“Welcome home,” Liv said as the doors of the teleportation wheel opened.

  Synn and Langa followed him into their newly acquired roving guild territory. It was in a separate dimension from the Tower, an area only guild members could access, both Players and NPCs.

  All that guild members needed to enter the domain was to scan their comcer on the lucent tile of any teleportation wheel on any Floor and pay the transportation fee. Their guild territory would always be among the destination locations. Once they chose it, they would be transported here. They could issue entry tokens to non-guild members as well, but that was limited.

  The entire ride here had been filled with complaints from Synn about Liv needing to run all his speeches by her first in the future before setting unrealistic goals for the guild. She stopped talking as soon as they entered the domain.

  Whatever Langa was expecting a guild territory to look like, it certainly was not what he saw as he stood at the base of a large volcanic mountain range. The sky above was an unsettling shade of crimson, the sun white against its darkness. At the peak of the tallest mountain was a massive building.

  The only path forward was a series of rock stairs with lava flowing at their sides that seemed to deter any mortal from climbing them.

  “Our guild territory is in a volcano? How did this happen?” Synn asked in surprise.

  “I designed it like this. I was inspired by a mixture of my home on Veskka and the Sponsorship Challenge I took on The Sun God’s path to power. My grandmother built her palace at the top of a volcano so only dragonkin, those who could fly, could reach it," Liv said. "It wasn’t meant to be reached by 'lesser mortals' like us. I want it to mean something else here. The Guildhall is the goal, and anyone brave enough to join our guild should be able to rise all the way up there."

  “So you want us to go through a path of lava just to see the guildhall for the first time?” Langa asked with dread.

  Liv raised his hand, and a spell scroll appeared in the air in front of him, producing a large floating rock. “You two are spared the trial of ascent, but you may have to take it next time."

  The three of them climbed on top of the rock, and it rose high above the mountains, showcasing the world below. There was an enormous cave carved into one of the mountains but there was no path to that area.

  “Wait a second... this…. Are you hoping to get a dragon sometime?” Synn asked Liv. He looked away, eyes focused on that cave. “Because I hate to burst your bubble, but even if they weren't nearly extinct, there's no way The Sea Dragon King will grant you a dragon after all the years your queen and the other Den Leaders spent hunting and murdering them.”

  “I know,” Liv said. They finally reached the top of the caldera, as the rock stopped in front of the guildhall. The sight took Langa's breath away.

  It was a pagoda that rose from the centre of the caldera, each of its five tiers visible. The base was made from a pure black stone that reflected the orange light of the caldera's molten lava. Each tier rose higher and higher with crystals embedded in the walls. The topmost tier had a large light-lucent crystal that caught the light of the sun and transmuted it to the world below.

  Around the pagoda, the volcanic rock had been carefully sculpted into a series of terraces and pavements, with pools of lava serving as both barriers and light sources. It was oppressively hot, reminding Langa of home.

  "Wow," he said. "You actually created this place?"

  "We did," Liv said as he led them towards the entrance of the pagoda. The doors were large, made of enchanted metal, and on them was drawn the image of a beautiful, but fragile-looking blue dragonkin in flight.

  “Who is that?” Synn asked, looking at the painting.

  “My mother.” Liv scanned his comcer on the door, and it swung open. "Accepted guild members can bind their comcers to the lucent tiles on the doors. That way, instead of landing on the main gateway below when you use a teleportation wheel from the Tower, you can choose to land here."

  In the interior, the floors were smooth and cool underfoot. Columns of enchanted metal rose to support the high ceilings, their surfaces covered with more sun crystals that bathed the space in warmth and light.

  The central hall of the first tier had a reception area, a leisure area, and an area of worship with four empty altars. The majority of this tier, though, was 25 empty residential rooms. The rest of it was blocked off.

  On the second tier, they passed through a meditation chamber, an empty library, and a treasure room. On the third tier, they saw a meeting room and more empty rooms that could be repurposed later. The fourth tier was a training and crafting area, but it was also empty.

