"I didn't even see my own death. . .", Scarlet Saber murmured to himself at his respawn point.
Opening his bag he organized his items and assessed his loss. It was bearable, something easily reimbursed. Most importantly his favorite custom saber didn't drop. He would be heartbroken if it did.
Immediately gathering his thoughts Scarlet Saber ended the ongoing recording. As he was watching the Second Step members he naturally intended to record their ongoing fight for their review. He silently thank himself for developing this habit, for the recording now held visual evidence of a new "wandering boss".
Pulling a small octagon shaped item from his bag he imbued it with a bit of mana and turned into a series of thin white lines. Appearing in front of a grand building Scarlet Saber walked into it with no hesitation.
"Oh! You're back already? Did the hunt go well?", a relatively confident player asked.
"In a way.", Scarlet Saber remained curt to show he was busy.
"Is that so?"
Pushing past Scarlet Saber walked through the building. It held a foreign look, made mostly of an ancient wood and tile. The main hall of the building was a rusted red in color scheme. With dark black tiles making the floor. From the ceiling hung a jade carving, in the shape of Blighted Blood's insignia.
Moving past the main hall he exited through the opposite side of the building. Revealing a sizeable courtyard. A structure similar to a gazebo lay at the very end of the courtyard, a rock path made of plain gray stones leading to it.
The courtyard held several players, a training yard and dueling ring took up most of the space. With a large storage building taking the opposite end for the remaining space. Excluding these two large structures the rest of the space was a calming garden, a plant similar to bamboo grew in the rock gardens. Instead of dirt the floor was filled with sand that seemed to ripple on its own. Like a pond instead of sand.
Moving to the large gazebo Scarlet Saber leaned against one of the supporting wood beams. A ornate desk stacked with various papers and carved jade tablets was at one end. The rest of the gazebo was decorated with black wooden furniture, adding to the rust colored red. Some rare items were on display on the furniture.
The Sect Leader, a player who went by the Epithet "Somber Gaze" set down a jade and said, "Scar."
Scar was a nickname given due to his Scarlet Saber Epithet. Twisting his nose at the nickname Scarlet Saber responded, "Leader."
"You're back early, were the drops as good as estimated by the Guidehands?"
"The hunt failed."
An expression of shock formed on Somber Gaze's face. Immediately he turned his full attention towards the matter, "What happened?"
"There's was a third party, another wandering boss."
"A duo? Strange, that's a bit of bad luck. . .", Somber Gaze murmured aloud and interrupted Rust.
"One of Third Step.", Rust didn't mind being interrupted.
"Damn, you get an Epithet?"
"Star Driven Sword."
"Ambiguous name, troubling. The Guidehands ordained a meeting a few days back. Likely more bosses appeared due to that Oracle, you may have come across one. Anything to note?"
"His might is something on another level. I couldn't see the moment I died, he easily toyed with all of my attacks."
"You? Even with your Berserk?"
"I couldn't fill the conditions before I died."
"That quick?"
"Sending the video to you.", Rust flicked a finger to hit a button on the system interface.
Receiving the video Somber Gaze remained silent. He watched in silence, occasionally pausing the video as if to see something. Once finished he leaned back, "Damn."
"Your thoughts?"
"It's impossible to tell in the video. This guy didn't even draw his sword. The closest you got was the tiniest sliver to block a blow, and you died afterwards. Likely some sort of counter Skill."
"So what's the plan?"
"You're coming with me to the meeting. We'll have to share this with everybody in accordance with the agreement."
"When is it?"
Somber Gaze made a dramatic show of looking at his wrist watch. Only to reveal he didn't have one, "In about two hours."
"Fine, I'll take the time to submit a reimbursement claim."
. . .
Two hours later a series of individuals teleported to a basement of a cathedral. The representatives of the top 20 Sects, the Shepherd of the Guidehands: Your Guiding Hand, the top Mercenary Sunny Jade, and someone claimed to be the "Strongest Adventurer".
The Strongest Adventurer wasn't the strongest player, just the strongest among those who claimed to be adventurers. It was someone of decent strength, and thus earned a seat at this gathering.
All representatives sat at the table, with their invited guests standing behind them. Up to two people can be invited during the meeting, and they were to stand behind and either left or right of the representatives. If there was two, then both left and right sides would be used.
