Almost a week later, the new guild building was ready, and we had our first guest coming to enjoy eating with us. It was Old Milly whom I had invited for a new taste experience, and hopefully the completion of the quest.

This time I served an ice cream cone, having made seven different ice creams for her to choose between. Vanilla, strawberry, banana, apple, pineapple, blueberry, and cherry. Hopefully, it would be something she would enjoy.

Of course, she was not the only guest, she was just the only one with a direct invite. I had hired a bunch of little rascals to be town criers, inviting everyone to free ice cream tasting. Sure, it would cost me a bunch of platinum, but it was to drum up further business. Fortunately, I had convinced the rest of the officers that it would be good for the guild as a whole if the store/eatery got a good launch, so they paid the cost.

We were standing outside on the porch with a couple of tables when Old Milly had arrived. She looked confused at the tubs of ice cream and the stack of cones next to it. “Hello Damian, what have you got for me today?”

“Lady Milly, I’m pleased to serve you the first ice cream cone in Blackport, hopefully, the first in this world,” I said with a big smile. Mia, Nise, and Brant were nearby, waiting for the rush to come in. “It’s a frozen dessert, sweet, refreshing, and with different flavours.”

“Sounds interesting, what flavour do you have?” she asked. I could already see people starting to arrive. The kids were quick on their feet. However, free ice cream could do that to people, and I saw most of those arriving were players.

“We’re doing a promotion, but you’ll be served first,” I said as a couple of players stepped up. I raised my voice, so the arriving players could hear me. “We got vanilla, strawberry, banana, apple, pineapple, blueberry, and cherry. Two scoops per cone. Which two would you like?”

“What would you suggest?” she asked.

“Vanilla is the safe choice, so is banana and strawberry. Cherry is good as well. Blueberry, apple, and pineapple are more of a niché. The apple should be made with cinnamon, but my skill is still a bit too low for more ingredients,” I said with a smile. “I would either take two scoops of vanilla or mix a banana and strawberry for your first time.”

“Let me try a banana and strawberry then,” she replied.

“Coming right up,” I said and prayed to the Mother, hoping that it would be a Success when I made the final product.

>You have created an Ice Cream Cone (2 Scoops).<

>Roll for Outcome: 27.<

>You have achieved a Success.<

>Rewarding Cooking XP: 45 XP.<

Not as good as last time I served her, but it should be enough, hopefully. I quickly assigned the crafting points to wound healing and making sure it did not fill too much satiety. “Here you go, Lady Milly. I hope you enjoy it.”

“Thank you,” she said and walked over to the side, where she stood studying it. Sniffing it, tentatively tasting it.

“Hey man, some NPC kid said you gave away ice cream,” a player said as he came up with his group.

“Sure, we’re advertising our newly opened player store and tavern, what flavours would you like?” I asked.

“All of them,” he replied with a shit-eating grin.

“Only two scoops per person,” I replied. Meanwhile, I noticed that Brant was serving some other people that had come as well. That sweet Mentor XP would be ticking in very soon. Over the last week, I had boosted his Cooking skill, to the point I had made none of the food for the guild or for sale since the first day. We had also thrown a lot of extra meat after him so he could just focus on cooking.

So far I had gotten him boosted to level 23 in Cooking. The extra XP from being a new player as well as the Mentor XP made for very quick progress, especially because he had only focused on four skills the entire week. Butchery, Brewing, Animal Handling, and Cooking, with the last one taking up the majority of his time. My Mentor skill was now level 19, getting close to that sweet Apprentice tier.

“You don’t seem to understand, we’re taking everything,” the player said and drew his weapon.

“Oh, please try,” I heard Kira call out from inside the building. She came out with her tonfas spinning. “It has been so long since I wiped the floor with level five scum.”

“Shit, she’s level forty-two,” one of the players exclaimed.

The leader quickly put away his weapons. “I was just kidding.”

“Sure,” I said with a sarcastic smile. “So that was two scoops of apple and cherry, you said?”

“Sure, whatever man,” the player gulped, taking the cone I handed to him.

“Be sure to check out the store, reasonable prices, we even buy your loot and the rabbits at good prices. Our tavern will serve ice cream every seventh day,” I explained the potential customers. A bit frightened by Kira, they nodded dumbly and obediently went inside.

When Old Milly had finished her first ice cream, she came and asked to sample some of the other tastes, and I, of course, complied with her request. When she had tasted all seven variants, she came up to me.

“This was truly a taste I had never expected. I must know how you make it,” she said and I received a prompt. I had been receiving a lot of prompts whenever an NPC came up to receive a free ice cream.

“I can give you the recipe for free. I was planning on dropping by the auction house tomorrow before we leave, and drop off some new kitchen inventions, including the ice cream maker. I was going to include the instruction on how to make simple ice cream,” I explained. “They should be good enough for the weekly auctions, but if I’m lucky because some of them are new magical items, it’ll go on the monthly.”

“If that’s the case, don’t give it to me, I’ll win it in the auction then,” she said with a big smile. “I hope there’s more than one set.”

