[Level up! You are now level 30!

[You have 10 Stat Points to allocate!]

The notification is a great relief after grinding out so many crabs for a couple days. So, so many crabs. The mini bosses did indeed respawn after a few hours, so I received part of the XP needed to level up from being the one to finish them off most of the time. Most came from the Unique Quest Dawn and I received after clearing The Keep and the Quest's subsequent evolutions. We didn't dare to try the second floor in case the mana zombies respawned, but by the second day we were able to dig out all of the Mana Radiated Iron thanks to--

"Hold on…" I mumble to myself. The others turn to me in apprehension, observing our surroundings closely and readying to cast Spells or activate Skills. I wave them off and go through the rest of my notification log in case there might be some kind of mistake.

[Level Stat Bonus: +4Max HP, +2Max MP, +2Max SP

[Class Stat Bonus: Blue Mage: +2Willpower, +1Agility

[Race Stat Bonus: Ifrixian Lineage: +2Max MP]

[Level 30 reached!

[Skill Upgrade: Cerulean Summon

[Storage space of Essence Cores and simultaneous Essence Core Summons have increased! +2 Storable Essence Core, +1 Summon Essence Core]

Although wonderful in its own right, none of those level 30 notifications are what I was hoping to see. In fact, the lack of something has never derailed so much planning so early in all my life, except for maybe forgetting to put on footwear on a particularly hot, summer day. The asphalt wasn't at all forgiving to my tender tooties and the absence of the milestone notice means many things: compliance, failure, a longer road to travel… But most of all, it means that someone else overtook me and I've lost my shiny, blue spot on the leader board. The risk it poses to my sponsorship isn't lost in the jumble of thoughts. Actually, that sudden realization is just another shark in the chummy ocean that is my brain.

"You alright, sir?" Sarnus asks, shouldering his pickaxe. He lost his crossbow in the previous battle, crunched under a massive claw. He tripped on a stalagmite, dropped his weapon, and the clatter attracted the Tier 1 Boss Crystacean's attention. If I didn't share Body of Smoke in time, his body would've shared the same fate as his weapon. "You look like someone knocked the porridge out of your hands."

An irrepressible chuckle builds in my throat and I couldn't contain it, "Knocked a what?" My laughter echoes in the cavern and the others turn to catch a glimpse of me doubled over with laughter. The stress. The worry. The absurd analogy. It takes me a while to catch a breath and tell my new friend that I'm okay. We take a small break in the chamber before we work our way back outside. As every settles in, pulling little meals packed in wooden bowls from their storage items, I manage to pry Rachel away from the group to give her my bad news.

"So, like, what are you gonna do, Ard? Didn't you really, really need that milestone?" She deftly twirls two daggers between her fingers. They move around each other like two swing dancers.

"Yeah, I did need it first, but not as much as the others after. Besides, I-- Hey! Are those new?" I point at her two blades, both appear to be tanto style edges, maybe six or so inches long, as their tips taper quickly into a point opposite the side of their edge. The handles are an inch or so longer than the width of her palm and they end with metal rings. They remind me of Dom the Ninja Goblin's kunai. One of them is brilliantly white, while the other is ominously black, but both are identical in every other aspect.

She ends a flourish with both tips pointing at my face, "Don't change the subject, mister. What are you going to do if you can't catch up and pull ahead at the rate we're working you here?"

I blanche at the thought. Even Rachel knows that I might not be able to stay for long if my plan is to achieve the milestones, not that it was secret amongst us players. How would it look to the Arceans, though? Such a dramatic shift in character could be devastating to my Reputation among them, to go from their caring defender to a power hungry lone wolf out of the blue wouldn't go over well at all. How would Vic take it?

"Well," Rachel stows the twin daggers in her magic bracer and places her hands on her hips, "I could always go with you. It's not like I'm really aiming for anything like you and Dawn are."

"Say what?" Her statement nearly knocks me off my rock. Is she like Ric, a friend of a developer who was lucky to get an invite? Judging by the way we had to teach her proper Stat allocation and Ability learning, it didn't seem like she had much role playing experience, though she did pick everything up fairly quickly.

"Yeah, I'm actually here as part of an experiment for a new set of prosthetics (among a few other things) and I'd love to continue exploring Arc." Her eyes widen at the thought, probably imagining soaring over the world on a big pair of wings. Still, two is more than one and that means I won't be alone. I smile and nod curtly to her in gratitude for her regards. She surprises me with a quick side hug, "Don't worry so much, Ard. We'll think of something or we'll just cross that bridge when we get to it."

