Afterlife Dream

Thanks to the event, my Dark Moon set was finally finished. I was more than happy to substitute my Native Islander Set against the Dark Moon Set. I grabbed my finished crafts from the guild craft storage and was momentarily stunned. My Dark Moon staff came out +10! That was ultra, ultra rare!!! I was so happy that I could cry.

I put on my Dark Moon gears and weapon one by one and looked down to admire myself.

The Dark Moon set was black from head to toe. The headpiece was literally a king's crown inlaid with blue sparkling gems. The top was in essence a long robe that extended to my knees. The collar and hems had a luminescent blue color lining. The same lining was found at the side and bottom part of the pants. The leather gloves were grey and fingerless. The boots were also made of leather and had thick soles. Good. I was sick of wearing sandals and slippers, as most mage footwears often were.

I found myself smiling every time someone praised my Dark Moon set. DragonTalon looked me up and down and commented, "So this is where you spent all your money on. It does look cool, alright. How could you even get so many Dark Moon pieces? Heck, I wish Guild Party Quest is still active..."

I giggled like a little girl. If DragonTalon knew where I got my Dark Moon pieces from, he would explode.

We all went back to the Cursed Temple for the last invasion of the day. As I stood in my spot waiting for the invasion to happen, I could not help but think about DragonTalon's little trick. He had Fire Column do the extra killing for him. What did I have? I actually had something. This skill should work wonders on ghosts and demons that were surrounding me. At least I think it would.

When the time hit 19.00 sharp, all the monsters transformed into their event counterparts and I cast the one skill I believed could help me in my endeavor. Purification shot into the sky and formed a golden dome that gently wrapped itself around me. As soon as it appeared, it started to purify the ghosts and demons around me and caused them to scatter into the air. I widened my eyes in joy. It worked!!!

I cast Purification over and over again while killing monsters with Holy Wings. I seriously could not help wishing I had reached the Bishop level by now. Bishop was the fourth job designation for healers. The Bishops had one amazing AoE skill that could decimate everything on the whole map with one hit. If the map were small enough. And if the monsters were weak enough.

I hope you understand my point.

Fueled by the discovery of Purification's unexpected benefit, I happily slaughtered the monsters. People said that time flew when you had fun. Time also flew when you were pushing to get as many Dimensional Points as possible. At 21.00 sharp, I literally collapsed on the ground, panting. But also laughing like a maniac.

When my friends and I gathered again, I was ready to show off my result from the second invasion. The huge grin quickly fell from my face when I heard about the result.

I had 703 points.

DragonTalon had 718 points.

Livina had 700 points.

ZhaoYun had 701 points.

HellWitch had 690 points.

Lazarus had 698 points.

There was not much difference so there was nothing to brag about. But hey, this was a huge improvement!

"If everyone can get 700 points on average for every invasion..." I started.
"Oh, good point!" Livina exclaimed. She quickly went back to counting. I reckoned that she was quite attached to math in her past life.

"2694 players!" She shouted after a while, there was an excited gleam in her eyes.

"We are still short of 300-something players," ZhaoYun noted. "Unless some players killed faster than the others."

I nodded. "I am sure some do. A lot of players are OP for their levels. I mean, look at BlackPuma. He soloed the later stage raids to the end."

A grim look hushed over DragonTalon's face. "Yes, correct. But Antares, you forgot that BlackPuma isn't here with us."

My face quickly fell. "Are we depending on HinoKun as the second strongest player then?"

HellWitch snorted. "Second highest in level yes but definitely not second-highest in strength. Just compare his attributes with Ingenious."

Hearing that HinoKun was still inferior to Ingenious made us smug for understandable reasons.

"Speaking about Ingenious, should we not head to the Global Market?"

"Ah, yes."

We thus went into the light portal that led us to the Global Market. It was as usual cramped inside, but not with shops. A lot of players gathered inside, standing together like sardines in a can.

Livina whispered, "Didn't Ingenious say that only representatives of each area will join?"

I whispered back, "Maybe he didn't specifically say that only one person is expected to represent one area."

All the players surrounded a heightened platform in the middle of the Global Market. There was a huge elf statue made of stone on the platform, holding a huge banner between his two raised arms. The banner with the words "WELCOME TO THE GLOBAL MARKET" fluttered gently in the wind, its ends firmly held between the elf's fingers.

Ingenious and HinoKun stood side-by-side in front of the statue. They were both looking at the light portal from where players endlessly poured out.

At 21.10 sharp, Ingenious shouted, "OKAY EVERYONE LISTEN HERE. LET'S TALK ABOUT THIS EVENT!"

Joining them on the platform was Kitty to represent the beginner maps and a crossbowman by the ID HighTide represented the advanced maps. I faintly remember him to be one of the players that DragonTalon and I took with us to Paradise Island.

Ingenious turned to Kitty, "Let's hear from the representative from beginner maps first."

Kitty thanked him and started to tell the situation in the beginner maps.

"More and more new players join Afterlife Dream but players do not have new maps to go to. Dai City is full. Marsh City is also full. New players had to go back to Daisyville due to the crowd. We desperately need a bridge to move on to Fairy Forest."

A mumble went through the crowd. A player from advanced maps mentioned, "You just want an extra map to host more players. I don't think it is soo important to demand a bridge..."

Ingenious snapped into the crowd, "Silence! Representative from advanced maps, please say what you want to say."

HighTide stepped forward and spoke to the crowd, "We believe that building the 'Enchanting Beauty Bridge' will allow more players to contribute to the effort to defeat the Dimensional Master. Is that not our goal in the end?"


HighTide's words were met with an applause that of course came from the players in advanced maps.

"Right!"

"We must think about defeating the Dimensional Master!"

Kitty scrunched up her face. "Excuse me but how many are you going to use that bridge? How many of you are going to contribute to the final raid? Almost 1000 people in the beginner maps need the 'Spring Blossom Bridge'. The number is not going to decrease!"

HighTide sighed. "We also know that but what can we do? Even if we build the 'Spring Blossom Bridge' for you, you will still be unable to cross over to Paradise Island. You will still need the 'Enchanting Beauty Bridge'."

Ingenious clapped his hands twice to stop both parties from arguing further. "Okay everyone, now that we have heard from both parties, I want to say that there is a very dismal chance that we can build both bridges at the end of the event, but it will require full cooperation from all players. Not a single Dimensional Point shall be wasted on anything but the Bricks."

A round of incredulous murmur went through the crowd.

"It is true!" Livina peeped. "If we can average getting 700 Dimensional Points or more per player per invasion, then it is absolutely possible to build both bridges!"

"700 points...?"

"I have only gotten 500ish points max..."

"How the hell did you get 700 points..."

HinoKun waved his hands to placate the crowd. "It is possible to reach that average. People, you just need to use the right skills. We can discuss, we can teach each other."

"That is easy to say," a player with a sour expression said. "Not all of us are as rich and as strong as you are. How many points did you get from the second invasion just now?"

"850 points," HinoKun answered with a slight smile on his face.

The crowd exclaimed in a mix of surprise and shock.

"850??? Oh my God!!!"

"How??? I only got 330!!"

"Same! I have killed as fast as I could but I simply cannot get more!!"

Next to HinoKun, Ingenious chuckled. "It is not that difficult to get higher points. I had 1030 points from the last invasion."