Morning came, and everyone gathered inside the main building for a meeting. It was a little too chilly to use the normal spot around the bench outside. Everyone, except Trevor and Mr. Gogans, was there. The old man was in the front of the compound with a whistle in case he saw intruders, and Wendy was representing her husband, so someone could keep watch on the backline.

“Déjà vu, I feel like we just did this,” Paul said with less humor in his voice than it warranted.

“Yeah, turns out it's not smart to leave without your magic specialist on a trip where you are going to come across undead and vampires.”

“Be nice to hear more about that.” Paul didn't want to hear an interesting story, he wanted intel.

“Well, you can. Javier and Gary are going to stay to help make sure the base is secure. Gary now has his journal, congrats to him.”

Everyone knew by this point and had shaken his hand.

“Also, Javy went up another level so he is more lethal than usual. As far as who is in charge while we are both gone, that goes to Paul, but with a caveat. Everyone seems to know what they are doing. Schedules are written out a week ahead of time, training and classes are set. Although only Sophie will be given her basic course with Clyde gone.

“Since Paul would be in charge of anything defense-related, and defense is one of the only things that would need adjudication anyway, it makes sense for him to be the go-to guy. Javier, Gary, and Sophie would be like a council if there ended up being something that really had disagreement, but I'll be available through the journal anyway.” No one seemed to have a problem with that, and while Paul often seemed to have a problem with Travis, it usually didn't extend to his role as faction leader.

Travis had spoken with Javier about him staying. Javy was lethal, and he knew he might need him, but he was worried about base security. Since Javy had gone up a level by killing many enemies in the fight against the undead, he was content to stay put and continue training.

“There are a few missions in each of your journals that I want to see finished. You do get credit towards a new level whenever you complete a mission, but the AI says that it's not a lot; it still adds up, though. Any questions?”

Paul had one, which surprised no one, “are you trying to recruit new people?”

“Yes, as you will learn from Javy and Gary, we came across a village not far from here. It has around 30 people, and it is possible for it to be claimed by us. Even if that is not the case, then I may still try to get the leader to loan me a few people since we helped him defend his town.”

“Anyone else?”

“I want you to authorize short expeditions into the world for experience gain. I'll go out and scout some enemies then take someone from training. One, so they can train on real enemies, since we have real enemies, and two, so they can advance. If we can get Trevor and Wendy plus one of the kids to upgrade to a player, we will be in much better shape.”

Travis looked at Paul thoughtfully. He didn't hate the idea, but it could be dangerous, and he wouldn't be here to mount a rescue if things went south.

“Is there a reason to believe that there are weaker groups of monsters close enough for this to matter?” Travis asked him skeptically.

“Yes, and before you ask how I know, it's because I have seen them. You may run this base camp, and I do, regardless of what you think; respect that, but you do not run me in my off hours. I have taken a few recon missions out around camp. I have a map made of my findings.”

Travis actually knew this, as he had sensed it, but at the time did not trust those instincts. “The reason I am pushing so hard for reinforcements is that there is a vampire nest just a few miles from here. Obviously, we are neighbors with werewolves and,” he looked at Clyde, “what are those fucking lizard things called again?”

“Kobolds.”

“Oh yeah, kobolds. Then only a few hundred yards from camp to the west, there are some kind of overgrown insects that have a home. They don't seem overtly hostile, but they are dangerous.”

Travis let go for now the fact that Paul knew about vampires before his expedition.

“And you propose taking individuals out to meet and fight these creatures for the purposes of training and experience?”

“I do.”

“Is there any way you can wait until we get back?” Travis was perfectly calm as he talked with Paul. Paul was on edge as usual but civil.

“I mean if you order me to do so, yeah, but while you are out gaining levels and powers, I'm, we (he corrected himself), are sitting here jerking each other off.”

Gary couldn't pass up the opportunity, “for the record, I have not been jerking anyone off.” Most people appreciated the break in tension and laughed. His daughter smacked him on the arm.

Travis, with a smile on his face, “fair enough Paul. Sure thing, but please be careful. Also, I want either you or Javier back at the base while the other is out.”

“Call me chopped liver, I guess, huh boss?” Gary called out after being left off the impromptu list.

Travis ignored him. Paul, on the other hand, looked satisfied. It was a good thing he raised this issue because another area where Travis had struggled so far as a leader is in not expanding his faction's horizons.

