As I woke up for the morning, I was greeted by Siya, announcing that I had leveled up! I was finally level two after taming Ronin last night. When I asked if Ronin also leveled up due to us bonding, she informed me that Ronin did in fact level up, but it was a combination of the taming and her feeling Ari. It may not have seemed like a high quality magic spell, at least not compared to the ones I had seen in films, or novels, but it used quite a lot of mana for such a small creature and due to overexerting himself, he leveled up.
If I could wake up every day with good news, then life would be fantastic. But now, I had to face reality. I was alone, in the middle of a rainforest, with no direction. Well that wasn't entirely true, I'm sure Siya had already schemed up her own plan on how to guide me out of here but before I did that, I needed to understand what I wanted out of this 2nd chance.
And so, for the 2nd time in my life I truly contemplated what I wanted to do. I went through all of high school and part of college pondering this question and still found myself utterly bored with my job. This time would be different. I was not going to be some Yes man in a corporation or some kingdoms personal knight. No, I wanted to have a life where every morning I was excited to wake up and live my next day. And so, I tried to think of what I loved, what brought my the uptmost joy. And so I made a quick list.
- My Family
- Lake sports, and kayaking.
- My time spent in college with the fraternity.
- Creation, I found joy in building, which was actually common in a frat house, as we built our parties from scratch, designed hoodies, and held charitable events. I even found my marketing internship pretty enjoyable. it's all the research and prep meetings, etc that waned me done, and the low pay of course.
- Animals and know magical beasts. I loved animals as a kid, and always had a pet. This was crucial and in a world where this was my class. A must.
So, in my old World, this typically got you a 9-5 job where you enjoyed your life outside of work. But here, I could actually make something with these interests. What the was, I was still deciding, but it gave me a starting place.
And so, now I was officially ready to begin my journey to some type of town.
Siya, as my guide, please guide us to a nearby village or city. Let's get this life started.
'There is a town 19 miles away due west. I will direct you, but be warned, this will require us to go through a monster domain of creatures between level 42-51.' Siya cherped.
I looked down at Ari, who had become unusually calm recently and all she did was smile. This would make great practice for her.
Ronin, while we travel you need to work on your healing. So heal Ari, as often as you can without fully running out of mana. Get down to the lowest you can, and then stop and regain it. Then repeat the process. We will use this opportunity for both parties to level. Ari will get first hand fighting experience, fighting monsters 20'levels less than her, and you get to practice your spells ronin. Since you wouldn't be able to fully heal her, you will be able to train the entire journey. I beckoned to both of them.
The next few hours went by fast, as we gained a steady rhythm between travel and training. Non of the monsters/beasts we had encountered were difficult for Ari to kill, but still we needed him to become proficient at casting the spells he had. Once he was able to instinctively cast spells, I knew he would be one of the strongest animals on the continent. With no real room for me in the party at this moment, I maximized my effort in planning, and then… I finally got it. I knew the path I wanted to take. Sure it wasn't anything new to fantasy readers, but I was going to build a Clan. A clan focused on crafting, creating, and exploration. Make it self sufficient, with the purpose of building it into a home. Clans were typically above the law, but small enough not to be considered a nation. A collection of people with a similar purpose. I thought of a tech company, who had a great work life balance, where all employees lived on campus, competed in annual competitions, and went on 'business' trips throughout the year.
I smiled after coming to my conclusion. Building a clan from the ground up wouldn't be easy, but for a summoned hero, it would be a hell of a lot easier than defeating a demon lord or stopping the apocalypse. And if they so much as try to force my hand, I will tell that building my clan is just my first step to whatever goal they had in mind. Hahahaah. I was not going to be used by any higher power. No I was going to live this 2nd life my own way.
'Let today be known by all, as the day that Clan Sanctuary was born' I shouted to the sky. I choose the name because this clan was going to be mine and everyone else's sanctuary from the trying world. We would be a neutral party, who helps those we ally with, but don't join unnecessary wars. We will be home to all species. Whether beast, plant or human. A melting pot of diversity, the only condition is peace and prosperity.
Man this was standing to sound like some cult or communism. But my finance background wasn't for nothing. I planned on creating a reward system within the clan, to promote growth and effort. But until then, I was more focusing on creating my own zen world. A world within a world, with no neighbors, wars, kings, and the later. This would be a sanctuary that tourist will beg to visit.
And with that, I made my first true steps in the world of Mearth. I knew how I was going to stake my name into history.