Tom flopped down onto one of the chairs. Another day, another round of level up for his [Meditation] skill. They had another early morning council meeting. This time, they weren't meeting in the library. Instead, they were in one of the new rooms just above the library that looked down into the pit and, by extension, the cafeteria.

It was a good compromise between getting a good view and ensuring the safety of the council. With the new change, it was a good place

above what was now the crafting section of the school. It was one of the new rooms they had created. Despite not having any real furniture inside, Alex had already arranged for some of the school desks to be placed inside.

Tom was a touch bit early. He was taking some time to set up some helpful quests for the Awoken Myths Guild. Some were repeats of the first time he gave out quests, while others were new.

The Mandatory Guild Quest: Meta-Gaming Ⅰ has been completed.

You have received skill experience.

You have created the Mandatory Guild Quest: Find Your Path.

The Awoken Myths guild expects its members to be the best of the best. But you're not there yet. As you are just starting on your path, this quest is here to help give you a start-up in your new life. This quest has identified six classes that can give you the best start in your new life. If you already know what you want to be, you can get to level 10 and ignore this quest.

Objectives:

* Become a level 1 [Squire] and gain the skill [Aura of Cleanliness] 0/1

* Become a level 1 [Apprentice] and gain the skill [Magic Missile] 0/1

* Become a level 1 [Trainee] and gain the skill [Dash] 0/1

* Become a level 1 [Pupile] and gain the skill [Subterfuge] 0/1

* Become a level 1 [Devotee] and gain the skill [Healing Hand] 0/1

* Become a level 1 [Student] and gain the skill [Eager Student] 0/1

Else:

* Reach level 10 in whatever classes you want

Rewards: Gain an additional four levels

Else Rewards: Gain an additional one-level

Tips: every class and skill is useful if used correctly. So pick a class based on what you would like to do and then try to figure out which combinations or skills can make you the very best version of who you want to be.

You have created the Repeatable Guild Quest: Feed the Masses

Your settlement needs food.

Objectives:

* Bring a pound of food back to your settlement.

Rewards: Inferior Xp gains

<[Quest Giver] has Reached Level 2>

<[Quest Giver] has Reached Level 3>

<...>

<[Quest Giver] has Reached Level 12>

Tom signed. He needed trainers to get people up to snuff. He needed to hire a bunch of people to copy the scrolls he was creating so he could start improving the spell repertoire of the mages. He would also need those scrolls when he finally got around to fusing his [Scribe] and [Pro-gamer] classes today.

"Hey, you're okay." Alex's voice soothed him as she sat down next to him. Now that her assets were so much larger, the desk was a bit snugger, but Tom tried not to gawk at his friend.

"Are you listening?" Alex asked, tapping him on the head.

"Hmm. oh yeah, sorry, just getting lost in thought," Tom said.

"I heard you got into a fight with Luke last night. What happened," she asked.

Tom signed. "Lukes has the bloodline of Poseidon."

Alex scrunched her face in confusion, then realization, then horror. "That would mean his dad was …"

"A god." Tom nodded.

"Like Percy Jackson?" she asked.

"I don't think that's Canon, but yeah, Luke is our discount Percy Jackson," Tom said.

"But that would mean Posdien was on earth before the system came." Alex pointed out.

Tom froze and threw up his arms in rage.

"Gods dammit. I hadn't even considered that. I just thought he got it in the lucky draw in character creation. But Luke … ugh, This is all getting needlessly complicated, and I'm already making mistakes." Tom groaned. "I'm half tempted to try and contact one of the gods from Noralon just so I can get some answers. Lucy has somehow turned into a hellhound, Poseidon was wandering around banging Luke's mom before the system, Chloe and I have a Forgotten Rarity bloodline now, I've already found a half dozen other bloodlines that shouldn't exist, and somehow a simple goblin lair seems to be turning into the beachhead for an invasion." Tom muttered.

"I disagree," Alex said. "This wouldn't be any fun if there wasn't any mystery. I mean, isn't this what we always wanted? Mystery, Glory, Adventure! Sexy adventures with naked nymphs!!"

