Chapter 108 - Drafting Quests

Draco entered the Commission Room of the Guild Hall and went to the quest board. The Commission Room was just like the main lobby of the Adventurer's Guild, which had wooden flooring, with NPCs manning counters where one could make inquiries or receive compensation for turned in quests.

In order to accept a quest, one had to go to a Quest Board and open the interface. Since each interface was unique to every player, they didn't need to crowd around the board. They just needed to be within the room.

To make that more comfortable, there was some furniture placed in the room that would allow players to be seated while selecting quests. Naturally, this was also done in a hierarchical system, where higher ranked members would have priority seating.

There were many different types of quest boards, each different type being placed at different positions in the room. They were split into the Daily Quests, Weekly Quests, Monthly Quests, Dungeon Quests, Farming Quests, Crafting Quests, Service Quests, Miscellaneous Quests, Guild Quests, Team Quests, War Quests, Merchant Quests, National Quests, Continental Quest and World Quests.

Most of these Quest Boards were self-explanatory, and most of them had quests posted within already, either by Eva or issuers from the outside. The difficulty of the quests you could receive was tied to the guild's Rank while the variety of quests you could receive was tied to your Guild Hall's Rank.

Most of the player guilds out there barely even had Guild Halls, which was why Umbra stood out so powerfully among the rest. Those that did manage to get Guild Halls built them at the lowest rank of 0.

Those Guild Halls could only receive Quest Boards like the Daily Quests, Weekly Quests and Guild Quests. Only Umbra with a Guild Hall at Rank 7 could boast such a diverse array of boards.

Draco left the Daily Quests alone and focused on the other boards. He began by posting some quests on the weekly, monthly and dungeon quest boards.

When Draco had first bought the Virtua Helmet, he had drawn up every single quest line, notable location and hidden stash on his wall in that ramshackle apartment.

He had no time to complete all those quests on his own, so it had been weighing down on him. However, Draco had then met his Five Generals and had been somewhat pushed into making a guild.

He made the guild to become a tool for him to achieve his goals as quickly as possible. When he was powerful enough to leave the realm, he would leave them to their fate and continue to grow in power.

However, Draco's train of thought had drastically changed since that time, over the past month-and-a-half in the world of Boundless. He had become less of a rabid dog and more like a…

Dragon.

His arrogance, nobility and actions matched with Dragonkin, especially with the Black Dragon. He would do what he wanted, when he wanted. However, there was a logical reasoning behind each of his actions and he placed the importance of those he regarded and cared for up on a pedestal.

Dragons were incredibly noble. If you decided to follow a Dragon as a servant, it would treat you much better than a human would his servant.

This was why Draco was going this far for his guild mates. They had been presented with a contract that was basically no different from tying themselves with Umbra with no hope of breaking off.

Most people would hesitate, and even publicly disparage such contracts, as they were unfair and demeaning. These people had looked at such a contract and still signed it because they believed in Draco and believed in Umbra.

How could he continue to act like an idiot and keep all his knowledge to himself?

If we were to put the sappy feelings aside, there was logic behind it. In order to rule Sturgehaven Kingdom, the Paradise Lands and even the whole Cario Continent, a lot more was needed than just a high Rank Guild Hall and a handful of elites.

These two things would allow them to rise for certain, but they would require time. In order to lower the time requirement, the fastest way was to acc.u.mulate resources and equipment as fast as possible.

Hence, if Draco allowed his guild members - who could not betray Umbra in anyway should they want to - to harvest these rare quests, dungeons and locations and place them into the Guild Treasury in exchange for compensation, how crazy would Umbra become?

Draco was even more excited to see this compared to the players who were eagerly awaiting the new quests in their various rooms in the Guild Hall.

Draco finished up with the three Quest Boards, posting quests that had ample rewards for very simple - well, relatively simple - tasks.

For the Daily Quest, three of what he posted were:

｢Treasure Hunt – Daily Quest

Description: Gather 10 Treasure Chests of at least, Uncommon Rank, and deposit them in the Guild Treasury.

Rewards: 1 Umbra Point｣

｢Gathering Materials – Daily Quest

Description: Gather various materials from the world that are at least, Common Rank, and deposit them in the Guild Treasury. Minimum amount required is 100.

Rewards: 1 Umbra Point｣

｢Monster Culling – Daily Quest

Description: Kill 100 monsters of the Private Rank.

