It was an hour after dinner when Martine and Phil came to get me. It was time for doing my small part in constructing the lift. As I descended the scaffold to the beach, I was able to see that they already had the iron column anchored to the cliffside.

When I got to the bottom, I noticed they already had the platform made and hoisted up, so I could add the mechanism with Engineering and then Runesmith the lifting mechanism. It was mostly complete, though they still needed to construct some of the parts at the top, maybe thirty minutes of work at most.

“Just in time,” Phil said as I came up to the two of them. A little further down the beach, Philmore was putting the last touch on another boat. His shipyard had been pretty successful. It provided a 5% bonus to shipbuilding activities. We had used a lot of the uncommon and rare wood for that structure. Shipbuilding would be one of our major sources of income soon. Especially when we got around to build flying ships.

“What do you mean?” I asked, confused since there was no real time pressure. Even if I took an hour coming down here, we would still finish the lift with plenty of time to spare.

He gave me a relieved smile. “Dad just got a message from Ed, they found one of the points of interest and is in the process of attacking.”

I let out a little whoop of joy. “That’s fucking great. Even if it’ll be tough, they should be able to conquer it before morning.”

“Yup, so let’s not slack off, we should get this baby built,” Martine said.

“Can I have the blueprint?”

“Why? You know what you need to do, it’s not like it’s hard to assemble the mechanism. I could do that even without Engineering,” she commented.

I rolled my eyes. “Because while I do have a couple of levels in Engineering, a three percent increase to success is nothing to sneeze at. It’ll also help my Runesmithing.”

“Oh,” she said sheepishly, as she handed it over. “Had forgotten about that.”

It only took me thirty minutes to assemble the parts that Martine and Phil had crafted for me. There were more than you would think. There were obviously the cogs, which would drive the lift up or down. Then you had the hoisting drums that would keep the rope taut. The ropes were used for creating stability on the platform farthest from the cliff. It also added to the amount of weight it could lift.

Because of my low level, we made it a little more complicated than necessary to make a lot of subparts. Otherwise, I could only make an Engineering project that contained three elements without incurring a penalty. However, it also meant that the lift would be a rather poor piece of crafting. Because we eliminated the number of parts, we would be getting less crafting points, meaning it would be worse off.

It also made it more likely that something would fail or be flawed, lowering the amount of crafting points a part provided, but we were prepared for that. Having a few extra parts for everything. The only thing that could not go wrong was the final assembly of the different parts. Because it involved the metal column, of which we did not have a spare.

The subparts I created managed to net me a whole lot of experience, enough to push me over halfway to level 4. I invested some of my free XP to get the whole way there. That extra level could turn out to be very important.

Lift

Engineering Level: 4

Blueprint Used: Yes (+3%)

Lucky Charm: +1%

Project Size: Big

Combined Crafting Points: 45

Highest Crafting Points of the Materials: 15

Possible Outcomes

Failure - 43%

Flawed - 36%

Success - 18%

Exceptional - 3%

Brilliant - 0%

Master Work - 0%

Base Experience: 900 XP

Even if it was an Exceptional Success, the craftings points would not allow us to do a lot. We were already prepared for that fact. We thought at best it would last 3 or 4 days before we had to build a new one. Hopefully with better results and materials, as our levels rose and the available materials rose. The big bottleneck, however, was my Engineering since it was such a low level, and pretty hard to grind.

When I had been constructing the kitchen appliances I had only gotten 30 XP per part used, because they were classified as small. The subparts I had created for the lift was considered medium, which should have given me 100 base XP per part, but because they were parts and not the finished project, I only got 50 XP per part. As a big object or Project Size as it was called, I would be given 300 XP per part. The lifting mechanism, the column and the platform. Three parts.

It was with bated breath I finalized the construction. When I saw the event log announce that the RNG had rolled an 18, meaning it was a Success, I released a relieved sigh. The 1692 XP was nothing to scoff at either.

“We’re good?” Phil asked. He was doing some woodcarving, waiting for me to finish. Martine had long since left, gone to do something else.

“Yeah, just need to assign the crafting points. I think I’ll just throw most of the points into how much weight it can hold, and the rest in durability,” I replied. “We’re going to be building a new one soon enough anyway.”