  Finally, they reached the fifth tier. It was divided into three sections with five large golden residential rooms, a larger training and crafting area, and an empty chamber.

  “This is the Executives’ Floor. Currently, we can only have five executives, but as the guild levels up, we'll be able to promote more people,” Liv said. He pointed to a metallic door at the end of the corridor. “That door is also linked to the teleportation wheel outside, so the executives can bind their comcer here instead of the entrance doors."

  They doubled back to the executives' meeting room and sat down, with Liv at the head, Langa on his right and Synn on his left, surrounded by empty chairs.

  “This is a recording of the first-ever executives' meeting of the Khwezikazi Rays Guild. Agenda: Discussing the future of the guild. Participants: Guildmaster Liv’Kungsadu, Deputy Guildmaster, Langa Zulu, and Guild Administrator, Synnforessa. The meeting may commence,” Synn said, unrolling a scroll and placing a lucent tile on the table.

  The moment she said that, all three of them went quiet, and the significance of this moment filled them. They were inside their guild domain, having the very first meeting; it was surreal.

  “I’ll be honest with you. I’ve never truly created anything before in my life,” Liv said. “This is the first time I've made something that is actually mine. Usually, I take from others. It feels like a new beginning. I don’t know what feeling this is, but I think mortals call it being overcome?” Uncertainty filled Liv's face as he tried to process the emotions he was currently feeling.

  Langa knew that Liv sometimes struggled with mortal emotions and how to articulate them, so he filled in for him. “It is a bit overwhelming. I’ve been part of teams; I even had to lead a couple, but I've never created one.”

  “I’ve destroyed so much more than I ever created,” Synn said. “I hope we can build something we’re all proud of.”

  She tapped the lucent tile. “Okay, first things first, we need to discuss what our Guild Initiation Trial will be. What are the joining requirements? We’ve been swamped with requests ever since your bold– that is me putting it very delicately–speech at the Tower Address, Liv’Kungsadu."

  “What are other guilds' trials like?” Langa asked curiously.

  “Depends on the guild. Most guilds just give their initiates a quest or send them into a dungeon. For others, they do mini Celestial Clash matches between the initiates," Synn said. "You don't have to win to join, like in our exhibition match, Liv’Kungsadu wasn’t part of the winning team, but he still got named the Celestial. You just need to be someone with the potential to elevate the guild."

  "What about the top five guilds?" Langa asked again. “I know for the Guardians, the entry requirement is that you have to complete a Blessing Quest from The Unrivalled.”

  “The Hallow Reapers send their initiates into Gates or dungeons. They sometimes bury great treasure in there and whoever finds it first wins. Whoever doesn’t find something rare or valuable can join one of their subordinate guilds,” Liv said. “Menika Shin doesn’t have any entry requirements, acceptance is invitation-only.”

  “You were invited, right? Why did you say no?” Synn asked.

  “I don’t like how they do things," Liv said. "They don’t care about their image or leaving a mark. The Pioneer and his guild master keep running ahead, collecting information and Achievements but leaving everything behind.”

  "Well, as a Tier 0 guild, we can only have 25 members, so I think we need to choose our first initiates carefully," Synn said. "Should I set it to invitation only?"

  “Yeah, I don't want just anyone to join. I’d like us to have powerful people, but at the moment, I think it best to select people we trust,” Liv said. “Make it an invitation-only, but we’re looking at people from Batches 4 and 3 only at the moment.”

  "Why not the others?" she asked.

  "If there is still anyone from Batch 1 or 2 on this Storey, they are not worth looking into. Batch 3 is full of untapped potential; I think they are the key," Liv said. "We already have five members. Langa, I know you don't like doing too much work, so you can have five invitations. SynnForessa, you can have eight, and I’ll take the remaining seven.”

  [The Khwezikazi Rays Guildmaster: Liv'Kungsadu has granted you permission to invite (5) members to the Khwezikazi Rays Guild.]

  Langa immediately sent one invitation to Undkese. He hesitated for a while but decided to wait before inviting Aquila. He would talk to him about his team first.

