“The landscape of NEMO changed with the actions of the players. Every city and country responded dynamically to the shifts in supply and demand. Monster armies left ruin in their wake and players built and destroyed in equal measure. The NPC nations had to decide whether to embrace the chaos brought by players or oppose them.”

  From “The Living World of NEMO”

  Year 1, Month 2, Day 8, 10:00

  The stews finished and the team carried their cauldrons to the front of the room. Eager faces greeted the food, and guards further sorted the lines for each cauldron. Children and expectant mothers were directed to Torgon’s line, his improved stew promising richer taste and nutrition. A warm smile spread on Torgon’s face as he distributed food and hope in equal measure.

  Alpha Flame ladled food stiffly at first, but over time his movements smoothed and the lines on his face eased. He hadn’t lived long enough to grow jaded to the sheer joy of people receiving a warm meal when they were hungry. His enthusiasm for the task grew with every smiling face he served.

  The five of them spent two hours cooking and serving refugees inside the soup kitchen. Fresh bread arrived from town bakeries to give everyone something to scoop up the juices of the stew with. Workers cleaned dishes and the entire affair ran smoothly serving over 1,000 people in the time they were there.

  “Congratulations! Your Guild has completed a quest! Quest Completed: Advanced Guild Quest: A Part of the World 1. Each participant has been awarded 1,000 experience points in the cooking skill and access to the next stage of the quest. All Guild members are awarded 100 free experience points and 10 guild contribution points.”

  “You have received a Quest! Advanced Guild Quest: A Part of the World 2. Requirements: Help Sir Malik build housing for the refugees outside the city of Miller’s Crossing. Rewards: Each participant will have the construction skill added to their character. This may increase the number of skills above available slots. Completion grants access to the next quest in the chain. Every guild member will receive 100 Free Experience and 10 Guild Contribution Points.”

  Sir Malik said, “Follow me if you please.” Torgon and the others traveled with the knight and left the west gate of the city. Tents and ramshackle huts sprawled in a wide area. Weary and dusty refugees came and went often. The adults looked for work in the city while the children ran and played, not yet ground down by their unfortunate circumstances.

  Freshly cut wooden planks lay near blocks of stone that had just been harvested from the quarry. A wide-open space with areas marked in chalk for houses lay before the team. Workers taken from among the refugees worked slowly to assemble small houses. Sir Malik explained, “Those teams will get the first pick of houses when they’re built. It’s hard work and most citizens don’t have the strength of people like us who fight monsters.”

  A notification lit up in Torgon’s vision.

  “You have been awarded the Construction Skill. You have 7 of 5 universal skill slots filled. You must clear 3 slots in order to free one up.”

  Torgon grumbled, “It’s going to take me forever to get all my skill slots open again.”

  Dusty laughed, “I guess we better start working then. This xp won’t earn itself.”

  The group began placing the stone blocks to create foundations for the houses. They arranged the wood in order, and Torgon kicked off the construction by coating the joints in the stone with lime mortar. The wooden planks were seated into place using joined mortise and tenon construction, and the first house was assembled. The entire process took the five of them less than fifteen minutes.

  They rushed through, building houses for the next four hours. After the tenth house they constructed they all received an achievement.

  “Congratulations! You have been awarded the achievement: Jimmy Carter 1. You have constructed 10 houses that are meant for the ordinary citizens of this world. You gain a permanent 1% increase to the chances of success for all construction projects and a permanent 1% reduction in the amount of time required. You are at 10/100 progress towards the next level of the achievement.”

  Hyperia said, “If this quest unlocks a repeatable option, we’ll need to get as many future builders as we can to run it for the achievement.”

  Alpha Flame wiped the sweat from his brow as he kept working on the houses. “Is this the first time anyone has gotten an achievement that you know of?”

  Torgon shook his head, “No, Hyperia got one for shooting a guy in the unmentionables during a duel to the death.” Alpha Flame shuddered and refused to look Hyperia in the eye.

  Torgon asked Sir Malik, “These houses are exposed outside the wall here. Do you have any plans to take care of that?”

  “Indeed, we do,” he responded. “

  “Congratulations! Your Guild has completed a quest! Quest Completed: Advanced Guild Quest: A Part of the World 2. Each participant has been awarded 1,000 experience points in the construction skill and access to the next stage of the quest. All Guild members are awarded 100 free experience points and 10 guild contribution points.”

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  “You have received a Quest! Advanced Guild Quest: A Part of the World 3. Requirements: Help Sir Malik build defenses for the new residential area outside the city of Miller’s Crossing. Rewards: Each participant will have the fortification skill added to their character. This may increase the number of skills above available slots. Completion grants access to the next quest in the chain. Every guild member will receive 100 Free Experience and 10 Guild Contribution Points.”

  Sir Malik gestured to two barrels containing picks and shovels. “We have everything you need right here.”

  Torgon rolled his eyes at the knight’s humor. “We have our own thanks. Everyone, let’s make a quick trench, pile the dirt behind and put down stones for a foundation.” Alpha Flame mumbled something that didn’t quite reach Torgon’s ears. “What was that?”

  Alpha Flame said, “I don’t have tools.”

  Dusty grabbed an extra set of tools from her inventory and tossed them over. “There you go. Those will work much better than what’s here.”

