I was really lucky to receive no soul damage this time. Helen was right, it has to do with the amount of points spent at once. The pemadra issue out of the way, I can focus on my main goal of today.

I'll send the goblins to build some huts at the further and lower hills because I need to use the gemcutting tools. I'll go back at the mountain of quartz crystals and appraise to find the purest chunk I can get. After that, I'll cut it into a spherical faceted cut.

But there are some people that won't let me.

"Show me your new skills, G!"

"Yeah, what did you get? Any new magic?"

I show them the new skills. Dragon-wings look cool but terrifying. I want to see the smug face of a certain seraph fall down when he sees he's not the only one in the sky. Animal form is nice too. There are no animals that could top my troll form in combat, but for recon, infiltration, and disguise it would be nice. Possession falls on the darker side of the spectrum, and none of the girls volunteered for a test, so its debut will be postponed.

Minimap combined with the tactical map is very handy. I can see exactly where my party or minions are. It even gave a little range boost to the tactical map. Tracking can also combo with the other two, I can see the tracking target in the map. Energy conversion is expensive and requires me to set it to receive an attack, but converting a nova blast into ice can save some troll's butt.

Finally, clairvoyance is the ultimate peeping tool. It would be rank SS if this were a shounen series. There is nobody to peep on anyway.

The defensive stuff and the passives are of not much consequence, but...

"I also got a Cursebreaker skill. I don't think it will work on The Curse, but if we meet more imps or other dark magic users, it will be handy."

Marcy sighs and comments, "It would have saved us 3 days of our lives if we had it earlier."

"See from the bright side. It will save us 3 days of our lives and probably our lives the next time some curse type attack comes at us."

Helen becomes skittish, "Don't jinx it. Now it seems we are going to be cursed next time we go on patrol."

"Well, the show is over. I need to craft and enchant a very important item. You are free to stay here but it will take more than an hour. Shraaizar, stay with Marcy. I'll need her once I'm finished. Also, if you could get Zahariel and bring him to me, it would be awesome." I'll probably need the Seraph's assistance in the enchantment part.

I change my job to magician to get a bigger MP pool. I think it will need all of it.

Cutting the quartz block into a perfect sphere the size of a handball ball was tiresome and required precision, but is not beyond my current skills. One hour and something later, it is done. The inside is spotless and this dungeon quartz has a high mana conductivity.

Skill Gemcutting level 7.

The crystal sphere looks like a diamond. There are no imperfections in the quartz core, it is perfectly transparent. The prism effects send several small rainbows in the room once I put it in the sunlight. "Shraaizar, can you send Zahariel and Marcy to me?"

"Affirmative, Grendel. We are on our way."

While I wait for them to come I get a carved wood board with a depression in the middle, covered with a felt cloth I made to rest the orb on. It is too valuable to risk having it roll and fall off of the table. I'll also need to let my guild card outside the item box.

A few minutes later they come. "What do you want enchanted, Grendel?" asks Zahariel.

"This crystal sphere. I'll enchant it to mimic one of my skills. Come, you know the drill. I take out the A-rank pemadra of the ice queen."

Zahariel whistles, "You are burning an A-rank monster core on this enchant? I'm afraid to ask what it is."

I crush the pemadra in a ceramic mortar and pour MP into the dust. It glows with enough power to illuminate the whole hovel.

"Marcy, please put a few drops of your blood in this mortar.

Zahariel also pours his MP to assist and grant his angelic blessing into the enchant. We then slowly sprinkle the dust over the whole quartz ball, pouring more MP to make sure it absorbs the energy of the pemadra.

I might have made the sphere too big. It already drained 90% of our MP and shows no sign of stopping. With the corner of my eye, I see both Zahariel and I descend into MP exhaustion. Another set of hands appear next to the sphere and supplies its own MP. It seems Marcy sprung into action.