Things were moving fast out in the world, and they would not wait for Travis to get his base set up to perfection. Besides this expedition, no one in the faction had set off farther than a couple of football fields outside of their borders. That had to change if the Joint Task Force was going to be a force to be reckoned with in his new world.

***

Meanwhile, Torak was desperate to recruit new meat into his faction. He had forbidden his underlings from the unwarranted killing of humans. That being said, there were plenty of warranted reasons to kill humans.

For one, any that encroached on his territory besides those in the MCs party were taken captive, then interrogated. Afterwards, they were killed. The wolf mage had learned some valuable information from those intruders.

Most importantly was that each human faction had access to a headquarters. In these headquarters was some type of machine, in this machine was an intelligence that could answer all types of questions. It also provided certain benefits to the faction leader.

None of the humans he interrogated knew if a non-human could take over one of these HQs and run a faction. This sounded like a potential way to learn more about his existence. He would have to try and catch a faction leader out so he could get more answers. He knew he could just ask the so called 'main character', but he didn't want to give him an outsized importance. Besides, that human had power below the surface just raring to come out.

Over the past months, Torak had integrated more species into his ‘faction’, if that's what the humans called their groups he would do the same. It's not that he wanted to be like the humans, it's just they were obviously the dominant race on this world, so why not learn some things.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

As he copied their organization, he chose for himself a 2nd in command. Or what was the other word, a lieutenant. Torak could not imagine what a lieutenant was, but when in Rome. He didn't know what that meant either, but it sounded good. This individual came into his ‘office’ now; it was a former Kobold war chief called Ruuzak.

“Yes, Ruuzak?”

“We have found a human and taken him captive.”

“Another intruder?” Torak asked in a measured tone.

“No, my lord. He was on the outskirts of our area of control. He seemed to be scouting, but after the first round of questioning he swears it was not to spy on us but on the humans on the other side of our land.”

“Interesting. Does he have anything against those particular humans?”

“He says that he wants revenge against the leader for leaving him to die in Seer-re-a.” (The kobold struggling to pronounce the human country name did so slowly and in syllables)

“The human called Travis that you let live was his leader when they fought in a war.”

“Bring him to me.”

***

Before heading out on the road, the two original members of the faction took a look at the missions section. This was another reminder of his shortcomings regarding the game and its potential for growth. It wasn't that he forgot to pursue missions — okay, no, he forgot, and there is no excuse for it. How many rewards had he left on the table due to this unforgivable oversight? Well, no more, he admonished himself.

Until now, he had been lucky enough to get a couple of missions that he was able to complete even without trying, just by completing tasks he was doing anyway. Clyde said that's normal for most gamers. Although here in real life, it is far more important that he pays attention to what needs doing.

Luckily enough, there was one mission that they completed. The ‘Diversity Training’ mission was a success. He supposed the game was considering the sheriff and his group a faction or order because he didn't meet anyone else.

The reward for this was a spell tome. These had already become very valuable — not monetarily, although he was sure they were worth a lot of money. He meant that they seemed pretty rare and, by teaching someone a new spell, were very useful.

This particular spell sounded amazing. Travis did face a bit of a decision, though. He wanted to learn offensive spells, but with Clyde as the faction wizard, it would be hard not to give it to him. He knew he could get an honest assessment from his 2nd in command, so he asked.

They were in the HQ, finishing everything up around 8 a.m. so they could leave.

“Let me ask you something.” As soon as he had Clyde's attention, he began, “How would you feel about me learning the new spell? I upped my intelligence by one, so now it's 11. I feel like I have been relying too much on my gun and want to diversify my arsenal. I'd prefer something like a lightning bolt spell, but this one seems pretty handy.”

Clyde looked at him thoughtfully. “Honestly, Travis, I think a more direct damage spell is vital for you to reach your monster-killing potential. This one is more of an auxiliary spell, though. Besides, it will finally give me a way to add real damage to an enemy. If we get into a tough fight, I'm still going in with a gimmicky fire spell and lackluster knife skills.” Clyde had discarded the contraption he had used early on to help harness fire. It was too unwieldy.

Travis thought about it for a little while. He wasn't wrong; Clyde's Fire Hands spell was cool, but unless he was up close, it did have serious shortcomings.

Before he could answer, Clyde spoke up again. “That reminds me, I have a mission that offers tomes as the reward. It's the one I was telling you about before.”

For everyone other than Travis, missions seemed to be far more tailored to skill sets or jobs. A good example of this was Clyde's pending mission.

