When Livia saw a young girl of barely sixteen come barging past Harold and Hyde like they didn’t exist, she actually figured she was in for a treat.

The [Druid] had grown complacent over the course of the uneventful hour, and so was hardly in a position to place himself in her way, especially since he had expected her to get held up by the rudeness of Hyde.

For some reason she barely flinched though, despite Hyde miming a bite. And when Harold came from behind to say hold it; she just threw him a steady, questioning glance over her shoulder, and he actually slumped and just accepted the defeat.

So the girl at least had moxy, Livia had to give her that. However, the answers to their usual series of questions left a lot to be desired… Not that Kalle had waved her in solely due to her willingness to take on the 'lowest' and 'darkest' of the Caster Classes, or something stupid like her good looks. No, not at all. She had checked the initial boxes just fine. But it was when you delved a little deeper that the answers started sway towards disappointment. “We've got the means to provide you with the Class, but our Casters are all close quarters fighters as well. Are you willing to undergo harsh training whenever we don’t need you for labor? We have plenty of Skills to aid in recovery and making the physical adjustment,”

She was not. And she was not willing to do any heavy manual labor either.

“Uhm, well. Do you have experience with cultivation, or animal rearing? Or constructing campfires, shelters, or maybe putting up windbreaks in the wild?”

She actually laughed at that. The girl had never even left Dormata.

“Well, damn. Uhm, we can teach you though, so it’s not exactly a dealbreaker.” She just raised skeptical brows at that.

Apparently her name was Celeste and she had mostly gone to school all her life. She was from a poor family, but what money they did have, they’d spent it all on her education.

“Well, do you at least have a high tier Aspirant Skill, or what made you become interested in the [Witch] Class?”

She didn’t really answer the second part of that, but at least she did tell Livia then and there that she turned 16 in another three weeks and they'd have an answer then, but whatever Tier the Aspirant Skill ended up being Celeste assured them she’d still be willing to take on the Class, the very first minute it was possible. Apparently students in Dormata were taught that Aspirant Skill Tiers mattering was nothing but superstition.

Huh, so she’s not even qualified yet. But then three weeks was not that long at all.

But the downsides were adding up, it was leaning towards a rejection, and Elin and Oscar both had little to add.

But then Livia thought of one last pertinent question: “This will all need to be reflected in your compensation, how low are you willing to start out in terms of wages?”

And that was the crux.

It turned out Celeste was willing to do it for pennies on the dollar; in terms of Caster wages. The contract was only for about half a year, and she was getting a Class out of it. They made it very clear they would renegotiate an eventual renewal then, but it was totally up to Celeste if she wanted to up and leave with her new levels by that point.

Where her priorities lay was evident; but they needed variety, so screw it. She might not seem like she was the hardest of workers, but she did seem quite clever and she’d delivered every response calmly and matter-of-factly despite how she knew they were not the answers they’d been looking for.

Livia decided to trust her gut again, so long as Oscar and Elin gave it the okay and assured her she wasn’t being biased by her love of [Witches].

Oscar looked enamored, so Livia took it as a yes despite how he failed to meet her eyes, and Elin looked like she looked forward to having someone else well-read to talk to when Livia was busy.

So that’s how they got their first recruit, and one who was an aspiring Caster to boot.

After that things continued slowly; although they eventually found two more lads who were cousins, and both gave solid enough answers, and even better was their Class, or lack thereof.

They had both gotten a set of useful Enticer Skills in six valuable Classes they could name, as they worked different jobs together and looked to see what the future might hold, namely: [Hunter], [Ax Pupil], [Apprentice], [Animal Friend], [Builder], and [Day Laborer]; in addition to what amounted to a utility belt of Skills perfect for dealing with the day-to-day, such as [Local Prey], [Adopt Perspective], and [Spread the Burden].

That final one turned out to be a funny one that apparently made your whole body get sore instead of individual muscles. It didn't sound great, and sure, if you overdid it the pain would still be really bad, but it really heightened that threshold, and it allowed the body to recover faster too. It was a perfect Skill for avoiding the type of injuries you got from repetitive tasks. Apparently that fit well with his personality too, since he’d gladly take on and master any such tasks.

Oscar especially took a liking to the two cousins, who looked quite similar to himself, and the two were alike enough that they could well have passed for brothers, but apparently they just had mothers who were identical twins.

The only upcoming issue would seem to be if the two were ready to leave today, but as it turned out that was exactly why they had liked this project above others in the first place. They were both good to go by tonight.

