Half of Red Oak City's citizens gathered around the majestic red oak early in the morning. The park surrounding the landmark was decorated with colourful flowers everywhere, spreading their sweet smell through the air. Everyone wore colourful clothes, leaving everything black at home. Children stood on temporary towers, carrying baskets with flower petals, scattering them into the crowd.
The friends were in high spirits, infected by the atmosphere. Soon music began to play, coming from a band of violists. It signalled the start of the parade, asking everyone to form a long line behind the band.
Soon they began to march through the city, singing and dancing, heading for the wide-open city gates. The parade passed through the gates, stopping on a large field at the edge of the forest, where tables, food, and drinks were prepared for the citizens to enjoy.
***
However, even the brightest festival had its dark sides. Outside the city, out of vision for the citizens, large convoys were entering a grey complex of buildings.
Soldiers jumped off, unloading the convoy, revealing swords, arrows, and all kinds of potions.
A pair of eyes followed everything from the second floor of one of the buildings. They belonged to the solemn face of a woman with a deformed jaw. If Liam were here, he would definitely recognize her as General Reilly, whom he once talked to after his dojo was attacked by two void-corrupted people.
Just then the sound of a door sliding open could be heard and multiple orderly footsteps followed, stressing the solemn atmosphere.
General Reilly turned around, nodding at the ten officers who stood with straight backs, saluting her.
"At ease!"
The general's commanding voice sounded out. Everyone followed orders, sitting down on the long table taking up most of the room.
General Reilly swiped her eyes over the men and women before stopping on the one sitting closest to her.
"Corporal Quand, how are the preparations coming along?"
"Reporting to the general, everything is proceeding as planned. There are no issues with the supplies and all our defences will be aptly armed. CCM has delivered on time. Judging by our experience, we will be able to answer the beast tide confidently."
"Good. What about the scouts?"
"Getting into position, general."
Reilly fell silent for a moment her sharp eyes bearing down on the corporal, who felt an increasing pressure, frantically racking his brain, questioning himself if he had made any mistakes.
Finally, the pressure dissipated when Reilly continued talking:
"Have the scouts hurry up! This year it is more important than ever to detect the returning beasts early! I want everyone in position by tomorrow"
"Yes, general! Of course!"
Nodding, General Reilly turned towards another man sitting at the back:
"Speaking of which. How are things on your end, Corporal Ineft?"
"Reporting to the general, our preparations are concluded. We can start recruiting as soon as we have your agreement."
"Well done. You can begin right now."
"Yes. Should we message those VIPs as well?"
Reilly pondered for a moment before answering:
"No. I will do so personally."
***
Not many citizens thought about the army while they enjoyed the flower festival. They just enjoyed the time outside the cities, relaxing their souls.
Liam and his friends had a great time together until they returned home towards the evening. Liam had just had dinner with Merida and Serena when he received a surprising call.
Seeing that it was the general personally calling him, he excused himself and went to the bedroom before accepting.
"Liam."
"Good evening. General Reilly here."
"Good evening."
"First, let me congratulate you. Your win has brought great prestige to our Falva Star! Who would've thought that our small planet could produce the federation's champion?"
Liam was taken aback, answering quickly:
"Thank you very much. But I don't think you would call only for that, right?"
"Of course. Let me make it short. Are you willing to do a job for the army?"
"A job?"
"Exploring an ancient ruin, to be precise."
Liam's eyes shot wide open. He instinctively wanted to reject. However, just as he attempted to do so his words got stuck in his throat as his rational thoughts set in.
Liam involuntarily thought about his parents. They went missing in an ancient ruin years ago. The army had conducted a search but never found them until his parents were eventually declared deceased.
However, according to C they were still alive. If Liam wanted to find them, he will ahve to venture into the ancient ruins at some point. And by then it would be good to have some experience and maybe even the army's support. Thus, Liam held himself back from rejecting immediately.
"Can you give me more information? Why do you need me to explore the ruin?"
Listening to Liam's careful question, Reilly knew that he already intended to agree. Thus, she didn't hold back:
"We are not only recruiting you but many others as well. We will send out teams of players to scout previously inaccessible ruins."
"Players?"
"Yes. Most of our soldiers are preoccupied with preparing for the return of the beasts. But exactly because they are not around, there are no obstacles on the path towards the ancient ruins. And now that we have the players, they can take on the mission of exploration."
"But isn't it dangerous to send players?"
"No. The ruins we will send you to have already been thoroughly scanned. There are no abnormal energy readings. If it weren't for the void energy lingering in them, we would have explored them long ago. But now that we have the consoles, the perfect opportunity has finally come."
Liam finally understood. Filled with void energy these ancient ruins had previously been extremely dangerous, and only starlight masters could have explored them. But now that the consoles existed, they finally had a means to counter the void energy, making many previously discovered ruins easily accessible.
Listening to the general for so long, Liam was already close to agreeing. But at that moment he remembered something else. A while ago he received information from C as a reward for a challenge. The information was about an ancient ruin which could be safely explored with his strength.
Liam's eyes lit up and he asked Reilly another question:
"General, can I have a list of all the ruins for me to choose from?"
Suddenly General Reilly's tone turned frosty:
"This is military secret."
Liam flinched, hastily trying from another angle:
"Oh, forget I asked. But is there an ancient ruin at coordinates 52.516 and 13.376?"
Now it was General Reilly's turned to be startled as she answered:
"Indeed. How did you know?"
"I found it some information my parents left behind. Is it possible for me to join the team heading to this ruin?"
"This can be arranged."
"Great. Then I accept."
"Good. We will meet in two days at seven sharp at the train station. Goodbye."
After getting Liam's agreement Reilly didn't talk any nonsense and immediately hung up the call.
Liam took a deep breath. With so much assurance he didn't think anything could go wrong. Now he even looked forward to exploring the mythical ancient ruins, which were almost entirely responsible for humanities current advancements.
However, he pondered whether to tell Merida and Serena. Eventually he decided against it. Serena would only be unnecessarily worried. After all, their parents disappeared in an ancient ruin.
Thus, when Liam was asked about the call, he answered with his made-up explanation, saying a company found out his private number and invited him to talk about a cooperation in two days, to which he agreed.
The two women accepted his explanation and only warned him not to be scammed.
The rest of the evening passed without much excitement as did the next day, which Liam mostly spent honing his skills before hanging out with his friends.
Soon it was the third day of the flower festival. Liam woke up early and left the house, experience the city in a rare peaceful state.
There weren't many cars on the roads as Liam headed for the train station, which was next to the Lucky Ten Mall he and his friends once visited.
The train station was an imposing building. There was always an increased military presence around it but today it was more than usual.
As Liam waited in front of the train station, people slowly gathered, soon amassing to a couple hundred. Liam recognized some faces as they were members of prominent guilds like Force of Nature or Graveyard of Heroes. However, it seemed that none of the leaders accepted the army's recruitment.
Other than Liam the only prominent player was a man going by Grey Skin, who played as a healer in Force of Nature's top team.
Obviously, Liam's presence attracted a lot of attention. However, since they were on a mission issued by the army no one dared to be too ostentatious. The people crowding around Liam all spoke in subdued voices as they waited for instructions.