41. Lex Divina
[Guild Name: Lex Divina]
[Guild Master: Astaria]
[Affiliated Nation: None]
[Guild Description: Lex Divina, a PvX guild that encompasses all aspects of Caelus Online from fighting, to crafting, to Trading and Politics.
We are the guild at the forefront of Immortal Warriors, leading the way for others to follow.]
[Message of the Day: Welcome to Lex Divina. Message Vice Guild Master [Eagle] for all guild-related matters.]
With the information filled out, Astaria moved to the bottom of the screen where a roster that was empty other than her name resided. Hitting the ‘Add Player’ button, Astaria glanced over to the players standing behind her, mentally clicking on all of their names that appeared. This sent an invitation prompt to her friends which they all immediately accepted filling the roster with all 12 of their player's names and the number of Temple Contribution Points they had accumulated.
[Astaria - 1220]
[Eagle - 980]
[Nebustar - 680]
[Nirvana - 881]
[Skidashski 990]
[Residios - 782]
[Marie - 774]
[Alexios - 1334]
[StormBane - 766]
[DemonicGold - 643]
[CinderFlare - 612]
[Chimeric -632]
[Total Temple Contribution Points [10,254/10,000]]
With the accept button now lit up, Astaria went back over her provided information one last time to ensure she had everything input correctly. Happy with what she had input, she hit the accept button and the screen disappeared, replaced with a couple of other system notifications.
[Congratulations, you have successfully established the Guild: [Lex Divina]]
[[Server Announcement: Player Astaria has established the first player guild, [Lex Divina] Astaria has been Awarded the Achievement ‘The First Guild Master’ and a Unique Title: The First Guild Master]]
[[Server Announcement: The Guild [Lex Divina] is the first guild to be created. The guild has been awarded 1,000 Guild Reputation]]
Astaria took a quick glance at her mailbox to see if there was anything interesting the system had given them as extra rewards and found herself quite surprised at what she saw.
[{New: Congratulations for completing the ‘The First Guild Master’ achievement}
{Sender: System}
{Congratulations for becoming the Guild Master of the first Immortal Warriors guild. You have received the Unique title ‘The First Guild Master’ and have been rewarded with 1x Guild 50% exp boost (4 hours), 1x Guild Summoning Scroll, and a 1x Cosmetic Outfit Box. Received items will be placed in your inventory.}]
[{New: Congratulations for Establishing the first Guild of Immortal Warriors}
[{Sender: System}
{Congratulations for becoming the first guild of Immortal Warriors. [Lex Divina] has been rewarded with and 1 Guild Construction Permit. Received items will be placed in your inventory.}]
Overjoyed at the additional items she received from being the first to create a guild, a smile graced her lips as she looked over to the priest who began to speak to her, no doubt curious as to the world messages that had just appeared to him.
“Your guild name is written in the ancient language of the gods, right? If I am correct, it means Divine Law?”
With a nod, Astaria mentally dismissed the notifications as she responded.
“You are correct. In our world, the god’s language became a dead language, learnt only by a few and mostly at a rudimentary level. That said, its use is quite prevalent in medicine, being used to name many of the known illnesses and diseases discovered.”
The priest looked down sadly as he thought over her words.
“It is sad to hear that, although it is nice to know that you still have some knowledge of the ancient language. Anyway, let me be the first to congratulate you Guild Master Astaria, on successfully forming your guild. May the will of Ceres guide you to a prosperous future.”
With another courtesy Astaria gave a relieved sigh, now having crossed the first large hurdle towards her future plans.
“Thank you, Pontifex Maximus Travalscar, especially for your help so late into the evening.”
The Pontifex Maximus gave Astaria a warm smile as he dismissed her concerns over the time.
“Do not worry young lady, it is after all, our job here at the temple of Ceres to help those who enter our halls, and especially the Immortal Warriors who now find themselves in our world. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
Astaria gave a quick hum in thought as Ash spoke up from behind her.
“Astaria, you instructed me to get a blessing of Ceres for the herb harvesting project, right? Should I get that now?”
Astaria turned to look at Ash as his words reminded her of the contents of the document she had given him a few days prior.
“Ah, yes, that’s right. Pontifex Maximus, would that be possible?”
With a serene smile, the Pontifex Maximus looked over to Ash.
“Ah, that would most certainly be alright. I assume you have over one thousand Temple Contribution points, yes?”
With a nod in affirmation, Ash took a step forward as the Pontifex Maximus raised his right hand with an overjoyed expression while he gestured for Ash to step closer to the statue.
“Wonderful. In that case, please stand before the statue and copy my posture of prayer. Once ready, please repeat after me.”