Main Mission (growth) - ‘The Path to Greatness’ - As a practicing mage, you know that you do not know much. Even at higher tier levels, there is always more to learn for a master magician. It's time to start remedying your low level and lack of magical understanding.

Find and seek to understand a magical item (either through the use of scrolls or outside authority). Use your magical senses to discover a mundane natural occurrence out in the world. Finally, meet a fellow magical practitioner and swap important magic-related information with them. (The AI will deduce whether or not you meet these criteria.)

Reward: Choose one of three magical tomes. Unlock the ability to create an artifice or alchemy table at your base. You will also receive your first mage robes with built-in infinite bag space.

Travis knew he was right; besides it would give him more time to work on his other skills which were in desperate need of attention. What really bugged him was the fact that Clyde had an opportunity to get build-specific armor with bag space built-in. He had gotten used to wearing his bag over his shoulder everywhere he went, but it didn't make it comfortable.

Travis looked at his missions to make sure he was constantly pursuing the goals attached now. For his main mission, he assumed that the sheriff's village did not meet the requirements; otherwise, fighting off an undead army should have counted towards good works. He got the conjuration scroll from completing the diversity mission. In order to complete the secondary mission, he had to do his main one, 'Road Trip'. It shouldn't be too hard; all he had to do was check out one of a couple settlements he was aware of. Two being on his map already. The base mission should work itself out, although he would assign a role to near everyone before he left this time.

Main Mission New - ‘Road Trip!’

Now that you are of the Mercenary class, it is time to go out into the world and either cause havoc or do good works. Your class does not require you to take on contracts or missions, but it does give you the option where that did not exist before.

There is a growing settlement to the North, a place rebuilding after the cataclysm. It will be marked on your map. Visit there and make an impression, good or bad, but register as someone to be reckoned with.

Reward - 5000 gold coins

Secondary Mission - ‘It's the Economy, Stupid’

That reminds us; unique gold coins should now be used as this world's primary monetary currency. They will be rewarded at first from missions and given in some chests. You will be the first person to have such a large amount if you complete your main mission. It's good being the MC.

Task - Complete the mission above and then use at least 1000 of your coins in 4 different places. Get the gold economy started!

Reward - 1000 gold coins and a tier 4 skill book for whatever melee weapon you are wielding when you complete the mission

Secondary Mission - ‘Diversity Training'

This is your first time leaving camp more than a few miles away. You should encounter new monsters and maybe even new species, yep, you read that right. This is no time for stealth; head out and be conspicuous. Discover at least 3 new species of monsters and discover a new faction or order (cults do not count if they are automatically hostile).

Reward - Level 1 Conjuration Tome - Summon spell will feature one of the monsters you met on the road

Congratulations! Mission Complete!

Base Mission - ‘Hierarchy Time’

As you intend to leave your stronghold for an extended period of time, it would be best to assign positions to the remaining members. Besides the boosts that are attached to each position, it will also assign an attribute bump for the corresponding job. Example - Your 2nd in command or defacto leader when you are gone will get a charisma boost.

Other job-specific rewards will be handed out as each person does their duties assigned to them.

As they were getting ready to leave Omar came running up. "Clyde hold on."

"What's up buddy?" Clyde didn't have kids, but not only that he was an only child and had no nieces or nephews. Yet he seemed to really do a good job not only mentoring Omar but being there for him in this cold new world.

"Major Porter sir, I want to ask Clyde if I can come with you guys. I know tis dangerous, but it is better than stay here by myself. I can help you and learn more magic to make your faction strong sir." Omar spoke very good English for a non-native speaker, but he was still born in Iraq and had an accent. Not overwhelming in any sense though.

Clyde looked at Travis to gauge his reaction, when he didn't seem to dismiss it out of hand, he took his shot. "I'm fine with it if you are Travis. The kid is smart and can be of assistance. He already takes a watch position almost every night so it's not like he isn't put in potentially dangerous situations."

That was maybe a bit too thick as it's not like they had much of a choice, and he is not asked to fight just to keep watch. Still Travis thought he understood what Clyde meant. He turned to Omar, "Okay go ask Paul if he can afford to lose you. Tell him I said it was okay my me if he clears it."

Less than five minutes later they were on the road. This journey would be the defining moment for at least one of the people on the expedition. It would also be the first real taste of adventuring that any of them had. What's transpired so far was just a prelude or a preamble. At around 9am on a chilly October morning each man would take a step out of their base, and towards fate.

This is the end of Part 3