All of a sudden, Victor remembered about the side mission “Farming Simulator 1.0” and reactivated his Master Shadowlink Mark.
—— [Headmaster’s Journal] ——
Mission: What’s Around the Academy?
To develop the academy, you must make sure that the surrounding area supports further growth. One such criterion is to discover exploitable natural resources.
Type: Main mission
Total Natural Resources Found: 2/3
Reward: 150 academy points
————————
Mission: Farming Simulator 1.0
Self-sustaining is not achieved through external factors but internal factors. You can do this yourself, or you can instruct the players to create a one-hectare field and seed it with life.
Type: Side mission
Reward: 10 progression value points
…
Today, after the collective efforts of the players, a one-hectare field had finally been successfully plowed, but the mission hadn’t yet been accomplished. It appeared that the condition for completing the field, as stated in the mission, required Victor to sow the seeds across the cultivated land.
As he scrolled through the list of missions, his attention was caught by the appearance of several new side missions related to the construction of various facilities within the academy.
“Hm? These missions must have been added recently,” he murmured, looking at one of the said missions in interest.
Mission: What Kind of Smith Doesn’t Own a Smithy?
A productive work environment requires a suitable place. Build a functional blacksmith workshop within the academy grounds.
Type: Side mission
Reward: 10 progression value points
It occurred to Victor that certain conditions might need to be fulfilled for these missions to appear. This one, for example, could have become available after his interaction with Eleanor — the capricious girl with the Artificer inheritance.
“Whatever.”
In addition to the progress of the field, the lumberjack group had cut down approximately fifty logs, each measuring ten to fifteen meters in length. With more players joining the game, the academy’s development was expected to snowball from this point onward. However, the influx of players also demanded tighter management to maintain order.
Victor turned his gaze to the fairy perched atop a wolf pup, snoozing peacefully. It seemed she had seized the opportunity to indulge in a bit of relaxation while he was engrossed in reviewing the day’s reports.
Creeping closer to her slumbering form, Victor playfully pinched her cheeks to rouse her from her nap while remarking, “Liz, wake up! If you snooze any longer, you might miss out on today’s breakfast.”
“Bwuh?!” It was unknown whether it was thanks to Victor’s action or words, but her response was instantaneous and quite dramatic; her golden eyes snapped open as she exclaimed, “Where? Where’s my breakfast?!”
“What is where?” As usual, Victor played along, feigning innocence.
“Geez!” Lizbeth’s eyes narrowed, her cheeks puffing in annoyance. She even managed to kick at the air while floating, totally pissed. “Can you not do that?”
“Can’t do what?” Victor grinned inwardly, enjoying her reaction. But he soon turned more serious. “Actually, I have an important question for you.”
“What is it?” Just the same, her pout also transformed into a look of intrigue.
“How many hologram fairies can you control, Lizbeth?”
With a hint of exasperation, she corrected him, “I’ve been letting it slide this whole time, but technically speaking, it’s not a hologram… It’s a magic projection.”
Victor was not too keen about the difference between the two. Holograms, in a sense, had more to do with technology, where magic projection was magic, as the name suggested.
He shrugged. “Hologram, magic projection — potato, potahto. What matters is that you are able to project those to assist me.”
“Well, I suppose there should be no problem projecting myself without using the Shadowlink Marks as long as I remain within the confines of this building. This is because the Nexus Beacon in the basement can accomplish the same as well,” the fairy explained.
“Oh, is that so…” Victor nodded and went deep into contemplation.
In the foreseeable future, Victor had plans to establish shops for the players. He had two main avenues to consider: setting up virtual shops within the Shadowlink Mark and having physical stores within the “game world.” Virtual shops selling spell books, magic knowledge, and other bodies of knowledge in e-book form would be neat — he could even have a virtual shop dedicated to microtransactions or something similar here. Though shops offering services like blacksmithing, tailoring, and material sales would require supervision.
The problem was, Victor lacked NPCs to operate the physical stores. While Lizbeth could temporarily oversee some aspects, she was already busy guiding the players. The other option was to involve the local inhabitants, but this approach came with its share of risks that Victor didn’t want to go through. And there was a chance of them not being obedient to him and jeopardizing his progress.
