I figured we'd run into a few players. I didn't expect to run into the Tzedakah guild here, minus Grid. I just hoped they wouldn't bother us.
"Hey, Master!" Pon said. "Do you know of an NPC group that wears skull masks?"
"I heard about them from a few NPCs in Winston," Jishuka said. "They showed up once, to watch the blacksmith competition. Other than that, I don't know. Why do you—"
[Jishuka's POV]
That was when Jishuka finally noticed a huge group of NPCs with various classes. With them was what seemed to be their leader, sitting on top of a gigantic wolf, and next to him what looked like his daughter.
She started to sweat when she saw the wolf. It had to be as powerful as a level 280 boss. Maybe more.
This just screamed quest. She approached the group, her guild following behind.
"Excuse me, sir. May I ask what you're doing in Kesan Canyon?"
One of the masked figures stepped forward. "Hold your tongue! You are speaking to the King of our kind!"
Okay. First impressions have fallen through. Let's hope I can still pull this off.
"I'm terribly sorry for offending you, sir! I'm completely ignorant of your people's ways. May I kindly ask what your King is doing in this canyon, and whether my guild and I can help?"
The man on the wolf spoke. "Raise your head. I don't like formalities. What I'm doing in this canyon is no concern of yours. What you can do is either clear your guild out of this canyon, or help my daughter reach level 100. The choice is yours, so choose wisely."
[To Help a Legend]
Difficulty: SSS
The Golem King Daz wants to see his daughter grow by leveling, and will do anything in his power to make that happen. He cares for his daughter more than himself, and would break heaven and hell if she were hurt.
Princess Juliet is excited to grow up and show her father her skills. Her older brother, Fenrir, worries about her almost as much as her father does. The werewolf would stop at nothing, including his own life, to keep her safe.
Because Daz is overly worried for his daughter, he dispatched half the forces of his home to protect her. Each of them has trained in their class around the clock and is unyieldingly loyal to their King and the new Princess.
The King chose this canyon as the best and fastest place for his daughter to level, because it's close to his home.
Clear Conditions: Help Princess Juliet reach level 100 so she can mature into her teenage self. Or leave Kesan Canyon.
Bonus Condition: Help Princess Juliet reach level 150.
Clear Reward: A set of epic or better equipment, depending on the quality of completion. A golem companion of the same class. Reputation with Golemkind +40. Or, if you leave: an epic weapon.
Bonus Reward: Reputation with Princess Juliet +20. A follow-up quest.
Quest Failure: Level −10. Become Fenrir's chew toy. Permanent enemy of Golemkind.
Only up to five people can accept this quest.
Jishuka started sweating again. This was unheard of. An SSS-rated quest! Was there some hidden boss in the canyon that only appeared under the right conditions?
She needed time to think, so she quickly asked the King if he could wait a while. He didn't seem to mind. He just sat patiently on the giant wolf, while the little girl in front of him braided a tiny section of the wolf's fur.
Jishuka called every guild member to the canyon, Grid included. The rest of the guild gathered quickly. Grid arrived last, flying in. They all seemed bewildered by this group of NPCs nobody in Satisfy had heard of.
What threw her off more was what the King said next.
"That blacksmith over there can't accept this task. I have a different one for him."
A good-looking woman with amazing equipment, probably epic or better, walked to the front of the group and issued a quest to Grid. He looked like he was about to cough up blood. Before Jishuka could figure out why, he shared it, and the whole guild nearly fainted.
[Endearing Spar]
Difficulty: ???
You have met the golem Torva, who for some reason has the same class you do! You have no way of figuring out how, so the only thing you can do is spar with your newly discovered rival!
Torva and the Golem King have been watching you since the beginning. They have seen all your highs and lows. Show them the full extent of your progress and prove your worth!
Clear Conditions: Win or lose a spar against Torva, who has the same class as you.
Rewards:Win: Level +10. Reputation with Golemkind +70. All stats +50. A golem companion made for you, with a random class. Lose: Level +5. Reputation with Golemkind +35. A follow-up quest.
Wha...? Jishuka thought Grid was the only legendary blacksmith. It said the same class, but it didn't say the same rating. Did that mean Torva's class was unique-rated? She couldn't be legendary, because the first quest made it sound like the Golem King was the legend. Or maybe he was an old legend, and his daughter was a new one?
Too many questions, and none of them would get answered.
[Daz's POV]
I have no idea when I gained the ability to issue quests, or when my hideout started counting as 'the Golem Kingdom', but I rolled with it.
When I saw the guild's reaction to the two quests, I laughed. I was surprised by both difficulties, too. Maybe the first was SSS because I'd planned to test them by having my golems fight them before letting them help my daughter level?
I didn't understand the second one's difficulty much either. Maybe Torva has a huge stat advantage over Grid? I doubt she has a huge item advantage, though she was wearing a full set of epic gear and wielding a unique greatsword.
The benefit of issuing these quests is that the forest I live in would expand, and more powerful monsters would spawn there for farming. The downside is that 'the Golem Kingdom' would be announced to the world.
I didn't mind much. The moment these quests are done, I'm sending my golems on a hunting frenzy. Same for Fenrir and Juliet, since I want her as strong as possible. The one consolation is that the kingdom's location will be locked unless you've built up a large amount of reputation with Golemkind.
Grid declined his quest, saying he wasn't ready to fight Torva. Torva was disappointed, but didn't mind too much. She was willing to wait.
