Morning arrived once again in the world of Cosmia, and everyone returned to their own responsibilities.
Aventura's party headed for Lake Tross, making their way into Esmen Mine Cave to challenge the Ghost of Warrior once again.
They intentionally kept the Boss's existence a secret.
The fewer players who knew about it, the lower the chance that other parties would begin competing for the location.
Besides, only the party that defeated the Boss was entitled to claim all of its drops.
Meanwhile, Reina decided to hunt alone.
Her objective was simple.
Reach Level 80 as quickly as possible.
Without a party, every point of EXP she earned would belong entirely to her, making the leveling process much faster.
Everyone agreed with the decision.
Each of them set off to carry out their own role.
Lisa entrusted the Diamond to Yukio for safekeeping, since it was one of the requirements for founding a guild.
Tanaka walked over to Lisa.
“Lisa, if you don't mind... could you teach me how to become a proper Knight? You understand it much better than I do.”
Lisa looked at him for a moment before smiling.
“All right.”
“I'd be happy to.”
The two of them walked toward the hill where all of the pets had evolved a few days earlier.
From its summit, Belio City stood proudly in the distance.
Its towering walls reflected the morning sunlight, while the castle's elegant towers rose beyond them.
“It's beautiful...” Tanaka murmured.
Lisa nodded.
“A Knight isn't just someone with high Defense.”
“A Knight is the one who stands at the front... when everyone else chooses to step back.”
For the next several hours, Lisa shared everything she had learned from her former MMORPG companions.
Although she herself had chosen the Warrior class, she understood nearly every aspect of playing a Knight—from maintaining aggro, positioning correctly, reading Boss attack patterns, to choosing the perfect moment to activate defensive skills.
Tanaka listened attentively to every word.
Meanwhile, Hana, Rian, and Mina decided to explore other cities.
They visited Tira City, the training center for sword and dagger users, before continuing on to Nergal City, renowned as the city of Craftmen.
Along the way, they continued hunting Mostro, gathering materials, and earning a modest amount of EXP.
However, they deliberately chose areas with lower-level monsters so their levels wouldn't outpace Reina's by too much.
Meanwhile...
Reina arrived at a brand-new area.
Maya Desert.
An endless sea of sand stretched to the horizon.
Scattered throughout the desert, dozens of Crazy Cactus Lv.100 wandered aimlessly, swinging the razor-sharp thorns covering their bodies.
Reina opened her inventory.
Nearly every slot was filled with HP Potions and Mana Potions.
“That should be enough.”
Using the Coins Yukio had distributed, she purchased a Crystal Dagger Lv.60 from an NPC weapon merchant.
It had been expensive.
But the weapon's additional Accuracy was invaluable for a Rogue.
Combined with Armor Break, Reina's attacks now pierced enemy defenses far more consistently.
Without wasting another second, she dashed forward.
Her body blurred between the wandering Crazy Cactus.
Slash!
Armor Break!
Critical!
One monster after another collapsed.
Reina never stopped moving, denying her enemies even the opportunity to counterattack.
Crystal.
Ruby.
Armor Lv.30.
Weapon Lv.50.
Materials and equipment steadily filled her inventory.
Meanwhile, her EXP continued to climb.
LEVEL UP!
Lv.76
...
LEVEL UP!
Lv.78
...
The first day passed.
Without returning to town, Reina rested only briefly before resuming her hunt.
On the second day...
Her EXP finally crossed the next threshold.
LEVEL UP!
Lv.80
Reina let out a relieved breath.
“That'll do.”
She immediately opened her status menu, distributed her newly earned stat points, and upgraded several of her skills.
Once she finished, she checked her inventory again.
Surprisingly, she still had nearly half of her HP Potions and Mana Potions remaining.
“More efficient than I expected.”
However, her inventory was now almost completely full of materials and equipment.
It was time to head back.
She had barely started walking toward the teleport gate when a message appeared.
Yukio:
We've reached 2,300,000 Coins. Everyone also gathered plenty of materials while you were hunting. Since many of these rare items still aren't being sold by other players, I've been able to set higher prices.
A small smile appeared on Reina's face.
“Just as I thought...”
“You really do have a talent for this, Yukio.”
Without delay, she opened the message menu.
Reina:
Everyone, gather in Belio City.
On the left side of Atlas Castle's main gate, there's a training facility.
Replies arrived almost immediately.
Understood, Ms. Reina.
We'll be there soon.
On our way.
About an hour later...
All twelve of her companions had assembled at the designated location.
Only then did they realize that the building wasn't an ordinary training hall.
A large wooden sign hung above the entrance.
Guild Registration Office
They exchanged glances.
One by one, they understood why Reina had called them there.
The day they had all been waiting for...
Had finally arrived.
Reina entered the Guild Examination Chamber alone.
An NPC receptionist greeted her with a polite smile.
“To establish a guild, please submit all of the required materials.”
Reina nodded.
She handed over 2,000,000 Coins along with a Diamond.
The receptionist carefully inspected everything before nodding in satisfaction.
“All requirements have been fulfilled.”
“Please proceed to the Guild Foundation Trial.”
A gate of light slowly materialized before her.
Reina took a deep breath...
...and stepped inside.
Turnip Mostro Lv.10
The tiny monster immediately charged toward her.
Slash!
A single strike was enough to turn it into particles of light.
Trial Cleared.
Mushroom Mostro Lv.30
Dozens of poisonous mushrooms erupted from the ground.
