Waking up, the first thing Zane did was check his messages. He was hoping to see a message saying he learned a new skill. Sadly, there wasn’t any, but there were messages about skills he already unlocked.

You have unlocked the Weapon Sleep skill. Do you want to learn this skill for (500) 123 class points?

Zane unlocked the weapon sleep skill a few weeks ago. He wanted to learn the skill without the use of class point. He was dedicated to his path as weapon master, and he was confident that his dedication would be enough to help him learn the skill. It wasn’t.

Using class points to learn skills isn’t a bad thing. There are plenty of stubborn people that believe they have to learn every skill without using class points. However, that kind of thinking is harmful and flawed. It only leads to wasted time and missed opportunities. How you obtain your skills isn’t important. What’s important is how hard you work to master them.

Recalling Teacher Isabelle’s words, Zane realized he was being stubborn. He tried to learn the skill on his own and he failed, so it was time to move on. There was no point in beating a dead dragon.

You have learned the Weapon Sleep skill.

Skill: Weapon Sleep

Level: 1, 0%

Tier: 1

Effect: Increase health regeneration by .25 health points times skill level per minute while awake. Increases health regeneration by 5% while asleep. When sleeping with a weapon, the weapons durability recovers .025 per minute. A full eight hours of rest can reduce or remove debuffs.

Cost: none

Learning weapon sleep came with the loss of his sleep skill. The system let him learn weapon sleep for less class points than normal because of his titles and because he gave up the sleep skill. Giving up the sleep skill meant that he wouldn’t be able to receive the benefits of its effects. However, Zane was confident that he would be able to quickly gain ten levels in his new skill and recover the benefits he lost.

“Your awake.” Blake stated.

“Yup what did you think about the quest?”

“Since it won’t endanger the town, I don’t think it’s a bad idea for you to accept it. Actually, it sounds similar to my mercenary group. All of us are individuals that work together to achieve our own individual goals.”

“What do the others think?”

“We think it’s a good idea,” Abel said. Zane noticed Abel and the others started to walk over when they heard him talking with Blake. “Were all willing to join your guild if you decide to create it. For a core goal I think we-”

“Stop,” Star spoke while given Abel an annoyed look. “We said we would wait for Zane to make a decision before we started sharing our ideas.”

“I was merely trying to offer him a suggestion.”

“Yes, and that’s exactly what we said we wouldn’t do.”

“Aren’t you two tired of arguing?”

“Shush, I think they will actually fight this time,” Blair said.

“Yeah, keep quiet,” Ayesha added. “Don’t worry Star, I’m sure you can take him.”

Watching from the side, it didn’t take long for Zane to figure out the reason for the conflict between Star and Abel. Both Abel and Star had specific ideas on what the guild should make their core goal. Star wanted to hunt demonic creatures and protect other towns from being destroyed by them.

Abel wanted the core goal to be wandering and exploration. Both Star and Abel felt like the others goal was selfish and based on their own interest. Neither was willing to back down to the other and the rest of the group didn’t have a strong opinion. After they argued for a long time, they decided to let Zane make his decision first before they told him their ideas.

“I don’t have a strong opinion about what the guild’s core goal should be. However!” Zane raised his voice to prevent Star and Abel from unleashing a torrent of words. “I don’t think now is the best time to have this discussion. We don’t have half of the members we need for the guild. Plus, I haven’t accepted the quest yet. Let me accept the quest, turn the den into a guild and then we can have a calm discussion as we make our way back to the town.”

Without waiting for a response, Zane stood up and took a few steps toward the den’s crystal. He placed his hand on the crystal and saw the four options come up. Before Zane chose option four, he accepted the Establish a Guild quest.

You have claimed this den. Do you wish to use this den to create a guild? Yes, or no?

After Zane chose yes, the ground immediately began to shake. Earth began to rise up and swirl around the crystal. Zane felt a force trying to push him away from the crystal and he didn’t resist. As he moved backward, the earth slowly took shape around the crystal and formed a large three-story building.