“What about the Runesmithing? Any chance of failure?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Nah, at worst a Flawed Success, and that should be around a fifty-five percent chance. Less if I use the blueprint.”

“Perfect,” he said. “Then I can start building the rest.”

I nodded. “Remember to leave the scaffold up. I don’t have enough rune slots to include a call function.”

“No worries,” he replied. With that, he started up the aforementioned scaffold to finish his own work. I turned my attention to the Runesmithing part. I pulled out three of the four manastones I had managed to create that held 30 mana each. It was the best I could do at the moment with common materials.

When I entered the Runesmithing space, I looked at the growing number of glowing runes at my disposal. It had cost me a lot of coins, but I had gained some effective runes. With Runsmithing now at apprentice tier, I could start considering buying some more offensive aligned runes and make some badass magic weapons.

With Runesmithing at apprentice tier, I could utilize up to five runes in one setting. The first two runes I used were Rotate and Counter-Rotate. I applied them to the cogs and hoists. Next, I put down two Power runes at the control panel, each taking up a half rune slot, meaning I still had two rune slots left. One of the Power runes were connected to Rotate, the other to Counter-Rotate.

Next came the second-most important rune. The Immobilize Object, which was a full rune. I applied that solely to the cogs but did not connect it to any of the Power runes. Instead, I made a separate Power rune for that rune, however, it was not connected directly to the Immobilize rune.

Next I inserted a half-rune called Counter to act as an activator. This one was the most important rune. It was also connected to both Rotate and Counter-Rotate for starters. When Rotate was activated, Counter would count down, and when Counter-Rotate was on, it would count upwards.

It counted how far up or down the column the lift was. When it reached 0 or 298, which was the top, it would enable the Immobilize rune and cut off the other two Power runes. At the same time, if there were no manastone in the two other Power runes, it would activate, unless it was at 0.

The Counter rune was a powerful rune in combination with other runes. Of course, I would be spending most of the crafting points enabling all the functions I needed. Having finalized the design, I infused my mana and took a look at the chances of getting a Success.

Runesmithing

Runesmithing Level: 21 (Apprentice)

Effect of Lucky Charm: +1%

Effects of Titles: +1%

Blueprint: Yes (+3%)

# of Runes: 5

Minimum Mana: 61

Mana Used: 90

Possible Outcomes

Failure - 0%

Flawed - 49%

Success - 41%

Exceptional - 8%

Brilliant - 2%

Master Work - 0%

Base experience: 750 XP

Mana Cost: 90

My chances were better than I thought, if only slightly. I was not so worried about getting a Flawed Success, even if we did, all it would mean was that we would be using more manastones keeping the platform immobilized. Of course, the better the success, the better my XP.

I kept an eye on the event log that informed it was a normal Success, a roll of 46, meaning it almost was not. The 1341 Runesmithing XP and the 67 free XP was a welcome thing. I quickly distributed the points. Mostly it went towards the Rotate runes, but Immobilize Object got a little love as well. The Power runes got none, meaning the lift would gobble down a buttload of manastones.

I looked at Phil. “My work here is done. By the way, what idea for keeping the lift fed with manastones did you end up using?”

“Come on, let me show you the control panel. It’s simple really, but Martine really made a nice piece of work. Just give me a hand to get it down on the ground,” he answered. It took us a little time getting the supports removed that held the lift up. Because there was no mana supplied, the Immobilize Object rune did not work. Immediately the lift started moving down, driven by its own weight.

Once safely on the ground, we stepped onto the platform. The control panel was a simple thing as I had expected. It was basically just a wooden box with two circular grooves on the top. Over each of the two grooves, it said “Up” and “Down” respectively. On the right side, there was a small basket of manastones. You would just take one and plop it into up or down.

To the left side of the box, there was a disposal for half-used manastones. It was just a small hole going into the box. Phil kneeled down in front of the box and opened a panel. He pointed and explained. “It’s really simple. You drop down the half-used manastones in the hole, they enter the track Martine built. At the end of the track, there’s the slot you put the third Power rune. When a manastone is used up, it dissipates, allowing the next one top drop into place.”

As he said it was pretty simple. The track went in a slightly downward slope and had dozens of switchbacks. A quick estimation on my part said that it should be able to contain two hundred small manastones easily.

