Chapter 465: Guild Gathering

I had honestly thought that Keldenar's idea of holding the ceremony so soon was doomed to fail, as the elven gala had taken considerable time to arrange. Yet either the adventurers just happened to have nothing going on, or they were looking for a good opportunity to celebrate something, since everything seemed to be arranged flawlessly.

Or maybe Luther is just used to dealing with Keldenar's antics?

If that was the case, I was a bit jealous and wondered if I could find someone to fit that role for me. The possibility that I might already have had someone doing all that didn't even cross my mind.

I also realized I had taken a big risk by teleporting straight out and back into the guild leader's office, since I had no idea what protections the city had against teleportation. Thankfully nothing bad happened, which might be because the ancient teleportation pad was in the basement and the building was excluded, or maybe my abilities were too much for whatever defenses they had.

There's a good chance that whoever made defenses never had to deal with both [Dimensional Praxis] and [Spatial Erosion]. Still, even though I made it through, I wonder if anyone was notified? Then again, I'm not exactly hiding my Riftmancer class at the moment.

Assuming my old friends could make it, I was looking forward to seeing their reactions when they saw it. Heck, it had been so long since I saw them that they had completely missed my Elementalist class, though they might have heard about it through the guild.

Dewi has to be here at least because of the Mages Guild. I wonder how he'll react to frostfire, since he loves all things burning?

Since Luther was busy making the last-minute arrangements, Keldenar ended up making reservations for us at one of the guild's inns. Of course it was the most luxurious, and the owner seemed ecstatic to have two diamond rankers gracing his establishment. We were treated like royalty, which showed how much the average person respected the guild. It was no wonder even royals couldn't stand up to them, since they'd effectively won the hearts of the people.

Vee was offered a room of her own, but she asked to stay with me instead. I had no issue since I could literally sleep inside a tree if I wanted, so I welcomed her to share my luxury suite. Keldenar left us, but not before marking my quest complete and depositing the generous reward into both my and Vee's accounts. I still had no idea how much money I had, but Vee was surprisingly ecstatic about finally having some of her own.

Since we had some downtime, I opened my [Spell Codex] again and requested my daily easy helper task, since I planned to stick with the easy ones until it stopped giving me a guaranteed level up. When I activated it, I immediately got my next request, and I wondered if Mother was intentionally teasing me.

<I've run out of ideas for my "Create: Ice Weapon" series of spells and am looking for new additions. Please find attached the general spell schematic that I've been using and try to come up with something new and interesting!>

You!

I felt like I had suddenly found a long-forgotten nemesis and felt my slime boiling. I knew I wasn't the best when it came to names, but this guy was a hundred times worse! I looked at abandoning the request, but doing so would result in a penalty where I'd be locked out for five times the usual duration, so I was stuck!

I grumbled as I looked over the attached spell schematic, but that stopped when I looked closer. Despite his horrible naming sense, this was a beautiful spell construct and well balanced, especially when I looked over the original ice weapons I had created. Even better, thanks to [Elemental Praxis], I could now instantly take this and turn it into any other element.

[Spell Codex] is more rewarding than I thought!

I swallowed my pride and gratefully accepted this prize, which was clearly the original creator's magnum opus. The spell structure was so stable and refined that I even suspected it might handle my non-elemental affinities too.

Could I make something like [Riftblade]? That sounds really cool! Anyway, let's finish this request quickly.

I tried to submit [Frostclaw] as my answer and eagerly waited for confirmation, only to get rejected. I was genuinely dumbfounded; had this guy rejected it because I had already named it?

So petty!

Yet when I reread the request, I fortunately realized my mistake, as the request wanted me to use his framework for the design. So I quickly took apart my original spell and this time fed it into his perfected framework, finalizing an upgraded version of [Frostclaw] that, honestly, made me feel quite proud. I submitted it again, and to my relief, it was accepted.

<Request completed.>

<Class Experience threshold reached. Spellseeker is now LV 7.>

<12 Profession Points are now available.>

Happy with the progress, I made sure to share the upgraded blueprint with my personas, since I figured they might all be able to find some use for it. I would've liked to start working on making [Riftblade] a reality, but since it was already late, I decided to shelve the idea for later. Not to mention the risk of trying to create a potentially dangerous spell right in my bedroom might upset the innkeeper and the guild, and who knew who else.

So I called it a night and went to bed relatively early for a change. With my current condition, sleep was something I could pretty much abandon for days on end, but it felt like a luxury I didn't want to give up anytime soon, if ever. Vee and I wished each other goodnight, and I wondered what sort of festivities were arranged for tomorrow.

***

I was flabbergasted as I stared at what used to be the almost ornamental guild building. It was no longer a powerful testament to its strength; instead, it was brightly colored like some kind of clown, with ribbons and streamers coating it. Not only that, but the street around it had received a similar makeover, making it look like a prismatic slime had exploded and coated everything in a kaleidoscope of colors.

How the heck did they pull all of this off in less than a day?

Unlike me, Vee looked quite happy with the results, and her accomplice, Keldenar, seemed pleased as punch too. On Luther's advice, all three of us stayed sort of incognito to keep the other adventurers surprised until the big announcement. Keldenar wore a hooded cloak that suppressed his class and Emblems and obscured his name to do this, while I simply used [Identity Fabrication].

