MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

"8…"

"8,000 Deltas…?"

At the moment the number left Thomas' mouth, both Meria and Lucques looked at the man slightly aghast, briefly wondering to themselves whether they had heard the man's words correctly.

As for Valyr, he raised one of his eyebrows in response to the man's words, finding it quite interesting that the four of them were able to earn that much in just the span of an entire day of Earth.

After all, the last time he and Thomas did it, the two of them had only been able to earn a profit of just a bit over 1,000 Deltas from selling beauty elixirs.

Yet, just by having two other people working alongside them in gathering the materials and concocting the elixirs, they were easily able to increase the profit they earned from it eightfold.

'I'm now starting to understand why he made sure to keep the actual recipe a secret from others as much as possible,' thought Valyr as the number came to mind, his thoughts briefly heading back to his fellow member from Pandora's Crafts.

"Wait… that doesn't sound right." Oblivious to the thoughts that were going on in the young man's head, Thomas did a double take over the figure he'd computed from their earnings.

"Did we really earn just a few hundred Deltas shy of 8,000 Deltas?"

Feeling a bit of disbelief over the words that left his mouth, the man went ahead and asked Meria and Lucques to help him count their earnings from the beauty elixirs.

Then, once they made sure that the figure the three of them ended up with was correct, they then proceeded to convert it into Deltas using the current exchange rate Greater Beyond offered for them.

Naturally, both Meria and Lucques were surprised to see that the currency exchange rate the game offered was far more generous than any of the ones they've experienced before in other VRMMOs they played.

Nevertheless, that shock did not hinder them from computing how much Deltas they'd get if they were to convert all of their earnings.

Though, the final figure they ended up computing… was none other than the figure Thomas had given to the four of them just a couple minutes earlier.

With the three of them having confirmed once more that they earned close to 8,000 Deltas in just the span of a day, both Meria and Lucques looked at each other with a glint in their eyes as their expressions turned into that of slight relief.

As for Thomas, the confirmation made him go blank for a brief moment, only to then shift his gaze towards Valyr as the latter's words from before echoed in his mind.

'You've already seen what Greater Beyond is capable of.'

'I'm giving you an opportunity to earn far more money than your job could ever give you.'

'…Don't you think it'd be great to make Greater Beyond the way you mainly earn money?'

"…" As those words lingered in his mind, Thomas continued to look at Valyr in silence as he began to weigh in the various thoughts that were filling up his mind at that very moment.

Though, all of that quickly disappeared the moment Valyr shifted his gaze towards him, giving the man a faint knowing smile.

"Seems like you're finally changing your mind," said the young man, faintly chuckling in amusement. "Then again, I did say it wouldn't be too surprising for us to earn even more money in the future."

"…Even if the amount we earned this time was definitely far greater than what I expected," added Valyr as he awkwardly scratched his cheeks.

"…" Continuing to look at Valyr in silence for a bit more, Thomas eventually let out a soft sigh as he decided to finalize his choice.

"Do you think this is the one?"

"The one?" asked Valyr back in response to the man's question.

"The game that won't disappear after a year or so," replied the man, looking at the young man as if he knew the latter already knew what he was talking about. "The game that wouldn't turn out like all of the other VRMMOs us four played in the past."

"Is this game… is Greater Beyond… the one?"

"…" As Thomas' question continued to linger in the air, Valyr gave the man a solemn expression as the gears in his mind began to turn.

"Well…" Yet, as much as he wanted to tell Thomas and the others that Greater Beyond was possibly the final game all of them would ever play, the young man knew that now was not the right time for it.

But of course, that didn't mean he couldn't give them a few hints.

"I don't know about it being the one," said Valyr to the man with a faint smile. "But if what my gut feeling's telling me is true, then I'm sure you'd eventually look back at this day you made this decision with great fondness."

"…That confident, huh." Although he felt like his friend said it to him just to persuade him, Thomas had a feeling that there was truth in his friend's words for some reason.

And thus, with Valyr's words and a bit more careful deliberation, Thomas eventually decided to accept the young man's offer of playing Greater Beyond full time.

Yet, just as the young man felt incredibly happy that one of his good friends had finally made the decision he was waiting for them to make, both Meria and Lucques had also surprisingly come to the decision of playing Greater Beyond full time as well.