Rewards: 2 Umbra Points｣

These were just a few of the Daily Quests posted by Draco. To give out an Umbra Point which was equivalent to 1 gold, this was beyond lavish. This was practically enriching his people generously, though the Daily Quests also benefited Umbra in terms of expansion.

What Umbra lacked was not money. With the obscene amount the Rank 7 Shop was making, the buying power of the UP was growing every day.

What Umbra lacked was raw resources and higher level players. With enough resources, they could train their Tradeskill players and turn these people who were already extremely talented into professionals.

By doing the monster killing, the combat players could increase their levels and gain combat experience.

The aim in trading money for growth was to shorten the time between Umbra having potential to be on top of the world, to actually being on top of the world. No cost paid would be too small to reach that level.

The Weekly Quests were many as well, but three of the most eyecatching were:

｢Treasure Hunt Quota – Weekly Quest

Description: Complete 7/7 Treasure Hunt Quests.

Rewards: 7 Umbra Points｣

｢Gathering Materials Quota – Weekly Quest

Description: Complete 7/7 Gathering Materials Quests.

Rewards: 7 Umbra Points｣

｢Monster Culling Quota – Weekly Quest

Description: Complete 7/7 Monster Culling Quests.

Rewards: 7 Umbra Points｣

These quests further rewarded members of Umbra for diligence and hardwork. As long as they regularly completed their Daily Quests, they would receive an extra 7 UPs.

The Dungeon Quest board was also updated with many quests, with the most notable being:

｢Normal-mode Clearance Quest – Dungeon Quest

Description: Clear 10 normal mode dungeons in 3 days.

Rewards: 5 Umbra Points｣

｢Hard-mode Clearance Quest – Dungeon Quest

Description: Clear 10 hard mode dungeons in 3 days.

Rewards: 15 Umbra Points｣

｢Hell-mode Clearance Quest – Dungeon Quest

Description: Clear 10 hell mode dungeons in 3 days.

Rewards: 30 Umbra Points｣

The dungeon quests were outright brutal. Draco did not go lenient in these ones, the compensation also reflected the difficulty. One would have to multitask this with the Daily and Weekly Quests too, driving the difficulty to higher levels.

Draco moved onto the Monthly, Farming and Crafting boards. He had to pause and really think before he could put down some useful quests.

For the Monthly, he kept it similar to the Weekly Quests, but with higher requirements.

｢Treasure Hunt Quota – Monthly Quest

Description: Complete 30/30 Treasure Hunt Quests.

Rewards: 30 Umbra Points｣

｢Gathering Materials Quota – Monthly Quest

Description: Complete 30/30 Gathering Materials Quests.

Rewards: 30 Umbra Points｣

｢Monster Culling Quota – Weekly Quest

Description: Complete 30/30 Monster Culling Quests.

Rewards: 30 Umbra Points｣

The Farming Quests were similar to fetch quests that were popular in the RPG genre, but dealt with the deposition of resources rather than collection. In a way, it was similar to the Daily Quests, but more specific. They also had no time limit.

｢Iron Collection – Farming Quest

Description: Deposit 300 iron ores in the Guild Treasury.

Rewards: 3 Umbra Points｣

｢Soul Stone Collection – Farming Quest

Description: Deposit 300 low grade soul stones in the Guild Treasury.

Rewards: 3 Umbra Points｣

｢Darike Plant Collection – Farming Quest

Description: Deposit 300 Darike Plants in the Guild Treasury.

Rewards: 3 Umbra Points｣

This list was amazingly long, with almost limitless materials that were ranked from Common to Epic on it. Draco didn't expect anyone but himself to find Legendary Materials intentionally. The only way they could find some of that was if they had great luck.

Besides, he couldn't easily compensate for Legendary Materials, and he guessed that the player might deposit it in Umbra anyway because UPs were more valuable than typical gold, for players specifically.

Most of those aiming to complete these types of quests were the Serf players, who were yet to join Umbra. Draco understood that they would need a comprehensive plan to get the best players of that category possible.

For the Crafting Quests, they were much more interesting to see.

｢Sword Requisition – Crafting Quest

Description: Craft 300 swords of Common Rank.

Rewards: 5 Umbra Points｣

｢Chestplate Requisition – Crafting Quest

Description: Craft 300 chestplates of the Common Rank.

