The call with Lancaster went better than Serenity expected. With luck, everything else was handled for now.
Serenity glanced at the door. He was happy to have some alone time; heading out to see everyone immediately sounded exhausting. Surely a few minutes wouldn’t be a problem?
Come to think of it, he even had some notifications and choices he’d been putting off. That was a good excuse to spend a little more time alone while everyone else thought he was dealing with Helen’s issues.
First was the two rewards from Stage 4 of his Path Quest. Even with optional pieces, Path Quest awards were a little unusual; this had to be because he’d helped the Voice.
[Reward: Additional World Core Feature Unlocked: World Citizenship]
[Reward: Additional World Core Feature Unlocked: World Coalition]
Serenity dug through the World Management menus he had available, grateful that he could now access them remotely instead of having to visit a Settlement Node on Earth.
As he discovered shortly after he started, he could have evaluated them from Tzintkra, Lyka, or Aeon as well; the unlocks didn’t only apply to Earth.
World Citizenship was a menu where he could set up exactly how “his” citizens were counted. By default, everyone was registered as a citizen of their city, but he could allow people to belong by country (as long as the various City Nodes in a country’s borders were all aligned to that country’s political borders), by continent (it counted Europe and Asia as one continent, though it did permit him to split off Africa; similarly, he could split North and South America, but he didn’t think the breakpoints actually aligned with official borders; it looked like it was actually at the Panama Canal).
The country option would probably be useful; Serenity didn’t see any need for the continent option on Earth. He could understand why it might exist on other worlds, though; expansion was often stopped by natural barriers.
It was strange that even a canal was enough for the Voice, but a mountain range wasn’t; a canal was no harder to cross than a river and there were a number of rivers that it didn’t seem to have problems with. Maybe it was as simple as the fact that it was a full barrier? A river rarely went across a continent and cut it in two; maybe the fact that this was complete mattered even if it was shallow?
Serenity shook his head and returned to the options. He could allow people to become citizens of a planet or even of his entire Sovereignty. There didn’t seem to be a way to group worlds together short of the entire Sovereignty, unfortunately, so he couldn’t make Lyka and Aeon a single unit. He’d have to make them separate.
Earth could stay as it was, though he’d want to make it use the country variant where possible. Serenity expected Tzintkra to be more difficult, but oddly enough it wasn’t; while the Shining Caverns and the Necropolis were on the same continent, they were very clearly set up as individual cities even though they were geographically far larger than any on Earth or Lyka.
With that handled, Serenity took a look at the World Coalition option. He half-expected it to be something about politics on or between his worlds, but it seemed to be all about alliances and agreements between his worlds and other Sovereigns. There were only two entries on the list, both grayed out. The one for Zon listed Zenith and Mornmot as options, while the Sterath option listed only the Kaelitha, probably because the only factions Serenity had even sort of encountered were the Unkaa, Ita’s former allegiance, and the Kaelitha who invaded Earth. Ita believed the Unkaa no longer existed.
It made sense that Tranquil Convictions wasn’t on the list. While he was powerful, Sterath Shameless Ones weren’t rulers, at least not officially.
As much as anything, the World Coalition section seemed to be a way of keeping track of things rather than something with options he could select. Serenity guessed that was probably because he wasn’t part of a coalition of any sort; there would probably be more information there once his worlds were part of one.
Actually, that was a question. Could different pieces of his Sovereignty enter different agreements that were Voice-enforced? He didn’t rule all of Earth. If the various governments couldn’t enter agreements, that could cause issues. Of course, they probably wouldn’t be negotiating at a world level anyway; while the Sterath subgroups settled entire worlds, most planets were divided into smaller territories. It probably wouldn’t be an issue, but it was something he should keep an eye on, just in case.
Serenity moved on to the next thing, the update to his Path Quest. It was more interesting than the World Ownership updates, which is why he handled them first.
