After my therapeutic session at the range, I logged back into the game, finding myself in the same spot I had logged out. There was already a lot of activity around me. The builders and crafters were busy plying their trades and getting the village done for the quest. It was not even six in the morning in the game and they were already busy. The fighters had not even logged in yet. We still had twenty-three hours in-game until the quest time ran out.

There were no doubts that we would manage to finish that part of the quest. The only thing I was worried about was securing the area. We had already conquered enough points of interests that we were not in danger of failing the quest. The question was how many beast waves we would have to weather at the same time.

At least we had a wall to protect us this time around. Not that it would have helped a lot against the blood hawks.

It was time to find out if there was anything I could help with.

“Hey Philmore,” I said as I stopped by the shipyard. More like a boatyard at the moment. We were not up to building ship sized vessels just yet. However, he was building large fishing boats by now. “Anything I can do to help?”

“I need more planks, but the sawmill is already working at peak capacity,” he said with a shrug. “Nails as well.”

“Well, I can’t help with nails, but the mine should be restocked at nine tonight, I’ll stay a little longer tonight and go with Mason’s gang down to empty it.”

“I guess that’ll help a little, those guys don’t have a lot of mana to recharge the veins,” he replied. The whole while we had been talking he had not stopped working for a second. I approved, I was the same.

I made my way to the soon-to-be guildhall, where Phil was putting the last touches on the guildhall. One of only two buildings we needed to finish. The other was the palisade around the village.

“Hey Phil, anything I can do to help?” I asked the son the same thing I had asked the father.

His answer was strangely similar as well. “More planks, but the sawmill is already working at peak capacity. What’s so funny?”

I had started laughing. “Your answer.”

“I fail to see the funny in that,” he said with a frown.

“Your father gave me the same exact answer, he didn’t stop working either,” I explained.

“Oh,” Phil said with a slight chuckle. “I guess that’s a little funny.”

“Anyway, nothing else?” I asked.

“I need lots of logs for the palisade, and we need breakfast,” he replied.

“I guess I should try and make something other than rabbit stew and skewers,” I said with a frown.

“That would be greatly appreciated,” he said. Then added with a big smile, “It would be awesome if you could make something with bacon, but it has not dropped so far, or at least that’s what I’ve gathered from what the others say.”

It struck me that I could fulfil his wish. I had yet to actually use my reward from the Butcher. Or, more accurately, part of it. I had yet to use the Meat Mixer. With a big smile, I said, “Done!”

“You got bacon? And haven’t shared?” he asked incredulously.

“Not yet, but I will in a moment, however, it’ll be stew for breakfast, need some prep-time for the meal I want to make,” I said and turned around to leave.

“For bacon, I can eat stew again!”

I called over my shoulder. “I’ll make breakfast, prepare for lunch, and then get started on the innocent trees.”

“Careful, they might bite back,” he called after me.

I made my way to the mess hall. I had not used it yet, so I took the time to really appreciate it. That meant studying the buffs it gave. It gave plus four to cooking, the same to brewing. Quite a good result. However, there was no room for storing ingredients really. Something I had to rectify. I had bought a frost rune from Ilat while I was in Blackport, that would help with the construction of a cold larder.

In no time at all, I had stew cooking, leaving me with time to find what I needed.

If I wanted bacon, I needed a pig, which I did not have. The next best thing would be a boar and the fat it dropped. The first stop was dropping by the pile of carcasses. Luckily they did not stink by lying out in the open.

Anything killed before midday was dropped in the old pile, while everything after was dropped in a new pile. Right now there was only one pile, the new one started yesterday.

Since we could not butcher everything killed, which was not the main focus at the moment, Mia looted everything around midday in the old pile. I was in luck, there were a large number of boars in the pile. There was also a large quantity of blood hawks. They were in a small pile for themselves. I piled all those into my cart as well.

I stopped by the mess hall again, to add the rest of the ingredients, and finish the stews. Once that was done, I got started on butchering. I would end up spending a lot of time butchering.

