Walking out of the entry way, I moved into the dining room, setting my bag of loot, as well as the large hammer, down on the kitchen table. In the living room, I saw the young boy playing with some toys, and Steph reading a book on the couch, watching over him.

I moved down the main hallway, knocking on all of the doors, summoning everyone to the dining room where we could go through the loot, and discuss plans to try and deal with the gang in the area.

It took about 15 minutes, but everyone filed in neatly as quickly as they could. Nick had even gone downstairs and brought up Ms. Selena, who was currently sitting on a stool so she could be at a relatively normal sitting height.

One we were all ready, I started.

“Alright everyone, there’s a bunch of stuff we need to talk about and go over. As you all know, I was on a training journey for the past two days, and while I was out, I managed to raid a ruin and bring back some loot. Unfortunately, this has given us a bunch of problems we need to solve, but possibly some direction for the future.

The first thing I want to address is the little group we’ve now formed. Now obviously I’m no leader, but I think that it would certainly benefit us to stick together, at least until the city gets back on its feet. ”

“I agree with Vic,” Cindy spoke calmly, “We need to stick together as much we can during these complex times. What we can accomplish as a team is much greater than anything we could accomplish working alone. Over the past few days, I’ve come to enjoy being around everyone, and if you want to make your stays permanent, I’m sure the Garcia’s would be willing to allow you to occupy the fourth-floor apartment. It is still empty, correct Ms. Selena?”

Ms. Selena nodded, looking up towards Cindy and projecting her thoughts to everyone in the room.

It is. It is a converted attic storage space and is only a two-bedroom apartment, but we were still looking for a tenant when the chaos started. I certainly don’t mind allowing some of you to stay there for now. I don’t think payment will be a problem considering what I’ve seen.

Ms. Selena was broadcasting her thoughts to everyone in the room. Neat trick, and useful too.

With that said, I reached into my pack and laid out on the table all of the items that I found next to each other. I separated the gold, the crafting materials, and the weapons and tools into three separate areas. I even laid out my rubbing of the symbol of Zald, as well as the sketch of the language.

“So starting on this end, we have some gold.”

While I said that, I opened up the bags, letting their shiny contents spill out on the table. I heard gasps as people began to comprehend just how much money was laying in the pile.

“Now, I found this much gold and silver in a tier 1 ruin. While it’s an amazing amount of money, I think we need to factor in that in the near future bags of loot like this, while not necessarily common, are going to be seen much more often. What I mean to say is that with this much gold on the market, and with how much more will be spread around, we need to account for weird changes in price in the future. I don't know much about economics, but I'm pretty sure a market surplus is a thing. If we really want to make this count, we need to spend it as soon as possible, before inflation makes it worth much less.”

Moving on, I gestured to the pile in the middle. It contained the ingots, the monster cores, as well as the crafting manuals. I could finally move onto something that I actually know.

“So we all know that this system that has developed is very similar to a game. Specifically, it seems rather similar to your typical fantasy MMO. This gives us a good idea of what to expect to be powerful and useful but also invites its own problems that we need to consider.

This pile is full of various crafting materials and manuals. I have one manual for armor, one for a potion, and one for enchantments. Now, if you all inspect the ingots, you will see the next problem we need to deal with.”

As I said that, Cindy looked at the metals, and closed her eyes to think. I waited for her to be ready, and eventually when she had formulated her ideas she sighed, exclaiming, “Well that’s probably not good. From what I’ve seen inspecting metal things around the house during my practice, I predict that steel will not show any kind of mana conductivity. That probably makes it nearly useless for enchanting, and limiting it's effectiveness and value as a material in the future. We are going to need to find ways to overcome this, as I imagine enchanting is only going to become a bigger requirement for personal safety. Correct me if I’m wrong resident gamers, but power creep has often been a problem in MMOs, yes?”

