“Shit, shit, shit!” Horn exclaimed as a pony-sized rat almost flew in his direction. At the start, they were over forty yards apart, but the distance just seemed to disappear. The massive teeth shone on the animal’s snout, fangs the size of his forearm, and madness from its eyes promised painful death.

A flurry of thoughts went through Horn’s head, but every idea was quickly discarded. Running back towards Ingrid was a no-go. He’d never make it. Charging was also a no-go, as the bastard would just trample him. Holding his ground could only give the same outcome.

Horn ran for his life, quickly traversing the corridor between two rooms when a thought came to his mind. He thought that he might keep up with the rat if he only survived the first charge. Somehow he had to slow down the beast.

He dashed through the doorway and smashed the door behind. Then hopped behind the corner while already casting Blessed weapons on his axe. Every advantage would be needed. He was in the middle of his spell when the door just evaporated. With a deafening crash, the albino rat burst through it, like it was made of paper. Splinters flew in every direction, quite a few lodging themselves in the pristine white fur. The beast didn’t notice or care about that, but it stopped dead, sniffing the air.

The moment of hesitation was enough for Horn to finish his cast. He felt power spreading through his hand into the handle of his axe. Like a well-lit torch, the weapon began radiating light, with most of the brightness focusing on the blade. It created an afterimage an inch from the actual metal. Roaring challenge Horn launched into his own charge, “NO DAMN RAT WILL TAKE THIS AWAY FROM ME!”

The beast didn’t hesitate nor cared about the challenge. It leaped in the air with claws and teeth ready to tear him to pieces. Horn dropped to his knees, allowing the albino to fly over. At the same time, he swung with all his might into the soft underbelly. A torrent of blood and guts dropped on him, and the smell and taste almost made him pass out. However, as the rat flew over, it wiggled in the air, its rear paws striking. One hit Horn’s buckler turning it into splinters, while the other dug into his side, pulling out a big chunk of meat.

Both hissed with the pain while turning back towards each other. Horn threw away the useless shield grabbing the axe with both hands while the rat snarled at him. Then they threw themselves at each other. A slash of a paw was avoided by ducking while the teeth blocked the axe. Quick sidestep and another strike flew towards rat’s open flank, just as his tail slashed at Horn’s legs—both hits connected, resulting in another round of hissing. The sound echoed through the room as both beast and the dwarf took a step back to regain breath.

Spitting blood on the floor, Horn said, “I worked for this my whole life, and you’re in my way. No one will beat me! Radiance blast!” A flash erupted from his chest, blinding and staggering the albino. Horn was already flying with his axe swinging over his head at the rat’s neck as it regained its sight. It dug into it with a sickly crunch, severing an artery. Blood began gushing out of the wound, but the rat wasn’t done yet. It weakened by a second, but with its last strength, it caught the out-of-balance dwarf in its jaw and bit with all its remaining energy. There was another loud snap as Horn’s spine was severed. The rat died a second later, but Horn wasn’t far away, and the dreaded words appeared.

You have died. You lost 50% of your unused essence. Due to you being in the game's tutorial section, the respawn will happen in 10 minutes. Do you want to browse your game summary?

He was in a familiar whiteness, the same he started his journey. Angry at himself, he kicked the air then just slumped to his knees. “Fucking rat!” he cursed. The albino killed his chance at the bonus in the tutorial. Horn mopped for a few minutes, cursing. But then, he noticed the blinking emerald in the corner of his vision. He brought up the notifications,

You have slain a dungeon boss – Minor Rat King – level 10 – you gain 500 essence

Quest completed:

First steps – part I

Objective: Defeat the first boss of the tutorial dungeon. - Completed

Bonus objective: Defeat all boss minions before the final fight. - Completed

Bonus objective II: Defeat the boss without dying once. - Completed

Failure condition: Die – will result in a dungeon reset and loss of 5000 civilization points.

Reward: Access to the civilization store, unlock of the tutorial dungeon, - Claimed

Bonus objective reward: 4000 essence - Claimed

Bonus objective II reward: Free random champion of Scarce rarity- Claimed

You have died – slain by Minor Rat King.