There were no complaints at breakfast about it being stew, however, there was excitement in the air. Phil had probably told them I would make something else. I had many ideas, but most of them required more than one item on the dish. I needed to get to journeyman Cooking sooner rather than later, so I could pick up the speciality to put together more complex meals.

Nevertheless, I had work to do. After spending a couple of hours butchering the boars and all the blood hawks, I had enough meat for what I wanted to try. I pulled out the Meat Mixer and put it on the table in front of me. Pieces of boar meat went into the cube, together with some of the fat I had gained. A manastone went into the receptacle for it, activating the cube.

A minute later, the five kilos of meat and one kilo of fat had been turned into one kilo of bacon. Too bad I did not have time to smoke it. Nor did I have any salt. At least not in the capacity needed for providing the guild with a meal. I repeated this process several times.

When I had enough bacon, I started slicing the bacon into thin slices, wrapping them around the pieces of the blood hawk. Each piece of blood hawk meat had been cut into three pieces, seasoned with thyme. The three bacon-wrapped pieces were then skewered. I did some quick calculations.

The bacon and blood hawk meat were of average quality, providing 25 crafting points each, while the thyme was of below average quality, providing 15 CPs. The blood hawk meat was uncommon though, meaning it provided more, a total of 75 CPs. In total, a normal success would provide 115 CPs. I could make some very nice buffs with that.

Despite working with the higher quality material than normal, including the penalty for using uncommon quality material, I still had no chance of failing because my Cooking skill had reached the vaunted height of level 39. Still far off from the level 50 I needed before I could upgrade it to Journeyman. The next problem would be finding three upgrade points for it. I only had two, and many skills that would need them.

I shook my head, concentrating on the task at hand. Even if the skewers became a Partial Success, they would still provide 86 CPs, 11 more than a successful portion of stew provided. With a smile on my face, I set about getting the crafting done. It was something my little break in Blackport had driven home for me. I missed crafting.

Sure, I was crafting all the time, but it was more of a grind. Doing the same thing over and over again, no excitement in creating or experimenting new things. Just the same thing over and over again. Not that what I was doing at the moment was much different, but it was different enough that it made it pleasurable.

I had fallen into the trap of routine and inertia. Something that affected more than just me, because I was cooking for everyone else. It had taken someone standing up to me to make me realize that. Despite hating confrontations like that, I was thankful that it had happened.

Whistling, I started to plan other things I could make.

The bacon-wrapped blood hawk skewers had been a big hit, but despite my desire to make new exciting food, I had still served stew for dinner. I needed some more prep-time and ingredients for everything else.

Despite the mine having regrown the veins, none of us wanted to head down there. Instead, we were gathered at the palisade, more exactly where the gate would be. Phil, with the help of his father and the other builders, were in the process of putting it up.

We had all gathered to witness the moment we would complete one of the two quests that would signal that the village was ours. The first player settlement in Blackport, and from what Hei could find, the first in the world. Sure there were villages that had been built on the new continent.

Many players had been given lordship of villages, including Aragoth. They controlled three villages and a town by the last count. Despite being “lords” of those holdings, they were just managers. However, we would be the first officially recognized player village, it would be fully within our control to decide everything as long as it did not break the kingdom’s laws and we paid tax to the Lord of Blackport.

Some of the members started cheering the builders on. I shook myself out of my reverie and saw that they were almost done. Phil was standing on a ladder, holding a hammer and nail. He looked back at the crowd. “Last nail!”

“Nail that bitch!” someone shouted, someone who shouted remarkably like Blaze trying to disguise his voice. Some started laughing, while most of us just groaned. My suspicion was confirmed that it was Blaze, when he groaned in pain, and asked, “What did I do?”

“You know,” Rose said with a huff. Looking over at them, I saw that Blaze was rubbing his shoulder. My attention was taken away from the pair when a pop-up popped.

Quest Completed

Establishing the Hamlet IV

Reward Pool (Guild Leader’s Discretion)

None for you.

Once more I had declined any rewards. I had done even less this time around than the last. Mia looked like she wanted to argue the point, but she said nothing. Something I was thankful for.