After that the [Guild] had to turn people down for another hour, but it was by the end that they found a more experienced recruit who might prove be very useful indeed. He was an [Impeding Carpenter], who had gotten his Class evolution at level 20 whilst still serving in the militia.

His every friend was still back there, and he'd had a few good years in smaller towns at first. That ended after he got his first capstone and was ordered to transfer to the front. Eventually he’d gotten sick of being so close to the active fighting in the borderlands. The final drop came when he ended up almost getting killed in a barghatz attack.

At this point he did not mind dropping his wages a bit to get away from the more active parts of the Doc Forrest frontier; it was just that he hated city life too. By the end of their questioning, when the tables turned and Livia opened the floor for questions, the craftsman was the first who ended up actually having a bunch prepared, and he did not seem overly impressed with the lack of detail. In the end they still managed to entice him by introducing their members one by one until he could get a good picture of what they were going for out there, and why the ultimate destination remained open-ended. It was the variety of their Classes that convinced him he’d be having of work to do developing their headquarters, as such he stood a good chance of gaining levels on top of the decent wages they were offering.

At that point Livia ended up calling it a day. This was a solid enough start after all, and the north should still hold talent as well in case they realised they were missing something vital. They also explained to all the recruits what type of organization it was they were joining up with; and how there could very well be a place for them as perennial members too if they worked hard enough to impress and ended up with useful enough Skills.

What full membership entailed would become evident throughout the journey, but suffice to say that they prioritized leveling and supporting their members and particularly officers above all else, so it paid to get in on the ground floor.

Livia wasn’t treating it like they were already big shots, but simply made it clear that there would be room to grow and develop your Class here, and to find even greater responsibilities as they grew the organization further, no matter which direction the project took as they settled on a location for their home.

Having Moa there helped too. For those who were curious, they let her explain how she viewed what kind of [Guild] they seemed like they might become on the Dormata scene, after having spent the last few days in their company a lot. She seemed to find it hard putting them in a box though, she ended up saying they were a mix of four different types; martial, Caster, crafters and producers. It was a lot, for a [Guild] just getting off the ground, but having a mix of ages and thus Levels helped off-set the amateurish impression this would have normally given.

Of course Livia had been using her [Mark of Worth] liberally, but it seemed being unemployed with a great Skill–and desperate enough to join the throngs of laborers on the recruitment floors– was a rare position to be in, or this was just a slow day.

They left feeling good about their new additions in any case, this was only the beginning after all; and so for that reason, they took chances to see if the shoe fit, but in the end they were really not feeling any pressure to bring in specific Classes at this point. Too much remained unknown. They were mostly trying to be prepared for anything. Of course it doesn’t help that 70% of the Classes applying are some variation of [Warrior]...

Crafting Classes had been surprisingly rare. It seemed that you needed to grab folks young if they had a leaning towards such careers. It was probably easier being apprenticed directly to some journeyman rather than coming here to find work in the first place.

The type of [Carpenter] they ultimately found was one Livia had not heard of before, but the man’s summary made it clear he was specialized in building quick and sturdy. There wasn’t much of a point of much else out there for the [Guild] as they were just getting settled, after all. It was a perfect match.

But Livia was already picturing how that might change once the riches started flowing. She was definitely planning on focusing on the beauty and attraction aspect of their settlement eventually. It didn’t pay to invite talent to a shit hole, even if you could pay them well. People had to be able to stay there year round eventually, working on projects of all kinds.

Ooh, so much to do. Livia was ultimately happy with their first run in Dormata. They’d made some starts to real friendships, and business relationships and even figured out where to look for Class mentors if they ever got stuck. Only Harold was really still searching, and possibly Alfred with his [Ranging Herbalist] Class, but they’d found some clues in that regard too.

For now they simply left the recruitment center, told the recruits where to meet in a few hours by the Legume, and then Livia went with Oscar and Redd to collect their [Cloche Illuminance Sensor].

Unfortunately someone who knew how to run one had not been present among the day's candidates, although they hadn’t exactly been asking openly. But people who knew the first thing about Enchanting, and figuring out magicalitems… Yes, they were all curiously absent... Wonder why.

For now Livia figured the Auction house was the place to go if they hoped to learn any more clues on how to actually work the thing. I wonder why they wouldn’t explain more of its features, when it so clearly has them. They might be looking for a bribe?