On their second day in Thaloria, Kael and Lila had already finished their business. However, since they were both on the server wanted list, they were confined to the embassy. With nothing else to do, they decided to leave a day early.
Before they departed, the local Earth immigrant leaders held a farewell dinner for them at the embassy. Afterward, Kael and Lila took Zoe through a portal in the embassy's back garden, teleporting back to Alderfall in the Mythrosia Empire.
Kael helped Zoe set up her system UI translation. As the system notifications popped up, Zoe looked confused. "Hey, why does it say I can only stay in the Mythrosia Empire for five days?"
"You're on a temporary visa right now," Kael explained. "If you want to stay here permanently, you'll need to complete a few quests."
Zoe scratched her head. "How do I get the quests? Are they difficult?"
Kael shook his head. "Not too difficult. The system will assign them based on your level. You'll need to go to the Imperial Capital and accept the 'Pledge of Allegiance' quest line. Your goal is to raise your Mythrosia Empire Reputation to 60."
"Oh, so I'm good once my rep is high enough?"
"You also have to join a guild. Any guild in the top 50 of a main city will do."
"Okay. Anything else?"
"There are a few other restrictions, like a probationary period with behavioral limits, keeping your Infamy score low, stuff like that. The system will guide you through it."
"Wow, that's a lot of hoops to jump through."
"Of course. And you're getting the easy version since you're transferring over as an Earth native. For other planet immigrants or non-human players, the process is way more complicated and the requirents are much stricter."
"Alright, I get it."
After saying goodbye to Zoe, Kael and Lila returned to Starlight Town. In the two days they'd been gone, a number of new buildings had sprung up. Most notably, their two statues at the town's center now glead with a brilliant, golden sheen. They appeared to have been recently polished.
Kael glanced at Lila and saw her looking up at her statue with a gentle smile. He walked over to the base and checked the plaque. As expected, the nas of Starlight Town's top ten guilds were all listed. But at the very bottom, a new line had been added: "Designers."
Kael squinted. Sure enough, the nas MirthBringer, SkyVault, and Lotusbond were there. Those sly dogs, he thought. But what was even craftier was the na placed right before theirs, in a slightly larger font: [Sylvara].
Kael felt a pang of protectiveness. My sister's becoming a little scher.
Lila noticed his expression and guessed his thoughts. She ca to his side and spoke softly.
"Isolde isn’t a student anymore, Kael. She’s going to have to figure out the world sooner or later. Letting MirthBringer and the others help her isn’t a bad idea. At the end of the day, their loyalty is to Starlight Town and to you."
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Lila's words made Kael pause. Perhaps she was right. My protective instincts are too strong. My sister is an adult now; she needs to experience these things for herself.
Before they could say more, nearby players spotted them.
"Hey, it's Sir Dawnbreaker and Guild Leader Lila! You're back!"
Even though they'd returned unannounced, their gear was so dazzlingly unique that they were recognized almost instantly. A crowd quickly ford, with players shouting greetings and asking about their adventures in Thaloria. Overwheld, Kael pushed through the throng and made his way to his office. Lila waved goodbye and headed towards her own guild hall.
Inside his office, Kael contacted two people. The first was Elon.
Elon appeared in a flash, a massive grin on his face. "Boss! Huge congrats! You've upheld the honor of all Earth players. I'm already lining up reporters to interview you, to docunt your heroic deeds. When are you free?"
Kael waved a dismissive hand. "We'll talk about that later. I'm here today to discuss the developnt of [Tydrisa's Quarry]."
Hearing it was business, Elon's expression imdiately turned serious, and he activated his recording function.
"The ore in [Tydrisa's Quarry] is still untapped, so we don't know its quality yet," Kael began. "But judging by the gems dropped by the mobs inside, the quality is top-tier. Take a look." Kael produced the gems he'd acquired.
Elon took them, his eyes wide. He'd seen his fair share of gems, even on the resource-poor Earth server, but these were on another level. Each one was comparable to the so-called "flawless" gems that were sold for exorbitant prices. And these were just monster drops; gems mined directly from the veins would surely be of even higher quality.
When he read the description of the Opal, his jaw dropped. "A gem like this actually exists? Does this an you can equip gear that's a higher level than you?"
Kael nodded.
Elon was speechless. His mind was already racing, calculating the imnse value of these gems.
Gems had many uses: forging, socketing, and even low-quality shattered gems could be used by blacksmiths to level up their skills. They were broadly categorized into two types: Attribute Gems and Functional Gems.
Attribute Gems were straightforward: Rubies for Constitution, Topaz for Strength, Aquamarines for Agility, Sapphires for Intellect, Eralds for Spirit, and others that boosted raw HP, mana, or attack power. These were relatively common, and even on the Mythrosia server, so players had managed to find them.
Functional Gems, however, were exceedingly rare. These included Firestones that boosted fire magic, Frostgems that enhanced ice effects, Seer’s Gem that amplified psychic spells, Spinels that increased attack range, Zircons that extended casting range, and Diamonds that raised resistances.
But the rarest of them all was the Opal, which reduced the level requirent of equipnt.
In Godpath, the leveling curve was designed to be fast for the first twenty levels to get players into the ga. After level 21, however, the grind beca exponentially harder. Gear typically advanced in five-level tiers, with each tier representing a massive leap in power.
If a player had a level 30 piece of gear with two slots, and they socketed it with two -5 Level Requirent Opals, they could equip that item at level 20. A level 20 player with level 30 gear would be an unstoppable god among their peers.
Because of this, the system kept the quality and drop rate of Opals under extrely strict control. Most Opals that dropped were only -1 or -2. A top-tier -8 or -9 Opal, even on the gem-rich Thaloria server, was an item so rare that only a handful had been found in over a month of players exploring the world.
The reason Kael had gone to such lengths to demand those specific Opals from Nyria was for one person: Hazel.
Lila had told him that Hazel hadn't been herself for the past two days. He knew this was his fault, a consequence of the cruel prank he’d played on her. It was agonizing enough for any player to possess a god-tier level 60 item in their thirties that they could only look at but not use. For a young girl like her, it was pure tornt.
Elon, with his keen business eye, imdiately recognized the Opal's ga-changing potential and ntally added it to his list of "future blockbuster products."
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