The cheering turned ecstatic. Ed stepped up and asked for silence. “We still have two points of interest to find before the village is ours. So now is not the time for celebration, but it will soon. Every squad has been issued a search grid, so get to it.”

People looked a bit uncertain at each other. I stepped up next to Ed and patted him on the shoulder. “You heard the man, disperse, and I’ll make sure there’s a feast to remember tomorrow. How do burgers for everyone sound?”

That got an enthusiastic response, and all the squads moved out.

I turned to Ed. “If we don’t find them, can we hold out against two monster waves at the same time?”

“I’m confident, with the addition of the wall, it should be more than possible. We also have Robin’s squad back. They found most of the other lairs. Even without them, we managed to find eight of the ten lairs.”

“Good, I’ll leave it in your capable hands,” I said. “Before you head out, could you clear the mine for me and Mason’s gang?”

“Sure, when are you going to take on that dungeon? Those two projections are quite a bother, and reward no XP,” he complained.

“As soon as the village is done, and we got the officials from Blackport here,” I said, not mentioning anything about my surprise. He grumbled a bit about that and went to clear the mine with his squad.

Before I could join him, I was intercepted by Phil. “So, now that the village is finished, what are the next steps for us builders?”

“The village is not finished,” I pointed out.

He looked around. “I mean the quest is over. I’m going to miss that sweet extra XP and other rewards.”

“Yes that quest chain is over, you’ll soon have a new one. This is just the start, so let us get a headstart on the next phase,” I said.

“By your slightly smug tone, I guess you’re not going to give me a hint about what’s coming down the line?” he asked with slight frustration in his voice.

I shrugged. “Sorry, I don’t want to promise anything. I’m just guessing, taking leaps of deduction and logic. I can’t say for sure what’s coming, I’m just sure there will be something.”

“Fine,” he said with a sigh. “What do you need?”

“First, I need you to get started on a large boarding house. A place for people to sleep temporarily,” I said and led him over to where I wanted him to build it.

“Why? We already have bunk rooms in the guildhall,” Phil pointed out.

“Sure, but trust me, we’re going to need it. Should sleep at least two dozen with ease, more if needed,” I said.

“Okay, what’s next then?”

“The third priority will be a lot of houses in the vicinity of the boarding house.”

“How big?”

“Let’s go with two sizes, five by ten and seven by fifteen metres. A third of them of the smaller size. Make them so it’ll be easy to adjust the interior walls and so,” I said after thinking for a moment.

“How many?”

“As many as you can put into this area,” I said and indicated a large swathe of land. Most of it had previously held our fields, which had been harvested earlier in the day.

“Do they need any gardens or such?”

“Good question,” I said. I had not thought about that. “How about you make small blocks of houses? Two of the bigger ones and two of the smaller ones, arrange them in a square with an inner courtyard. Place a well in the centre, and then they can decide if they want to have a vegetable garden.”

“That’ll skew the ratio,” he pointed out.

I sighed. “I know, so fifty-fifty in the ratio of housing types.”

“Great, now what is the second priority?” Phil asked.

“Setting up a butcher shop, a meat locker, and one of the large houses, as well as a cold storage,” I replied.

“Where do you want them?”

“Since we don’t need to bother about scaring the herds by the smell of blood thanks to game logic, let’s make it easy and build it down near the pens,” I replied. “The cold storage goes next to the mess hall. I’ll help with the construction of that one.”

“Okay, that should keep us busy for a few days.”

“That was the plan. If you’ve extra time or hands at any point, some smokers next to the mess hall would be greatly appreciated. Maybe even a smokehouse. Hopefully, we’ll have enough iron for the saltpans and a new and better lift soon,” I replied with a smile. “Speaking of iron, I’ll go make quick work of some veins.”

“See you at dinner.”

“See you,” I said and made my way towards the hopefully soon-to-be-replaced lift.

By the time we had emptied the mine, the hunters had found and exterminated the second to last point of interest. I logged out for a small food break but logged back in immediately after finishing eating. Once more we skipped physical training, however, Kira did not put up a fight about it, just mutely accepting it.

