Upon entering the hall, Draco was ushered into a large chamber with a lot of desks manned by harried clerks. The decorations were rich as well as mildly expensive and the general look reminded Draco of a typical bureaucratic office, but styled in medieval tones.
Everyone was busy and there were queues everywhere.
Of course, by virtue of Draco's title as Minor Duke, he didn't have to join these tedious procedures and was led directly to the City Lord's office. Naturally, this was to be expected, as the City Lord was a Duke, while Draco was a Minor Duke.
Although the City Lord ranked above Draco, it was by just one rank. An NPC with Draco's title would be the city lord of a mid-tier city, while Dukes were essentially in charge of one of the four high-tier cities.
Four Dukes, one King. Pretty simplistic form of government for Sturgehaven Kingdom.
Draco was led into a room with a very regal design. It wasn't unnecessarily lavish, but rather more functional while remaining aesthetically pleasing. After all, the Duke wasn't going to be throwing parties in the room. Majority of his time would be spent dealing with people like Draco or poring over documents that needed his signature.
This was why even in Draco's old timeline, players with high reputation never bothered to fight for city lord titles. Who had the time to drop adventuring and leveling to become a politician? Sure, there was money in the business, but Draco knew that both in the real world and in Boundless, fighting against monsters was vastly safer than becoming a politician.
At least, in a dungeon you could see your attacker clearly. In politics, you may not even know how you died or lost everything. Being able to respawn didn't make one immune to slander or framing.
"Hello little fellow, how can I help you?"
The City Lord's name was Keith and he was a Rank 4 Politician. Politics was considered a class and that was exactly why players had to drop adventuring, as the class barred such things with serious penalties.
Keith was a middle aged man with an average face and a lean build. He had a scholarly appearance with a slightly wrinkled face as well as rectangular glasses that hovered over the bridge of his nose. His most notable feature was his blonde, messy hair but his eyes were a dull brown. Nevertheless, Draco knew that Keith was no pushover.
In fact, he had even referred to Draco as little fellow. Most would see this as an insult, but Draco knew Keith's personality as he had been based in Cario city for a long time in the old timeline.
"Hello, Lord Keith. I'm here to create an Immortal Adventurer guild."
Draco's reply was simple and without needless ass-kissing, to which Keith secretly gave a thumbs up. Still though, Keith found it strange that Draco would need to see him personally for such a small thing. Then again, his station was a lot higher than most.
"Alright, that should be easy enough to handle. What would the name for your guild be?"
Draco paused. This was something he had been considering since he had reincarnated into this world. The name of his old guild was Hellscape and while normally using the same name would be a good idea, here it wasn't.
The name 'Hellscape' was tied to Draco's thirst for vengeance against Eva. After achieving his quest, that name no longer held meaning to him and rather would tie him down to old concepts. After all, this reincarnation was a proverbial second chance at life.
Draco considered a few names. As a villainous fellow, Draco's interests lay in darker themes and aspects. While he may not run a dark guild, his guild, like the Hellscape of old, would be running very close to that line.
An Intimidating name was necessary.
"Let's go with Umbra."
Draco decided on that name because it was Latin for darkness. It would serve as a fitting name in the future, especially when his guild eventually rose to the top.
As to whether others would like to use that name or a guild with that name already existed in another VRMMO and would be migrating here, that was too bad. If they disliked it, they could come find Draco so he could relieve them of their lives and some items.
"Umbra, huh? Sounds terrible but it's not my guild. Let's get this done." Keith replied with a disdainful expression.
Draco could only smile bitterly. Why disparage the name? It wasn't that bad after all.
Soon, Draco received the relevant notification for his efforts.
｢Congratulations for creating a guild!
Rewards:
Access to Guild Bank
Access to Guild Warehouse
Access to Guild Shop
Access to Guild Arena｣
The acquisitions were self-explanatory. The Guild Bank was where players deposited money for the guild's usage. Access to withdrawal depended on the set permissions made by the guild master and/or relevant officers. The Guild Warehouse was where materials and equipment were stored. The Guild Shop was the interface in which guild members could purchase materials and/or equipment from the guild at a heavily discounted cost depending on their rank and contributions to the guild. The Guild Arena was a casual area where guild members could either spar or fight against training dummies.
These were basic things that came with the founding of a new guild. Naturally, a guild also had to pay taxes to the authorities based on its reputation and activities. The guild also needed to maintain a certain number of members or it'll be shut down.
