Joe and Bixby made a bee line to Holly’s room. Apartment? Joe was unsure of what to call her living space. But first he had to contend with the small group of people that wanted his attention. They were all waiting for him at the top of the stairs. The nervous energy most of them gave off was to be expected, but Joe was beginning to feel like there was something more underneath it all. He did a quick scan of the almost dozen or so folks gathered as he ascended the stairs and found that they were all combat type classes with a mix of warriors and mages but were not very high level. He put on a smile and said, “So, how can I help you all?”

The group stilled and one of the women in the group said, “We heard what you said yesterday, and we all want to improve ourselves and help.” The group shifted nervously behind her.

“Okay. So, what do you want from me?” Joe looked confused.

The woman, whose name was Barbara, glanced back at the group then back to Joe, “Well, we were hoping you would take us out as a group to fast level us.”

Joe stood stock still as he listened to her then said, “I’m sorry, what?”

Barbara then looked confused, “We heard about your ability to grant extra experience to those in your party.”

Double fuck! How the hell did they know this? Joe stood dumbstruck at her words. Bixby nudged Joe and barked causing the gathered people to collectively take a few steps back. Joe could feel it as a pall of fear briefly swept over them. “Where did you hear that?” Joe finally asked.

“The kid you brought in, Ramon, he said when you killed things, the experience and gold rewards were…” She hesitated, “…insane, is the word he used.”

Mentally, Joe began kicking himself. He had asked Harrison to keep it on the down low, but he hadn’t thought to tell Ramon and Rebecca to keep it quiet. Damn, the cat’s out of the bag on that one. Then Bixby woofed a few times and spoke to Joe for a bit. That made Joe smile. Bixby you devious monster of a dog. Joe returned his attention to the group who had all looked expectantly then a bit hesitantly as Bixby had barked at Joe for a minute straight. “He’s right.” Their faces lit up, “Sort of.” Their excitement faltered. “We did get a way better allotment of experience and gold while we were out, but it was limited, and I can’t reproduce the results.” Joe outright lied. “I had a magical artifact that I had activated that boosted party rewards. I just didn’t know it was a one-time use item.” He looked at the faces around him as they took in the lie. All of them looked crestfallen. “Sorry guys, but I’m not a golden cow.” Not wanting to linger any longer and have to answer questions that may trip up his lie, he moved past the group. Everyone made way for he and Bixby, and they finally managed to make it to Holly’s place.

Joe apologized for waking Holly and sat on the couch as she brewed some tea. Bixby pulled some meat from inventory and happily sat on the floor munching away. Holly handed Joe a steaming cup of something that smelled floral. “I heard about your rescue.” She took a sip of her own tea. When Joe did not respond she continued, “I take it you spoke to the council and that everything is good?” When Joe again did not respond and instead sat staring into his teacup, she looked at Bixby.

The hound huffed, dropped the large bone he’d been gnawing on and with a grunt stood up and walked over to Joe. He stared at Joe for a moment and then took a huge lick of Joe’s tea, startling the man and causing him to spill tea everywhere. “Bixby what the hell?” Joe stood up suddenly, then realized there was a mess to clean up. “Holly, I’m sorry. Let me get a towel.”

Shaking her head with a slight smile, she said, “No need.” With a wave of her hand, the spilled tea on the floor disappeared and the stain on the couch vanished. “Self-cleaning apartment.” She patted the cushion next to her indicating she wanted Joe to sit again. “So, you mind telling me what’s got you so deep into your thoughts?”

Bixby licked Joe’s hand and with a satisfied woof, dropped to the floor and continued where he had left off with his bone. Joe leaned back and put his hands on his face, rubbing his eyes. “Ah man, I don’t know where to begin.” He sat forward once more, “Honestly, I really didn’t have a plan after finding you and Matty. And now I’m the defacto leader of the survivors, or at least the figurehead and people are wanting to adventure with me because they think they’ll get better rewards, and the elves are a thing and it’s all a bit much.” Joe went on to relate everything that had happened that night and morning. For her part, Holly only interjected to get clarification on a few points, otherwise she let him vent.

“Well, for what it’s worth, I think you did the right thing covering the fact that your parties tend to get extra experience and loot. That’s not something you really want anyone to know. You should definitely stick with your core group and not add anyone else, otherwise your fib is going to crumble.”

