Seeing three more quests materialize before her very eye, Hazel scanned all three of them to see what she was working with. The first one was pretty simple; she needed to either join a guild or create one. The reason why this quest was even a thing was likely because of the requirements for her world to become an Official one among the Multiverse. For their home to become one with the multiverse, they would need a Global Guild to manage it. This quest was essentially the start of that race.

  She had to join or create a Guild, and most likely fight other guilds and make hers the Global Guild that represents their world. While the concept was more or less straightforward, Hazel couldn’t help but worry about it. She knew that once a few guilds began to form, it wouldn’t be long until a battle between them would start. All for the sole purpose of obtaining the status of representing the planet. And that thought alone...terrified her due to the many possible outcomes this could draw.

  If they weren’t careful, their world could be represented by a dictator, which honestly sounded just as bad as their home turning into a simple resource for other planets if they were to fail to complete their requirements. So, with the rise of Guilds soon approaching, they needed to have one that met a certain criterion that was worthy of them having the honor of becoming a Global Guild.

  For one thing, the Global Guild couldn’t run their world like a dictatorship. It needed to be fair to the people and provide opportunities for them to grow. There was also the fact that the guild needed a strong and dependable leader who was willing to do anything to protect their home; minus the dictatorship route. But most importantly, it needed to be a guild that the civilians of their new world could trust and rely on. That meant the guild needed to possess a substantial reputation that would show people that they were capable of running their world without worry.

  All these requirements were already giving Hazel a major headache. And this was just from her overthinking the effects of the second quest she received.

  “I have more pressing issues than joining or creating a guild,” Hazel mumbled. “Both of which I have no intentions of doing at the moment.”

  While joining or creating a guild was clearly important, Hazel had a lot more on her plate than just that. And those happened to be her two quests after the guild one.

  The Curse of the Spider Queen quest piqued her interest quite a bit. Not only because she could receive a lot of world points from it, but also another Epic Loot Box. Her last epic loot box gifted her with some nice items like her storage bracelet and gloves. That and the mystery tablet that gave her the evil eyes ability.

  In terms of how she was supposed to complete the quest, it didn’t say. It only stated that she needed to break free from the spider queen’s curse. From what Hazel remembered from the message panels that first told her about the curse, the only way to break it was to kill the Queen. So, to complete this quest, the Spider Queen needed to die.

  Hazel already planned to do that because of the stupid stages and the ever-increasing range upon each stage they reached. Speaking of which, the next stage of the curse was going to commence soon. Right now, the spider queen’s range of detecting them was only a 500-meter radius. Once they reached the second stage, that range could very well double or triple. While the range wouldn’t reach the Jetport, that didn’t mean the other stages were the same.

  They needed to deal with that queen before they inevitably ended on the final stage. The one where the spider queen herself would finally emerge from her nest and hunt them down personally. And knowing how the sentinel spiders were, Hazel could only guess how strong their mother was.

  Last but not least was the quest involving Hazel’s promise to bring Astrid back to the village. Even if she didn’t receive this quest, she was bound to do this anything, since she wanted to keep her promise in the first place. Though, the world points were certainly a nice incentive. She wasn’t sure about the Gratitude of the Dark Elves. Did that mean they were her allies or something? While that would be nice, she’d much rather just get another loot box for her troubles.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Of course, she’d never tell Astrid that. That last thing she needed was an angry dark elf who believed she was being used for points.

  Now that she thought about it, if Hazel got a quest about taking the dark elf home, didn’t that mean Astrid got a similar quest? She’d likely have to ask to be certain.

  And as if right on cue, Hazel’s eyes looked up and spotted her dark elf companion walking through the village with Chegyaeyi. Seeing Astrid, the witch immediately walked over to her, urgent to speak to her about the quests.

  “Hey, Astrid,” Hazel called out to her partner.

  The dark elf heard her voice before turning her head in her direction. “Looks like you’re already done looting the Shaman from before.” She noted, looking over at the shaman’s corpse that was currently stripped of all of his belongings, practically making him naked.