As an alternative, he contemplated the idea of purchasing slaves to fill these roles. Yes, slavery existed in this world. Magi were prohibited from conducting experiments on ordinary people since, after all, the root of their existence came from the common people. Without them, Magi wouldn’t have existed. Still, slaves had become a common choice for experimentation, as Magi required subjects to further their knowledge.
While slaves were a potential solution, Victor understood the ethical dilemmas and complexities that came with such a decision. But with enough nonsense about the game’s setting, he should be able to smooth things out with the players. Only that procuring slaves would be next to impossible in this place, so Victor put this plan on the back burner.
With that, Victor finished reviewing today’s progress and setting up plans for the future. Finding that it had been so long since he played any game, he started a round of Crusader Kings III on the holographic screen. The experience was awkward because he had to use a holographic keyboard and touchpad instead of the usual physical ones.
***
The players started logging in the instant they were able to — which was at six sharp in the morning.
Prior to accepting the new batch of players for the day, Victor summoned the participants from the first batch to his office. Since yesterday, he had already designated two of them “leader” positions, and now he intended to further expand and institutionalize this structure by introducing more groups and setting up a more permanent system under a merit points-based salary system. Two new groups would be added today, namely the foraging and clay collector groups. Later, when these groups grew larger in numbers, he planned to establish smaller teams within these groups.
His first order of business was to appoint MikeIsHandsome1000x as the leader of the clay collector group. For the foraging group, Prominence was chosen to take on the leadership role. He was the player with the most progress in terms of practicing the meditation technique and was expected to be the first one to be promoted to the first-stage Initiate Attunement.
In contrast to the simpler and safer task of the clay collector group, the foraging group’s responsibilities revolved around collecting wild vegetables, fruits, and other food ingredients in the vicinity of the academy. While the academy’s protective barriers extended some distance into the forest, there was an inherent risk involved in venturing at the edge of these safeguards. However, it was a calculated risk that needed to be taken, lest their diet consisted solely of meat.
As for how these players could differentiate which plants were poisonous or not, Victor had made a virtual guide that was attached to the mission; there was a list of edible plants he had taken from a book in this academy. If they were to find anything that wasn’t listed, they could always ask him or Lizbeth any time or whenever available.
“For the personnel of the two new groups,” Victor began, addressing the appointed leaders, “you have the option to either recruit new members from today’s batch or select individuals from the existing groups. In total, you can add up to five members each, aside from yourselves. Naturally, you can expand the scope of the group on each subsequent day appropriately.” He ensured that the leaders had some authority in deciding about this; micromanagement was an annoying thing for Victor.
“Esteemed Headmaster, why not consider appointing me as the leader of a hunting group instead? SuperNova could perhaps take charge of the foraging group,” Prominence suggested with a touch of dissatisfaction in his voice, though he dared not show it upfront.
Victor raised an eyebrow at the proposal. “No, it’s too soon for you to engage in any sort of combat. Are you even aware of the true might of magical beasts — an extraordinary life form? While you might encounter common creatures, the dangers of this forest exceed your expectations.”
Victor understood well that players (gamers) did not like doing chores and manual labor. They played games as a form of relaxation and escapism to run away from the drudgery of reality. However, he couldn’t do much at this stage, and it wasn’t like they would be in this position for long, either. At most, it’d be until they attained first-stage Initiate Attunement acolyte status and could unleash spells to defend themselves out there — a milestone achievable in two to three weeks, depending on their aptitudes.
Also, the academy lacked an adequate arsenal of weaponry, and Victor wasn’t about to send players into perilous situations armed only with iron axes meant for chopping wood. That would be tantamount to sending them to their death.
In any case, all the necessary explanations, complete with an attached map, were already in the mission description, so there wasn’t much for him to explain. In fact, in regard to the clay collector group, he didn’t need to show the stream; they would be able to find it themselves easily — this meant they would also be tasked with fetching water. On the other hand, the foraging group didn’t have a specific location since foraging could be done almost anywhere.
“Sir Astralium… May I inquire about my role?” SuperNova’s voice held a hint of curiosity. With the rest getting a high position, it was only natural for him to get one as well.
Unfortunately, there was indeed one shortage of leadership positions. Victor had considered forming a construction group to initiate the building of facilities around the academy, but he already had one person in mind to take this role tomorrow once he completed the two-day compulsory class. And the only vacant position he could think of was…
“Well, there is a need for someone to take on the role of the warehouse clerk,” Victor slowly stated. “Would you be interested in assuming that responsibility?”