The table was circular, and despite the large amount of players the table still did not fill all the seats. As everyone sat, Your Guiding Hand knocked onto the table to gather attention, "Thank you for joining this emergency meeting. There's a few things that needed immediate discussion, and I appreciate you all making effort to come here despite the short warning."
Sunny Jade rested her feet onto the table. She wore a tan brown steampunk tailcoat, one that was obviously worn. A tricorn hat on her head, and an old red bandana rested loosely around her neck. Most notably was the two holsters on her torso, two flintlock-like guns rested in them. These guns were carved with numerous runes.
Sunny Jade leaned back in her chair and adjusted her tricorn hat to cover her face.
Nobody commented on this, they were used to this show of indifference. Your Guiding Hand didn't even blink as he continued, "First there's the matter of two defeated Third Step wandering bosses. We're looking for who's responsible for this in accordance to the agreement. Their Epithets are Red Fueled Avarice and Ocean Crossing Sabre respectively."
Nobody spoke a word until Sunny Jade extended a hand upwards, a finger pointed towards the ceiling. Your Guiding Hand patiently smiled, "Jade?"
Using the same hand she raised she reached down and lifted her tricorn hat slightly, "Ocean Crossing Sabre was the target of a request. The drops were handled by my employer as always."
Your Guiding Hand nodded in thought, "Okay that solves one, anyone one else know about Red Fueled Avarice?"
Sunny Jade placed her tricorn hat back onto her face and remained quiet. The number one Sect Regard Truth's leader, who went by the Epithet of Sworn By Steel, asked, "What's so important of these two? It's not unlikely some unaffiliated Third Steps handled the issue."
"They were killed within minutes of each other."
Sunny Jade lifted her tricorn hat and said, "I don't know anything about that."
"By contract or literally?", Your Guiding Hand was familiar with her way of words.
"Literally.", Sunny Jade set the tricorn back.
It was clear she was freeing herself from implication. Since they were defeated back to back it was common to believe the two wandering bosses were next to each other and were hunted as a duo. Since Sunny Jade claimed Ocean Crossing Sabre's death she could be implicated that she also hunted Red Fueled Avarice. Thus she cleared her name.
Your Guiding Hand looked at the gazes of all participants and allowed a reasonable amount of time for someone to claim responsibility. Seeing that everyone remained quiet he inwardly sighed, "Alright, we'll leave this as the work of someone unaffiliated. Now onto the main topic, three individual Third Step wandering bosses have appeared."
This gained the attention of everyone present. Usually one or two a month wasn't uncommon. However this bit of information was saved for their normal scheduled meetings. This sudden meeting meant that these three were outside of expectation, and were usually signs of something important happening.
"First, we must ensure that the Epithets do not match any recently ascended players you may know. Especially not after the incident regarding Sunny Jade."
A slight chuckle could be heard underneath the tricorn hat.
"We've already covered the costs of asking the Oracle, so I will state them one at a time. First, Blood Crazed Calamity."
Silence.
Unbothered by this Your Guiding Hand continued, "The next one is very likely a wandering boss due to its Epithet, so this one's a formality. All Reaching Dragon."
Several individuals leaned forward in interest. This was basically confirming a Third Step dragon! That was a top tier hunting target! There hadn't been new dragons in forever! Even Sunny Jade adjusted her tricorn hat to allow space for her to look at the reactions of others.
Your Guiding Hand nodded before stating the final one, "Star Driven Sword."
Once again no response. Just before Your Guiding Hand was about to continue, Somber Gaze lifted a hand, "There's a matter regarding Star Driven Sword."
"Is it a player?"
"No, rather one of my Elites has already stumbled upon them."
Attention was drawn towards Somber Gaze. They all silently allowed him to continue. Spreading out his hands he said, "I'm sending a video to our group chat."
Everyone looked towards their interface. Excluding Sunny Jade who instead further covered her face with the tricorn hat. As the group watched the video their faces made a number of expressions.
Your Guiding Hand frowned at the video and turned towards Rust, "This video was taken by you I presume?"
Rust nodded.
"Was there anything of note that isn't in this recording?"
"He's fast, tracking him down will require a lot of investment. His power easily trumped my own but I never managed to get off my Berserk Skill. Additionally as you can see I died far too quickly, I wasn't able to react."
"I see. . . For now let's carry on. Let us begin reserving the hunts.", Your Guiding Hand pleasantly smiled.