When I logged back into the game I was still mightily confused. I had not figured out what the hell I was going to do. What I was feeling. Or why the heck she suddenly ambushed me like that. Nor had I figured out her goals. Did she want a casual fling, or a long term serious relationship? With Alicia asking if I was her new daddy it all felt a bit manipulative. Something I did not like. The most pressing concern was what I should do.

I had logged in a bit early to get some extra time alone to think things over. The only ones online were those that had the guard shift. Doing something that required an iota of concentration was out of the question, so I started chopping down trees while thinking over the different options I felt I had.

Option A was to just flat out refuse Mia’s advances. There were several reasons to do that. She was over a decade younger than me. I was not sure how I felt about her, I did not do casual, and despite spending so much time with her in-game it had always been a working relationship.

If I did pursue a relationship with her, it could throw the guild into a state of unease. She did not seem like a person who would not use the prestige and power that came with being the boss’ better. If that happened, it would severely impact my future plans.

However, flat out refusing her came with some drawbacks as well. They were much the same as the drawbacks of pursuing a relationship with her. If I refused her, I would either have to find a new assistant and start over. Or I would have to continue working with her, which could end up badly if she felt scorned.

Option B was to try and persuade her that it was a bad idea. Same reasons and drawbacks as option A, depending on how she took it.

Option C was giving in to my baser nature, be selfish and say why the hell not. She was a very attractive woman. I was trying to save humankind from the coffins, should I not get to enjoy some of the benefits?

No, I should think of the greater picture. A relationship would take focus and time away from my goals. It could potentially cause friction in the guild, and Mia was not one of those that knew the truth about me. Going into a relationship keeping that big a secret would be wrong.

It was clear that the best option was B, gently letting her down. The only question was how to break it to her. How would she take it? How would Alicia take it?

‘Oh god, Alicia,’ I thought, stopping midswing. The hopeful look in her eyes when she asked if I was going to be her new daddy was heartbreaking. I would absolutely crush her by refusing her mother. However, could I enter a relationship just because I did not want to disappoint a little girl? A little girl I had come to care about a great deal. Often wishing she was my own.

It was not that I did not care about the other children, because I did. Every single one of them was precious and I immensely enjoyed the time I spent with them, helping them or playing. Their joy was so carefree and innocent, so real. Alicia had just wormed her way into my heart more than the others.

If I turned down her mother it would crush her. No matter how I tried to explain it to her. However, was I really interested in entering into a relationship with her mother just because of her? That seemed like a flimsy reason for a relationship.

My introspection was disrupted by a prompt, I was about to dismiss it as just another level up for Logging. I suddenly realized that I was in the middle of chopping down a tree, so I would not be getting it at that moment. Pulling it up I was surprised.

Quest Completed

Establishing the Hamlet I

Reward Pool (Guild Leader’s Discretion)

None for you.

Quest Accepted

Type: Chain

Establishing the Hamlet II

Your guild has placed a settlement token. You have 24 hours to build 2 new advanced structures and 2 new basic structures.

Reward Pool (Guild Leader’s Discretion)

250,000 Free XP

2,500 Guild Points

5 Upgrade Points

Penalty for Failure

Loss of settlement token

I was not surprised by the content of the prompt, nor the followup prompt. What surprised me was that I got them. Glancing at the clock I saw it was nearing dawn in-game. So it did make sense, I had just lost track of time.

A new prompt popped up, confirming the automatic acceptance of yet another quest. One I knew that would arrive as well.

Quest Accepted

Type: Chain

Securing the Hamlet I

Your guild has taken the first step towards establishing a hamlet. Three points of interest within 3 kilometres of the settlement token have been spawned or were pre-existent. You have 24 hours to conquer at least one of these. Better rewards for conquering more than one.

Warning: These points of interest might be lairs, which will attack if not conquered.

Reward Pool per Point (Guild Leader’s Discretion)

250,000 Free XP

1,000 Guild Points

3 Upgrade Points

Extra Reward Pool for Conquering All Points

1,000,000 Free XP

10,000 Guild Points

10 Upgrade Points

1 Skill Slot

50 Elven Essence Shards

Penalty for Failure

Loss of settlement token

It was time to get the warriors involved in the project as well. The only thing that worried me was if the mine below us counted, or one of the points of interests had spawned in the water. The possibility of that necessitated the immediate construction of a way to get down to the beach.

“You seem lost in thoughts,” a voice suddenly broke my reverie. It was Philmore.

“Just got a lot on my mind,” I replied with a shrug. Trying to appear unconcerned.

He harrumphed. “You always got a lot on your mind, lad. However, this doesn’t seem like the normal stuff you struggle with as the boss. I’ve seen that look enough time on my own boy’s face to recognize it. It’s about a woman, isn’t it?”

