361 Guild popularity shoots up!
Kyuuuu!
The small fox stared at Liam for a minute as if she was thinking very hard. She then shook her head, making all three of her tails sway.
[No, Master. Luna is not strong.]
Her voice sounded sad, but she really did not look like it.
Liam chuckled at the little fox and then asked her the second question that had been nagging him for a while now, "So is fireblast the only attack you can use?"
Kyuuuu
[Yes, Master.]
Liam had only asked casually, but it looked like his words had made the little thing very sad. Her face became crumpled and sad, and she looked heart-breaking.
"This…" Her reactions made Liam speechless. "I am sure you can do all those things when you grow bigger. Ahem. Just eat more and grow bigger?"
He somehow knew exactly what to do to cheer up the little thing and took out some food that he had gotten from Shen Yue.
And voila…
The sad drooping eyes immediately perked up and twinkled in joy as the white fox greedily gulped down the few meatballs, roasted meat, and boiled meat.
"I knew it." Liam smiled, shaking his head. This fox was shameless to the core.
Seeing the hungry vortex claim everything, Liam also felt hungry and sat down next to the fox to relax a little and eat some food.
He opened his map and saw that the two of them were really far from the base. It would waste a lot of time to reach there by walking or even running at the top of his speed.
"I should have brought Talon along… maybe I will just take the portal out and once again return back using my personal portal."
"That should get me closer to the Thol city." Liam munched on another piece of meat while thinking out loud, planning his next steps.
But unexpectedly, the fox next to him once again perked up after hearing his words.
[Master! Luna can take you!]
She tossed the last piece of meat into her mouth, swung her body to face him, and the next instant…
POOF!
The small white fox suddenly became several sizes bigger.
Bigger than him, bigger than Talon, and definitely big enough for him to ride her!
Liam was startled by this sudden development but after observing her for a few seconds it didn't surprise him all that much.
She was a celestial grade beast after all. So increasing her size or even modifying her size as needed could be one of her skills.
Liam watched the fox proudly grin and scratch her face with her paw, while her three huge white fluffy tails fluttered in the wind.
He suddenly had a thought and asked her. "Can you also fly, Luna?"
Kyuuuuuu!
[Yes, Master]
Liam's eyes grew wide, and he burst into laughter. "Of course, you can. You are a very good girl." He lovingly rubbed the fox's head with his hand.
He then stood up, dusted his back, and stretched his hands and legs. "So what else can you do?"
Kyuuuuu!
The fox once again blankly stared at him, her face slowly changing. It looked like this was all she could do for now.
Liam smiled and before she became sad again, he quickly rubbed her head. "Never mind. This is good enough. Good girl. Good girl. Now can you fly us both to Thol city?"
Kyuuuuuuu!
Liam smiled and carefully climbed onto the big white fox. He watched her expression to see if this was hurting her, but she looked quite comfortable and happy.
In fact, happy would be an understatement. The white fox grinned wide as she kicked her heels, and her body began to float mid-air the next second.
She then made a small motion as if she was just running on the ground, and the two of them started flying in the sky.
"Amazing." Liam patted her glossy white soft fluffy fur.
When compared to riding the metallic feathered wind ripper, riding this little fox was like lying down on a luxurious bed.
"He He. If Mei Mei sees you now, she is never going to let you go."
Liam was also very tired after struggling with the massive voidling, so this was simply too perfect. "Alright. Head north and wake me up in some time."
He yawned and closed his eyes to take a break.
The fox as well happily nodded. She was ecstatic to accept this mission and carefully carried Liam on her back as if he was a priceless treasure.
Kyuuuu
…
…
…
Meanwhile…
In the outside world, a huge storm was picking up weight.
All the online forums, the TV channel that was now entirely dedicated to 'Evolution Online,' even in-game guild channels, basically every single place that was a hot spot for gossip about 'Evolution Online' now only talked about a single thing, the newly formed guild 'Crimson Abyss.'
In the beginning, it was just one difficult dungeon achievement. It caught the public's attention, but it was just transient big news, soon to be replaced with something else.
So people did not think too much about it and moved on after a couple of rants about unfair it was. Some even demanded the secret method to take down the boss.
But after that, it was just old news. No one bothered to give the new guild another glance. The gossip just died down when unexpectedly, another achievement came out.
And this time, it was Level 30 Molten Domain dungeon achievement, that too at the nightmarish difficulty mode!
This once again made the forums and news abuzz with gossip about the new 'Crimson Abyss' guild.
Everyone was forced to take note of the new guild and especially the two superstar sisters in the guild who were already very famous.
Along with the two girls, Derek's and Liam's names popped up as well, and along with that the whole scandal about slave contracts.
After that, it did not take too long for things to take a negative turn and spiral in the wrong direction.
It was almost as if someone was pulling the strings from the background. No one was praising or admiring Crimson Abyss any longer. Instead…
"So ruthless! These guys are hoarding all the fire-resistance potions."
"What a cheap guild! They are forcing others to become slaves."
"They found some loophole for the dungeon and are not sharing the information with others."
"Crimson Abyss is the worst. I heard from my friend that they are charging 100 gold coins just to take recruitment interviews for the guild."
"I heard that one of the guild higher-ups harassed a woman and forced her to sign a slave contract in-game."
"This guild is so shady!"
"If you want to prove that you are innocent, come out and show us the secret to the final boss of 'Twilight Forest'"
"It's impossible to kill because the werewolf boss insta kills everyone. These people are using some bug but not sharing it with others!"
"Boycott the guild!"
"Ban the guild!"
"Who is the GM?"
"Kick this guild out!"
And just as the whole world was raging against the guild, the third achievement also came out, shortly followed by the guild establishment notice.
Crimson Abyss became the first S-rank guild in the game for the whole world to see!
Everyone was completely speechless and when the shock finally wore off, it was the haters who became even louder!
They absolutely targeted the new guild and completely smeared its name with all sorts of allegations about cheating and malpractice, even calling on the government and police to take action.
But little did they know that the achievements did not end here.
Just as someone else pointed out that the guild was only performing so well because others were currently focused on the demon invasions and the spatial rifts, the last and final gift that Liam had prepared also came through.
Guild Crimson Abyss was also the first one to conquer a spatial rift!
