( The True Elites Guild Headquarters, The Upside )


    As Rocky walked into the True Elites Guild Headquarters alongside the towering Buhara and the pretty boy Erin, he instantly became the center of attention as unlike the first time he walked through these halls having no warriors aura, this time as he walked through the halls alongside his team, he actually managed to exude an aura of strength that made veteran climbers gaze at him with interest.


    "Buhahahahara–" said Buhara, flexing his muscles at a particrlyrge climber from the True Elites Guild. As the two spontaneously bursted out into a muscle disy contest, with both flexing their ripped physiques to one another.


    "Stop it Rhino, he''s a guest–" Said, Rhino''s team leader at the guild.


    "Show him who''s the strongest Buhara, don''t back down" said Rocky, as his reply came out as aplete 180 of what the Elite team leader said.


    This difference was mostly because Rocky was not a part of the guild and did not need to adhere to its rules, while Rhino''s team leader Jack was forced to.


    "Hooo, you''ve be spicierpared to thest time I saw you, Rocky–" Jack said, as Rocky winked to him in reply.


    Soon, Rocky walked over to the Guildmaster''s office, where he found Amelia sitting in the corridor outside.


    Upon gazing towards Amelia, immediately, all the attitude drained out of his body as he straightened up and cleaned his act.


    "Hello Aunt Amelia, I''m back…" Rocky said sweetly, as the stark contrast in his speech pattern made Erin visibly crack up.


    "Hoo–, look what the cat dragged in…" Amelia said with a big smile on her face, as she left her desk and walked over towards Rocky to give him a hug.


    Rocky warmly embraced Amelia, for whom he had a soft spot in his heart, as when he was at his lowest, it was Amelia who had given him a shelter in her house and helped him get through a tough phase of life.


    "Are these your friends?" Amelia asked after pulling away from the hug, as Rocky pointed towards Erin and Buhara and introduced them to Amelia.


    " Buhara, a battle mage. And Erin, a support mage.


    My roommates from back at the university and the first two official members of my Champion''s Party" Rocky said, as he introduced Erin and Buhara.


    "Members of your Champion''s party?" Amelia asked, raising an eyebrow as she did not expect Rocky to have chosen members for his party so soon.


    Choosing party members was a big decision since a climber''s life or death depended on the strength of his party. However, the risk was much greater for a Champion''s party who were assured to face greater risks.


    For Rocky to have chosen Erin and Buhara as his Party members, meant that those two were exceptional climbers as well, as Amelia knew just how exceptional Rocky himself was.


    "Well, I''ll keep an eye on the two of you from now on then…. Please take good care of Rocky" Amelia said with a soft smile, as she did not portray her usual ruthless self before Erin and Buhara and instead showed her kind side.


    Her cute smile immediately made Erin and Buhara melt, as the two men immediately blushed and began staring towards the ceiling in a reaction that Amelia found very cute.


    "Please don''t let me hold you…. The guildmaster is expecting you–" Amelia said, as she gestured for Rocky to enter Karna''s cabin.


    *******


    As Rocky entered Karna''s cabin, he was greeted by the scene of a shirtless Karna and a shirtless Neatwit working on war diagrams, while the whole office was littered with papers and war strategies.


    "Two gay men!" Said Buhara immediately after entering the Guildmaster''s office, as Karna and Neatwit synonymously replied with a curt "No!".


    Turning his head, Karna nodded and acknowledged Rocky''s entry into his office as he stood up from his seat and began collecting a pile of documents scattered on the chairs, to make room for Rocky and his friends to sit.


    "Neatwit, pass me my shirt…" said Karna, as Neatwit nced around him but failed to find Karna''s shirt within the messy room.


    "I can''t find it. Ask your wife to send a new one" Neatwit replied, as Karna picked up a pen and threw it at full speed towards Neatwit''s head in response.