  He inclined his head, “Thank you Dusty.” Alpha Flame dove into the work with the rest of them. He made up for his lack of experience with his newfound enthusiasm for hard work. Torgon approved of how the young man was handling the changing circumstances. His behavior lacked the level of arrogance that he anticipated.

  They toiled on the fortifications until the light in the sky began to fade. The hoped for notification soon arrived.

  “Congratulations! Your Guild has completed a quest! Quest Completed: Advanced Guild Quest: A Part of the World 3. Each participant has been awarded 1,000 experience points in the fortification skill and access to the next stage of the quest. All Guild members are awarded 100 free experience points and 10 guild contribution points.”

  “You have received a Quest! Advanced Guild Quest: A Part of the World 4. Requirements: The city of Miller’s Crossing needs your help. Complete 1,000 repeatable party quests benefiting the city of Miller’s Crossing as a guild. Rewards: Every guild member will receive 5,000 Free Experience, 500 Guild Contribution Points, and 250 Reputation with Miller’s Crossing. The Guild will receive 100 Reputation with the Kingdom of Thorn.”

  Sir Malik spoke, “The quests you all participated in today are examples of the repeatable quests. Players who choose to do them will receive the same rewards you did. It’s a good way for those who aren’t interested in fighting to benefit the city and the kingdom.”

  Torgon nodded, “We’ll have people out working on the city as soon as we can. Thank you for the opportunity to contribute.” Torgon and his group made their way back to the guild base. He pulled them all into the meeting room and had the available guild officers and Captain Cook join them.

  Torgon addressed the crowd, “Tomorrow we’re going to finish getting everyone who needs it attuned with the Tomb of the Wight Lord. After that we need everyone farming experience and gear to prepare. I want it to spread through the guild and the city that we will be assaulting the forces trying to monopolize the Temple of Unclad Bone on the 14th.”

  Hyperia leaned to the side, “You want them to know we’re coming?”

  Torgon nodded, “I do. I think we should post it on the forums and call them out. I want to confront them directly and make them pull out all the stops to try and beat us. We can call it operation Visigoth just to tweak their noses.”

  Hyperia considered for a moment then spoke, “I’ll loop in Ovarrix and the field commanders. They can start planning. Our scouts should keep the surprises to a minimum. I’ll have my contacts scour for outside backers or potential allies in the area.”

  Alpha Flame glanced around and spoke, “I put a lot of funding into the Heirs of Destiny, but the other guilds had their own backing. I admit that too much of what I spent went into entertainment. Nobody really cared unless I was buying the drinks or paying for food. The Midnight Maiden would know more about the groups behind the other guilds.”

  Torgon said, “Thank you, and frankly, you’ve surprised me. You’re taking this far more seriously than I expected.”

  Alpha Flame shrugged sheepishly and looked at his father. “When I lost control of the money, everyone that I thought was a friend just abandoned me. I made a lot of mistakes, and I hope that I can learn from them.”

  Captain Cook smiled indulgently, “There’s a time and a place to make mistakes like that and it’s called college.”

  Laughter rippled through the room and Hyperia put a hand on the shoulder of the embarrassed young man. “Everyone makes mistakes. Admitting your mistakes and learning from them is what separates the good from the bad.”

  Dusty asked, “What about the next few days before the big fight?”

  Digger spoke up, “I need all the help I can get tomorrow. We’re close to connecting the road network and being able to start working on the fortresses. Anybody with construction or fortification skills would be the best.”

  Torgon facepalmed, “You’ll get all the help you need Digger, plus the new quest lines should give more seasoned workers.” Torgon thought it over more, “The fortresses take the bulk materials that must be slowly transported. It would be the perfect opportunity to test out some of our combat formations and perhaps startle the opposition into reacting.”

  Mark disagreed, “If they came at us in force, we’d lose any advantages of prepared ground. Everyone moving a block would be vulnerable with a high potential for losses in the materials. The first combat vehicle is finished, and we can expect to add one a day. At least wait until we have a small force of them assembled.”

  Hyperia added, “Smaller groups will try to build the fortresses when they can. We could pivot to running screening forces to catch the bandits.”

  “That will work,” Torgon said. “They can clear undead near the road network.”

  “We do have teams that help defend us already,” Digger noted. “Monster attacks are a problem. There haven’t been many player killers though. Maybe because they want us to finish the roads for them?”

  Captain Cook spoke hesitantly, “Are my son and I the only ones here still using the helmets and not the pods?” Seeing the nods he continued, “Is it worth it? Singularity has offered a partnership with my company. They want us to start producing pods, and it looks like a good deal, but they would require us to use the pods.”

  Torgon sat back and looked at the man. “I’m not sure I ever want to get out of the pod. I feel so much better physically, and I have more time than I ever did. I know you’re leaning towards accepting just because you’re asking us and I would encourage you to take the deal.” Everyone around them agreed with Torgon’s sentiment.

  Alpha Flame looked at his father, “Dad, you always taught me to seize opportunities and to try and push the boundaries. It’s why you even agreed to fund the guild here to begin with. You could start a trend among business leaders. If you start doing your deals here and putting your employees in the game, others will take notice. They’re already trying to build their own spaces outside the game to take advantage of the time dilation.”

  He took a deep breath and continued, “Even if you keep most of the work outside the game, you’ll have so much more time. You never have enough time.” He hesitated, “I could use you around more.”

  Captain Cook looked at his son once more, seeing things in a new light. “I’ll accept the deal. There’s not much to lose and so much to gain.”