Corwin headed to the guild office in the town capital. After much effort, it was finally time to found his guild. Corwin was offered a choice of guild creation options: for 10 gold he could create a basic guild; for 100 gold he could create an intermediate guild; for 1000 gold an advanced guild; and for 10000 gold an elite guild. The different qualities of guild would result in changes to how the guild gained reputation and experience. It was possible to upgrade a guild after creation, but it was even more expensive than the different costs. Corwin wanted the very best for his guild so he reluctantly shelled over 10000 gold, sighing as he thought of the many credits it was worth. That triggered a series of announcements.

Righteous Destiny is the first elite guild in Eternity’s Wake. It receives 1000 guild reputation and 2000 guild XP.

Righteous Destiny is the first elite guild in the Asterith continent. It receives 500 guild reputation and 1000 guild XP.

Righteous Destiny is the first elite guild in the Verdure Kingdom. It receives 250 guild reputation and 500 guild XP.

Righteous Destiny is the first guild led by a noble in Eternity’s Wake. Rewarding 1000 guild reputation and 2000 guild XP.

Righteous Destiny is the first elite guild led by a noble in the Asterith continent. Rewarding 500 guild reputation and 1000 guild XP.

Righteous Destiny is the first guild led by a noble in the Verdure Kingdom. Rewarding 250 guild reputation and 500 guild XP.

Righteous Destiny has reached level 1. A level 1 guild can have a maximum of 500 members and is allowed to have a level 1 guild hall.

The XP rewards put the guild on the right track to reaching level 2. The reputation was also handy, as our guild had left ‘unknown’ status and reached ‘vaguely recalled’. Realistically our status with players was much higher as even before formation I had dominated the world announcements.

I messaged Kyo and told him to meet me in the town square. Meanwhile I went to the land office. As a noble of Verdure Kingdom, I had the right to purchase land in any city in the kingdom at that city’s land office. I choose 2 prime locations on the town square. The land cost 5000 gold each, and my money continued to evaporate. I next went to the city building office, and commissioned two buildings: a level 0 shop and a level 0 guild hall. Level 0 buildings didn’t require anything special to build, but they would be upgraded by building plans found from monster drops and treasure chests.

By the time Kyo and I arrived in the town square there was an exciting bustle of people. We arrived in front of the guild hall just as it completed construction. I briefly confirmed my plans with Kyo and we both began to announce,

“Guild Righteous Destiny is recruiting players, level 5 minimum. We have extensive equipment available for guild members. Level 8 or higher players considered an elite member.”

That attracted a lot of attention. Kyo and I were swarmed and were quickly handling the process of adding guild members. Most players were still below level 5 and many of the people we talked to were looking for exemptions to the rules. I held my requirements firm. Soon enough I needed to raise them to level 6, the guild was nearing the maximum size for a level 10 guild. When we only had 50 slots left I stopped recruiting players less than level 8.

There were two recruitments I was quite excited about. Hans “The Bear” Wolverton, was a Tier 5 tank when I had reincarnated. He was a bit green now, not yet meeting the recruitments to become an elite member but I was confident he’d live up to his huge potential. Dominic “Silencer” Davios was the other. He was a powerful anti-mage who’d grow into an ideal magic tank. He was also a Tier 5 player when I had been reincarnated. Dominic had reached level 8 and would start as an elite player of the guild.

I recognized four other players who’d gone on to grow into Tier 4 existences. They’d be solid members for us as well. One was an ideal Off Tank. The other 3 were an elementalist, a wizard and a berserker. I had recruited two core players I had not recognized, but anyone who could reach level 10 by now was at least a good player, likely better than good.

I setup a structure for Guild Contribution Points (GCP) which enabled members to trade in for the gear I had crafted. I made level 10 iron-tier set equipment available along with a smattering of leftover level 5 iron and bronze equipment. There were daily quests that could be completed for a small amount of Guild XP and Guild Reputation. A player could do 3 solo quests, 2 party quests and 1 team quest each day. The party quests were aimed at 5-person parties, while the team quests were aimed at a 20-man team. Completing guild quests unfortunately gave poor individual rewards. I set up a GCP reward structure which would incentivize players to complete them however; I wanted to get the guild level and guild reputation as high as possible as fast as possible. Lastly, I set up powerful incentives to turn in recipes and rare crafting materials. This would ensure the guild could support the store.

With the guild taken care of it was time to start the crafting organization. I started a similar recruiting process, targeting crafters who had reached halfway to journeyman or better in at least one profession. Anyone who’d reached that level at this stage in the game would be quite skilled. This recruitment took longer, most people who had reached that far were already supported by guilds. Eventually I had recruited two of each profession, which was enough to supply a level 0 store. We signed some basic contracts to ensure crafters would have to pay a penalty to leave based on the cost of formulas supplied. In exchange, they’d be supplied with formulas and materials to enhance their crafting skills and would earn 20% of the profits on everything they sold. The market rate was 15% but I was building my organization quickly so I needed to offer an extra incentive. My lock-in terms were also less onerous than typical. Regardless, my gold dwindled further as I purchased relevant materials to support those crafters advancement.