“I know, but at the same time, I could help those that want to pitch in. I mean, if I took rotating groups out with me, I could raise the average level across the board.”

“I really don’t think that’s a good idea. You’re not an experience ATM.” Holly set her cup down. “Look, these people all went through the tutorial. Everyone knows what it takes to level. They can’t use you as a crutch otherwise they won’t appreciate their own contributions and they’ll become reliant on you to save the day.” At the last, she used air quotes. “You said yourself that you’re not a savior and you’re not Superman. Let them struggle. Hell, let them fail. Just don’t let them fall. It’s the only way they’ll grow and be independent.” She gestured at him, “I mean, your Class is just that. When all else fails, here you come and see what you can do about their issues. They need to work at it first though.”

Joe sank back into the couch with a sigh, “Damn, I missed you.” He gave his sister a tired smile. “You should have been a therapist.”

Holly playfully punched Joe in the arm, “I was a therapist you jackass.” She gave a short chuckle, “Now I’m a spell casting badass, and you need to be on your best behavior, or I’ll shove a lightning bolt up your butt.”

At that moment Matty toddled into the living room, rubbing his sleepy eyes. “Why is Uncle Joe getting a lightning bolt in his butt?” Both adults burst into laughter as Holly opened her arms to the waking child. Matty climbed comfortably into her arms.

“We were joking baby. Mommy was trying to make Uncle Joe feel better.”

Confused Matty asked, “By putting a lightning bolt in his butt?

This caused even more laughter and Joe reached over and ruffled the young boy’s hair. Bixby woofed, stood up and licked Matty’s face, causing him to spit then giggle. For the next hour, the family sat and ate breakfast, chatted and played. Joe found himself in a brief version of heaven as he left his cares at the door. Eventually though, Holly brought the family time to a halt.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“You should talk to Edward about building you and Bixby a house.”

“Actually, I was thinking along the same lines. Maybe something back by the trees.” Joe rubbed his hands together and scratched his beard. “And maybe a shave and a haircut?”

It turned out that Holly knew one of the citizens whose class was Barber. The family made their way to the barbers’ quarters and thirty minutes later Joe came out clean shaven and with his hair in a clean almost military style cut.

“What do think Bix? No more murder hobo?” Bixby wagged his tail in approval and Holly ran her hand along Joe’s jawline.

“You look different and yet the same. The System has definitely made some changes.” She stared at him for a bit, “You look a lot like Daddy did.” She gave a sad smile.

Joe fought to suppress the memories of his parents. They had died in an auto accident years ago when Joe and Holly were still teenagers. The entire family was in the car when they were hit by a drunk driver. Joe’s last image of his father was not one he wanted to revisit. With a shudder, he pulled himself away from the memories and picked up Matty. “Hey, wanna go see my crew before we take off to look for more people?” The boy enthusiastically agreed as Joe placed him on Bixby’s back and they all strode out to find their friends.

The next several days went by in a blur. Joe and his party along with the other search groups ended up finding almost two thousand more people. This had fulfilled his In Search Of quest and then some. As part of the number of people that they had found, there was another group comprised mostly of children. When the party had gotten them back to the city center safely, Joe received another title.

Title Unlocked! Children’s Crusader! You have rescued fifty children below the minimum age to access the System. These children are the future of your race. Rewards Unlocked! You and your companion gain +2 Willpower, +2 Constitution, and +2 Perception. Exp earned, 15,000 (Banked). Gold earned 5,000.

Joe also managed to complete the Under Your Wing quest that required the Arachnomancer kid, Harrison to gain at least five levels. By the end of the week, Harrison proudly announced that he had reached level twenty-eight, the dwarves and Mirabella had all gone up several levels as well. During this time great changes had also been made to the city. The second layer of walls was completed as well as many of the citizens with profession-based Classes such as Smith, Alchemist, Armorer, Enchanter, and many more were given shopfronts with living space either on top or behind their shops. This allowed the non-combat classers to begin leveling as they took on commissions. It also allowed them to create direct competition with the Shoppe. The dwarves made for amazing trade partners as they brought in hard-to-find minerals from their mining. The first week’s changes were huge for the budding community.

