Benjamin opened the door and walked inside then Felix followed suit, closing the door behind him. Inside, the house opened up into a large living room with the kitchen beyond that. It wasn’t overly interesting or diverse, but it was strongly reminiscent of homes from earth, like the one Felix had grown up in.

Unlike the houses Felix had explored in the world event that used complex materials and had thematic designs making them feel more like theme park attractions than homes, Alan’s house felt like a home to Felix.

Sitting in the living room was a young man, just a few years younger than Felix by his estimate, that bore a striking resemblance to Alan. Walking into the living room from the kitchen was a young woman, around the same age as the man but she looked drastically different. Impressively, both had just pushed through into the D grade sitting at levels just over a hundred.

Benjamin stepped forwards, patted the man on the shoulder and hugged the woman.

“Hey uncle Benjy.” The woman said as Bejamin hugged her.

“Hey Sam.” He responded then turned back to Felix, “Sam, Eric, this is Felix. Felix, Sam and Eric.” Benjamin said gesturing towards the woman then the man.

The man looked up and nodded while the young woman, Sam, reached out her hand towards Felix, “Nice to meet you. I take it you know my dad, Alan?”

Felix took her hand and shook it, “Yeah.”

“Alan home?” Benjamin asked.

“Should be. DAD!?” Sam called upstairs then continued, “Normally he would have heard you come in but I think he might be meditating.”

A faint response came from upstairs, “Coming.” A few moments later, Felix saw but oddly, didn’t hear, Alan descend the stairs to his left.

“Oh, Felix. What are you doing here?”

“Furniture delivery.”

“Oh right. I forgot about that. You already get some to Will and Benjamin?”

“He recommended we get it to you first.”

“Oh… thanks. These are my kids. I take it Benjamin introduced you?”

“Yup” Felix nodded.

“So how’d you guys meet?” Sam asked.

“Uh… Good question.” Alan looked to Benjamin.

“We’ll tell you the whole of it some other time. Felix owned Tri-Peak and now owns Atalus.”

“Wait what? He owns the city?” Eric chimed in.

“Yeah, he claimed a fort back in our tutorial. We met him, agreed to move cities and he kind of just ended up owning all the forts at the end. Here, he founded Atalus.”

Sam looked incredulously at Benjamin then her dad for a few moments before finally deciding they were being serious. A moment later, she dropped to one knee and bowed to Felix.

Felix looked at her with disgust and Benjamin started giggling.

Felix looked to Benjamin then Alan for support but found none from either of them, “Uh, please don’t bow to me. It’s weird.”

Sam jumped to her feet but kept her head hung a little to the side, “Sorry… just… you’re like… a king? Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?”

Felix scowled, “I’m not a king.”

“Well actually… you own the city by yourself and will choose your successor. You weren’t elected and you don’t rule by force… intentionally.” Benjamin mused.

Felix’s scowl deepened, “What do you mean intentionally?”

Benjamin smirked, “Well, whether or not it’s on purpose, I don’t think anyone else is ballsy enough to take you on and try to take over. Anyone who would want to is too scared of fighting you.”

Felix’s scowl vanished and instead, his face reflected his confusion, “Is my reputation that bad?”

“That good.” Eric nodded in respect.

Felix raised a brow, “What… do you mean?”

Though Felix could very likely have guessed at what his reputation was, he didn’t really spend any time thinking about how other people saw him.

Eric shrugged, “You’re basically a myth to most people at this point.”

Felix shook his head, “Lot’s of people have seen me around. I’ve met all the other world leaders and I go shopping and talk to Henry…”

“Do you have any idea how many people live in this city? You’ve talked to a handful of people. You may walk into normal stores but no one recognizes you because we’re amongst the only ones who know you.” Benjamin countered.

“You aren’t a very public leader.” Alan said nodding his head.

Felix sighed, “Not much of a leader at all to be honest…”

Alan shrugged, “It’s not that bad. You put us in good hands with Noah. I honestly don’t think we need a more involved leader like Orselle and Sprouts have.”

Felix shrugged, “Well, you guys can all decide how you want to lead soon enough.”

Eric’s brow furrowed, “Wait, what?”

Alan nodded lightly as he understood what Felix was getting at, “So a council then, not an elected leader or something like that?”

Felix nodded, “That’s the current plan. Noah and I will probably choose people for the initial council. You can have people voted onto and off of it later on.”

Alan nodded deeply, almost bowed, “I see. Well, I appreciate being included on the first council.”

