Ch 29 new day new building
The recliner was so comfortable. Like fluffy clouds. Raven drove the van to my bank. I should name my van. Good vans have names, and this was a very good van. “Raven what should I name my van? It's a very good van. It deserves a name.”
“User has already designated van as Home Base” oh that's right I did. This is home base now. It needs a better name than that. “that's what it is not the name of it. How about blue something? Or crafters blue? Blue enchant? Enchanters blue? Maybe sky something? Like trail? Sky Trail. I like it. Thats the name of my van. My home base.”
“Confirmed home base designation is now Sky Trail.”
I snort. Raven moves through traffic easily within the laws of politeness. I just sat back and enjoyed the ride. The side windows aren't too bad. Not much to see besides traffic. Maybe I should have put a tv in. I can do that later though. Instead, I open my reader and start downloading more current books. Seems that people have been writing about the system and their thoughts on it. Theres new magazines popping up all over. I snag a few to look at. It costs about 5 credits for ten magazines, wow. As I look through them, I get an overall idea of the different dungeons.
Apparently, the Tokyo dungeon has leveled up already and people were surprised by the lack of monsters. Looks like it was a trap dungeon. People were working a lot more on their awareness and flexibility now, instead of just bashing mobs. Which I suppose is a good thing. I'm a little surprised it leveled up though. That means 10% of the population leveled up as well. There were a lot of people in Tokyo. I guess a lot of repression makes a lot of anger to take out on monsters. And the fact they can stay in the dungeon and take a vacation from work, for however long they prepare for, certainly helps. Like me and my five months. Had I more stuff to do I could have stayed.
As I read through the magazines, I notice they're all in English. Even though they're from different countries. Thank you system fuckery for changing the language to be understandable.
I just continue to read. There have been party wipes when too many go in, but it seems that most people figured out less people less mobs quickly and are only going in by 2 or 3. which is certainly doable.
I was quickly startled when I saw an ad placed for my wands, however. In two different magazines. There was a notice of my wands both force bolt and gravity wands. Minor groups saying they’ll run you through if you purchase these wands to get you through.
So, somebody else had my guild idea. Good, I'm glad. More people leveling up the better. The more credits we make the better our lives will be. Or so I hope. I have this lurking dread that this is still some kind of soft tutorial and that we need to meet a quota or benchmark without knowing what it is.
Thats why I want more people to level up. If they can run themselves through. They can feed themselves and then others have less to worry about.
I hope it gets to the point everyone of age is over level 2 and the dungeons level up as well. Then we just need to worry about the minors. Feeding them shouldn't be a challenge if we can run four times a day, in the level 1 dungeon. But the higher level dungeons might be harder and harder I don't know yet. I have the sudden urge to go to Tokyo and try their dungeon. But they probably have enough incoming as it is.
*
Finally getting to the bank was no problem. Getting the attention of someone who could actually help me was. I needed a financial advisor. This was a national bank so they should have someone handy. But there were only lines for a cashier.
So, I got in line and told her that I made a commission of one million and who do I talk to for advice? She blank faced at me then [icked up her phone. She talked into it a moment, then turned to me.
“I apologize for the inconvenience sir, the financial advisor will be with you in just a few moments. If you'll please wait in the main area?”
I nodded at her and moved to the open area every bank has. And then just loitered. It wasn't even five minutes later a man came rushing down the stairs. Looked around straightened up and walked towards me.
“Mr. Arthur Turner? I'm sorry about the wait, if you’ll follow me to my office? We can have our discussion there.”
He greeted me with sweaty hands. The man probably never dealt with this much money. It was a side branch of a major bank. Maybe I should have gone to a larger branch. But this was my usual place, so it felt normal to come here.
He led me to the elevators, and we got in. He pushed the button for the third floor. No wonder he was so out of breath. We reached the floor, and he headed straight to his office, I just followed along. It was a plain boring hallway. Nothing like a major bank making an impression. That was all in the lobby I guessed.
He led me in and cleaned up the papers on his desk, then pulled out a few leather portfolios, and set them down. He sat behind his desk and seemed to regain his confidence.
