Renan sat at his desk once more, thinking over recent events. His room was the same as ever. He hadn’t changed an inch since Masteria came out, other than the wand that now adorned his room.

Other than that, it was identical. On his computer was the same exact goat wallpaper. His gaming set up was the same, too. It served as a remembrance of the ordinary life he’d left behind when he logged into Masteria.

But nothing was ordinary anymore. So of course, all the old things he used to do were left entirely untouched.

He’d been working tirelessly since his regression. Not just in Masteria, but here on Earth too. Dismantling what he could of Nexarch Technologies’ plans.

That company had men that would bring Earth and Masteria closer together. Last time, he raided one of their offices and killed a man who was being manipulated by the Dark One.

He’d like to do more of that and sabotage more facilities, disrupting more operations. He had to stop, or at least slow down the inevitable merger of worlds.

Regardless, today was not the time for that. Today was about something else entirely.

Renan went to his Nitro and pulled up his messages. He had a raid tomorrow, and he had to make sure it went perfectly.

It wasn’t about just killing Currway. It wasn’t about the rewards for doing so, or the reduced danger after he died. All of those were just secondary benefits.

The real reason was simple. Fame.

Now, most people would be wondering. Fame? What fame? He was already the most famous player. He was already recognized as the top player. The players would do anything he wanted.

That was partially true. He’d already achieved several first-time achievements in Masteria. First kill. First level up. First to reach level ten. Posted a full guide. People knew who Lumi was.

But there was a very big difference between the notion of ’this guy is important’ and ’this guy is important to me’. Just like on earth, you don’t care if some random is rich or not. However, if his success was somehow directly correlated to your benefits, you’d wish him the best too, because you benefit as well.

That was exactly what the raid was for.

Today would transform him from a vague notion of a "top player" into an actual force in the community that could be interacted with for benefits. He’d become someone who could be joined, followed, and whose orders could be followed.

As soon as he showed he was capable of leading players on a wide scale, as soon as they all saw the massive rewards from defeating a demon, they would follow him even more eagerly.

And then immediately after, while still riding the high of the major victory, he’d make his guild.

Everything was falling into place.

Renan began messaging everyone he knew, making sure everything was in order. After that, he double checked. Triple checked, even. He couldn’t afford mistakes.

The raid structure was clear in his mind.

He was the leader, of course.

Lena would co-lead. She’d proven herself more than capable, and she understood his intentions perfectly.

His captains would be Ryan, Tora, Vice, and Hazy. He had worked with them below, he knew their potential, and they had the level and skill to demand respect from the other players.

He made a quick mental rundown of the current information on his allies...

[Ryan - Level 35 - Class: Fighter]

Since players advanced to a Rank Two class at level 30, all his allies had advanced since he last saw them. Ryan, who used to be in the same warrior class as Tora, had now differentiated himself as the two split off into different classes at the Second Rank.

[Tora - Level 33 - Class: Page]

Tora had gone from a generic Cerleon warrior to a page. A page being a trainee, taking their steps into becoming an elite knight. In Tora’s case, Lumi already knew where this road with take him. He’d become a Paladin, one of the tankiest classes in Masteria, who even had the ability to functionally become immortal for a period of time.

[Vice - Level 34] - Class: Hunter]

Vice, of course, continued his journey as a bowman and became a hunter. Macres had two main paths, and while they were differentiated in many different ways, Vice was training in the sheer, pure art of the bow. The ’hunt’ in hunter represented the deeply personal nature in finding a target, holding your bow, drawing it back, and letting that arrow fly loose to kill a target. It was way more involved than, say, a crossbow.

[Hazy - Level 34] - Class: Assassin]

As for Hazy, there was no doubt about it. He was the type of man to stay undetected in the shadows and take out a target without them even realizing they were dead. To be an assassin was his path.

Renan stared at their levels for a long moment.

This was much, much stronger than his past life.

It may not seem as impressive, given the fact that Lumi himself had reached level 49, but this was indeed a great feat. At this stage in the original timeline, even the strongest players hadn’t surpassed level 30. The best were still stuck in the high twenties, struggling to find efficient ways to level up.

But now? These four had reached Rank 2 classes. They’d broken through the first major power threshold. These four would be powerful assets against the demon Currway.

Not to mention, due to his guides that he’d released publicly, it was likely several other players would be at level 30 or above too.

The playerbase was evolving faster and growing stronger. Exactly as he’d planned.

Renan’s gaze lingered on Tora’s profile.

If the man was a tank... then there was something he could do. Something that was already nearly guaranteed, but he could never have too big of a guarantee on. He pulled up the mans DMs and shot him a message.

[Lumi: Hey Tora, got a minute?]