  “Good. Once they join, I can start issuing quests to our members," Synn said. "The second thing is, Liv'Kungsadu, your speech got eyes on us, so we've got momentum now. We need to capitalise on it on the 2nd to the 5th Floor."

  "I have something important to do on the 2nd Floor, I won’t have time to focus on guild matters," Langa said.

  "Hunting Fi Kindaro III?" Liv asked.

  "Hunting Fi Kindaro III," Langa confirmed. "Also, Pranav is going to start his guild soon, and we can’t let anyone catch up to us, not after everything we’ve been through to get this token.”

  "I had a chat with The Guardian Knight, and she interceded for us with The Unrivalled, that in exchange for The Guardians buying 5% of our guild’s shares, she would give us a Blessing Quest and gold," Liv said. "I know the Guardians have a lot of money, but the amount she gave us is enough to buy our whole guild twice over."

  "What's the catch?" Synn said suspiciously.

  “We have a quota per Storey on the number of voidents we need to capture or permakill," Liv said.

  "How many?" Langa asked with a sinking feeling in his heart.

  "100 000," Liv mumbled.

  "One what? How the fuck are we going to take out 100 000 voidents with just 25 to 30 people between here and the 10th Floor while also saving the 6th Floor from the undead?" Langa asked. "How long does it take to complete The Unrivalled's Blessing Quest? Because I know that besides me, Merreddyd isn't giving anyone else Deiform Artefacts!"

  "Yeah, and that's not even accounting for the fact that even if we complete the Blessing Quest, we only start with nullifying 25% of the effects of pseudovoid territories. The number goes up depending on your Faith in The Unrivalled,” Synn said. "You bit off way too much, Liv'Kungsadu!"

  "I do not aim low," Liv said, looking unfazed. "I know it's a tall order, which is why we should raise our guild to Tier 1 as soon as possible so we can have at least 100 members."

  Langa pulled up his system interface and checked the guild menu.

  “The guild earns experience and karma every time a member earns them. We just need to grind as much karma and experience as we possibly can on the 2nd Floor,” Synn said. "We also need to earn as many uncommon and above Achievements. Then we’ll be able to unlock other things.”

  “The good thing about this is that, as a Boon for being an S-Rank guild, the guild earns experience 25% faster than normal. I’m sure the experience from the raid will bring us over the edge,” Liv said.

  “I'm sure you saw that four deities want to offer our guild members Blessing Quests: our three deities, and The Unrivalled. To unlock those quests, we need to build shrines or altars in the guild territory for the four of them," Liv continued. "For now, as much as I would like to start with a shrine for The Sun God, we need to build one for The Unrivalled first so that all our members can take her Blessing Quest and we can start hunting voidents."

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  As he listened, something occurred to Langa. "Since The Deiwos Clan owns this Tower, can't we build a temple to Lord Adtonifulmin instead of a shrine? Won't that elevate our guild's Faith?" he asked. "Ah, but maybe we can't since the guild's patron deity is The Sun God and he might not like another god’s temple in his territory."

  "Yeah, that would be a big ask for a Neutriarch," Synn agreed. "They don't like to share glory."

  "I'll ask him." Liv looked blankly into the air for a second. "He says he's fine with it, but only if he has a shrine inside the temple."

  "Whoa, that's an even bigger request," Synn muttered.

  [The Deiwos Clan god: The Lackadaisical Herald of The Lightning Storm, says he will not allow a shrine to any non-Deiwos Clan god in ANY of his temples.]

  Well, that settled that. "Lord Adtonifulmin says absolutely not," Langa said.

  [The Deiwos Clan god: The Lackadaisical Herald of The Lightning Storm, says after a.... discussion with The Deiwos Clan leader, he has agreed to allow the altar of The Sun God inside this one temple as a token of his clan's alliance with The Ter Netjer Pantheon Sect, The Descendants of The Sun. However, the condition is that The Sun God must grant Divine Skill Challenges to The Lackadaisical Herald's Three Avatars inside the 1773rd Deiwos Tower.]