"Yeah, you're right. So, you gonna tell me about your new daggers?"

Tomorrow will already be day nineteen IRL which means only six more days in game. Looking back, the first two weeks really did just meld together in a monotonous blur. With the stress of the looming big, boss raid I felt like we didn't have enough time and each second flew by on winged feet. This time, the humdrum, laborious nature of our efforts caused each day to lurch forward sporadically. And once again, we have less than a week until our next break. With everything running smoothly, the development of The Keep appears to be on auto pilot, but the reality is all of our over preparedness and stockpiling is finally paying off.

With only two actual Miners and myself, who stumbled upon the uncanny ability to circumvent a few of the Artisan class limiters but not all, the Electrum extraction has been a slow going process. Whatever ores we did manage to mine out inbetween grinding missions and delivery trips, we turned into ingots and we even managed to get a few staple metals out of the vein, like some iron and tin. The amount wasn't something to be excited about, but it was still a delightful, albeit unexpected, resource. According to Dawn, our excavation rate isn't a problem since we don't have a real use for the Electrum yet. Not like the vast quantities of lumber, bricks, and other ingots we accumulated on the way here.

Our priority has been to set up another bath house for sanitation purposes. We could live in the vardo or move the cabanas from inside it, out into The Keep, so housing isn't an issue yet. Now, the game doesn't actually create waste, but there was still a need for a facility according to the NPCs. Plus, who didn't like a nice, hot bath after a day of manual labor? Unfortunately, all of the pre made buildings we saved from the dungeon wouldn't work here since, well, we weren't in a dungeon. Luckily, we were able to create one using the basic blueprints of the building's layout, copper pipes, and some firewood. At first, we asked if anyone had the Plumber class, but when we met with the Arcean Blank Stare of the Real World Filter, or ABSRWF as nobody calls it. We've all just been calling it the "real world filter."

Anyway, it's finalization was met to much fan fare after the many days and many ways we've all had to make do. After its completion, and according to the way the Unique Quest Dawn and I share evolved, we built a few buildings for specific crafters as well a multi purpose workshop and a mess hall. Mostly they were for the privacy of the Artisans and to keep out the sensory pollution they created. Smoke and other harmful vapors, all manner of flashing lights, and, most of all, noise from the Blacksmiths, Alchemists, Carpenters, etc. They were all contained, filtered, and/or redirected as best as we could manage.

Dawn set up a quick meeting of the four players while Victoria and the department heads continue developing The Keep. Inside the vardo, our conference table and chairs were pretty much all the furniture that were left inside. As safe as it may have been, the prospect of no longer having to live in it took root and made itself a priority thought amongst the citizens. Dawn didn't see a need to stop anyone from moving out, but she did ask everyone who wanted to move out to make it happen on their own. Aside from our meeting place, the vardo's role became main storage facility for large projects and over abundant materials. That way, the crates and rucksacks could be utilized inside the workshops and the mess hall where they were needed most.

"So, what's on the docket?" I ask, wondering if Dawn's become more concerned about me leaving. She has one hand rhythmically tapping on the table while the other scratches at her horn, her eyes are searching the floors for something.

As if reading my thoughts she responds, "Sorry, Ard, a situation has come up that's a little more dire for the community than your levels." At her words, the three of us stiffen and give her our full attention. "Mythril Team found a party of eight Hobgoblin Scouts roaming near the garden area. Before the Foragers could be discovered, the Kobolds led the Hobs inside and the big snake boss took care of them for us. Hopefully, whoever sent them will assume we had nothing to do with it. Just in case, however, I deployed Elsbeth, Conner, and Plisk to cover any tracks we left behind that could lead them here."

"More hobs," I muse, poking at the table as Dawn stops her tapping. "You think they were looking for the Trappers we killed?"

"Most likely. They had the same skeleton hand symbol on their armor and they were equipped for scouting, not assassinating."

"A squad of eight Scouts is kinda big, don't you think?" Richter asks, "I mean, two or three should be efficient enough for the purpose of finding another hostile force."

Dawn nods in agreement, "Vic thought that, too, but maybe it's also a show of force. Maybe they can afford a large group of scouts or maybe they really wanted to find what they're looking for. Either way, we have to assume they're going to send another, larger force and we are not in a good position time-wise."

