Infinite Realm

On the outskirts of Riverdale town, just a couple of metres away from black Grill's cave, there was an old man who sat on a boulder. If Sato or any of the others were here, they would recognize this old man as the strange fellow they met in the forest before.

On the old man's shoulder was an eagle, a bit bigger than regular crows but smaller than an average eagle. However, the aura the eagle exuded was deadly. It was even greater than that of the projection of the Emissary that attacked Riverdale. Yet, this very eagle was docile in the arms of the old man, keeping its aura within its body and nudging at the man's arms playfully.

The old man had a smile on his face as fed eagle a few grains. These grains looked like your average rice grains but they were actually mana crystals, one of the highest condensations of energy one could find. A single mana crystal cost at least 30 gold or so, even still, this old man fed them to the little eagle like candy.

"Ai~ little birdy, you're still too young. Your growth rate is really slow otherwise I would have given you something better." The old man sighed with regret.

The only thing better than a mana crystal was a mana stone and the price of those wasn't something that could easily be negotiated. Simply put, they were priceless yet to this old man, they were just bird food.

"Hmm?" The old man suddenly looked towards Black Grill's cave. In his eyes, the rocks and walls of the mountain were nothing more than transparent glass. He could clearly see the interior of the cave as well as spy upon the happenings in the Great Hall of Grey Chaplains.

"This is interesting. That fellow's luck is really amazing. It makes me wonder whether if the 'Time of Changes' has arrived." The old man smirked before he withdrew his vision. 

Even though he could spy upon the site, it didn't mean he could do so without getting noticed. One should recall that the technology and advancements of the Caventry were at the peak of this world. The fact that they could create small worlds and use them for the Entry trials should already say such. There was also the fact that they had the blessings of a god, they Grey god to be specific. Hence, no matter how daring the old man was, there was no way he would claim to be able to spy on the location for long without getting spotted.

"Hmm? Another disturbance?" The old man turned his head in another direction. 

The place he was glancing at wasn't within the vicinity of Fallen Heart kingdom but at least one kingdom away. It was the kingdom of Belarusia. The only reason the old man was able to glance that far was because he had once left behind a totem that functioned like a cellphone tower and enabled his senses to reach that far.

"Another apostle? These days these guys are getting more and more daring. It makes me believe that the 'Time of Changes' is coming." The old man sighed.

"Let's go, quirky." The old man said to the little eagle.

A second later and both the old man and the little eagle had mysteriously disappeared. It was like they were never there before.

. . .

. . .

. . .

Sovereign guild headquarters, White Valley Town, Belarusia kingdom.

Despite being a mere week plus old, Infinite Realm already had more than 100 million players with hundreds if not thousands of guilds. However, none of these guilds owned a building in the game. Not just them though as no player did either. But being organizations that had to manage and control a large group of players, these guilds needed a centre of command. Hence, a majority of them came up with the idea of renting large halls or even buildings, especially hotels, and using them as their centre of command. Nonetheless, not a lot of guilds were able to pull this off as renting the rooms in a hotel cost quite a lot for an average player much less renting the entire building or even a majority of the rooms. 

However, being the guild owned by one of the direct descendants of the Kurosaki family and also having a bit of support from the family, since having a standing IR was a top priority for most of the top figures, Sovereign was easily able to rent a 2 story hotel in White Valley town for a month. If the exchange feature, which enabled players to sell and buy coins using real currency on an official platform, was activated, Sovereign would have been able to rent 5 hotels for 6 months and this was with them going moderate and being considerate for other players. Sadly for the, it wasn't.

In one of the halls of the hotel owned by Sovereign, a meeting was ongoing with the participants seated in the meeting being the guild leaders of the various guilds in White Valley town. Any one of these people could affect the lives of the players in White Valley town much less this gathering of them all. It was no understatement to call these players the true rulers of the player population of White Valley town

"I won't start with any pleasantries or whatnot. Today, we are here to discuss the matter of the approaching beast horde." The young man who sat at the head seat spoke up. He was the guest speaker on the last interview in Virtual Times and the founder and current guild leader of the peak 1st tier guild Sovereign, Ajita's 5th star, and the Frost King of the Red Sea, Kurosaki Genma.

After Genma started the meeting, a lady in glasses beside him, explained the situation to the various guild leaders.

"As we all know, the beast horde is a bi-annual event that occurs in White Valley town. It is a progressive horde that is made up of 4 waves with the next one being stronger and larger than the previous. The main best horde is usually handled by the NPC mercenaries and soldiers a couple of miles away. The ones that usually make it to the town are the leftovers and the weaklings, well for the NPCs that is. However, for current players and the NPC citizens of the town, these monsters are difficult to handle. As a result, the subjugation and extermination of these monsters are left to the only available fighting force in town, the players.

From our intel and analysis, the main boss of the beast horde would be a King rank monster and it is usually handled by the town head and his forces. However, the bosses of the 4 waves are left for the players. We believe that these boss monsters would be within the range of level 9-11 with their rank being at the Special Elite rank at best but on average, the Elite rank. In other words, they are much stronger than us players. Due to this, the only way we can beat them is by cooperating and utilizing our forces with the best possible tactics. Otherwise, once we, the last defense of the town, fall, the mission would be over and the town would be destroyed. If that happens, every player would suffer a severe penalization to our avatars, which would affect our gaming careers and progress in IR.

The good news though, is that we have a secret weapon that would help us stand a chance at success but for this to work perfectly, we would require everyone's help. If done correctly, not only would we be victorious in the best wave but we would also be able to make our mark in the game.

Also, this event would be broadcast by Virtual Times. In other words, success here would raise the popularity and morale of our various guilds. We could anticipate new intakes and enrollments from players. Also, the rise in population and popularity could boost every one of us higher in rankings and this would lead to more sponsors, funding and resources. And these are just the benefits of being broadcast. There still exists the profit from defeating the beast wave which would increase our levels by far and reward us with a ton of resources and privileges. At that point, White Valley town would officially be recognized as a true blue 4 clover town. That's all." 

The lady nudged her glasses before taking her seat, slightly behind Genma's. 

"You've all heard it. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to increase our rankings and strength in IR. If we take this chance and succeed, we would soar like eagles in the sky. If we ignore it, we will suffer the repercussions and be drowned in regret." Genma expressed. 

"I hope you all would do your best and work with me lest we lose all our developments so far.. With that said, let the meeting that would decide the faith of White Valley town officially begin."