Second Life: Welcome to Gaia

Chapter 34: Registering the guild

A guild's name needs to be chosen wisely because it represents the identity and values of a guild. A good name can make the guild stand out among the others and be recognized by the player. The best choice would be a name that represents the players' vision, is cool sounding, is a symbol of power and prestige, and also unique. A poor name choice can become an obstacle to the guild's development, bringing trouble while recruiting or even drive players away. A guild called Loser, for example, will hardly prosper in a game because no elite player would like to be known as a Loser's guy. Silly and funny names can attract players but they are usually weaker than others and rarely get any amazing achievements. There are exceptions, but very few cases.

Ye Yan and his three best friends had discussed the guild name before and decided on two names. They thought about the possibility of the first name already been used, then they thought a second option is needed for precaution. If at the moment of the registration, they didn't come out with a suitable name and give up registering, the Adventurers' Guild will not return the coins paid for the service, it will be kept as compensation for their lost time.

When the manager asked them about the guild's name, Ye Yan answered with the first name they chose.

"The name of the guild will be Proud Wanderers." Ye Yan told her smiling proudly as he thought about how great this name is. The ten party members approved of it as all of them are fans of the novel that gave rise to the films entitled "Swordsman". The first movie of the franchise was remade in 2086 and continues to be a success until now.

"Wait a moment. I will ascertain the availability of this name." The manager said while standing up and went to the bookshelf to get the book with every guild registered in the Adventurers' Guild until now.

"I'm sorry. This name is no longer available." The manager looked for the name in the book and said when she found it.

The look on the face of every one of Ye Yan's team was so sad and full of regret for being late that anyone can see how sorrowful they are feeling. The NPC manager looked at them with pity when she saw the grief write all over their faces. People at a funeral would be more lively than them.

"Please choose another name. I am sure the next name will bring more success to your guild." The manager said as if coaxing a child.

"The name of the guild will be Immortals". Ye Yan told her worriedly. They had only chosen these two names and if this is already used too, he doesn't know what to do. Should they chose another one on the spot or lose the gold coins that had costed a little fortune? The name Immortals is more popular than Proud Wanderers and the probability of it be unavailable is bigger than their first choice.

"Let me check." The manager looked at the book again but, luckily, it wasn't there. When they heard the manager say the name is available, all ten of them breathed a sigh of relief.

"Are you sure this is the name you want for your guild?" She asked to make sure. When they answered affirmatively, she registered the new guild on the book.

When Tang Yunfan come up with the name Immortals, Ye Yan liked it right away. This name made him remember the Legend of the Eight Immortals [1] and it means someone that became a god[2] through cultivation but Tang Yunfan inspiration in choosing it was the Highlander movies, in which, equals to its main character, also looks immortal. There are 110 years since the release of the first movie in 1986 and it is still popular. Tang Yunfan is a big fan of American movies then all his ideas taken from them.

From this moment on, they are members of Immortal Guild. Ye Yan is the Guild Leader because he always has been a kind of leader in their inner circle. Hu Ling aka Spell Bound is the treasurer of the guild and one of the Vice Guild Leaders together with Dovakin.

After finishing the registering procedures, they went downstairs. Even after getting an imposing guild name, Mad Dog was still sad because he really likes the name Proud Wanderers.

"It's a pity that we couldn't be called Proud Wanderers..." Mad Dog said sighing.

"Yes. Now we can't use 'A laugh on the blue sea' as our theme song. Truly a pity." I Love Skooma said it and started to sing and soon after, the others started singing too.

.

The blue sea is laughing,

the tidal waves are surging up on both shores

Drifting along with the waves,

I only remember today

The blue sky is laughing,

the tidal waves of human society are numerous and complicated

Who will win, who will lose,

only Heaven knows

The rivers and mountains are laughing,

the misty rain is far away

How many temporal affairs in human society

have the waves erased?

The pure wind is laughing,

unexpectedly provoking feelings of loneliness

The magnanimous feelings still remain

..............

The common people are laughing,

no more loneliness

Yet the magnanimous feelings in me are still

laughing crazily [3]

.

Right after they started singing, a bard appeared from who knows where playing a yueqin[4]. The team singing and the bard playing his musical instrument made the atmosphere of the Adventurers' Guild become livelier. Soon, the guild employers and everyone else that was visiting the guild got into the mood and start to sing along with them or clap to the rhythm of the music. They never thought their singing would get such an outcome.

The Adventurers' Guild looked more like a tavern from fantastic stories now than a real tavern in the game. Some dwarves sat on a table in the corner were cheering with beer mugs in their hands. A real dwarf never stays away from their elixir of life for long. Where you see a dwarf, there is beer next to him, inside or outside of the battlefield.

This situation proved, one more time, how advanced the NPCs A.I. is.

When the music end and they were going the sing another one, one of the Adventurers' Guild managers, an elf with a stern face, used the spell [Silence] to shut everyone up.

"This place is not a tavern. Please refrain yourselves." He said out loud to everyone to listen and looked in Ye Yan's party direction. "It is forbidden to sing in this place. If such a thing happens again, punishment will be given to the offenders." The elf said it with such a cold look that they feel chills through their bodies.

"Sorry. It wasn't our intention to disrupt things in the guild." Spell Boud said amiably to the other elf. He thought that as the elves are usually haughty, they should prefer to speak with someone of their race.

After the elf manager dismissed them, they went out of the guild feeling ashamed but smiling at the same time. Starting a party inside the guild was a very exciting experience that they will not soon forget.

Establishing their guild and commotion later made them forget to ask in the guild about the reward for the first clear of the Hell mode dungeon that they were promised. But now that they were almost kicked out of the guild for causing a commotion, they decided to wait to receive their reward. There is not a time limit to get it anyway.

Now that the guild is registered, they can start recruiting players, then Spell Bound, taking advantage of their current fame gained clearing the Hell mode of White Birch Mountain Forest, wrote a recruitment notice on the forum hoping to attract strong players to their guild.

While Spell Bound was work on recruiting, Ye Yan went to the Bank to open the guild storage, Conan went to put the surplus items they got for auction House and the others went to the City's Hospital to look for quests.

After opening the storage in the Bank, Ye Yan finally took a look at the Wonder Potion Recipe he got from the Goblin Chieftan.

...........

[1] The Eight Immortals are a group of legendary heroes of ancient times who fight for justice and vanquish evil, according to Chinese mythology. They appeared in many stories nowadays. There is mention of them in video games like Fear Effect 2 (2001) and comic books. They help the Collective Man (Chinese hero - mutant) protect China in the X-Men comic book.

[2] The Chinese gods and immortals are two different entities altogether. The first are beings that have nothing to do with mankind and lives in the sky to rule the world. The immortals were humans that become "gods" through self-cultivation, mix with ordinary people, and can travel between this world and the world beyond.

[3] A laugh on the blue sea is the theme song of the movie Swordsman (1990).

[4] Chinese lute resenbling a full moon (Yue means moon).