That's right. Without knowing when they'll send the next round out to find us, we could run the risk of being on break when they do. We have an easily defensible position, but we have less than a week until break and we've focused on mainly buildings for the crafters. Not just that, but our forces have been trained mainly in reconnaissance and minor skirmishes. Our former military and reserve units have only experienced large scale, extended opposition in the form of a Stalker horde. We were helping Lady Anne's forces during the defense of Higo, and they had a rral military force. Still, we never had to repel an organized force for long periods of time like one would in a real siege.

"So, like, how are we going to do this?" Rachel asks as Dawn pulls up a couple blueprint screens, sketches a few quick maps, and writes up a list.

"Well, we have an idea, but first I wanted to make sure that Ardacen will be with us for this." She turns to me, with an expression that I can't read.

"Of course I will," I respond a little indignantly, "Why the hell wouldn't I be?"

"There's a pretty good chance of death and you already fell behind on the board. If we fail, you'll lose your Life Crystal along with a proportionately large amount of XP. I'm sure you were aware of this risk and added it into your plans."

"I-- I honestly did not…" Shit, I never would have thought of it like that. How can she have so many things on her mind and still think that far ahead? Remind me not to play chess with her, not that I was ever good it.

She lets out a deep sigh, hangs her head, and props it up with both hands. She stares at me for a while and finally smirks, "If you're going to stay, you're going to work overtime, Ard. We're going to need you to power level as many people as you can, while helping us push further into the dungeon and with building up our fortifications. I'll make an announcement later and hopefully everyone will use the news as motivation and not let fear drop their work efficiency."

"Does everyone else think that Dez is behind the hobs?" Ric asks and we all respond with resolute head nods. "What if we found his hideout and attacked him directly?"

Dawn flourishes with one of her hands, "That would take time we might not have. Had we found the Scouts a week earlier, maybe. Or if we knew for certain they wouldn't find us before the break. The timing isn't on our side this time, guys."

"Like, at least we have a few days. What can we do until then?" Rachel is standing to get a closer look at Dawn's maps and lists.

"We've got quite a few options, actually. But they all gamble on the assumption that there either isn't another path leading down the mountain that Dez has access to or he doesn't know about it if there is. According to Team Electrum, the paths continue up, but there are some that dip into deep pockets of water that lead beyond their sightlines. I'm afraid that they may lead back down somewhere."

"I can breathe underwater and swim fast. Maybe I can--"

Dawn cuts me off knowing exactly where I going, "Sorry, Ard. But its more important that we level up our citizens, including the Kobolds, as much as we can and you're the best person to do it. You have the highest level here and by far the most versatile set of Abilities. If we as players were in the party we wouldn't benefit as much from the same amount of XP as the others would. We need to farm XP and materials from the dungeon and we still haven't even gotten to the third floor yet."

"Well," I start, practically pouting in my seat, "At least the Tlancalli zombie chamber didn't respawn. I think the crystal was a sort of trap. I did find those weird beaver-like creatures with the funky tails. They were eating the Crystaceans, like you said, and were too busy to spot me checking them out."

"Good. I wonder why you haven't leveled up War Party Leader yet…" She muses this while clacking on her horn. "Maybe you need to lead a maxed out party. I think that's what I did. Well, now's your chance." She shrugs and adds to the list blueprint.

We give her a moment before she goes over the problem of numbers. According to Victoria, with our population and the amount of standing buildings we should be able to use her title as duchess and the Cornerstone Anchor to get into contact with one of the other nobles, but only after five, uninterrupted days of being present in the location it was activated. Presumably, this is to ensure that the area is safe enough to be inhabited long term and that the community truly intends to live there. By then, even if we rushed a request for aid, it would take several days to send a contingent of troops without an official declaration of war.

"You know a siege is basically a battle of attrition? All we have to do is outlast them." Richter has a good point, but Dawn is already shaking her head.

"That's true against almost everyone, but the undead. They don't eat or sleep or need potty breaks. Dez may have recruited some hobs, but he's still a Necromancer, a powerful one and one that must have gotten stronger since our last meeting. Remember the Skeletal Hydra?"

"Why don't we try recruiting some people of our own?" I ask. Richter and I move in closer and we form a half circle around Dawn's screens.

"Alima said there's only two settlements close by. The Tlancalli, who will probably attempt to kill Ardacen and Victoria on sight and a particularly feral tribe of mountain people she calls the Blue Mountain Elves. The have all the particular traits of Elves: pointy ears, long lives, inclination to magic… But, they're as tall as an average Dwarf and they communicate in a series of grunts and facial expressions."

"The last part sounds like the bar customers I'd get on a Tuesday night." We all chuckle at this, if only to add a little brevity to the situation.

