While everyone was looking at each other one person raised a small mic at his table, “So why have you brought us all here?” he asked straight to the point.
Everyone looked at the person in question before focusing on Wilson.
He looked at the person as well and smiled, “Tell me, what do you all think is the singular trait which is the same in all of you?” he asked. They all looked at each other shrugging, “You have not noticed but you are all Lord Class players.” he said.
When his words came out, everyone was shocked, there were dozens upon dozens of races which could be selected in the game yet there were 100 in each racial group. This made for a very large number of people.
Now a lot of people were frowning, “Excuse me, from what i understand, isn’t the Lord class supposed to be quite rare?” someone in the demon lord section asked.
“It depends how you look at it.” Wilson said.
Everyone was silent waiting for him to continue.
He leaned in on his table and began to type and a window appeared.
“As most of you know, the lord class is just a broad name for a support class which is a ruling power. They are usually not even the strongest people, depending the race of course. In some races the beginning class has different names as well.” He said.
A screen appeared behind him.
Race
Tier
Classes of Tier 1
Demon (race)
1
Demon Lord
Human
1
Village Chief
Town Mayor
City Lord
Dwarf
1
Mine Overseer
Cave Chief
Mountain Lord
Elf
1
Forest Watcher
Forest Village Chief
Great Tree Lord
Animal races
1
Pack Leader/Herd Leader/etc
Burrow Master
Beast Lord
Monster races
1
Cave Chief
Village Leader
Monster Lord
The list went on and on showing many specific races but it showed the racial class advancement.
“Why is the demon race the only one with a single class?!” Sam, the girl next to Lucas, asked.
“The Demon Lord race and class are a special class so to speak but this is more because of the lore behind it. I won’t go too deeply into since you will eventually find out.” Wilson said.
“So why are there so many lords?” Someone asked.
“This is actually a mistake on our part, we assumed the class would have a much lower probability of appearing, we didn’t expect day one to have so many. After all, the game was never meant to be a kingdom building strategy game but a common VRMMO as another source of jobs.” he said.
Understanding what he meant, a number of people calmed down.
“I still don’t get why we are here?” the first man who spoke asked.
“It is because of the fact that there are so many lords.” he said.
The room turned silent in an instant.
“You see, no one in today’s time thinks alike, this is true especially those with power. Many of you who have just begun have yet to fully install yourself into your rolls but in coming days, weeks and months, how much you and the world will change is very hard to tell.” Wilson said.
“So you want something to do with our kingdom building?” he asked.
“Exactly.” he said and snapped his finger.
Suddenly a holographic image appeared in front of everyone.
“This is a contract with my company, Second Life INC, and each and every one of you. I want to develop a kind of ‘show’ which will showcase all of you in daily life and your choices and adventures done as a lord. This is even more true for the ones with Demon Lords who are generally seen as the evil race of the world.” Wilson said.
Everyone skimmed over it, except Lucas, he had to read much slower and had difficulty in some sections.
He paid attention to the conversation while reading.
“So is it Second Life or someone else?” someone in the human race section asked.
“No, we would not have that much man power from the get go. We have already signed with 4 major studios and 10 minor ones. We also have our own broadcast channel and will something akin to a reality show or news show, whichever you want to think it as. It will show the base development. As for full length videos, it would be in the studio’s own sites. Everyone will begin with one of the 10 minor studios, depending on your own development, you will switch over to the major ones.” He said.
At this time Lucas finally finished reading and moved the mic near his lips. “How much do we get?” he asked.
The question was so far from the current subject that it made everyone freeze up and look at him.
Wilson was also amazed that someone would talk payment, which left him in an awkward situation because he wanted to give a lower cost and leave the rest to the gains in viewings.
“These contracts are just a bit lower than our common employee contracts. You will get a base salary of $1,500 credits monthly. On top of this you will be paid by the studio you will work with depending on your channels viewing count.” He said.