By the end of daytime in the game, I was once again poor. But with my shop and crafting organization established I felt like a temporarily embarrassed millionaire. I had so much to do: daily guild quests, challenging the tower, grinding for recipes, getting a team to level 20 to race for the first 20-man dungeon. I decided the tower was my first priority, after all it gave out so many useful rewards.

I picked out a party to challenge the tower, consisting of all the elites and The Bear. I paid the magic crystal costs for everyone, which reduced my crystals down to 19. I was already thinking about the 50-man dungeons that started at level-30, so was happy to have a party of 50 competing for techniques.

Once I had paid the tower fees I focused entirely on my own run. It wouldn’t do to not be a top performer because I had become too distracted by guild business. I effortlessly conquered the first 7 floors, getting 7 technique tablets. The most powerful of these techniques was flicker, the level 5 basic technique. It would temporarily turn me non-corporeal causing any non-magical attacks to pass through me. Even with my epic equipment, it drained mana at an incredible rate, so it was only usable in emergencies. The other techniques were: health drain, mana drain, stamina drain, Str drain, Agi drain, and End drain. These techniques were impractical in most cases as their impact was small relative to the time used for the move. Agi Drain had some potential if everyone in a 50-man party was using it on a physical-damage boss however.

The general rule for the tower was a good player could get 1 floor for every 2-levels they had. On the 8th level I was trying to outperform my level by 6. While I did have 2.4 ignore levels, this wasn’t really enough to fight level 16 enemies at level 10. With the severe suppression, I was eventually defeated. Enemies in the tower didn’t give XP, so I remained level 10. My run to about midway into the 8th level was good for first on the leaderboard, in fact the next best person had only completed the 6th level.

Most of the elites had passed level 4, but only a few had passed level 5. The Bear who was only level 6 managed to pass level 4 which impressed me greatly. With the tower out of the way, and some techniques and daily rewards secured it was time to power level.

Corwin Swordborn

Spoiler : Level 10: 99% of level 11

Str: 1945(base:25)

Agi: 2011 (base:70)

Con:1945 (base:25)

Int: 601 (base:25)

Cha: 601 (base:25)

Lck: 217 (base:25)

Cnc: 217 (base:25)

Sta: 217 (base: 25)

Qi: 217 (base: 20)

Soul: 217 (base:20)

Air Affinity: 217 (base:20)

Fire Affinity: 217 (base:20)

Def: 6313

MDef: 4827

HP:21450/21450 (base: 1000)

MP:8110/8110 (base: 1000)

Gear:

MW: Epic Tier Level 12 Longsword, +192Str +192Agi +192Con

Base Damage: 240-288, Def 288 MDef 240 Durability 384/384, Requirements: 386 Str

OW: Epic Tier Level 12 Shortsword +192Str, +192Agi, +192 Con

Base Damage 196-240, Def 240 MDef 196, Durability 384/384, Requirements: 386 Str

MA: Epic Tier Level 12 Plate, +192 Str, +192 Agi, +192 Con

768Def,768MDef, Durability 384/384, Requirements:384 Str

LA: Epic Tier Level 12 Plate Cuisse, +192Str, +192Agi, +192Con

768Def, 768MDef Durability: 384/384 Requirements: 384 Str

G: Currently Epic, Level 12 +192Str, +192 Agi, +192 Con

768Def, 768MDef, Durability 384/384 Requirements: 384 Str

B:Epic Tier Level 12 Plate Boots +192Str +202Agi(10 Gemstone) +192Con

768 Def, 768MDef Durability 384/384 Requirements: 384Str

H: Epic Tier Level 12 Helm, +192 Str, +202(10 Gemstone) Agi, +192 Con

768 Def, 768MDef Durability 384/384, Requirements: 384Str

RR: Epic Tier, Level 12 Ring of Hidden Attributes (+192 All base attributes, +192 All Hidden Attributes)

LR: Epic Tier, Level 12 Ring of Elements (+192 All base attributes,

Ignore 2.4 Levels, Ignore 2.4 Equip Levels

AM: Epic Tier, Level 12 Amulet (+192 All base attributes)

Skills:

Spatial Slash, Legacy, Tier 0 Level 0

Haste of the Warrior, Legacy, Tier 0 Level 0

Time Manipulation, Special, Tier 0, Level 9

Space Manipulation, Special, Tier 0, Level 9

Air Manipulation, Special, Tier 0, Level 9

Earth Manipulation, Special, Tier 0 Level 9

Fire Manipulation, Special, Tier 0, Level 8

Water Manipulation, Special, Tier 0, Level 8

Dragon First, Martial, Tier 0 Level 0

Qi Blade, Martial, Tier 0 Level 0

Thunder Slash, Rare, Tier 0, Level 1

Wave Chop, Rare, Tier 0, Level 0

Wind Charge, Rare, Tier 0, Level 1

Disrupting Blow, Rare, Tier 0, Level 1

Double Slash, Uncommon, Tier 0, Level 2

Slash, Common, Tier 0, Level 2

Pierce, Common, Tier 0, Level 2

Parry, Common, Tier 0, Level 2

Techniques:

Rapid Blow

Vanishing Steps

Mana Drain

Health Drain

Stamina Drain

Strength Drain

Agility Drain

Endurance Drain

Flicker

Precision Dodge