“Hell yeah!” Horn’s brooding dissipated into the wind. He couldn’t wait to get back to the game. A new champion! Ingrid, despite being, well - Ingrid allowed him to make it so far, and her boars were a game-changer. He wondered what the second champion would bring in, and finally, he was done with the solo act. It was time to assemble the clan. Taking a look at a clock, he saw that already almost ten hours passed. As his adrenaline dropped, he began to feel really tired and surprisingly hungry and thirsty. Only now he realized how parched his throat was. The game simulated hunger? That was a surprise, he doubted it would affect him as his actual body was nurtured and hydrated, but the feeling was there.

He hoped that the shop would have something to counteract that. As the timer counted to zero, Horn nervously paced back and forth. Finally, a familiar flash of teleportation covered him. He appeared in the main chamber next to the Soul Well arch. Ingrid was there with a worried look on her face but smiled as she saw him appear. She only nodded, focusing back on her boars which munched on dead rats.

Horn approached the arch and touched it, and his vision exploded.

You have claimed tutorial Soul Well.

Access to the civilization shop unlocked. You have 6 days, 12 hours, 42 minutes, 20 seconds remaining in the tutorial zone. Each purchase can be refunded to the store for 50% of its costs.

New Quest received:

First steps – part II

Objective: Conquer five tutorial challenges.

Bonus objectives: Hidden

Failure condition: Time limit - 6 days 12 hours 42 minutes and 16 seconds

Reward: A unique bonus for each zone completed.

Do you want to summon your free champion?

Affirming the choice, Horn saw another wall of text appearing.

You have summoned: Goran Steelriver – Guard Captain – Scarce - Goran was the last captain of the guard under king Bromil Truestriker. In the days of the end, he and his twenty compatriots held a line against two thousand greenskins, allowing the rest of his clan to evacuate through the soul well. For thirty hours, they stopped wave after wave of orcs, never faltering, never surrendering a step, dying in dignity as they were tasked, each minute buying scores of lives of their kin. Goran is an experienced soldier and commander, able to rally troops granting them temporary bonuses. His tactical expertise is only second to his loyalty to the clan.

“Score!” Horn exclaimed, a combat hero with the general’s abilities to buff troops. It couldn’t be much better than that. His luck just returned. Just as he pumped his arm in the air, a deep voice from behind made him jump. “Greetings, chieftain.”

Turning around Horn, saw his champion. A five-foot-tall dwarf with blonde neck-length hair and a short beard. A nasty old scar ran from his forehead through his left eye, disappearing in his chin. The eyeball was milky, probably not working. The dwarf was suited in full chainmail armor, with a metal heather shield poking over his shoulder and a two-bladed steel axe at his belt. He seemed surprised to be here, but emotions quickly disappeared from his face, leaving it blank like a stone.

“Welcome on board! You must be Goran, a famous fighter.” Horn said,

“Thank you, chieftain, but I’m just a soldier at your command,” Goran replied quietly.

“Good, good, we’ll have a lot of work in front of us! But tell me, what abilities, skills do you have?”

“I’m a combat specialist, able to wield all types of weaponry, but I prefer my trusty axe. I know tactics. I can train and lead troops. I have an ability to rally troops in combat, and my shout can focus the attention of any enemy on the battlefield on me.”

”So a commander, trainer, and a tank in one, I love this guy already. However, he’s similar to Ingrid, avoiding naming his abilities. I would expect some window pop-up with his status screen, not such a summary. I wonder if there’s some kind of identify spell or whatnot. As a boss, I should have visibility over my clan, shouldn’t I?” Horn thought, but then added aloud, “Well Goran, that’s great. We have a lot of work in front of us, and your expertise will be much appreciated. Heck, I think you’re right now the ranking military leader in our clan; congratulations. But give me a moment. I have to work out the Soul Well. There’s Ingrid back there with our warboars. Introduce yourself. We’ve been given a task to conquer the five challenges in the dungeon. Try to think up together what they are and what we’ll need to ace them.”

Nodding, the warrior took off.

Horn checked the interface. Seeing it, he stumbled to the ground. It was mindboggling, hundreds, or rather thousands of options. He could buy dwarves, animals, technologies, items, skills, just everything, and he had only a few days for it? He could spend weeks in here creating the optimal list. The game was a magnitude more complicated than the previous one, and he loved it!

