Following the dungeon, we decided on sorta splitting up for a week.
It may sound counterintuitive, but it was for the best.
All of us had professions to work on, and we were all undergeared for our level.
The thing was that the majority of people were lower level than us, and therefore the majority of items were as well.
So knowing we all had different armor types we had to make, the large group split.
[Whisper to Merlin] "You and Jane down to come to our layer and grind out spider silk and cloth for new armor?"
[Whisper from Merlin] "Sounds fun, you teleporting us?"
[Whisper to Merlin] "Yep, just walk through the portal."
It turns out that portals went both ways, so as much as I can walk through it on my end, they can walk through it on theirs.
Along with this, the mana cost for making portals and teleporting rapidly decreased after getting my new class, mostly due to me knowing how to form them properly.
It only took a few minutes before the portal was formed, and Merlin along with Jane walked through.
"Hello," Merlin says, looking around.
"Hi Tero, going to introduce us?" Jane said, looking at Zach and Sheral.
"Ohh, yah!" This is Zach, he's a person, and this is Sheral, she's basically my new mom."
"Oh that's so sweet," Jane says, going and hugging Sheral.
"It's not that sweet. I'm abusive to him," she says jokingly.
"Alright, let's get going with this. I want my new gear," Zach said, starting to walk off.
We were starting our grind in The Nest mostly for the runes because buying them was a no-go.
With New World how it was, it would just be too annoying to grind gold, and in The Nest there was an abundance of treasure.
On top of that, I figured I would be able to get some more refined mana out of this, so after making sure everyone had the maximum amount of inventory space they could have, which was the base of ten, plus forty for four extra bags, we got to it.
My role was mostly to support anyone low on mana, then also start making a map of the area.
It took a while of course, but eventually my map was done, and we even got a few recipe drops from it all.
[Robe of the Spider Mage]
[Prerequisite: Tailoring 150]
[+12 Intelligence, Has an okay defensive barrier.]
[20x Spider Silk, 10x Wool, 1 Novice Rune of Defence, 2 Novice Runes of Intellect]
[Slippers of the Spider Mage]
[Prerequisite: Tailoring 150]
[+6 Intelligence, Has a weak defensive barrier, Increases speed of the wearer]
[20x Spider Silk, 10x Wool, 1 Novice Rune of Defence, 1 Novice Rune of Intellect, 1 Novice Rune of Speed]
[Hood of the Spider Mage]
[Prerequisite: Tailoring 150]
[+6 Intelligence, Has a weak defensive barrier, Allows for better vision of stealthed foes]
[20x Spider Silk, 10x Wool, 1 Novice Rune of Defence, 2 Novice Runes of Intellect]
On top of these three, we got a few more items from the dungeon, but nothing for mages.
I would usually just commit to selling the extras, but it would be damn hard selling anything, so I figured I'd save them until I got everything sorted out with New World.
Collecting what we did, which was a lot, took about five days for both The Nest and Crooked Hills.
Sadly, Crooked Hills seemed to have more leather-based crafting, something Hunter would probably be better suited for.
In the end though, everything was given to me for the last two days of the break so that I could enchant and craft all the new items.
The tailoring was pretty easy for me, and came with the benefit of getting my tailoring to level 172, so that was nice.
After that came the painful process of enchanting all the items.
This required hundreds of refined mana, but at this point there was an okay amount of it available to us.
In the end I picked a simple enchant for everyone, it was to add two Intelligence and two Willpower to the items.
Still, with it on three items, it added up.
Everything in total gave me a whopping plus thirty to Intelligence.
Adding onto the new items, I was able to collect a few new herbs from The Nest and Crooked Hills, and when I get some time I'll be able to figure out exactly what I can make with them.
In The Nest I got Webmoss, Widow's Bloom, and Silkroot, and in Crooked Hills I got Sandberries, Fire Roses, and Water Cactus.
Sadly, until I get the time, it's all a moot point as I have no idea what any of it does.
Though, something I could do that night was check my whispers.
[Whisper from Sera] "Hi Tero, I'm looking to join The High Order. I just need to sell my runes. I'm level 38 currently and a Rune Architect. I mostly want to study and craft. I'm not good at combat but I can provide support to the guild."
[Whisper from Blake] "I'm level 39, 20 in adventurer and 19 in Astrologer. The meat of my powers is reading the stars to predict outcomes."
Both of these whispers caught my eye.
Of course I was scrolling through many more, with many people having very basic classes. Truly, the number of necromancers and summoners I saw was nearly overwhelming.
But these two caught my eye because they were truly unique.
Sera was an interesting case because runesmithing was also a profession, and of course runes were the backbone of nearly all crafting.
It made me want to pick her up just for the utility, and it seemed like she wasn't interested in fighting anyways so it was a win-win.
Blake on the other hand piqued my interest with just how little he said.
It was like just the hook to a story.
His class had something to do with fate, and if he was joining me that could be something very good.
It could mean there were good omens for The High Order, but on the other hand he could know I have items like Demon Blood and only be seeking them.
Either way, letting someone with oracle-like abilities pass by my fingers wasn't going to happen, so they were both sent guild invites along with a slurry of other high-level mages.
I tried to focus on priests, druids, and other mages that could double in a support role.
[The High Order
Guildmaster: High Magister Tero, of The High Order
The Magisterium: Empty Seat, Empty Seat, Empty Seat
Auction House & Market Tax: 1%
Members: 13/400]
[Whisper to Blake] "Are you attached to anyone in your layer?"
[Whisper from Blake] "I have a dungeon group here, but it's mostly a monetary arrangement."
[Whisper to Blake] "I'll pick you up, stay in a safe place and not in a subspace, like your room or a dungeon, for 10 min."
Again, the process of teleporting took ten minutes, a pretty acceptable amount of time, but still annoying.
Once the portal opened I saw Blake. He was tall, about six foot, and looked vaguely Eastern European.
As the portal opened and he walked through, I put out my hand for him.
"It's good to meet you, Blake," I say as he gives me a firm handshake.
"You as well, Tero. I presume we have a while before anything happens?" he asked.
"Should have a while, what were you thinking?"
"Nothing, nothing. How many members are you planning to induct?"
"I'll stop looking actively at twenty," I say, sizing him up a little, not a fan of the questions from a man I was already cautious of.
"That's good. Enough for the raid, right?"
"Exactly. Well, there are a few things you'll have to get used to on this layer, so take your time."
"Of course, I'll be watching guild chat for messages," he says, walking away and heading to the high-quality inn.
I watched him as he walked away, almost afraid something would happen.
I guess now that my intelligence was so high, I was not a fan of anyone knowing more than me.
Nonetheless, I still had one more new guild member to meet before I got to sleep for the night.
[Whisper to Sera] "Hello, are you at a good point to teleport to this layer?"
[Whisper from Sera] "No, tomorrow?"
[Whisper to Sera] "That's okay."
So instead of her I brought a fire mage over.
It didn't really matter, but I wanted to meet the special people before the rabble.