>>5436539[You]: Right, so I guess we’ll do this at The Silver Isles.
[Skyfrost]: Sounds good. Not to mention that most players are probably at work or school at this time. There shouldn’t be too many people around.
[You]: You got that right.
[Skyfrost]: Just in case though…
[You]: ?
The conversation stops for a brief moment, and rather than a message showing up as the next line of text of your chat box, a system notification pops up instead.
[Autumn-Moon has joined your party.]
You weren’t expecting this at all.
[Skyfrost]: Good morning.
[Autumn-Moon]: What do you want?
[Skyfrost]: Distant-Cloud will explain.
Well, you quickly fumble out a brief summary of your plans, trying not to be rude, but also not overly polite.
[Autumn-Moon]: I see, and if I refuse?
[You]: You owe us one for the Celestial Plumtree wood though.
[Skyfrost]: Or does the famous Autumn-Moon not repay his debts?
Vicious. For someone with a massive online following like Autumn-Moon, reputation is everything. Skyfrost knew just what buttons to hit.
[Autumn-Moon]: Fine. I have nothing much to do right now, anyway. Let’s get this over with.
[Skyfrost]: With pleasure.
From Ximen, after taking out all the materials required for your breakthrough, you and Skyfrost make your way northwards to the Silver Isles. The Outlands are quite peaceful right now. At most, you run into a few solo players doing some content alone, all of which you ignore. There’s usually an unspoken rule of “you don’t bother me, I don’t bother you,” when it comes to interactions between small groups in the open world. The journey, which takes no more than twenty minutes, is quite pleasant with the calming eastern soundtrack of JSQ playing in the background. On the northern banks of the continent, you spot a lone figure waiting on the shore. That must be Autumn-Moon.
“Before we continue,” Skyfrost pastes a link in party chat, “join our Harmony server!”
“Alright. That would be for the best.” Autumn-Moon replies, following with a question after joining your voice channel. “Were you guys followed?”
“No. I made sure.” Skyfrost reassures.
“I didn’t notice anything either.” You add.
With that, all of you cross the bank and arrive at a land of pure white. The soil is blanketed by thick sheets of snow, together with pale trees that stretch across the isles as far as your render distance allows you to see. The background music turns cold and sombre to reflect this. Usually, qi density fluctuates quite a bit depending on the time of day. The pockets of qi density high enough to initiate breakthroughs tend to swap locations every few hours or so. Each of you split up to scout. Your efforts reveal just one such possible location along the smaller isle inbetween the forests and spiritual mountain to the west. The only downside here is that it is completely visible from one of the dungeon entrances just across the water.
