I laugh at that. So true. “Okay, those all make sense. Since a few of those are taken twice, not much point in me having a third at this time, so I’ll take Mining, Jewelcrafting and Blacksmithing. Maybe I will be able to make some use of my real-life skills in Blacksmithing? Making knives and swords is so much fun. Are we all good with each other’s professions?”
Receiving nods all round, I turn back to Voria. “Okay, we are all set. Fire away those trades.”
Voria has initiated a trade with you.
Accept?
Yes/No
I accept and then look over at the gear Voria has placed in the trade window. There are seven different bag icons lined up, and I click inside each bag to see what is in them briefly before deciding there is just not enough time right now to go through it all properly.
Then I wince as I see the price tag. Three gold and fifty silver. Urgh, that was painful. “Voria, this is with the discount as well, right?”
“Of course!” Voria smiles. “I even threw in all the recipes I have for each of the professions, which will cover you through apprentice and journeyman. You will need to find another trainer when you hit artisan though, as there isn’t any higher in the Glade.”
“Oh really?” I’m slightly shocked at such a good deal, as I know from the previous game that each recipe was charged at five silver a pop for lower levels and much, much more for higher levels. I accept the trade without any more hesitation. I still wince and try not to listen to my inner hoarder curled up in a corner, sobbing from losing so much wealth so quickly.
Easy come, easy go, right? Right?
“Now that we have well and truly lined your pockets with gold, I’m afraid to ask if there is anything you have gear wise that we would be able to use?” Ifalna says with a wince herself.
The little nymph laughs outright at that before giving each of us a critical eye.
Voria has inspected your items.
Huh, that’s interesting. A skill to inspect the items that someone is wearing. I wonder where I can get my hands on it.
“You all look to have the same or better-quality gear than what we can make here. The only difference, really, is that our stuff is enchanted. It would be cheaper for you just to go get it enchanted or enchant it yourselves,” Voria replies. “By the way, your quivers are actually bags and should be placed within your Bag of Holding before being equipped so that they are linked to it.
“That way when you change from a bow to your main weapons, the quiver disappears and then will reappear when you equip your bow again. Now I was kind enough to mark out where all the highlights are in the Glade Village, such as trainers and such. You actually need to have them accept you as an apprentice before you can use your profession bags. So, you’d best be off before I think of something else to make you part with your money. Ha!”
We left the store quite quickly after that announcement with hurried farewells over our shoulders as her merry laughter chased us away.
“Where to first, gents?” I ponder, waving a hand to our surroundings.
“I propose we probably log out due to it being almost midnight. We were probably just lucky that Voria was awake at all. I noticed most of the population heading to their homes and a lot of the lights going out as we were making our way to see the elder,” Ezekial states calmly.
Then I remember that we had planned on logging out for some well-deserved coffee and snacks.
“It won’t be a problem to meet with the profession trainers. Most of them have very little to do and are usually tinkering with one project or another in their shops at any given time of day or night,” rumbles Woody, his deep voice startling me in the quiet atmosphere.
“That may be, but I’m definitely up for snacks. I need snacks. I’ll waste away otherwise,” says Kazzrak, rubbing his belly. “Now we know we won’t be disturbing anyone this late at night in-game, we will log back in once we have had a chance to relax a bit.”
“That’s settled, then.” Dosan turns to Woody. “Is there anywhere here we can rent rooms to stay in?”
“Of course. Let me show you the way to the Wood Inn,” Woody responds, and starts making his way up the stairs. We follow him outside the main trunk and onto one of the massive branches towards a large arrangement of those bulbous growths. Above the front door is a sign with Wood Inn carved into it.
Walking through the doorway, I see an elderly nymph asleep in his chair behind the counter. The tinkle of a little bell as we walk in doesn’t even register to him.
“I wouldn’t bother trying to wake him. It would take a fall from the topmost branches of the Glade Village for him to feel enough to wake up,” states Woody. “It is common practise to just place coinage on the counter for how long you wish to stay for and take a numbered key from the hook behind him. Rates are a silver a day.”
Chuckling at the scenario, I place a silver coin on the counter and take the key numbered two, as number one has already been taken. The rest of the guys do the same, and we follow Woody down the corridor to our left.
Before I get two steps, I hear the tinkle of the front door opening and a familiar voice behind me. “Ah, Lord Sybaal, here you are. Could I have a few moments of your time, please, to go over a few of the requests you gave me?”
I turn around to greet Elder Sylan. “Of course, Elder Sylan. What do you have for me so far?”
“Well, I have drawn up a list of all the people within our Glade Village and their occupations,” he replies, then lets out quite a large sigh. “I must admit, most of our people are quite bored and have become quite lazy. It would be good for you to give us all some direction with some new ideas, or even old ones, just to get us moving as a society again.
“We have become quite set in our ways, I have just realised. I secured the locations of all the resources and notable places within the glade itself that we have in our records, like you asked. Do you wish for me to update your maps with them now?”