Alex held up her staff. She looked ready to take on the world.

"You're a perverted adrenaline junkie, you know that, right?" Tom asked.

"No kink-shaming in the guild," Alex shot back a smile on her face. "If I want to go on adventures and sleep with the princess, that is my thing. Seriously, though, I can't wait for the dungeon to open up. Yesterday was okay, but only the lair bosses were worth any real XP. But let's take a step back. What the fuck actually happened with Luke? I didn't think you would have gotten into a fight with him just because of who his dad was. What did he try and take over Hopkins?" she asked, her voice turning cold.

"No. He was … he touched a nerve. I kinda lost it," Tom admitted.

Alex winced. "I'm not sure if I agree with you lashing; I get it. I definitely don't agree with Luke trying to justify his deadbeat dad."

"I'm just worried. I'm projecting my issues onto everyone else and letting that get in the way," Tom said as he placed his head on her lap.

"Don't worry about it. You are doing fine. I hate every moment of my life in these meetings, but you seem to be having fun, so go get them, tiger." Alex said. "Conquer them with your big dick energy."

"Oh my god, you are so awful," Tom said, chuckling as cheeks turned red. "I don't even have …"

"You didn't have a big dick, and I didn't have giant knockers," Alex said cheekily as she pushed out her chest, causing Tom to redden completely. "Now we have it, so flaunt it."

They didn't get to say another word as the door clicked open, and the rest of the council walked in. Sam, Joey, Will, Duncan, Travis, Anni, Eve, Penny, Luke, Gareth, Hanze, and a few other people Tom didn't know all walked into the room. Not everyone had a position. Penny was only here to represent the women who had escaped the goblins. As such, they didn't technically have a say unless Tom let them. This was made all the clearer as Tom levitated documents to each member of the council with his new paper affinity. They immediately started to read them.

"Everyone, first, let me introduce you all to our newest member, Anni Harkness. She's in charge of a group of farmers whose animals have made themselves at home in our barn. So tell me, Anni, what are you offering in exchange for using our barn?" Tom asked.

Anni scowled. "It's winter. This is normally when we breed our animals for the spring. We aren't harvesting them. In spring we can offer milk, eggs, wool and maybe meat. But right now, we need animal feed. We had to leave everything on our farms,"

"That sounds like a lot of long-term benefits but nothing in the short term." Joey pointed out.

"It also adds more items to the stuff we need to get," Sam said.

"What about meat?" Joey asked. "Can't we kill the animals for food now?"

"Our animals were under constant attack. We don't have enough stock to butcher them now. We need time to build up our herds," Anni protested, looking like she was ready to throw down there and then.

"It's fine," Tom interrupted. We aren't starving at the moment, and we should start getting plenty of meat from the roaming monsters. More importantly, if we don't get livestock now, we're going to have to get them later. Anni will be in charge of the animals until an official decision is made. Sam here has already used it to save our friends, the Larpers. We can revisit the barn animals when it becomes an issue," Tom said.

That was met with some grumblings, but no one could argue the point.

"Our other new member is Travis, our resident [Spellsword]. Duncans told me you've been voluntold to be put in charge of construction?" Tom asked.

"I got the [Ritual Architect] class, and now I'm in charge of construction somehow," Travis complained.

"What's [Ritual Architect]? I don't know that one." Alex asked.

"It's a combo of [Architect] and [Ritualist]. It focuses on using rituals to build stuff," Travis explained. "I can basically build a building for a massive mana cost instead of using manual labor. It's like how you build stuff in Age of Empires."

"Age of Mythology was better. But that's good news," Tom said as he opened up his notes.

"Now, Sam, we have almost a thousand people who want to join the scavengers."

"Jesus," Sam muttered.

"Yeah, it's unbalanced. I guess the idea of running around robbing stores sounds safer than fighting monsters. Go figure. I've got a few ideas for quests we can give out to help organize them. Please review them." Tom said as he sent them the quests before continuing.

"The two main things we want, and Joey, this next part will apply to the hunters as well. The two big things we want are looting powers and storage abilities. Fortunately, the [Pro-gamer] class is a pretty common class option despite being labeled as Rare and has both of those options. We're going to want to have at least one person with that class in every group." Tom said.

