Aaron was assisting Yoona with the last rough patches of their territorial acquisition. They established the main Guild Hall, moving their Crystal Nexus under the building and providing most of the housing for NPCs to rest and generate income. They now had a personal and guild chest for the members; it was much easier for them to store valuable items. A Guild Chest was one of the main priorities of maintaining a land plot, amongst other things. 

This was due to two main reasons. Firstly, your personal chest would only be able to hold just about fifty unique items. A personal chest is soulbound, which means that any items in the chest could not be stolen or looted. That meant that the remainder of the items must be either held onto the player, or in a Guild Chest. Since players dropped items upon death, the safest way to store valuable items in the future would be in the Guild Hall, the centre of town.

They had erected a thick wall bordering their new city-state of Camelot and were already constructing archer towers, fake pits, and many other things to deter an invasion. Another guild would have to build potent enough siege weapons to attempt to retake their land. Since they would have to breach through the wall before damaging their Crystal Nexus, that would provide enough time for any players in the guild to react.

"Going good so far," Yoona pointed out, directing some guild members, "We should have everything done tonight."

"Do you think we might get attacked while we sleep?"

"I doubt it," She shrugged, "They would need a Profession level of at least fifty to create good enough siege weapons to break through our walls. That, and we also have people working around the clock. The archer towers are also run by NPCs, which can notify us throughout the entire day if we pay them enough."

"How much did all of this cost?"

"Well, land acquisition was around two million," Yoona replied, "Operational costs are about another one million dollars, but we're generating income from the land already, so we should be making a profit within the coming days."

"Is it because of our tax?"

"Yes," She nodded, "The people using our Ironforge, repair shops, stables, and the NPC's trading with adventurers are giving us passive income. Besides, our NPCs are currently selling unique items. We seem to be attracting a lot of adventurers."

"NPCs don't have infinite items?"

"No, I wish. That would make it a lot easier for us to buy items such as potions and whatnot," She chuckled, "Any time players sell items to NPCs, they resell them for a decreased price. They also can craft their own items."

"You can bargain with NPCs?"

"Of course," She nodded, "They're like supercomputers coded into thinking they're human. The NPCs' limitations are coded in by the developers, which means that every NPC has the capability to become a genius and break the game."

"So, what stops them from climbing the World Tree?"

"Well, just like how people want to do different things in real life," Yoona replied, "They might not have the capacity to climb, think it's too dangerous, or have children they need to take care of. Or, they want to retire and stay on a safe floor. Whatever the case, I wouldn't be surprised to see some NPCs eventually climb with us."

"That's interesting to hear," Aaron smirked, "Making friends with an NPC."

"Agreed. In other news, here," Yoona handed him a letter, "This is directed towards us."

"What do you mean?" Aaron took the envelope and opened it. A notification popped up on his screen.

"Guild Dynasty?" Aaron replied, "Do you think it might be a trap?"

"Never," Yoona shook her head confidently, "They are a strong guild, and they wouldn't stoop to such levels. We're a contender for a top one hundred guild ranking in most of our games, but they always manage to clinch the top thirty in every game they play. This one included."

"Are you asking me to tag along?"

"No," She replied, "I need to smooth things out here for just a bit longer. I'm asking you to take my place and visit them. Bring Kuro as well; she will be your eyes and ears in a political matter like this. Just be wary of any people that we have bad relations with."

"Do you know who will come?"

"Our alliance guild, Wonderland," Yoon replied, "But, Oblivion guild, Rebellion, Sinister, and Starlight, to name some others."

"Big social occasion, then?"

"Quite," Yoona nodded, "Feel free to record everything and send it to me later."

"Are you sure that you shouldn't be there?"

"Not wise this early," Yoona said, "Unlike the other guilds, our forces are busy levelling. We're putting ourselves at a bit of a risk by letting our other guild leaders progress throughout the map. Usually, they would stay in a group and explore a region one by one, but we've been lax in doing that."

"Should I recall the guild leaders?" Aaron asked.

"No," Yoona shook her head, "They deserve to have their fun. I'll just stay up a later to make sure everything is in order for next week."

"What happens next week?"

"Well," Yoona replied, "Once we hit the level cap, several Floor events should come along. The developers pushed a monthly event calendar on their website, and you can also access it on your game console. They are doing a launch event which gives us event coins for doing any sort of game exploration. You can trade those event coins in every town for good items, which we'll need."

"Are there going to be event bosses?"

"They haven't told us much, but I presume so," Yoona nodded, showing him the events tab, "Usually, event dungeons and event bosses will appear during any type of big launch event, so we should reach the level cap for the first floor by then."

"Noted," Aaron nodded, "I'll leave you to handle there. I'll go meet Kuro, and we can prepare."

