Fortune favours the bold

Things had to progress even faster after the introduction of the Guild Hall. Expectations needed to be met, and Crush would have rather cut his own throat than let his and Sprite's elevator ride to fortune be wasted. He slept little, but when he did-

Gold. There were lots and need I emphasize more, LOTS, of riches in those dreams. Some would consider suffocating underneath a pool of glistering pearls a nightmare, but not Crush. It was a gift.

Zombie's group had returned for the tail end of their address, so Crush started by welcoming them in as the first official allies. He was nicer than usual, seeing man's unit had brought back three wooden treasure trunks. The glowstone he borrowed was also still functional, which was great, considering Crush didn't know if he'd receive any more from Quest.

Zombie was more than willing to aid Crush with his operations. The man wasn't very expressive, but how he stared at the glowstone as Crush pulled it back into his inventory indicated his fondness for the item. Really only he and his crew would know the anxieties of relying upon a single light source for survival. Knowing that without the glowstone, they'd be at the mercy of the Dungeon.

To start, Crush had to clear his Quest on backlog.

[ Main Quest: Preparing to Crawl ]

Directions: Recruit (3) members to your party.

[ Rewards: ]

Skill Points (5)

Potion of Drowsiness (1)

Adventurer Boots

Wood Ink Pen

Leather Journal

_

By then, some days in, the party system had already been uncovered. Some hardcore gamers had formed their own guilds and taken matters into their own hand. Crush could occasionally hear them yelling things like, "Window! Level up! Cast fireball! Skill Page!"

Aside from learning about the party system, they were the only other group of people to venture into the center passage. Crush didn't know how they managed without buying his torch, which he'd offered, but they said, "We don't need help from a normie."

Rude, right?

They pranced off into the darkness while blurting something about "Grinding." Anyways, it was thanks to them that Crush knew that party requests were verbal arrangements. He invited Sprite, Zombie, and, because she insisted, Loriana to a party. Once he did, their Class Crystals flickered, then displayed a temporary text.

[ Party Members: ]

[ Name: ] Crush (Leader)

[ Class: ] Inventory Specialist

[Level: ] 1

[ Name: ] Sprite Dwellings

[Class: ] Piercer - DPS

[Level: ] 1

[ Name: ] Zombie

[Class: ] Barbarian - Tank

[Level: ] 9

[ Name: ] Loriana

[Class: ] Sword Saint

[Level: ] 6

_

(("Sword Saint?")) Crush had thought. He didn't notice when he'd previously edited her Crystal, but her Class didn't display a specialty like others. Even his Coupler Class was listed as an "All Rounder" before he altered it. He was inquisitive but not enough to probe her for details; he had no intention of delving into the battle outside the Hub anyways.

[ New Main Quest: First Kill ]

Directions: Deliver the finishing blow to an enemy.

[ Rewards: ]

Skill Points (10)

MP Potion - Small (3)

Potion of Poison Resistance (3)

Coupler Weapon Loot Box

Adventurer Backpack

_

Crush was given a Wood Ink Pen and a Leather Journal as a reward for finishing the task. However, he ignored the new Quest and instead ripped pages out of the journal. He assigned the task of writing multiple quests to Loriana. At the same time, he and his associates started building furniture for the building.

The quest board was placed outside. It was a straightforward design, a flat wooden panel with legs. Crush and Sprite employed Zombie to make a big deal out of it so others would follow. Yea, he hired a plant, just like old times.

Zombie's Guild, Homecoming, was in good with the public. They did well with sharing the barebone details of everything they learned while out in the deep Dungeon. Because of this, eyes were plastered on them when they strolled across the Hub armed to the teeth with weapons, looking as if they were off to kill the final boss.

There was a sense that these heroes would make their third trip into the Dungeon and further humanity's progress toward deliverance.

Wrong. Zombie's Guild of Twenty strolled up to the marketing board like absolute gangsters, stopped outside the newly built structure, and pulled a single paper off the panel. Zombie glanced at the form tediously, then shared it with his unit before shouting, "Alright, we have our quest!"

Everyone then dropped all their weapons and defenselessly roamed into the rightmost archway. This chamber was named "Garden" because of the safe greenery, and It'd been confirmed to be sufficiently lit by illuminating trees, much like the one in the Hub.