“Yeah, I’ll be dropping off five sets. However, the recipe is no secret, many other Travellers will be able to do it, I’ve written it down on this one,” I said and handed her a piece of paper. “For different tastes, just experiment. It’s really easy to make.”

“Thank you, Damian. Bring some of the different ice creams as well, they’ll be able to mimic it inside the auction house. If they can taste it before the auction, it’ll drive up the price,” she said. “On a more serious note, I want to experience more of your world’s cuisine. However, I want you to obtain the Meals speciality before you invite me again.”

“I understand, I’ll strive hard to get to that point,” I said with a nod. With a happy little wave she walked away, and I went back to serving free ice cream. Over a two hour period, I made and handed out over 250 ice creams, and Brant did about the same amount. It was a lot of good XP.

Tired, but happy, I started going over the prompts. There were over a hundred. Most of them were small increases to reputation with the Blackport factions.

Faction

Reputation Points Gained

Blackport (Guard)

51.7

Blackport (Rich)

20.4

Blackport (Middle)

35.4

Blackport (Poor)

46.2

Those were pretty good gains. The most important of course was the prompt telling me about the completion of my quest.

Quest Completed

A New Taste Experience II

Reward

+136 reputation points with ‘Old Millie’

+27.2 reputation points with the Lord of Blackport

2500 Cooking Experience

2 Beastkin Essence Shard

Bonus Reward Obtained

+136 reputation points with ‘Old Millie’

+68 points with the Lord of Blackport

1000 Free XP

Quest Accepted

Type: Chain

A New Taste Experience III

‘Old Millie’ has heard rumours of the wonderous food from your world. Since you have provided her one such meal, she wishes to try something else. Prepare her something she has never tried before.

Requirement: Must have the Meals speciality.

Reward

Variable

Penalty for Failure

-200 reputation points with ‘Old Millie’

-200 reputation points with the Lord of Blackport

I could not help but smile seeing the bonus reward. The extra XP was nice, but the reputation points were more important. Of course, neither was as important as those essence shards. Happy with how everything had turned out, I went to the basement, to prepare the kitchen machinery I would put up for auction.

It turned out that it would be featured in the next monthly auction which would be on day 110 of the game. We were currently at day 87. I was standing like a nervous parent on the porch, talking with Mozart and Brant.

“And remember, don’t engage with our enemies, let the guards handle it,” I reminded them.

“I got it, Boss, don’t worry. Once I start serenading them, they’ll stop making trouble,” Mozart said. I could see Brant rolling his eyes at the smaller guy, but he said nothing.

“Brant, as soon as you got the beer and ale brewing down, remember the first mug for the guards are on the house,” I continued, ignoring what Mozart said. The man of few words just nodded his acknowledgement.

“Damian, come on,” Kira called irritatedly.

I turned my head to look at the large convoy waiting for me. Besides all our players, there were also Dawn and her guild. They jumped on the opportunity to get to a new area where they could grind. Nise had also been able to acquire four milking cows and a bull. At the moment they were hitched to some large wagons the guild had bought.

“Just a moment,” I said and turned back to the two players in front of me. “I’ve left enough coins for you to hire some Locals if need be. Hire some of the neighbours.”

Mozart sighed. “We know, you already told us like a bazillion times, Boss.”

I ignored his complaint and went on. “Also, remember to charge fifteen percent more in the store and eatery than we normally would. Because it’s a storefront inside the town, we need to pay taxes. The amount is payable the next day. At the end of the day, you’ll be told what you need to pay.”

“And we get a percentage of the profits,” Mozart exasperatedly said. “You told us already, Boss.”

“Right, uhm—” I was trying to recall anything else important I needed to tell them.

Suddenly someone grabbed me from behind and dragged me away. “That’s it, we’re going. Stop wasting everyone’s time, Damian. Again.”

It was Kira. I protested the treatment she was giving me, “Hey! I’m the guild leader, treat me with some respect.”

“We already have a two days journey ahead of us, and you’re delaying us! Again!” she grumbled. The other guild members were laughing at our antics. I figured I would see the two each day at the dining room, and could always tell them the rest there.

Without further delay, the Blue Lotus guild set out to construct our own village.

We had stopped early on the first day, at the castle ruins. This was not the most direct way but would make it easier to spot anyone following us. It would probably also throw them off our final destination. More importantly, it allowed everyone to run the castle ruins twice. Once in the evening and once in the morning before we left.

The whole trip was through the forest, and it was good XP for our fighters, even the high levelled ones, once we got on the other side of the castle ruins. Most importantly for me, were the blood hawks. These hawks were important for the future of our guild. They were just rather elusive and all level fifty plus.

“Why are you so gung-ho on us hunting these hawks down? They can’t give a lot of good loot, can they? I mean, they’re barely bigger than a seagull,” Blaze asked after the second blood hawk had gotten away from us.