“Now, Mr. Turner, looking over your account there seems to be major changes in the values you are dealing in. If you could please care to explain?”
I nodded and pulled from my inventory the sales document from Calloway that I had prepped just for this. And handed it over. Then I watched as the advisor, who never actually introduced himself read it over.
“You sold 2000 ‘wands’ to the Dallas Medical Center for 1 million dollars? And they didn't think it was fraud?”
“Nope, when the system came, I chose enchanting. I make wands. I sold the wands people needed. I sell them in the system as well to people running the dungeon. But the DMC doesn't have enough people running the dungeon to buy from the system. So, I sold to them directly. And now they're reselling to other hospitals.”
The advisor looked at me blank faced. And laughed. “You expect me to believe that you made a magic wand and the biggest medical center in Dallas about 2000 of them? For $500 each? Really? Thats what you came up with?”
I sighed. I pulled out my pristine wand and shot him with it twice.
He startled. Suddenly neat and tidy. His suit clean and pressed. No longer sweaty, or grimy. He was frozen. He felt his shirt, which just had sweat marks on it, but no longer. He touched his no longer sweaty hair. He was startled that he was nice and clean. Then looked down and saw the difference. His pants were still grimy.
He could tell the difference in his jacket and his pants. He looked at Arthur again. Then shuffled the portfolios around. Coughed a few times. Then he resettled himself.
“So, wands you say, like the one you're holding?” He was quite scared now.
“yes, I've made six types of wand now. Three of which I'm selling to DMC. Pristine, sealant and auto size. They bought 1000 or pristine and 1000 sealant. I didn't have enough auto size on me at the time. And I authorized them to resell to smaller hospitals and clinics. As I have no way of contacting those places and they do. So, they buy them straight from me, markup 100$ and resell them.”
The advisor coughed a moment. “You are letting them resell them at their chosen price?”
“yes, it's a system backed contract. Open ended so we can just keep going as long as we like.
The advisor blanched, “what do you mean by system backed contract?’
Arthur went on to explain how he made several contracts now, and the system recognized them, now the consequences were backed by the system.
The advisor seemed reluctant to make a contract with the system backing it. But we agreed that it would stop most of the scrupulous from doing anything.
The advisor told him his options on what he can do with his new earnings, but Athur wanted to set some aside for taxes, even though it was only June. He knew the IRS would come calling soon. But he wanted to buy land. A least 50 acres as close to the Dallas Fort Worth are that he could. The advisor said he should look more for a realtor for that, but he could certainly help with taxes. As long as they kept 15% of his earnings back, they should be covered. 30% would be better as then there would be no mistaking he was an honest civilian. Arthur agreed to this as he still had several more thousand wands to sell.
And he learned the trick of having Raven make wands while he was doing other things. She was currently making auto size wands. He wanted at least 2000 of them. It was more niche, and he had to sell it to the system still.
They discussed if Arthur wanted to invest in anything and he declined. He had enough ways to make more money, and he was only using currency while it was still good. There was no need to get into stocks, they would fall soon enough. The advisor blanched again.
Arthur explained that without the government and regulatory bodies. The communities as we know them will fall. The system is set in place to take over afterwards. Banks will become obsolete. Might makes right will become the true power. And dungeon running will become the prestige.
Since one dungeon run can buy so many meals. As long as you had a place to go, then you could feed a family of four for three to four weeks on a single dungeon run. And since you can run every twelve hours. Then you can keep feeding your family. Everyone over age 20 was going to have superpowers. And that the advisor might want to take a hard look at what he picked, because the system ran its own banking system.
The advisor filled out paperwork and scanned in the documents that had the sales on them. Then Arthur returned them to his inventory. They didn't have much to talk about after that. So, Arthur told him about Wands and words. And told him to spread it around. An easy way to get through the dungeon. To be escorted through. So, you didn't have to be scared.
As Arthur was leaving, he thought about making business cards. Then thought Lucas might have already done so. He got in his van and directed raven to the guild. It was time to have a chat with his new/old boss.
