A Secret Coalition and a Fiery Tradition

Meanwhile, in the gloomy basement of a fortress on Sky Island, a historic meeting was taking place.

A meeting of Guild Masters!

In fact, it wasn't unusual for a few Guild Masters to gather for a meeting.

"Let's fix the dungeon entry fees for this month..."

"Anyone who drops their prices below the agreed limit shouldn't be let off easy!"

"Exactly! Those cheap bastards who break the agreement just to make a quick buck...!"

Guilds gather when they need each other and split when they don't—that was the nature of guild relations. But this meeting was different.

First of all, the sheer scale of it was staggering. It seemed as though almost every prominent large and mid-sized Guild Master in Pan-On had shown up. Furthermore, every single participant had their face concealed behind a mask.

"Zayson. I can't believe so many people showed up..."

"Shh. Shut up. Don't use my name."

"Ah, sorry."

None of the attendees wanted to reveal their identities. The reason was simple: the meeting was just that dangerous.

In short, the single largest faction, the second largest faction, and the top-ranked players of Pan-On had all been excluded.

Why?

"We must keep these people in check on Sky Island, no matter what!"

"Hear, hear!"

"Agreed!"

Thunderous applause erupted. The gathered Guild Masters nodded in unison, completely in agreement.

Right now, those bastards at the top are hogging everything in Pan-On!

While everyone else was barely managing to hold onto a single town or fortress, those select few were claiming entire kingdoms for themselves. Naturally, the attention, profits, and investments they received were on a completely different level.

"We were on the verge of securing a massive investment last time! But do you know what the investors said? They canceled, saying, 'If we're going to invest, wouldn't it be better to just give it to Kim Tae-hyun?'"

"Oh dear..."

"How awful...!"

"It's bad enough that Kim Tae-hyun dominates the league! Why does he have to succeed in everything else too?!"

"Well, that's not exactly Kim Tae-hyun's fault..."

"Shh."

"The Guild Alliance bastards are even worse! At least Kim Tae-hyun doesn't try to stick his fingers in every pie. The Guild Alliance, on the other hand, got a little breathing room and immediately went back to their old habits! They're power-tripping everywhere!"

The Guild Masters of the large guilds were absolutely furious. It ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠is a universal truth that those who love to power-trip get twice as angry when they are the ones being pushed around. The Guild Alliance, which held the Oston Kingdom, was the ultimate bully in the region.

"Sky Island is our golden opportunity! Look at this data. With all the hype building up, players are flocking here in droves. At this rate, Sky Island could become a second Central Continent!"

"Ooh... Ohhh...!"

"But why is the player count in the Atali Kingdom still the same?"

"Their loyalty is on another level over there."

"Damn it. That bastard Kim Tae-hyun! Why does he barely collect any taxes? He's just playing the good guy all by himself! Because of him, we're the ones getting all the flak!"

The Guild Masters vented their frustration. More than half of the people gathered here had been highly successful in Pan-On 1. Yet, in Pan-On 2, they were struggling to climb the ranks. Guild competition was like a race—once you fell behind, closing the gap was incredibly difficult.

That was why they had gathered.

"Let's form an alliance of our own until we catch up to those bastards at the top!"

"If those guys show up on Sky Island, we must band together and drive them out! Got it?"

"Anyone who breaks this promise is dead meat!"

"Yeah! Exactly!"

Only then did the Vice Guild Master, who had tagged along, realize why everyone was wearing masks. If a recording of this meeting ever leaked, they would immediately become target number one for Kim Tae-hyun and the Guild Alliance!

These guys are incredibly petty...!

But to be the leader of a large guild, one had to possess a certain level of shamelessness. They needed a face thick enough to power-trip over others, yet cry foul with absolute conviction when the tables were turned.

Neither the Guild Alliance nor the Midas Guild had any idea that such a coalition was being formed. While the large guilds had banded together occasionally ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to deal with them, they had never united this cohesively before.

"Whoa."

The party gasped in admiration at the sight of the sky, which was completely different from the Central Continent.

They had spent so much time wandering through the Demon Realm with its swirling dark energy, the frozen islands battered by blizzards, and the volcanic regions bubbling with lava... Arriving at this beautiful Sky Island, with its wide-open skies and peaceful green horizon, felt like a breath of fresh air for their souls.

"It's huge. It's more like a continent than an island."

"That's why so many players are coming. Let's find a town, get settled, and then make our move."