Hearing the terms, everyone fell into contemplation and someone asked, “We aren’t restricted to working for ourselves right?” he asked.
“No no, we will not restrict your own work methods.” Wilson said.
With this the worries of most were gone. In Lucas’s eye, a faint brightness shined as he tried to do the basic math.
“This is enough to pay the bills fully, it will take about 3 months like this for me to pay back the late dues though.” he thought.
He was inwardly happy because it was hard to receive so much money with his level of education.
Then his eyes turned sharp as he took the mic, “What does the passage, ‘Upon signing and returning to the game, an event quest will unfold’ mean? What sort of event?” Lucas asked.
Different from those who skimmed over, he and a few others only had seen this and were waiting to ask.
The noise dropped a notch as they listened.
“To ensure that some people amongst you who might be less privileged or lower knowledge base of kingdom building, we are setting up an event throughout all of your kingdoms. When you login, you will have the choice of advisor or general and ingame you will have another choice to choose from. Depending on your ingame choice, you can even lose the advisor or general who are a source of knowledge.” he said.
Everyone became excited by this because it allowed them to get some bonus to improve their forces.
At that moment, a very peculiar question came out, “Will we have to move close to the HQ or will we be able to continue living were we currently are?” a woman asked.
Silence fell over the room as many people, including the CEO and Vice CEO, as they looked at the woman.
“Why do you ask?” Wilson asked.
“It’s because of the fact that we are all from many different places, from what i saw, there are people from the furthest southern areas of america and some from the far north. If we only have 10 studios to work with, wouldn’t it be sort of troublesome to contact and do business with so many people all over the place?” She asked.
When her words fell, many people actually agreed with her point of view and so they focused on Wilson.
Wilson actually rubbed his chin and bent back, Edna, the Vice, bent over and the two quietly talked for a short while before he bent forward.
“Those who wish to move closer, we can help you obtain lodging. We can’t house so many people but those whose living situations aren’t ‘good’ can rent an apartment owned by our company. These are employee apartments but since you all must have your own jobs it would mostly be an offer for very low paid or home working individuals.” He said.
Edna bent over and used her mic, “Those who choose to move, please come speak with me after the meeting and we can arrange lodging and will send some help to move your belongings, if needed.” She said.
Lucas thought about it and thinking about his current living conditions, he thought that it would be good to move, though it might put him into debt with the water company but this could be paid since he was not escaping the country and simply going from a single hut home to an apartment.
The meeting continued as Wilson and Edna explained a few necessary points that the players had to take into consideration which was that after a village reaches the size of a town, ‘wild’ races would spawn in the town. This was for demons as well and the starting location would be ‘open’ to choose in the late game stage.
No one had much against this since it was obvious.
Eventually the meeting ended and since it was late, they were promised lodging for the night.
Lucas went to look for Edna and soon found her surrounding by a few people. Surprisingly, Sam Jolie was there and when she saw him she pouted, “So you are going to move as well?!” she asked.
“Yeah, what about you? You seem to have a good living situation?” he asked.
“I’m already 18 so i can move out if i want.” She said.
He just nodded and walked to Edna and asked her how the process was.
“You are… Akor.” She said and his personal information came out. “You have a number of debts.” She said.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“I’ve always had them, ever since i was orphaned.” He said.
His first debt was his parents burial, then was living expenses.
She looked at him with pity and looked through the files, “Well, if you choose to move, we will pay the living expenses and you can repay us the debt without any taxes. I can give you a 6 month leeway to be able to get on your feet.” She said.
Lucas’ eyes turn bright as he felt the warmth of the woman’s treatment. “Thank you.” he said and a weak smile appeared on his face.
“No problem, do you have any belongings in your home?” She asked.
“I do, i will go and prepare them and will just need a transport van.” He said.
He didn’t have much but he had clothing, some furniture and electronics scavenged.