    *Smack*


    "Please find my shirt…. Vice guildmaster" Karna instructed again, as Neatwit groaned, getting up from his ass, as he began searching for Karna''s shirt.


    "Here— Guildmaster" Neatwit said, throwing a shirt to Karna''s face, as Karna hastily put it on before finally turning towards Rocky, with a serious expression on his face.


    "Apologies guys, The Vice Guildmaster of the True Elites Guild is an insubordinate bozo" Karna said, taking a jibe at Neatwit, to which Neatwit immediately replied with  "Apologies guys, The Guildmaster of the True Elites Guild is a lovestruck idiot who treats his underlings as if they are his girlfriend"


    Karna red at Neatwit when he made thisment and Neatwit red straight back, as the tension between the two became evident.


    ''Uh-Oh'' thought Rocky, as he understood that Neatwit had still not eased into the idea of Karna and Amelia dating, as his jealousy about this event was evident.


    "Jealous Gay Men…." Whispered Buhara in Rocky''s ears, however, the whisper itself was so loud that everyone in the room heard it.


    Blushing immediately, Karna and Neatwit broke their silent ring contest as Karna returned his attention to Rocky and his friends.


    "Everything is set for the uing floor raid.


    To minimize risk on our end, we have decided to share the spoils of victory with other guilds on Earth should we win, as we have decided to include 7 other major guilds to this raid to bolster our numbers" Karna began, as he started to give Rocky a brief about all the important developments that had taken ce so far.


    "So far, we have recruited about 25 million climbers in total, with a bulk of these forces scheduled to fight from the front gates.


    Regarding the main objective of this raid, which is to free Riva, the situation of the underground prison is indeed tricky, however, we have decided that vice guild master Neatwit will apany you alongside the number one raid squad of the Elites consisting of our strongest tier4 and 5 fighters for this cause" Karna said, as he gave Rocky the assurance that the strongest fighters of the guild will all be with Rocky to free Riva, as the number one objective of this raid is not to capture the floor, but to be free Riva.


    "You have to save Riva as fast as possible Rocky, because, if the floor raid above doesn''t go as nned, I''m going to call for an early retreat.


    For me, controlling floor 21 is not the priority, but the lives of my guild members is.


    If I see too many of us dying, I am going to call for a retreat, because I''d rather not control the floor rather than see my men die.


    However, I won''t be able to call for a retreat with you and Neatwit still stuck underground, so please do your best–" Karna said, exining the importance of Rocky''s role in this mission, as although Karna knew that Rocky wasn''t the strongest climber in the group, in fact he wasn''t that strong at all, Karna still relied on him to pull off miracles since Rocky was the champion of Gemini who had managed to kill the lich when even a tier6 god fled the battlefield.


    There was something about Rocky, that made Karna treat him as an equal, as not only did Karna take him seriously when consulting about strategy, but he also treated him as an equal when distributing mission importance.


    Of course he wasn''t delusional to the point where he only relied on Rocky to pull off miracles and did not give him the necessary tools to pull it off, as although he treated Rocky as an equal, he did rely on Neatwit more to see the mission through.


    "If everything works out, not only will we save Riva, but we will also take revenge on Olympus by capturing one of their lower floor strongholds that they have been holding for decades now…." Karna concluded as he passed the detailed war ns to Rocky for scrutiny.


    Taking the ns in hand, Rocky studied them with interest, with Buhara and Erin also pitching in their ideas.


    Since all three of them had studied the subject ''Battlefield Strategies and Leadership'', seeing their bookish knowledge being implemented in the real world, excited them, as they bounced off ideas with each other as to what might go right or wrong based on Karna''s n.


    Watching them deliberate amongst each other, Karna realized how important a climber''s foundational education was for their future sess, as most of his guild members, although vastly more experiencedpared to these kids, did not have the tactical acumen to scrutinize Karna''s war ns like they did.


    —----


    /// A/N - My birthday today! ;) ///