Finding a town and getting familiar with it was the golden rule in any new region. After all, they needed a place to buy and sell items and get help from NPCs.

"But haven't we been fighting in places without any towns this whole time?"

"That's why we suffered like dogs."

Recalling the brutal battles they had endured, the party set off.

"Oh! The successor to the Empire's crown has arrived!"

"It is an honor!"

The NPCs of Sky Island approached Tae-hyun with bright, welcoming faces. Having branched off from the Ancient Empire, they naturally held an incredibly high affinity for players like Tae-hyun.

He had high Reputation, high Infamy, and titles related to the Ancient Empire...

Curious, Tae-hyun asked, "Come to think of it, are there no nobles or descendants of the Ancient Empire on Sky Island?"

While other players were busy grinding quests and doing menial chores just to get a word out of them, the NPCs simply blurted out the hidden secrets of Sky Island!

"We only tell this to heroes like you... A very long time ago, when contact with the empire below was cut off, there was a governor who ruled over us."

"Oh. Is there a descendant of that governor?"

Since an imperial governor was essentially equivalent to a king, it wouldn't be surprising if their descendants were still ruling somewhere on Sky Island.

Wait, but I heard players are just planting flags wherever they want.

Indeed, players were happily planting flags and shouting, "Wow! I'm a lord!" because they could claim any unoccupied territory.

"No. That governor was so arrogant and greedy that the people of Sky Island rose up and burned him to death."

"......"

[......]

Tae-hyun and Carbanog were left utterly speechless. What a fiery bunch of residents...!

The Sky Island ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠resident spoke with a face full of pride.

"Since then, we have gotten along perfectly fine as loyal citizens of the Empire, even without a governor. Haha."

"Uh... right now, adventurers are claiming they're the lords of this place. Does that not bother you?"

"Well, if they're bad at ruling, we can just rise up and burn them too."

"......"

"......"

What kind of territory tradition is this brutal? If they have a complaint, they should talk it out, not just burn their lord alive...!

Hmm. Should I warn the other players? Tae-hyun pondered.

Lords on the Central Continent had it relatively easy when it came to managing their territories. Even if discontent rose, rebellions were rare. And even if they did happen, they were small-scale and easily suppressed with enough troops.

The Guild Alliance and the Oston Kingdom were still running perfectly fine despite taxing their people to the bone...

But the NPCs here on Sky Island would immediately go for the lord's throat and burn them at the stake! If players raised taxes without knowing this, they might literally go up in flames.

The guild that occupied the town fell into a deep dilemma. During the meeting, they had confidently declared, "Yeah! We'll drive out the Guild Alliance, Midas, Kim Tae-hyun, and whoever else!" But there was one major problem.

Who was going to step up first?

The Guild Master clutched the back of his neck at his guild members' reactions. These disloyal bastards...!

If Kim Tae-hyun said, "Hey, do you guys want to leave your guild and join Power Warrior?" at least half of them would probably quit on the spot.

"We cannot sell anything to you in this town. Oh dear... the lord ordered us to... I'm so sorry. That bastard of a lord... I mean, our lord..."

Tae-hyun didn't know it, but on the guild's management screen, a notification was flashing.

Because they were mistreating a hero, the town's residents were naturally furious.

"I mean, I wasn't really planning on buying anything anyway," Tae-hyun muttered.

Although they had stopped by to get familiar with the town, the party didn't actually need to restock. They had Towang-i, the cheat-like inventory bag.

Lee Da-bi had packed Towang-i's stomach with all kinds of potions, scrolls, and miscellaneous items...

Thanks to that, they could continue their hardcore hunting without ever worrying about weight limits.

In fact, Cain and Choi Sang-yun had been whispering to each other, "Hey, if Kim Tae-hyun keeps forcing us to hunt, should we secretly throw Towang-i away?"

Since they weren't restricted by weight, it didn't matter if the town refused to buy or sell items to them.

"There's nothing special in terms of items, right?"

"There are a lot of unique things since it's Sky Island, but performance-wise, we don't really need them," Lee Da-bi assessed after a quick glance.

Tae-hyun nodded.

"Looks like the guild that occupied this place is trying to run a business. I guess we need ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to buy some kind of pass to use the facilities."

"It's not a town worth going through all that trouble for. Shall we head straight to the Sky Castle?"

"Yeah. My thoughts exactly."

Because of this, Tae-hyun decided not to give them any advice. Since they were being greedy, whatever happened to them later would just be their own karma!