I spent the night with an ever-growing nervousness as time passed. We were getting closer and closer to the deadline for the quest. While I was not too nervous about a single wave, I really hoped they could find it. The extra skill slots and all the rewards that came with finishing all ten points of interest would greatly enhance our fighters and guild.

Roughly thirty minutes before the deadline, I received a message from Ed. “Some of the newbies found the last lair. We don’t have time to gather everyone, we’ll attack with the under levelled squads that are in that area.”

“They’ll most likely die,” I replied. He was outside of my low-levelled Message spell. However, he was high enough that I could reply to his message.

A few seconds later, I received another one, “They’re willing to risk it.”

“Okay, I’ll dispatch William to Blackport, he can sell some of our loot. I just need someone to protect him, I only have one of the guard squad here,” I sent back.

“I’m redirecting Rochelle back to the village. She should be there within the hour,” he replied back.

I went about getting William ready to sail for Blackport. We had a fair deal of stuff we could sell. That reminded me that I needed to get Philmore to build a transport boat with cold storage, so we could transport meat and food back to the town.

Five minutes before the deadline ran out, Rochelle and her squad came back. When I asked her about the quick response, she replied, “We had already scoured our quadrant, we were on the way back.”

Three minutes before, William and Rochelle’s squad set sail.

One minute to the deadline I had still not heard anything. I was getting nervous.

Forty seconds to go.

Thirty seconds.

Ninete—

Quest Completed

Securing the Hamlet III

Reward Pool (Guild Leader’s Discretion)

None for you.

They had done it!

Congratulations. Your village “Phoenix” has passed the initial trials and has received the blessings of the Gods.

Please indicate the placement of your Soul Well.

As soon as I finished reading, the pop-up vanished and was replaced with the outline of a fountain. A Soul Well. We had already made a space for it, in the small square in front of the Gazebo where the Village Token was held.

As soon as I had confirmed the location, the whole area was enveloped in bright light. When I could see again, I was staring at the personal Soul Well of our guild. One of the biggest things about being an official recognized player-built settlement was the fact you could decide who had access to use it.

The village “Phoenix” has joined the de jure rule of the Lord of Blackport. The Temple, the Adventurers’ Association, and his Lordship have been advised. Expect representative within the week.

You’re the owner of the first settlement token used to build an official player-buílt village.

Do you wish for a Personal or a Guild reward?

I thought about it for a second. I really did. However, a few extra XPs for me meant nothing compared to the amount of guild points this could potentially give. So with a big sigh, I did what I knew was right, despite a desire to be greedy. I got a series of messages, but since some of the achievements were evolutions of another, I had made the system tally up the rewards in the last achievement.

First Village in the World

Blue Lotus is the first in the world to construct an officially recognized player village.

Rewards

435,000 Guild Points.

All Members of Blue Lotus gain double reputation point earned with inhabitants of Phoenix.

When under attack by enemy players, all Healing spells will be twice as effective within the Village.

I knew the rest of the guild had received the last message as well. If there were any doubt, their cheering put any such doubt to rest. There were more pop-ups waiting for me, but a message arrived for me.

Observing it, I saw that it was from Ed. It said, “They did it in time. However, only two out of twenty-five survived.”

That soured the feeling a bit, but they knew what they signed up for.

I turned back to what I expected to be the pop-ups about the Guild levelling up, since we had passed the Guild Points needed for second and third level guilds. However, when I opened it, I got quite a shock.

Your desire to put your community ahead of yourself has impressed the Gods. Not once, not twice, not even thrice, but more than ten times, you’ve forsaken to take a part of the reward for yourself, when it was well within your rights, and even expected.

The way you put your community ahead of your own needs resonate strongly with the fairy race. While mischievous, a fairy will always put her community before personal gain.

You receive the following:

100,000 Free XP

10 Fairy Essence Crystals

1 Blank Essence Crystal

1 Free Skill Slot

1 Class Skill Slot

5 Upgrade Points

“Holy motherfucking crap!” I exclaimed loudly, voice filled with excitement.