Eden took a sip of her tea before saying what was on her mind pending. "I think this place is designed to turn it into something else and there are many unknown factors. For example, the role our guides play and what happens during a loss. Because I was spared, I fell asleep as normal to recover my stamina and didn't experience what this server calls death. We should treat our guides and people in our cities with dignity because we don't know much, just that they play a role. Also, we need more of us in boss raids to get more quality rewards." Expat then said, "why treat the support like people, they are just generated things, replaceable and has no feeling. This is a game, no need to feel sorry for them." Corruption frowned, "Eden has her reasons, I suggest you hear her out and take her thoughts in consideration." Expat got up from his chair, "this conversation is unnecessary. If we are not making plans on how to get stronger, then I will excuse myself." They followed Expat with their eyes as he left. "I fucken want to punch that guy in his stupid face," said Onibat. "I already slapped him," said Corruption. Onibat's face dropped as he said," You slapped Expat?" "I sure did, all that talk about being by Eden's side to support her during the pre-war meeting, just to see Eden in her state upon return. I just lost it when I saw him. Sorry Eden." answered Corruption. Eden took a deep breath before saying, "I'll talk to Expat about this interaction privately. I can't ask you guys to ignore his behavior or words, but just to let me deal with him. If he doesn't make a change, then I'll give him the boot. Is that a fair compromise?" "Eden, I know you are trying to be considerate of him, but you don't need to. We just accepted him because you vouched for him. Now it's up to him to make that effort," said Maur. "I get it, let's move past this and get back to developing a plan to improve our power.
In FOX alliance castle, CallanRok and his confidants were sitting at the table looking at their reports as well. They got to the second day and also noticed the spike of power change. He was livid with how everyone fell into their trap. The scouts that got away were a sure way for their enemy to distribute their power. What he was more upset about was that they all perished at the hand of one individual. Child's play is what CallanRok thought. We were merely children to them and worse, their training tool for their weak. CallanRok was looking at the report where Reaper was the user name of who defeated everyone. He heard from people he talked to in FTG and who were part of the coalition that Jericho fought Reaper and defeated him. Though it wasn't a defeat in CallanRok's eyes because there was no kill, it was a defeat on the report because he retreated. Any one who encountered the Reaper would have the same outcome if he chose to leave. Jericho must've shown his strength and he is probably the legend ready to be born that was mentioned to him. No one else was reported to survive an encounter with him. Everyone outside his Alliance who encountered the reaper was still dead or has respawned. No one at the table spoke of the feeling of dying, but they all experienced it. It was like falling constantly and watching the timer go by really slowly. It felt like an eternity in the darkness and memories replaying, things you have forgotten, things you wish you could forget and things that you planned for but never experienced. It was as if you were being tortured with all those thoughts. When you returned you were glad to be alive, but afraid to die and eager to survive. Weak and powerless was the last thing he wanted to feel in this war. His urge for ultimate power grew.
"Are we going to talk about the elephant in the room or are we just going to process it in silence?" ask Elise, a blond lady with bright blue eyes that wore red lipstick and pearl earrings. "What is there to talk about, we all have regrets and were reminded of that, end of story. Just move on and get stronger," replied CallanRok. Everyone started into space but nodded slowly in agreement, except Elise who then asked "Don't you think it's worth exploring since you really don't die when killed on the battlefield. We just return weaker and have to build up again, but not from scratch." Then Larry, a younger male with dark brown eyes, black hair, muscular, defined chin and dark lashes that made him look like he was wearing mascara, cleared his throat to say, "Though we want to utilize everything to our benefit, I think most of us came back different from that experience and just want to process it later." Elise looked around before saying, "The experience is different from getting killed outside the server war. Otherwise you wouldn't have a recollection of dying or a report. Think about that while you process your feelings." Elise got up and left. Another female with brown short hair, small body and green eyes got up to run after her after quickly excusing herself from the meeting. CallanRok let out a breath before saying, "She's right, the penalty of losing is tortured memories, that's all I can say. Let's get back to discussing these reports. Andy, it looks like you were able to hold a bit longer than the rest, what did you do differently?" Andy was a hefty man with some muscle on his arms, a beer belly, plump cheeks, full beard and thick dark brown hair. His hair was short but long enough to see his hair waves. Andy sat up straight to answer CallanRok, "I had a lot of disposable subjects at level 1. They served as a meatshield while my stronger ones did the killing, but only during a defensive tactic." CallanRok nodded and smiled in approval.