Reina nimbly dodged the toxic spores before eliminating every one of them within seconds.
Trial Cleared.
Sheep Mostro Lv.50
A herd of horned sheep charged simultaneously.
But Reina's speed made every attack miss its target.
Moments later, every monster had fallen.
Trial Cleared.
Crazy Horse Lv.70
The four-legged beast was far more aggressive.
Several times, Reina had to drink an HP Potion before finally finding an opening and bringing it down.
Trial Cleared.
Crazy Cactus Lv.90
The same monster she had spent the last two days hunting now stood before her once again.
Since she already understood every one of its attack patterns, the battle proved far easier.
Armor Break.
Critical.
The Crazy Cactus collapsed.
Trial Cleared.
Skeleton Lv.110
This was the first opponent that truly forced Reina to fight seriously.
The Skeleton's sword managed to slash her several times, causing her HP to drop rapidly.
She quickly drank several HP Potions while continuing to evade every swing.
After a grueling battle...
The Skeleton was finally defeated.
Trial Cleared.
Chicken Warrior Lv.130
A gigantic chicken wielding a spear emerged from the final gate.
Its speed far exceeded Reina's expectations.
Several times, she came within inches of taking a direct hit.
The trial timer continued counting down.
Reina steadied her breathing.
Armor Break!
Back Attack!
Critical!
With only moments remaining...
The Chicken Warrior finally collapsed.
Trial Cleared.
A system voice echoed throughout the chamber.
Congratulations. You have successfully completed the Guild Foundation Trial.
Reina walked toward the attendant.
Several system windows appeared before her.
Guild Name
Guild Emblem
Guild Bank
Without hesitation, she filled them in.
The guild name she chose was...
TEMPLAR.
It was the same guild she had once led in Cosmic Online.
Its emblem depicted a dark blue shield trimmed in gold, with two crossed swords at its center.
Afterward, she created a Guild Bank that could be accessed by every guild member using a shared password.
At last...
The entire process was complete.
When Reina stepped outside, everyone was still waiting.
Some were relaxing in the garden.
Others were buying snacks from NPC vendors.
A few were reading the notice board in the town square.
“Ms. Reina's finished!” Hana called out.
Everyone hurried over.
Above Reina's head floated a brand-new title.
XOXO Lv.80
【Guild Master: TEMPLAR】
Beside the title appeared the guild emblem—a dark blue shield with a golden border and two crossed swords.
“Wow... that's awesome!” Rian exclaimed.
“Congratulations, Ms. Reina!” Aventura said.
Everyone smiled proudly.
Lisa stared at the guild name and emblem for a long moment.
“This is exactly what I've been waiting for!”
Without wasting any time, Reina began sending Guild Invitations one by one.
Every invitation was accepted immediately.
For the first time since becoming trapped inside the world of Cosmia...
They finally had a guild of their own.
Reina then organized the guild's leadership.
Lisa was appointed as a Duke, granting her the authority to recruit and dismiss guild members.
Meanwhile, Rian and Aventura were appointed as Marquises, giving them permission to recruit new members, though not remove them.
Everyone else officially became members of Guild TEMPLAR.
“I didn't choose these positions based on favoritism,” Reina explained.
“I gave them to people who already understand MMORPG systems well enough to guide new members and judge who truly belongs in our guild.”
No one questioned her decision.
On the contrary...
They felt honored to be the first thirteen members of Guild TEMPLAR.
Next, Yukio transferred every material that had previously been stored in his personal bank into the Guild Bank.
From that day onward...
Everything they owned belonged to Guild TEMPLAR.
They also established their next objective.
Reach Level 100.
Then lock their levels by donating EXP to the guild, allowing the Guild Level to continue rising without widening the level gap between members.
They also agreed to restrict recruitment.
For the time being, only players who had reached Level 100 would be accepted.
Not because they wanted to appear exclusive.
But because Guild TEMPLAR's purpose was to complete the Main Quest.
A large level gap would only slow the entire guild down.
That evening, every member of Guild TEMPLAR gathered at the tavern in Salia City—the place that had gradually become their headquarters.
During their conversation, Aventura let out a long sigh.
“Unfortunately... we weren't as lucky as you were.”
Reina looked at him.
“What happened?”
“We defeated the Ghost of Warrior.”
“But the Boss only dropped three Bird Eggs that were ready to evolve.”
The three eggs were distributed among the party members who still didn't have pets.
As someone passionate about information technology, Aventura offered his own theory.
“I think the items you found back then were actually caused by a bug.”
“When we arrived at Esmen Mine Cave, another party had already been there before us.”
“Even so, the total value of our drops was roughly the same as theirs.”
Reina simply smiled without commenting.
Even so, Aventura and his party weren't disappointed.
They immediately followed the pet evolution method Reina had taught them.
The results exceeded everyone's expectations.
Two of the three Bird Eggs evolved into rare pets.
Red Phoenix.
Blue Dragon.
Hearing that, Rian's eyes lit up.
“Now I really can't wait...”
He looked down at his own Bird Egg, which still showed no sign of evolving.
“Just give it a little more time,” Mina said with a smile.
Their conversation continued late into the night.
Laughter and cheerful banter filled every corner of the humble tavern in Salia City.
It became a day none of them would ever forget.
The day when thirteen people who had once been complete strangers...
Finally found a place they could call home.
Guild TEMPLAR had officially been born.
But...
Their journey through the world of Cosmia had only just begun.