Someone shaking his arm awoke Horn. He opened his eyes, seeing the worried face of Vir. “Boss, ye fin?” The dwarf asked.

“Yes, give me a second. Everything hurts.” Horn replied, slowly raising. His eyes noticed his health was still in single digits. Not too long had passed since his fight, and he had just enough juice to cast Cure wounds. With sweet relief spreading through his body, he noticed what Vir just said, or rather, how he said it.

“Vir, is everything all right?”

“Ay, th’ bastard git us good. Skuti and commandir paid th’ price, bit me and Gardan’ ir fin. Git to see you fin too.”

Horn had to take a moment to understand the dwarf. He also noticed changes in his appearance. He felt more alive somehow. His face reflected genuine emotions, a mix of worry, sadness, even a hint of anger. Something that didn’t happen till now. He seemed to stop being just a brainless puppet and become somewhat humanlike. Horn was astonished. A random minion went through such a change? These learning algorithms were just crazy.

Still, he remembered the two he just lost. Skuti’s body was there, his eyes still opened wide in a shock. Goran was still there, slumped, covering the place where he was bleeding out just minutes ago. The damn stupid dwarf! He was a player. God damn it! His death wouldn’t mean much. He’d be back, and Goran…

Then it hit Horn. Goran would be back! He was a champion, and Horn could resummon him! He almost started sprinting towards the exit, but his rational mind pulled him back. First things first, they didn’t come here just for a fight.

“Vir, Gardan, heads up. Goran will be back among us. The Soul well can resummon him. We need to pack up and get going.”

“Ay, git news. Whit ‘bout Skuti?”

Horn’s good mood dropped, “I don’t know, but I don’t think there’s anything I can do for him. He was a brave one. We’ll get his body back with us to properly send him off. That’s the least we can do.”

Vir just nodded.

“Grab anything you can hold, and let’s get out of here.”

“Bossman, whit ’bout core?”

“What core?”

“Thit one,” Vir replied, pointing to a crystal ball floating in the middle of a crater made by an emerging boss.

“The hell?” Horn mumbled, approaching the core. Once he touched it, his vision flashed with messages.

Dungeon completed. You are the first party to complete this dungeon!

Pioneer bonus earned: Two free attribute points awarded to each party member. The completion bonus quadrupled.

Completion bonus: 1 000 (4 000) essence awarded to each party member

Crystal details: 50/50 runs remaining, regenerates 1 charge/day

Congratulations! For defeating your first dungeon, you gain a new title: Dungeoneer I – While in a dungeon, your regeneration rates will be doubled. Defeat more dungeons to increase this title rank.

Congratulations! For defeating a dungeon on a pioneer run and claiming the core, you gain a new title: Dungeon Master I – You know the status of all dungeons under your control. The number of parties inside and remaining charges. Once a year, you can enter a dungeon under your control with your party into an instance of another group. Dungeons under your control: Tutorial Rockeater dungeon 50/50 charges.

Quest updated: First steps II

You have conquered the dungeon challenge! Reward: Tutorial level cap increased to 6. Ten advanced military summons unlocked.

Current completion status: 1/5

“Oy, Bossman! We’v jist reached th’ maximum level!” Vir interrupted his lecture,

“Good, good, keep going, gather everything. I’m almost done here.” Horn replied, not paying attention. There were a few more notifications about taking over party leadership after Goran’s demise, some few more about Essence gained from boss killing – a whole thousand.

He quickly put the two points from the pioneer bonus into the spirit. His small mana pool was an issue, then checked the Essence pool, which sat at a sliver over six thousand points.

As he finished, Horn helped his dwarfs to gather the remaining loot. The chest had a few items, but nothing caught his attention, so he decided to leave them for later. Turning back towards the bodies of his comrades, he noticed that Goran’s body disappeared. His gear was on the floor in a pile, but the body dissipated. This only brought his hopes up - he’d see him again. The others didn’t notice or care that it happened, so they gathered their bags, took Skuti’s body, and took off.

The run itself took around four hours, as the timer kept reminding him. It was both fruitful and painful, Horn realized, he’d lose some units on the way, but losing something on a screen and losing someone who fought side by side with you was a completely different feeling. Even the knowledge that they were just lines of computer code didn’t console him. This game was a bit too real, but maybe that was its magic. Horn didn’t want to quit. He had to get better, much better in it.

That brought a sad smile to his lips. He’d make sure that his clan would prosper and that no one more would need to die. He knew it was wishful thinking, but it was something to work towards.

The comeback to the main cavern was a bit anticlimactic. There wasn’t any crowd waiting for them. There wasn’t a sense of satisfaction coming back. But there was a sense of duty. Horn sent the warriors back to his quartermaster to segregate the loot while he dove into the Soul well. There was an option to bring back Goran in the champion section, and thankfully, it was quite a cheap one. A hundred Essence per his level, which still added up to six hundred. When did he earn that much, Horn had no idea, but he was glad he did. A few moments later, the familiar vortex sped up, and Goran stepped out of it.