[Path Quest Stage 5: Path Quest Choice]
[This is a choice of your next goal; selecting any option does not remove others from the future list of possibilities unless it is mutually exclusive or a Path branch. A reward will not be granted for any Path Quest until the selected one is completed or failed]
[Dying Earth: You have seen a vision of the death of Earth in approximately ten years’ time. Prevent it. This is your trunk Path at this time]
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
[Optional Goal: Gain allies]
[Home Defense: Something released a trapped demon; whoever or whatever it is has more. Track down the threat and eliminate it]
[Buyer of Antiquities: Someone suddenly started paying exorbitant amounts of money for magical artifacts at about the time the Tutorial started. Find out who and why and whether or not it’s a problem]
[Planetary Sovereign: You have been acknowledged as a Planetary-level authority, but you are not acknowledged as a ruler on the planet. Take control of Earth]
[Optional Goal: Unify Tzintkra]
[Optional Goal: Solidify control of Lyka]
[Optional Goal: Solidify control of Aeon]
[Optional Goal: Conquer Zon]
[Dungeon Lord: You have collected a significant number of subsidiary dungeons under your control and have gained a reputation for your ability to deal with them. This choice is a Path branch. Initial Quest: Converge two nearby dungeons under your control into a Dungeon Complex]
[Runemaster: You have the knowledge but not the power of a runemaster. Regain your title]
[Optional Goal: Gain an equivalent title with Guild leadership authority]
[Optional Goal: Gain an equivalent title in the Enchanters’ Guild]
[Dhampir: You bear an unusual heritage for a dhampir, and know little of what it truly means. This choice is a Path branch. Initial Quest: Learn why a pack is important to the dhampir]
[Time’s Heir: You know the basics of being a Child of Time, but you remain on the edge. Dive into the depths of Time. This choice is a Path branch. Initial Quest: Reach the Timesteam]
[A Dragon’s Life: At the root of it all, you are a dragon, yet your knowledge is that of a mere Wyrmling. Seek out other dragons to learn who you are]
[Planetary Savior: You have helped four worlds and been rewarded for it; you know of a fifth world that badly requires aid. Reverse the decline of Zon. This choice is a Path branch]
[Hand of the Voice: You have accepted membership in Order’s Guild as a Hand. They will not force you to pursue missions if you believe your task lies elsewhere, but they do have tasks you could take on if you choose. This choice is a Path branch]
[Which Path is yours?]
The first thing Serenity noticed was that most of the choices were the same as the previous Path Choice Quest. Some were updated, but a number were identical. That meant he hadn’t moved closer to them or away from them.
The second thing was that neither Asihanya or Honoria was on the list. That apparently wasn’t something the Voice thought was important to Serenity’s Path. That didn’t mean Serenity wouldn’t go that way; it just meant that he couldn’t take it as his next Path Quest. The thing was, it could easily turn out to be important, so Serenity couldn’t take something that might conflict, even though he had time before he had to be back on Earth.
He’d really expected it to be available. It took him to another planet and involved helping friends; why wouldn’t it be an option?
Well, the Voice didn’t always make sense. There had to be a reason behind it, but Serenity didn’t think he’d get one he understood. People had been trying to understand the way the Voice made Path Choices available for as far back in history as Vengeance was able to find records, and all anyone could say for sure was that it presented the options it thought were somehow “important”. That notion didn’t always line up with what the person thought mattered.
It was like getting a Path in the first place. You could influence it, but two people who did exactly the same things might get similar Paths, but they usually wouldn’t be identical.
Without an obvious option, Serenity had to go through the list more carefully. Since the “trunk” path was defending Earth, Serenity discarded all of the “branch” Paths without serious consideration; that meant that they would pull him away from Earth when the Voice thought he would be needed, and he wasn’t going to do that.
While he could technically take Dying Earth as his next choice, there wasn’t much of a reason to. He couldn’t resolve it any time soon. Even more than that, it was specifically labeled his trunk Path; as long as he didn’t choose a branch Path, he would be on it whether he chose it or not.
Buyer of Antiquities and Home Defense were similar; he couldn’t do anything about them until he was back on Earth. Either might be important, but it was also possible that neither really mattered; he simply didn’t have enough information. They wouldn’t block him from doing what he wanted, but they simply didn’t lead anywhere for now.
Realistically, he might choose one when he got to Earth, but he didn’t really care that much about them; neither was something he was actually good at. He was better off letting the people who knew what they were doing investigate and being called in when they needed some muscle.
It was a little odd to think of himself as muscle, but compared to anyone on Earth other than the former (or current) gods, it was true.
Planetary Sovereign was abhorrent. It was probably less repulsive than before his experience on Lyka and Aeon, but Serenity was still completely uninterested in ruling planets even though he was apparently collecting them. The inhabitants should rule themselves, not someone who just happened to be in the right place at the right time. He simply didn’t want the work that came with properly managing a planet.
It made him laugh sometimes to think that he’d actually considered becoming President during the Tutorial. He now knew that he’d hate it.
Dhampir and A Dragon’s Life were both about collecting information on his races. He’d do that if he had the chance; he might well be able to find some at the Library. Neither of them really struck Serenity as something he needed to do immediately; more than that, they weren’t of great interest to Serenity in any way other than how they might affect his future. That was simply life, not a Path.
Really, the only Path Choice listed that actually appealed was Runemaster. He’d forgotten somewhere just how much fun runes could be, but Zon had rekindled that in him. Being able to study runes again would be great.
He could pick something that advanced his goals or he could pick something fun that didn’t conflict with his goals. When he thought about it that way, the choice was obvious: doing fun, interesting things was necessary. Only doing things because it was your duty was a great way to become burned out on either the task or on life.
Runemaster. Definitely Runemaster.