Noctis Noir

Astrid took a deep breath before checking her menu tablet for the guild rankings. Once she saw their current guild points, she cheered. "We did it! We hit three thousand! Good work everyone!"

The rest of the members of all-female guild Noctis Noir had huge smiles on their faces the moment they heard the good news. All their hard work and days of exhausting themselves clearing dungeons finally paid off.

Luna raised a fist up in the air. "Looks like we're joining the event!"

"I'll file the registration right away." Astrid hurried to the other room to start on the paperwork.

"I knew this was going to happen, so I made us some beef bowls." Amelie stepped out of the kitchen holding two beef bowls on each of her hands and one on top of her head. "One for you, Luna. One for Lyria. And Astrid... Where's Astrid?"

Luna pointed to the nearby room. "She's in the other room."

Amelie went inside. "No, she's not. There's no Astrid in this room."

"Maybe she teleported to town to file the registration?"

"I'll go check." Amelie teleported to town while still holding Astrid's beef bowl.

"Maybe we should follow her..." Lyria said as she kept her gaze on the spot Amelie stood a few seconds ago.

Luna blinked twice. "Yeah. I was just thinking the same thing."

"What are you talking about?" Astrid said as she came out of the bathroom.

Luna and Lyria were surprised.

Luna's jaw dropped. "Astrid! How did you end up in the bathroom? You were just in the other room."

Astrid calmly pointed at the room. "There's a door in that room connecting to the bathroom. It's not very noticeable, but it's there."

"Amelie just teleported to Lamont with your beef bowl to look for you."

Astrid's eyes shone. "Did you say beef bowl? I love beef bowl. I'm going after her." She immediately teleported to town to run after Amelie.

Luna and Lyria nodded to each other and followed.

***

Amelie arrived in the town square where there was no sign of Astrid. She walked around, checking buildings and stores.

"It will be a shame if this beef bowl will go cold. Maybe I should just make another one for Astrid and eat this one," she said to herself.

"Chris?"

Amelie turned around and saw Jasmine with the other members of Black Rose: Yaya, Pio, and Sed.

"Oh hello, Jasmine!" Amelie waved cheerfully while smiling.

"What's with the beef bowl?" Jasmine asked.

"For you!" Amelie gave the beef bowl to her.

"For you!" Amelie gave the beef bowl to her

"For... me?" Jasmine was surprised. She didn't think someone would go out of his way to make a beef bowl especially for her and walk around town searching for her. She was deeply touched by Chris' gesture. "Thank you."

Sed smirked. "Huh? So this is that mage we've been hearing about."

"Now, now, Sed. Don't get too competitive," Yaya said with a smile. Yaya was always smiling. Her frowns were a rarity.

"Let him join us for a bit, Jas," Pio said. "We're all curious about him."

"Hey Chris, what do you think of Jasmine's headgear? Doesn't it look funny?" Sed asked.

Jas pouted. Her headgear was a bird's nest. She found it pretty cute, but everyone else thought otherwise and just made fun of her.

"That is no way to speak to a lady. Her headgear is absolutely adorable," Amelie replied.

"Thanks, Chris!" Jasmine was happy to hear his response.

Yaya clapped. "Plus one hundred points for Chris!"

"You're losing this round, Sed." Pio laughed.

"Humph." Sed folded his arms.

***

"Astrid, wait!" Luna and Lyria ran to catch up with their guildmaster.

"I need to find that beef bowl before it gets cold!" Astrid walked in a hurry. When she got to the town square, she spotted Amelie sitting with the members of Black Rose. One of those members was eating her beloved beef bowl. "My beef bowl!" She sobbed.

"Woah! Is that Amelie? She sure made a lot of new friends in a short span of time." Luna was amazed, although everyone in the guild knew that Amelie was extremely friendly and liked mingling with people.

"Not just any friends. Those are members of Black Rose!" Lyria couldn't believe her eyes.

"My beef bowl..." Astrid was still sad.

"Should we go up to her?" Luna asked.