“Chief, did you win?” The warrior asked,

“Yes, Goran, we did. Probably thanks to you. I’m glad you’re back, but I’m also pissed at you. How could you? Risking your own life and the rest of the party to heal me? WHY?” Horn shouted,

“You are the Chief. Without you, there is no clan.” Goran calmly replied,

“I AM IMMORTAL. Even if I die, I will always come back. Same as you, or even better than you as I don’t need a Soul well to come back. Our warriors – they won’t come back. So I don’t care what do you think, or what you did in the past. There will be no exceptions. I am EXPANDABLE, is that clear?” Horn vented his frustration. He wasn’t angry at Goran. The man did what he was supposed to do, but he was at hand, and Horn still didn’t come up to terms with this new reality.

Goran looked like he wanted to argue, but then either he reconsidered, or his training kicked in, and bowing slightly, he just said, “Yes, Chieftain. Is that all?”

Horn just dismissed him with a wave of his arm.

He had enough Essence to summon a few warriors, it was still just a drop in the bucket, but he had a solution. He just left the Essence mine. Maybe it had limited runs remaining, and the rewards should probably be much lower next time. Still, if he could get a thousand out of each run, that’ll be enough to jump-start the clan. However, if each run took around four hours, then they’d run out of time much too early. He’d need to check with Goran, but first, he wondered if the hut’s construction was already done. It was supposed to be a very primitive and quick build.

Indeed the building was there. It was a shack more than a hut, stone foundation with wooden walls and flat roof. The craftsmanship was impressive. Each plank fitted neatly into construction, without any space left. The floor was ideally even and the door fitted snugly, opening without any noise. Inside was very spartan, a single desk, with a basic chair behind it. A chest to the side - a strange one without hinges or lock, but instead with a handprint on its lid, and that was it. “A bit of a letdown, if I’m honest. Let’s see if that works.”

As soon as he sat behind the desk, the underwhelming feeling disappeared. Windows opened in front of him.

Lightforge clan status: Nomadic Tribe

Settlements: Tutorial zone – Soul well: Tutorial well - Settlement level: 1 – camp – buildings: 1

Clan membership: 17 – Morale: Unhappy (-15) – Loyalty: Average (0)

Clan taxes: None – 732 Essence stored

Military strength: Unknown – build barracks

Commerce: Unknown – build market office

Research: Unknown – build house of learning

Diplomacy: Unknown – build town hall

Resources: Decaying – build warehouse

1-3 units of wood [0/day]

3-7 units of stone [0/day]

0-1 unit of basic metal [0/day]

10-18 units of basic food [-17/day -1-5/day spoilage]

Every bolded menu could be opened further, giving more insight, well, at least the ones he met the requirement to open. He could look at the professions of all his clan members. He could see their level. What surprised him was that both Vir and Gardan were only on the sixth level. The reward for the pioneer run should push them much higher. Then Horn recalled what Vir said. Did they reach maximum? Oh, the message now after the dungeon now made sense—another thing to investigate. However, what he was more thrilled to do, was to set up tax.

Opening the submenu, he saw two critical things. First, there was a slider, with a maximum setting of 20% of Essence gained. Horn immediately set it to the maximum. Secondly, there was a list called, Donations. On a hunch, he closed the tab and walked towards the chest. Touching the handprint on the lid made a popup appear.

Do you want to donate Essence to the Lightforge clan?

A wide smile appeared on Horn’s face. This was his solution - if that worked on his NPCs also.

Quickly he went out looking for his warriors at the quartermaster and took them back. A few minutes later, the clan was almost eight thousand Essence richer, and Horn learned two new things. First of all, NPC leveled automatically, so they could only donate the Essence gained at their current level. Secondly, there was a tutorial zone level cap of the sixth level. He quickly checked it out, spending part of his Essence to level up, however as he reached the fifth level, something unexpected happened.

You’ve reached level 5. You gain: +1 Endurance, +1 Ability, +1 Spirit, +1 Might/Endurance/Presence (choose one within 1 hour or it will be randomly assigned), +1 Free attribute point.

You have leveled halfway throughout your class, your path splits, which one will you walk? The time of choice is now.

Battle Adept – focusing on combat prowess and offensive magic.

Chanter Adept – dedicated to helping others, increasing their strength with his mere presence.

Healing Adept – a specialist in keeping his allies alive.

Shadow Adept – forgoing the ways of light, focusing on death and suffering.

Squire Adept – abandoning its magic studies to focus on martial discipline.

The choices gave Horn a pause. Almost all of them seem interesting. He almost instantly crossed out Squire and Shadow. He had warriors on the frontlines for the former, and magic was what made him successful so far. The latter, the light, and healing were much more to his likening. The remaining three were all interesting. Better healing was a must-have, buffing his troops again a no-brainer, and raining magic on his enemies, probably the most fun one.

Before choosing, he checked the Soul well. He could summon more adepts. They were an uncommon warrior type. Fifteen hundred Essence a pop so he could get more healers. With that knowledge, his choice was an easy one.

Congratulations, you step forward as Battle Adept! Your foes will cower before your might.

Congratulations, you’ve learned skills: Flame strike, Battle Caster

Battle Caster level 1 – Passive – Mind/Spirit – Decrease the mana cost of offensive (damaging) spells by 25%.

