“I demand to talk to the Developers! These guild base raids are broken. How is any casual guild supposed to take that many monsters? They’re higher level than we are. We lost everything! Now my guild needs to rebuild every house and the moment we rebuild the guild keep we trigger a new wave of raids. It’s just complete bull. They need to compensate us for our wasted time and effort.”
Forum post from the leader of a since disbanded guild.
Year 1, Month 1, Day 8, 07:30
The leadership of Risk of Injury gathered inside the library while the remainder of the guild worked diligently to repair the damaged structures. Torgon looked at the people who had just spent the last hour fighting desperately to preserve what they could. “Do we have word on how most early guilds fared?”
Hyperia looked down at her notes and spoke, “More than 95% lost and only the best suffered less damage than we did. The guilds that lost received a message that the difficulty would normally drop following a loss but that they were already at the lowest difficulty. Groups will need to learn more skills and train together to defend their bases. The base defenses are critical to defeating the monsters. I don’t think any guild that succeeded in their fight had less than full defenses. The consensus is that each defensive structure provides a small hidden buff to the strength of the other towers and the walls. There are going to be a lot more failures over the next few days. Casual guilds are going to hold off on building bases and this might lower the cost of cores on the open market, at least when we can get something of an open market. Another positive is that basic materials should rise in price as people see the free nodes from a guild base being less desirable past level zero.”
Dusty broke in an excited fashion, “I found information in the library on Deep Harbor. It wasn’t there before, I’m sure of it, but it was right up front after the event. It’s a trading city with NPC shops, strict security and auctions every sixday. The only way to get there is via a special teleport and to get that teleport you need an entry pass. Each is good for two days and works for one person. Every group that won their base siege received the passes. According to what I’ve read, the auctions allow players to post goods, and the NPCs post a large amount of goods. They accept coins, cores and mana stones. They have special auctions every month on the fifth sixday as well as massive auctions every thirty sixdays for the half-year celebrations. Nobody knows exactly what will be sold but it hints that skillbooks, blueprints and items we wouldn’t normally have access to can be found there.”
Torgon nodded, “We’ll have to farm up a surplus and visit there. If the event drops 5 passes each time, we should all go this first time to maximize the exploration we can do. I’m not sure just how much we can scrounge up by the 12th, but we can let the entire guild know. Ovarrix, do you have thoughts on what we can do to make the next siege smoother?”
“Well, Mark already took the portable ballista blueprint, started cackling madly and went right to crafting. Stabitha thinks she can adapt the flasks to be fired from slingshots too, that can give us a nice boost for fighting groups. Naturally we’ll all be stronger, which will help. I have to say though, what the hell is up with Sir Boots and Barkolomew? I checked. They’re higher level than we are. I think Sir Boots could take any three of us in combat.” Ovarrix shared with a bewildered expression on his face.
Torgon chuckled, “They have their own houses too. I asked the system about it, and the system said that there were unexpected side effects of their permanent immersion. The primary side effect being increased wakefulness and intelligence. So, take a cat, normally lazy, affectionate and a patient little serial killer, then add in being active for days on end without tiring, being smarter and being rewarded for every little kill it makes. Barkolomew has been playing fetch with the kids and taking fish from the lake. He picked up skills to make that easier and then adapted it to protect his pack, which is the guild. Both can’t leave the guild base right now, but apparently the system, in its infinite wisdom, provided custom quests for the pair here.” Torgon shrugged, “They’re overpowered as hell, but in a non-exploit way. It only helps us with the base raids though. Unless we can somehow convince them to start crafting that is.”
“Uh, it’s kinda weird, but Sir Boots has offered to train me one on one.” Allestor added. “I never expected to be learning combat from a house cat that’s larger than me, but I’ll be damned if his skills aren’t impressive. I think we’re both going to be training the kids in small groups. I’ll be focusing on their teamwork and individual weapon skills while Sir Boots serves as a stronger opponent to make them grow faster. Young malleable and motivated minds learning the art of violence. Please please please let me form a raiding squad to torture everyone that messes with us.” Allestor looked to his side, ”Eileen, you look like you swallowed something sour.”
“No, you know what. It’s fine. Teaching kids the most effective way to deal with bullies is to violently oppose them.” Dr. Masters shook her head in exasperation.
Allestor brightened visibly, almost shaking in his seat. “Great! I’m so happy you’re on board. This is going to be the best PK team ever.”
“I think she was being sarcastic Allestor,” Hyperia deadpanned.
“Nope, she said it was fine. I’m already making plans for uniforms, training schedules, group events and we can workshop some mottos.” Allestor continued talking quietly to himself, lost in his imaginary world filled with violence worthy of the pinnacle of gods and anime.
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“I give up. Hell, it’s probably the right move for this world.” Dr. Masters threw her hands up. “I do need to remind everyone that classes for the children start tomorrow. Each of you will be teaching short lectures to the children in your respective game specialties. They’re surprisingly far ahead in their classroom studies, which are mostly just online modules with assistance available from both AI and staff teachers. They’re far more excited to get lessons from you all than anyone expected. Be ready for lots of questions.”
