✦ ✦ ✦
Maple Tree in particular—but guilds like Thunder Storm and Rapid Fire were catching up quickly as well. Neither Pain nor Mii planned to go down without a fight.
But that would have to wait for the next event. The information game was vital—but the goal was always to have fun.
The postmortem was still going strong. People asking themselves: If we’d done this there—if only that had gone better—what exactly did that skill do?
The event had been barely longer than a full day but absolutely packed with action, and the well of conversation about it would not soon run dry.
No one could be in every battle. Much was unknown about the smaller skirmishes—and finding out more details caught everyone’s interest.
✦ ✦ ✦
As the conversation between guilds raged on, Sally came over to Maple.
“Well? How’d you like PvP this time?”
“Everyone’s so strong! It was really hard. But I’m glad I could help you and the rest of Maple Tree!”
Maple’s expression and words were candid—she’d enjoyed herself, even the challenges.
“You’re the one who bought us this victory. Dark Rebirth pushed us through.”
“That only worked because everyone was on board!”
“And you met their expectations.”
“Yeah!”
The victory itself was memorable, but no less than what they’d gone through to earn it.
All of that fun had left a smile on Maple’s face that had Sally smiling back.
✦ ✦ ✦
Ultimately, Sally set up a duel rotation. Meanwhile, Maple decided to look forward to the next event and the upcoming tenth stratum. If either needed help, they promised to be there for one another—and with that, the party wound to a close.
“Cleanup’s easy—I just gotta dump stuff in my inventory!”
“A big advantage over the real world.”
Maple was wiping the table clean, and Sally handled the decorations.
And thanks to the panel on the guild wall, the chairs were soon stowed away.
“It feels so quiet now!”
“We had that many guests. Four more than last time!”
With cleanup completed, Maple Tree turned their attention to the next map—the tenth stratum.
“It should come online before the next event.”
“Yeah, and there are lots of ninth-stratum quests left untouched. I’d better look them over.”
“They pretty much always give us a new stratum after a big event, so I bet there are undiscovered areas on previous maps, too.”
“They’re all so vast! And each new map is bigger than the last.”
“Places like the eighth stratum are hard to really dig into.”
“Tsukimi’s made it a lot easier, but still…”
Hidden events. Rare dungeons. Undiscovered skills and items sleeping here and there.
Complex discovery conditions meant they’d never find anything special while playing normally. No one would be surprised if every stratum still had multiple secrets left behind.
“Gotta use our downtime to look around. We showed off every trick we’d been keeping hidden, after all.”
“True. If we’ve got the same skills next time, they won’t work as well against our opponents.”
It had been a long time since the fourth event, and everyone had stockpiled new skills. However, they’d been forced to put them all in play.
Post-event, every player was looking for new ways to improve. And there was only one way to do that: explore.
Getting ready for the next event also meant grinding levels and gathering materials.
Skills were critical, but basic stats could not be ignored.
Each player explored in their own way, hitting both untapped areas and familiar areas that seemed like they might have more. Even with no event looming, there was no shortage of things to do.
The guild members discussed plans, then headed out to the fields or towns, enjoying the game however they wanted.
“What are you doing next, Sally?”
“I could do with some leveling up. I’m happy with my skill set, so not trying to force anything else. And I did just get another medal.”
“Right! That event gave us all one.”
“That is technically what events are for.”
But this one hadn’t brought them straight to a medal exchange point.
Just as they were discussing this, a message from the developers arrived.
“Oh, a message!”
“The tenth stratum and an event? Both seem a little early. Let’s see…”
“The new map will be a summary of what came before. Sections matching themes from each stratum, filled with hints to dungeons and hard-to-find spots. Nice.”
“That’s gotta be massive, then. And look here!”
Sally pointed at a line reading, “‘Find and defeat the hidden super-boss!’”
“Not the usual boss we have to clear to reach the new map, then?”
“I don’t think so. It says there are hints hidden in quests.”
“A super-boss… That sounds hard…”
“We’ve gotta find it first. Not that it’s been implemented yet…but knowing how this game works, we may not ever find it.”
“We’ll have to look hard!”
“Yeah, let’s get all of Maple Tree on it.”
“Um, as for the event…they’re working on both PvP and PvE stuff.”
“No real details here. I guess that’s why we can’t exchange medals yet.”
The medal exchange would open when the tenth stratum came online. And exploring the new map would be like exploring all previous stratums at once. It would be a great way to figure out what their builds lacked and nab what they needed from the medal skill list.
“This could take a while.”
“True!”
It was a long way off but worth planning for. Their next goal was set in stone.
“I’m sure they’ll tell us more later, so I’m gonna go grind those levels. Wanna join me?”
“Sure!”
“Okay. Then let’s move out. I’ve already got a good grind spot picked out!”
“Nice! Sally delivers!”
“You bet I do.”
The pair headed out into the field.