"I wasn't soloing; there were twelve us in the Menial raid." Nix continued to stare at the map; they had divided it into three manageable sections; North, South, and Middle.

Pon snorted loudly. "She's talking about the Oblivion Spider, that's a Northern section boss, which means it's Everspire's high-end content."

Jun Li adjusted her hud to bring the middle section of the map into focus. "Since we're on the coast, it's relatively easy to hit the mid-level targets in the Great Desert."

Nix picked up the token that Jun Li slid to him.

Nether Breaker Armor token. [King's Set]

"Give me that armor Punk b.a.s.t.a.r.d! I can't believe you haven't opened that yet!" Pon's old face was wrinkled with disgust.

Nix grinned. "I will. So... What's our timeline to take down Khione?"

Semmi was reading the forums through her hud. "After five days, players are just now leaving the beginning area."

Jun Li nodded in agreement. "We moved through because we had gear. The rest of the player population is scrounging, crafting, and stealing gear. Given this rate, our timeline for finis.h.i.+ng Everspire is one year."

Pon nodded and stood up. "As long as Nix doesn't kill the next Expansion boss, we'll be fine."

"Funny." Nix activated the armor token.

Nether Armor [King's set.]

+200 to all basic stats.

+5000 to AC

Immune to Control Effects.

Damage from Critical hits is halved.

[Special Effect: Nether Walker]

Travel from your current location to

anyplace in the Nether that you have visited

and back again.

[Special Effect: Obscurity]

Armor has the appearance of regular clothes

Nix slid the armor on. Obscurity made it appear as if he were wearing black leather breeches and a black work s.h.i.+rt. "I like it."

Wind whistled. "Going to be traveling to the Nether?"

Jun Li closed the map. "As long as we follow the normal progression, the developers won't nerf us."

Nix didn't feel it was worth mentioning that he arrived in the hardest section of Everspire with nothing but basic gear, and he'd been fine.

Jun Li ran her hand over the smooth counter. "I gotta say Nix; the turtle house is really cool."

Semmi nodded in agreement while Pon and Wind shook their heads.

Nix lowered his voice when he saw Una talking to the Trams in front of the door. "There are three fallen dragon cities in Everspire; I want to connect them with Inferno City."

Nix accessed his inventory and pulled out a small wooden chest. He set it down on the counter with a dull thunk. "We'll wrap this us as soon as I open this."

Pon leaned forward in his chair. "Did this drop off Menial?"

Nix shook his head. "Menial didn't drop anything. However, I did pick up the Master Key to Verynzai."

"Seems like he should have." Semmi grabbed the chest with both hands and slid it closer to her. "Why is it so ordinary?"

Nix laughed at the expression on her face. "Go ahead, Sem, don't cry if it's cursed though."

"Sure, boss. Since you insisted.." Semmi opened the lid slowly. Her pretty blue eyes lit up, and she linked the items.

[Escalator]

A tool of war, meant for a.s.saulting

Mountain Fortresses. Limit 5000 Troops

War [Heavy Plated Armor: Diamond Rating]

+10,000 to Armor Cla.s.s

+500 to all Basic Stats

+20,000 Health.

Immune to Critical Hits.

Mitigates half of all incoming Damage.

Mana Stone x 5

One stone in your inventory doubles your mana.

Limit one per person.

Key of Eidengal [Opens the Door to Eidengal]

/Alpha Team: Semmi: Holy c.r.a.p Nix. That's serious Tank Armor.

/Alpha Team: Nix: Yep. It has Sharl's name written all over it.

/Alpha Team: Wind: An Escalator? Remember the cutscene at the start of the Expansion?

/Alpha Team: Pon: They show her retreating to a Mountain Fortress. This is our ticket in.

Nix stowed one of the Mana Stones and tossed one to Pon.

/Alpha Team: Nix: We'll save the other three for our clerics.

/Alpha Team: Jun Li: I haven't seen Eidengal on any of the maps, but I'll start looking.

/Alpha Team: Semmi: First missions?

/Alpha Team: Jun Li: Scout out the Cabal locations for our three missing dragon cities and start exploring the Great Desert.

/Alpha Team: Nix: I'm going to focus on Ionova for a few weeks and try to build it up a bit.

/Alpha Team: Jun Li: I'll take a team and start scouting targets in the Great Desert.

/Alpha Team: Nix: That's it for now. Ronnie's back.