That night, the friends went out celebrating Silva’s breakthrough with a little late night karaoke session. There were a few surprising performances. Rachel’s singing was particularly nice to listen to, clear and melodic. She revealed that she had taken lessons before, considering singing to be a skill which could be used in her videos once or twice to leave an impression on people.

Someone else who greatly surprised the friends was Dom. Although his voice was not entirely top-notch, it was quite deep and brimming with emotions, which easily tugged on one’s heartstrings. Mel was quite courageous, asking Dom to sing a duet and everyone could tell that there were some sparks in the air.

Kel had at first been reluctant to come. He was motivated by Silva’s breakthrough and wanted to go for a late-night gym session. After he performed a single song, however, his friends considered whether the gym session was just an excuse to spare himself from embarrassment. Yet, after they implored him to come, they couldn’t be too harsh, complimenting his performance with strained smiles.

The rest of the friends all were somewhat average without any standout performances. But this was of little importance, after all they were there to have fun and not to scout for the next big popstar. Thus, the laughter sounded until late at night. When they entered the game the next day everyone took a while to wake up.

After a night full of joy, the tedious grind began. For almost two weeks the friends followed Liam’s strategy to farm EXP. They sat on their flying mounts, dived towards the lake, and spread a tail of poison behind them. At first everyone was enjoying the feeling of high-speed flight but after two days or so the novelty wore off.

Thus, the friends started to try some risky manoveur. They competed in who could fly closer to the lake or who could do more barrel rolls in the air. Although this led to some unnecessary casualties, Liam didn’t stop his friends as this kind of competition was great to hone everyone’s skills with their flying mounts. And he was sure they would soon need those skills in the next dungeon.

Days passed like flowing sand. Finally, a white light engulfed Liam. His friends cheered, all seeing hope of leaving these days of brutal levelling behind. It has been roughly two weeks. Two weeks focused on a single activity would make everyone wary. Except for a brief guild war, the friends spent all their time at the lake. And now Liam finally reached level 65, being the first player on the server to do so. They had overtaken the team of ‘The New Number One’. Now it would only be a matter of a few hours until Hotpot collectively reached level 65.

However, it had to be said that ‘The New Number One’ didn’t give up without a fight. Liam and his friends could observe them on the ranking list, almost keeping up with Hotpot’s pace. And it was not only them. Previously unknown players appeared from all corners of Crunaboul, suddenly rising fiercely, putting enormous pressure on the established players.

Especially Phoenix Feather was frantic, going so far as to buy information from Liam. The veteran didn’t disappoint her. With the strategies he revealed, Phoenix Feather managed to hold the eleventh place, right between Hotpot and ‘The New Number One’, which was quite good for her publicity.

Other guilds were struggling, though. Those like Earthquake or Mountain Lord were only trying to secure a place in the top fifty, not participating in the levelling craze. Star Gazer even fell out of the top seventy, prompting Cyclone to laugh brightly as she read the news. Of course she wouldn’t gloat publicly, keeping her opinions confined to the guild house.

However, due to that Galaxy had become silent. In the eyes of many players the guild once contending for a top spot had dropped to second-rate. Compared to them, people were more interested in all the dark horses suddenly rising everywhere. Where did they come from? How did they level so quickly?

With this extra touch of mysteriousness, the public was even more interested in the challenge. For two weeks it dominated the forums. News sides tried to find the top players for interviews, but no one would waste their time. Until this day when Hotpot collectively reached level 65, being the first to do so.

Sophie Carter, Dream Avenue’s marketing expert, found the friends and recommended them to give some interviews. After some back and forth it was decided that they would split up. Everyone talked to one news side, giving a bunch of predetermined answers.

That evening when the friends watched their own interviews Cynthia couldn’t help but snort:

“I am looking forward to a healthy competition… why did I have to say something like that? Have you seen what some of these people wrote online? Everyone is stirring up trouble! They say we only looked like the best team previously because we had no real competition. As if we didn’t win against Apollo, Pride, and the likes during the tournament.”

“Don’t worry. Everyone could tell from your expression that you didn’t mean a word of what you said. Look, your interview has the most clicks because everyone thinks it’s funny to watch.”, laughed Quiana.

“As if that makes it any better.”

The friends conversed some more while watching the various interviews. After a while Mel turned towards Silva with a puzzled expression:

“Silva? What’s up with you today? You are so quiet.”

“Hmm. Sorry, I was just thinking about something.”

“Care to share?”

“Sure. I received some information from my family today. Apparently, the current situation is not only happening on our Falva Star but in the entire federation. A bunch of dark horses are appearing everywhere. In some servers the established players are unable to suppress them.”

“The entire federation? Really?”

“There is such a thing?”

Everyone was surprised to hear this. Mel pondered for a moment before voicing what everyone thought:

“This can’t be a coincidence. And with the intergalactic tournament on the way… the information must have already leaked to many people.”

“But why would so many unknown players suddenly train so hard for the tournament?”

“Perhaps there are some rewards we don’t know about? Or is it only about prestige? Oh, by the way, Silva. Did your family know about the tournament?”

“I’m not sure. Although I relayed the information to them, they didn’t show any obvious reactions.”

The friends felt a sense of mystery. Of course, they could think of some possibilities, but they were unable to figure out the definite situation. They silently contemplated for a bit before Cynthia stopped them:

“No need to rack our brains about that. We just need to make sure we remain number one! I will set a modest goal for the next tournament: First place in the solo contest, first place in the team contest, first place in the guild contest. Easy!”

Cynthia raised her chin arrogantly as everyone stared at her. After a moment the friends suddenly broke out into laughter. However, secretly they formed a certain conviction. After getting two first places in the last tournament, no one wanted to lose those. And naturally everyone hoped for Dream Avenue to do as good as possible. So, was Cyclone’s target really that far-fetched?

Only time can tell. Perhaps the next tournament wouldn’t even feature the same format. No one could know for sure. Thus, it was more feasible to focus on the present. For the rest of the evening the friends talked about the upcoming dungeon. Everyone was quite curious how challenging hell difficulty would be.

The sun set and rose, and countless players logged back into Crunaboul. All eyes were on Hotpot. People already knew that they had reached level 65. Would they now head directly for the dungeon? Were they able to keep their undefeated image?

Liam and his friends could feel the pressure. Yesterday they had returned to Greypine Town. They made some last-minute purchases as a considerable crowd of players followed them curiously. So far, the mass of players knew about three different dungeons which were accessible from level 65. Everyone wanted to know which one Hotpot would choose.

Many speculated that Hotpot would choose Emyel’s Demise. This was the dungeon which ‘The New Number One’ had previously cleared. The main character of this dungeon was Emyel, a human knight whose family had been killed by a demon. However, all evidence pointed to a noble marquis as perpetrator. Thus, Emyel sought for power and accepted the dark magic of the very demon who killed his family to take revenge against the marquis.

The story was quite engaging and according to ‘The New Number One’ one would be able to fight the demon as hidden boss if one proceeded correctly. Furthermore, the dungeon had many enemies using dark magic which was generally quite favourable to the order faction as their players usually had some measures to defend against that.

However, everyone speculating happily was thrown off guard when Hotpot suddenly appeared in Svebrial.