  "Oh, wait, Lady Picciari has forced him to compromise. He says an altar is fine if The Sun God gives Lord Adtonifulmin's three Avatars in this Tower Divine Skill Challenges," Langa said.

  "The Sun God is agreeable, provided the Challenges can be delivered any time between Tier 1 and Tier 10," Liv said.

  "That's okay," Langa said before Adtonifulmin could add another condition.

  "So, why did they use you two as mouthpieces instead of settling it between themselves in less than a second?" Synn asked.

  "They are gods," Liv said with a shrug. "They can do whatever they want."

  [The Deiwos Clan god: The Lackadaisical Herald of The Lightning Storm, says that you should wait to construct the temple until you finalise the Visage contract. There will be more benefits for the entire guild that way.]

  "I guess it's settled then," Langa said. "You two can create a shrine to The Unrivalled, and once I get to Lord Adtonifulmin's temple on the 3rd Floor, and complete my new Sponsorship Contract, we can begin construction on our temple."

  "Good. Let's make an altar to The Sun God and The Nine-Tailed as well. I can't make a shrine, but Master won't complain since this place is brimming with fire," Synn said. "Anything else?"

  “We’ve proven we are strong by permakilling the 1st Floor Boss, and our hunting skills were proven when you two slayed a notorious voident," Liv said. "Now, we need to save people. We can’t go to the 6th Floor right now, but if we want to stay on people’s radar, we need to work hard.”

  “I thought about that too, so I set some roles for all of us. I'll take care of the information-gathering section for now. Undkese finished construction on the 1st Floor guildhall, so I’m going to meet with the recruiting officer you hired, Liv'Kungsadu and see if any applications are worth it,” Synn said. "Then, I'm going to see if I can get into the Night Market on the 2nd Floor, find The Maluta Syndicate and somehow get them to work with us to gather information.”

  She unrolled another scroll and read from it. “Liv'Kungsadu, you will be in charge of the image of the guild, get Achievements, First Clears, and make an explosive entrance everywhere. I want to get sick of hearing the system call out your Achievements," she said, not looking up. "You will be the face, the life and the whole damn package of the guild because ironically, out of the three of us, you have the best image. You are the bright shining light Paladin of The Sun God. We need to capitalise on that.”

  "Now you're talking," Liv said, pleased. "That's exactly what I want."

  "Uh-huh, Langa, you’ll take care of the bounty-hunting side of the guild," she said. "Get some videos of you and other guild members doing cool shit against bad guys and have the Guardians put it on the Dent."

  "Hold on," Langa said with a frown. He'd been promised he wouldn't have to do too much for the guild. "That sounds like a lot of work."

  Synn placed her scroll on the table, not gently. "I am asking you to keep doing what you were doing already, which is hunting voidents," she said. "You may occasionally have to take other people with you. You can choose your team, and I promise I will find someone more suited to the position in the future. Now, can you please do this one thing for me?"

  "Fine, but if we’re talking about something explosive, the 3rd Floor is the best bet. I have a quest and a side mission regarding the Pharaoh of that Floor,” Langa said, pulling out the cloth from Heilliege's Gorge. “We found this on one of the voidents who died at Heilliege’s Gorge. According to Jandri, there's a group of voidents planning something for the last week of the Month of Fire. I already spoke to my master’s constellation whose followers are good at information gathering. I’ll be meeting them on the 2nd Floor. Synn, can you check with the Syndicate if they have anything on the 3rd Floor?”

  Both Synn and Liv cast surprised glances at him and then at each other as if wondering who the hell had just said all that.

  "It seems bounty hunting is the one thing that brings out your diligent side," Liv said.

  “That's solid, Langa. I don’t like that Motyan, but I’ll try to find him and his Seer; they will help us out whether they like it or not,” she said. Langa guessed she was still pissed at The Maluta Syndicate for giving her information that had gotten her captured by The Vonelle Heilliege Guild and Accari Crows. “So our agenda right now is to gather information on the 3rd Floor, figure out what’s going on with the Pharaoh and then complete a guild raid.”

