Fantasy Realm — Naruto: Blood-Mist

Samantha pauses for a moment and gently watches the players with a playful smile before her expression hardens again.

"This is about your lives. Don't gamble or waste away your only chance. Make the smart decision and invest in good Blue and Purple equipment that complements your strongest skills. If we're talking about skills, you want to avoid being a jack of all trades. Every skill should synergize with the others. Make sure you focus on cheap and synergistic skills. If you pick too many rare ones, the cost of ranking them up will become too much to handle. Gold-ranked skills are the biggest trap—I have to warn you, they can and will ruin you. You can sell them for a fortune, but if you use one yourself, you'll go broke immediately. A skill demanding a Soul Crystal will just require a small one at first, but once it reaches level 5, it'll cost a Medium Soul Crystal. That's a value of 100,000 FC. Can you afford to upgrade those skills? Settle for Green and Blue ones and later consider forgetting them—for just 5,000 FC—and replacing them with slightly rarer ones, that is the proper way to progress."

Are they serious? They're grooming mediocre losers. This way of approaching the Realm will kill you. You might survive a few missions, but I've heard barely anyone makes it to the end. Do people seriously think they can make it with that kind of no-risk, safe approach? This is all bullshit. Are people really falling for this? This whole event is a sham!

Finally, the other two guild leaders step forward, and Samir begins to speak: "Always rely on friends. Focus on one specific role and let your teammates complement you! Also—enjoy your time in the Realm. Get a lover, get two, or three! This is a game. Your life may be at risk, but you can't be too serious. Live a little. This is a huge opportunity! Seek out your dreams and fulfill them!"

I guess that makes sense for group players… Can you always join group missions, though? As long as you have enough mission items… probably. The rest of his advice is completely worthless, I think this guy pretends to be an idiot. Is that all there is to him? Samir and Tierra did not talk to me at all… I think they might have plans for me. Interesting.

Tierra speaks next. "This is not a game where you can invest all your stat points into one specific stat and just reload or reinvest your points if it doesn't work out. Do that and you will die very soon. It's important to focus on a specific stat, but don't forget—your PHY stat can and will save your life. You can consider it your lifeline. It's without a doubt your most important stat. Consider learning the Basic Skill Basic Endurance, and invest at least 20% of your total stat points into PHY, whatever your role or approach might be."

I might actually agree with this one for a change. I don't see a single build—aside from the one Rishi is forced to adopt—where you wouldn't need enough PHY. You only have one life, after all. But is there really anyone stupid enough to not realize this basic fact?

"This is all worthless," Alex says, standing up. To his surprise, Rishi, Tereza, and Menchi don't even need half a second before they follow suit.

The hall quiets for a moment, and everyone turns to stare at the group as they walk out, before the event has concluded.

As they finally exit, Tereza laughs. "This was so silly. They're grooming a bunch of losers."

"Most of what they said was either obvious to even the biggest moron, or outright wrong. Players who made it this far can't be this stupid. These guilds refuse to share their knowledge with non-guild members. This is just taunting us. They want players to join their guilds to learn the truth. With the approach they mentioned, you might survive a little while—but only prolong the inevitable. I can't help but feel this so-called 'newbie friendly' faction is actually the biggest threat to the life of the players," Rishi analyzes.

Princess Jewel feels bored, but she enjoyed this event! After all, she got to hear her beloved Soulmate finally confess his love—and point out his favorite type of woman, which is, of course, his beloved Princess Jewel. ❤️

Jewel…

Soulmate ❤️

Alex sighs, "At least I got a reputation now, but I honestly couldn't give a fuck. These people are all losers. I think we're actually idiots for even showing up. Smart people wouldn't waste time at a damn worthless event like this."

"Maybe it wasn't as worthless as you think," a voice calls out from behind him.

An Asian man steps forward. He's slightly shorter than Alex, extremely skinny, with long, wild hair covering half of his face.

"Oh? How do you figure that?" Alex responds, stepping forward to meet him.

"Heh. Why don't you join my guild? My big sister would love to have you. You're her type."

"Sorry, I'm taken," Alex says, pointing at his choker.

"How about this—follow me, and I'll promise to keep quiet about your broken mess of a choker that you use to deceive others," the man replies with a grin. "The same goes for your two Gold-quality Rank 2 items."

Fuck… How does he know that?

"Interesting innate skill," Rishi says, stepping beside the man before smiling. "Go on. Lead the way. Maybe this day won't be a total waste after all."

Looking slightly concerned, Alex follows. Tereza and Jewel both seem uneasy, while Menchi and Rishi look intrigued—as if they can't wait to see what's coming next.

Princess Jewel does not want her Soulmate to meet that Peasant's sister!

