“The den’s done reforming.” Star announced.

Opening his eyes Zane looked toward the den. The corrupted crystal was now colored red and black due to the demonic energy. Star and the others were gathered around the den watching it reform. They were studying the reformation and on guard against the creation of anymore demonic creatures.

Currently, it was dawn. A day and a night passed since Zane and the others began fighting the demonic creatures. After the demonic creatures were killed, Zane and the others took some time to rest, eat, and talk while they stood guard over the area where the den originally stood. During this time, the group would kill any magic beast or demonic beasts that approached the area.

Standing up Zane walked over to the rest of the group. He took a few seconds to observe the den before he placed his hand on it. Immediately, Zane felt a feeling of discomfort coming from his palm. It felt like the demonic energy was trying to dig into his body and eat away at his mana.

Although Zane found the demonic energy uncomfortable, he didn’t let it stop him from purifying the den. Closing his eyes Zane placed all of his attention on his source energy. He focused on sending a slow steady stream of energy toward the den.

Immediately, the black and red color staining the crystal began to recede from the area around Zane’s hand. Using his senses Zane could sense that a drop of his source energy was able to disperse a large amount of demonic energy. However, the demonic energy seemed endless. Demonic energy constantly surged toward him as he tried to purify the den.

Naturally, Zane wasn’t able to move his source energy on his own. The system was helping him send his source energy to the den, but Zane was controlling the rate at which his energy flowed. If he didn’t, he would run out of source energy before the den was purified.

Of course, the amount of source energy Zane needed to use decreased after he destroyed the den once. Now, he only needed to use nine hundred and fifty points of source energy to purify the den. It was a small difference, but it was a helpful one.

Over time, Zane lost and recovered source energy as he continued to purify the den. Due to the slow rate at which Zane channeled source energy into the den, he wasn’t at risk of running out of source energy. However, he was feeling a great deal of strain from channeling source energy for so long.

Despite having plenty of energy, Zane mind throbbed with pain. His body felt week and exhausted. He felt like stopping and laying down to sleep, but he refused to do so. He knew that the experience he gained from purifying the den would allow him to level up and recover from the exhaustion he was experiencing.

Opening his eyes, Zane did his best to stay awake. He continued to maintain the steady pace at which he channeled his source energy. Eventually he sent source energy into the den and found there was no more demonic energy for it to purify. The crystal now had a bluish white color and emitted a ton of mana. However, Zane’s mind was no longer focused on the den.

Congratulations! You have completed the Purify the Den quest.

Congratulations! You have reached level 77.

Closing his eyes, Zane enjoyed the cool energy that flowed through his body and mind. However, Zane frowned a bit when he still felt some exhaustion. Although most of his exhaustion had disappeared and he no longer had a headache, Zane still felt like he needed a good rest. Zane opened his eyes and continued to read the other system messages he received.

Congratulations! You have taken control of a den on a node of energy. Pleased decide what you will do with it.

Option 1: Sacrifice the den and the node it is on top of to increase your source energy and source stats.

Option 2: Sacrifice the den and the node it is on top of to increase your stats.

Option 3 (Locked): Use the den to establish your own territory.

Option 4: Use the den to establish your own guild.

Zane was a bit surprised to see the four options that the system presented him with. He knew he could gain the opportunity to strengthen his stats when he destroyed a den, but he didn’t know he could gain the opportunity to strengthen his source energy and source stats. When it came to establishing his own territory, Zane had heard rumors of it being possible, but he didn’t try to figure out how it could be accomplished. After all, Zane always thought his path wouldn’t lead him to establish a territory.

Finally, there was the fourth option. This was the first time Zane was introduced to the term guild. He wasn’t given any information about guilds from Teacher Isabelle or anyone else. Right as Zane was about to try and obtain more information from the system, he received a quest.

You have received the Establish a Guild quest. Would you like to accept this quest? Yes, or no?

Quest: Establish a Guild

Description: As a person who has claimed a den you now have the ability to establish your own guild. A guild is a place for adventurers to gather in pursuit of a common goal. Gather a group of likeminded people, committed to pursuing the same goals as yourself, to form a guild.