  Since they were being such jerks, Langa decided not to tell them that he had a plan for the 6th Floor as well, or that it involved using Liberty.

  “Let’s meet on the 3rd Floor. I’m going to breeze through the 2nd Floor so that I can get the Unique Achievement of being the first in our Batch to reach the 3rd Floor,” Liv said. "Ideally, tomorrow."

  "You're not taking the Infinite Challenge?" Synn asked in surprise.

  "Of course I am," Liv said. "But I already cleared the 1st Floor in the D...in my father's Tower a few years ago, so I already started The Infinite Challenge. I can only continue after I clear the 10th Floor."

  "Ah," Synn nodded. "I've also started it already."

  Langa thought that was a severe understatement, considering she had actually completed The Infinite Challenge hundreds of years ago... although she couldn't remember it completely.

  "So, I'm the only one who doesn't know what The Infinite Challenge is all about?" Langa asked. "Can you guys give me a clue?"

  Synn looked up. "Not with The Unrivalled watching. All I can say is prepare as if you are going on a dungeon run for months, with all the supplies you would need for yourself and a large party. "

  "What kind of Infinite Challenge did you get?" Liv said with a frown. "He just needs his weapon, potions and the ability to make good decisions. Oh, Langa, make sure you have enough internal storage."

  "Absolutely," Synn agreed. "That's the most important thing."

  "Internal? Why? I've got my Feathervault bag," Langa said with a frown. For internal storage, he only had 17 inventory spaces. "Are you saying it won't be enough?"

  "That's because you can't b-" Synn started, then flinched. "Sorry, I can't say anymore."

  Okay, that did not help Langa at all.

  “Forget it, thanks for trying. I'm going to begin the Infinite Challenge tomorrow, so we won't see each other for a few days,” Langa said, placing a hand on the table. The three of them put their hands together. “See you on the 3rd Floor.“

  *

  The five guild executives' chambers were similar in size and appearance from the outside, and Synn chose one furthest away from Liv and Langa. As soon as she went inside, her name appeared on the door, showing that she’d claimed it.

  “The chambers are a blank space that warps to accommodate each person. You can spend karma to redesign and change them a bit, though,” Liv explained. ”I may have splurged a little on your room with some of the karma I had left over. To say thank you...for everything. This wouldn’t be possible without you.”

  "What?" Langa said. "You know I don't care about fancy shit. All I need is a bed and a hot bath."

  "It's not like that. I don’t know exactly what it’s going to look like, but well, you’ll see. Goodnight, Langa," Liv said, clapping him on the shoulder. "See you on the 3rd Floor."

  He left after that, and Langa curiously opened the last door in the corridor.

  [Player Liv’Kungsadu has issued you with the gift: ‘A place called home.’

  Scanning memories to complete construction. Please Wait.]

  [Construction Completed. Please bind your mana signature to the room.]

  Langa stepped inside and immediately lost his train of thought. The chamber looked nothing like the medieval style of rooms on the 1st Floor. Instead, it looked like a two-bedroom flat from Earth with a kitchen, bathroom and a balcony overlooking the volcanic mountains.

  That wasn't what got Langa, though; it was the fact that the design of his bedroom looked almost exactly like his childhood bedroom. Not the one at his sister’s house, but the one at his father’s house.

  His father had inherited a small, worthless plot of land in their home village from his parents and built a three-roomed brick house with Langa’s bedroom, Sibusiso’s study with his book collection, and his bedroom. The kitchen had been a thatched hut outside of the main house, and the bathroom was outside the main house.

  This bedroom looked like an upgraded version of Langa’s childhood room.

  "That fucking idiot, Liv," Langa said, wiping a tear from his eye.

  He felt Adtonifulmin's essence soothing him as his heart filled with sorrow, missing his father. This was quite possibly one of the best gifts anyone had ever given him.

  Langa lay on the bed for a moment, feeling like half the man his father was. He shook his head and appreciated the memories he had of his father instead.

