Year 1568, spring.

The galleon would be ready in a few days and, once they had tested it for a few more days to make sure there was no unforeseen issue, they would depart. Luca had written to Enrik telling him about his blueprint of an epic ship and two months later the woodcarver had arrived, bringing with him other masters of their crafts eager to work on the building of the ship. An epic rank project of this scale was bound to reward everyone involved with a generous amount of exp. The Dawnheart kingdom’s crafters felt that maybe now Luca would make due on his promise and help them make legendary works. All those who had come with Enrik had agreed to travel with them to Lalcqia.

For now, all five heroes had reunited inside the city hall, which Luca had finally built. It was a five-story square building of white stone with large windows giving a view of the outside. Nothing outstanding but a rare building nonetheless which gave a nice +20% efficiency bonus to all management-related skills and to people who worked in it.

This time the meeting didn’t only consist of the heroes. Jane had insisted that she brought her mate Nico, or as she called him ‘her eternal lover’, with her as nothing should be allowed to separate them. Nico was a bard from her original personal party and they had fallen in love while adventuring after Jane had saved him from some midnight frenzied lv 60 wolves or something. Luca didn’t care for the details. Anyway, since Jane brought her plus one, everyone felt they could also bring whomever they were close with. So Iria, Jordi, and Helena came with some of their closer party members and Luca brought Yorru with him. In and out, there were fourteen of them seating inside a round medieval-style conference room. All the catch-up had already been done in the past few days and now it was time to get down to business.

As usual, Helena started the meeting. “We should be ready to depart in less than two weeks so I think we should check up on how things have been going and on what are our immediate perspective. First, what do we currently know about Lalcqia?”

Jordi was the one to answer as he had been tasked with the information operations. “As you guys probably know, the other party of heroes has been gone to Lalcqia for about one year now but there has been no news from them so far. So they either lack the means or the will to contact our continent. But they are not the only heroes who have left for Lalcqia, there are reports that at least nine other species have already sent some of their heroes to the Lizardmen continent, the most successful being the Undead who have already formed a kingdom on its shores.”

“What about the reaction of the demons?” Luca asked. This was one of his biggest fear for if the demons proved too strong or well enough coordinated, establishing a colony would be practically impossible.

“They have been fighting back but seem to lack coordination and they are busy trying to install a civilization of their own. Reports claim there are multiple demon kingdoms but they are far from controlling the entire continent, most of which has already been reclaimed by monsters and the wilderness. Though there are probably demons with high level and dangerous class inside of some of those kingdoms.”

“Ok, what about our level and fighting capacities?” Helena asked. “I’ll go first and say what I’ve got though, of course, I expect every one of you to keep what I’ll say a secret. I’ve reached level 53 and evolved my class to that of [High Arcane Archmage]. I’ve got new ritual and summoning skills that allow me to cast long-lasting spells or invoke familiars which I can then level. The special stat I’ve unlocked is Arcane affinity, but I won’t go into the details of how it works as it would take us too long and would be of little use to you guys. My own party has an average level of 60 and we’re confident we can take up to level 80 groups of monsters.”

Everyone nodded at that. This was both impressive and reassuring. Next came Iria

“I’m level 56 now and evolved my class to [Hetia’s Paragon Paladin] which gave me additional buff and healing skills. I can also use some of Hetia’s divinity to perform miracles. My special stat is Empathy, which some of you might already know as it is common to class specialized in serving Hetia. As for my party’s strength, it’s pretty much the same as Helena’s.”

“I’m level 55, I’ve evolved my class into [Deepwild ranger]. I can now commune with nature and receive quests from it giving me powerful subskills. Special stat is Symbiose. Party strength is the same. That’s all.” Said Jordi

And now came Jane’s turn. Luca was already afraid of what nonsense she would say but she was surprisingly efficient with her words.

“I’ve reached level 64 and am now a [Swordswoman of the firmament] and have mastered new powerful fighting techniques. I now develop more by being in tune with the sword and with my companions we are confident in taking level 100 groups of monsters.”

Those that didn’t already know Jane’s level were stunned for a moment. She must be a crazily good fighter and party leader to have reached this level and be confident to fight level 100 monsters. Not that there was any roaming level 100 monsters left as these had either already been killed through a concerted effort of the kingdoms or owned a territory in which no one dared to challenge them.

“I’m level 35 and nothing much has changed with me except for me gaining new subskills allowing me to do what I do better. I don’t have a party but by now I have more than fifty people working under me with rare classes or skills they have unlocked with my teaching and that synergizes with my own skills. I’ve also been dealing with about two hundred crafters whose levels rank between 30 and 63, allowing us to create rare quality products in most fields. I’m confident we can produce epic rank items in most of them given the right ingredients and enough time” Luca concluded.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Well, that’s good. I’m confident we have prepared ourselves enough to go to Lalcqia without putting ourselves in unnecessary danger. Now for the fighting and adventuring part, we’ll need to coordinate our adventuring parties but I think we’ll be okay. Luca what about you? How will the settling and the foundation of a colony go?”