Quest Objective: Claim a den to establish a guild, gather fifty adventurers with at least half native to the world of Kaleem 0/50, establish a core goal for your guild.

Quest Reward: 1000 class points, 500,000 experience, Guild Founder title

Quest Failure: Unable to complete all of the quest objectives within three years.

Quest Failure Penalty: Loss of ten levels.

You have received the Gifting the System Ⅲ quest. Would you like to accept this quest? Yes, or no?

Reading the penalty for the Establish a Guild quest made Zane pause. This was the worst penalty Zane had ever seen for a quest. That plus the fact that he had no interest in becoming the leader of a group of people made him hesitate to accept the quest. However, Zane didn’t mind accepting the Gifting the System Ⅲ quest.

The accepting the Gifting the System Ⅲ quest required Zane to grant the adventurer title to fifty people and he would receive the same rewards as before. As Zane accepted the Gifting the System Ⅲ quest he realized that it was connected to the establish the guild quest. The system gave him a quest to find the people to make adventurers. Then it gave him a quest that would lead him to the den he was in front of. Finally, it told him to establish a guild.

Clearly, accepting the quest was the right decision to make. However, Zane hesitated. He was worried that becoming a leader of a group of people could negatively affect the path he was on. He could become so focused on taking care of other people that he never had the time to pick up a weapon.

Ultimately Zane decided to postpone making a decision. He was still tired from purifying the den and the quest wouldn’t disappear because he ignored it for a few hours. He was confident he would be able to make the best decision after a good rest. Right as Zane finished making his decision and was about to continue checking his system messages, he was awoken from his thoughts by Star’s voice.

“Did we, do it? I don’t sense any demonic energy coming from the crystal.”

“Yes, all of the demonic energy is gone,” Zane replied.

Looking at the members of his group, Zane could see smiles spreading across their faces. Many of them let out sighs of relief and their bodies slumped as if they had been relieved of a great pressure. The first person to speak was Ayesha.

“Well, that was a lot easier than I expected it to be. I barely got to fight.”

“We didn’t come here to fight,” Abel said. “We were only supposed to look for the source.”

“And yet we fought anyway.”

“I’m only glad that we don’t have to worry about demonic beast attacking us anymore,” Star said. “Thousands of lives will be saved.”

Zane didn’t know if Stars words were correct. Based on what he knew dens usually produced one type of creature. There were multiple types of demonic creatures attacking the town when they arrived which meant there could be multiple dens in the area. However, Zane did see multiple types of demonic creatures around the den he recently purified, and he didn’t see any indications that showed the den produced one type of demonic creature. So, Zane decided to not say anything.

“Are we sure the threat is delt with?” Blake asked. “Maybe we should destroy the den again to make sure that it doesn’t create anymore demonic beasts.”

“Normally, a den will continue to produce mana creatures if it isn’t destroyed.” Zane said. “However, this den was placed on a node which changed how we can handle it. For example, the system has given me these four options.”

With a thought, Zane sent the system message he received to the rest of the group. The group paused and took a few seconds to stare at the air in front of them in silence. Once they were done Ayesha asked the obvious question.

“How come we didn’t get these options?”

“My best guess is that I was the one who purified the den, so I was able to take control of it. If you want a better reason than you will have to ask the system.”

“Which one are you going to pick and why is the third option locked?” Blake asked.

“Don’t know yet? First, I’m going to rest since I’ve used up a lot of energy purifying the den. After that I’ll make my decision. Oh right, I also received a quest. You guys can look at it while I rest.”

After Zane sent the quest to the group, he looked at the rest of his system messages. He saw the effects of mana deficiency were completely negated while he was under the influence of the den. Also, the world suppression was reduced to ten percent.

Zane smiled at the good news before he decided to lay down next to crystal. He took out a premade tent from his space bag and went inside to rest. Before he laid down and closed his eyes, Zane took out a spear and magic staff, and held them close to his chest. He was hoping that he would be able to learn a new skill when he woke up.