Minutes later, everyone returned unscathed with lumber, flowers, and other nature-found commodities. They dramatically lowered the items at the doorsteps of the Guild Hall, then handed the Quest paper to Sprite, who awarded them several peculiar coins.

Zombie tossed his hands up like he'd strapped into a rollercoaster, then dryly exclaimed, "Wow, our first payment. These gathering quests sure are easy."

The other poor actors in his entourage emitted a pitiful "woo" aloud, then gathered to see the coins they'd secured on their first run.

"What can we buy with these coins?" Loriana asked.

"There's plenty; let's step inside," replied Crush.

The door closed behind them, which gave the illusion they were functioning. In truth, Crush and Sprite were inside the Guild Hall, peering outside a peek hole. They wanted to see the moment someone visited the Quest board. And they did; a few cattle flocked toward it to see what it'd been about and pulled a page down. The group then scouted the area where Zombie dropped off their haul, collected the flowers, then hand planted them in the dirt.

Once they finished, they knocked on the door, and Crush invited them in with sprightly smiles and adoration.

The building had a heavy foresty scent, and the glowstone Crush linked to the ceiling lit the space generously so the guest could see the desk and chairs along the walls.

"How may we help you?" Crush started.

"I saw your posting," a man replied skeptically, unfolding a paper.

[ Quest Type: ] Labor

[ Difficulty: ] Super Easy

[ Party Size: ] 1 - 12

[ Description: ] Plant flowers outside of the Guild Hall.

[ Reward: ] 10 Star Coins

_

"Ah, yes, of course! Let's get you all sorted," responded Crush. Right then, he goofed by not confirming that the group had indeed completed the Quest. He'd spied on them, so he knew it was done, but they found it odd he took their work for it.

Crush opened his palm to ask for their Class Crystal, knowing he hadn't edited them yet.

"Ah, I see you aren't registered with the guild hall yet; we can only pay once you sign up."

"But don't worry, it's only so we can recognize your long-term contributions."

Each of the cattle agreed to his terms, presenting their gems to him so he could edit their information.

[ Name: ] Sway Tay Bawls

[ Class: ] Lancer - DPS

[Level: ] 1

[ Hall Rank: ] Bronze

[ Hall Score: ] 3/100

[Guild: ] -

[ Guild Rank: ] -

_

After the modification, Crush sent the group to Sprite, who was at the East wall. He and Loriana stood behind high-top wood counters that hid all the treasure they were storing. Most of it belonged to Zombie's gang and was kept safe until he split it with his fellows.

The chest contained different kinds of currency. Specifically, there were three circular coins with unique colors and symbols in the center, similar to the Class prisms. These coins were crystal-like in appearance and mostly transparent, resembling clear marbles.

The first was a round blue coin with a star in the middle, and another was blue with a moon. Cool. But Crush found the final design to be the most jaw-dropping. It was straight out of his dreams. Worth killing over. The most dazzling was a crystal gold coin with a circular sun symbol at the center.

Sprite and Loriana had figured out the value on their own hours before. The duo had broken it down for Crush, but he didn't have the headspace to process it. Even then, hours later, he still had a headache from the pair's ramblings. He just wanted to be alone to gawk at the gem-like currency.

**

Sprite habitually accelerated his speech when excited, fidgeting, and making large hand movements. "First, we narrowed down the coin variety," he said, drawing in the air.

"Simple math told us there is an 86.2% larger portion of Star coins than the rest. 12.9% Moon, and 0.86% Sun, the more infrequent."

Loriana wiped her glasses with the base of her shirt, stating further, "This could change once we find more chest, but as of now, this is what we have to work with."

Sprite nodded, then resumed, "Shifting the percentage into number values, keeping it simple so others could quickly apply it to their marketing practices, you have this."

1 Sun Coin = 100 USD

1 Moon Coin = 20 USD

1 Star Coin = 1 USD

"Also, you can adjust the v-" Midspeech, Crush had covered the boy's mouth and gifted him a sweet, rewarding "good work." Meaningless, but a direct enough message that expressed how much he wanted them to stop talking.