They slowly made their way to the fountain where Amelie and the others were. Amelie was the first to spot them. She immediately gave them her best 'You better call me Chris and not Amelie' look.

The three girls stopped.

"Hey, doesn't she look a little hostile?" Lyria said.

Luna agreed. "Yeah. It's like she wants us to stay away. Maybe we should just leave her alone."

Astrid said nothing. She was still sad about her beef bowl.

"Don't worry, Astrid. You can have my beef bowl."

"She can have mine. I'm on a diet anyway," said Lyria.

Astrid's frown immediately turned into a huge smile. "I love you all."

"Now that we're officially participating in the world guild war, we need to work on getting good equipment too," Astrid spoke after finishing her beef bowl. She wiped her mouth using a piece of cloth.

Lyria sighed. "Good equipment is expensive."

"We can also farm for them. That will increase our levels. Although with Garth helping me level up, I can just help you pull up your levels fast by doing the same thing he did."

"I need to plan out my equipment set and ask for some advice," said Lyria.

"Garth is helping me out again tomorrow. By then, I might hit level 70, so I can probably easily pull you all to level 60. So, focus on equipment for that level."

"Got it." Luna nodded. "This gives me a chance to talk to Tank and ask for advice!"

Lyria sighed. "I wish I can ask Vi for advice. I guess I'll ask Pio."

"Wasn't Pio in town with Amelie?" Astrid said.

"Yeah. I think I'll stop by town right now. Hopefully, she's still there."

"I guess I'll farm for ores." Astrid stood up.

"I'll go with you." Luna followed.

***

When Lyria teleported to town, the group of Black Rose members and Amelie gathered at the town square already dispersed. She was lucky to still find Pio there examining some loot. She noticed two birds perched on her shoulder.

"Pio!" Lyria called.

"Lyria!" Pio looked up and greeted her back.

"I need your advice on equipment."

"Sure, come have a seat." The level 90 priestess made space for Lyria to sit. "What kind of equipment?"

"Level 60."

"Wait. Let me have a look at your current stats and equipment." Pio opened up the player information screen on her menu tablet. "You seem to be lacking in vitality. You could also use a bit more mana points. I suggest looking for equipment that gives the most vitality or defense. As for the mana points, you'll have to rely on cards for increasing it. I'd also invest on some cards that increase your maximum health points."

Lyria noted it down in her head. "Got it. Thanks Pio."

Pio looked through her inventory and removed a card. "Try and find two more of this and equip it on your armor. It adds 450 points to your health." She offered it to her.

"You're giving this to me?"

"Yeah. I want you to have it. You need it for your armor."

Pio was the type who'd help a friend in need and give them her extra items, no matter how expensive they were.

She took the card. "Thanks Pio!"

"No problem."

Out of the blue, a mage teleported to the middle of the square and approached them the moment he noticed Lyria.

"Hey, pumpkin girl," he greeted her.

Lyria frowned. "Stop calling me that."

"Accept it. It's a cute nickname." He smirked. "That hat looks great on you by the way."

Pio stayed silent and watched the exchange. She felt a little intimidated by the powerful-looking mage.

Magnus stared at Pio. "Your friend?"

"Yeah," Lyria replied.

"Anyway, I have some something for you. My bags are full and it'd be a waste to just dump them." He opened up his inventory and removed 15 wolf cubs. "They're yours now. You can keep them or sell them. I just happened to pick them up as drops while boss hunting."

"Wow. So many!"

"See you later. Oh, and congratulations on your new guild." He winked and teleported out of the square.

Lyria stared at the wolf cubs gathering at her feet. She felt like the mother of wolves. "What am I supposed to do with these?"

Pio poked one of the cubs. "In the meantime, you can place them in your inventory. They stay inactive while inside."

Lyria did as Pio said. "Great. Now my bags are full."

"You can go sell them off if you don't need them."

"I think I'll ask for Astrid's opinion before selling these. They could be useful for something. Thank you so much for the advice and the card, Pio!"

"No problem. What are friends for?" Pio gave the sweetest smile. Lyria always liked seeing it on her face. "Good luck with your guild!"