“Alright, i will prepare some people to help you pack and some cleaners to leave the place spotless and send someone to speak with your landlord to deal with debt fees.” She said.
“How do you intend for me to pay?” He asked.
“After 6 months we will discuss it. We are hoping that the Lord’s ‘show’ will improve the game rating and popularity drawing in more players, by then you should already be receiving enough money in game to make money in real life.” She said.
“Alright.” he said and said his thanks again before he was lead by the same woman that picked him up.
After a short while a new hovercraft was brought out and he got in. this one was in the shape of a van and took off towards his home so that he could pick up his things.
He set up his VR device to warn him when he is called from the outside and had the woman call him when they arrived and logged in.
As soon as he logged in a window appeared.
Greetings young Demon Lord, you have signed a special contract with Second Life INC and a special event has been activated. Please select which type of demon your event will include.
Advisor
General
“What is the difference?” He asked.
Advisor
Advisors are a knowledgeable person who are very good at management related subjects. These kinds of people also know all the etiquette and education needed to raise a proper king.
General
Generals are a type of knowledgeable and powerful person in the field of combat. They have the knowledge to train and command your minions in the field of battle making a proper army to serve a king.
Upon seeing the description, he instantly pressed the advisor. He didn’t need a general because he is a simple village lord right now. What’s more, the advisor is also a demon so there is no way that it wouldn’t be a fighter.
After making his choice he finally logged in.
Upon entering, he opened the town resource menu to see the changes.
Demon Management
Demon Towns
Town Resources
Stone
164 Unit
Wood
60 Units
Stone Production
0 /day
Wood Production
0 /day
Food
14.5
Food Consumption
2.8 /day
Food Production
6 /day
Population
14
House Space
14/50
Nest Spawn rate
4.8 /day
Wild Spawn rate
2
Looking at the population, he smiled brightly. He also saw that the bone meals effect had ended but it had produced a good amount of food.
Ding!
Update, events that happened you were away
6 new minions
2 minions leveled up to level 3
3 minions have leveled up to level 2
You have gained 17.3 exp
Research: Animal Husbandry complete
When the updates opened up, he was surprised but every happy because he found out he gained exp while away. Looking at the amount though it actually confused him because to level up was much harder and considering the imps would probably be competing, to get this number of level ups was not exactly easy if it wasn’t so little. Most likely would be 1% instead of 25%.
Still, this is a lot of experience points in late game but it's a slow development in early game. As long as the hunting is set up then it was possible to always get experience in small amounts over time.
Next he looked at the Animal husbandry research.
Research
Research
Description
Unlocked items
Animal Husbandry
This branch of research unlocks the basic taming skill and the ability to tame weak animals but not monsters to be bred for special resources.
Basic Taming skill
Animal ranch
Crude Rearing tools
Seeing the basic unlocks he pressed the unlocked items to get a very detailed description of how the system of unlocked items worked.
Unlocked items
Unlocked items is a list of buildings or skills related to a specific research topic. Once researched, buildings can be built from then on while skills that were unlocked are not actually unlocked, instead the residents under the lord gain a buff in learning the unlocked skills. Craft items related to the subject is also unlocked to be produced.
Basic Taming Skill
The basic Taming skill is the beginner level of taming skills. This skill allows people to tame only animals at low levels equal to or lower than their own and it can only be a common breed and not a rare breed or monster breed.
Animal Ranch
A building which is used to rear animals inside. The building consists of an enclosed space 40x40 meters in size and a storage building where harvested materials are placed inside. This building is required if someone wants to begin domestication of wild animals.
Crude Rearing Tools
Rearing tools are a special type of tool used by those in a ranch. They include both taming and guiding tools as well as harvesting tools needed to gather material from tamed animals.
(Due to the lack of Carpentry, the tools can only be made crude)
After reading it all, he smiled brightly because he could now learn taming much easier to obtain domesticate animals.
Right as he was about to read the rest and choose the next research topic he heard a large eruption.