**

Loriana paid the group the specified amount, 10 dazzling crystal blue star coins. Then Sprite introduced them to their store items. Crush screened the objects Zombie brought with his inventory and judged which were more pleasing to the ordinary person. A small mirror, glass jar, wooden whistle, a music box, and other things that could be found at a garage sale.

The loot in that world certainly seemed spontaneous. Still, Crush made it all appear extraordinary. Music Box of Warriors mends, Mirror of Fortune, Warding Whistle(Can deter monsters from attacking you.) He definitely outdid himself with the glass jar that could trap the souls of the dead.

Ultimately, the cattle bought the mirror for 7 Star Coins, hoping it would bring them luck in their new lives trapped inside a dungeon. Luck, huh; such an unconventional idea to cling to in a time of desperation. Crush begrudged anyone that lived for chance instead of striking the iron themself and forging their own route. As harsh as it sounded, he truly did believe you could accomplish anything if you held faith in yourself and your work ethic instead luck or a higher power.

**

**

More and more, others began to find a place in their imperfect system. Mostly independent individuals joined the Adventurer Guild to acquire those nifty coins. In contrast, some groups rebranded into Guilds and joined to share the rewards.

Food became less of an issue with the discovery of the Garden. Eventually, greens and fruit were marketed to the masses. The currency stuck rather quickly, which meant people had to get up and earn their keep by venturing into the Garden for gathering. Still, only a small number of people actually took the center passage, and none considered the unmapped leftmost archway.

Treasure coffers were an extravagance only found with risk. Zombie shared the stories of their encounters with various creatures ripped straight out of horror films, but Crush more or less ignored them. He felt that he and Sprite experienced enough excitement on the streets of New York; the chances of them leaving the Hub were zilch.

Still, Crush admired Zombie's consistency with their deal. Even though the man could single-handedly overthrow their whole operation, he adhered to the contract. That was that he'd be transferring a percentage of his Guild's earnings to the Guild Hall in exchange for using Glowstone. Because of this, the community had various useful what-nots that helped progress their civilization. Prime example was a blade-sharpening tool to keep their weapons lethal; another was the "Maidens Spinning Wheel." A device that allowed them to process cotton into yarn.

Merely coming into contact with the instrument prompted Crush with a side quest for the "Tailor" subclass. He completed it just to obtain the Needle and Thread reward, then passed it to someone who already had sewing experience. He'd let that ride while he continued to work on the mastery for Carpenter.

Crush continued to work on the Guild Hall, dedicating time to crafting a second floor as well. It'd be a safe haven that only he and Sprite could retreat to. Their dream of owning a home on Earth was finally coming to fruition, and despite being situated above their workplace, it would be a place of comfort and refuge. The thought of having a space to call their own filled Crush's veins with warmth and anticipation.

Using the quest board, of course. Hiring workers to deliver and chop lumber for them was much faster than doing it alone.

Crafting a furnished two-story log cabin kicked his Carpentry Mastery to 50%, which unlocked new features.

[ Path of a Master Carpenter ]

[ Rewards: ]

Carpenter Class Crystal

Master Carpenter Iron Axe

Master Carpenter Iron Hammer

Master Carpenter Gloves

Master Carpenter Apron

[ New Class Skill: ]

1) Muscle Memory (Passive): Time to craft previously made items decreased by 40%.

2) Creative Touch (Passive): Craft items outside the scope of the Carpenter Craft Books.

_

Receiving a second Class Crystal was surprising but not totally inappropriate. While one could develop a new set of proficiencies, they would only be able to utilize the Skills associated with them with the gem implanting that unique information in their mind.

The Carpenter Crystal was a brownish yellow with the symbol of a simple saw at the center. Crush not only wore the out-of-place black apron from the rewards, but he tied the Carpenter and Coupler Crystal to a string and wore it around his neck. This later became standard practice for everyone that joined the Adventurer Guild. It made it easier for individuals to show off their Level or Hall Rank; they could also display their aligned Guild. But most importantly, it signified unison, a flock that all joined under one umbrella.

A parasol built and controlled by yours truly, brothers of scams and grind sets. Crush and Sprite.

Ah, to be revered. To be needed. Such a new experience they will both come to know, and dare I say even.

Love.