Kuro was farming a mid-level area near the city of Camelot. She didn't go far, but fighting monsters above her level was her strong suit, so there weren't a lot of other players near her. The large treants weren't a problem, but every now and then, a player who sped past the area would ask her about joining the guild or other dumb questions. They were all so delusional and annoying.

"Hey, Kuro."

Great. Who was it now?

She turned around and saw Aaron.

"Hello," She sighed, "What brings you here?"

"I need you to come with me," Aaron replied, "There's like a guild summit coming along."

"Fuck," She groaned, "I hate morons, why would you want to invite me to a room full of them?"

"It should be fun," Aaron smiled, "There are some big guilds there."

"Why not Yoona, or any other of the players," She replied, "Why me?"

"You know Yoona," Aaron said, "Besides, the rest are probably in some dungeon or doing some other important thing."

Dammit. He was right.

"You know I hate you for this," Kuro ruffled her eyebrows. She didn't want to concede the fact that she wasn't busy, but she was just farming mobs the old fashioned way. No quests, just straight farming, "Whatever, let's get it over with."

"Where's Ace?" Aaron asked.

"He's off fucking around in the auction house," She replied, "If he's not the richest player in the server by the end of the day, then he'll keep merchanting until he drops dead. Then, his dead ghost will do it for him. For some reason, the guy just loves money, even though he has enough already to live several lifetimes."

"Fair enough," Aaron laughed, "He does like that sort of stuff."

"I tried to convince him to level with me, but he said he could always buy his way into the next floor."

Kuro and Aaron grouped towards the nearest member closest to the waypoint. Since warping was universal, they could warp to anyone within the guild regardless of distance. It was a fantastic function because it cut the time from their travel to about half. That would give them ample time to survey the other guilds that arrived.

After several minutes on horseback, they arrived at the entrance of the city of Xian II. Unlike their city, this one was surrounded by jade ornamented covered walls, swirling architecture and red and white colouring. It was a touch of ancient china, which made sense considering they were primarily a Chinese guild.

After Aaron showed a particularly fancy letter to a particular NPC guard, the soldier escorted them inside towards an open clearing that contained a building that resembled an embassy. Once entering inside, there were already people in the large circular room, each group representing their own guild. Kuro looked around and saw a set of familiar faces, along with no names she had never heard before.

The meeting was about to start in ten minutes.

"There's a lot of fucking nobodies in here," Kuro replied, "But, you see those three guilds?"

"The big three?"

"Yes," Kuro replied, "What are they doing here?"

Although the Guild Dynasty was a large guild with many alliances, the big three were an empire that consisted of three tightly knit alliances in a democratic voting system. Those guilds were Guild Calamity, Guild Radiance, and Guild Veneration. They were all top ten guilds in many rankings of previous games, and their players often pioneered the gaming landscape in PvE content.

"I'm not sure, but guild Solo is here too," Aaron pointed at the left.

"Damn," Kuro shook her head. Guild Solo was what happened when a bunch of top PvP rankers decided to make a PvE guild. Since the guild had no real structure, the guild gains its notoriety in the players it employs. It is highly competitive to get in, and although they might only obtain one or two land plots within the game, the players themselves are the main stars.

Each player loved to work alone, but each player also can slot into any position. Many teams from other guilds might ask them to join for a dungeon run for a fee, or pay them to complete a world-first clear with them. They were the best of the best in terms of mechanics, but otherwise, their guild wasn't a huge contender over land.

"I didn't think Zero would come," Kuro replied.

"Me neither, but she's here in the flesh."

Zero was one of the best players in the entire genre of MMOs and the sole leader of guild Solo. There are rumours that guild Solo is as notorious as it is purely because of her accomplishments. Kuro remembered an article stating that she made enough money through video games to buy out most countries. Through that, guild Solo's financial situation would never be in jeopardy. 

"I heard her ability was literally unbalanced," Aaron whispered close to her, "The developers had to nerf her Skill Seed thirty minutes into the game because the Skill Seed generation valued her achievements too highly, and that caused the Seed to be overpowered."

"I didn't know Skill Seed generation was through an AI system."

"You thought the developers made all the Skill Seeds?"

"Somewhat," Kuro replied, "I wonder what her ability is?"

"She keeps it hidden, mostly," Aaron replied, "Seed Generation has to follow certain limitations, but it seemed like she was able to balance the downside with the upside too well based on her raw skill. The system couldn't anticipate her raw talent to be that strong."

"Fuck me," Kuro clicked her tongue. The world really was unfair.

"Alright, I think it's starting soon," Aaron replied.

They sat down next to their alliance guild, Wonderland before the meeting started. Kuro looked around and realized they were in a large auditorium room that spanned outwards to house just about one hundred and an odd amount of players. They were most likely guilds that had already established a land plot, otherwise, there would be no point in inviting them. 

The person at the front, most likely the guild leader of Dynasty cleared his throat and stood up.

"Welcome everyone," He said aloud, "We have much to talk about today."