VIP Chapter 109: The Vanishing Team Name
“So refreshing!” Iaar (Female) exclaimed, her tail wagging with joy as she stepped into the office.
“Mmm… the office is this cool because it’s using semi-automatic cooling magic, something the adjacent team researched for years before being surpassed by Dungeon technology,” Liya (Female) noted, her mind regaining its clarity after the cool air.
“Gulp, gulp… I’m finally not thirsty anymore…” Treya (Female) frantically drank water.
Will (Male) watched the three revived people, feeling much more at ease.
“I’m truly sorry. We were actually instructed by Carver that you would be visiting soon, but… but, alas, as you can see, we’ve been incredibly busy and completely forgot.”
The President of the Adventurer’s Guild standing before them appeared to be a young man barely out of his teens, bowing repeatedly and wiping sweat from his brow—even though the office was wonderfully cool. His overly apologetic, newbie attitude, as if fearing dismissal, made Will feel a bit awkward himself.
“It’s alright. We were too excited and didn’t expect so many people. We should have taken a day to rest and then queued… and I… hmm… don’t really want to use my father’s connections either.”
“I see. As expected, Young Master Will is as independent and capable as the rumors say, especially among the new generation.”
“When did I get such a good reputation?”
The Guild Master leaned closer, observing the three standing girls behind Will, and lowered his voice so that even Will could barely hear him: “Hmm… especially recruiting three incredible teammates, each showcasing their unique preferences, right from the start.”
Will felt that while he might have made some mistakes and coincidentally caused misunderstandings, the fact that the rumors spread so far and were so outlandish was undeniably fate’s fault!
“Is… is that so?” Will gave an awkward laugh. “Since you still have so many people waiting to process today, why don’t we just proceed with our application?”
“Certainly, certainly.”
“This is the result of our clearing the tenth floor of Green Wilderness Trace.” Will placed the unbloomed flower bud, cut from the large lion’s tail, on the desk. As per the Adventurer’s Guild’s requirements, this item was to be submitted as proof of clearing the tenth floor. It was a rather plain item, suitable only as an ornament.
“Wow, I’ve been the President of this Adventurer’s Guild for about six months, and this is the first time I’ve seen a flower-shaped tail bud. You actually defeated it before it bloomed?” The Guild Master seemed as unworldly as the new adventurers registering outside.
“Mmm… its attack was so weak that even Teacher Liya could break through the first wall of my rudimentary Ice Array (Attack),” Treya (Female) commented.
“What do you mean, ‘even’…? Hmph, you’re too close to the Witch to know her strength. That little thing died with a single blast,” Iaar (Female) retorted.
“I felt like I barely used any force when I cut it…”
—See! The three teammates agreed.
Taking pride in this, Will puffed out his chest: “It was no big deal.”
Though, come to think of it, he had just watched the entire combat process.
“That’s very impressive! Most have to endure the Green Mane Lion’s second phase and wait until it withers and weakens naturally before they can defeat it—this is what the Guild wants new adventurers to experience: as long as you survive, you can deal damage!”
“So… we took a rather unconventional approach, didn’t we?”
“Let’s not dwell on that. First, you can choose your team name, and then we’ll discuss affiliation and member information registration. The team name is more important.” The Guild Master pulled out a stack of forms from his drawer.
“Also, team names cannot be duplicated currently,” he added. The Guild Master produced a thick ledger of registered Adventing Teams—which seemed to be updated monthly. Three years ago, when dungeons weren’t as developed, this synchronized system across branches was functional. But now, with the rapid expansion of dungeons, this ancient registration method seemed insufficient.
“If all else fails, you could add a number, like ‘Will’s Team 1234’. Hehe, of course, if you desire a unique name, we could also discuss having that other team change theirs.” —That’s quite cunning! It seems naming truly is an art.
But… Will already had an idea! Or rather than an idea, it was a plan to turn the tables against fate.
“Shining Star—”
In the original work… the team name was “Shining Star.” However, this name wasn’t chosen by Will himself. It belonged to an Adventing Team that had become inactive about a year ago. The day Will formed his Adventing Team was exactly the first anniversary of that team’s disappearance from dungeon records.
“Four-character names like that are easily duplicated… let me check for you…”
“It’s fine, the team with that name should be deregistered today, so it will definitely be available.” Will crossed his arms confidently. According to Adventurer’s Guild regulations, such a team would be deregistered, its achievements no longer recorded, and its name could be used. The Will from the original work had thought of many names, all duplicates, and he didn’t want to add numbers or bow to his father. Finally… the Guild Master suggested looking at the names of teams deregistered that day, as newly deregistered names were rarely used. Many people used this method. Thus, the team in the original work adopted the name “Shining Star”—it was obvious that the original Will’s intellect wouldn’t come up with such a name.
And it was precisely because of this name that Xiu… chose this team, whose captain and members were all so peculiar. Because that was… the name of the team he formed with his friend two years ago. Xiu, a capable individual, could tolerate the ruthless oppression from the original work’s characters and the teammates he couldn’t even lead, for one very simple reason… the team name was “Shining Star,” nothing more.
Therefore—no matter where you’ve been hiding, no matter how deep you’ve concealed yourself, even the Royal Family couldn’t find you. As long as the team is still called “Shining Star,” it’s the best bait. You’ll be hooked even if you hide in a trench five thousand meters deep! Hahaha, Will’s plan was perfect!
But… Will, who had been brimming with confidence moments ago, was met with a blow from the Guild Master— “There’s no team deregistered today with that name…”
A silence fell upon the small office. Only the whirring of the cooling magic machine could be heard.
“…What?” Will asked, disbelief evident in his voice. This… what was this? A deviation from the original work? But that was impossible; how could such an important plot point have a deviation?
“However, no team is currently using that name! If you like it, you can have it… and I can report back to Mr. Carver…” He said this gleefully, clearly eager to finalize things and report to his superiors, rapidly filling out the form.
“Mm, no problem…” Will stared blankly at the team information form with the name “Shining Star” written on it, still lost in thought. Was it due to coincidental timing? No, the timing was correct; this part of the original work had a clear timeline, which he had confirmed. Was it an issue with this place? Impossible… the original work was also set in Nov. What else could it be? It couldn’t be that his pronunciation was off; he considered himself a native Entak and spoke the Entak language, which was similar to English, fluently.
Then… Shining Star… where did it go?