“Good work,” I said.

“Tell her that yourself,” Phil scoffed as he put the panel back in place.

“I meant both of you. It should be about time that the mining nodes are back up, so we’ll go play with them,” I said and bid him goodbye.

Come morning, all of us were on edge. During the evening and night, the parties had managed to find and conquer two points of interest. However, they did not manage to find the last one, not even when the rest of the guild returned shortly after ten in the evening. They brought along the new members.

The new members had almost seemed scared of Kira, who was in a particularly foul mood. When I had asked One-Eye what was wrong, he had just shrugged and said, “That time of the month, I guess?”

I had given him a look that said, “Really, dude? You went there?”. Thinking that it might be better to have a woman talk with her, just in case it was womanly issues, I asked Robin to take a talk with her. Not that I was scared of her temper or anything. I was just busy getting all the new members organized. It was just terribly important that it got done right, so I went over everything twice. Robin reported back it was just something personal and for me to butt out of it. A piece of advice I took to heart.

Because of the arrival of the new members and the issue of the, at the time, two remaining conquest points everyone stayed logged in the entire night, except for a small meal break and those that had kids. Though I did not have a kid, technically, I still logged out and spent an hour with Mia and Alicia, before logging back in. There was little I was able to provide, except for some food and drink buffs.

By the time dawn came around, they had managed to close four out of the five points of interest. If the remaining place was a lair and given our location that was highly likely, we could expect to be attacked shortly after dawn by waves of enemies. The only question was if they would come from land or sea.

Phil put the last nail in the last of the buildings just shortly before our timer ran out. It was just fifteen minutes before dawn.

Quest Completed

Establishing the Hamlet III

Reward Pool (Guild Leader’s Discretion)

None for you.

Quest Completed

Securing the Hamlet II

Reward Pool (Guild Leader’s Discretion)

None for you.

Quest Accepted

Type: Chain

Establishing the Hamlet IV

Your guild has placed a settlement token. You have 72 hours to build a Guildhall, 4 new advanced structures and 10 new basic structures. At least 5 of the buildings must be of defensive nature.

Reward Pool (Guild Leader’s Discretion)

1,000,000 Free XP

10,000 Guild Points

10 Upgrade Points

2 Free Skill Slots

Penalty for Failure

Loss of settlement token

Quest Accepted

Type: Chain

Securing the Hamlet III

Your guild has taken the first step towards establishing a hamlet. Ten points of interest within 10 kilometres of the settlement token have been spawned or were pre-existent. You have 72 hours to conquer at least five of these. Extra rewards for conquering all of them.

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

Reward Pool per Point (Guild Leader’s Discretion)

1,000,000 Free XP

5,000 Guild Points

7 Upgrade Points

Extra Reward Pool for Conquering All Points

5,000,000 Free XP

50,000 Guild Points

40 Upgrade Points

3 Skill Slots

150 Elven Essence Shards

Penalty for Failure

Loss of settlement token

I was in the process of expanding the perimeter when the shout I had feared went out from one of the guards in the towers, “Incoming beast wave!”

It was not hard to spot it, even from the ground. All you had to do was look up. A giant flock of blood hawks were approaching our village. This was bad, we were set up to defend against a land force, with a lookout if it was an amphibian assault. That meant we were gathered around the towers.

The ranged people were already attacking the fast-moving wave. Only a couple of seconds had passed since the alarm went up, but they had already gotten at least fifty metres closer.

“Ed, get back to the settlement token!” I shouted, maybe closer to screamed, there was a bit of panic in my voice that made it a bit shrill. He moved, but still shot me a look that asked for an explanation. “They’ll go for the settlement token. It can only take a few hits before it’s destroyed. It won’t be protected by the Gods until we’ve finished all the quests!”

I could not hear it, but I heard him muttering a curse as he pulled out a large manastone. A second later a wind elemental appeared behind him and picked him up, propelling him towards the gazebo and the token.

“Kira, I need a strike force!” I heard Robin shout. I turned my head to see her pointing to a blood hawk falling out of the sky, with green energy bands around it. She had used Shackle Shot on it, bringing it to the ground.

Benny was quick on the uptake. “Melee warriors except for Kira’s squad back to the token! Two melee warriors at each tower!”