“There are three things to take into account.” Luca started and then paused to make sure he had everyone’s attention. He had come a long way from the rather timid self he once was and could easily talk and lead people now. After all, he was very confident in his skills. “First are the ship. In about a week we will have fifteen caravels and one galleon, all paid for by the kingdoms. Together, they can carry about three thousand people and 13 000 tons of goods and materials. Second, are the resources. Our warehouses are full of all kinds of resources we might need, which includes rare materials, weapons, tools, food, grains, etc. We also have livestock and mounts ready to embark. Part of it has been financed by the kingdoms, and part of it comes from our own fund. Lastly, the people.”

This was the tricky part and Luca took his time before announcing his plan. “Portsmouth currently houses over 20 000 people, most of whom expect to emigrate with us. Obviously, we cannot take that many. So I propose to hold a selection to take only people we will need to get the colony started, the ships can go back to bring more afterward.”

“And what would the method of selection be?” Asked one of Iria’s companions.

“I think we should go with two-thirds adventurers and one-third civilians.” Everyone nodded at that. Going into hostile land it was obvious people with fighting classes were more needed. “As for who should make the cut, I think one of you guys should handle it. There’s only one thing I’d like to impose upon you: we must create an Adventuring Guild and all adventurers we take with us must be part of the guild.”

This aroused a lot of reactions. Adventurers’ independence was something that held most of them to heart. Lots of adventuring guilds existed and competed and what Luca proposed was basically setting up a monopoly on the adventuring guild business and at the same time forcing everyone to opt-in. Objections were shouted but Luca waited for everyone to calm down so that he could explain his reasoning.

“First of all, the Adventuring Guild I want to create would not be exactly like the Adventuring Guild in the continent. You can create sub-guilds in it. It is just meant to be a way to direct adventurers and ensure they are helping the cause. We are going to foreign and hostile lands, we can’t have adventurers running amok. The second reason is, I want us to have a tight control of everything and everyone when first arrive to have maximum efficiency. This brings me to my second idea, I want to create a colony government with four departments and all civilians that come with us must become part of one of them. So everyone would either be attached to a department of the government or to the Adventuring Guild ensuring that we work in a coordinated and efficient manner. I would use my [Virtual Management] skill to put all of that in place once we would have established our colony”

This led to more people reacting and opposing this idea. For a lot of the habitants of Portsmouth, going to Lalcqia meant having a new life and finding freedom. Of course, everyone would have to cooperate, they were going to create a frontier town. But that didn’t have to mean giving up on your independence. The debate gradually got heated up until the moment when Helena cut in.

“Let’s cut it. We have heard arguments. Does anyone want to add anything new?” As no one reacted she continued. “This is a matter concerning the future of our expedition. As such and until we agree on another way of making decisions, it is up to us heroes to make the choices. Here’s my stand on it. I think Luca’s proposition is acceptable, provided it is only temporary and that we come back on it once we’re in a more stable situation. For all that regards civilians, we heroes had agreed Luca would be allowed free reign and I don’t think he has disappointed us so far. As for the Adventuring Guild, I think it is a good way to make sure the adventurers can contribute to the community. So I’m for it. Jordi, Iria, Jane what about you?”

“I’m in, as long as I’m not asked to deal with all of this” Answered Jordi.

“Same here,” said Iria.

“I’m fine with it too” added Jane in a bored tone.

Luca was relieved. Now he could go on with his planning. They discussed how the adventurers would be recruited and it was decided the party of each fighting hero would have to choose 500 adventurers. As for civilians, Luca would use the registration to choose people based on their skills and levels.

Four departments had been created and at the head of each, except for the last one, Luca appointed one of his favored students who had gotten a rare class thanks to his teachings. There was the Industry Department, which would be tasked with managing crafters and workers to produce everything the colony needed. Then came the Resource Department which would coordinate farmers, miners, lumberjacks, and workers of all other fields that focused on producing resources and raw materials. Then came the Department of Civil Affairs which was tasked with all administrative and governing affairs, including registering people, creating a communication network, eventual diplomacy… Lastly, there was the Department of Military Affairs which would manage the militia and the eventual army. This Department would be under the direct management of Luca until he actually started to be of use. Above all the Departments would be Yorru who was appointed as the official second of Luca.

Choosing the people who would come with them took a week and by the end when including their family, they had around five hundred crafters, two hundred farmers, about a hundred lumberjacks and miners, and two hundred various specialists. Of these, about half were orphans while the other was settlers. All of them had beneficiated from Luca’s class and skills and had skills that progressed at above-average speed with above-average efficiency.

So when the system chimed in to announce that the galleon was over, Luca was ready. After two years in Portsmouth, he had a group of selected and trained people that had the potential to change the new world they were headed to.