The individual championship held the next day was basically a foregone conclusion. I advanced all the way to the semifinals without a hitch. The other three semifinalists were Mood, Mad Blade (warrior), and Wind Chaser (rogue). Haha, what a coincidence, the finals were once again between me and Mood. But this time, Mood forfeited, and I directly obtained the title of “Number One Under Heaven.” Although this made the audience extremely dissatisfied, the gossip behind the scenes was more than enough to satisfy everyone, all about the mysterious mage and so-and-so, and with so-and-so... Truly, rumors spread like wildfire—I服了THEM. Naturally, the mysterious gift was also a focus of attention. At the grand celebration, the NPC beauty announced the mysterious gift—a pet egg.

The tournament ended successfully, and people’s lives returned to normal. However, the newly added pet and adventure features made players excited all over again. There are many secret places hidden on the continent, a paradise for adventurers. As long as you are brave, clever, and a bit lucky, you’ll get unexpected surprises. Still, it’s recommended to act in teams—the greater the fortune, the greater the danger.

Little Henry and the others eagerly watched the egg in my hand, hoping for a surprise and praying nothing disgusting would pop out. After paying the incubation fee, I watched the egg quietly spin in the incubator, thinking to myself, please don’t let it hatch into something like a skeleton snake—that would be so embarrassing. Finally, under everyone’s anticipation, the egg began to hatch. “Crack, crack.” A crack appeared down the middle of the egg, and everyone held their breath... “Haha!” I pounced—inside the egg was actually another egg! What kind of weirdness is this? It was a multicolored egg, just a size smaller than before. Playing tricks on me, huh? I took the egg to ask the NPCs, but they said it wasn’t their responsibility, everything is randomly generated by the system, and then put on a deadpan face. With no other choice, I could only carry it around. But this little guy seemed to have a mind of its own. When I put it on the table, it would bounce and roll on its own, then hop straight into my arms. I had no choice but to complete the pet ownership procedure. I named it Xiaobai (the name of my dog at home)—simple and easy to call—and stuffed it into my inventory bag, done.

To establish a guild, you need 200 reputation points and pay a 1,000 gold coin fee to the royal treasury officer. These are no longer a problem. Everyone pushed me to be the boss, so I named it—Guns N’ Roses Mercenary Group. Leader: Soul Hunter; vice leaders: Grace, Mood; treasurer: Little Henry. Since we have few members now, others won’t hold positions for the time being. We’re the 18th guild to be established—not exactly early. Currently, we’re a D-rank guild.

Guilds are ranked by overall strength into four grades: A, B, C, and D, in descending order.

Everyone agreed there’s no need to recruit members for now, since it’s not yet time to make a big move. We’ll wait until our levels are higher.

The The Five Laurens all already have pets—uniformly level 8 magic sprites. I really don’t know where they got them. Seeing all those cute little sprites, Grace was incredibly envious. That won’t do—Grace should have a pet too, even I have one—even if it’s a useless egg.

We divided up the tasks: Little Henry and the others went to secure our guild’s base and prepare to open a tavern, while the seven beauties went shopping.

I secretly bought some potions and headed alone to the Verdant Forest, deciding to check out the third floor. With my current level and the protection of the Magic Ring (short for the War God’s Compromise), even if I can’t win, I should be able to retreat safely. Mood and her group were lucky and triggered a hidden quest, rescuing the missing little elf princess, and each received a sprite matching their own attribute. As for their equipment, it was all bought—they’re from rich families (seriously, if only I had a dad like that).

The third floor was simply a paradise, with all kinds of high-level phantom beasts everywhere, and few magical beasts. But strangely, none of them attacked me proactively. I tried slowly approaching a strange deer—this cute guy was eating grass. Here, even a deer can’t be taken lightly, and this deer was twice the size of a normal one, with a beautiful coat. Would make a nice robe, haha. I used the detector—whoa, a level 9 holy phantom beast, named the Rainbow Deer God. It noticed me approaching, but instead of panicking, it walked toward me, scaring me into backing away (too bad I can’t climb trees). After a while, nothing happened, so I dared to peek out—dizzy, it was still watching me. But it didn’t seem hostile, so I decided to take a gamble and slowly approached it. Good, no reaction. Up close, it was even more impressive. I gently petted it—nothing happened, so I did it again. The Deer God was very docile under my touch. I sighed—how could I bear to hurt such a cute phantom beast? But how else could I get a pet for Grace? At that moment, the Deer God gently tugged at my sleeve, as if wanting me to follow it. We walked farther and farther, and gradually the scenery changed—the surroundings became desolate, and it got hotter and hotter. Was this the road to hell?

After walking for ages, we finally arrived. The destination was a huge cave. My god, even though I was mentally prepared, I was still stunned by the sight before me. Inside the cave was a huge lava pool, and the overwhelming heat almost melted me—thank goodness I activated my magic shield in time. What I’ll never forget for the rest of my life was the scene in that pool!

A phoenix—one of the legendary phantom beast kings, the supreme ruler of the fire element. That aura of supremacy made all creatures bow at its feet, and the blazing white flames were like the scythe of death itself.