Back in FTG alliance castle, the team was sitting at the dining table eating and talking about their loss while exchanging stories of their experience. Some share reports and chuckled as how they were defeated, but had to pay the price of torture. Jericho listened to the conversations near him asking himself if he was also close to experiencing the same thing but was spared. No one saw what he saw during the battlefield. They all believed what they saw from afar, he couldn't tell them anything different. Then Jiman raised his glass, "Cheers to the immortal Jericho! He didn't get his ass kicked like us and even took on some big ass dude called Reaper. I heard that fucker killed everyone in FOX alliance that participated in the war." Jiman laughed and the rest joined him except Jericho who was shocked at the news. He had been pondering on his fight at the training grounds while ignoring everyone until now. "Wait, did you see a report or is that a rumor?" asked Jericho. Jiman still smiling he pulled up his history on his chat and showed a conversation he was having with someone from FOX. They were sharing their experience and then the words, "everyone died at the hand of Reaper, I mean everyone!" Jericho gulped a little and then he chuckled while saying, "I guess I'm a beast that even the Reaper turned tail ha ha ha." "That's what we're talking about!" replied Jiman excitingly as he clinked his beer with Jericho's before they both drank. However, even though Jericho acted happy, he still had his doubts. "By the way, we should probably work on developing a plan for the next server war in 14 days," said DBoots, who was sitting a few seats away. "Seriously, aside from getting our ass kicked, we should do that," responded Jiman. "What happened to Eden and Expat," asked DBoots as he took a bite of the stake in front of him. "Why bro? Did you want to spy on their love making? You know Expat is chasing that ass already, literally," replied Jiman as he laughed at his own comment. "I'm just asking because we usually swap reports, but she's been silent," said DBoots as he rested his arms on the table. "You haven't heard from her? Do you think she encountered the Reaper and is dead?" Jericho asked with interest in his tone. Jiman gave Jericho a look before saying, "You too bro? She went off with Expat to the enemy territory. I haven't seen her since." Both DBoots and Jericho looked at Jiman who kept eating his food unbothered. "Don't look at me like that, I was leaving the throne, and had some funky tacos the night before. But I saw them use a token before I realized you punks left me behind," said Jiman. "Awww you feel left out? I'll wait for you next time, cupcake, can't leave me boo behind," teased DBoots as he leaned in for a smooch. "I'll fucken kill you," Jiman replied quickly. Then they all began to laugh. "I guess I'll check in on her after dinner, I did invite her to come with us, but we all sorta just went to do our usual," said Jericho as he took another drink.
Later that evening, Eden and the team agreed to increase power evenly on certain levels while keeping the top tier high in numbers. She called her generals over to her study and issued new orders on what needed to be done. Arthur, who mainly assisted Eden in battle asked, "Commander in Chief, have you recovered fully from your assault?" Eden nodded and said, "I will be back to full strength after I execute my orders and we get back to increasing my power through the training schedule I set up." Eden looked up at Arthur's face and noticed his face showed of concern, but not just his, all of her generals. She felt as if she noticed them for the first time. Eden asked herself, am I seeing things or are my Generals exhibiting emotion? Then she tried to recall Odin's words again. A sudden flash of a detail she didn't notice until now. Odin used the word "realm" to describe the server, but then switched back to server throughout the conversation. Could this be a different realm, not server? Then she remembered Erza calling this a realm at first too, but then everything was switched to server. At what point did they switch to seeing it as a server like a computer she asked herself. Her head began to feel hot from all her sudden thoughts, like something was preventing her from recalling all those details. She placed her hands on head to apply pressure to it and took in a few breaths. Then she began to mumble a prayer, "Heavenly father, I know you are with me and you always keep me in your mind. Nothing happens to me if you don't allow it to. Please father, help me with this pain that I cannot control. I know anything is possible with you. I ask for this simple thing and thank you for all your love and care, in Jesus mighty name, Amen." She took a deep breath and a sense of calm fell all over her body. She had a sudden revelation, all will be known in due time. She smiled and continued working on a reply for Jericho while saying to Arthur, "Thank you for your concern all, I will do what I can to avoid getting myself in a dire situation again. Please execute my orders and I will meet with you in the morning, there is something I want to give each of you. They all nodded and left the room.
"I was in battle most of the time on the enemy server. We returned and got ambushed by the enemy, but luckily I survived the ambush. I got away by activating a shield. I took a loss and am now recovering. I've been quiet from the embarrassment I had" said Eden in her reply. I wasn't lying, she just left out a few details. Jericho responded quickly, "did you meet Reaper?" "Who is Reaper?" asked Eden. "It was some viking looking guy. He took down all of FOX and everyone else that crossed him except me," said Jericho. "No, I didn't come across a player titled Reaper, it's not in my reports or Expat's" said Eden truthfully because she only knew Odin by his real name. "So if you didn't come across him, why is your power lower and why were you silent?" asked Jericho. "I was caught off guard by an opponent and during the battle my stamina depleted. I don't know how else to explain my loss," answered Eden. There was a pause between the two of them. Then Eden asked, "So how did you survive against the reaper, can you share the report so I can learn from you?" Jericho sent the report and wrote, the guy left as soon as I struck him twice, he came without an army. So there's not much to see on this report. Weird though, I don't see their power level." As Eden looked over the report, she recalled her scouting tower requirements and information. Then she wrote, "Perhaps, you don't have the tower requirements yet to unlock his power level or there's some glitch he is extorting to hide his power." Jericho replied, "that sounds right, but I still think you should receive the power report on your enemy. Anyway, I should call it a night." They both said good night and went to bed.