Ash knelt down before the statue, mimicking the Pontifex Maximus’s posture as he followed along with the elder gentleman’s prayer.
“I beseech the goddess Ceres”
“I beseech the goddess Ceres”
“To gift unto me her blessing”
“To gift unto me her blessing”
“So that in her name”
“I may help the land flourish and the people prosper.”
“so, I may help the land flourish and the people prosper.”
Following the last word spoken by Ash, he was enveloped within a subtle green glow, a clear indication that the blessing had been successfully granted.
Blessings in Caelus Online could be given to anyone within the world provided they meet the prerequisite of having contributed to the temple in one form or another. For the locals this may be through donations of gold or grain, helping the temple with tasks they need completing, or other such actions. These are considered as basic blessings and will grant a small boost within the domains of the god whose blessing had been obtained. In the case of Ceres, it boosted the vitality of any obtained items from nature by 3%, as well as improving the fertility of any land cultivated by 3%.
While that may not seem like a lot, for a local farmer the 3% to increase to the crop’s vitality meant they stayed fresher for longer with more nutrition, while the field's crops would grow 3% faster which in the case of farming wheat could cut off nearly a week from the total time it took for the crop to mature.
Since Ash will be dealing with the acquisition and farming of large amounts of potion ingredients for the foreseeable future, Ceres' blessing will be quite helpful for him.
With Ash’s blessing sorted, Astaria turned to the Pontifex Maximus and gave another respectful courtesy.
“Thank you again for your assistance. Unless you have any requests of us, we shall take our leave.”
Returning her courtesy with a bow of his own, the Pontifex Maximus responded to Astaria’s social queue.
“Not at the moment, however, I shall send a messenger should that change. The Temple of Ceres thanks you for your offer.”
With a light chuckle, Astaria turned to leave as she smiled at the Pontifex Maximus having taken a liking to him.
“Please do. The majority shall be moving to the Calesian Empire within the next few days, so if you wish to send a messenger you might find an Immortal Warrior could reach us faster.”
With a hint of understanding flashing in his eyes the Pontifex Maximus bid them farewell.
“I see, thank you for the suggestion. May the will of Ceres guide you to a prosperous future.”
With the rest of her newly formed guild saying farewell to the Priest, their group left the temple as they made their way towards the lower area of Haligrad where they would find a decently priced inn.
Astaria put her bloody robe back on which once again hid her identity as Ben spoke up to the group, his question clearly directed at her.
“So, where are we all staying for the night?”
Astaria hummed in thought as she responded.
“Well, the Inn I stayed at last night was not too bad, and the owners were quite nice. I’m not sure if they will have enough free rooms so we might need to group up. Or log out, up to you guys, that’s unless you have any suggestions?”
Roxanne spoke up as she made her proposal.
“I have no complaints, but how are the drinks there? I assume that they have a bar, right? If not, there is the place I stayed at last night.”
Astaria let out a slight chuckle recalling how her chance to test out the alcohol at the inn went the previous night.
“Well, they do have a bar, but my chance to see what the alcohol was like was something hindered by my limited grip on consciousness. It’s on the main market square so it must be alright at the least. The breakfast was not too bad either, so going off that I don’t see any problems. Thinking about it, I never checked its name.”
Roxanne let out a slightly embarrassed chuckle as she remembered Astaria’s story from earlier as Connor clapped his hands together and spoke to the group.
“It’s decided then, we shall head to Astaria’s inn and sort out the room arrangements for whoever is staying inside Caelus, then we get drunk to celebrate the guilds formation and first successful raid clear of the game.”
Russel raised a fist as he called out with a particularly serious tone.
“Sounds good, and I’m completely going to outdrink everyone, after all, I’m prepared this time.”
Tyrell raised an eyebrow as he looked over to Russel.
“Oh, you’re a lightweight? Man, that explains the other night round Chester’s! Damn ahaha.”
Russel’s head snapped to Tyrell as he gave the black man the middle finger.
“Ayy, fuck you man, don’t need to bring that up, I get roasted enough about my tolerance by this lot.”
The group laughed as DemonicGold spoke up, asking the question they all had on their minds.
“What happened? This ought to be good.”
Tyrell took this golden opportunity as he started speaking with a massive smirk on his face.
“Well, I only saw Russel drink around 3 cans of beer the other night and noticed he had started to get quite tipsy. I thought to myself, ‘man must have snuck a few shots’. Well-“
“Hey, don’t say it!”
“We went outside for a smoke and my man straight up tripped over nothing and passed out face-first on the grass.”
Russel gave Tyrell a shoulder barge, not affecting the larger man as the group gave a mixture of snorts and laughs.