She wants me in her guild, Jewel. Not for herself… at least I hope so. I think I have enough of those women in my life already, so don't jinx it.

The group makes their way downstairs to Floor 0—the player lounge. They head toward the largest section, which contains the different guild headquarters. Alex is already somewhat familiar with the area, thanks to their previous visit to the Coven's guild house.

They walk to a walled-off section near the edges of the guild-housing area, a huge fence appears in their vision, mapping out a large territory with a medium-sized manor in the center.

"Really? That's… a rather large guildhouse, color me surprised," Alex comments, clearly surprised by the turn of events.

"We might even qualify to be one of the top 20 guilds, but we don't play the games of others, which is why we will never officially earn a spot like that. You'll quickly see this is no big deal. This is a minor thing, which you can either reject like idiots or accept and just keep doing what you've been doing—with a few extra benefits," the man explains, standing in front of the entrance before turning to face the group.

"Before we enter, I am Li Ziyou, and just to be clear, I am not inviting you to our guild. I'm merely pointing you toward our test," the confident man says, smiling in a mysterious way.

"What is this bullshit now, huh?! Test?" Alex asks.

"Yeah, you're full of shit. Didn't you invite Alex to join your guild?" Tereza adds.

"Try to pass through this special gate. Blue means you qualify as a visitor but may not enter the guildhouse yet. As long as you've got a nice, full Purple surrounding you, we formally invite you to join. If you see a golden color, we'll give you special treatment," Li Ziyou explains. Then, with a vicious grin, he adds, "Anything Green or worse, and you might get stunned and violently thrown out."

"Are we talking about item quality here? Are you serious?" Alex asks, but Li Ziyou immediately shakes his head, staring into Alex's eyes.

"This tests something special—your average mission rank. Acquiring this door was quite difficult, but it's a fairly reliable test that saves us a lot of time."

"You can always sacrifice mission rank for gain. Is this really such a reliable method of testing?" Rishi questions, not yet convinced.

"There is no perfect test, but our experience shows this is as close and accurate as it gets. We don't want trash players who can't even maintain an average of A rank. That's where we drew the line. We want a full Purple, or we're not invested in getting to know you," Li Ziyou explains.

Tereza walks across the gate's border and the gate lights up in a deep, intense Purple.

"Average mission rank of A+. Easy pass. This alone is enough to impress our leadership," Li Ziyou comments before entering himself, the lights shifting to a golden hue.

"What is this? S-, S?" Alex asks, curious.

"Interested, are you? The color stays the same whether your average is S-, S, or S+," he responds.

Rishi and Alex both enter in quick succession, the door lighting up in the same golden color, causing Li Ziyou to nod in approval.

"Well, please follow me," he says, leading them toward the guildhouse.

The guildhouse, looks like a Chinese mansion, possessing a certain charm, making Alex feel like he entered a different world. To his surprise, however, the mansion is completely empty. Despite walking up the stairs and passing numerous rooms, Alex doesn't see anyone else.

Eventually, they enter a room. Inside, Alex spots a large office with a huge window granting a perfect view of the gate. A woman sits in a large, comfortable-looking wooden chair with numerous pillows, looking out the window—only her long, shiny, black hair and a few jade hair ornaments are visible.

I see, so she can spot who enters… this is smart. This test seems useful enough!

"One A+ ranker and two S rankers. It's hard to recruit people like you nowadays," a cold, silent voice echoes through the room.

The chair slowly turns around, revealing a tall and gorgeous woman. Her face looks almost like it was drawn—unnaturally beautiful, clean, and mysterious.

"Li Qingfeng. Nice to make your acquaintance," she says, slightly smiling at Alex—who, despite his efforts, can't help but blush just a little, his eyes avoiding hers.

Immediately, Alex feels the glares of Tereza and Jewel drilling into his head, while Menchi giggles, clearly amused.

Soulmate!!

"Alex, that is rude!" Tereza nags.

"Shut up!" Alex mutters, looking slightly embarrassed.

It's not my fault she's that beautiful! And Rishi is either gay or has some seriously fucked-up fetishes or interests. I'm the normal guy here! I'm not especially interested in Asian women, but this woman looks almost godly. Who wouldn't blush a little if a goddess like her smiled at them?

"Hehe, aren't you a sweet man, I'll take that as a compliment. You're very honest, aren't you? Without a doubt, you have questions. I usually send my little brother to these idiot gatherings in the hope of recruiting at least a few competent people. I think this might be a record. You did a good job, Ziyou," she says, nodding at her brother.

"Thank you. I'll excuse myself then—I'll talk to you later in the chat," he says before promptly leaving.

Chat?

"Now, to make it short—I'd like to offer you a spot in my guild!" she says in a confident tone.

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