Though he was greatly confident that the two would still end up playing the game full-time at some point, Valyr went ahead and asked the two their reasons for making the same decision Thomas did.

In fact, he even went so far as to tell the things he and Thomas did before they came, with the latter even adding a few bits of information here and there.

In response, Meria and Lucques gave him the obvious reason that the earnings they made from Greater Beyond just now was more than enough to alleviate the worries their family over their debt for a decent amount of time.

In their minds, if they were earn to a similar or a greater amount of money compared to the earnings they made just now, then it wouldn't be long before they'd be able to free themselves from the debt collectors.

And eventually, the ruthless Monstrata.

Aside from that, they also told Valyr that since both he and Thomas were playing Greater Beyond full-time, then it only made sense that the two of them would also play the game full-time as well.

"Kinda brings me back to our earlier days, if you think about it," said Lucques, with Meria nodding in agreement. "The days where we'd party up for a raid and then talk over the shit we did under the night sky."

"But instead of it happening every once in a while, we'd be able to do those things more often now," said Meria as she continued where he left off, prompting both Valyr and Thomas to briefly look each other before looking back at the two with amused smiles on their faces.

With that, on what seemed to be an uneventful day for the majority of people on Earth, Thomas, Meria, and Lucques made the decision to focus most, if not all of their time playing Greater Beyond alongside Valyr.

A decision that they would eventually come to fondly look back on as more and more time passed.

"Alright, then." As he began to split up the earnings they made from the beauty elixirs amongst one another with a wide grin on his face, a thought popped up in the young man's mind all of a sudden.

Briefly glancing at Thomas and the others as the thought continued to linger, the young man inwardly frowned as he pondered a bit more about it.

'Would it be a good idea, though?' asked the young man to himself. 'After all, Thomas would eventually become the guild leader of the Setting Sun.'

'As for Meria and Lucques, after they were able to free themselves from the Monstrata, they eventually came to establish a medium-scale guild that only paled to the White Fortress in terms of reputation.'

'Is it really a good idea to have these future guild leaders…'

'Become the first members of the alliance that would aid me in the final battle?'

Although the question continued to linger in his mind after that, Valyr did not dwell over it too much as he reminded himself that many things have already changed in his life if he were to compare it to his trajectory in the past.
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And so, with his mind more or less set on what he planned on doing next, the young man gave the three a firm look, which immediately caught the attention of the others.

"What's wrong, Valyr?" asked Thomas, his expression containing a slight hint of concern. "Is there something bothering you?"

"Nah. Was just thinking about something," said Valyr as he shook his head. "Honestly don't know if it's a good idea, though?"

"What idea is it?" asked the man back, with Meria and Lucques listening in on their conversation with interest.

"Well…" Twiddling his thumbs for a bit as if he deliberated over whether or not to tell them, Valyr eventually let out a low sigh as he looked at them with a slightly defeated expression.

"Since all of us planning to play Greater Beyond full-time now, I thought it would be a good idea if the four of us established a guild of sorts."

"I mean…" Hearing those words, Thomas faintly scratched the back of his head, only to then shift his gaze towards both Meria and Lucques.

Then, seeing the expression they gave him, he then shifted his attention back to Valyr, giving the man an awkward smile. "I thought I was the only one, but it seems the two were also expecting the idea to pop up sooner or later."

"…Is that so?" Inwardly finding it embarrassing that he did not actually need to make it look like he deliberated on the decision, Valyr went silent for a bit as he nodded. "Then, I guess all of you are on board with the idea, then?"

"Why would we not be?" said Meria in response, with Lucques and Thomas nodding in agreement. "But of course, there's still an important question to ask."

"…What name would you give the guild?"

"What name…?" Repeating the question Meria asked him to himself, the young man closed his eyes for a bit as he briefly thought back to the final battle he experienced before the heavens had given him a second chance.

Then, going through the memories he'd created through his life so far, the young man's attention was soon fixated upon the unique blue energy that manifested from his other self's palms, a type of energy that never existed in his previous life.

With those two sets of memories acting as anchors for his ideas, Valyr eventually came up with a name that he felt resonated with his purpose the best.

"The Azure… Coalition," said the young man to the three, only to then nod in affirmation.

"Yeah, I'll call the guild… the Azure Coalition."