"He'll come back," she told me quietly. "Nobody becomes a Legend by running."
Jishuka, Vantner, Ibellin, Pon and Faker accepted the quest to help Juliet. I decided not to have my golems spar them first and just let them help her level.
The funny part was that Juliet could kill a canyon spider by herself at level 1. I found that absurd, and so did everyone else. All I did was follow the group, with Fenrir staying close to Juliet, without interfering with her and the Tzedakah guild.
By the time she hit level 80, about two in-game days had passed. Fenrir brought Juliet back to me after Jishuka's group finished off the last scorpion. They looked bewildered, until the ground started to shake.
A giant sand centipede burst out from under the sand. It was level 270, and it had friends. I guess that's where the difficulty came in. We all sat back and watched Jishuka's party take on the boss. They really needed a dedicated healer. I could send help, but that would lower the quest's difficulty. Eh. I'd do it if they couldn't handle it.
[Jishuka's POV]
When they'd started this quest, Jishuka thought it would be a piece of cake and that the difficulty was a red herring. Princess Juliet had killed a canyon scorpion at level 1!
Faker gathered a ton of mobs, and they killed them as fast as they could. It felt like every monster in the area saw Princess Juliet as a beacon. After a certain point, Faker didn't even need to gather monsters. They charged in at every chance.
By the time there seemed to be no monsters left, Juliet was only level 80. That boggled her mind, since some of those monsters were level 180–200.
They sat down after Faker finished off the last one. The moment he did, Juliet's older brother, Fenrir, picked her up and carried her to the Golem King. Everyone wondered why.
Then Jishuka realized why the quest had such a difficulty.
[Daz's POV]
The centipede was at half health, and its friends were dead. Juliet had already passed level 100 and looked about fifteen.
I forgot to breathe for a second when she turned around. Fifteen. My Juliet never got to fifteen. She had Jane's jaw at fifteen. Nobody tells you that kind of thing.
Jishuka's party seemed fine, mostly because Pon had a unique spear and Ibellin had a legendary sword made by Grid. I was really looking forward to Grid and Torva sparring someday.
Oops. The Tzedakah guild just lost some reputation with me for that sword. Oh well.
They beat the centipede after a while, but barely survived. I stopped them from using potions and had my priests heal them. Juliet was at level 135. That's a lot of experience. They seemed pretty happy, too. The boss dropped the gear that was their quest reward, so now I just needed to make their golems. I told them to follow me back.
[The Golem King has made his presence known to the world. If the Golem Kingdom is found, new quests may open up.]
After that announcement, I needed my golems grinding levels faster. Thankfully, I'd left Martimer, Joul and Gladius home to defend the place. I told them to organize every available golem to start fighting the new monsters appearing in the forest. According to Martimer, four new dungeons had opened up and replaced the old ones.
That'll be good for me in the long run.
When we reached the halfway point of the forest, a large gate blocked the way. Gladius stood there, waiting for us. I had him let us in, but keep the Tzedakah guild outside the gate to wait.
Once we were through the gate, it looked like every floor of my old hideout had been brought up to the surface and turned into buildings that matched each room. Heck, there was even a castle at the center of what was now a large city. When I entered the castle, I spotted a room I assumed was for making golems.
Juliet ran straight past me, up the castle stairs, and yelled "MY ROOM IS THE TALLEST ONE" from somewhere above. Nobody argued.
I got to work right away on golems matching the five Tzedakah members' classes. I modeled them after their partners, but gave each one crimson hair and red eyes so they could be told apart.
I also noticed I could make normal golems to act as citizens. I didn't see much need for that, besides maybe a cook. I'm sure players will come here at some point, though, so I should be ready for them. I should also prepare for other kingdoms, or the empire, finding my home. I want Fenrir at level 400 at least, just to be safe.
I also had to make a follow-up quest, since they'd completed the bonus condition. I could just send them on fetch quests. Actually, it'd be better to give them milestone quests for the golems they're getting. I'll let the system decide the milestones for each golem.
I also changed up which golems they'd get. Jishuka would be the only one with a melee golem: a knight. Everyone else would get a mage, an archer or a priest, and they could decide among themselves who got which. The knight would be male, and so would the assassin. The mage, archer and priest would be female.
I mostly did that to mess with them.
The assassin was a surprise for Faker. Shade had asked me not to mess with Faker, since he'd been the teacher of all my assassins before she surpassed him and became the new teacher. So Faker got a perfectly respectable assassin, and a stiff little nod from Shade when she walked it out to him.
When I finished, Fenrir hopped off my head and went back to wolf form. Juliet climbed onto his back, and I followed them to the gate.
The rest of the guild was there by then, except Grid. I didn't mind. They were probably hoping for quests in this area, but I wasn't ready for that yet.
I handed them their golems and let them name them. Every golem I made for them was normal rarity but a growth type. I felt like the system made it that way on purpose, but I didn't mind.
I found it funny that every guild member except Jishuka and Faker was either upset or jealous about getting a female golem. Trolling at its finest. I don't know what their follow-up quests said, but they were clearly excited about them.
Once they left, I set up a rotation. Every 12 hours, half my golem teams would switch with the other half to grind the new dungeons. If there were mines, they'd protect the goblin miners and bring back the new ores.
I need to drastically increase the number of golem teams I have. So I went to my new workshop and got to work. The sooner this was done, the sooner I could start leveling Juliet again.