"Tom," Joey began. I see here you have us moving in groups of five on foot. That's unacceptable with how dangerous things are right now. I would prefer having people move in groups of thirty with enough cars between them that they can move quickly in case of trouble."

Tom signed. "I'll defer to your opinion, in this case, Joey, but swarming monsters like that will result in less growth overall. You won't gain as many levels, and your skills will fall behind."

"I can understand that, Tom, but right now, I think safety is more important than levels. Even if you can bring people back, I don't think most people would risk dying in the first place. Most will simply take the slow road to levels," Joey said before leaning back in his chair.

Tom nodded.

"Like I said, it's your department. If you think you'll work better this way, I'm not going to argue with you. Unfortunately, we only have five hundred people who want to focus on hunting, so you'll have fewer people than Sam. Just remember, you want as many people as possible to have looting and storage power. With my logistics ability, we can have people in Hopkins unload the kills as soon as you place them in your inventory."

"That would be great. If we don't have to come back to offload our kills, we can spend more time hunting." Joey said, "But why the looting ability?

"That brings me to our next problem. Duncan, do you want to take this?" Tom asked.

Duncan shrugged. "Sure."

Standing up, Duncan pulled out what looked like an apple-sized gemstone polished smooth into a perfect sphere.

"This is what is called a core. Sometimes, it's called a magic core or a beast core. It doesn't really matter. What you need to know is that these cores are used for almost everything in regard to magical crafting. We can turn them into aspects to give you additional abilities and stats. We can turn them into soul stones to enchant your items. Or we can turn them into essences, which are kinda like enchantments, but it's a different system." Duncan explained.

"I feel like there's a but coming." Will joked.

Every beta-tester winced.

"It's a big but. Unfortunately, we have two problems. First, there's only one way to get these cores, and that's by using looting skills. Or a looting ritual, but those clunkers are unrealistic. The second is that taking the core means sacrificing all of the loot. So, if you use it on an animal corpse, the entire thing will rot into nothing. To be clear, we can get a core or everything else, but there is no middle ground." Duncan said.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Wait a minute." I will cut in desperately. I understand that these cores might be useful, but we have people to feed. We don't have enough food for the rest of the week as is. We can't let people starve for these cores."

"It gets worse," Tom said. Higher levels mean higher caloric requirements. Abbadon eats enough for five as is. I'm eating double proportions, and the caloric requirements of everyone in Hopkins are only going to grow with every level."

"Hold on," Anni cut in. You said we could keep our animals, and now you're telling me we're all going to have to eat them?!"

"We're doomed," Eve muttered.

Everyone started talking over each other.

"Everyone, everyone, stop!!" Tom said, getting everyone's attention.

"We aren't doomed. Sorry if I gave you that impression. Leveling up your cooking skills adds to the calorie count. So as long as Will and the other cooks work their asses off to level up, we will be fine. I should also mention that meat from higher-level creatures has more calories. So, as long as we keep leveling, everything will balance out. Joey, Sam, we're not telling you to prioritize cores, but I'm guessing no one wants to eat a goblin?" Tom asked, looking around.

That was met by a round of subtle nodding.

"Use your best judgment. I'm sure some creatures will have valuable corpses, but as a general rule, if it's not going into the stew pot, it's getting turned into a core. Is that acceptable?" Tom pushed.

Joey and Sam tentatively agreed to his proposal.

"The other benefit of the looting power is that it will give you 80% of the meat, the skin, the organs, and the bones all separated, cleaned, and then placed into your immortality if you have one. This, combined with my logistics skills, makes this an ideal way to transport food, even if we're losing 20% of the materials," Tom said. Do you have any other questions?"

"Well, due to the influx of nearly a thousand orphaned children, I had to arrange for several kindergarten and elementary school teachers to take care of them for the day in the large gym. Unfortunately, we don't have any real long-term plan for them rather than just housing them. Please do not burn down the orphanage," Alex said.

"Why did you feel the need to mention that?" Luke asked, aghast.

