Two days into his travelling across the wide continent, Silent Light could feel mental exhaustion creeping up on him already. The distance itself wasn't much of an issue, since he teleported to Sunpeak, shortening his route by a lot.
But the non-stop state of alertness, and the fighting every other hour, was slowing down the travelling by a lot. Of course, Silent Light wasn't alone, and his escort allowed him to plow through combat efficiently.
They had yet to cross a zone where the monsters' levels equalled or surpassed theirs, and this made it a lot easier for them, as a group. The half-party of six, including Silent Light, was trudging along much faster than Astaroth and Violette had, back when they did this same cross-country trip.
Of course, they were also passing through zones that Astaroth had gone around, since he was lower on the level scale when he was doing it. Silent Light was level fifty, and his party members were all around level forty.
The disparity was so glaring, even though they were part of the same guild. But these were not core members of Paragon.
***
Instead of asking the core members to escort him, wasting their precious time, Phoenix had done something else. She had used the guild interface to make a guild job offer.
It was an option that they had yet to use to its full potential, since the guild had been very young before the update, and had only barely done the siege. But now was the perfect time to use it fully.
The guild job offer worked the same way a quest would, but instead of being given by a native, the guild officers could set them, and the rewards for them, and give them to guild members to accept.
Phoenix had set the reward this time to a full level, a hundred gold pieces, and the possibility of entering the core of Paragon, if Silent Light deemed them worthy. She had set the requirements for a party of five, with experience in dungeon running, as well as a healer-less composition.
Phoenix didn't want a second healer in a party that would contain Silent Light, even if she wasn't sure how rough of a trip this would be.
She needed Silent to stay on top of his healing game, as well as a party that could maximize damage over sustainability, since that would speed up their pace.
A party had met the job requirements in less than ten minutes, since once they posted the quest, it would notify every guild member that met the requirements, which she had set to regular members.
But the team composition that met her outside the tree palace surprised Phoenix. She had half expected a party with one tank, and four well-balanced DPS'.
But what was standing before her was quite an esoteric party.
At the forefront of the party, a large Orc barbarian, with almost no armour on him, was standing proud, tusks protruding two inches out of his lower lip.
Behind him, an Elven druid woman, with closed eyes and a serene expression, almost like she was sleeping. Phoenix could feel the mountain-like pressure of the woman's mana washing off of her, and knew she wasn't as she appeared.
'She has no control over her mana pool, but its sheer size means business.'
She nodded in approval.
Next to the druid, a tall human, in a dragon-looking half-plate, with a long spear strapped to his back, was standing still. The lower part of his face was devoid of emotion, while the upper part was hidden inside a dragon-head helmet.
Standing behind the spearman was a petite girl with wings, and a large book hanging from her belt. Phoenix was unsure what her class was, but she could sense some mana coming from the book, so she assumed the girl was a caster.
Her shyness was cute, although a bit unsettling, given they were going to encounter a lot of monsters on their trip. But Silent was the one that would judge their capabilities, not her, so she brushed the matter aside.
The last member was the one that perplexed Phoenix the most. Standing proudly to the side, with the widest grin she had ever seen, was a Gnome.
The gnome was wearing standard clothes, with a leather apron over them. To his side were two daggers that resembled kitchen knives more than actual weapons.
And on his back, there was what looked to be a large frying pan and a long ladle. Phoenix was unsure if he was a combat class or a crafter class.
She cleared her throat.
"Ahem. Thank you for accepting the job offer so quickly. The urgency required from this task is of the utmost importance, so I will not go too much into detail.
"The officer, Silent Light, a priest class, needs to reach Ash Elf territory as fast as possible, to deal with an urgent matter, and you will escort him. He will tell you more about the details of the mission on the road.
"But I have one question before you leave for this mission. This trip needs to be done with speed as its priority. Can you effectively take care of combat without too much supervision in a small group?"
The Orc player grinned widely, which looked slightly menacing, given his two large tusks.
"It will not be an issue, Ma'am. Our party has been through many dungeons and dangerous zones before, and we have a well-oiled combat routine."
Phoenix looked at him before scanning the entire party again with her gaze.
"Then can I know why you have a crafter with you?" she asked, pointing to the Gnome.
Turning to look at who she pointed to, the Orc looked at her again, bellowing in a laugh.
"Gragagaga! You mean Food Goblin? He is our most important party member. And do not let his gear fool you, Ma'am. Food Goblin is a combat class. He got a special class called War Cook a while back, and we have been grateful ever since."
Although Phoenix wasn't convinced, she wasn't sure they had the time to argue his capabilities or test his strength. So she would have to roll with it.
In any case, they did not yet have the manpower to be picky about whom to send, unless she used other officers as escort. Nodding in defeat, she approved the party for the guild job and sealed the deal.
She sent them on their way shortly after, after bidding Silent goodbye and safe travels.
'I hope they live up to their claims. Astaroth seemed to need Silent Light sooner than later.'
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