*
Getting there took a bit, but he just had a quick nap.
Name
Level
Exp Gain
Credits
Arthur Turner
4
2%
111356
His status was looking quite a bit better now. He had leveled again. He had a few more skill points. And he could select a few more options this time. He wondered when the Dallas dungeon was going to level.
He sat up and ask Raven. The answer was that it was already in the process of leveling up, it had already reached quota. Arthur sighed. Unsure if he could safely run people through a trap dungeon. Hed have to try it himself to start with and see how bad it was.
They reached the guild house. Or the redone Subway. There had been a little work on it. The signs had been replaced for starters. It had a fantastical Wands & Words in big bold blue instead of the subway sign. Which was startling to think it was a thing already. He had Raven park a little further down as there was a bit of a crowded parking lot. He made his way into the guild and noticed how busy it was.
Katey was talking to a couple of people in a booth Mikey was showing someone to the grotesque booth of pictures. Maggie was at the revamped counter speaking to someone, making a contract it seemed.
Even Jamie was there with an older woman, discussing skills and how they can be used in different ways.
Then Olivia walked out of the bathroom fully armed, and a man walked out of the other bathroom also fully armed, but struggling with his armor.
Olivia was the only one that seemed to notice him, she walked up to him, “and so he hath arisen. Pray be the day he walks once more.” Then she cackled at me. I was completely confused. Then got the joke. It was a bible verse.
“Hiya liv, glad you decided to join us. Running someone?”
“Yeah, it's his second time, but he has terrible aim. Completely panics in the dungeon. So, we made a deal. Me and Mikey switched him out and give him a discount while he still runs with us. He wants to be one of our runners too. So, we need him calm, collected and in control. He’s working hard on it. Last run he was able to take down the first three rooms by himself. It was only after that he panicked.” She turned to him. And waved him over. “Charlie this is Arthur, the man behind it all, and recently not dead.” Charlie flinched at that. “Hi, sorry about her. She says good things about you Charlie. I heard you want to be a runner?” I asked him. He nodded vigorously. “Yes sir, the dungeon is the only way forward. We need people to be able to feed themselves. My dad is-was a farmer, but now he can devout himself to branding himself as the best goods instead of the most goods. But that's going to leave a lot of people unsatisfied when they can't use money to buy food. He’s still farming the old way, but he's also using the system to make more credits.” Charlie was a talker then. Not to bad. I nodded at him.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“The system is the future for me as well. I want everyone to be able to run it. But the dungeon will level up soon too. So, we can't get complacent on how it is now, alright?”
Liv gave me a sharp look. “What do you mean level up?”
“I read it in a magazine from the system, Tokyo dungeon already leveled. It's a trap level dungeon. Not sure we can run people through it. We might have to stick with running people through level 1.”
Liv sucked in a breath. “There is no way most of these people are athletic enough for a trap dungeon. And not nearly enough people took disarming trap skills.” I nodded to her. It wasn't thought about when we too skills.
“Which is a good thing we get skill points when we level up. We can take the skills now and learn to use them in the dungeon as we go along. We might have a few people specialize in that level.” Liv thought about it a moment and nodded. “We need more people then.”
I glanced to Jamie, then to the back office, presumably where Lucas was. “I think maybe business cards might help. Help us find people to run, and find runners. Just walk around the camps in the garage and we might get runners. Build the guild that way. I had a thought. I'm going to buy land and build housing. All necessities included. Make a permanent portal to the guild. Make the guild a bigger building through the system. A system building that we can control. Or add housing here. So, they aren't camped there. And we pay in credits too. Room and board plus credits pay? That the way to build a guild?”
liv thought a moment. Then said. “Ask Jamie, he’d have a better idea of it. He certainly played enough games where he was in a guild.”
I nodded. Then waved her and Charlie off. Then made my way to the back office nodding to Maggie.
Lucas had redone the back too. Instead of kitchen it was file system and storage for armor. The back however still held his office and extra storage. He was putsing around on his computer.
