We finished loading all the swords and shields onto the cart, and from there we got moving again. I checked my notifications.

Congratulations! You’ve slain a Human (lvl 6)! You gain 375 xp!

I thought it was a bit weird that they were just listed as ‘Human’, but I suppose it had done the same thing when I’d killed stonemen or anything else. I dismissed the notification and fell back into the rear guard with Tib. Tristus and the rest were all talking about what restaurant they were going to eat at when we arrived, and Zevrack had arrayed a few shields to concentrate the sunlight coming down onto us into a single patch within the cart inside which he immediately curled up inside for a nap.

There was no more excitement and a little before nightfall we decided to make camp. We set up a short distance from the main road and kept our fires low. While Tib was fairly certain we wouldn’t encounter any more trouble any time soon, he also wanted to make doubly sure that was the case, so we were being cautious.

I was chatting with Patience, and helping her settle the Mule when suddenly a notification filled my vision.

A Choice has been granted through the efforts of champion Joan

This Choice has been made

The god of Peace has altered the system. Non-violent resolutions now produce 2x XP

Everyone stood silently for several moments as we read and absorbed what we were reading. It certainly wasn’t as bombastic a choice as my own patron had made, but it made sense for the god of Peace to want to incentivize their namesake. When the notification cleared from my vision I took stock of how the rest of the party was reacting.

Most of them seemed to be deep in thought, but I noticed that Tristus was wearing a wider smile than he had been just moments before. A genuine one, rather than the sly and mischievous one I’d already grown used to him wearing. He looked over at me and noticed my raised eyebrow.

“My class is literally called ‘diplomat’,” he said as we made eye contact. “All of my duties rely on non-violent solutions, and I gain XP from performing duties that lead to them. I think I’ll be hitting my next level much sooner than I expected.”

“What level are you now?” I asked.

His smile reverted back to its previous mischievous state. “Well aren’t you forward to ask such a thing. Is that not considered impolite in Elfland?”

“No. It’s not.”

“I’m level 17, close to 18. It’s one of the reasons I was chosen for a promotion.

That caused my eyes to widen. Non-combat classes clearly had it easier when it came to levels.

“So,” started Millicent as we all sat and ate around the low fire. “Any ideas for how we can exploit this new change?”

Patience smiled. “Is it considered a non-violent resolution if I just hold a dagger to someone’s throat and threaten them? If they surrender and no one was hurt?”

I shook my head. “No, you probably need to get them to surrender with just the implication of a dagger to the throat. I feel like a dagger to the throat is already breaching violence territory.”

“So intimidation then? Just using the threat of violence to get enemies to surrender and gain double XP?” asked Tib.

“That could work,” offered Millicent, “but you’d need to hold back on punching people for the sake of llamas.”

That made Tib blush, and I saw a small smile on Nica’s face.

She spoke next. “Perhaps if I’m in the woods with an arrow aimed at someone, and one of you tells them I’ll kill them if they don’t surrender. Maybe distance would have an effect?”

“Hmm, it seems possible.”

Zevrack popped out of a small shelter he’d built from the shields we’d looted. “I can make a trap that doesn’t hurt, but stops them. Or use a poison that paralyzes.”

I nodded. “I think the trap would definitely work, but the poison may be a bridge too far for it.” I thought for a few moments. “I think a bluff would work best. Convincing them you have the upper hand and getting them to give up. Hard to pull off, though for double XP, it certainly seems worth trying.”

“I’ve ignored the chance at an immobilization spell for three levels now. Wish I’d realized it would suddenly be useful.”

“Why’d you ignore it until now?” asked Patience, “It seems like it would’ve been pretty useful even before this change.”

“Well…” Millicent put her hand to her chin and considered. “I guess I really just prefer to use spells that hurt people.”

I laughed. I’d noticed she had a predilection for spells that maimed, mangled, or mauled.