Robin seemed to be in sync with him because she picked up shouting orders where he left off, “One healer and four ranged mages to each tower! Everyone with Shackle Shot or other long-ranged disable gather around me. Don’t use it willy nilly! Pick a target or two for Kira to finish, unless they’re around the gazebo!”

One of the newcomers, I did not recall his name, was quick on the uptake too. “All lowbies and crafters to the barn over there. Requesting a healer and some melee warriors!”

Robin snapped off, “Mbali, you heard the man, to the barn!”

Despite being the guild leader, but very much a crafter, I followed the orders and ran towards the indicated barn. Less than half a minute had passed and the birds were already flying over the towers. Some diverted to attack the people in the towers. The hawks dive-bombed our people at an even faster speed than what they flew before. Almost four times as fast.

Ten seconds after I started running, I was inside the barn, together with a lot of other fearful people. The lowbies were cursing. They were twenty warriors, but they were all at single digits in level. They would offer little resistance or help against the almost level 50 hawks.

“Don’t worry, we got this,” I heard Mbali’s thunderous bass of a voice echo through the barn. “Benton I want you up in the loft. They built the damn barns with a hay door, but not the actual fucking door. Ten lowbies go with him, keep him healed.”

“Yes ma’am,” the Asian looking guy from her squad replied.

I heard something explode, followed by loud cheering. The sound reminded me of Ed detonating his elementals. Mbali continued shouting orders, she took the front door together with her party’s healer, where some hawks were already starting to enter. She sent her two other members and the lowbies to the backdoor.

Looking out the door, I could see the hawks swarming around the gazebo. A barrage of offensive spells met them, and the melee folks fought tooth and nail whenever they entered range. Some of the more agile melee folks made their way to the top of the gazebo and jumped up to grab one of the hawks, wrestling it to the ground.

Ed was using water elements, something that confused me for a second until I saw it used its ranged attack to drench one hawk at a time. With their feathers wet their movement slowed down, making them easier to hit for the ranged players. If one got drenched enough, they were forced to land.

That was all I saw of the fight at the gazebo before hawks started swooping down to attack the barn. For a few minutes, they held their own, keeping any and all hawks out. From time to time, I could hear shouts informing people that someone had died. Only a handful or so, so far. However, they would respawn back in the main square of Blackport, so that was unfortunate. If we had just gotten our Fountain of Souls, it would not be that much of a problem.

Suddenly I heard a shout from Mbali, “Watch out, one got by me!”

Looking back I saw a hawk diving for one of the new crafters, obliterating her in just a couple of strikes. It took to the air again, flew up to the ceiling and picked a new target. Before I could do anything, it had killed another lowbie, this one was one of the warriors that had tried to stop it.

Knowing that no one could stop it, without someone buying time, I cursed myself for playing a non-combat class. As it wound up for another swoop and kill, I decided to act. It was only pain, it would mean nothing. I had become used to pain from the repeated assassinations.

“Hey, over here, you ugly birdbrain!” I shouted as I stepped in front of the others. Not the most original or creative insult, but it worked well enough, even if I did not have a taunt skill. With Taunt being a special ability, requiring both stamina and more importantly mana, I could not unlock it and earn XP for it. Luckily, or I would lose my class.

It swooped down towards me. I spread my arms out and closed my eyes. It landed on my face and started clawing and pecking. It hurt so bad that I could not help but scream out in pain, tears mixing with blood as they streamed down my cheeks. Tears of pain, and for the sad little fact that I would lose over 150,000 skill XP. As I felt it claw my life away, I looked at my skill list, seeing if I could invest my meagre 1,100 free XP in any skill to make it level up. There were none. I was destined to lose it all.

My health bar was down to less than 30 health. Death would arrive at any second. A solid thump, I could feel ripped the hawk off my face. Opening my eyes, I saw one of the lowbies had managed to dislodge it. They were all beating on it, but the level suppression meant that they did almost no damage. The hawk screeched in frustration as it took off from the ground, its path taking it by me.

Almost with a casual swipe of its claws, it took my life.

You have died.

You’ll respawn Blackport in 30 minutes.

You have lost:

171,125 skill XP

1,100 free XP

Your actions have impressed the Gods.

You are given the chance to evolve your class to the class Martyr.

Do you wish to evolve your class?