They walked back with the others inside the walls after making sure the caravan disappeared into the horizon. The day was over, and they were tired.

"Captain Karkus, we’re going to sleep here in case they come back or anything else happens. Send word to chief Puy that we won, and the caravan left."

"Yes, my lord." He did as told and sent a messenger inside the tunnels.

They were too tired to discuss things right now, so they went to sleep in the tent. It was quiet for a couple of minutes until they couldn’t hold back their excitement.

"We won!" "The last game was awesome!" "Sorry for failing; today you carry my back."

They exchange words of encouragement and feelings about the games. They wanted to celebrate, drink, and eat for a while, but they didn’t have anything prepared. After they stopped talking and went back to sleep, Silvano was the only one still awake.

He recovered his energy after the competitions and didn’t have to participate in any games. He looked at his hands; they were clean, without a single stain or wound. It didn’t feel right, so he got up and made a small portal.

The day came out like any other; after eating some provisions with the soldiers, they were rested and ready to discuss the future of the guild.

"Are you okay? You look like a zombie." Nathan asked Silvano.

"Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry about it. I just have light sleep."

"Come on, you have giant bags under the eyes. On second thought, your eyes are also very red. Are you sick?"

"Yes, I promise I’m fine. Let's talk about our next step." Silvano assured them he was just a little tired, but he was 100% focused and listening.

Silas didn’t pay more attention; after all, if he was sick, Rebecca could help him in a snap.

"The first order of business at this meeting is to decide what is going to be our next step as Dawn. We managed to repel the attack of the Crimson Caravan, and they even gave us a card to contact them again in case we wanted to do business with them." He pulled out a small card with their symbol on it. If they burned it, the caravan would come.

"I think most of us don’t want to see those people again. They are thieves and kidnappers, the lowest of the low. We should forget about them." Nora was confident in her words. She didn’t want anything to do with slave traders, and the others agreed.

"I agree they are dangerous, but it may help us in the future if we have this. So, I like to keep the card with me in case of emergencies. Is that clear?"

"You aren’t going to just throw it away, even if we ask you. We could force you, but then you’ll be bitter for months."

"Emily is correct; the whole point of the guild is to make decisions in group, but having that card is not a danger. You can have it, buddy; if someone can make use of it, that person is you." Jacob was okay with it, and everyone else agreed.

That was easy. He couldn’t help but wonder if they were being nice to him or if maybe he did something special during the games and they were letting him have the card as a reward. In the end, he wasn’t going to refuse the chance to save an important way to contact another group.

"Well, the second thing we have to do is decide on the use of the World Stone."

"Shouldn’t we discuss this with Cink? If we’re going to send pix to another world to settle, we should ask him about a good place."

"That’s the thing; we can use the gate as a new portal to another world. Or we could try to look for more World Stone by going to the Underground world."

"Seriously? You heard that guy's warning. If you are still thinking of going there, do you have a death wish or are you an adrenaline junkie?"

Nadine was correct. Going to a new world on their own was very risky. They could take the pix, but they would be forcing them to build new villages instead of retaking abandoned places like they did here in the Rock.

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"We could do both. Seek out more stone and rare materials, and reclaim the old village.

"How?"

"I heard about Cink; he used to live in an old city of the Valein empire in the Underground world before going on the mission to the jungle. He stayed there for only a few weeks, but it was big, and most of the population were pix."

"How did you learn that, Franco?"

"It was a while ago during a training exercise with the army. We got drunk and spoke about the world and the animals living here; he mentioned that the underground where he stayed didn’t have too many beasts, but the few species that lived there were strong."

"If that’s true, he maybe remembers the place. Silvano could take us close enough with the other half of the stone to make the portal."

"We’re going to have to talk with the rest of the council to take even more people to repopulate that place."

"It’s not going to be a problem, and I know Cink is going to agree." Emily was sure of it, and after all parties agreed to expand the territory and look for more stone to make portals, they prepared to return to the capital of the Pix-Dawn alliance.