Still, he had to start somewhere, and if he was to set up a base, he needed manpower or rather dwarfpower. Pulling up the summoning menu for dwarfs, he saw a pretty short breakdown.

Common soul:

Dwarf level 1 – 250 Essence

Dwarf (crafter – basic non-combat) level 1 – 500 Essence

Dwarf (warrior) level 1 – 1500 Essence

Uncommon soul:

Dwarf (crafter– advanced non-combat) level 1 – 1000 Essence

Dwarf (advanced warrior) level 1 – 2000 Essence

The prices were just bonkers. He had only twenty-six thousand points, including personal Essence, after spending two and half thousand to summon boars. There was an option to call a higher level dwarf, but cost multiplied for each level. From the start, he dismissed that idea. Leveling up the first few levels didn’t seem Essence intensive. But, what was the difference between common and uncommon souls? His champions were of scarce rarity. Were they more powerful? Probably, but how much was it worth doing quality over quantity? Too many questions and not a single page of a wiki.

He closed the menus and located his champions, they were in the middle of a staring contest, but Horn wasn’t taking any shit right now, “So what’s the difference between the common, uncommon, and scarce rarity of a soul? Or if you don’t understand those labels. What’s the difference between a common worker, a warrior, and a champion?”

“Blockhead, you’re the new guy. You deal with pumpkin.” Ingrid said, turning back towards her boars.

“You should respect your Chieftain!” Goran called back,

Sighing, Horn stopped him, “Leave her,”

“As you wish, Chieftain,” Goran agreed, shaking his head in disappointment, “We were given some knowledge of what you’re saying. Despite being artifacts of divine power, the Soul wells weren’t unlimited. Due to this, not all souls were saved in a similar matter. The ones of the lower level and more common class – in short, weaker souls were stripped of most memories and abilities. The more powerful individual, the faster he’d regain his knowledge. A common worker could be a butcher, a desirable class, but with limited potential. A good weaponsmith would be an uncommon crafter. Same with solider, a city guard would probably be a common soul level, while a specialist pathfinder or an adept as yourself would be an uncommon one.”

“Surprisingly well explained, that’s a new one,” Horn muttered to himself before adding, “Thank you, Goran. This explains a lot. That’ll be all.”

First things first, the clan wouldn’t build itself. Horn chose to summon a common level soul, for two-fifty points and a list of professions appeared before him, there were at least a few dozens of them. All were basic laborers: cleaners, haulers, farmhands, street cries, fisherman, lumberjacks, miners, and so on. Choosing a hauler, he looked at the Soul well. The vortex of energy, so far slowly spinning, sped up. Whirling faster and faster, then a shadow of silhouette appeared inside, and after a moment, a dwarf stepped out of it. A long black hair and beard, bulky arms, and five feet of height, just out of a book dwarf. Baggy shirt and pants made out of some nondescript cloth. There wasn’t anything differentiating him from the crowd, other than maybe his dull eyes. They were misted. It looked like he wasn’t even aware of his surroundings.

“Welcome, chieftain. How can I serve you?” The dwarf said in a monotone voice.

After meeting Ingrid and even Goran, Horn was surprised by the lack of any emotions in the newcomer, “Err, yea. Hello, what’s your name?”

The worker just blankly stared at him before replying, “I don’t remember, chieftain. How can I serve you?”

“So that’s for the detailed AI’s playing NPCs. Only important ones seem alive. Fine, let’s roll with that.” Horn wondered for a moment, then said, “You’ll be called Handy, now go and start cleaning these nests. Sort wood, metal, and stone into separate piles. Anything else goes in the fourth one. On second thought, let me summon you a few friends first.”

Horn refocused on the summoning and queued two more haulers. Then he checked other menus, firstly for food and drink. At least here, the exchange was a bit better. A barrel of water costs fifty points, while a haunch of meat only twenty. He quickly summoned enough food for a big dinner and followed it with queuing a cook, another basic dwarf. All four had similarly misted eyes, and despite being fully capable, they seemed like an empty vessel.