The building was the same color and looked like it was made of the same material of the crystal. The building radiated mana changing the ground around it to the same color. Zane and the other stood in silence admiring the changes they saw.

“Woah,” Ayesha said.

“I know,” Blair added.

“Let’s take a look inside.”

Zane and the others stepped into the newly created building and took in the interior. The building was empty. There was no furniture’s, staircases, chandeliers or anything else of note. The only thing the group saw was a smaller version of the den crystal floating in the middle of a small room.

“Where are the stairs?” Star asked.

Blake and the others began to ask questions that nobody had an answer to. Zane walked forward and place his hand on the crystal that was now the size of his torso. The crystal was likely the only thing capable of giving them any answers, Plus, he felt a faint connection from the crystal the moment he entered the building.

The functions of the guild are temporarily locked. To unlock the functions, acquire fifty guild members, establish a core goal for the guild and create a name.

Zane told the group about the message he received from the crystal. Everyone nodded and after a short conversation they all prepared to leave. As everyone prepared to get on the khalfans, Abel pointed out a change in the building.

“The building got smaller. Also, I don’t sense any mana coming from it.”

Everyone immediately turned their attention to the building. Although the material and color of the building didn’t change, its size had decrease to the level of a hut. Also, Zane felt the building was encouraging him not to pay attention to it and Zane was the owner. When Zane questioned Blake and the others, they said it was a struggle to keep their gaze focused on the building.

Hearing this made Zane feel relieved. Zane chose to transform the guild immediately because he was worried that another person or beast might claim the den as their own when they left. After he transformed the den into a guild building, Zane started to become worried because he thought the building was too eye-catching. Zane was thankful for the innate defenses the system provided the guild building. If someone managed to find and take the building from him with the current defenses it had, Zane could only accept his fate.

Returning to the town, Zane and the others didn’t experience any difficulties. There were only a few magic beast and demonic beast in the area that they had to kill on the first day of their travel. They took a break before the start of the second day then continued traveling without rest until they arrived at the town.

During the travel the group decided on the goal for the guild. Truthfully, most of the group didn’t voice any strong opinions about the goal for the guild. It was mainly Star and Abel arguing their points the whole way back with occasional remarks from the others. As they got closer to the town Abel brought up a key point which led to his victory.

“I’ll admit that the demonic beasts are a threat to everyone in the world. It would be noble and just for our guild to make it our goal to destroy them and protect people from them.”

“Here comes the but,” Ayesha said.

“But what happens when we have defeated all the demonic beasts? What’s the goal that will bind all of us together? The guild will quickly lose their unity after all the demonic beasts are killed. People will slowly lose their connection and sense of purpose in the guild.”

“It’s not impossible for us to change our goal after we defeat the demonic beasts.” Star said. “We focus on killing the demonic beasts first, then we focus on doing something else.”

“We shouldn’t plan to change the core goal of our guild. Instead, we should make wandering and exploring our core goal and hunting the demonic beasts a temporary priority.”

Star opened her mouth to speak but closed it before she said anything. She opened and closed her mouth a few times as she struggled to come up with an argument against what Abel proposed. She was unsuccessful.

“It looks like we have a winner,” Blake said.

“Fine, I admit defeat.” Star pouted while crossing her arms. “I was wrong, and Abel was right.”

“You shouldn’t’ feel too bad. It’s not about who is wrong or right. It's about finding a goal that matches well with everyone. That turns out to be Abel’s goal because it gives people more freedom to do what they want. That includes hunting demonic beasts.”

Blake’s words were met with a few words of agreement from the rest of the group. Most of the group didn’t have strong opinions about the development of the guild. Although they were willing to join and participate in certain guild activities, they wouldn’t do so if it conflicted with other responsibilities they had.

Zane had the same mindset. His primary responsibility was improving his mastery of weapons, learning new skills and developing his classes. He would work hard to establish the guild and get it started on the right foot, but he wouldn’t invest all of his time and intention into the guild. After all, the system was going to reward him the guild founder title and not the guild leader title for completing the quest.