I said his name and he looked over at me. “The hell you doing here? I thought you left us?”
I blinked. I thought he knew? “I was in the dungeon. Five days went by on the outside, but for me it was five months. So, I came back.”
Lucas chuffed at that. He had dark circles under his eyes. A heavy five o clock shadow. I was concerned about him.
“What's wrong man?” I asked
“Without you supplying wands we went into the red. The guild was getting hard up to supplying everyone.”
I should have seen that coming. So, I pulled out 200 of both gravity and force bolt. Then 100 pristine and 100 sealant, and 100 auto size, in bundles and set them on his desk. “I'm sorry I didn't see this coming. I thought I'd only begone for 30 min just like the rest of the dungeon times, not five days. I'm truly sorry to set you back, but I can make it up to you. Sell me the building.”
Lucas turned sharply at that. “What now? Sell you the building? My shop?”
I nodded. “I can turn it into a system building and set it as a guild headquarters. Then we can expand it into more than just a shop and customize it. I've got the credits to do so. So, sell it to me. I'll set you as guild leader, and I'll be the financial backer. Which just means I'll be paying for things. But we can turn this into a skyscraper with how many credits I have.” I told him seriously.
I asked Raven about this earlier. What stops the system from taking over current building? Is that they still belong to the earth government, and not the system. But if they are sold to a system user, they can become a system building. I asked Raven to analyze the shop for its worth in currency and then in credits. The difference was massive. I'd buy it in credits making it a system building.
“so, you sell it to me for credits. I make it a system building. And it's no longer connected to the us government. And it wholly belongs to me. The guild, however, will be under your jurisdiction. I just want the building. I figured out a way to get more runners. All those people camping out? What if we offered them room here? They just have to run someone once a day? We can suggest they buy our wands as part of the contract, as we will give them a discount. And they run outsiders once a day. Then the rest of the time they are free to do as they like. We have common areas and maybe even training areas. Hell, maybe even a library with skill scrolls. I bet I can find a scribe with enchanting.”
Lucas looked at me. Seriously looked at me. In the back of his dingy shop turned guild. The system has been here less than a month and I wanted to turn his little retirement shop into a major powerhouse guild.
So, he thought about it. Seriously considered it. He took out a piece of paper and started writing out pros and cons of this. What would he do vs what could he do. He knew Arthur could bulldoze him. Or go to another shop. But gave him first choice. Because Arthur was loyal. Thats why he came back. Thats why Lucas likes Arthur so much. He worked hard. He was reliable. Lucas knew Arthur was doing what he thought best. Not just for himself or the guild, but the people around him.
So, Lucas looked at the sheet of paper in front of himself. It was still blank. Because he had already made his decision. But he didn't have the organizational skills Arthur needed. He was a retired old grump. Arthur needed someone young and charismatic to lead. Lucas could run the dungeons with the others, but he couldn't lead the entire thing. Arthur was just being kind when he offered that. Because he was used to Lucas being in charge.
He looked at Arthur standing in the doorway. Noticed how much he had changed. Five months away from humanity and he stood straighter, his posture less hunched. His eyes more focused than they have been in two years they he worked here. Time away, time to himself. Time to focus on his passions. Seemed to do him good. Lucas thought for a moment Arthur could lead them. But dismissed it. Arthur could do it. But it would shrivel him.
Maggie was a great secretary and receptionist. Katey was good at explaining the goings on for the dungeon. Jamie was good at explaining the ins and outs of skills. Could Olivia run the guild? She liked running the dungeon. She certainly had the personality for it. Charismatic, in your face. Protected her people. She could run once a day and run the guild rest of the time. Run newbies for fun.
Lucas gave Arthur a slow nod. Then stated. “I can't run the guild.”
Arthur paused. Thats not what he was expecting. “Why not?”
“If this is going to be a big thing, it’ll be too big for me. I'm not made for big. I chose a small shop for a reason. Easy logistics, simple menu. Easy to source everything for a franchise just knock into main lines stuffs. I can't start everything from scratch.”