"It comes up a lot in Dungeons and Dragons," Alex said.

"She means all of our dnd group tends to set them all on fire," Tom said. "Seriously, every orphanage somehow ends up on fire. It's almost a meme."

"What the fuck is wrong with you people?" Luke asked.

"Let's put a pin in the burning orphanages for now. We need to set up some actual schooling, but we're not getting that done today. I'm not saying it's not important, but it's a long-term issue. It's not something that can be dealt with right now. So for the time being, we can have the kids earn as many skill levels as possible," Tom said.

"I've wrangled Skippy into handling training," Alex said. "He's tossing the dead Lesser Hydras into the [Arena of the Ancients], so we'll be able to start training. Abbadons in the [Cauldron of Molecular Wisdom] he's our only alchemist, so he'll be spending the day making potions."

"Do we know anything about what is happening in the rest of the world?"

"Yeah, I had Hanze record it for me," Alex began flipping through her notes.

"How bad is it?" Tom asked, expecting the worst.

"It's been a mixed bag. Some places are clearly better off than us. That's most of the East Coast. Washington D.C., New York, and Florida seem almost normal. The West Coast, on the other hand, seems to be … suffering. Seattle, Oregon, and Los Angeles are all suffering extreme civil unrest and a higher rate of monsters. They were already suffering due to their stance on drugs and the large homeless population, and now that the homeless are superhuman, those problems are starting to snowball. We think Vancouver is suffering a similar problem, at least based on what some people have managed to find on the internet. I also think that Alberta might also have a dino-themed dungeon. Unfortunately, that's the only other dungeon we've identified. My biggest concern is Langley. As far as we can tell, Langley seems to have gone completely dark." Alex explained.

"God dammit," Tom muttered.

"On that note, we're going to need another two, maybe three more departments." Alex began. "One will be focused on surfing the net for information. While the other will be a news channel. Hopkins already had a classroom that handled the morning news. We can take it a step further and report on the news here before putting it on the net. The departments would also be in charge of managing Awoken Myth's online footprint. We could also put some of your lessons online to earn ourselves some goodwill. Dear god, I sound so boring. Someone kill me."

"I can do it," Penny offered.

"Is this really important?" Will asked. "I'm not trying to be a dick, but this seems kinda meaningless when we have monsters on our doorstep."

"Knowing what's going on in the world is important," Alex said. "More than that, presenting ourselves as a positive force in the new world is better than allowing others to paint us as the villains. Tom's been posting help videos all day, but we can do more. More than that, people are scared and worried. They're desperate for any tidbit of information. If we can provide that to them, we can help maintain order in Hopkins."

"I think I'll give the idea of my tentative agreement. We'll need to make sure we don't reveal anything that can be used against us, but I like the idea. It's not something I would have ever considered," Tom said.

"On to the next issue. This one is going to feel really narcissistic. Where do you, as members of the council, believe I should focus my build?" Tom asked.

"How is this relevant?" Penny asked.

"Right now, I have two options for my build. I can max out the [Tactiction] class, upgrade it to [Commander], and then to [Marshel], gaining more passive bonuses for every member of the Awoken Myths guild. Or I can unlock the [Exorcist] class and get the [Soul Lantern] capstone ability." Tom explained.

"SOUL LANTERN!!!" Duncan & Travis blurted out.

"I'm sorry, what's a [Soul Lantern]?" Penny asked.

"The description claims I will gain an ethereal lantern on my hip that can guide souls in the afterlife. In practical terms, it will allow anyone, and Awoken Myth members in particular, to place their souls in the Lantern after they die, allowing me to resurrect them without their body." Tom explained.

"It turns you into a mobile respawn point," Duncan said. "If we die now, someone needs to bring back our bodies. But with a [Soul Lantern], Tom can just resurrect everyone at the end of the day."

That caused a round of wide eyes as everyone looked at each other in astonishment. Tom wasn't sure why they were so much more surprised since two of the people here had already returned from death.

"I think I can speak for everyone when I say that not having to worry about dying would be a major boon," Sam said.

"Agreed," Joey said.