A guild could rank up and grow from its basic form and acquire new features. The rankings for guilds was based on reputation with the authorities.
A Tier 0 Guild was the basic kind, which Draco currently possessed. To rank up, he'd need a lot of reputation, but with the kind of quests he planned to fulfill, that wouldn't be a problem.
(Authors Note: Check the miscellaneous info for details on Guild Rankings.)
Nodding to Keith, Draco took leave of the office. On his way out, he made sure to tip the fellow who led him to the Duke quite heavily. Once outside the City Hall, he opened his guild interface.
｢ Name: Umbra
Tier: 0
Reputation: 0
Members: 1
Accolades: 0
Properties: 0
Guild Bank
Guild Shop
Guild Warehouse
Guild Arena
Permissions｣
So simplistic…
Traveling back in time for just 15 years felt like returning to the Stone Age for Draco.
Draco sent invites to his five generals. Their in-game usernames were Lusty Wench for Rina, Eye Patch for Boyd, Gentle Lamb for Kiran, Alpha Male for Uno and Quiet Blade for Cobra.
Draco wanted to test them by letting them choose their own names and it seemed that even though he had reincarnated and acquired them earlier, their naming still remained the same.
After sending those five an invite, Draco was plagued with another system announcement.
｢Sturgehaven Kingdom Regional Announcement
The first Guild, Umbra, has been created by Player Draco. Reputation increased by 5000｣
｢Cario Continent International Announcement
The first Guild, Umbra, has been created by Player Draco. Reputation increased by 5000｣
｢Boundless System-wide Announcement
The first Guild, Umbra, has been created by Player Draco. Reputation increased by 5000｣
Once again, Draco's name and exploits took the world by storm, but not as strongly as before. Those guild masters who had harbored hope that Draco wouldn't create a guild yet gnashed their teeth with anger and hatred.
Draco himself lamented his fate. Why was he ultimately destined to stand in the limelight, even though he wanted to stay incognito? Sigh, it seemed like being the protagonist of the universe was quite the undertaking.
If anyone could hear Draco's thoughts, most would cough blood and enter fisticuffs.
Although, one thing that made Draco pleased was the fact that the reputation from the global announcement directly promoted his guild from a fledgling group to a guild. In other words, he had climbed from tier 0 to tier 1 in one go.
The same amount of points would have taken a guild of 5000 members a month to accomplish, had they focused solely on reputation giving quests. Climbing the ranks in any world wasn't easy, as someone had to be at the bottom for there to be a reason for another to be at the top.
Unfortunately, Draco didn't get another global announcement for being the first guild to reach tier 1 for obvious reasons.
Draco left Cario City and teleported to Stagnant Moss town, aiming to rendezvous with his generals, who were technically now just noobs. Draco was curious as to how good they would be in terms of current aptitude and potential.
One must know that Draco was almost 8 years early in acquiring them. Who knew what had happened to them in those 8 years in his past life that made them the cream of the crop? It was entirely possible that he might have filched them too early and as such, they may be of lower quality than if he had let them ferment.
"Hey, hey, it's the handsome Guild Leader ~"
Rina's voice greeted Draco as he approached the town's tavern, where he told the five to wait for him. Draco had also decided to see whether they'd opt for the same builds he had. Of course, since they wouldn't get their classes till level 10, he just wanted to see the angles they'd tilt to.
Unsurprisingly, Rina was holding a staff with a ruby red gem on top, her fiery red robe hugging her tight curves, a deadly sight that had most eyes riveted on her with nefarious intent. Naturally, a closet narcissist like Rina loved the attention, but pretended not to notice it. Her short black hair and sharp crimson eyes made her visage striking to most.
Boyd wielded a poleaxe that seemed heavier than his own body weight easily, his attire a mishmash of hard leather and iron armor. His classic eye patch was on his right eye, as well as a black bandana wrapped around his head.
Uno was dressed in full plate mail, only lacking a helm to top off the outfit. His armor was a dull greyish color instead of silver, because he liked muted colors as opposed to brighter ones. He had a hammer and a shield equipped as his weapons.
Cobra was in tight leathers that made Draco shudder from just how much of his body it displayed. It was almost as if he were some sort of fanservice to people who were oriented to him. He had dual daggers with jagged edges, the best for leaving wounds that wouldn't clot easily. His outfit had no hood though, similar to Uno's lack of a helm.
Kiran looked no different from Nakiu in his Daoist monk robes, which were of an obsidian black color. His indifferent expression made it seem like he was apathetic to what happened around, but Draco knew better.