  He had more important things to plan for currently.

  First, he sent Aquila a message telling him to contact him when he reached the 2nd Floor. He wanted to talk to him about the guild. Then he thought about his growth.

  Langa had 20 free attribute points to distribute from his four level-ups. Having a Legendary Class was amazing indeed. If he still had his initial Common Class, he would only have 12 free attribute points. He needed to distribute them now, and he had to think about this logically because, as much as he wanted to dump all 20 into Agility and improve his speed, he had to be practical about this.

  One thing he learnt in his battles in the Gate was the importance of mana. Adtonifulmin had used Liv’s excess mana very effectively and controlled it amazingly. Langa needed to increase his Mana Pool to be able to use more than just one Lightning Lance at a time. He was thankful for Liv’s excess mana, but he wasn’t going to spend the rest of his life fighting alongside Liv.

  Another thing that he really needed to work on was his Strength. He didn’t use Strength all that much and had neglected the stat ever since he came into the Tower, but unfortunately, it was the only stat responsible for Stamina Regeneration. It was also partly responsible for increasing his stamina pool. While Berruka’s ring also helped with stamina regeneration, it wasn’t enough on its own. His Two Eyes of Nahuke, his attribute and Flash Step all depended on Stamina, and with his low Stamina pool, he’d had to consume a lot of stamina pills in the Gate.

  He dumped 10 stat points into Agility, six into Mind, and four into Strength. He probably could’ve dumped 5 points into each stat, but since he gained a few more points in Mind, Agility and Vitality from the level-ups themselves, and he didn’t gain anything for Strength, he chose to sacrifice Vitality.

  With his Regeneration Skill now in Intermediate Rank and close to becoming an E-rank Skill, Vitality was just going to have to take it backseat.

  “I hope this doesn’t come to bite me in the arse,” Langa muttered, after all, Vitality determined his Health Pool.

  Hopefully, for now, he could use his Agility to avoid getting hit, so his low health wouldn’t be a problem.

  Once he started the Infinite Challenge, his next goal was Ascending to the 2nd Floor and hunting Fi Kindaro III.

  According to what Kindaro’s brother Vos had told him, Kindaro needed to do a ritual on the last day of Huey Tozoztli on the 2nd Floor, and after that, he’d be speedrunning the Tower with help from The Soh Piquamu guild. Langa needed to catch him before he left the 2nd Floor, so that gave him seven days.

  He had another problem, though. If he was going to confront Fi Kindaro, then he needed to be practical about it. First of all, he needed to improve his Mental Resistance. Right now, with the +5% he got from his Rare headband, it was up to -4 %.

  Going into a fight against Kindaro with negative Mental Resistance was just suicidal. Langa needed to improve it to at least zero so he would be on a level playing field with him. He wouldn’t be able to resist it, but he also wouldn’t be extremely susceptible to it either. At the Deiwos Clan Karma Store, he couldn’t afford a single Elixir that improved Mental Resistance, even with his Karma voucher from The Flaming Blade.

  The only other way to obtain Mental Resistance items would be underground auctions, and the only guild with a monopoly on the black market was The Hallow Reaper Cult, along with their subordinates. Their next auction was unfortunately only in a year's time, and it was by invitation only.

  There was only one person he could ask for help, but he didn’t want to reveal his weakness to her.

  Langa plopped down on his bed and found her mana signature on his comcer.

  “Well, this is a surprise. Hello, sweetheart,” Liberty’s smoky voice said, getting his heart racing again.

  “Hey. I know you told me you’re busy clearing the 21st Floor right now, but there’s something I need to ask you,” he said. “Can you spare me five minutes? I want your professional opinion on something, it's a business matter.”

  “Business? Let’s see. Right now, I am in the middle of tearing down a sect I infiltrated from the inside out, and it’s going pretty well,” she said. “I should be able to clear this Floor in a few days, so I can take a short break.”

  “Great. Give me five minutes and then go back to doing your evil shit,” he said.

  She laughed softly. “What do you want, Langa?”