Flame Strike level 1 – 20 mana – Mind/Spirit – 5-second cast - Calls forth a column of fire for the 5-second duration, striking at a chosen location within fifty feet. Deals damage based on mind attribute increased damage versus undead and demonic entities.

Finally, an offensive spell, and even more importantly, a cost decrease for casts. Horn was urging to test it out, but there was still work to be done. He leveled up again.

You’ve reached level 6. You gain: +1 Endurance, +1 Might, +1 Spirit, +1 Might/Endurance/Presence (choose one within 1 hour or it will be randomly assigned), +1 Free attribute point.

You can learn a single out-of-class skill. [Total free skill slots: 1]

You have reached the maximum level in the tutorial section. Additional leveling will be available upon reaching the Nexus. All unused Essence will disappear.

A free skill would perfectly fit his needs. Since Goran told him about Leadership skill, he wanted one. Then the only thing that remained was spending free attribute points. He was torn between pushing them into Mind to increase Flame strike damage, but he still felt inadequate mana wise, so they went into the spirit.

Done with the maintenance, Horn wondered about the next steps. Finally had some Essence. After donation, he was back at almost fourteen thousand. Enough for several specialists. What’s more important, the previously grayed-out options in uncommon warrior specialists were available! He remembered the reward from the first challenge. Ten summons, it was still a drop in the bucket, but it was a start. He had a goblin camp to conquer, an arena fight probably versus another player, a crafting challenge and a puzzle to solve, and of course, a dungeon to farm.

Farming seemed the most important thing at the time, fifty runs. Each took a few hours, so most of his time would be used there unless he could automate that. Pursuing that idea, he went to find Goran. The champion was at a smithy, helping to repair his chainmail. The nasty hole from the claw that ended his previous life was still wide open. Seeing it, Horn felt a bit guilty about lashing out at the dwarf earlier, but he wasn’t one to make an apology. Instead, he called, “Goran, need a minute.”

“Chieftain,” The dwarf acknowledged and approached.

Horn quickly filled him in on essence donations, level cap, and his idea to farm the dungeon. After finishing, they both stood in silence out there. Both were thinking about that, Horn hearing it, already saw several gaps in the plan. Finally, Goran broke the silence, “As you wish, Chief, we’ll head back, but it won’t be the most effective way.”

“I know, we’re too high leveled for that already, aren’t we?” Horn asked,

“Indeed. The most efficient way would be to summon more warriors and use the dungeon to train them. I believe that knowing the dangers, even a new squad can defeat it without losses. It’s surprisingly straightforward. Never seen such in the past.” Goran explained.

“That was straightforward? We’ve been almost wiped!”

“Chieftain, with great rewards, comes great danger. Nexus isn’t a safe world.”

Horn just grunted, “Fine, let’s forget that. I won’t agree for a newbie party to go in alone, but I’ll need you around. Can we summon someone else to lead a party?”

“A sergeant should be capable enough.”

Checking the menus, he found a sergeant, but it was uncommon warrior type, the only one previously available for him. Fifteen hundred points, grunting Horn queued one, then spent another fifteen hundred for an adept, one of ten he could summon. He called forth four more fighters, wincing as quarter points went down the drain.

He went back into menus, finding another skill to buy. It was priced at five hundred but was needed to delve. So he bought it,

Congratulations, you’ve learned skills: Leadership

Leadership level 1 – Passive – Presence – Gives the ability to form a party up to your presence score. Increase morale of your units, slightly increase regeneration rates.

As the dwarfs started to appear, he addressed Goran, “We’ll delve in two squads, I’ll take sergeant with me, you’ll take a new healer. We’ll split the rest of the warriors between us. The objective is to level them up, fallback if you cannot take out the boss. Losing one of ours is not worth it.”

Goran nodded, but Horn wasn’t finished yet. “Then I’ll summon even more warriors to hopefully create three or four squads of four to run the dungeon. A sergeant, a healer, two warriors, and we’ll attach a crafter or worker to each group to pump their levels. Everyone reaching the sixth level will donate all extra Essence to the clan so we can summon more of our kin.” Checking his clock, he saw less than five and a half-day remaining, “We give it two days. I want the dungeon to be run to the ground. In the meantime, I need someone to start scouting the valley. We’ll take on goblins in three days.”

Goran was listening carefully, and with each word, a smile widened on his lips. This is what he lived for. This is how a clan should be led. Despite being overdramatic, his Chief wasn’t a fool. Goran felt the loss of Skuti, but it was necessary. People died all the time. But now, he felt a calling, with new vigor, he said, “Great plan, Chieftain. I would add one point. If we’re to attack goblins in a few days, we’ll need everyone armed and trained. Even a small goblin village can house a few hundred greenskins. I propose every clanmate goes through combat training. Levels themselves won’t matter if they won’t know how to swing their axes.”

“Good point, every clanmate will go through your training. A combat proficiency is a minimum they need to learn. Now we’re done, so let’s make the Lightforge great again!” Horn exclaimed enthusiastically,

Goran just shrugged at hearing the strange call, yet another eccentricity of his Chieftain.