Dawn sighs in relief, "Anyway, she said we won't have to worry about them until winter weather hits which, apparently, is only a couple months away. And no, she already told me she isn't joining our side in a fight. She isn't joining anyone's side. She's just interested in observing both parties during battle."

"Lazy cat," I mumble to myself.

Rachel points to a spot on the map, "Why are we developing Kes Mud? I thought we, like, abandoned it?"

"I had an idea. Have any of you ever seen that old movie, Blazing Saddles?" Dawn leans back in her chair, hands lacing behind her head and a wide grin spreading across her face.

I stare at her in disbelief. Really? We're going to do that? A real laugh escapes my lips, thought I meant for it to be condescending, as I remember the first time Dad let me watch it with him. He always loved those old comedies with the Marx brothers, Three Stooges, and Mel Brooks. "You know that was just a movie, right?"

Her eyes shone brightly and menacingly as her grin grew wider, "And this is just a game…"

The door to the vardo opens and we all turn to stare at a suprised Lavina trying to search through a pile of miscellaneous building material. "Oh, uh, sorry. El said I could find some ten foot poles in here?" Even without her welding mask, she has taken to keeping her brown ears tied back down with a simple, two-inch wide strip of turquoise cloth tied in a bow that acts like a headband, but reminds me of Rosie the Riveter. It's a little ironic that the strands of her bow look like short, little bunny ears while keeping the real ones safe from "hat hair."

Dawn erupts from her seat and strides over to her, arms wide open. "Lavina! Just the person I wanted to see!"

Bewildered, she watches as Dawn wraps an arm around her waist and leads her over to stand with us. The Infernus brings up several saved blueprint screens, "Check this out. Rachel and I have been tossing these ideas between each other since we moved into The Keep. What do you think?"

Richter and I look at the plans, at each other, and then back at the plans. From the look he gives me, which is probably the same one I'm giving him, I could tell we both couldn't p comprehend what we're seeing. To me, it looks like two different doors, one much larger than the other, and then a collection of gears. When I glance at the girls, I realize they've been having an animated discussion, but even with their amount of lip moving and hand gesturing I cannot hear or understand any of what they're communicating.

Richter tugs me by the shoulder and I give him the attention that's being wasted on the girls' conversation, "Forget it, bro. They're talking about the blueprints. Must be Tinkerer if all three of them can talk like that."

I shake my head, "I've never experienced the Artisan blockage that badly before. Usually, I can still manage little bits and pieces, but this time I just went full on deaf. Even their gestures make no sense to me."

Richter laughs, "It's okay, bro. I think one of them has something to do with the stream and a couple might be about The Keep itself. I caught a little bit when they were chatting it up in the vardo, but same, I went blank screen on them. Guess we'll find out soon enough."

As long as the whole party is outside of the vardo and in at least the first chamber of the dungeon, their distance from me seems to be irrelevant. At first we tried to keep everyone in Kes Mud, but the moment I set foot in the second chamber our party line was severed. So, after a little trial and error, we found out a bit more the system and how it works.

Including myself, I could only have twenty members in a party, so we filled our offensive lineup with Elsbeth (ranged dps), Corvina (heal bot), Sarnus (melee dps), Kona (ranged dps and emergency heal bot), and Lydia (support caster). The members of Linqs with the lowest levels including Miss Sofia made up the rest of the party, but they were our non-combatants. Today is also Lydia's first day out on her own without Rachel beside her. Still, Corvina will be keeping a close eye on her since most of the snowy owl lady's Abilities are geared toward support with only a couple of attack Spells she learned from the scrolls we gave out. The non-combatants wait in one of two wagons a chamber behind us as the rest of us clear the way. Since the boss crabbies take about a day to respawn, we chose the first boss chamber to set up shop. There, anyone with crafting capabilities did what they could while Shelly and a second Crystacean watch over the hallways leading in and out of the cavern, just in case something sneaks by to investigate all the noise. That left the rest of us to grind out some mobs.

"Lydia, keep the buffs going for Elsbeth and Kona. You're doing great. Corvina, Sarnus needs healing and a Mage Armor recharge. Miss Sophia, these scones are amazing!" The last part I shout out across the dungeon in the hopes that she heard me.

