Talon leads me through the base while the others offer their greetings. The group here is mostly the same as the one I’ve been working with for the past few months, so I know most of them already. Usually, it’s somewhere around ten to twenty people, mostly from Primordial Knights with a bit of hired help mixed in.

Me and Weslin usually take care of security. While others focus on building the core of the future base and handling logistics. As for Talon, I think he’s mainly there to organize things. Most of the people from the Primordial Knights don’t even care that he might be weaker than themselves. They’re simply glad they don’t have to deal with it themselves and can just focus on their own tasks.

“Do you know how long it has been since there was a proper war between two of the top ten guilds?” he asks me, clearly excited. A part of me thinks it might because the demons from our guild are about to be too busy to keep challenging him. Though it’s more or less his fault, somehow he still doesn't know how to treat them properly, and that's why they keep coming at him.

“No idea,” I answer.

“Three decades. The last time it ended up pulling in seven guilds in total. When it was all over, three of them completely dissolved. Four hundred attendees and three dozen locals died in the process. Because of that, most of the old guilds like ours made some kind of informal pact to avoid future guild wars. They rarely bring anything good.”

We stop as Talon greets a man who’s currently working on creating an alloy out of three of the metals we’ve managed to mine here. He pours it into a mold made of stone, also gathered here.

With a satisfied nod, Talon smiles at the thylarin man before continuing. “I tried asking the branch leader about these accords, but apparently my rank’s still too low and I have no clearance,” he snorts.

“I know nothing of it, if that’s where you’re heading with this.”

He stops and stares at me. “Not even for a moment did I suspect you were going around asking about that kind of thing. I still checked with Weslin just in case, but he doesn’t seem to care either. I need more information! This is egregious.”

“Good for you. So, does that mean we should be expecting some kind of attack?”

“It’s fairly likely. They’re going to exploit the fact that Nyssa is on the fifth floor at the moment, along with our second S rank and all of our elites, are on the fifth floor. That’s left us quite vulnerable here, and it’s not like we’ve been trying to hide what we’ve been doing. Plus, they might be looking to target Weslin before he becomes an S rank.”

“His strength won’t really increase all that much when he becomes one. He just gets a fancier identification emblem.” I note.

“That is true, but just getting that rank counts greatly toward the guild’s performance. I think they consider us the most vulnerable of the top five currently. The dumb fucks. They probably think they can exploit it, push us down, get some points while doing so, and then slip into the top five before the next reset to grab better bonuses and other stuff. Also, Weslin is currently the strongest member we have on the third floor, so they might think they can steamroll us once he is dead.”

While observing Talon checking on our dedicated detectors to keep the area scans up, I think about the current situation. Honestly, it is a bit annoying. We’re not that far from finishing the core of the outpost and setting off its ignition.

Once it is done, my third beyond floor quest will be complete. The Primordial Knights would gain a solid amount of points for future guild ranking calculations, and the path to the fourth floor would open to me.

It could have been finished sooner if I had gone with a smaller base, but I let Weslin change my mind. I can only guess this is what he went with after discussing things with leadership. So we started gathering the materials, clearing the space, and defending it from monsters. We avoided staying here during the night, though we did cut it pretty close on occasion.

This floor is the kind of setting that makes nights extremely dangerous, even to S ranks. The safest place is always within the outposts, each has a strict limit on how many people it can hold, based on size. Usually, the limits are 10, 100, 1000, and the largest can hold up to 10,000. If the night comes and even one person above that limit remains inside, the entire outpost loses its safe zone status. Whatever prowls the floor at night usually kills everyone.

I heard about one such case from Weslin. Ten years ago, there was an outpost with 10,000 people, they were even hosting one of the strongest locals on the third floor. Whether it was an act of deliberate sabotage against the place, bad luck, or some other reason, one night that number went over.

Everyone died. The newcomers later found the whole city wiped out. Not a single destroyed building, yet every person inside, attendee and local alike, had been torn apart so badly that the body of a single victim was found to be scattered across the entire city. There wasn’t even a single sign of anyone fighting back.

The quest of this floor is to participate in building yet another safe zone.

We reach Weslin, who is standing near one of the demons from Primordial Knights. Their conversation is short, and I can hear how annoyed Weslin is. Not with the situation itself, but seemingly with the demon.

In the end, Weslin does not even have to fight. The demon simply steps back, rushes off in a blur of motion, and heads off toward the Black Tower outpost I came from.

“Good news?” Talon steps closer, fist clenched with an excited smile.

Already used to this shameless guy’s behavior, Weslin shrugs. “They’re sending Morwag to our floor.”

“Oh fuck,” Talon breathes out, eyes wide open.

The mention of the name piques more of my interest. Morwag is, after all, the second S rank in our guild and Nyssa’s “hunting dog” as some people have taken to calling him. He’s known for many things, but being delicate is not one of them.

“Yes, my head already hurts. How long until we can ignite the outpost?” Weslin asks.

“A week, maybe two,” Talon answers.

“That is not a very accurate number.”

“Unfortunately, I can’t really give you a better one. A lot depends on the quality of our molds and how much we’re able to mine. We’ve already exhausted a few veins, so we had to start searching for new ones.”

“I guess,” Weslin sighs, then looks at me. “Rookie.”

I glance around.

“Don’t look around, you little shit. I meant you.” Weslin specifies.