“Thanks Eileen.” Torgon brought the attention of everyone back from the mild terror of curious children. “The park is a small pond, bushes, a trail and a few benches right now. It has upgrade modules for hot springs, playground equipment, swimming, flowers and even a hedge maze. I’ll open it up tomorrow for anyone who wants to start contributing to the parts they want to see. I haven’t discovered any benefits other than relaxation so far. Taking a casual swim then soaking in hot springs sounds far more appealing than it should right now though. Any more topics to cover?” Torgon glanced around and everyone looked around at each other, but no one had anything more to add. “That should wrap this up. Take the rest of the day for personal projects, crafting, training, or even just hanging out in the park. Make sure you have some kind of plan for your classes, and we’ll meet back tomorrow to see what surprises the world brings us.”
Torgon made his way back to his freshly repaired house. He stepped inside and took a moment to just breathe after all the excitement of the day. He needed a break, and he needed to take stock of everything that had changed during the fighting. He used his free attribute from hitting level four on endurance and quickly spread some of his free xp around. Stretching out on his bed, he mentally opened his character sheet and examined it.
Character Name: Torgon
Level: 4
Primary Attributes:
Strength: 8 +2
Agility: 23 + 1
Endurance: 8 + 1
Intelligence: 15 + 1
Willpower: 12 + 1
Presence: 10
Secondary Attributes:
Health: 240 + 40
Health Recovery: 1.6/s + 0.2/s
Energy: 240 + 20
Energy Recovery: 1.6/s +0.2/s
Mana: 380 + 20
Mana Recovery: 2.4/s +0.2/s
Skills:
Combat Master Skill Level 1
Swordsmanship Level 4
Archery Level 5
Magic Master Skill Level 1
Force Shield Level 4
Healing Touch Level 4
Crafting Master Skill Level 1
Craft Tools Level 2
Craft Weapons Level 10
Gathering Level 4
General Master Skill Level 1
Analysis Level 2
Low Light Vision Level 2
Stealth Level 10
Universal skill slots
Running Level 2
Mining Level 4
Stonecutting Level 4
Free Universal Slot
Blueprints/Recipes
Fishing Pole Level 11
Heavy Crossbow Level 2
Enchanted Long Sword of Strength Level 13
He skimmed past his unleveled blueprints and considered where he stood. Torgon knew that he didn’t want to be an archer, and he knew that he needed to work more on a mix of combat skills. He needed more healing abilities to really function as a team healer. Being an all-rounder early on drove home the need to earn more experience to free up the vital skill slots.
He considered the problem of how to spend his time and experience efficiently in the future. Gathering a lot of stone and mining ore was a must. He could free up two universal slots and a crafting slot by pushing those related skills to 10. Distractions, combat, and leading the guild kept him from the crafting and gathering he so loved. His free experience would be best spent raising spellcasting or combat skills. Any general skills taking up universal slots would also be a candidate. Focusing so hard on his crafting had unbalanced his stats to a degree. His early build made him solidly a support style player and suppressed his natural tendencies for front line combat. His extreme agility would make any sort of dodging or assassination build work well. Torgon knew the dodge skill would work great in his current build, but he was loathe to use his last universal slot.
He finally decided to keep the skill in his inventory ready to use. It might make the difference in a very difficult situation. If he did use it, he could always just gather his butt off for a few days and free up more slots. The guild always needed more stone after all. Satisfied with his progress, he left the comfort of his home for the wider guild base.
Reconstruction moved along quickly with hundreds of people working off xp debt, gathering or just working on improving their skills. He passed by at least a dozen people researching world lore or comparing the various skills in the library. He grabbed a dodge skill, opened the book and paused as the knowledge flooded his brain. The combination of brain freeze, euphoria, heat and dizziness took a moment to pass.
He walked through the park and towards the quarry. Mindless gathering would do him a lot of good. It was better than meditation. He paused for a moment, thinking back to the lists of skills and yes, meditation was on it. Apparently, it boosted regeneration rates while you actively meditated. Another general skill to add to the seemingly endless list of useful general skills.
A good six hours later, Torgon took a break from mining stone. His body glistened, covered in a light sheen of sweat. He stretched and luxuriated in the wonderful feeling of hard work without lingering pain. His gathering had risen to 5 and it would just be a few days of hard work to get all those skills to level 10 and free up those precious slots.
An alert came across his messages, and he perked up.
“You have received a Quest! Uncommon Guild Quest: Meeting Engagement 1. Requirements: Attend the Baron’s dinner at 18:00 or provide his steward with an acceptable reason for absence. This quest is mandatory and cannot be refused, only failed. Rewards: Every guild member will receive 100 Free Experience, 10 Guild Contribution Points and 5 reputation with Miller’s crossing. Failure Penalty: Loss of 50 reputation with Miller’s Crossing for the offending Guild Leader and loss of 5 reputation for every guild member.”
“Baron Abernathy has requested the presence of guild leaders to discuss an impending assault on the approaching monster army. Please gather his office by 18:00 for a dinner and a planning session.”