"There's a catch," Tom said, cutting off further discussion.

"The [Exorcist] class offers no passive bonus to the guild. It's not useless, but I'm the only one who's going to benefit from each level up. I should also mention that I won't have the [Soul Lantern] skill for at least another 13 levels, as I'm already level 20, so if my math is right, that's at least two months out. On the other hand, it's only 7 levels to upgrade [Tactiction] to [Commander]. In the long term, I intend to max out both classes, but I'll be at level 60 by then, so this is a question of priorities. Thoughts?" Tom asked.

"Your combat style is going to be the Paper Angel, yes?" Duncan asked.

Tom nodded.

"Then you should still take [Exorcist]," Duncan said. I know we won't benefit directly from it, but you getting stronger isn't nothing, Tom. Your other classes are [Augur] and [Tactician]; those don't lend themselves to direct combat. If you intend for [Exorcist] to be your primary combat class, I would rather you get it now than later. We don't need a paper general."

"I'm sorry. What's a paper, general?" Eve asked.

"It's someone with only leadership classes," Travis explained. "They offer a ton of buffs, but their army lives and dies with them. In some cases, the army literally dies with them."

"We're getting off track again," Alex warned.

"Sorry," Duncan said.

"Alright, can we please decide so I can stop agonizing over this issue?" Tom begged.

"Let's take a vote," Alex suggested. "All in favor of the [Exorcist]?"

Everyone who hadn't been a part of the original Awoken Myths guild and Duncan raised their hands.

"Well, there's your answer," Alex said smugly.

Tom rolled his eyes. "Any other questions?"

"What are we going to do about the goblins?" Penny asked. "They'll come for us. It's only a matter of time."

That caused another round of murmurs.

"Right now, we're going to be focusing on leveling everyone up as much as possible. We've got six thousand people here, and most of them haven't even hit level 4," Tom said.

"Alright." Penny nodded. "I'll be there, as will the other girls."

Tom nodded before continuing.

"In the meantime, Travis, there's a tower structure at the front door of the school. It's mostly there, so we don't get rained on when we enter the school. However, I want you to turn it into a proper guard tower,"

Travis frowned. The idea had been floated around yesterday, but they only had so many settlement points, and they had decided that additional bathrooms were more important.

"I want you to recruit as many cooks as possible. Understand that I want your new and improved kitchen to be operating 24 hours a day. You need additional skill levels, so don't be afraid to push yourself. The cafeteria is too small as it is, so we're going to have to set up a rotation so we don't have everyone crowding you at once."

Will paled but nodded.

"I'll manage the scheduling," Hanze promised.

"Thank god for Hanze," Alex said, almost weeping in joy.

"Eve, I want you to grab everyone who has a life affinity, who was training to be a doctor, is a doctor, or is a veterinarian, and start practicing your skills. With the hunters and scavengers heading out, you should have a steady supply of subjects to practice with. We might even need to send some of your healers out with hunters and scavengers. More than anyone else, your people need levels. If for no other reason than I don't want to be the only person with a resurrection skill." Tom stated.

Eve looked him straight in the eye and nodded.

"Also, unlike other spells, I'll be giving the healers every healing spell I can remember. It will help you guys bridge the gap to deal with the lack of proper facilities," Alex offered.

"Thanks," Eve commented.

"Duncan, you know what you need to do. Alex, we need at least thirty people with the [Scribe] class for a project. Is there anything else we need to discuss?" Tom asked.

"A few more specifics," Hanze said quickly, pulling out his notes. "We have concerns about Hygiene." he began, but Tom cut her off.

"One of the classes I'm going to be giving out is Squire. It has an ability called [Aura of Cleanliness]. If that doesn't work, we can look at hiring some people to clean."

"That's another problem. What do we pay people with?" Alex asked. "We can get away with asking people for help or even giving them paper money for a while, but eventually, people are going to wonder what value money has in a world where people can throw fireballs. No better question: how do we get them to pay us for doing all of this boring shit?"

"Cores," Tom said. Eventually, the plan is to pay people in cores. It's a hard currency that's worth the same as the entire corpse of the animal it came from. The other option is to build a bank, which we can't do at the moment."

