The Birth Of A Guild City

After her first day of training, Kary relaxed for a few hours, then got ready for her night in the game. Since day and night had switched up in the new update, she would end up having 2 days and no nights. It was funny to her, as Greenland had pretty much the same schedule.

After training her martial skills all day, she trained her sword skills alone in the training grounds and then went back to the barracks to meditate. She then went to the cantine, ate supper and headed to the pod room. All the pods on the base, except for the officers' pods, were kept in this room. It was highly secured, and one had to go through 3 different checkpoints just to enter their pods. Not even a fly could enter this room without clearance.

Once Kary went through all the checks, she headed to her pod. It was easy to find it since they were all aligned in alphabetical order. She got to her pod and opened it. she sat laid down in it and as she was going to close it, someone yelled her name. It was Carol. Carol's pod was 4 spots past hers, across the path, as here name was Langley.

" Wait, Kary! I need to talk to you! " Carol hollered.

So Kary sat back up in her pod and waited. Carol jogged over and leaned on the pods' side.

" Thanks for waiting. I wanted to ask you something before you dived " Carol panted.

" Ask away " Kary said, smiling at her friend.

" How was did you do it? " Carol asked. Kary was confused.

" Do what? " She asked.

" How did you throw Tif across the hall with a punch? Was it a secret technique. Or did the people lie and you actually threw and not punched her? " Carol asked a small spark of mischievousness in her eyes.

" Ahahaha! That's what you wanted to ask me so badly Carol? Couldn't you have waited to be in the game? " Kary laughed.

" I'm not diving today, I'm on guard duty. That's why I wanted to know today. Please, please tell me " She begged, even cupping her hands together.

" I just infused energy into my fist before punching. No technique, no magic. Just plain inner strength " Kary answered.

" How did you do that? " Carol asked.

" What do you mean how? Don't you cultivate too? " Kary asked Carol, a little lost.

" No, I don't. I didn't get a talent like you. I don't even know how to cultivate " Carol said, a sad look on her face.

" Then I don't know what to tell you. But I'll try to find a way to help you " Kary told her, a determined look in her eyes.

" Thank you, I love you. Have a nice night " Carol said, kissing Kary on the forehead, before running off to work.

Kary sat there in her pod for a few minutes, unsure how to feel about Carol's reaction, nor her situation. She knew she wanted all her friends to become stronger with her, but she didn't know how to handle it. She didn't know how to feel about the kiss on the forehead either. The last person that did that was her mother, and she felt weird about it. She felt both happy that her friend was becoming closer to her, but at the same time, she missed her mother, and that reaction reminded her of her mother a lot.

She decided to shelve her feelings for now. She would deal with them in due time. As for the predicament Carol faced, she was going to look till the ends of the game to find her a way to get stronger too. With that decided, Kary laid down in her pod again, closed it, and dived into the game.

Waking up in the small hut she had built herself, in the main camp, she got up and went outside. She grabbed the first guild member she saw and asked him to gather the others. They still had an important decision to make all together.

It took an hour for all the guild members to get together. Some had gone out hunting and only came back because the guild leader was asking. Once Kary counted all of them, she raised her hand to ask for silence. Once everyone had quieted down, Kary started talking.

" I would like to start by giving out my excuses to all of you for being absent for the last 2 days. It was not okay to push back such an important discussion and I apologize about it "

Kary saw a few of them nod her heads in approval. The others simply smiled. So she continued.

" As for the subject of this discussion, it is the location of our guild base. We should come to a consensus about where we want it to be, as it will not be movable once established "

" Excuse me, Guild Leader " Said a small man, raising his hand. This player's name was Harold. he was a young man, not older than 20, and he was always timid. For him to actually raise his hand, made a few older players laugh a little. Harold was getting even shyer from being laughed at and his head sunk into his shoulders. Kary intervened before his head disappeared in his body.

" Okay everyone, quiet down. Yes Harold, what did you want to say? " Kary asked, smiling at him. Harold looked back up, sucked up some air and kept talking.

" Well, I've been to town yesterday, and I was accosted by some NPCs. They said they wanted to talk with the leader of our group. I didn't know what to say, so I agreed and said I would pass on the message. Please don't be mad at me " Harold said, lowering his head.

" Harold, did the NPCs have any hostile reactions when talking to you? " Kary asked, anxious. She was hoping this was not concerning the incident in the other town.

" I don't believe so, Leader. They all seemed...friendly, actually " Harold said, unsure of her reaction.

" In that case, maybe we should postpone this discussion for now, while I close this matter. If this is bad, we might have to get away from here, so I ask all of you to be ready to leave at a moments notice " Kary said, looking at all of them.

" Aye, Guild Leader! " They answered in unison.

Kary left the camp, walking north. A few kilometers away, out of the forest, was where the small village was. Kary was a little worried as walked out of the forest. She could see the village in the distance, but she was worried that she wouldn't even make it to the village. They could simply start raining arrows on her from the walls surrounding the village. She kept walking, hoping that this demand was in good faith. Otherwise, she might not make it out alive. She refused to let anyone accompany her, therefore, if anything happened, she was on her own.

Once she made it to the gates, the guards stopped her, to check her ID. When they read her name, they frowned and the guard holding the ID nodded his head towards the ones inside. Kary seeing this, put her hand on her sword's handle. The guard seeing her do that, unsheathed his sword right away.

" Let go of the sword, Ma'am. We don't want to fight, we are only getting the village elder, as asked of us if you came, but if we need to fight, know that there are 20 archers on these walls ready to make hell rain on your head " The guard said, sweat dripping from his forehead. Kary could see he didn't want to fight, but that didn't calm her.

" I don't want to fight either, but you just drew your weapon simply because I put my hand on mine. Do you want me to believe that if I let go, you'll stow your weapon? " Kary asked, keeping her hand steady on her sword handle.