Arthur paused. And nodded slowly. “Then sell me the building, I have an idea.”
Lucas brought out the deeds for the small shop. It was part of a strip mall, so they technically rented it, but he had leased to own for 20 years. So, he could pay in full at any time to own it outright. He only had three years left.
Arthur looked at the documents. Had Raven pay the remaining amount of currency. Then had Raven analyze how much the small shop was currently worth with assets in credits.
“Wands and words guild with assets current assessment currently worth 5635 credits. Would user like to purchase?”
“I would, make the purchase to Lucas current owner.”
“Confirmed. Completed.”
The deeds shimmered and then became system documents, and the building gave a slight shift. It looked mostly the same as before, but I could feel the mana running through it now.
“Raven I'd like a complete overview of my new guild. And keep all workers please. I’d like to extend their contracts. To be paid with in credits.”
“Attention, there is a minor employee. Can not be paid in credits.”
“Right, his mother works here, set the credits aside to an account for him when he his 15, his mother is allowed to access it for necessities such as school shopping and food and housing. And guild necessities are to come from the guild.”
“Confirmed.”
“Can you make it so has is allowed to look at the dictionary of skills? Thats mainly what he is going to help with for now.”
A pause. “Guardian permission sought. Guardian permission granted, due to the basis of employment through system guild. Confirmed.”
Cool. Jamie has a job through us just to help people pick good skills. And he was granted the dictionary of skills so he could see all the skills, with luck he can help anyone who comes in.
“Ok. I'd like to upgrade this building. What is the mana regen rate here?”
“Attention mana is still earth based and not system based.”
“Can we make it system based?”
“Confirmed, user would have to upgrade guild to do so.”
Of course. “Ok Raven I'm going to list off everything I want the guild to be, and I want you to give me an estimate on what it would cost total and what I can do now. First off, I want housing for my runners. Including bedroom and bathroom. Community spaces. Training room that has a higher density of mana at least 20 times earth. A library where people can read any book from the last century from around the world in their native language. A computer room, where they have future tech that they can browse the internet and see the news from around the world at any time, in their native language. A lobby where people that want to be ran though can be introduced to the guild and be walked through the procedure. Office spaces on the 1st floor where new runners can discuss with their to be runners how it all works to meet with them and discuss with them and sign the system backed contract, the one that will be standard, while they looked through the book of grotesque for level one. And we will have a book made for each level and each section for different amounts of people for the different amounts of mobs and bosses. Then I want storage space for all the equipment everyone has. Every runner is allowed their own equipment, but they are allowed to borrow from our storage as well. The standard will be scale mail for now. Pants and shirt. And we can add a helm of some sort, then good boots. That includes being shot with auto size wand by whoever maintains the storage.”
I took a breather then continued. “I want enough living space for all my runners. Every single person I want them to have a bedroom. If they want to share a bedroom that fine. But the rooms should be at least 14x14 ft. With a full bathroom. Standard with a queen size bed and in wall closet. I know we can't grow out, so we’ll grow up. As far as we have to. For now. We can keep the ground floor as it is. But I want at least ten bedrooms started, can we do that?”
“Calculating. Attention. Does user want appearance to match current building?”
“So, I want it to look futuristic. Like what the system should look like. I want the current wands and words to look like that as well. Silvery with a sheen of blue. But without a reflection of the city. Also, each bedroom should have a window. And a tv.”
“Calculation in progress.”
I check my status
Name
Level
Exp Gain
Credits
Arthur Turner
4
2%
124681
I should be able to afford this. Raven has more wands to sell. I can run the dungeon again and again. I can work on the trap dungeon alone.
“Calculations complete. To add five floors with two bedrooms each will cost 50000 credits, do you confirm?”
“Yes, spend it”
“To make wands and words into the style of agreed it will cost 2000 credits, do you confirm?”
“Yes, I agree.”
“To redesign main floor with receptionist and offices will cost 20000, do you confirm?”
I pause. “Yes, I agree.”
To make community space, aka guild hall, will cost 2000, do you confirm?”
