"As I was saying, it would be ideal if we were all in one place, let me explain why, but before that, I just want to say, thank you and we welcome all of you," Nate said as he slightly raised his glass, "now then, one of the biggest reasons I think it would be ideal for all of us to be together is, of course, a territory. That's right, "territory" isn't something that's easily earned, actually it's annoyingly hard and it's probably the aim of every clan. It may not be that hard as the members start to level up but acquiring a territory right now is going to be important.."

"It all seems a bit too hard to believe but obviously, I'll take your word for it but I do have a question, what's so important about having a territory??" Noxx asked once Nate took a sip of his drink, all the talking was making his throat awfully dry.

​​

"Haah, I'm glad you asked, while it doesn't give us any benefits immediately, it does give us a sense of belonging and not to forget the fact that acquiring a territory can help us set up taxes and whatnot, however, this is where the issue kicks in..." Nate paused.

"What issue?" Valerian asked.

"Uh...the territory I have in mind is The Forest of Silence...."

"What??? Why??"

"That's dangerous! Especially with the current situation!"

".....The Forest of Silence...." Sage muttered. He wasn't expecting Nate to drop such a big information bomb.

"I don't think it's an issue," Luke said as he leaned forward, he looked at Layla and Leo, "Shade should be able to handle it, besides not only were we thinking about acquiring the Forest of Silence, we're already sure that the Kingdom of Vraun is ready to sign an alliance with us, I'll explain later,"

As soon as the name Shade was mentioned, the group's eyes went wide, they realized who the Forest of Silence rightfully belonged to, perhaps due to his behavior around Night, the fact that he was a Guardian was slowly diminished. How would the mechanics work now that an NPC was on the player's side, of course, nothing would change, this was why having Shade on his side was such a game-changer. Although, there were a few minor changes in some of his skills and status.

"Uhm...who is this Shade.." Sage asked, since he had just joined the group it was natural that he didn't know who Night's subject was.

"Shade is a friend of mine in-game, you remind me of him actually, just that he's a lot more enthusiastic..like a LOT.." Luke said as he recalled the notifications of his bond with Shade deepening.

"Uh yes, that and he's the Guardian of the Forest of Silence..." Nate sighed after witnessing how casually Luke treated Shade's subject.

"...." Sage nodded quietly, it looked like he was having a hard time processing this new information.

"If it helps both your names sound similar, Shade and Sage," Luke said before chomping down a cake pop.

"How is that going to help? That's just going to confuse him more," Nate sighed.

"No...no...I understand the situation," Sage reassured.

"You do?"

"Yes, for some reason the Guardian of the Forest of Silence decided to follow senior Luke, and because of that, the other guardians are now moving towards the forest in the hopes of occupying it. However, now that we plan on making it our base, we must essentially fight the other Guardians, which is where Shade comes in since it's home-terrain for him, it makes it easier for us to win it back," Sage explained, surprising everyone at the dinner table.

"You're right and hopefully it won't get to the point, just seeing Shade might make the Guardians assume he's back and all but that's only me being hopeful. However, the real issue is the area itself. What do we do with it, how do we do it, and finally, I don't like the idea of completely shaving the forestation off, so any ideas?" Nate added. It was clear that he was the one who held most of the information.

"I assume the labor required to do so takes a lot of gold, we'll need a manager to look after the finances, clearing the entire forest doesn't sit right with me as well, the forest acts as a natural barrier, therefore I suggest only clearing a part of it? The Forest of Silence is pretty huge but I say we clear enough for a small village? Until then, since you mentioned the clan signing an alliance with Vraun, I think we should take it slow." Layla explained which made Nate smile inside, there was at least one other person who could think properly.

"That makes sense, in a way it would give the future inhabitants a sense of protection. Hmm, I don't think we need to make Shade's identity public, anyway, I was thinking about the next step, if all of us are close by I suggest we volunteer to help the Kingdom of Vraun. Against the monsters I mean, if the rumors are true then Vraun is in somewhat of a delicate position. The Imperial Kingdom will not hesitate to annex it once they realize another prospering Kingdom is in danger. Our focus, for now, should be to help ease the situation, who knows it might lead to something good.."

"After that, I feel like I have no reason not to say this but I heard there's a shared quest, naturally, this would be our next central focus as a clan. There's like a few months left right? And that's in-game time, meaning a few weeks.....alright, we got this, the second we're done with protecting Vraun, we move to complete the quest Luke and Valerian received..."

"Fair enough"

"Makes sense yeah"

"Alright I can live by that"

"Then. let's just sit back and enjoy the rest of the party," Nate said as he saw the waiter bringing in some delicious new dishes, from sauced pasta with meatballs to garlic fried rice with shrimp, everything looked mouth-watering.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So he's alive..." Noel mumbled as he looked up and closed his eyes, tears ran down his face, "I do not care for this Myth or whoever he is, it is clear that he's a threat to my family and the kingdom of Vraun, the next time I see him, I'm going to settle it.."

He handled it better than the others expected him to, but it was obvious he bottled his emotions up, as a Legend he had to have some pride, he couldn't turn into a baby in the middle of the courtroom.

"Noel," Cassandra stood by Noel's side and held his hand, "I understand, I trust you,"

"Now then, we have some time until such a situation comes up, at least I hope so. On that note, where is that Night-boy? It's been a while since I've seen him, I wonder what he's doing?" Alaric sighed, the atmosphere finally calmed down so there wasn't any reason for him to continue the strenuous topic.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, even on the way here I slaughtered hundreds of monsters, I hear it has something to do with the Forest of Silence, if that's true then The Imperial Kingdom won't waste this opportunity. Especially once that son of a bitvh gets to know about this." Noel replied as he adjusted the white scarf around his neck. "Hmm, It's been a while since I've spoken to him but I'm pretty sure he's grown leaps and bounds, I should try talking to him through the mental link."

"I told you this already, Alaric, The Imperials...they're going to jump at anything, it was only thanks to the Forest of Silence and the Guardians that they decided it wasn't worth the resources to capture Vraun," Pythia scolded the King of Vraun, perhaps she was the only one who would treat him like a child, "and yes, I agree, that child is terrifying and if what you have told me about the weapon aura is true then, it'll only be a matter of time before he fights by your side as your equal,"

"Hoh? Fight by Noel's side huh? That'll be interesting, wouldn't that mean he entered the realm of the Legends?" Alaric mused while he stroked his chin.

"Realm of Legends? The being inside him....Let's not take her name but, the very fact that she exists inside him guarantees his entrance into the Realm of Legends. Heck, even just considering his potential I can tell you that he's qualified. More than qualified actually. On that note, I wonder if he knows what will happen when that troublesome Guardian of his ascends? By now he should be close no?" Pythia chuckled.

While the others were busy talking about Shade's ascension and Night's growth as well as the cute owl-dragon that's capable of bringing down wrath on anyone that harms its master, Noel couldn't help but think to himself. He could feel something brew up internally, something in him that reminded him of his student. Unbeknownst to him, his eyes very slightly grew more intense. The void deep inside of him trembled in response to the anger he felt.