  "Well, I heard that you guys have some items that you sell that aren't on the Dent auction site, but that someone can get access to if they know the right people," he said.

  "Oh," she said. "I am the right people. What do you need?"

  "I was just wondering if you have any items to improve Mana Discipline Resistance?" he asked. "Is there any way I could get them before the Black Market auction?"

  "You assume you will receive an invitation…very bold of you," she said. "Resistance items are in high demand, Langa. Even if I pulled a few strings, there's no way GM Nocnitsa would allow such an item to be sold outside of the auction. And that is if we have any. They are extremely rare."

  "I know, I know," Langa said. "I’m willing to pay a lot of money for them."

  "No way. For items like that, we only accept Available Karma as payment. The cheapest start at maybe 50 000 karma," she explained. “But they’ve been known to go all the way up to over 150 000. I’m talking around +2 Resistance items, by the way.”

  Damn, Langa'd have to clear up to at least the 5th Floor to obtain that much karma.

  "Our initiates and subordinate guilds scour the dungeons, rifts and Gates for rare items all over The Tower, trying to source what our clients need," she continued. “Right now, the only Resistance items that we have in stock that are not reserved for a client improve Poison Resistance by 1% and another that improves Arcane Resistance by 1.5%. You can only bid for them at the auction, though. Are you interested?"

  "Well, I'm tempted by the Poison one since it would improve my chances with you, but no, that’s not what I’m looking for," Langa said.

  She laughed again, then said, "Which resistance item are you looking for?"

  If he straight up said mental, she would know something was up, but if he wasn’t specific, and she searched for something else, that would be a problem too. "I need four Resistance items: Death Resistance, Darkness Resistance, Lightning Resistance, and Mental Resistance."

  It was true too. To resist being consumed by his Brand, he needed more Darkness Resistance, and to reduce the backlash from Thunderbird's Stunning Strike, he needed more Lightning Resistance. Kindaro had full Death Affinity, so resistance to that was crucial. Langa's resistances were not going up on their own anymore.

  "Okay, priority?" she asked.

  "Mental, death, lightning, darkness."

  "I got it." She hesitated. "You know, if you truly want something for Death Resistance, I can arrange a backdoor deal and my men can get it for you," she said. "It's my side business, however, they'd have to do some of the 'evil shit' you hate so much."

  "What do you mean?" Langa asked, frowning.

  "Last year, we were lucky enough to obtain an item that improved Death Resistance by 2%. The guild sold it for exorbitant amounts of karma through an anonymous bid,” she said. “I happen to know who bought the item."

  Ah, so her side business meant stealing from the clients. There was no way anyone would allow such a precious item to be stolen from them. They'd have to kill them over and over again until they dropped it or ripped it off their permanently dead corpse. Could Langa live with that?

  Langa swallowed hard, maybe he could minimise the damage. "Can you sell me the name of the client?"

  "No way," Liberty said again. "We're an honourable merchant group. If we sold client information, how could they trust us?"

  “Seriously?” Robbing clients was fine, but breaking guild rules was where she drew the line? "Forget it. I don't want that. Is there something I can use temporarily?"

  "Hmm, doesn’t it suck to be a good person, sweetheart?” she asked. “I'll talk to my subordinates on the 2nd and 5th Floor, and I'll call to let you know if they have any products that can help you."

  He ignored her question. "Why call? I'll be done starting the Infinite Challenge in a few days, and you'll be done clearing the 21st Floor, so why don't we meet on the 2nd Floor?" he asked, trying his luck.

  She laughed again. "Sure, let me know when you're back, and I'll come to meet you."

  "And Liberty? Bring the antidote that’s going to make me able to withstand your venom this time. I'm hoping to do more than just kiss you, and I don't wanna die doing it," Langa said.

  "Hmm, tempting,” she said. He could almost hear her licking her lips again. “I'll think about it." She ended the call.

  Well, that wasn't a no. Alright, he was finally looking forward to the 2nd Floor. He just needed to start the Infinite Challenge, whatever it was.