Rewards: 5 Umbra Point｣

｢Spear Requisition – Crafting Quest

Description: Craft 300 spears of the Common Rank.

Rewards: 5 Umbra Points｣

Each quest covered a different piece of armor or weapon, across all the classes and trades. It wasn't limited to Common Rank too, but had the same lineup of weapon/armor requisitions with higher Ranks. This included Uncommon and Rare, but that was it.

Draco refused to believe that anyone could create anything above Rare at this stage, especially since he had to go through such a crazy process to get the Semi-Epic Dragorugio set.

Included were requisitions for potions, poisons, enchantment diagrams and a myriad of other creations that the most common Tradeskill classes could perform.

After Draco finished these, he felt very satisfied. He skipped over the Service Quests because that was handled by external sources that wanted specific things done for them by the members of Umbra.

That board had been filled long ago, which was where the members of Umbra got majority of the quests till now. With a Rank 7 Guild Hall, Umbra had more quests coming in than they could complete.

The compensation though, paled far too much compared to what Draco gave out, so this board would become desolate soon.

The same thing went for the National, Continental and World boards. Those were filled by the AI with event or notable quests that were within the area of the Guild Hall.

It could also be filled by the King of Sturgehaven for the National Quests Board, the Chairman of the Cario Continental Council for the Continental Quests Board or the War Maniac Pavilion for the World Quests Board.

This left five Quest Boards for Draco to fill, which were the Miscellaneous Quests Board, The Guild Quests Board, The Team Quests Board, The War Quests Board and the Merchant Quests Board.

Draco started with the Miscellaneous Quests Board.

｢Clean up – Miscellaneous Quest

Description: Spend one month in a janitorial position for the Guild.

Rewards: 1 Umbra Point｣

｢Laboring – Miscellaneous Quest

Description: Spend one month in a labourer position for the Guild.

Rewards: 1 Umbra Point｣

｢Assistant – Miscellaneous Quest

Description: Spend one month as an assistant to an official member of the Guild.

Rewards: 1 Umbra Point｣

Naturally, this board was targeted towards Serf players. These people probably had no future in combat or Tradeskills, which were the only ways to have value in the world of Boundless.

As such, to pay them one Umbra Point per month was a crazy salary for the tasks they'd perform. 1 bronze coin was $3 and 100 bronze made 1 silver. This meant that 1 silver was $300. 100 silver made 1 gold, which meant that 1 gold was $30,000!

This was the value of one Umbra Point in real world currency!

Which god damn employer on the outside world paid $30,000 to be a janitor for a month?!?

Umbra's tagline in newspapers would probably be: 'Umbra, the guild where even the bottom class players are paid better than most top class players in other guilds.'

Next was the Guild Quest Board.

｢Daily Milestone – Guild Quest

Description: 100 players complete Daily Quests.

Rewards: 5 Umbra Points｣

｢Weekly Milestone – Guild Quest

Description: 500 players complete Weekly Quests.

Rewards: 10 Umbra Points｣

｢Monthly Milestone – Guild Quest

Description: 1000 players complete Monthly Quests.

Rewards: 50 Umbra Points｣

These quests did not need to be accepted by Guild members, they were alway active. Once the target had been reached, everyone would automatically be paid out the rewards.

This was a sort of incentive to get players to complete their quests on time. Draco would adjust the numbers once the membership of Umbra increased exponentially again.

Now, Umbra had over 3,000 players, with 2,500 being Combat players and only 500 being Tradeskill players.

Compared to other guilds which had reached membersh.i.p.s of 10,000 and above, Umbra was really slow in their progress, but their fewer numbers gave them much more power than those with higher numbers due to quality.

The next Quest Board was the Team Quests.

｢Reputation Acquisition – Team Quest

Description: Gather 100 reputation for Umbra in one month.

Rewards: 10 Umbra Points｣

｢Building Resource Acquisition – Team Quest

Description: Gather 10000 building resources for the Vita Settlement in one month.

Rewards: 10 Umbra Points｣

｢Exploration – Team Quest

Description: Explore 100 designated Field Zones and Wild Dungeons in one month.

Rewards: 10 Umbra Point｣

These quests required one to build a squad and set out for a long period. Most of the players who went out on Team Quests would not return until a few days to the end of the month, so they probably wouldn't participate in other quests.

Next was the War Quest Board.

｢Raze – War Quest

Description: Destroy 100 monster villages/encampments.