Of course I didn't want to show off my full capabilities, as that might have brought out doppelganger accusations, so I lowered it to mimic Keldenar's cloak while keeping our real-fake identities below it, like a mask. I even made two fake cloaks out of slime for Vee and me to complete the illusion, which could easily be obscured with some fake enchantments.

We mingled with the crowd as more and more people gathered. On the inside, things were even crazier, with the tavern going into overdrive to serve more food and drinks than anyone could realistically need. The people, adventurers and civilians, were joyfully celebrating while all eagerly awaiting what the big announcement would be. They clearly hadn't received the specifics, but the rumor mill was going wild, especially since Keldenar hadn't exactly been subtle in his arrival the day before.

A notice had been sent out the day before for as many adventurers to return as possible, and people were arriving and joining the festivities as soon as they entered. It was a marvelous sight, and the mood was at an all-time high. We continued to just roam the crowd, occasionally partaking in the delights ourselves while waiting for Luther to eventually make the signal.

At around midday, Luther finally made his appearance and called everyone to a grand area that was clearly made for such occasions. The area looked almost like an arena, and Keldenar explained that this was actually made to accommodate duels and spars between the upper echelon of gold-rankers. When I asked if a similar facility existed for diamonds, Keldenar shook his head.

"In our case, we often need to find an uninhabited stretch of land and try to keep the collateral damage to a minimum. There are stories in the guild of the Dragon Knight dueling on islands and entirely removing them from the map after the end," Keldenar explained.

Hmm… I wonder if I could do something with my slime dungeon? Or more specifically, by messing with rifts. If they dueled or sparred in the void, there would be little to no worry about collateral damage.

I mentally added that to my checklist while waiting to see what would happen. Luther took the stage and began the usual opening pleasantries, welcoming everyone who could make it and briefly mentioning the guild's history and people. He then went on to talk about the recent accomplishments and also some of the current happenings in the world.

Suspicious activity from the Outeatus Kingdom was mentioned, as well as the tragedy that happened in Dhoggurum. The kobold uprising was also discussed, but instead of linking it to the rumored lesser dragon, it was attributed to the appearance of a genuine dragon.

Shocks and gasps erupted from the listeners, but Luther calmed them by saying it hadn't attacked any human lands. People wondered whether a new dragonblood had been born, or something else, but the guild said they were looking into it.

"On that point, I'm happy to announce that we have a powerful new addition to our ranks. It's been some time, but we finally have elevated one of our own to diamond-rank!"

The entire building erupted into hoots and cheers, with some stomping the ground or bashing their mugs against the table. Diamond rank was clearly more important to the hearts of the people than I realized, which made me feel a tiny bit guilty about how easily I had accomplished it.

"Make sure you make a big appearance. We want you to show off," Keldenar quickly whispered.

Oh shit! Some warning would have been nice!

My mind went into overdrive as I tried to think of the most dramatic appearance possible. Obviously, stepping out of my rift would have been the best, but I didn't have the time to leave and then exit. A simple teleport was pretty much all I could do at this point, unless I faked it.

"Fresh from conquering three labyrinths, please welcome our newest diamond ranker—Syl!"

I coordinated with Nu and had an aperture crack open next to, but safely away from, Luther, and used my spell version of [Blink] to appear from "within" the rift. If it weren't my rift, this might have been impossible, but the coordinates of this space were effectively my personal plaything, and I could make some extraordinary magic happen.

At the same time, I dropped the mask created by [Identity Fabrication] and let the cloak's hood fall dramatically. My appearance drew plenty of shocked gasps and even panicked screams, since nobody had suspected the air would fragment and shatter into a hole.

I smiled as best I could and waved, while internally sighing with relief that I'd managed to pull off this coordinated stunt without a hitch. As I stepped onto the stage, I closed the rift behind me and felt hundreds of eyes settle on me.

<Proficiency gained. [Identity Fabrication LV 12] improved to [Identity Fabrication LV 13].>

Well damn, that's one way to power-level my skill.

Usually, after introducing someone, the audience would cheer, but maybe I'd been too dramatic, as it was replaced by stunned silence. Even Luther seemed to be second-guessing this entrance idea, but that was when people's realization finally snapped into place.

"An elf adventurer?"

"A dimension mage!"

And all sorts of other comments practically erupted from the audience. It was clearly a big question on everyone's mind, but with what must have been a magic item, Luther temporarily silenced the audience.

"You lot, is that any way to welcome our newest diamond-rank? If I were Syl here, I'd be heading home to the forest and leaving!" Luther ranted.

To my surprise, his words resonated with the audience, and when the momentary silence was lifted, they began to hoot and cheer like they were supposed to. Elf or not, this was a new diamond rank, officially recognized by the guild, and something they should be celebrating!

"And don't forget me!" Keldenar shouted, suddenly also appearing on the stage and practically ripping off his cloak.

Thanks to my keen awareness of my surroundings, I saw that a golem had been hidden on the stage and he had swapped places with it. It wasn't as over-the-top as what I'd done, but being able to teleport effectively was still something to envy.

Another round of cheers and claps erupted, while Keldenar waved both hands over his head like he was a celebrity. I caught that momentary pained look in Luther's eyes, which vanished almost as soon as it came, and I was overcome by a stray thought.

I don't do that to any of my companions, right?