“Pfft. That fits your promotion from a college student— A-Agh! M-My lungs… It’s burning!” Storm clutched his chest, writhing on the ground in discomfort.
It had been a few days since he last disciplined these players of his, so Victor had cast some simple elemental manipulation spell to punish him.
But in consideration of SuperNova’s opinion, Victor added, “Of course, you can decline—”
“No! I’ll gladly take on the role, Headmaster!” SuperNova was instead eager for this job; it felt like he wasn’t well suited for exploration.
“Very well. In terms of compensation, the wage will be ten merit points per hour. However, you’re welcome to use your free time to participate in missions with the other groups. As for the rest of you, you’ll receive an additional twenty merit points per day.”
“Headmaster, we don’t need any remuneration for this responsibility.”
“Yeah! Having the opportunity to lead our own groups is the best kind of reward in itself.”
“Seconded.”
“…”
It seemed they were trying their hardest to curry favor and increase the favorability or amity or whichever bullshit that Victor had made up. Even Storm, who was still grappling with the remnants of the magic spell, managed to squeeze out a bootlicking remark. It somehow made Victor feel ashamed of tricking these players. Nevertheless, Victor wasn’t concerned with formalities and insisted on providing them with compensation, much to the players’ fake reluctance.
Once the magic spell’s torment had finally released Storm from its grip, he ventured to ask, “Esteemed Headmaster, can I ask you something?”
“Speak,” Victor replied.
“Can I stay longer in the game? I feel like there’s so much to do within the academy… Like, planning things out and such.”
Victor creased his eyebrows. Asking the game’s developer was not enough, so now he sought direct answers from an NPC within the game itself!
“In the future, when you have enough strength, I might consider letting you stay awake for the night. All right, if there’s nothing else, off you go.” Without allowing Storm the opportunity to continue, Victor snapped his fingers. A powerful gust of wind surged forth, forcefully flinging open the double doors and propelling the players out of the room. With another elegant flick of his hand, the heavy doors swiftly swung shut behind them, leaving them standing bewildered in the corridor.
This little trick to kick players never got old.
All of a sudden, Victor remembered about the side mission “Farming Simulator 1.0” and reactivated his Master Shadowlink Mark.
—— [Headmaster’s Journal] ——
Mission: What’s Around the Academy?
To develop the academy, you must make sure that the surrounding area supports further growth. One such criterion is to discover exploitable natural resources.
Type: Main mission
Total Natural Resources Found: 2/3
Reward: 150 academy points
————————
Mission: Farming Simulator 1.0
Self-sustaining is not achieved through external factors but internal factors. You can do this yourself, or you can instruct the players to create a one-hectare field and seed it with life.
Type: Side mission
Reward: 10 progression value points
…
Today, after the collective efforts of the players, a one-hectare field had finally been successfully plowed, but the mission hadn’t yet been accomplished. It appeared that the condition for completing the field, as stated in the mission, required Victor to sow the seeds across the cultivated land.
As he scrolled through the list of missions, his attention was caught by the appearance of several new side missions related to the construction of various facilities within the academy.
“Hm? These missions must have been added recently,” he murmured, looking at one of the said missions in interest.
Mission: What Kind of Smith Doesn’t Own a Smithy?
A productive work environment requires a suitable place. Build a functional blacksmith workshop within the academy grounds.
Type: Side mission
Reward: 10 progression value points
It occurred to Victor that certain conditions might need to be fulfilled for these missions to appear. This one, for example, could have become available after his interaction with Eleanor — the capricious girl with the Artificer inheritance.
“Whatever.”
In addition to the progress of the field, the lumberjack group had cut down approximately fifty logs, each measuring ten to fifteen meters in length. With more players joining the game, the academy’s development was expected to snowball from this point onward. However, the influx of players also demanded tighter management to maintain order.
Victor turned his gaze to the fairy perched atop a wolf pup, snoozing peacefully. It seemed she had seized the opportunity to indulge in a bit of relaxation while he was engrossed in reviewing the day’s reports.
Creeping closer to her slumbering form, Victor playfully pinched her cheeks to rouse her from her nap while remarking, “Liz, wake up! If you snooze any longer, you might miss out on today’s breakfast.”