Elder Sylan would like to update your map.
Yes/No
Well, then, now we’re talking. He basically outright said that he is sick of all the lazy bones in his village and wants me to give them orders to put them to rights. That is something I know how to do. Especially since I have to do that at work whenever we have new guards rock up for shifts and don’t know their ass from an ID.
Oh, right, I don’t have to go back to work for at least a year. We are getting paid to play now. It’s not a job if you’re doing what you love doing, but it does help if you are paid enough to live.
Shit, we need to go and sign into the DSR headquarters today. We should probably get there as early as we can as well just in case someone loses some paperwork and we get misplaced. I’ve seen it happen before. Humans make errors, and machines make errors when the humans who created them made didn’t do it properly.
I accept the update and then open my map up and zoom out. New icons litter the grey of the map with a long trail of colour leading to the fortress. Looks like when we get new maps, they turn the landscape grey with trees and such but don’t colour in till we travel there ourselves. There are also different zones marked out for different levels, which I assume have beasts or monsters in them due to the differing level requirements.
“Sybaal, there are quite a large number of resources virtually littering the entire Glade,” Ifalna says.
“And there are a crap ton of ore nodes and stone nodes at two separate locations an hour’s walk or so away,” exclaims Kazzrak. “There are also some closer, but they are spread out a bit more.”
I open up my menu and see there is a tab named Vassals. Clicking on that opens up a new window with several categories. I can see that there are very few crafters, gatherers, guards and various other professions. The ones with professions also have classes, though only a single one each.
Guess dual classes are only for players so far. The majority of them, a good 145 to be precise, are unassigned and have no profession or class. Well, that has to change. Le
t’s see if I can delegate or if I have to wade through all this myself. I make a note that Elder Sylan’s class is druid, which is very interesting.
“Alright, here’s what I would like you to organise, Elder Sylan,” I say while poring over the list of professions. “There are currently 200 residents here in the Glade Village, 145 of those don’t have professions or classes. The 55 that do have them only have a single profession and not three like they could. There are a few things here I’d like to happen.
“Firstly, everyone chooses a class. Have one fifth of them become healers, another fifth become tanks or classes that can take a beating and be okay. The rest choose between the various DPS classes available, which are ones that focus on dealing damage.”
“I’m going to butt in here and say that Ezekial, Ifalna and I are going to go make coffee. You and Dosan can settle this without us, I think,” Kazzrak says as he opens the door to his room and steps through, closing it behind himself. Ifalna and Ezekial enter their own rooms as well.
I shrug and look up to see Elder Sylan looking at me with rapt attention, so I know he is at least paying attention. “Have everyone party up with one healer, one tank and three DPS. These parties should be separated into six groups. Get everyone to choose two gathering professions and a single crafting profession. Try to even them out so we have everything covered. Keep all your trainers in the village for now. At least until everyone gets the basics and can continue their crafting mostly on their own.
Send everyone else out in their groups to gather resources and to level up on the creatures in the surrounding areas within the Glade and outside it too. Although they should stay within their level area until they are strong enough to move on. I want us to prosper and grow, not take unnecessary risks resulting in their deaths.
“Each group will be in a rotation that includes four hours of gathering materials, four hours of levelling up, four hours of increasing their crafting skills and twelve hours of recreation and relaxation. Obviously, there will be some overlap with the gathering of things like hides and plants, but I’m sure you’ll make it work. All materials for crafting that they pick up go to the community pile within that crafting station to be used by everyone. This way everyone will be helping everyone else. When everyone is at a suitable level with better gear, we can start selling the old gear. Those who made the items sold will be able to get a majority cut of the profits. Did you get all that?”
“I certainly did. It seems almost like you have done this before?” asks Elder Sylan.
“Ah, yes, I’ve had to organise a few things in my past,” I say ambiguously. Not really much of a way to bring up that I’ve played multiple games that have required the use of strategic placements of people and use of time.
“I see. Well, we are lucky to have someone as capable as you as our duke, then,” says Elder Sylan with a short bow. “I shall be off to wake up the village and get everything started. No time like the present for everyone to get the ball rolling.”
“Alright then, I look forward to seeing your progress soon.” I nod graciously toward him before turning back around and heading down the hallway to my room with the others. The doors are set into the walls pretty close to each other.
“Well, that sounded like a mouth full,” Dosan says, looking at me sideways. “Where did you pull that out of?”
Looking back at him, I raise an eyebrow. “It’s actually just taken from an old sci-fi book I read once. I really do enjoy the space operas with privateers and such. Most of them actually have four-hour rotating rosters because that’s about the max one person can mentally do a particular shift before needing a change of pace or a break. I just combined that with some other games that relied on strategy and micromanaging people and their skills for the best outcome. Wasn’t that hard, to be honest, especially since I was thinking about it on our run over here through the forest. Well, coffee time, I think.”