He sat down on a nearby small boulder. I was about to deny it and ask him to mind his own business when he interrupted me. “You don’t have to speak with me, lad. However, if you’re not focused on the task of leadership, it affects every one of us.”

I sighed. I knew he was right. I explained the situation to him, ending it with, “...and I just don’t know what to do about it. On one hand, I care a great deal about Alicia and would like to see where it goes with Mia, but on the other hand, I’m afraid it’ll cause friction within the guild.”

“As I see it, either choice will cause friction,” Philmore commented thoughtfully. “But look at it. You’ve many couples in the guild. Me and Elise, Phil and Denise, Ainsley and Sarah, just to mention a few. There has been remarkably little friction because of that.”

“But this is different, I’m the guild leader,” I protested.

“Yes, you’re the guild leader. Just like Ainsley and Phil are guild officers. You need to get off your high horse and stop thinking your situation is unique. It ain’t,” he replied with a bit of heat in his voice. “It ultimately comes down to a personal decision. Forget about the guild, what do you want?”

He was right. I had forgotten about the others in the guild. Sure I was the guild leader, but some of the others held officer status as well, and it made little difference in their relationship. I was not that different from them, I would just need to set some clear boundaries if I wanted to give the relationship a try.

I looked sheepishly at him. “Sorry for being an ass.”

“Don’t worry, sometimes you just need an outside perspective,” he said. He seemed to have said everything he wanted on the subject because he changed the subject. “So, what are the requirements for the next quest?”

“Two advanced and a minimum of two new basic structures,” I replied.

“So the forge is one of the advanced ones. What about the others?”

“I’m thinking we should build the carpenter workshop as the other advanced one. A wooden scaffold to reach the beach will count as a basic one. This one has the highest priority. Another barn would probably be the best option for the second basic one. We’re stockpiling a lot of wood,” I said.

“Good plan, me and Phil will take care of the scaffold, I’ll get Alan and Ibrahim started on the barn,” Philmore said and stood up. “Almost time for the others to log in. Get your head on straight.”

“Thanks for listening,” I replied.

He shrugged. “Least I could do. Thanks to you, we’re not in the coffins and we even got a few credits to spare.”

I wanted to thank him again, but I reckoned we would just be going around in circles. I would thank him, he would brush it away as non-important. If the situation had been reversed, we would also have been going around in circles. Philmore and I were pretty similar in that regard.

I made way over to the centre of our village and had started breakfast. The others would be logging in soon anyway. When they logged in, I asked all of the party leaders, except Philmore, for a meeting.

“Okay, first of all, we need Kira and Benny to go back and get the new recruits,” I looked to the black-skinned woman who was the leader of our second guild warfare party. “Mbali, it’s up to you whether you want to join them, or stay here?”

“We’ll go kick some butt,” she replied with a toothy grin.

“We could use Ed or Robin’s group too,” Kira spoke up. “We’re better than they are, but they got the numbers.”

“I know, but we just got another quest that is pretty important to get cleared,” I explained and shared the quest. “It would be best if we could get all three POIs cleared.”

Ed grunted his assent. “Who should get the free skill slot if we succeed though?”

“How about we auction it off for contribution points. Only those that participated in clearing the points can bid?” I suggested.

“I guess that’s fair,” Robin said with a big smile.

Rochelle protested, “I don’t think it’s fair. As party leaders, our share of the loot is fifty percent greater than the rest’s shares. So I think we should exclude officers.”

“But officers have also tied up a skill slot for Leadership and need to spend time on meetings like this, make decisions and so on,” Robin countered.

Mason threw in his opinion. “Don’t forget that as party leader we should be good examples. If we can get an extra skill, it would help us. I don’t want to get excluded.”

“What about a lottery instead?” Silvio suggested. He was the leader of our newest dungeon party. “You get a lot for each point you help conquer.”

“That would be simpler,” I did point out.

Robin protested, “Right now we don’t have a lot to use contribution points for. So a lot of our members are hoarding coins or loot instead of donating it. All because there is little use of contribution points except for paying for the monthly payment we all have to make.”

The discussion went back and forth for a few minutes, before I finally said, “We’re doing it auction-style with no limit on participation, except that you’ve had to help conquer at least one of the points of interests.”

We split up and went about our business.

For some reason, I did not get a single moment alone with Mia the entire day. Making it hard to get a discussion about the future going. She had even logged out early to spend time with Alicia. Maybe she was just nervous I was going to turn her down.

The day had been a great success, not for me personally, but for the guild. We had managed to finish the buildings we set out to make, except for the Barn. Philmore and I would log in early to make sure it was finished within the time limit.

For the warriors, things had gone pretty well as well. They had managed to conquer two lairs, a wolf and a bear den, which had been spawned for the quest. They were in the process of clearing the mine. Either it was the last POI, which would be a good bet, or we were so unlucky that the third point was out in the water. We would not be able to get to it if the latter was the case.