“Bwuh?!” It was unknown whether it was thanks to Victor’s action or words, but her response was instantaneous and quite dramatic; her golden eyes snapped open as she exclaimed, “Where? Where’s my breakfast?!”
“What is where?” As usual, Victor played along, feigning innocence.
“Geez!” Lizbeth’s eyes narrowed, her cheeks puffing in annoyance. She even managed to kick at the air while floating, totally pissed. “Can you not do that?”
“Can’t do what?” Victor grinned inwardly, enjoying her reaction. But he soon turned more serious. “Actually, I have an important question for you.”
“What is it?” Just the same, her pout also transformed into a look of intrigue.
“How many hologram fairies can you control, Lizbeth?”
With a hint of exasperation, she corrected him, “I’ve been letting it slide this whole time, but technically speaking, it’s not a hologram… It’s a magic projection.”
Victor was not too keen about the difference between the two. Holograms, in a sense, had more to do with technology, where magic projection was magic, as the name suggested.
He shrugged. “Hologram, magic projection — potato, potahto. What matters is that you are able to project those to assist me.”
“Well, I suppose there should be no problem projecting myself without using the Shadowlink Marks as long as I remain within the confines of this building. This is because the Nexus Beacon in the basement can accomplish the same as well,” the fairy explained.
“Oh, is that so…” Victor nodded and went deep into contemplation.
In the foreseeable future, Victor had plans to establish shops for the players. He had two main avenues to consider: setting up virtual shops within the Shadowlink Mark and having physical stores within the “game world.” Virtual shops selling spell books, magic knowledge, and other bodies of knowledge in e-book form would be neat — he could even have a virtual shop dedicated to microtransactions or something similar here. Though shops offering services like blacksmithing, tailoring, and material sales would require supervision.
The problem was, Victor lacked NPCs to operate the physical stores. While Lizbeth could temporarily oversee some aspects, she was already busy guiding the players. The other option was to involve the local inhabitants, but this approach came with its share of risks that Victor didn’t want to go through. And there was a chance of them not being obedient to him and jeopardizing his progress.
As an alternative, he contemplated the idea of purchasing slaves to fill these roles. Yes, slavery existed in this world. Magi were prohibited from conducting experiments on ordinary people since, after all, the root of their existence came from the common people. Without them, Magi wouldn’t have existed. Still, slaves had become a common choice for experimentation, as Magi required subjects to further their knowledge.
While slaves were a potential solution, Victor understood the ethical dilemmas and complexities that came with such a decision. But with enough nonsense about the game’s setting, he should be able to smooth things out with the players. Only that procuring slaves would be next to impossible in this place, so Victor put this plan on the back burner.
With that, Victor finished reviewing today’s progress and setting up plans for the future. Finding that it had been so long since he played any game, he started a round of Crusader Kings III on the holographic screen. The experience was awkward because he had to use a holographic keyboard and touchpad instead of the usual physical ones.
***
The players started logging in the instant they were able to — which was at six sharp in the morning.
Prior to accepting the new batch of players for the day, Victor summoned the participants from the first batch to his office. Since yesterday, he had already designated two of them “leader” positions, and now he intended to further expand and institutionalize this structure by introducing more groups and setting up a more permanent system under a merit points-based salary system. Two new groups would be added today, namely the foraging and clay collector groups. Later, when these groups grew larger in numbers, he planned to establish smaller teams within these groups.
His first order of business was to appoint MikeIsHandsome1000x as the leader of the clay collector group. For the foraging group, Prominence was chosen to take on the leadership role. He was the player with the most progress in terms of practicing the meditation technique and was expected to be the first one to be promoted to the first-stage Initiate Attunement.
In contrast to the simpler and safer task of the clay collector group, the foraging group’s responsibilities revolved around collecting wild vegetables, fruits, and other food ingredients in the vicinity of the academy. While the academy’s protective barriers extended some distance into the forest, there was an inherent risk involved in venturing at the edge of these safeguards. However, it was a calculated risk that needed to be taken, lest their diet consisted solely of meat.
As for how these players could differentiate which plants were poisonous or not, Victor had made a virtual guide that was attached to the mission; there was a list of edible plants he had taken from a book in this academy. If they were to find anything that wasn’t listed, they could always ask him or Lizbeth any time or whenever available.
