not without its drawbacks. The sudden abrupt use of so much Inner Energy caused him to stagger albeit only for a brief moment. It was like that feeling of nausea you got when you got up too fast after drinking too much.

Within a short moment, Kaiden's experience bar increased by 4.36%. That meant in a single move...he had exterminated over 400 Frost Wolves...it was genocide! Shaking his head, Kaiden stepped forward and he cleared the numerous materials and coins that dropped.

One thing to note was even with his high luck stat, the appearance of equipment was becoming sparser as the levels increased. This was a subtle hint that much of the game's progression may take part elsewhere or in dungeons. Moreover, unlike the other stats, Luck was an elusive concept with abysmal compounding effects.

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

The system began rhythmically ringing as a notification popped up before Kaiden's eyes. Initially, he thought it was a reward of some sort, but that didn't turn out to be the case.

[System: Zealous Chant has sent a request to video call. Will you accept it? (Y/N)?]

Kaiden already had a clue who this was so accepting, the slightly aged face of Alexander presented itself.

"Kaiden, or rather I'll call you Unsheathed in-game. Are you able to transfer some funds now? I'll be able to immediately create the guild."

"Yes, I'll send it right now."

Opening the third layer of his spatial ring, the space inside the ring autonomously synchronized as the previous space once again enlarged. Moreover, there were multiple small mountains of gold placed in the ring. In fact, the gold-covered up whatever other items rested inside. Closing the space, Kaiden shifted his gaze to the change in his gold content.

[Inventory | 567,453 Gold, 84 Silver, 12 Bronze.]

Raising his eyebrows, Kaiden shook his head. He had a feeling Kairo deemed these coins as insignificant trivialities. However, what Kairo would deem minor—Kaiden and the current gaming world would deem as overly substantial. This fool had been given over 550,000 Gold at one time!

Of course, these funds were a given as Kairo dreamed of Kaiden establishing a celestial kingdom. That was a feat that would take incalculable financial sustenance. There was no such thing as a celestial kingdom at this point. Ergo, there was no comparison to base his estimates off.

"How much have you gathered?" inquired Kaiden.

Checking the inventory status, Alexander responded. "At this moment, we have acquired slightly over 9,000 Gold."

"Alright, I'll send you 15,000 Gold. The additional 10,000 should serve as a cushion to jumpstart your activities." nonchalantly remarked Kaiden as he initiated a trade window.

Startled, Alexander guffawed. Kaiden's expression treated 15,000 Gold as air. It was the equivalent to scoffing at $1.5 million! However, he owned a company he was used to this type of real money. What shocked him was the fact that this fellow easily gathered this amount of gold. Nonetheless, if he saw the contents of his inventory; the over $500 million worth of gold, perhaps Alexander would head to an early grave with an aneurysm.

"OK." nodded Alexander.

[System: The guild "Timeless Saints" has registered to be listed as a subordinate. Do you accept it? (Y/N)?]

'Timeless Saints huh? I like that name haha.' inwardly chuckled Kaiden.

"Yes."

Instantly another name was added to the roster of Ethereal Conviction's affiliations. Moreover, this reminded Kaiden about Snow Bunny. It hadn't been long since they separated, no more than 2 days. Yet, here he was finding himself missing her. She was really growing on him. With that being said, Kaiden followed through with his urge, sending her a message.

"Bunny…"

Moments later, a request for a video call came through as Kaiden answered it.