Focused on the control of the process, I hold back a little on the MP to balance the output with my regeneration. Zahariel runs dry and so does Marcy. Right, when the thing would all go to hell I pull all stops and drain all my MP. The enchantment finishes successfully.

Skill Enchanter King level 8. {Reverse Engineer} learned. Allows analysis of an enchanted item to learn its creation process. Time to enchant halved if duplicating an item.

Title Magical Engineer awarded!

Those that craft an S-rank artifact.

+10% to the chance of success when creating items ranked B or above.

We are laying on our backs on the floor catching our breath and Helen comes rushing in, "What the heck are you doing here for the three of you to go into MP exhaustion at once?"

"That crystal." I point at the magical quartz orb on the desk.

"What is this? Its magic is so strong my hands are tingling just from getting near it."

A minute later we recover enough to properly function. "Marcy, could you please activate the crystal? I think you know the chant."

"Is this a job crystal?" Marcy asks. One can read in her face she is afraid.

"Yes. And it is not one of the watered down ones the guild issues. Now hurry. activate it."

Marcy puts a trembling hand on the crystal. Word by word she recites the secret chant the guild masters use to turn on the job crystals. Her nosy and busybody nature paid off this time. I bet she eavesdropped that sniper asshole triggering his crystal.

I monitor her job options. Once she finishes chanting, the Guild Master job unlocks. "Job Change: Marcy to Guild Master!"

Marcy has become a [5] Guild Master. Synchronizing nearby guild cards.

Finally activated, the orb becomes a full-fledged job crystal.

Marcy's Bootleg Guild Core Crystal (S):

Allows the following guild functions inside its guild field (does not require touch):

Job Changing Title Setting Party Formation Guild Area MP tithing (automatic, passive - 5% of max MP of registered cardholders whenever MP pool is full). Quest registration (only registered receptionists) Guild Contribution Points Tally (only registered receptionists) Issuance and synchronization of Guild Card (only registered receptionists) Member status review (only registered receptionists) Guild Card Masking (only registered receptionists) Receptionist Registration (only Guild Master Marcy) Available Job List Management (only Guild Master Marcy) Activating / Deactivating Guild Crystal (only Guild Master Marcy)

Guild area radius is 7.5 feet for every point of Guild Master Marcy Magic Stat. Soulbound to Marcy

This is an improved version of the 'job crystal' that the mainstream guild uses. Cardholders can change their jobs anywhere inside the guild field. One funny thing is that the Guild Crystal slowly drains Excess MP from cardholders in its area. This is the reason the guild offers lodging for adventurers. They are being used as MP chargers. But our guild cards will be different. They can be masked as normal cards and have countermeasures for the functions of a normal guild crystal.

The dreadest is the 'Guildmaster Authority' skill that all guild masters receive upon level 1. They can forcefully change jobs and titles of cardholders. And they can also void the cards. It is used in very dangerous prisoners to force them back to the villager job. While it doesn't remove or lock skills, the downgrade in status is fatal to a person. I think the shitty Mirfield GM tried to use that on me, but at that time I was not a cardholder and my job was villager anyway. Maybe even Kareena's despair is due to that knowledge.

I address everyone present, "This is the birth of our clandestine adventurer guild. Long live the Bootleg Guild. Long live our guild master Marcy!"

Take that, Cloude. This is how you make a girl's dreams come true. With a huge sparkling magic gemstone. Oh, wait. I got it wrong. Something about listening and then working your ass off? Putting effort and heart. Yeah. I gotta grow up.

The real name of what is called job-changing crystal or just job crystal is a 'Guild Core Crystal'. This sucker does all the functions of a guild. And it is a bound magic item. The 'initiation' of a new guild master is actually the crafting of a guild crystal. When I ate the crystal at Colchester, I felt Kareena's presence in the crystal, but I lacked the knowledge to understand what it was. She was able to synchronize the Mirfield crystal because the previous owner was dead. Someone else with the right credentials could take it over. But Marcy had not the requirements for the guildmaster job at that time.