  “Pretty much,” she shrugged. “He had a lot of good items on him, though, so it was honestly worth it. Did you two get anything from the Orc champions?”

  “I did not find anything worth taking from his corpse,” Chegyaeyi was the first to respond, shaking her head glumly. “The bracers did not fit, and I already possess a weapon to aid me in battle, so the battleaxe was out as well.”

  “The mantle was also not something either of us wanted,” Astrid chimed in. “According to its description, you receive a slight boost in defense and resistance to the cold and ice spells. I guess that he obtained that item because he was in a cold environment tutorial dungeon.”

  That made sense, considering the effects it possessed. If they were in a colder climate, not to say Portland doesn’t get cold, that item likely would’ve been sought after more. Hell, even Hazel might’ve wanted the mantle if it could help resist the cold.

  “Hey, Astrid, did you get any quests after completing the first one?”

  “I did, actually,” Astrid replied, sounding a bit surprised. “Why?”

  “Did any of them involve you going home?”

  The dark elf’s eyes widened. “That’s right. But why...”

  “Because I got a guest likely similar to yours. The system seemed to remember my promise to take you back home and officially made it one of my quests. Then there was the guild one and the spider queen one. Making it a total of three quests.”

  A part of Hazel wondered why she didn’t get a quest about finding her brother. If the system took into account her promise to Astrid, then why not her obvious obsession with locating her family members? She already came across her mom, so why not add a little honey to the point and urge her to find her brother?

  Just to be clear, Hazel was going to search for her brother with or without the assistance of the system. She was simply curious as to why it took into account one objective while completely disregarding another. But, as much as she wanted to know, something told Hazel that she probably wouldn’t get her answer to this question any time soon.

  Walking with Astrid and Chegyaeyi, the trio soon stumbled across Zoe, Kane, and Anais. They were currently grouped together while looking off into space. Or in this case, their message panels.

  The three approached the Knight and her companions, curious about what they were doing.

  “Hello, Zoe,” Hazel greeted the Knight, instantly grabbing her attention as she pulled her eyes away from her panel.

  “Ah, Hazel, it’s nice to see you. Have you finished looting the shaman?”

  Hazel nodded. “Yeah, I got what I wanted from his corpse. More than enough, honestly,” She let out a soft laugh.

  Zoe nodded in response. “Then I’ll be having one of our people put his corpse with the rest of them.” Her eyes then shifted toward Astrid and Chegyaeyi. Specifically, the Lizardfolk warrior. “We haven’t been introduced yet. My name is Zoe Callahan, and I would like to thank you for assisting us in battling the invaders.” Zoe then bowed her head, showing her respect to the one who helped her and her people.

  Chegyaeyi firmly nodded. “I only did what was necessary. Those Invaders were causing trouble and killing people. They needed to be stopped, and simply supported you to ensure their defeat.”

  Hazel took note of the Lizard folk's humble comment. It looked like Astrid was right about her being part of a respectable and honor-bound tribe. Most people would’ve gloated a bit about their assistance. Maybe not to the point where they were seen as an asshole, but certainly enough to show people that you were arrogant. But Chegyaeyi didn’t even take much credit for it.

  She was certainly humbler than Hazel. Despite being a bit shy when it came to being complimented, that didn’t mean that the praise wouldn’t go to her head. And the last thing she needed was an inflated ego right now.

  “Anyway, what were you guys doing?” Hazel asked, curious about their previous activity. “Were you checking your stats or something?”

  Zoe shook her head. “No, it’s something else actually. Something far more important.”

  Hazel tilted her head in response, curious waiting for the knight to explain what she meant.

  “You see, it seems that we’re currently capable of starting a guild.”

  Upon hearing this, Hazel’s eyes widened in surprise. Not because of what Zoe declared but how soon she stated it. It looked like the rise of the guilds was going to start now.