Chapter 111 Retribution (2)

? Jake almost had a heart attack when he saw Karina eating some fruits alongside Lana and Louise. By the position of the sun, he assumed that it was around seven in the morning. To think that he would sleep so deeply for seven hours straight…

"I suppose I am spending more energy than before. That is why I can't stay awake for so long like before," Jake thought.

"You are finally awake," Lana said.

"Good morning, Jake," Louise said. "Karina found us half an hour ago."

"Is that so…" Jake said, and then he got up to stretch his body.

Once that was done, Jake left to check his plants and the planet's new leaves. His stock was increasing quite fast, but that was only obvious since they basically could duplicate every day. The only problem was the fact that the leaves granted him too little energy. Maybe Jake should obtain the alchemist class before trying to make potions out of them.

"Are we going to check the other regions and the guilds today?" Lana asked.

"That depends. How long it will take the reach the nearest one?" Jake asked.

"With the current speed of the group, around sixty hours if we don't stop to rest and use stamina potions," Karina replied. "They are a bit further in the north, but there aren't many obstacles along the way."

Karina was probably considering the speed Lana and Louise could run. While it was unavoidable since they were mages, they were slow. Nevertheless, six hours… that wasn't so far away. Again Jake couldn't help but wonder why those people don't watch that region to recruit the newbies…

"How many groups are out there?" Jake asked.

"A few dozen, but they don't reach the thousand mark," Karina replied. "As far as I know, on this planet, you can find guilds in three regions. North, East, and West. I heard that some guilds made their bases in other planets, but I never met them."

Now Jake was impressed. To decide to create their territories in other worlds where they were certain to run against thousands of monsters, that sure takes some courage or some stupidity. However, after thinking for a while, making a base on certain planets would be really convenient to gather resources. If Jake could find a place where he could gather many herbs, he certainly would make a base there and stay for a while.

"If some guilds are making bases in other planets, I bet that we will Luke in one of them," Jake said. "I couldn't care less about him, but I suppose you two want to know how to return home, huh."

"I agree with that. It might be pointless to explore those guilds," Louise said.

"It might be, but we need to see if we can at least negotiate with them, right?" Lana asked.

For a change, Lana was right. The whole group needed more things than they currently had. While now they could leave Craft, it still would take a while to reach a certain level where they could make things truly useful. In the end, they began to head toward the North.

"Hmm… I am not making as many coins as before," Jake thought while he was checking his status. "I suppose it is because the difficulty level increased, but…"

Jake felt that he needed a new sword, but it will be hard to find one right now. Hoping to appear it as a drop would be too much. Considering that the girls will force their way to make Karina stay, Jake should buy a one handed-sword, but considering that he was going to leave the party sooner or later, that might not be the best option. In any case, that was something beyond Jake's control for the moment. What wasn't beyond his control was the training of Flames of Wrath… the skill could be used whenever, so Jake summoned it and then buried it underground while no one was looking. While he had to keep fueling the flames with his anger, and that was a bit troublesome, he could make the flames open a small path below his feet, following him while it destroyed everything.

"I guess once it reaches level fifteen, it can become the size of an arrow…" Jake thought.

"Why are you frowning while you are running?" Lana asked.

"… I want to take a piss, but I can't while I know that people are watching," Jake replied.

"Eww… gross," Lana said.

As usual… Lana also didn't know how to take a take, but maybe Jake was a bit too far this time. Nevertheless, after six hours and some pointless conversations like that one, the group finally reached the next concentration of guilds. They had already expected to see something like that, given what they had heard from Karina. Still, they were disappointed when they saw just a concentration of villages that had no walls or anything like it.

"This seems to be the norm for people who don't consider fighting other humans in this part of the game," Louise said.

The guild was just a concentration of villagers, and while some people there working looking after the herbs or repairing gear or forging new ones, it seemed lifeless compared to the other ones in the West.

"We are looking for someone who can return to the tutorial and probably log out from the game again. Did you seriously think we would find him in such a place?" Jake asked.

"You asked me where the nearest guild was. Here we are," Karina said.

"You are a really impertinent brat," Jake furrowed his eyebrows.

"Age is just a number, and you are only two or three years older than me," Karina said. "So, I don't want to hear that from someone who treats someone who seven years older with the due respect is. Louise is that older than you, after all."

"I am not really that old, you know…" Louise said while forcing a smile.

"Besides, you can't call me impertinent when you act all the time with the assumption that I am planning to do something bad," Karina said.