He looked up at the sky and he saw it ripple. From the direction it came from he starred and frowned.
DING!
Event start!
Just these two words put him on alert and he far in the distance he saw it, one winged figure rushing his way. The body was rather twisted and it seemed one arm was injured with blood flowing.
The creature flew fast and drew close until it dropped down right in the middle on the village in front of Akor.
The figure was 180 cm tall, it looked like a humanized imp with thin arms and legs, a long leathery tail and two leathery wings and a pair of long horns.
“Who are you?!” Akor asked with a frown.
“You are the demon lord right?!” it ask.
Already expecting it to be intelligent, the feminine voice took him by surprise.
“I am.” he replied.
“I am Valring, i am a Succubus and have come to pledge my allegiance.” She said.
Akor looked at her and then her arm, “Why are you injured and also you don’t look like a Succubus that i am familiar with.” He said.
“That is because this village is protected by a barrier, i was made to relinquish most of my power and reset my level to 1 and drop my tier to 1 as well. All i kept was my high intelligence while letting my wisdom wither so that i could keep my memories and minimal constitution and strength to allow me to fly.” She said.
“That did not answer my question. Why are you injured?” He asked.
She sighed, “Our race was once the loyal followers of the previous Demon Lord, with the rise of 100 lords, our race had chosen to split up and each of us go to one lord to allow our race to expand while helping the lords on their path.” She said.
“And?” he asked.
“...and we were ambushed by the race we hate the most, the devils.” She said.
“What was that bitch!?” a roar came from the sky.
In the air, four figured appeared flying. They were humanoid in appearance but they had red skin and their bodies were thinner. It was clear that similar to her, they had to drop their status as well.
“So you followed me, heh, only four mongrels of the 20 sent to capture me, it seems you all really don’t take me as a threat anymore.” She said.
“We saw how you transformed, the prince knows you kept a high intelligence but lost most of your magic and physical strength. We are different though, we kept enough intelligence to remain sentient while keeping more physical status. Now come to become the prince’s concubine!” He shouted.
Her monsterous face twisted even more as she turned to Akor and pleaded, “Please, lord, accept me and i will do all i can to help you raise the greatest demon empire!” She said.
“Lord?!” the devil in the air said. His eyes shrank and he began more serious, “Greetings young demon lord, we are sorry for intruding upon your land, we are here only for the Succubus. This slave bitch and her kind has long been the slaves of our race but have bitten the hands which bred them. We do not want trouble between our people. We are willing to compensate for this bitch.” He said.
Surprisingly he landed outside of the fence away from the fields and from his inventory, he pulled out 10 eggs.
“These are Devil race eggs. For these eggs we will give you our race as your servant.” he said with a grin, confident that this was enough.
Akor looked at the eggs and looked at the succubus and unexpected, did not reply and instead asked a question. “Why did he call you a Slave?” he asked.
She scowled, “Succubus originated from devils but not their main branch. We were devils of enemy tribes and insubordinate, though only in their eyes. After our ancestors were captured, we were cursed with incredibly powerful curses which took away 99% of our chances to produce a male and only females as well as a curse which drained our life force and needed for us to suck the life force of other races to survive, that is unless we served them in which case the second curse would not activate. We were also made to mate with imps to degrade the human blood which made devils as they are and made us look as we do. Only if we mature into tier 2 can our devil blood appear once more giving us our human appearance. Eventually our kind reached tier 2 and even 3 and these curses merged with our very bloodlines making it impossible to remove these curses.” She said with a sad tone in her voice.
“That is enough.” Akor said and shouted. The imps rapidly gathered from all over. “You all, be gone or you will die here.” Akor said.
The devil showed a look of shock before he scowled, “You will actually protect a bitch slave instead of going with a pure powerful breed such as my Devil race!” He shouted.
He took back the eggs as he flew up. “Then this world will not see the rise of one new demon lord.” He said. “Kill them and destroy the Demon Heart!” he shouted.