“Oh, come on, Weslin. At this point, I’m established enough to be a senior member of the Primordial Knights, a highly valuable A rank. A great future prospect…”

“That A rank stands for you being a pAin in the Ass and nothing else. I can say that from my unfortunate personal experience. First of all, you and I will be guarding this place. No more monster hunts in the area, no explorations. If we leave, it’s possible that everyone here will die, and we do not want that.”

I nod. “No, we don’t.”

“Great. We leave last, just a few minutes before nightfall, to make sure some asshole doesn’t try to destroy what we’ve built. We get here first thing in the morning to ensure the same.”

“That would be annoying.” I turn to the other side. “Talon, what are the rules surrounding guild wars? Are there any? Or is it something less formal? I checked the rankings for the 7th guild’s name, but I don’t know anything about them.”

Talon replies, “Guild wars have three stages. These are based on informal rules, since no official system rules exist. But the guilds will hold to them most of the time. Those who don’t risk pissing off both the Handlers and the locals. The Kings of the three cities on the third floor, and the one on the fourth, especially hate it when you go against them. If you mess around too much, you can say goodbye to your progress on those floors.”

“And we don’t want that?”

“We do not want that,” Talon nods. “The first stage is targeting combatants only, and only outside of the safe zones.”

“Oh, that means us here.”

“Yes, that’s us. Most guild wars are ‘solved’ during the first stage. You kill the important members, steal their supplies, and all is good. This stage lasts two weeks. If, after that time, one of the guilds is still unhappy with their level of progress, the second stage begins. One week during which you’re allowed to target non-combatants belonging to the enemy guild and guild buildings inside safe zones. Some damage to the city or outpost area is accepted, but if you kill non-participating attendees or locals, you’ll be in some really big trouble. Usually, you end up paying out a large amount of shards or receiving severe punishment. But if you are a dumb fuck or don't do your utter fucking best to avoid casualties with the locals, the Local Kings will come down to fuck you up.”

“Can you hire other attendees to help?”

“That’s the third stage. It also lasts a week. During that, you’re allowed to get other guilds to help or hire outside people.”

“So it is just guild versus guild for the first three weeks?” I ask.

“Are you really that naive? Everyone fucking cheats,” Talon sighs.

Next to him, Weslin nods. “If you cheat, make sure there are no witnesses. Do not kill the favored attendee of a powerful Handler. Otherwise, you risk the handler doing everything in their power to screw you over. They keep records on their attendees, which they can use against you later. Usually, they don’t seem to care, and even if they do, it is difficult to press it. But the more powerful ones, and those willing to put in the effort, can do it.”

“Weslin, that sounds like a jinx, doesn’t it?”

“You’re right, rookie. Eternal Court... ”

“Why don’t we call them Eternal Clowns?” I ask.

“I second that,” Talon joins in quickly.

Weslin doesn’t even skip a beat before repeating, “... The Eternal Clowns have the triplets, and all three share the same handler. Their handler is strong, maybe even the real reason they matter. People say it’s either Tandu or Gabele. Tandu is the spiteful one, Gabele is the one with connections.”

“Oh? The Triplets joined them?” Talon asks, surprised.

Weslin nods. “Not all that long ago.”

“Please don’t make me ask who,” I mutter.

“They’re A ranks, all three of them. Upper mid A rank?” Talon turns to Weslin.

The bald man shrugs. “Closer to the top. I heard they got some fancy new skills.” Then he looks at me. “They’re lumorans. Two males and one female. I think they’re at the end of their fourth year of the tutorial. Some have even taken to calling them rising stars. They did well on the fourth floor of beyond and have likely made their way to the eleventh floor of the tutorial by now. They’re quite mysterious because of their abilities. Some say they hold powerful fragments, others claim they have one or two primordial energies. Some say each has a different trait, and by working together, they combine those traits extremely well. They always fight together.”

“A few more words and they will pop up from behind the corner with boss music playing.”

At that, Weslin only smiles. “That would be nice, wouldn’t it? The Eternal Clowns don’t have any S ranks, but they do have quite a few A and B ranks. Their leader is an A rank himself, but he’ll likely never reach S rank. Same problem as Io, some sort of weakness holding him back.”

“And they thought it would be a good idea to challenge us in the Primordial Lunatics,” Talon sighs and turns to me with a plea.

As I have many times before, I create a manabloc chair. And he slides into it with a comfortable groan and continues. “They probably don’t have much experience with demons. Even fucking Bloodline won’t mess with the Primordial Knights. Poor clowns. They’re probably counting on Nyssa or Morwag not joining in.”

Weslin gestures, and I create another pair of manabloc chairs for him and myself. We sit down. And the bald man goes on to say, “They’re right. Nyssa will not leave her floor for them alone. She would only move if even more guilds grouped up against us. And damn, knowing the demons here, they wouldn’t want her here even if they were on the brink of extinction. I am still surprised she sent Morwag. It must have annoyed her a little that the seventh place guild dared to poke at us like we were an easy target. Do you have any idea when Morwag will be here?”

Talon takes a few moments before answering. “A day? A week? From what I’ve heard about him, I don’t think he’ll be in a hurry.”

They continue talking. I only listen with half an ear, while the rest of my focus remains set on [Accumulation] and on the faint pale-blue halo floating above my head. It’s the simplest design I was able to manifest and maintain. Inside it is a single thread of [Ley Line] forming a circle while the halo surrounds it, mana swirling and spinning inside. Like a calm river, slowly and steadily, accumulating.

It’s still far too imperfect, but that doesn’t bother me. I know I’ll manage to improve it. My excess mana begins filling it while I continue working on making the construct more stable.