As they arrived near the base, Liam first stopped and used the two golems to tear apart the other hive hill as well, harvesting every single piece of Orichalcum that he could get his hands on.
The group then finally returned to the base, wearing their proud faces. Many family members and friends even rushed forward to give them a hero's welcome.
Naturally, their gazes fell upon the two giant golems, and all sorts of rumors started spreading. Liam found it so amusing that he almost did not want to clear up the misunderstanding, but Alex started spreading the word and quieted the crowd.
Lan Ganjie and a few other key personnel gathered around, and the various heads immediately started discussing some urgent issues and also about the newcomers who might be joining them.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Liam was immediately bombarded by a million questions from Hao Yuze.
The guy couldn't take his eyes off the golems and was completely transfixed by their strength and power. As someone who did not like to fight and personally get himself in the middle of the chaos, these golems were definitely must-haves.
Liam scratched his head, not knowing what to do with him.
If it were back in the game, he would have recommended Hao Yuze to learn blacksmithing or some other crafting profession so that he could make something out of himself. But now it was too late. So all he could do was pat the guy and ask him to be patient.
After that conversation, he was about to give some instructions to the golem and finally settle them with the guild when all of a sudden, a few familiar faces appeared in front of him. Liam hadn't seen these faces in a while.
"It looks like you guys are doing just fine. I was worried for nothing." Liam smiled.
"We are indeed doing fine." An old granny replied back.
Liam inspected the levels of the granny and her squad and was surprised to see that their levels had also shot up by quite a bit. They were all about Level 35 and were only lagging behind the other guild members a little bit.
"So you also encountered a swarm?" Liam asked. That was the only explanation. Otherwise, this fast level-up was impossible.
"Hmmm… We have some matters to discuss." The old granny nodded. She then sent away the rest of her dojo group, with only her granddaughter Ning Xi and her direct student Ning Xuan following her to Liam's residence.
The group reached Liam's place, and Ning Xi immediately took it upon herself to serve some food to everyone. Though she was a high-leveled skilled fighter, inside here, she was the junior. So she did not mind serving the others.
After a couple of minutes, when everyone got settled and was sipping their drinks calmly, the granny finally opened her mouth.
"Guild leader Liam, I first want to thank you."
"Hmmm?" Liam was surprised. The granny then actually stood up from her place and bowed to him in a very formal manner.
"This is all not required." He chuckled as he understood why she was doing this. He did not fail to notice that this group was missing when the ison swarm invaded the guild base.
If they had been here, then the outcome of the fight would have been very different. There was a chance that he need not even have interfered.
But the granny solemnly shook her head and sat back. "I thought I realized how perilous this new world was…" She sighed. "And I was still wrong." She took a sip of her tea and continued, "This swarm you are talking about, we haven't fought these insects just yet."
"Oh?"
"We were inside the advanced dungeons that you had unlocked for the past two days." The granny explained with a bitter smile.
"You guys survived the advanced dungeons?" Now Liam understood why their levels had improved so much.
"Yes, but we had absolutely no idea what was going on outside the dungeon. And while we were just training in the dungeon, our entire guild family was almost destroyed. For this, I wish to apologize to you sincerely."
Liam nodded. "This is not your fault. This is the world right now. Anything can happen at any time. Even I did not expect this."
The granny nodded. "Guild leader Liam, I do not wish to repeat my words again and waste your time. So please accept my gratitude and apology."
She looked at the other two and all three of them, then once again stood and bowed in front of Liam in a very formal manner.
"We heard that you were bringing along the guild members to fight these vicious insects, we also request you to join the training. Please allow us to make up for our errors."
"Ok. Sounds good to me." Liam shrugged. He recruited the granny, promising her a certain amount of freedom, but if she wanted to join his training schedule willingly, then it was all the better.
"We will be leaving again tomorrow, and this time, we probably won't be returning to the guild at least for a couple of days or so, maybe even longer. Prepare accordingly. Inform the others too. Anyone who wants to join can join, but they will be joining at their own risk."
The granny and the two Nings nodded in agreement, and the group then quickly left to make the necessary arrangements. News quickly spread, and soon the entire base started hustling around.
On the other side, Liam also busied himself as he had big plans ahead of him for the rest of the night.
When he had finished forging, he brought back all the crude items he had used back in the abandoned industry, and these were now neatly arranged in his backyard by the two golems.
Luna was busy sorting all the Orichalcum metal slabs, and everything was in order for Liam to start.
He looked at the pile of golden metal stacked ready for use and cracked his knuckles. He grinned and walked toward the first pile to start making yet another golem. "Let the madness begin!"