Rewards: 100 Umbra Points｣

｢PVP – War Quest

Description: Win 100 PVP matches in the name of the Guild.

Rewards: 100 Umbra Points｣

｢Domination – War Quest

Description: Kill 100 Dark Players or Enemy NPCs.

Rewards: 100 Umbra Points｣

The War Quest was where one saw the true brutality of the Boundless world. There were only three Quests here, with the first requiring players to kill monsters then destroy their homes.

This included places like the Green Orc Encampment from the Flora and Fauna Quest or the Goblin Village Riveting Night slaughtered to teach a lesson to the Five Generals.

The second quest was constructed in a way that said members of Umbra were to win 100 PVP matches in the name of the guild, which essentially meant that they were to slaughter the players of any non-allied guilds legally.

This buttressed the frigid competition that existed between the player guilds in the world of Boundless. If you just got up and created a guild because you reached level 10 without any real strength then… heh.

One could only open their backside for a heavy pounding, which was what the other guilds would glady give them.

In another three months, most of the guilds that were active currently would be disbanded.

The final board was the Merchant Quests board, which Draco filled up easily.

｢Vendorship – Merchant Quest

Description: Assist the guild in the sale of products as a shop manager for a month.

Rewards: 10 Umbra Points｣

｢Sale of Goods – Merchant Quest

Description: Sell 500 items on behalf of the Guild as a Traveling Merchant within one month above the average market price.

Rewards: 10 Umbra Points｣

｢Acquisition of Goods – Merchant Quest

Description: Acquire 500 items on behalf of the Guild below the average market price within one month.

Rewards: 10 Umbra Points｣

Once Draco finished the quests, he sighed and clapped his hands. The NPCs, who had been manning the counters, had been standing behind him respectfully all this while. They bowed and returned to their jobs with Draco's permission.

Draco exited the Commission Room and sent a broadcast message to the Guild Members of Umbra within the Guild Hall.

Doing this was free. Sending broadcasts to players outside though, had varying costs depending on how far they were.

The guild chat mechanic was not part of the launch features, but would be added in the next update.

When the guild members of Umbra saw the broadcast, they immediately rushed to the Commission Room, instantly crowding the room stuffily. They couldn't care less though, as they set their eyes on the quests posted by the Guildmaster.

When they saw the multitude of quests and the rewards for them, their eyes bulged and their breathing became wheezy. They were not able to take in enough oxygen compared to how fast their hearts were pumping.

It was silent for a second as they all absorbed the sheer magnitude of what Umbra was offering them, and of what they were supposed to do. Especially of what they could do once they completed their tasks.

Once that thought hit, a great commotion ensued as players rushed to accept quests that were suitable to them. There was no cost to accept most quests and for most of the boards, there were no penalties for failure.

So the members accepted everything they could get their filthy hands on and planned to sort them out later.

When that was done, they filed out of the Commission Room to meet their objectives in time. If they wanted some of those sweet UPs, they would have to put in overtime!

Some members did stay behind, and these were the upper echelon of both the Combat and Tradeskill groups. They were more level headed about the matter and looked through the quests, their rewards and their directives carefully.

When they did, they marveled at the generosity of the Guildmaster while they feared his cunning. By giving them something he had in abundance, he could get them to do the most pressing tasks for him and so enthusiastically!

The worst part was that these people weren't nobodies ah!

They were elites at the very least, meaning their their rate of success, efficiency and productivity was the highest among current players!

.........…..

In the super mini small world that was at the top floor, Draco relaxed into his couch as he rested his chin on his knuckles.

He smiled as he saw the two people standing before him, one which was a short blonde haired girl who had an smug smirk on her face 24/7. She had a bombastic chest that make one lose sleep at night and wore creamy white robes.

To her side was a tall and lanky fellow who was covered from head to toe in aqua blue robes. Like Riveting Night, not even his face could be seen, though Draco could see him clearly with the Eyes of Caelo.

"Welcome. Are you ready?"

The fellow nodded lightly through his hood.

"I am."

Draco stood up as he pulled out his two Legendary Treasure Chests. He placed them on the table between himself and the cloaked fellow, staring at him sharply.

"I have great faith in you to succeed."

Draco leaned back into his seat and seemed nonchalant. "After all, you, Fitter Cleric, are the only player who is a Luckmancer in the whole of Boundless currently."