Donny nodded at that, explaining, “Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm surprised you've heard of it though. Power creep is the idea that people that play all of the time are naturally going to get more powerful than those that don’t, as the developers continually add new things, making old stuff irrelevant. The fact of the matter is, we are all forced to ‘play’ this new game which just so happens to develop itself, and so people are going to continually get stronger are going to naturally strive for more and more power. If everyone just sits around, what are we going to do when one of these powerful people want to take over? Or what are we going to do when a world boss walks into town? It’s impractical to think that everyone just tries to level up all at once, or that everyone just tries to stay in town working their old jobs. We need both in order to-”

Everyone stopped as Steph interjected, “We need an adventurer’s guild!”

Donny stopped, looking towards her to explain her comment.

After her exclamation, she cleared her throat, stating,” I read light novels often in my free time. A  common trope in fantasy stories as of late is the adventurer’s guild. This place would function as a public service, providing people with an option for making requests to others. Adventurers take requests from people in town for monster materials, crafting materials, and the like. Adventurers also regularly cull monsters in the area and provide the city with a place to collect it's fighting strength when it needs people to defend it. What we really need is an adventurers guild, and we probably need it sooner rather than later. Having someone to help crafters, and provide adventurers with teammates would definitely save lives. Because of my government connections, I could probably try and persuade what remains of the local politicians to help institute this.”

I nodded, speaking out once again, “That’s a really good idea Steph. Cindy, are you willing to help us out on this? I think with the money we have, we could pretty easily find a space. Ms. Selena, is the old hotel next door still abandoned?”

Yes, it should be. I know the family that owns it, and given the amount of money on this table, I’m sure they would be willing to part with the old space. It needs some work in order to be livable, but I think we could do it with enough time. I can start looking for carpenters and other craftsmen who would be willing to help.

“Thanks, Ms. Selena, you’re a huge help. So, still, back to crafting, we need someone interested in crafting potions, someone, interested in blacksmithing and armoring, and someone who wants to take a crack at enchanting. These are not mutually exclusive, but they could be, I guess. Once we have these things, we have the ability to advance and start to defend ourselves, particularly if we can get the armor made. Is there anyone who wants to be a crafter who is interested in working on some of this stuff?”

Actually, my son Michael would probably be interested in potion-making. His minor was in chemical engineering while his major was in business, so I’ll see if he wants to take a crack at it.

Donny nodded at that, continuing, “Well, about that. I’m actually willing to try and take both enchanting and blacksmithing as a goal. My character archetype is called Legendary Craftsman, and it gives me bonuses for learning crafts that work together, and also helps me learn them faster.”

Damn, that was a freaking awesome character archetype. Super useful as well, though I don’t remember ever reading about dragons that were also legendary blacksmiths. I guess there is a first time for everything, and if he was willing to be our dedicated crafter it just made things easier on everyone else.

“That sounds awesome Donny. In that case, whenever we find materials that can be used for forging, or anything that looks like armor material will go to you. Not to mention crafting recipes as well. As for the potions, I think that getting a good supply of health potions is a super good idea. We don’t have any healers yet unless you count Steph’s accelerated recovery ability. Though while it is useful, it doesn’t seem exactly what we need for emergency situations. We have three potions for now, but if we are getting into lots of fights, which unfortunately seems likely, we’ll need as many potions as we can get.”

Ms. Selena looked pensive. After a short amount of time, I heard scratching on the front door.

Turning to me, she whispered, would you be a dear and get the door please? I just asked Michael to come up and talk.

I walked to the door, opening it to see yet another fox. Michael had red fur like his father, but had a white spot on his forehead making him look very distinct. His two tails wagged patiently behind him.

He looked up at me, running past my legs into the main room with everyone else.

Unfortunately, Michael hasn’t quite figured out how to communicate psychically yet, though it seems other kitsune can understand him no problem.

Ms. Selena looked at Michael for a while, and I realized that they were having a private conversation. After a bit, Michael nodded his head.

Michael is on board with being our potion master. He is intrigued by the prospect of making potions and the science behind it, and from what I understand his character archetype will level by selling things, so it would benefit him. If you are willing, Vic, can the recipe scroll go to Michael?

“For sure. As long as we have ready access to potions, it’s totally fine. I don’t expect to get them for free always, but for now the potions are more important than any kind of income. It’s hard to put a price on life.”

Ms. Selena nodded, agreeing with my statement. We could hammer out the details later.