“Attack!” Akor shouted.
At that moment, four slings were brought out. Surprisingly, the imps had made their own weapons and with the four of them, they sent the pellets up.
That said, the devils all dispersed. The rest of the imps all took up clubs and shouted. Some grabbed rocks and tossed them wildly.
Some of them hit others didn’t.
“Filthy thing! Stop!” one of them shouted and dove down to attack.
“Spread out!” Akor instructed.
The imps all ran in random directions making the devil have to stop and land. Because his agility and dexterity were very crippled, his body didn’t move as he liked. This was different from the imps who are naturally at this level and after running away they turned and attacked. Four of them hit the devil.
[Demon (Devil) Level 3 90/100]
He howled in pain and swung his arms sending the imps sprawling to the ground but other imps came and surprisingly, one of them jumped from behind and cruelly slammed the back of his head with the club.
[Demon (Devil) Level 3 85/100] Stunned!
The body of the devil turned soft and dropped down, it actually surprised Akor but the next second actually caused him to feel some pity as the imps dog piled him and beat him with the clubs as if they were beating a dying dog. They didn’t give him one second to breath and in instants he died.
As soon as one of them died, one of the other Devils went mad and rushed at them. He wanted to get the corpse of his fallen friend and brother. That said, in his blind rage, he didn’t see Akor hide behind a building and actually make a crude stone club which has 6 dmg but needs 5 units of stone compared to 1 wood for the wooden club.
He handed it to Valring and when the devil rushed at the group she jumped from the side and connected the club right into his face.
A resounding crack was heard and amazingly, the first time a critical hit appeared in front of Akor happened. At once 25% of the devil’s hp was drained and he was instantly stunned as he flipped in the air.
“Attack!” Akor shouted and the imps dog piled the devil once more.
Before another one could rush into this dangerous situation the devil grabbed its remaining companion stopping him and glaring at Akor.
“Little coward, don’t think that you can survive. You avoided the Hellish badland’s ‘blessing’ for demon lords. You are weak now. Do you think you can survive once this barrier vanishes?” he asked.
“Most definitely. I don’t need to rush to get out of here, as long as i am below level 5 this barrier will exist. I can take my sweet time developing my minions, my village and everything around me before i choose to break out.” he said coldly.
The devil grit his teeth and looked at the two fallen companions with a pained expression. “Let this be a warning Demon lord, you have made an enemy of Dark Lord Kurcell, he is the king of Devil’s and the current most powerful demon race. You had best be prepared to see you little ‘uprising’ crash and burn as soon as you break out.” he said.
The two turned and flew away to leave the barrier leaving the two corpses and breaking the combat mode.
Battle report
Your nameless minion has leveled up to level 2
Your nameless minion has leveled up to level 3
You have gained 60 exp
You have leveled up!
You gained 5 stats points
“60 exp! Weren’t they level 3 only!” Akor exclaimed.
“They reduced their abilities to come here, in truth they had many extra status points above their level. In this region, they are comparable to boss class monsters so there is nothing strange about it.” Valring said.
“I see…” he said and looked at her, “I, Demon Lord Akor, accept you as one of my faithful followers.” He said.
“I, Valring, Succubus of the Demon Order, give you my body, soul and undying loyalty until the day i die!” she said.
You have accepted the Succubi Valring, as your minion.
You cannot breed succubus and she is the only one you can currently have. To unlock the race, you must obtain eggs and make nests for the race.
With the appearance of a succubus, you can now build a Demon (Succubus) House
By protecting Valring, you have become enemies with the Dark Lord Kurcell’s people. They will now monitor your nation and might even perform regular attacks on your territory.
“Since we have completed this, we should start making your house.” He said.
“My lord, i have just taken a look at the villages technology research, may i make some suggestions.” Valring said.
He blinked and nodded.
“Great.” She smiled but her demonic face looked more frightening than charming as she wished it to be.