I was not too worried about us not conquering the mine, even if the mobs in there were level 50. Because it was not a dungeon, there was no limit to how many people we could bring down there. Ed was getting close to level 50, so his team should be able to handle anything that was thrown against them down there.

I had been sending messages to Ed to get an update, but he had firmly told me to “Stop fucking bothering me!”. So to distract myself, I started to get an overview of my gains in the past week or so.

Name

Tier

Level

XP

XP Needed

Meditation

Apprentice

30 (+11)

15,350

31,000

Imbue

Apprentice

24 (+4)

23,665

25,000

Lesser Transmutation

Apprentice

23 (+16)

2,079

24,000

Runesmithing

Apprentice

21 (+7)

10,526

22,000

Unassigned Class XP: 0

I was very happy with the way my class skills had increased. Most of the increases had come from my bonus XP from reaching milestones, nevertheless, I was happy with the situation.

Name

Tier

Level

XP

XP Needed

Butchery

Apprentice

42 (+1)

16,464

43,000

Cooking

Apprentice

37 (+4)

13,396

38,000

Brewing

Apprentice

29 (+4)

8,283

30,000

Harvest

Apprentice

23 (+4)

0

24,000

Mentor

Beginner

19 (+4)

12,535

20,000

Horticulture

Beginner

18 (+3)

5,100

19,000

Herbalism

Beginner

18 (+3)

17,615

19,000

Alchemy

Beginner

17 (+1)

16,742

18,000

Gem Cutting

Beginner

16 (+1)

13,754

17,000

Logging

Beginner

14 (+14)

7,347

15,000

Greater Transmutation

Beginner

11 (+6)

4,496

12,000

Farming

Beginner

9 (+3)

2,801

10,000

Observe

Beginner

9 (+4)

5,500

10,000

Message

Beginner

5 (+2)

2,071

6,000

Mining

Beginner

4 (+2)

0

5,000

Engineering

Beginner

2 (+2)

969

3,000

Unassigned XP: 5,080

Because of the availability of trees, and the need for clearing the ground, my Logging skill has increased with ten levels since we arrived. Blackport island was a good place for skills reliant on wood. Not so much on iron and stone. Other regions it was the other way around.

Most of the progress in Greater Transmutation had also been provided artificially. Which I was okay with. It was a hard skill to level up, but one I needed at high levels. It would likely be the next skill I took as a class skill just for that reason. Unless something unexpected happened which would throw that out of the window.

Horticulture was approaching the apprentice tier which would be a nice milestone for me. However, from the looks of it, I should focus on getting Mentor to level 20 first. The fact that you could have two mentees at the same time was huge. So was the fact that you could teach each of them two skills at the same time. The range went up twenty metres. The increase in XP gain for the mentee also rose from 10% to 20%.

Race

Crystals

Shards

Elf

Dwarf

Firbolg

1

20

Beastkin

3

Gnome

10

Spriggan

1

Birdkin

Fae

Draconic

1

10

Blank

1

I had been mightily tempted when the elven essence shards had been part of the reward pool for the quest. However, even if we managed to get it, I did not want to take rewards away from the ones who did the work. It felt parasitical and would set a precedent I was not comfortable with having. The ones who did the work should be the ones to get the reward. Just because I was the guild leader I did not have first priority on such things. Especially since I was a non-combatant.

I was getting close to getting enough essence crystals for the first step in high human. However, because it required crystals from every single race it was the hardest race evolution to get. The rewards for getting it was also pretty damn spectacular. The free choice amongst all the races’ strength and none of their weaknesses. Of course, you could only get one strength from each race and until you got the 9th evolution, they were all locked at tier one.

It was when I was musing on the future that I finally got the prompt I had waited for, the one that told me that the quest was completed. A smile spread on my face. They had managed to conquer all the POIs.

Since I was the primary quest receiver, I would have to decide on how to divide the spoils, but we had not decided on the free skill slot, so I had not been able to do it just yet. The XP and guild points were easy. Just according to shares for all the parties. However, the upgrade points, essence shards, and free skill slot I would need input from the party leaders on how to distribute it.

It was another 25 minutes before they made their way back. A few of them had stormy looks on their face. Probably meant they died but were resurrected. Even if they were resurrected, they still lost the XP as if they had respawned at the fountain. These low-tier resurrection spells could not mitigate the XP loss. Some of the rarer spells could.

When I saw them I gave them all a big smile, “Congratulations on succeeding. It’ll be a tremendous boost to your power. I just need your party leaders’ input on how to distribute the rest of the rewards, and you’ll get your rewards.”

“XP and guild points according to party shares, equally amongst all of us. We all participated in the conquest of all three points or stayed behind to protect the crafters,” Rochelle said.