Joe and Bixby had a cozy stone house built for them on the edge of Bob’s Grove. Bob himself found a caretaker slash disciple in Rebecca. The teen was offered a Class called Druid of the Sacred Willow and spent all her time in the Grove with Bob. All the communities’ children were allowed to play in the Grove and the council, with Bob’s blessing, built them a playground. Joe, working with Bob and Beks had carved out a large pool area in the Grove, trickle fed by the nearby river and Joe planted his [Cleric’s Moss] along its banks.

Within the first three days, the citizens all received a notification.

Congratulations! [New Santa Cruz] has nurtured a druidic Grove! All citizens of [New Santa Cruz] are granted a +10% regeneration bonus while in City Limits and a +20% regeneration bonus while in the Grove proper. Additionally, all citizens while within the Grove proper receive a +15% resistance to harm from any source.

This mollified everyone’s fears about allowing the children to play outside, especially when Bob and Beks demonstrated the ability to summon Guardian Spirits to protect those within the Grove. The several alchemists, healers, druids and clerics all marveled at the Grove and its newly formed [Pool of Vigor]. Everything was moving at a rapid pace until the end of the week.

Joe and Bixby were in the dwarven emissary office when a screen opened, and the sound of a church bell began tolling. Over the week, the council had figured out how to send emergency messages to all those dwelling in the city, including visitors such as the dwarves. The emergency alerts included a bell ringing that was only audible to those that received the alert.

[New Santa Cruz] City Alert! A large force of elves has been spotted approaching the city limits from the North! All available fighters attend your battle stations! Bring all the children and non-combatants into Sherman’s Keep!

Joe, Bixby and the dwarven siblings all shot to their feet and made for the exit. The small delegation of dwarves that they had been speaking with followed them outside into the plaza. Duggan, the dwarven village Overseer had been visiting to discuss different trade options. When Joe had seen him before, the dwarf was wearing a standard dwarven tunic, away from his village, he wore an impressive set of steel plate armor. Much like Iona, he looked like a walking tank. He yelled some orders to his people then sprinted for the Travel Stone. The remaining dwarves clad in either plate or leather and chainmail armor followed the lead of Iona who began issuing orders to follow her and her siblings. She turned to Joe and began speaking, “Joe, donnae…”

Joe did not wait for the rest of her words. He and Bixby bolted down the street towards the north gate. They passed many people either rushing towards the gates or ushering people back towards the main keep. Soon, they outpaced everyone. Joe knew that with his statistics and with Haste cast, he was fast, but he did not really appreciate how fast until he reached the edge of New Santa Cruz, nearly half a mile from where he started, in well under a minute.

When they reached the city’s edge, they found that the main street that they had sprinted down, Ocean Street, was blocked just before the local freeway onramp. Here the city council had built a rough wall about ten feet tall. It was obviously a stop gap measure as it was mostly a wooden palisade and not the stone of the two inner walls. Here there was only a small gate with an observation post next to it. Already, there were a handful of people milling around and several on the platform overlooking the outside of the wall.

Joe blinked to the platform, not apologizing for jostling those already there. He gazed out at the landscape before him. Here the System had left the old city intact. On either side of the four-lane road were abandoned hotels and a Denny’s restaurant. There were side roads heading off east and west at an angle and in front was the entrance to the freeway. There was an interchange ahead that had a raised roadway above the freeway on/off ramp that was empty. What set Joe’s heart racing was the army of elves lining the entrance. It looked like a siege from a fantasy movie. The elves were lined up in rows and ranks. Flags and banners fluttered in the morning breeze, making a slight rustling sound. Joe counted hundreds of armored elves in the front ranks with more in the back carrying bows. Scattered amongst the ranks were obvious mages and clerics. Jesus these guys are all tall. Joe marveled that the shortest one was still at least seven feet tall.

In front and slightly ahead of the columns of infantry was a small entourage that Joe recognized. There were the five identically armored warriors that Joe assumed were an honor guard, the female Champion, Rainia and finally the prince himself, Ke’han Ta’Alador. There was one additional elf standing next to the prince in ostentatious armor holding a pole with a banner affixed to it. This elf was slightly shorter than the others and he held a smug expression on his face.