I added some features in this crystal that the original has not. It can sync with the cards from the other guild, and hide the allegiance to this one, even mask our status. It can also issue cards that will be recognized by the other guild.

But for this community, the real improvement is that we can issue cards for the monsters. They can party up and share exp. Unfortunately, real monsters cannot have jobs. But I can have Kochurearc take some goblins to power level them, for example. The effect is huge. Monsters don't cooperate, at least the wild ones. But with proper coordination, a new horizon opens.

Marcy jumps and hangs herself on my neck, "I can't believe it! I got the Guild Master title! It is real! Even if it was not the way I thought it would be, I am a real guild master now!"

"Yes, but you need receptionists. How about appointing some receptionists now?"

"You will look 'awesome' in a frilly apron, G."

"No way. I'll settle for a butler uniform though."

Marcy gets down and touches the crystal. "Appoint receptionist. Grendel, Helen, Zahariel, Shraaizar, Kochurearc. It failed. Only Grendel and Helen have cards."

Job Guild Receptionist unlocked.

"I think I'll spend the next twenty days crafting and enchanting guild cards." That is the reason I set aside 400 E-rank pemadras. "You go and grind some levels with the new jobs. You can even change jobs without me now."

One card for each monster in this community and some to spare.

Work on the palisade and the habitation of the monsters will continue even without me. But when it gets colder, obtaining food might be a problem. I think I should visit the human lands later to buy food. We might have to turn to agriculture next Spring.

And this is the story of how I got a 9-to-5 day job in another world, even though I was the boss of the place.

During this time I made the slime area off-limits for everyone but me. I also wanted to grind some levels and having the slime pit nearby was very handy. In those 20 days, I got around a level of receptionist and a level of tamer each day, average. I also became a level 57 troll.

Marcy and Helen also worked hard. Not only they needed to register every monster on the guild, but Guild master is a tier 5 job, there is a price to pay for its sheer power. The Exp required to level 25 is the same to get a 3rd tier job to level 40, but you get a little more SP and stats in those 24 level ups than the other guy in their 39. There are also the multipliers. The tier 5 job has better multipliers for the HP, stamina, and MP derived from the stats.

And those 20 days went down the drain in a flash. Marcy and Helen moved into Helen's parents' house, Zahariel is crashing in their couch because he is too lazy to keep his own home. The other monsters don't fit properly in human habitations and they are making their own places anyway.

Skill Enchanter King level 9. {Glyph Carving} learned. Casting Time 1 minute. Allows enchanting a magical sigil with a spell effect, a glyph, onto a surface. The glyph is single-use and expires after triggering. Set the trigger when drawing the glyph. Consumes a low-rank pemadra and MP to create.

I'm at the top of the hill right now. Marcy moved the guild crystal to the basement of their home, so the guild field covers a good part of the hilltop. She has 44 magic points, it is more than double the Colchester guild master Kareena. It is almost night, but there are three rows of trees blocking the view of the sunset.

"Say, Helen, why the trees blocking the west view?"

"Isn't it obvious? If we can see the west, someone there can see us too. I had Mittens take Emory for a flight west from us, they could see the houses even far away. Now, what would people think if they see us here? There aren't supposed to be houses out here. Especially the houses a certain hero took from the town. I placed those trees there to hide us. It can't be helped if someone comes and sees the palisade, but by then an encounter would be inevitable."

"Good idea. I lack common sense in this matter. And in the warmer months this will give shade in the afternoon." The trees she moved were ones that never lose the foliage.

Marcy comes around when she hears my voice, "Hey, how are you doing? I just finished registering the last cards for the goblins."

"I'm fine. I think I'll make you two pay Mirfield a visit. People will think us dead if we are missing for too long."

"Not you?"

"Yes, I'll be there with you but not as Beowulf. I want to see how people will treat you two without me around."

"Fine then, when are we going there?"

"Tonight. We are teleporting. Go and get ready."