"Alright, next issue," Tom started when the door to the council room was opened with a bang.

"Tom get your ass outside, we've got hurt people coming in," Skippy said.

"God dammit. You all have your tasks for today. We'll meet tomorrow at the same time," Tom said as he rose to his feet to leave as he got more notifications.

<[Wordsmith] has Reached Level 26>

<[Wordsmith] has Reached Level 27>

<[Wordsmith] has Reached Level 28>

<[Analyze Person] has Reached Level 24>

<[Universal] has Reached Level 20>

Eve stood up to leave at the same time he did.

"Looks like I'm getting in some early practice," Eve said as she followed him out of the room.

"What happened?" Tom asked Skippy as they raced down the hall.

"No idea, but Major Adams is here, and he looks like he got his ass kicked," Skippy said.

"Fuck" Tom muttered as he flung [Far Sight] ahead, finding dozens of emergency vehicles, all of them loaded up with the dead and the dying. What the hell had Adams been doing?

You may skip to the next chapter.

Name: Tom Bruner

Race: Half-Elf ()

Type: Humanoid

LVL: 20

SubRace: High Elf / Caucasian

Age 18

Health: 1000

Stamina: 1400

Mana: 4000

Health Regen: 14.0 per hour

Stamina Regen: 18.0 per min

Mana Regen: 24.0 per min

Titles: Beta-Tester, First, Awoken Myths, Guild Master

Immune

None

Resistances

Mental 58% Soul 34%

Weakness

None

Bane

Manslayer

Classes: Augur 10, Tactiction 3, Scribe 3, Pro-gamer 4

Total

STR: 40

AGIL: 40

DEX: 40

CON: 80

END: 40

PER: 220

INT: 200

WILL: 180

SPIRIT: 60

EGO: 40

CHA: 140

LCK: 40

Base

STR: 40

AGIL: 40

DEX: 40

CON: 80

END: 40

PER: 220

INT: 200

WILL: 180

SPIRIT: 60

EGO: 40

CHA: 140

LCK: 40

Personal: +4 PER +4 WILL +3 INT +3 CHA

Racial: +3 WILL +2 CON +2 CHA +1 SPIRIT

Bloodline: +5 PER +5 INT

Level Bonus: +2 to all Stats

Bloodline:

[Bloodline of the Keeper of Akashic Records]—Forgotten: Through your vein runs the blood of the forgotten Keepers of the Akashic Records. These monks, scribes, and scholars helped create the system, and within their blood are the keys to its secrets.

- [The Pen is Mightier than the Sword] - Level 30

- [Words Will Always Retain their Power] - Level 25

- [Library of Akashic Records] - Level 21

- [Universal] - Level 19 >> Level 20

- [Wordsmith] - Level 25 >> Level 27

- [My Mind is My Temple, My Soul the Altar] - Level 34

- [Thirst for Knowledge] - Level 17

- [Visions of Akashic Records] - Level 11

- [Soul Forge] - Level 25

- +5 PER per level

- +5 INT per level

Skill Slots: 18/60: Skill Points: 4

Personal Skills

- [Analyze Person] - Level 23 >> Level 24

- [Best of Both Worlds] - Level 12

- [Art of Water] - Level 14

- [Art of Earth] - Level 14

- [Teacher] - Level 9

Augur 07/16

- [Augurs Eye] - Level 7

- [Bright Arts] - Level 27

- [Art of Life] - Level 20

- [Prophetic Meditation] - Level 36 >> Level 44

- [Far Seeing] - Level 17

- Capstone: [Hand of Mercy] - Level 26

- [Quest Giver] - Level 1 >> Level 12

Tactician 05/6

- [Nascent Guild Leader] - Level 22

- [Leadership Ⅱ] - Level 24

- [Raider Ⅰ] - Level 20

- [Coordinate Ⅱ] - Level 21

- [Logistics Ⅲ] - Level 19

Pro-Gamer 01/11

- [Spell Trap] - Level 4

- [Empty]

Scribe 01/6

- [Contract] - Level 9

- [Empty]