(Seymour's POV):
A full month has passed since the beginning of this so-called: "Experiment". There are various occurrences that tried to help us get through the early stages of the game. We found substantial progress and advanced through the game, equipping ourselves with decent weapons and equipment. The others may have tried to find a way to continue leveling up, but that's Denzel's expertise of finding good places to scale up some experience points.
Currently, I'm in a discussion with Allen in regards to the further plans in the castle. Creation of various structures and other extra things to worry about.
"So basically, we need to have more structures with specific functions huh? What's the keep for then?" - Allen
"Well, this is where we keep our main stash of crap. Aside from that, there will be structures that has the focus so we know which ones to defend."
"Isn't it better to keep things in a single place then?" - Allen
"Nah, it's better if we defend the bait instead."
The planning I had in mind allows us to forcefully protect the bait and apply psychology to the enemies that doesn't have much knowledge about trickery. Because of these trickery skills I had, I manage to make Denzel turn insane in chess pretty frequently.
"So when do you think will you start?"
"We can start later actually, but we might have to halt before lunch." - Allen
We started planning out on which things to do on specific times to circulate our leveling and base creation easily. We plan to create structures early in the morning until lunch. Experience points collection comes in after lunch and self training comes in around dusk. We allowed ourselves to do whatever we want during the night. At that pace, we can completely finish the castle by a third of a month.
After dispersing, I also join the others in building the structures and keeping check on their actions to see if there are any mistakes made during the construction design. I point it out so they could fix it themselves. The one with the roughest record just has to be Denzel.
"Denzel! You're off a block!"
"Ah! Crap!" - Denzel
The issue with Denzel is that his eyes are somewhat bad. So he may misread the text written in the blueprints and screw himself over.
That isn't particularly the case when his eyes start glowing. Which he starts doing whenever he finds a mistake. Pretty sure that ability is Peaked-Out-Concentration?
Denzel became pretty eager with his tech and continued constructing at a steadily fast pace. He finished his part early and disappeared in an instant.
Robin and Michael are working on their parts slowly but surely, so they aren't technically getting into minor trouble with the design. Robin does misplace some objects here and there but Michael is just...
"Michael, you know that's the wrong way to do it..."
"Ah crap..." - Michael
Michael tends to make major mistakes and not notice it. It's fine since his designing skills are pretty horrible at this point. He starts checking the intended design so he would get back on track.
As I check around on the others, I found two other members that are terraforming to level the ground well. The two of them were my most recent members to the group. Both are aspiring mages but one is a little bit aiming for enjoyment.
"Phil, how are things going on over here?"
"Huh? Oh Seymour, it's going pretty well I could say. Me and Regina can finish this before lunch." - Phil
Phil has a semi-tall stature, he's pretty thin but he's curious, somewhat intelligent and a thrill seeker. He likes to learn lots of things and now that he's joined us in this experiment, Phil is learning lots of magic from Karl who is our royal magician.
"Oh Seymour! Came to check on us?"
"Yeah, getting used to living in a virtual world yet Regina?"
A tall girl called up to me and stopped working for a while. She had smooth brown hair that reaches up to her chest and a slender figure. She's taller than me by an inch or two but she's what you would call a beautiful person. Too bad I don't get swayed by anyone...
"Yep! So far, the other members are pretty friendly! So it's really fun here specially in the virtual world so far." - Regina
"You sure you're not lying cause we've been doing nothing but building and training yet."
"Mhm! It's still preparation so I don't really mind." - Regina
Alright, these two new members are pretty promising specially in their roles. So it's a good thing to have them take the back line and practice for a while more.
I went around to check on the others as I waved towards Phil and Regina to carry on in their site. I ended up seeing a few members that are taking a break on a bench. There are three female members and two guys.
"So Karl, when do you think this will finish up?" - Julius
"Dunno, probably a while..." - Karl
The three girls that are basically chatting around are Chesca, Sharon, and Valeria. These three are basically somewhere within the early members of my group. Chesca and one other female member which is not within the three are the two longest members.
And speak of the devil here she is...
Another tall and somewhat slender girl appeared with short, black, curly hair. Her height is somewhat taller against me by a few inches or so.
"Christine? Finished your work already?"
"Yep, I'm about to take a break but I guess I have to wait a bit more to hang around with the others." - Christine
"I see, then I'll return to the keep for a little bit."
"Alright!" - Christine
I went towards the keep and prepared out on the dining hall for our lunch. I usually take the role to cook up unless I'm unavailable.
Denzel was the first one that returned to the keep.
"Seymour, do you have some pepper left?" - Denzel
And that's what he's usually in here for...
"Yeah, it's in the usual cabinet. Don't take all of it."
"Thanks~!" - Denzel
Denzel usually takes a few stored bottles filled with nothing but black pepper. The budget of our group isn't really in a state of emergency with him, Karl, and Allen and Julius managing all the money like real accountants.
On the management of members side is something I'm keeping charge along with Robin. Michael's leadership skills are pretty much shit so we can't rely on him yet. Denzel tends to move around on his own despite having a class that works better in a group but he's great as a squad leader.
Robin is a person I could rely on, even if he sucks at chess pretty much. Other people that could be great on strategic thinking would be Karl and Allen. They're the ones that could play a good role in the back line and strategize on the spot.
I'm not always the one who has the perfect strategies. It can sometimes be pretty insane but it would still work. I'm open to their suggestions as long as it's useful or beneficial. I'm not keen into unnecessary sacrifices when I could just bring a war to a close in less than ten minutes.
I continued to prepare the lunch for all members without preparing a share for Denzel. He's probably gonna go towards his friends which are somewhat acquainted to me. I took out some more ingredients and thought of more things that I could do while cooking.
"Looks like I have quite a lot to do today..."
When I looked at my current spot, I noticed that I actually had a lot to do today. Aside from managing all the stuff around I have to ensure that these guys will continue to grow. Guess I'll let Robin lead a part of them.
I finished up the cooking and prepared the lunch at the dining hall. I lined up the tables and chairs and prepared a portion for each member excluding Denzel who asked for some pepper.
"Now then, I should just wait for the others to show up."
After preparing everything in the dining hall, I went back to the storage room and prepped out some orbs where I had stored various kinds of magic.
I then went around the storage zone and took a single dagger, a few copper coins, and my tarot card...
"Emperor... Suits me well..."
I then simply just closed the chest and waited for the rest to arrive for lunch.
"Seymour, everyone's here!" - Allen
"Oh, perfect timing, I was just about to take a seat."
Everybody took their seats in and started eating gleefully without much issue.
"Seymour, where's Denzel?" - Michael
"Ah, he's probably eating with his harem, dunno."
Denzel tends to go around with his connections more than being with us. It's not unreasonable since he has to keep an eye on them pretty much. Besides, it's much more peaceful without his behavior that uses up like a bunch of widespread ice abilities.
"After this, you guys might take a bit of rest before going out to collect some experience points. If we're behind levels and miss out on level points then we could be practically screwed. We can buy potions to boost our experience points at the spawn area but are pretty expensive, but it's worthwhile since it lasts for two hours and so."
"I see, I guess we'll be moving in groups?" - Robin
"I'm thinking of moving alone though? The others might need to form a group or so but it's not really a big issue."
"Yeah, I'm also going alone for maximum efficiency. As far as I know, Denzel has racked up quite a bit of levels and kill count." - Michael
The others seemed to have no issue so I'm gonna start thinking of what to do...
"Michael, Robin, call Denzel later and we will have a three on one duel."
"Huh?" - Robin
"Say what?" - Michael
It's been a while so I might as well take that training opportunity.