“Should we take a look at the furniture?” Benjamin cut in.

Alan placed a hand on Benjamin’s shoulder, “How about we invite Will and the kids over and we can sort it all out together?”

“Good idea. I’ll go see if he’s home.” Benjamin nodded then walked back outside.

“So you own the city huh?” Eric asked.

Felix smiled politely, “Yes.”

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Eric looked over Felix, visually assessing him, “Does that mean you’re like, super strong? I can’t identify you but that could just be a skill.”

Felix thought about how best to answer that question but all that came out was, “Uh…”

“Eric. Yes.” Alan answered for him.

“You definitely are not what I was expecting.” Sam cut in.

Felix cocked a brow, “What were you expecting?”

Sam shrugged, “Taller? Scarier? More… inhuman?”

Felix frowned, “Inhuman?”

Sam tilted her head, “Yeah. You don’t have horns or multiple arms or anything.”

Felix just looked at Alan because he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say. Before Alan could say anything though, she continued, “It’s just with all the rumors you know. You look so… normal. Like a guy you’d see on the street. Your armor is cool but it’s not the coolest I’ve seen. I don’t know… I just expected… at least… your eyes to glow or something.”

Felix thought about creating two light spells to make his eyes glow, but quickly decided against it. Instead, he just shrugged.

“So my dad’s gonna be on the council?” Eric asked.

Felix nodded, “Assuming he agrees. I was kind of hoping he would be our spymaster or whatever that position would be called.”

“Yeah, he mentioned something like that.” Eric looked over the couch back towards his dad.

“We’ve been trying to convince him to take the job so he can hire the two of us as spies.” Sam smiled.

“Even if he doesn’t, we’d apply.” Eric cut in.

“But it would be nice if our boss was our dad.” Sam shrugged.

That sounds awful. Wouldn’t Alan constantly second guess sending them on missions so he wasn’t putting them in too much danger?.

Maybe they just want to be close, after their mother and his wife…

They already live together. To each their own, but that sounds awful to me.

“Well, the offer stands. Just let us know.” Felix said, making it clear he was referring to Alan.

Alan just nodded.

Felix figured this was a decent time to ask something he had been wondering for a little while now but never found the opportunity to ask, “Quick question by the way, Benjamin said Will’s kids are young, how does the tutorial work for them?”

Alan nodded, “They get a special tutorial that’s almost entirely education and training. They’re allowed to fight monsters too but it’s very controlled. Think futuristic boarding school. The parents can also video call with the kids once a week or so and can check up on their status pages anytime they want.”

Felix frowned, “Huh, I… guess that makes sense?”

Alan shrugged, “Apparently it’s just adjusting to the way our world was. Some worlds are less family focused and the kids end up in a similar tutorial to ours.”

Felix’s face contorted with disgust, “I wouldn’t want to be a parent on one of those worlds.”

Alan chuckled, “Yeah, that’s what I said.”

Around that time, the front door opened once again and Benjamin held the door open for three small children to scurry in, one by one.

First there were two young boys who looked identical and were about 8 years old, impressively both at level 24, which was far higher than Felix expected for anyone so young. After they ran in, and competed to be first, a young girl casually walked through. She appeared to be about 13 but her expression and dignity made her seem much older. She had long, straight jet black hair with violet eyes that occasionally flickered pink. She also wore a long light grey and blue dress that was either completely weightless or was enchanted to seem like it fluttered in the breeze at all times.

[D - Special] Child of the Tempest (Lvl 101)

[D - Epic] Emissary of the Raging Wind (Lvl 100)

[D - Special] Shadow Mercenary (Lvl 102)

She’s only 13? That’s insane.

You aren’t that much older.

It’s a big difference for humans.

Wasn’t that big in my universe.

Really? At 13 you’re so immature and…

And you aren’t? You’re the epitome of wisdom and maturity?

Not what I’m saying.

I know. You do seem to think age matters more than it actually does though. You’ll see once we leave the integration. Especially in an integration universe where everything seems to be tailored to you gaining levels quickly and with relative safety. 13 is young but you’ve hit puberty, you can think for yourself and you can fight. That’s all it really takes.

After her, Will and another man Felix didn’t know walked in followed finally, by Benjamin who closed the door behind him. Though the living room wasn’t huge, it still managed to comfortably fit everyone standing around, though some stood with a foot in the dining room or entryway.

“Hi. I’m Jarod, Will’s husband.” The man who walked in just after Will, the only adult Felix didn’t recognize, offered his hand to Felix.