Robin picked up, “The other items we’ll auction off. Each of the seven parties will get two upgrade items. Ed’s get four because they’re the only ten-man party participating. The last three we’ll auction off. The shards are auctioned off in groups of ten. The free skill slot is the big attraction.”

“Want me to hold it?” I asked. Robin looked hesitantly for a moment before shrugging. Normally I would leave this to the party leaders, but my little chat with Philmore had given me insight in more than just what I should do with Mia. It had told me that my hands-off approach might not be the right way to do things.

It distanced me from the members, except for a small core group of people. It meant that I did not have a lot of insight into what the general members of the guild thought. So it was time to step more into the role of the guild leader than I had previously done.

“Okay, we got a lot to get through. You can only bid with contribution points you have available at this moment. No going into deficit, nor can you count on the CPs coming from the guild points you’ll earn in a moment,” I said in a loud clear voice. “I’ll also remind everyone that you have to pay your monthly contribution fee in another twenty-eight game days. If anyone goes into a deficit we’ll add penalties. It’s only the members that joined this month that we’ll allow going into deficit for the first month. Any questions?”

After a moment of silence, someone shouted, “When are you going to begin?”

“Right now,” I said and activated the guild auction system. It cost one guild point per minute per one hundred members participating.

“What the hell is this?” seemed to be the general consensus amongst the people. I knew what they could see. In the upper left corner of their vision, a box had appeared which contained how many contribution points they had. How many coins they had on them, and how much they were worth in contribution points. It also showed which item was the next to be sold, the current high bid, and the minimum increase.

“Why didn’t you tell us this existed when we auctioned the loot?” Robin complained.

I shrugged. “You didn’t ask, and it’s not like it’s a secret. It’s been talked about on the news before.”

She just groaned. I gave her a smile, it was a good reminder for them that they were still in my playground. They might be mighty warriors and gotten quite good with the game’s systems, but they did not have the knowledge that I had.

“Let’s begin. We’ll start with ten elven essence shards. Enough to make one essence crystal,” I said and the display changed, to include the essence shards. “Starting bid is ten thousand, increases of one thousand at the minimum. Do I have ten thousand?”

“Here,” Rochelle immediately bid, lighting up. Immediately she exclaimed, “What the fuck is this?”

“It just means that you have the highest bid at the moment,” I replied. “Does anyone bid eleven thousand?”

“Here!” Someone shouted and soon there was an avalanche of bids, who were highlighted and changed all the time, fast enough to induce a seizure in a susceptible person. When we reached thirty thousand I changed the increase to five thousand.

The essence shards sold for between 105,000 and 122,000 contribution points. Not a lot, but I did not care. These were rewards they had earned themselves. The upgrade points went for between 300,000 and 400,000 contribution points. Mason managed to snatch one, while Robin and Ed snatched the others.

Later in the game, it would be the essence shards that would be worth more. I did not think that they really understood how powerful the race strengths were. I moved the auction along. “Now to the highlight of the auction, the free skill slot. Let’s start at a hundred grand, ten grand increase minimum.”

“Tree Fiddy,” Ed stated loudly, making a statement. He wanted that slot. I could understand that. However, there was no reason to be that overbearing. I shot him a frown.

“Five fifty,” Marion countered, before leaning over to whisper something to Robin. It was all that she had left. She had spent a good amount of contribution points on getting three elven crystals.

Ed grumbled when he said, “Six.”

“Six fifty,” Marion said with a lazy smile after Robin had whispered something back. Since I could see everyone’s contribution points, I saw that Robin had transferred half a million contribution points to her girlfriend.

Ed looked irritated. “Eight hundred thousand!”

“Eight fifty,” Marion stated with a yawn.

“Fine, it’s yours,” Ed growled.

“Thank you so much,” Marion said with a sweet, but overbearing, smile.

I cleared my throat, getting everyone’s attention. “Thank you all for your hard work. As a bonus. That you have conquered the mine means a lot. So every one of you gets an extra hundred thousand CPs.”

There was a groan from Ed. “Couldn’t you have given us that before the auction?”

“Nope,” I answered with a smile. “Anyway, time to log out. See you at dinner.”

I went over to the barn and sat down next to it, before logging out. As soon as I got out of the pod, a chime sounded, indicating someone was at the door. I quickly put on a pair of pants and opened the door. Mia was standing there, dressed in a small sexy red dress and a pair of high heels, making her almost as tall as me.

“Wha—” I stammered confusedly.

“Shut up,” she purred, gave me a forceful kiss and pushed me backwards, the door closing behind her.

When she let me come up for air, I gasped, “We need to talk.”

“Not now,” she replied and shimmied out of the dress, revealing her naked glory. I could only gulp in response. She was extremely pretty. I stood transfixed, not knowing what to think, say or do. She solved that from me when she pushed me towards the pod.