Chương 137: Chapter 133 — Knowledge Returned Is Knowledge Shared

Timeline Day 9 of the Grainworks Initiative Mark woke up early and headed to Cave Camp. He checked in with John to see how Forgeworks was doing. John assured him Forgeworks was progressing well. Demand for metal tools already exceeded production. They were ready to expand to a new building, which did not surprise Mark at all. Mark asked where to find the Adventurer's Enclave and was surprised it was not at Cave Camp.

They had talked about it and decided Cave Camp was already too busy with the Cave and Forgeworks to add another major project. He finally figured out that it was northeast of Forest's Rest and headed in that direction. When he arrived at the end of the road he had been told to follow, he found a massive construction site. He was not sure what he was expecting, but it was not that. He got off his horse, tied it up, and went to find the man who was yelling at everyone. The man said, "Hey, get back to work.

There are stumps to move and trees to cut. No more standing around." When he saw Mark, he added, "Great timing. We need another man on the axe line. Grab one from that box over there and go see the guy in the green shirt." Mark laughed.

"Hello, my name is Mark. I am here to find out whoever is in charge. I can help, but not in the way you're asking." The man said, "Hey, are you the Mark everyone keeps talking about? My name is Olsen. I am the construction lead here for the Guild Headquarters." Mark said, "I would probably be the Mark people talk about. Where do I find whoever is in charge of the non-construction side of things around here?" Olsen said, "Mabel is the guild leader, and she has two others that help her.

I'm not sure of the names, but you can find her over there." He pointed toward one of the construction sites, then turned around and continued yelling at workers who were not moving fast enough. Mark headed in the direction Olsen had pointed and found three people: two men and a woman. Turning to the woman, he said, "Hello, I am Mark and wanted to see what is going on with the Adventurer's Enclave; I assume you're Mabel." Mabel said, "Yes, Mark, I am Mabel. I have seen you around and remember you too.

This is Jasper, and this is Tobias. The three of us make up most of the leadership for the Adventurers Guild." Mark said, "I thought it was the Adventurer's Enclave." Mabel said, "That is what the system called it, but can the System tell years of gamers what to call their guild?" Mark laughed.

"I guess not. So what exactly is the guild trying to become?" Mabel said, "The Cave is not our purpose; it's only one of many classrooms. Our job is exploring everything beyond civilization." Mark said, "I am here to find out what I can do to help you guys get your work completed here and extend your mission." Tobias said, "We need gear and supplies. We have credits, but we are not really sure how to get everything we need outside of buying it at the outposts, and none of them has everything."

Mark said, "Every system-sanctioned organization has some form of treasury. Villages have village treasuries, projects have project treasuries, and I assume the Adventurer's Enclave will have one as well. Whenever you have more of something than you need, you contribute it to the treasury. The System assigns it a value and adds that amount to your available credits." Tobias said, "Wait, that's it?" Mark pointed toward the temporary guild registry stone.

"From there, you create trade agreements with nearby villages, outposts, and other projects. Your runners and cargo teams still move the physical goods, but the System handles all the accounting. Credits are transferred automatically when deliveries are completed, so nobody has to keep track of who owes what." This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Mabel said, "That alone makes your trip worth the time."

Mark said, "I still have access to most of the outposts in the area; if you can tell me what you have in excess and what you need, we can set up some of the trade agreements now." For the next hour, the group went through what they needed, what they wanted, and what they had in excess. Mark showed them how to use the interface: adding items, withdrawing goods, setting up requests, and listing items in the guild contribution store. The group was so excited.

They were one step closer to having things that they needed. During the conversation, Mark learned that Tobias was the quartermaster and made sure he had full access to the System and knew how to use it. The conversation next moved to expeditions and paying people for guild work. This one was under Jasper, their Expedition Captain. Mark explained that tasks and rewards work similarly to trade, but instead of goods, you're trading your credits for the services rendered.

A normal outpost might hire messengers or delivery drivers to move goods, or cooks, carpenters, and tradesmen for other work. Guild contracts worked the same way. Mark helped Jasper understand the System and start creating expedition requests. Mabel said, "Okay, trade and expeditions are handled through the System. What about people? We need more people to work, spread the guild, and deal with things on our issues board." Mark said, "Well, this one is less System-related and more good old salesmanship.

In your guild interface you will find options to set things as priorities. Say you need a bunch of loggers to keep Olsen happy; you go into the system and put the pay for those tasks at three or four times normal pay. But the trick is just because you offer more, the person you want may be in another zone, in a village you do not even know about. How do you get them to come to you? Mabel said, "So how do we fix that?" Mark said, "We just talked about that already." Turning to Jasper, Mark said, "Delegate it."

Jasper said, "You want me to run all over and tell people?" Mark laughed.

"We just talked about expeditions and sending people out to do something like spread the guild. Add jobs for spreading the word. Offer a bonus for every person who shows up to work, tied back to whoever recruited them; the System will track it. Runners, adventurers, or just fighters needing something to do between cave runs will do your contracts and get paid first for going out and then again for each person they recruit. If the bonus is high enough, you will have more people than you need in short order.

Make up a flier and I can drop it off in each outpost and village I pass by." Jasper said, "You just want the credits." Mark said, "The world lives by credits, and even I need them to buy food, a night at the inn, or start a new outpost." Mabel said, "We can have some fliers made up within the hour, and Jasper can get a task created for you right away."

Mark said, "While I wait for the fliers, tell me something about the guild and why when I got back from a trip, five people all tried to recruit me at the same time." Mabel said, "Mostly bragging rights. As for why five people invited you, there are levels in the guild, and you get different kinds of reputation for different things you do. Recruiting people is one of them. Mark said, "How much research in the system have you done?

I bet there are management options for those levels; you could probably give guild discounts or premiums on contracts based on levels." Jasper went into the interface and vanished for about ten minutes while Mark and Mabel continued to talk, and then Mark received a system message notifying him that for each guild rank gained, members received a 5% discount on purchases through the guild and a 5% bonus on rewards, up to a total of 25% at five ranks. Mabel said, "Great job, Jasper.

You're going to have Olsen over here in a few minutes yelling at me for distracting the workers again." Mark laughed.

"I would encourage the three of you to dig into the system and read everything. You can delegate people that can set up trade contracts, make one-time purchases, and create tasks; you can put limits on everything or, for those you really trust, give full access." Before Mark had even finished, he got another system message informing him that he was authorized to set up trade agreements and was sent a list of the top thirty needed items.

Jasper then walked over and handed him a stack of recruitment messages to hand out in his travels. He also sent Mark a special request covering recruitment, workers, and trade agreements, with very lucrative rewards. Mabel said, "Before you leave, the thing I think is coolest in the guild offerings is the ability to create groups so that you can split rewards for kills, loot, reputation, and other activities."

With everything here done, Mark took one last look at the Guild Registry Stone and for the first time read the words. Knowledge Returned Is Knowledge Shared. Mark nodded at that and headed back to Forest's Rest. Mark quickly ate dinner, dropped off a flier to be shared around the outpost, and headed to Crossroads, where he again dropped off a flier and went to bed. Just before heading to his room, he found someone that looked new and invited them to the guild.

Mark did not do it for the credit, discounts, or anything else; he did it to promote the guild and help them move forward.