" Please believe that we will Ma'am " The guard asked her. He was so scared, Kary could almost taste his fear.

They entered a staring contest, lasting a couple of minutes until an old man showed up at the village gates.

" WHAT ARE YOU DOING, FOOLS! PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPONS! " the old man yelled at the guards.

The guards slowly lowered their weapons, stowing them back, one by one.

" I'm so sorry for their brutishness, milady. They are but soldiers and know not when to be polite. I shall punish them myself later. Please accept my humblest apologies " The old man said to Kary, bowing down halfway.

" Please rise, elder, I accept your apologies. Your men were only doing their duty. There is no need to punish them " Kary answered, Smiling at the guards. The guard in charge slightly lowered his head, thanking her with his eyes. He could have been beheaded for such a mistake.

The elder rose and walked to Kary, shaking her hand in his.

" We thank you for coming to our village. Would you follow me to the village's hall? We have something to discuss, that I believe is of interest to you " The old man said, cupping his hands together.

" Then lead the way elder. I shall listen to what you have to say. " Kary responded, gesturing towards the village.

She then followed the man into the village and they walked down the main road, all the way to a medium-sized building, that looked a lot more sturdy than the rest of the village. This was the village hall. When they walked in, Kary could see many desks, which she guessed was for the few elders who managed this small village.

The elder walked her to the back of the building, where a small room was. They both entered, leaving the guards behind. The elder showed her a cozy looking sofa and asked her to sit. He sat across from her, on a similar sofa, joined his hands together, and smiled at her.

" We have noticed that players from your group often come here to sell their wares, and I would like to thank you. The wares you have sold us are helping a lot in our economy. What we don't use, we sell to the merchants of the capital and it has helped us in these difficult times " The elder said.

" You are the most welcome " Kary said. " My men needed to sell these wares, as we have no use for them. On the other hand, we were cruelly in need of money, so this business was as good to you as it was good to us, elder " Kary added.

" Yes, yes " The man said. " What I would like to discuss with you, is why you needed so much money " he then asked.

" Not that it is of your concern, but I will tell you anyway. We are amassing gold to build a Guild Headquarter for our group " Kary plainly said. She believed the man was a bit too curious to her taste.

" Ahh. So that was your reason. Then I think I might have a proposition that would benefit us both, milady. Would you mind hearing this old man out? " He asked, rubbing his hands greedily.

" I am all ears " Kary said, keeping her poker face.

" I would like to offer you land, north of my village, to build your establishment. I would like us to partner up, as the official buyer for all the loot you would not use. In return, I offer to extend the village walls around your building, to give it safety. Does that sound acceptable? " The old man asked.

The deal was good, but Kary could smell something fishy. Why would this man suddenly be interested in giving them land and taking selling rights? She didn't want to agree yet, determined to find out what his real reasons were.

" This deal sounds good, but tell me, elder. What is in it for you " Kary said, leaning in. She purposely let out some aura out, to get the man to spill his beans.

" Why I already told you milady. It is good for our economy if you stay, so the buying rights on your loot is largely enough for us " The old man said, beads of sweat forming on his head.

" I would like you to not lie to me, old man. I came here today, in good faith. If you don't talk to me honestly, I will consider this meeting over and take my leave " Kary said getting up.

" Wait! Please wait. Sit back down, I beg you " The old man said, dropping to his knees.

Kary sat back down, looking at the old man with a bit of pity.

" Then tell me. What is it you really want of me and my group? " Kary coldly said.

" We are on the verge of being raided. We need protection, and my guards tell me your group is filled with strong people. Please, I beg of you. Help my village. We cannot go through these raids much longer. My people will die from famine " the old man begged, still on his knees.

" Stop begging old man. Sit. we can talk this through. Start by telling me why you would be raided and why you know it's coming " Kary told him.

The man sat back on the sofa. his eyes were pained as he thought of what he was going to divulge.

" This village is actively raided by bandits. Once every 3 months, their group comes here and steals half of all we own. Food, clothes, money, and they sometimes take our women too. This time is coming soon. Two weeks from now, they should be back, and we barely have enough for ourselves already. The harvests have not been good in the last year, and we can't keep up with the food they steal. Please milady, we can't go through this raid in the weakened state our village is right now. I beg you, please help us eliminate this threat. We would be eternally in your debt " The elder said.

" I understand " Kary simply said.

" Then will you help us? " The elder asked, hope in his eyes.

" I must convene with my group before I can give you an answer. Although I am the leader in name, I do not take decisions of this magnitude on my own. I will be back tomorrow with an answer " Kary said, getting up. She then walked to the door.

" I'll be waiting at the village gates for your favorable answer " The old man said.

Kary opened the door and left. On her way back to the village, she weighed all the pros and cons of this deal. One one hand, she would gain land and a sure place to sell the guilds excess goods. She would also have the chance of maybe expanding this tiny village into a player capital, making it even better for her guild. On the other hand, if the raiders he talked about could raid them willy nilly, that meant that the guards didn't defend. Which meant they knew they would get overpowered and refused to throw away their lives. She would need to have a good discussion with the guild members about this before accepting.

After her walk back to the main camp, she gathered the guild members and started discussing the deal she was offered with them. The players were not against it at all. To them, this was just another adventure, and they would gladly jump into a raider camp head first if it made them level up and gain good items.

The next day, Kary walked back to the village and gave the good news to the elder. He was so happy, he burst in tears. After getting him back on his feet, they went back to the village hall and discussed the specifics for the Guild Headquarters, and prepared a defense plan to push back the raiders. She also promised they would follow the raiders back to their camp and make sure they would never come back here again.

And so started a 2-week preparation for a battle that would project this guild to the top.