“These blood hawks are a twisted creature, like the horned rabbits. However, they don’t drop trophies of different elements, they drop just one. You need one, and its blood to raise the rarity grade of the common trophies that can be looted from for example horned rabbits,” I explained. “That means the trophies become uncommon, giving me, us, more crafting points. This is the only way to raise the rarity of trophies. Blood hawks are the ones needed for upgrading to uncommon, there’s also another creature for upgrading the rarity to sparse, rare, and so on.”

“Okay, I guess I can understand why you’re so gung-ho about them,” Blaze mumbled. “But they run away all the time.”

“Yes, they’re rather elusive,” I conceded, happy that we had gotten five in the back so far. Not only would I earn Butchery XP again, but I would also be able to get my hands on some of the trophies. Eventually, I would be able to raise the rarity of enough rabbit’s feet that it would make a difference.

We continued the journey, and it was not until late in the evening that we got to the spot. Unfortunately, it faced east, so we could not see a sunset, but the sunrise was amazing to watch from the spot.

Even without the majestic splendour of a sunset, the view was still breathtaking when we broke the forest line. The forest stopped around a hundred metres from the cliff edge. We would need to clear a lot of trees to make room for the village.

The cliff our village would be at the edge of was almost fifty metres tall. It was not until we got closer to the edge we could see the most breathtaking view. That of the lagoon beneath the cliff. Most of it was placed in darkness because of the position of the sun, but nevertheless, you could still make out the large reef that was demarking the “safe zone” and the dangerous wild ocean.

“This is beautiful,” Mia commented. “Just imagine watching the sunrise?”

“Yeah, we’re definitely taking a picnic at the beach to watch the sunrise,” Marion commented to Robin. “And if you’re lucky, I might eat more than food.”

That made Robin blush, the old members laugh at Marion’s antics, while the new members chuckled with uncertainty. Clearly not completely at ease with Marion’s open flirtations.

“Okay folks, we’re setting up a camp. Tomorrow morning, I’m going to plant the village token. Phil, if you could make the pedestal for it,” I said, ordering people back to work. “Since we got a few hours before we’re logging off, everyone with logging should start chopping down some trees. Combat teams, go hunt. Those of you who have guard duty tonight, log out and get some food now.”

Since we were now going to be out in the wild with an important asset and we were at war with some other guilds, we needed to make sure that they were guarded. For that reason, two of the newbie squads had picked up the guard speciality for their party, while the others were a dungeon and a guild warfare squad.

The guards would gain party XP for killing mobs and enemies within a certain radius of guild assets. The more important the guild asset, the larger the radius. They would also gain a bit of XP passively for each hour the entire team spent within that radius, keeping it safe.

We all set out to do what we had to before it became nighttime and we logged out. The first thing I did when I logged in was having Robin dismiss her camp. As long as it was active with the protection barrier up, we could not start our city.

We placed the pedestal close to the edge of the cliff. I had the idea that we could build a gazebo and place it there. It was one of those stupid rules with regards to settlements. If you had an official settlement, better known as having a settlement token, it had to be placed in the open. A gazebo still counted as being in the open.

Only people who were at war with you could steal it, and only after besieging your settlement for three days. So that was something.

After Phil had placed the pedestal, I placed the token, immediately getting a prompt asking me if I was establishing it as a private person or as the guild leader of Blue Lotus. I chose the latter of course. Next, it asked for a name, which had already been chosen, Phoenix. Both the blue lotus and the phoenix were symbols of rebirth.

 Quest Accepted

Type: Chain

Establishing the Hamlet I

Your guild has placed a settlement token. You have 24 hours to build a minimum of 3 basic structures.

Hint: You might want to start building a guildhall.

Reward Pool (Guild Leader’s Discretion)

100,000 Free XP

1,500 Guild Points

3 Upgrade Points

Penalty for Failure

Loss of settlement token

Everyone got the quest. Immediately there was a clamour for the rewards, but I decided they would go to those four that were building it. All of it, despite the fact that I could really start using some more upgrade points. With all the skills I had upgraded to apprentice, I only had 3 of them left.

“Phil, we need basic structures as it says,” I said loudly. “Give me a well, a henhouse, and a barn. Place the last two as far to the north as possible. Everyone chopping down trees, start there. Everyone else goes hunting for something, especially blood hawks. Ed, Kira, or Robin, I need one of your teams to stay nearby at all times. Any questions?”

I saw Blaze raising his hand. I already knew what he was going to ask. I looked around for anyone else, I got a bunch of headshakes. “Mia, Nise, Andrea, we’re placing our fields to the south for now. Alan, I need you to build the well directly to the west of the settlement token. As close to the forest as possible. Any questions?”

“Me,” Blaze said, waving his arm in the air.

I ignored him. “Phil, when you’re almost done with the barn, stop. We’re not finishing it before tomorrow morning. You’re going to have to log in an hour early and finish the structure. If we finish it now, we’ll just scramble on the next quest. And yes Blaze, I’ll make breakfast now so you can get your buff. Any other questions?”

Blaze took his hand down. There were no questions for me, so I got started cooking.