"Ardacen!" Kona's shrill voice buries mine, cutting through the dungeon, the din of battle, and the subtle pleasure of my perfectly baked treat. By now the battles with the giant Crystaceans have become monotonous for me. Dual wielding my Battle Wand and a blueberry scone takes only enough effort and mental gymnastics required to NOT smack the crab in the face with the wrong hand. Of course, to my party members it probably feels like I'm screwing around and, granted, it really does look like it, but everyone who has ever had to grind the same monsters over and over again knows what I'm going through. This almost bored feeling of knowing that I have to keep just an eighth step beyond what I'm expecting the monsters to do or risk over compensation or worse, being completely wrong in my assumption of their tactics. Grinding and farming aren't necessarily fun, even in a virtual world where you can feel every, single blade of grass as you sweep your hand through a field or smell and taste each blueberry in a scone made by the virtual intelligence version of a kindly old lady who just happens to cast eldritch magic from her fingertips. But sometimes you make your own fun, even though not everyone around you would agree that what you're doing is as amusing as you believe it to be. When I used to farm for items and such in Pangaea, I did so for hours at a time and I don't believe I ever had a combined minute of "fun."

"Come on, Ard. We gotta get to the second floor so we can farm some of those Cave Beelests. They have waterproof pelts and they feel so luxurious. I used to see them in boutique stores and drool all over the display window." Kona is talking about the big, beaver creatures that Dawn mentioned to us. The sedan sized beavers have grayish blue fur and tails that look like they're made from swirling black and grey marble, but are as flexible and move as swiftly as any beavers's tail would be. The Beelests apparently use them to shatter the Crystaceans and actually eat the crystal shards.

Before I can respond with a question concerning the ethics of a Faunus wearing another animal's fur like that, Kona uses her staff as a focal point and a Spell materializes first as a tiny bead of crackling, purple energy at the tip. It expands to about the size of a grapefruit before vanishing. It reappears in the form of a massive, purple explosion at the "hip" of one of the creature's legs, violently seperating it from the body and spraying neon yellow blood, for lack of a better term for what is being sprayed at the wall. It looks like someone jumped hard on a giant mustard packet. Two spurts later it turns into a dribble and the giant Crystacean falls to our feet. Kona is delighted to receive the kill bonus, except we haven't gotten anything higher than apprentice grade items from the giant, stupid-ass crabs, and all of us earn a little over one hundred XP each. It may not be much from the Tier One Boss, but there are twenty of us sharing it.

"Finally. I mean, good job everyone. Let's circle back to the wagons and--"

The ground beneath us trembles just enough for us to check our immediate surroundings to make sure what we feel js truly happening. Our point of reference is a small pile of clattering rocks, but it ends as abruptly as it began.

Kona's ears are perked up as high forward as they can go and Lydia's head swivels at a fast pace as she side steps closer to Corvina.

[Warning! Floors One, Two, and Three will be experiencing a Power Surge due to an influx of mana in the adjacent leyline tributary. Monsters will be randomly spawned from this mana throughout each level and will remain until death.]

Nothing about the notification sounds good, and I ask my question out loud, "Anybody know what the hells is going on?"

Sarnus has both hands gripped tight on the handle of his pick axe, "Sir, I heard tale of Power Surges from old Miners. Monsters with no business being in a cave or a dungeon like this will start popping up. Maybe even Bosses, depending on the level of the Surge. We gotta get back to others. I don't think your little minions will be able to defend against something far bigger than them."

With only time for a quick nod to him and the others, we take off toward the entrance. We just have to clear three chambers to get to them, but already pockets of blue mist begin condensing and forming biological shapes, like arms and heads. Several creatures have already taken shape, some of which are recognizable enough, but I don't want to waste time scanning the others. Elsbeth and I have the highest Agility and easily pull ahead of the rest. I'm about to shout to the others to ignore the monsters popping up as best as they can when one in particular catches my full attention.

"Hellooo, Momma Blue…"

Elsbeth gives me a sideways glance, smirks, and pushes me back by the shoulder. I look at her in suprise and she signs with a shrug.

"You better hurry…"

[Adolescent Stalker Queen. Level 31.

[1507/1507HP, 90/90MP, 210/210SP]

The young, Stalker Queen is maybe a foot taller than the average mantis monster as she stands at about seven or so feet. Her carapace has a matte grey color like dirty stainless steel, and it eerily reflects different colors of light from the glowing wall crystals and lingering Dancing Lights orbs. The Skill to fly and the Stalker Wing parts make more sense now that three of her own pairs are flairing out behind her while she wields her serrated scythes above her head. On the crown of her triangular head has several ridges jutting up in a crescent shape, much like a tiara made from her own carapace. Her mandibles stretch obscenely, spraying spittle as she lets loose a heart stopping shriek.

"Gorgeous…"

She will be mine. Oh yes, she will be mine.