He thought he was done when the cook informed him he didn’t have any tools, pots, frying pans, plates, or just anything to prepare and serve the dinner, so Horn had to spend another few points on basics. Then he checked on haulers who moved things a few pieces at a time due to lack of sacks or crates, and another hundred points went down the drain.

“It's much more complicated than it used to be. The units came with everything they needed here. Do I really need to manage every little piece? It's nuts. There have to be some shortcuts. Ehh.” Horn internally monologued while yawning. The stress of the day catching up to him, but there was still so much work to do. Time matters, as the counter on the quest kept reminding him. Sighing, he walked back towards his champions, only to find them arguing.

“Listen, grandma; I don’t care if these are your champions. They are military assets the clan will need. Hand them over!” Goran spoke with passion,

“Grandma? You maggot arse, I’ll give you grandma! Stuff your military asset where torchlight doesn’t reach! You’ll touch my sweethearts after my dead body!” Ingrid shouted, shaking her pitchfork.

“This can be arranged! Clan laws are above private property, stand down or face the consequences!” Goran barked, drawing his axe.

“ENOUGH!” Horn shouted, “You’re the supposed champions of the clan? Bunch of whiny kids! Stand down, both of you.”

Goran immediately sheathed his axe while Ingrid kept her pitchfork ready. Neither of them said a thing but kept measuring each other. Now seeing the reaction he wanted, Horn continued, “I said stand down, or I’ll send you both back into the limbo!”

This had an effect. Goran relaxed his posture, and Ingrid raised her pitchfork but stood defensively between the warrior and her boars. It looked a bit comical as two massive beasts tried hiding behind a five-and-a-half-foot-tall woman.

“Now that you’re listening, the boars ARE the clan property, but Ingrid will take care of them. However, they will take part in combat, so they better get used to the thought. You know they can handle it. Hell, we’ve already ridden them to the battle. Is that clear?”

“Yes, chieftain,” Goran said, nodding,

“Ay pumpkin.” Ingrid acknowledged,

“Much better, as you seem to love each other from the first sight, which is just wonderful and makes my insides fuzzy.” Horn snickered, “So the two of you will do two things. First of all, I need you to bring the loot we kept in the back rooms and everything else you find there, use the haulers I’ve summoned. Then Goran will look on the five gates leading out of this chamber, while you Ingrid make a list of people we need to run a small settlement. As you used to run your ranch, such a task shouldn’t be above you. Is that clear?”

“Yes, chieftain,” Goran mumbled,

“Aye,” Ingrid said, then added under her breath, “Boar’s arse, warlord wannabe,”

Even as he heard it, Horn dismissed the snarky comment. He was too tired already. Walking away, he found an empty corner of the room and laid down. Sleep came quickly. Even the clanking of stones nearby didn’t wake him up.

Horn woke up to a shouting match nearby. Barely conscious, his mind started to listen in,

“… And I said we need at least two squads of riders!”

“Never, you dumb fool! Ride your axe! My darlings will take care of transportation. We need mobility for the clan! And your soldiers could be used as farmers first!”

“So we can feed goblins that come knocking on our doors? We need a military, you old hag!”

“We need food, tool heads like you don’t march on an empty stomach!”

“Oh, for fuck sake,” Horn mumbled, forcing himself to stand up. His body felt sore after resting on hard stone. Why the hell did his body feel muscle pains while in the game? The realism was a bit too much. Still, there was work to be done. Cracking his arms, he started speaking, when a loud, echoing through the chamber loud grumbling of his stomach announced his awakening.

Both Ingrid and Goran stopped their bickering, the former chuckling, the latter a bit embarrassed.

“We have something to eat?” Horn asked, a bit reddish on the face,

“Yes, chieftain, last night's meal is still here, and I’ve kept the stew warm through the night.” His cook replied while already pouring a bowl.

“Amazing job,” Horn said, taking the meal, “and now you two, I hope your eloquent exchange of argument was just an exercise after doing what I’ve told you to?”

Seeing them nodding, he dug into the stew. After a day of nothing in his mouth, it felt heavenly. Sighing with pleasure, he said, “Great, we have a lot of work to do.”