Towards the edge of Red Oak City, one wouldn’t find many high-rise buildings. Many homes here accommodated a dozen families, five, eventually only two or one.

Due to the limited space none of the houses here were particularly spacious. There were multiple blocks consisting of houses built right next to each other, surrounding a small park for everyone’s use.

Although the city didn’t have a long history, it was built with the future in mind, with the aim of eventually housing ten million people.

The homes built towards the edge were considered a concession to attract middle-class families. They served their purpose, attracting families from all over the federation to settle on Falva Star, just like the Day family.

Melanie Day opened her eyes, finding herself in her familiar room. A comfortable bed carried her body. The room wasn’t big, but it had everything a young woman might need.

Exhausted after such a long day she let out a sigh, resting her head on the pillow. In the corner of her vision, she found various posters hanging on the wall.

Mel let out a faint grin.

“Prime, Celestial, Earth King. Did you see that? Another first clear! Soon, I will join your ranks!”

The players famous throughout the federation unfortunately couldn’t answer her. But Mel was confident that she would soon enter their eyes, and those idols she worshipped for years would have to take her serious.

In a great mood the young woman stood up from her bed and went to her desk. She glanced at the scattered books waiting for her to learn from them.

“Sorry…”

Mel coughed awkwardly, cleaning up the desk, and putting these books out of her view. A black tablet was revealed. She picked it up and happily browsed various sites, looking for reports about their party.

“It seems like we are the only ones to pass so far. Everyone wants to know how we did it, but I can only say: Get your own Mirage.”

Mel could foresee that Fortune’s next video would draw a huge audience once again.

“Oh right… Fortune!”

Mel suddenly thought about something and quickly logged into her bank account. She wore a broad grin looking at the huge numbers.

Fortune had promised the party to pay them for the right to record. With the success of her videos this was not a small sum.

Mel alone had received more than 30.000 credits during this month. Together with the 25.000 remuneration granted by Silver Blade after the first dungeon clear, she had earned more than 50.000 credits in a single month.

This was more money than Mel earned during the three years of working small jobs after school. The young woman was incredibly gratified, feeling as if her life was taking off.

Boom!

Suddenly a loud noise entered Mel’s ears, accompanied by a high ringing.

Mel was startled, putting down her tablet, and opening the door to her room hastily. Urgent steps could be heard as she ran down the stairs. She quickly spotted the source of the noise:

“Dad!”

The young woman shouted anxiously, approaching the single couch in the small living room.

A disheveled man was lying in front of it, only his feet still on the couch. His grey shirt was wet and stained. The smell of alcohol permeated the room.

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Mel’s heart threatened to break seeing this scene. She glanced at the table, noticing the picture of a kind, red-haired woman among bottles of cheap booze.

The young woman held back her tears as she carefully kneeled in front of her father, making sure to avoid any pieces of glass, and checked her father for injuries.

Feeling the familiar touch on his face, Mel’s father Lawrence turned his head, looking at his precious daughter with blurry, red eyes.

Lawrence’s thoughts moved and he couldn’t stop the tears coming out of his eyes.

“Mel, my… loly daughder.”

“Dad, don’t move. I need to check your head.”

“I’m fine… I don’d feel anyding.”

“That’s not a good thing!”

Mel had to forcefully suppress her emotions seeing her father like this. After carefully touching his head and not finding any blood she let out a sigh of relief. She carefully helped her father sit back up.

Lawrence focused on the table, silent tears running down his cheeks.

“Today would be mother’s 41st birthday…”, whispered Mel.

“Yes.”

“I miss her.”

Mel’s voice sounded incredibly complicated. She picked up the picture of her mother, speaking words meant for both her parents:

“Mom, you daughter has had a lot of success recently. I entered this game, you know. I was incredibly lucky and got invited to the best party in the entire game!

We are having a lot of fun and are extremely successful. I even made a lot of money! You see, there is no need to worry about me and dad. I know he has always thought of himself as not being as strong as you.

But dad has worked incredibly hard! After your death he did everything to provide me with the best life possible!

And now that I have grown up, I will earn a lot of money. I can finally take some pressure from dad!”

While Mel spoke, her father looked at her with a complex expression. Tears never stopped coming out of his eyes.

“I’m sorry, my good doughder! Id’s only because I’m useless… I have caused you so many worries.”

“No dad. Don’t say that! I know how harsh it has been for you! I know it’s almost a miracle that I can go to college. You have nothing to blame yourself for!”

Lawrence watched his daughter, who behaved incredibly mature. He was incredibly gratified. He opened his arms, pulling Mel into a strong hug.

Mel embraced her father, silently accompanying him in mourning for her mother. Determination moved deep in her eyes, vowing to lead their guild to the top and building a stable, worry-free life for her and her dad.

***

Meanwhile, a black car arrived in front of another compound consisting of a large park and three prominent high-rise buildings. A decorative gate marked the entrance, the name ‘Red Oak University’ written on it in bold letters.

The car stopped and a blond woman got off together with a taciturn man.

“You can wait here, I won’t take long.”

Cynthia dismissed her bodyguard casually. The observant man looked at her back.

He considered her behavior unusual. Her expression seemed nervous, and she didn’t even turn around to talk to him. He didn’t get to know Cynthia as one of those spoiled brats disregarding their bodyguards.

But still, it wasn’t his place to ask questions. With a simple ‘yes’ the man remained outside.

Meanwhile Cynthia walked into the university, gathering her courage. She directly approached the main building, ignoring the other students around her.

But just as she was about to reach her target, a grating voice came from the side:

“Oh, look who decided to honor us with her presence.”

Cynthia gritted her teeth, turning towards a group of three girls, facing their tall, black-haired leader:

“Theresa…”

“Oh? I’m surprised you still remember my name. I haven’t seen you in almost a month!”

“What do you want?”

“Me? Nothing. I’m just here to catch up with a good friend.”

“Well, sorry, but I have no time.”

Cynthia scoffed at the girl and swiftly turned around.

“Hey, Cyclone! Don’t run away!”

Theresa watched with a grin as Cynthia’s body stiffened for a moment before speeding up and disappearing into the building.

“You were right, Theresa!”, exclaimed one of her friends.

“Of course. Even an idiot can think of it. When I realized that Silva Colville is Silver Blade, I naturally recognized that blond b*tch by her side!”

“I don’t get what Silva likes about that girl.”, said the other friend with an ugly expression.

“Right. What tricks did Cynthia play for Silva to keep her so close? Now she is even getting carried in Crunaboul! Lucky b*tch!”

“Don’t worry! I’m sure Silva will someday understand that that girl isn’t worthy of her status. Sooner or later, she will cooperate with us! Until then, we mustn’t fall behind in Crunaboul!”

“Yes.”

Cynthia’s mood soured greatly from the short exchange. She could imagine what the three women were discussing behind her back. Taking a deep breath, she continued fulfilling the task she came here for.

After going up a few floors she nervously entered the student office. When she came out, she had officially applied to pause her studies.

Cynthia closed her eyes for a moment, adjusting her state of mind. Now there was only one path ahead. The guild deserved her full attention!

“Ehm, sorry… are you… Cyclone?”

A timid voice suddenly reached Cynthia’s ears. She opened her eyes, finding a woman wearing inconspicuous clothes, a bit taler than her, standing before her.

Cynthia looked at the woman strangely as she had no recollection of her at all.

“Why do you ask?”, questioned Cynthia suspiciously.

The woman obviously gathered all her courage, blurting out her purpose:

“I want to become part of Hotpot!”