I open the door labelled number two, and as soon as I close the door behind me, a message pops up.
You have entered a safe area. This area is instanced to you only, and no other entity may enter without your express permission. Every time you enter a room you paid for in an inn or your bedroom in a house you build, you will enter this room. You may customise it however you wish as long as you have the funds to do so. A new tab is open to you in your menu labelled Home whenever you enter this area. This message will not repeat.
Well now, that is certainly interesting. Very similar to the previous game, that is. It is good though, as it will lessen player verses player (PVP) interactions if others know they can’t get them within a safe zone.
Time to log out and have a break. Twelve hours nonstop and we have pretty much gone through a shitload of content. Pretty sure we are going to have a lot more to get stuck into once we have professions to level up as well.
I open my menu and see the new selection of Home as I mentally click on Log out. I’ll look at customisation another time.
Would you like to log out?
Yes/No
Warning! Logging out in a non-safe zone may result in unfortunate circumstances befalling your character, such as theft of items/coin, kidnapping or possibly death. Some common safe zones are a purchased room at an inn, your personal house. There are others to discover. This message will not repeat.
Interesting indeed. I feel like the admins are going to get quite a large sum of complaints from people getting ganked out in the wilderness from logging off in the wrong area. Definitely a healthy tip to remember.
Lying down on the bed, I click yes.
My vision is plunged into darkness, so dark I feel like I’m in a vast empty space. Gradually over a few seconds the darkness fades to a more normal level and I can open my eyes to see the ceiling of my bedroom.
Phew, that was intense.
As I’m lifting the headgear off, my muscles ache a little and I stretch from the tips of my toes to the tips of my fingers above my head. The only downside to playing so long is that sometimes I can get quite stiff afterwards, especially if I’m not in a comfortable position beforehand. Rosie once put a marble under my back while I was sleeping to see what would happen.
Ever heard the story of the princess and the pea? It felt like my back was out for at least two days. Of course, she apologised and gave me a really nice massage, but still.
Walking into the kitchen, I see that the coffee machine is well in use, with two mugs full already on the counter. I was sick of just drinking that instant crap, so I splurged a few years back and bought a machine that is basically a high-class barista.
It does take up a fair chunk of bench space, but I’m fine with that if I just have to press a button and, less than a minute later, I have a freshly ground coffee waiting for me. It even has a setting to use disposable cups for when I’m on the run. Life saver, that’s for sure.
Slowly, the zombies in the room turn into real people as we all drink our coffees and the smell of frying bacon permeates the kitchen. It’s noon, though it still looks quite dark and gloomy outside, as there is a pretty hefty downpour outside. I get my phone to check the weather radar and see that I have a missed call and a message from Rosie.
Hey, the girls and I decided to go for a road trip. Let me know when you have finished your sleepover.
I sigh as I send a quick response letting her know we may be here for a few more days; then I check the weather. Well, at least there is some good news. The rain should be passing us by in half an hour or so.
Anya notices me looking a little dejected as she shoves bacon and eggs under my nose. “What’s up? Did Elder Sylan not do things the way you wanted?”
Grabbing the plate, I start scoffing it down as I reply, “The elder was fine; I’ve set them up to have a continuous source of materials, and everyone will now be levelling their professions and classes. It’s the text from Rosie saying she has gone on a road trip with her friends that’s getting me bummed.”
“Yeah, she hasn’t been around at all la
tely. That being said, she knows that you will be almost unavailable during the beginning of the game. So you might as well enjoy the peace and quiet,” Fuzzy says as he drapes an arm around my shoulders.
“Well, I was hoping she would come with us to the DSR headquarters and see how much of a big deal it is that I’m going to be getting such a large income from this. I thought she might even be able to see the benefits of it.” I sigh sorrowfully.
“Cheer up, man!” Fuzzy gives me such a hard smack on my back that I nearly drop the plate. “We’ll take plenty of selfies so she knows how much fun she is missing out on. Now let’s all go get cleaned up for our debut. You’ll be riding shotgun, and the kids can sit in the back.”
It takes a good hour before we are all showered and changed, ready and raring to go. I shove a few changes of clothes in a duffel bag, as I’m not sure if we will be coming back straight away or not, especially since the others have their own bags of stuff that they brought with them here.
Thankfully the rain stopped just before we were ready to leave. We lock up the place and get in Fuzzy’s 4WD after chucking our bags in the back. It’s a beast of a thing with quite a few modifications. I stare out the window with more than a little bewilderment at my home as we leave. So much has happened in just two days.
It’s amazing how quickly your life can change.
9
I tell you what, if anyone ever tells me they don’t know where the DSR headquarters is in this city, I will look them in the eye and struggle really hard not to laugh in their face.
Said building rises above all the others by a good hundred yards and is so wide that it would probably fit four of the other largest buildings in this city within it. Probably have room to spare too.
Dream Stream Reality: Publisher's Pack Books 1-2: (A LitRPG Adventure) Page 17