Tristus looked at each of us with a look of genuine worry on his face. The first time I’d seen him contort his features in a way that could even be remotely considered unattractive. “It deeply concerns me that in all of your theories and considerations, not a single one of you thought of the possibility of simply talking things out with your enemies and coming to a mutual agreement.”

We all looked at one another, and Tib actually spoke up. “Well Tristus, I suppose you have your way of doing things in your line of work and we have ours.” His tone was completely serious, but for the first time since I’d met him I got the impression of mirth in what he was saying. A glance to Nica and the soft smile on her face confirmed it.

Tristus just shrugged and put on a wry smile, “I’ll trust the professionals then.”

After that we made some more polite conversation and went to sleep. Nica took the first watch, and I was set for the middle of the night after Patience convinced me to give her the coveted final watch so that she could ‘ready the mule’. I was certain that it was a lie, but I liked Patience, and didn’t particularly mind if she took advantage of me a little bit.

…

After I fell asleep I suddenly found myself in an office. It was large, with glass making up two walls giving the view of an alien landscape of swirling colors that flowed like hot magma in the core of a volcano. I was in a comfortable chair, and across from me was a black crystal desk. The furniture had all been rearranged, and the view was very different, but I was certain I was in the same office where I’d had my first interview.

The chair behind the black crystal desk swirled around and Ren was sitting in it. While his face usually held an amused or manic smile, this time it was twisted into a frown, and I could feel his kaleidoscopic eyes boring into me.

“I’m guessing you’re wondering why I’ve called you into my office?” he asked.

I blinked several times, adjusting to this new layer of weirdness. I could tell I was dreaming, but everything was clear and easy to focus on at the same time, though I couldn’t read any of the words on the books arrayed in the bookshelves behind Ren.

“Yeah,” I replied. “I suppose I am.”

Ren stood up in his chair and pushed it away, then walked to look out at the view outside the window. “Peace’s champion has caught up with us, and more quickly than I’d hoped.”

I nodded. “Any idea what she did? Was it a system quest like mine?”

“No. Unlike you she managed to earn her patron a change without needing her hand held by the system. She ended a two hundred year conflict.”

“How?” I asked, incredulous.

“Well, it’s a tale of self sacrifice, cooperation, trust, and even love. The explanation of which would likely take up all the time we have and more. The point is that the other gods are catching up. The more changes they make, the more the world shifts in their direction, their image. I need to stay ahead of them if I’m to maintain my current status among them.” He slammed his fist into the window and the glass shattered outward. He then sighed, and snapped his fingers, causing the glass to realign where it had been previously. “It’s not really your fault. Joan has advantages you don’t. If I knew my domain…well, no matter.” He walked back and sat across from me at his desk. “So… an adventurer’s guild?”

That made me pause. “How did you?”

“I always pay attention to what my employees are working on. It’s not a bad idea. If you manage it, it should earn me another choice.”

“It just feels like, if they haven’t come up with it themselves, there must be a reason. Something I’m missing.”

He shook his head. “You’re overthinking it. This isn’t like when you briefly thought you may have been the inventor of the sandwich here. Your world has had a lot more people with a lot more time. Some of the ideas that seem obvious to you are things that won’t be reached here for a long time, unless you help things along.”

I nodded. This was perhaps the most constructive conversation I’d had with Ren. I sometimes felt like I knew what his domain was, but as soon as the thought was about to crystallize, or I tried to verbalize it, it would slip out of my mind.

“I will leave you with one piece of advice before I leave you to your scheduled dream about Patience and your Ex-Girlfriend.”

“Wait dreams are scheduled?”

“Yes. Though that’s Death’s department. Anyway, the advice is, do something BIG. If you want to lead a guild of adventurers, first you’ll need to show you’re worth following.”

“Something big…” I murmured.

Ren nodded, stood, walked around to stand behind me, and kicked my chair into the crystal. I sank into it, and slipped into a dream like nothing had happened.