The building still smelled of freshly cut wood. The walls had no decorations, and the tables were poorly arranged, but Sally didn't mind. It was enough.

  In front of her, a rge bulletin board hung on a stone stand. On it, there was only one sheet of paper:

  "Adventurers Guild – Registration Open"

  "Will this really be enough?" asked Shadow, one of the first to show up to help.

  "No. But it's the first step," Sally replied as she pinned the second sheet: a list of simple missions such as patrols, message deliveries, and hunting minor monsters.

  The flow of pyers who still didn’t belong to any guild was starting to grow. Some came alone, others in small groups. They all shared one thing in common: above their heads floated names like "KillerNeko_07" or "xX_DarkWizard_Xx," reminders that, until recently, everything had been a game.

  It was then that Sally found the letter.

  It was in the tray they used for leaving suggestions or messages. The handwriting was shaky.

  "I don’t know if I’ll be accepted here. My name is pyer002_beta. I don’t have any special skills, and I don’t even know why I ended up in this world. I just want to do something useful."

  Sally furrowed her brow. That letter, more than a request, was a mirror. Many still hadn’t dared to change. Because changing your name... was accepting that this was no longer a game.

  That same afternoon, in the central square of the capital, Maple organized a small meeting. With her cheerful yet determined tone, she climbed onto an improvised ptform.

  "Hello, everyone! I want to tell you something I’ve been thinking about recently," she said as her eyes settled on a boy with the floating name "VRMaster9000." "We’re no longer in a video game. This pce is real. The people are real. And their names... they can be real too."

  She paused and briefly lowered her gaze.

  "My name was Kaede, but everyone knows me as Maple... so I chose to be Maple Honjo. Because I want to carry the best of both worlds with me. And you can do the same. Pick a name that means something to you!"

  The square fell silent for a few seconds. Then, little by little, some names began to change.

  "xX_SwordKing_Xx" changed to Takeshi."DeathAngel23" renamed herself Iria.Even "pyer002_beta," whose letter Sally had read, arrived at the guild that same day. On the registration sheet, he carefully wrote:

  "New name: Riku."

  The Adventurers Guild began to take real shape.

  The boards filled with simple missions. Solo pyers joined groups. There was chaos, yes, but also excitement.They were no longer just former pyers... they were starting to look like people with new purposes and paths.

  Sally walked among the new adventurers with a barely visible but genuine smile.Shadow, Percival, and Garret were organizing basic training, and some neighboring guilds began to colborate.

  From a distance, Maple watched them with a huge smile.

  "Thank you, Sally," she whispered. "If you hadn’t thought of this... I surely would’ve done something even crazier."

  Beside her, Kasumi chuckled quietly.

  "Something crazier than blowing up the statue at the entrance because it had weird eyes?"

  "That was a preventive defense!" protested Maple, puffing out her cheeks.

  As the sun began to set, the guild’s sign lit up with a soft magical glow.

  Adventurers Guild – Welcome to your new beginning.