I was adding it up in my head. It was 75k so far. I could keep going. “Yes, I agree.”
“To make storage area for equipment usage and loaning it will be 4000, do you agree?”
“Yes, I agree.”
“To make library for a century worth of book and to purchase books it will cost 50000, do you agree?”
I winced. “Save that for later then.”
“Confirmed.”
“To make training area with 20 mana density will cost 50000, do you agree?”
“Add it to the save it for later.”
“To purchase 30 full sets of armor will cost 2500, do you agree?”
“Yes agree, please add it to the storage”
“To add computer room with compatible computers with system access will cost 3500, do you agree?”
“Yes, that's fair, I agree.”
“To purchase system books on all level of current dungeons will be 500 credits, do you agree?”
“I agree.”
“Attention end of listing. Any other purchase to be made?”
“Add three more floors of bedrooms. For 30000 credits.”
“Confirmed, user is left with 10181 credits. Any other purchase to be made to add to build building?”
Arthur thought for a moment. “Can I make a purchase for the guild but not the building?”
“Confirmed.”
“I want to purchase three transports vehicles. No more than 2000 each, but that can transport at least four adults comfortable or two adults laying. That can be driven by system if needed.”
“Confirmed. Any other purchases to be made?”
“Is there such a thing as a Guild ai such as there is a guild ai?”
“Confirmed. Guild Ai is only available for purchase. when guild has reached 50 members.”
“Thanks Raven.”
“Confirmed.”
“Now how does all this work?”
“Building should be empty of sentient beings and will change in moments. All items will be still available. In ground floor or in respective places.”
I turned to Lucas, who had been watching me talk to air for the past 20 min. “ok its sorted we need to get everyone out of the building, and it'll be settled up. I'm broke now, but that's fine. It'll renew in a couple of days.”
Lucas stood up and made his way to the front. He started ushering people into the parking lot for a visual inspection of the building.
I got everyone's attention by waving my arms. “Alright everyone, so me and Lucas signed a deal, this will now be a system building and officially a guild! You’re about to see it become a system building! Just wait for a moment and watch it change!”
We stood there just off the curb and the old bricks changed to a metallic sheen of silver and blue. Then rose. And kept rising. It seemed when I said community spaces Raven took me seriously. The new building was 11 stories high. Even spaced windows that you couldn't see in but were large enough to almost step out of. The rise of the building had people gaping. Cars started pulling into the parking lot just to see it. Then unexpectedly, an underground garage appeared, and the three vans were visible.
A whispered “Attention. Private parking now available to guild members. Cost 1000 credits”
That sneaky. I might only have about 3k credits. But I have just about everything I wanted for my guild. I grinned. Now I could park my van here and not be out in the lot. I could spend as much time as I wanted in the guild but retreat to my van whenever I wanted.
I yelled out. “Alright people, lets head back in and see what's the fuss about. Maggie, you should see your new desk, Jamie there will be private offices on the ground floor now. Olivia. There are now guild vehicles to take to the dungeon. Mikey, there are dedicated books on the current dungeons in the offices now. Show them through them.” I say as I walk back in.
It was magnificent. A large open foyer with a circular desk in the middle. A line of offices on both sides and open air tables and chairs behind the desk. It was still a small foot print. But it seemed larger than it was.
Maggie headed to her desk and rounded it. Shuffling through everything, she was smiling when she found all her items were exactly as she would have placed them.
Jamie walked in and a big scroll was immediately in his hands. His eyes widened when it dematerialized into his mind. He grinned and had the older woman follow him to a side office. Explaining he just got an updated list of system skills and that he would be her guide to system skills.
I'll have to remind him to update our site so as to add that to our services. We have 16 bedrooms. I don't remember how many kids Maggie's has. Or if it's just Jamie. But I know she struggles. Kate and Ollivia can each have one. Lucas and Mikey can each have one. I might take one. That leaves ten.
So, I had a thought and called the former major. And told him about my shiny new guild and asked if he wanted to join. Since I recently had a guild leader position open up.