“For the personnel of the two new groups,” Victor began, addressing the appointed leaders, “you have the option to either recruit new members from today’s batch or select individuals from the existing groups. In total, you can add up to five members each, aside from yourselves. Naturally, you can expand the scope of the group on each subsequent day appropriately.” He ensured that the leaders had some authority in deciding about this; micromanagement was an annoying thing for Victor.
“Esteemed Headmaster, why not consider appointing me as the leader of a hunting group instead? SuperNova could perhaps take charge of the foraging group,” Prominence suggested with a touch of dissatisfaction in his voice, though he dared not show it upfront.
Victor raised an eyebrow at the proposal. “No, it’s too soon for you to engage in any sort of combat. Are you even aware of the true might of magical beasts — an extraordinary life form? While you might encounter common creatures, the dangers of this forest exceed your expectations.”
Victor understood well that players (gamers) did not like doing chores and manual labor. They played games as a form of relaxation and escapism to run away from the drudgery of reality. However, he couldn’t do much at this stage, and it wasn’t like they would be in this position for long, either. At most, it’d be until they attained first-stage Initiate Attunement acolyte status and could unleash spells to defend themselves out there — a milestone achievable in two to three weeks, depending on their aptitudes.
Also, the academy lacked an adequate arsenal of weaponry, and Victor wasn’t about to send players into perilous situations armed only with iron axes meant for chopping wood. That would be tantamount to sending them to their death.
In any case, all the necessary explanations, complete with an attached map, were already in the mission description, so there wasn’t much for him to explain. In fact, in regard to the clay collector group, he didn’t need to show the stream; they would be able to find it themselves easily — this meant they would also be tasked with fetching water. On the other hand, the foraging group didn’t have a specific location since foraging could be done almost anywhere.
“Sir Astralium… May I inquire about my role?” SuperNova’s voice held a hint of curiosity. With the rest getting a high position, it was only natural for him to get one as well.
Unfortunately, there was indeed one shortage of leadership positions. Victor had considered forming a construction group to initiate the building of facilities around the academy, but he already had one person in mind to take this role tomorrow once he completed the two-day compulsory class. And the only vacant position he could think of was…
“Well, there is a need for someone to take on the role of the warehouse clerk,” Victor slowly stated. “Would you be interested in assuming that responsibility?”
“Pfft. That fits your promotion from a college student— A-Agh! M-My lungs… It’s burning!” Storm clutched his chest, writhing on the ground in discomfort.
It had been a few days since he last disciplined these players of his, so Victor had cast some simple elemental manipulation spell to punish him.
But in consideration of SuperNova’s opinion, Victor added, “Of course, you can decline—”
“No! I’ll gladly take on the role, Headmaster!” SuperNova was instead eager for this job; it felt like he wasn’t well suited for exploration.
“Very well. In terms of compensation, the wage will be ten merit points per hour. However, you’re welcome to use your free time to participate in missions with the other groups. As for the rest of you, you’ll receive an additional twenty merit points per day.”
“Headmaster, we don’t need any remuneration for this responsibility.”
“Yeah! Having the opportunity to lead our own groups is the best kind of reward in itself.”
“Seconded.”
“…”
It seemed they were trying their hardest to curry favor and increase the favorability or amity or whichever bullshit that Victor had made up. Even Storm, who was still grappling with the remnants of the magic spell, managed to squeeze out a bootlicking remark. It somehow made Victor feel ashamed of tricking these players. Nevertheless, Victor wasn’t concerned with formalities and insisted on providing them with compensation, much to the players’ fake reluctance.
Once the magic spell’s torment had finally released Storm from its grip, he ventured to ask, “Esteemed Headmaster, can I ask you something?”
“Speak,” Victor replied.
“Can I stay longer in the game? I feel like there’s so much to do within the academy… Like, planning things out and such.”
Victor creased his eyebrows. Asking the game’s developer was not enough, so now he sought direct answers from an NPC within the game itself!
“In the future, when you have enough strength, I might consider letting you stay awake for the night. All right, if there’s nothing else, off you go.” Without allowing Storm the opportunity to continue, Victor snapped his fingers. A powerful gust of wind surged forth, forcefully flinging open the double doors and propelling the players out of the room. With another elegant flick of his hand, the heavy doors swiftly swung shut behind them, leaving them standing bewildered in the corridor.
This little trick to kick players never got old.