“Alright then. That leaves two more piles.”

I moved over to the magic item pile and began to explain what everything was, and where I found it. I also informed the group about the crafting supplied. Michael and Donny were very attentive when I mentioned the anvil and the brewing equipment, just like I thought they would be. Because I had already cleared out the ruins, they should be safe, so Michael and Donny agreed to move out and try and get them themselves. It was good that I didn’t have to be the courier forever. Donny was super interested in the enchanted blacksmith’s hammer and thanked me profusely for the gift. He promised that the first set of armor made would go to me.

It was decided that the staff would go to Cindy, who was by far the most advanced in magic. Because she was a red fey, the fire magic increase would help her greatly, as that was one of her two primary schools of magic. According to her, she was almost to the point of creating her second circle, which would make her the equivalent of rank 2. Though her overall level was lower and her primary stats needed to be increased, by focusing on efficiency in spells she had made great progress.

The Kangor boots and gauntlets would go to me. Obviously I had first choice on the loot I found, but also because I focused on physical combat I could make the most use of them.

Finally, the Kangor war hammer would go to Trevor. He had some pretty killer strength considering that he was a bear beastkin, and even though it required 30 strength, he said he could probably get into a position to use it by tomorrow.

“Alright then. That leaves two things left on the docket for today. Firstly, we have the god Zald. I actually got a direct message from him while I was exploring the ruin, so clearly he is acting as some kind of administrator. He was a god of magic, so it might be good for the magic races here to try and visit the temple to see if they could get a buff as well. The script and the pictograph would probably need to be translated by an expert, so I think we should try and build up some form of library where we could prepare for someone to do some research.”

Nick raised his hand, commenting, “I’m interested in the changes that the world has been going through, and I think research into those changes is going to be very important going forward. If it’s okay with everyone, I'd like to be in charge of accumulating lore knowledge and information.”

No one had any problems with that, so we all agreed to let him take control.

“The last thing we need to consider is two-fold. First, we should take everyone that is over level 10 out to get their first classes. The power boost could help with whatever madness is going on out there right now. Of course we would need to find an obelisk first, but I don’t think we’ll have any problems with that.”

In the group, only Donny, Kaitlyn, and I were ready to get classes, so we decided that we would head out after the meeting and try and find an obelisk. We needed to choose classes and get started progressing down them, however it worked. From what I could tell, there was no way to determine class structure without actively having a class.

I was surprised that Kaitlyn had actually managed to level up as far as she had as I had inspected her. The job change was shocking as well, leading me to believe she had been working hard in my absence.

 

“The second thing to consider is how to deal with the Gems. They already wiped out the local police station, terrorized Taylor, and kidnapped James. Has anyone seen anything in the past two days, or has anyone had any luck getting help?”

Kaitlyn got a fierce and angry look on her face, and spoke in a growling voice, “Oh yeah, I’ve found them. Ever since Vic left, I’ve been out on the streets looking for any sign of James. I’ve managed to max out Quiet Movement, and got the Stealth skill from it which allows you to move even quieter, and remain unseen. I have been picking off monsters I caught wandering around, and I’ve actually taken out a few of the Gems as well. I have been casing certain places looking for where they might be holding James but found nothing yet. I think I might be able to find him soon, though.”

She had just lost her whole family, and I was happy to see that she was doing something productive, even if it was essentially hunting more bandits. I don't think I'd ever heard her say any more than a few words at a time, and this brief tirade threw me through a loop. I could only let out a brief, "Nice, keep it up." through her venom. 

At my comment, she preened, and was obviously happy that I accepting of her.

Now that I knew she was looking for James, I could finally feel the tension ease off my chest. Taylor looked relieved a hopeful when Kaitlyn finished and looked at Kaitlyn with thanks for her help. Becuase of the way my build worked, stealth and recon weren't really possible. If I traipsed through the city looking for the Gems, they would find out no problem, and they would definitely try and attack me. If they found out I was looking for James? Even if he was alive now, I doubt he would survive much longer after that. Originally, I wanted to gain enough strength to make the retaliation from the Gems not matter, but now that we had a stealth capable scout, we could get James back much faster.