"Finally, you louts are here. Did you accept the invites I sent you?"
Rina, who had become the group's self-appointed spokesperson, answered for them all with a charming smile.
"We did! The name you picked is crappy, but still serves the purpose! What exactly are we supposed to do now?"
The other four become attentive at this point, because they were also curious as to why Draco would make them enter this game when there were much more important things in the real world.
"Well, I'm planning to take you lot through a few dungeons and teach you how to play your respective builds. I'm disinclined to let you bunch figure things out on your own with your collective IQ."
The five of them felt a bit miffed by Draco's insulting tone, but they dared not show it. Rather, a bit of excitement welled up in them because from his words, it seemed like he wanted to train them personally. This was a Control expert, one who only existed in the topmost echelon of current society!
"Handsome boss, just take us where you want to. We promise to give our everything to you, even our chastity!"
"Fuck off to a corner!!"
"Fuck, woman do you believe this Grandfather won't kill you right here!?"
"…"
"Idiot woman…"
Rina's promise was met with a variety of responses, most of them negative. Only Kiran refused to respond, while Cobra gave her a filthy look and some sharp words.
Uno and Boyd however, expressed their opinions fully. Draco and Rina chuckled from the response, finding the whole thing amusing.
"Alright you lot, follow me. We're heading to a 10 man party dungeon called Ursa's Cave."
Draco directed them through the town towards the outskirts. The players they passed by only observed their group because of the outstanding beauty that was Rina.
And her attitude too, didn't help. If anyone made catcalls to her, she'd either laugh at them or make a sultry remark, setting fire to those fellow's hearts and giving them false hope.
Essentially, by the time the party had reached the mouth of Ursa's Cave, they had more than 30 other fellows tagging along, hoping to get to second base with Rina.
Naturally, Draco and the other fellows felt the onset of a headache. In fact, if it wasn't for Draco trying to lay low after making the global announcements, he'd have slaughtered them all.
"Heh, Lusty Wench why do you follow these losers? Come with us and discover what it means to have the best possible team available."
Some random idiot began disparaging Draco's group in order to win Rina's attention. The others who followed behind had considered doing so, but they didn't know who they were dealing with. It was better to be safe than sorry in these situations.
"Teehee, if you can defeat my boss and make him kowtow to you, this Big Sis wouldn't mind spending some personal time with you."
Rina's provocative words made the fellow's heart beat faster. His brain's logical center had long been hijacked by the agents of lust, rendering him little more than a fool at this time.
He laughed uproariously while licking his lips, excitement in his eyes. "Sister Wench, you better remember your promise. This gentleman will now beat up your boss so bad that his future generations will call me ancestor."
Suddenly, Draco's steps paused as he turned to view the fellow who spoke those derogatory words with furrowed eyebrows.
"I dare you to repeat those words."
His voice was so cold that it made the five generals who knew him feel their hearts sinking into the abyss. While they might not have spent much time with Draco, they had yet to hear him use such a tone when speaking to someone.
"Haha! What? Are you angry? Are you upset? This Daddy here said that after I'm done with you, your very descendants will call me Ancestor, while they term you as a sinner! What the fuck will you do about that, huh?"
The fellow, in his current state, felt the confidence of king and emperors as he continued to mouth off. In fact, he planned belittle Draco a lot more to get him angry, but he felt a strong hand clamping his mouth as his feet suddenly dangled in the air.
When he looked down, his heart sunk as he realized that the fellow he had been making fun of currently had his hand over his own mouth, a dark and deadly look on his face.
If that were all, he wouldn't be so crestfallen. It was the simple fact that he – guessing from the shocked reactions of the onlookers – and everyone else didn't even see him move.
Like a bucket of cold water splashing over his head, his lust was quenched and his mind regained reason. When he ruminated on his actions till now, he realized he had been a fool. He had offended an expert just for a one night stand that might not even happen.
Naturally, he tried to beg for forgiveness or even apologize for his words, but what could he say when Draco's iron grip was currently clamped around his mouth?
"You have two choices. I can take my time to torture you before feeding you to animals or you can delete your account and sign a contract that will prevent you from ever playing Boundless in the future."
Draco's cold words made everyone take a deep breath. Too cruel! Too vicious!
After all, the fellow just said some insulting words. You could easily kill him back to level 1 in order to vent your anger, but such terms… it might be going a bit too far.
"You have five seconds to decide. The countdown begins now…"