"Before going back, can I show you something? Over here." Silvano made the portal, but it took them inside the Rock.

They had no reason to refuse; after coming through the other side, everyone’s eyes opened in surprise.

"So that’s why you were so tired."

The wall was covered by a massive painting; it covered the whole wall from side to side. It was a mural depicting everyone during yesterday’s games. The wins and losses were painted with care, and you could see the adrenaline and stress of the games all culminating in the center with the image of Jacob shooting and six bullets in the air with the sunset in his back.

"This is incredible. Silvano, were you an artist on Earth?" Nora could recognize the talent with a single glance.

"Actually, yeah, I have a degree in arts. I work as a window cleaner and do painting in my spare time to build my reputation, but I haven’t painted since coming here. "Sorry, it looks shabby; the paint quality is not the best, but the chief gave me all he had available as thanks for defending the Rock."

It was far from his best work. He was out of practice, and the limited time made him rush some of the fine details. But they didn’t see it like that; even Silas was astonished by the painting.

This was a memory of their victory and effort. That meant more than any other detail or technique. They all went to hug and pat him on the back.

"We have an artist in our group." "My face is not so rough, but I let it slide." "Can you teach me how to paint? I want to customize my weapons."

He gave them this as a feeble gift to prove how grateful he was, but now he was the one being thanked. The words of encouragement made him tear up. After struggling for so long, he found a place that felt like home.

"Sorry, sorry. I'll make the portal back to the world." He cleaned his tears, and they went back.

***

"I see, it seems you avoided a fight and won some nice minerals." Cink scratched his beard after listening to Silas' story.

"So, do you remember that place in the Underground?"

"Vaguely, you have to understand that living for thousands of years doesn’t give you a perfect memory. I could give you the approximate coordinates, but I’m not sure if they are good enough. The last thing I know about that place is that the gate was destroyed, something happened there, and maybe the city disappeared."

"Just something close is good enough for Silvano. Nadine is going to build the gate here and the other half on the other side. We’ll go alone in case of anything. You should be able to entertain the council on your own, right?"

"At least give me a reason. Why are you doing this, Silas?"

"We need materials, and if the underground has more World Stone, then we can expand into other worlds. That means more information and more chances to make allies."

"Hahaha, I thought your encounter with that caravan would have made you more hesitant to approach other groups."

"It’s just the same risk in any MMO; you need to take the plunge and learn if they are allies or enemies."

"In that case, to help calm the council, I propose we make this new place our main trade route."

"Trade route?"

"Yes, we’ll have the gate in the capital here, and the other gates are going to lead to different worlds, but all must pass our trade route. Nothing can go directly between the worlds without making that stop. Is for the better; in case of an attack in one place, we only have to guard the underground with all our might and we can repel any attacks."

"Why don’t we use the real capital for that?"

"Because if we fail to hold that point, we can destroy this gate and buy us time to prepare for the enemy force. The valein empire did something similar with their cities: Only the capitals of each world have portals."

"Yeah, this is a good security measure. But that assumes we can retake the city in the underground and rebuild the defenses. I doubt we can build a city from zero in the middle of so many animals and dangers."

"Yes, we can’t send the pix to live there without protection. Once you find the city, make sure it can be rebuilt. We can build the gate and send soldiers from this side to help keep a safe zone."

They spent the next few days preparing the expedition, and Nadine finished her design for the gate. They put it in the middle of a military building, so that way only the army, the council, or Dawn members would be able to use it.

The ones going on the expedition were Silas, Silvano, Nadine, Franco, and Nora. The others were helping the villagers move back to the Rock and keep an eye on the area. This expedition was going to be much shorter than the previous one.

"If we don’t have the gate functioning in two days, it's because we failed to find the city, or it was too damaged to be reconstructed."

With that, Silvano opened the portal.