It was also strange that he was kidnapped in the first place. There was no ransom and no real reason to take him, to begin with. Either he was dead the moment he was taken, in which case we would be exacting vengeance, or he was alive and doing something for them. That was another reason for my patience in assaulting the Gems. But my patience was wearing thin, and I was tired of inaction.

"Okay then... lastly, I just wanted everyone to know that I have reached max level for my current rank. Because I’m classified as a monster, once max level is reached, I could find no way to continue to level without a rank up. The problem is, the rank up apparently will take two whole days, and I don’t think I’ll be conscious during it. Right after class selection, I’m going to rank up, and then we're going Gem hunting.”

As I said that, Kaitlyn got a dangerous flash in her eyes, and I heard a rumbling growl come from both Donny and Trevor. Clearly I wasn’t the only one who wanted those bandits out of my town.

With that, the meeting was over, and everyone took their new supplies or items back to their rooms. Just for fun I tried to equip the gauntlets and boots, but as my strength was not enough, when I put them on, it felt like they each weighed 20 pounds more than they should. That must be the penalty preventing the equipping of items when you don’t have the correct level. Considering I could carry the items themselves no problem, it was a pretty weird concept to grasp.

Before I knew it, I was ready to head out again. Donny and I could fly, and Kaitlyn could run at awesome speeds, so we were the most equipped to go searching for the obelisk. We decided to meet back at the apartment in one hour and set out to explore.

---

Flying over the city was an interesting experience. I could see the devastation that magic had wreaked across the city, and there were still fewer people than normal out and about, but I actually managed to see the occasional person walking down the street, and I saw the occasional car driving through the city. People were starting to be less scared, and it was like the city was waking up once again.

The search for the obelisk was relatively fruitless for the longest time. I searched malls, busy parking lots, lots of public spaces. I even tried to search the area around the capitol building, but when I approached I noticed a group of people with guns milling about. They looked like military, and I wanted no part of that, so I left there pretty quickly before they could get angry at me.

Eventually, almost despairing from my lack of success, I decided to search at Zilker Park. It was the place where I transformed, and I hadn’t been back since. It seemed only fitting to me that an obelisk would appear there.

Sure enough, on a large hill visible from the highway, I found a large stone structure. It was a black obsidian and polished like a mirror. Across its surface were glowing runes in various languages, and it took me a while to find one in English

‘Come to me to change your path’ was written again and again across the stone. This was basically another Rosetta stone, but for every language ever written. Well, as long as you want to understand the same phrase again and again.

Regardless, I had found my quarry. I wanted all of us to use it at the same time so we could compare and contrast our experiences, and I had almost reached the hour mark, so I flew back to the house to let everyone know that I had found one of the obelisks at Zilker.

Kaitlyn and Donny both met me back at the apartment pretty quickly.

“So Vic, Kaitlyn, did you find anything? I wasn’t able to see any obelisks, but I could have missed them, “Donny grumbled.

Kaitlyn was pretty excited when she heard that, and her tail swished back and forth behind her, as she teased, “Oh ho, Mr. Dragon missed his quarry then? I, on the other hand, managed to find one. It was tucked inside of the airport right out of the main lobby.”

Huh. I guess the population of Austin merited more than one? If they could appear inside, there could absolutely be one in the capitol building. It seemed pretty central to the city and would be a good place for one to appear.

I quickly added, “Actually, I managed to find one as well. It’s at Zilker Park, right on top of the big hill overlooking the highway. I think between the two that we know, the one at Zilker is closer. Want to go to that one?”

They both agreed, and we were off yet again. It’s crazy how fast we could make it there. Apparently Donny needed to use magic to fly, but it was such a small drain that he could do it for hours. I was faster than he was currently, but not by too much. He had been using his flight skill constantly, training it up in his free time, and it was his current highest level skill.

We made it to the Zilker obelisk in only around 20 minutes. We were the only ones there, and the obelisk loomed over us. The sky was clouded over, and it looked like rain was coming in again.

I reached out and touched the smooth stone, and accessed the message in my head.