Felix took it and shook, “Felix.”

Jarod smiled widely, “Pleasure to meet you.”

“You too.” Felix turned to include Will and Benjamin in the conversation and continued, “Your daughter’s class, race and profession are… impressive. Let alone her level.”

“You can see them?” Benjamin and Will said almost in unison, both of their faces painted with shock.

“Uh… Yes?”

The girl in question overheard what they were saying and walked over, though didn’t say anything immediately.

Will smiled at her with his annoyance evident, “She won’t tell us what they are, and she won’t tell us why she isn’t telling us.”

“We figured it was just a rebellious teenager thing.” Benjamin shrugged.

Felix looked at each of them in turn, “I don’t think I should tell you then. If it’s against her wishes, I don’t want to get in the middle of this.”

“You can really see my class, race and profession?” The girl looked up at Felix and spoke for the first time since entering the room.

Felix looked down at her and nodded, “Yeah. I think it’s a part of owning the city.”

“I see.” She sighed, “If you can see them, you can tell them.”

Felix frowned a little at how suddenly she seemed to change her mind on, “Are you sure?”

She sighed, “It’s my profession. You can see it right? I just didn’t want them to be worried.”

Felix nodded, “Ah.”

Will, Jarod and Benjamin looked at him expectedly, but Felix turned to the girl, “I’m Felix by the way.”

She smiled at him, “Evangeline, but everyone just calls me Eva.”

Felix smiled back, “Well Eva, I think if you’re ok with them knowing, you should probably be the one to tell them.”

Eva nodded, “You’re right.”

Instead of telling them, Eva shared her status screen with both her parents and Benjamin. After a few moments, Will looked at her, “Eva, I will always worry about you being safe, but I’m not gonna stop you because of it. Honestly, you’re probably stronger than I am right now. Other than Felix and his familiar, you’re almost definitely the strongest in the room. You’ll always be my little girl, but it seems like you can judge your capabilities better than I ever could.”

“We’ll all do our best to advise you and we might not be ecstatic about you being in danger.” Benjamin said.

“But we aren’t going to stop you.” Jarod added.

“Thanks.” Eva hugged her parents then Benjamin in turn then turned to Felix, “You have a familiar?”

Felix reached into his robe and pulled Nova out. Holding their sleeping form in one hand, Felix offered them to Eva.

Eva reached out and carefully took the cat from him. Out of the corner of his eye Felix saw Alan wince then quickly calm down. Eva looked back up at Felix, “What level are you? and what level is…”

“Nova. They’re level 353, I’m 176.”

She scowled but was otherwise undisturbed by the ridiculous level of the tiny kitten in her arms, “Why are you so much lower?”

Felix sighed, “I took a weird class and got stuck for a little while. I figured it out now and it should be worth it in the long run. Also the world event wasn’t the best place to level up. The creatures were… different. That’s where we picked up all this furniture though.”

She looked up at him with confusion as this was clearly the first she had heard about it, “Furniture?”

Felix nodded, “Yup. I came here to deliver it.”

Everyone around the room organized themselves with Will’s two youngest, who were in fact twins named Leo and Ethan, in the middle of the room. They proceeded to fight over all the furniture, even the useless pieces but luckily got bored after just a few. Contrary to Benjamin’s wise idea of having the older kids choose the furniture first because they could actually use it, both Ethan and Leo got first choice because of how vocal they were, followed by Eva because she was their sister.

Shortly after that, all three of Will’s kids started wrestling with Nova who was more than happy to play. Felix was a little worried about Nova not being careful enough with the low level twins at first. His fears quickly subsided though when he saw that Nova had morphed their body into a what was essentially a large plush toy.

The rest of them didn’t care too much about who got which piece of furniture but were still immensely grateful to Felix for carrying it all. He appreciated the gratitude but felt a little guilty considering it cost him literally nothing to carry it all for them. After all the furniture was allocated, Felix was still left with a few pieces for himself which he appreciated though he didn’t care if any of it was left for him at all. He was planning on just upgrading the existing furniture in his tower to D grade at this point. Having extras wasn’t a terrible idea though so he simply left them in his inventory.

After all the furniture had been allocated, they sat around and talked for a few hours before Felix found a point where he could politely duck out. It was nice spending time in what felt like a normal atmosphere from before the integration after a year or so but it was still a lot of people and that was never really Felix’s scene. Felix retrieved Nova and bid his farewell to everyone inside, even though he would see a bunch of them again at the auction in less than a day, then ran back to the city hall building. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .