Heidi
[Quest Completed: Reward delivered]
[Reward]
Faction formed
Faction base founded
1 building upgrade earned
No governing building found
Building upgrade assigned to faction headquarters
You must report to the faction headquarters to set up your new faction
The prompts came one after another flashing for a second before being replaced. A bright blue flash washed out reality for a second followed by an earthquake that nearly knocked me off my feet. When my eyes refocused, I could see a two-story building standing in the center of the makeshift compound. The building was a weird trapezoid shape with a flat roof. All the windows were clear bubbles that protruded from the walls. There also seemed to be spear guns mounted like turrets on the roof.
“Shall we go in?” Dax asked as he was walking toward the building already. He only made it a couple of steps before He bounced off of Michael’s chest who appeared in front of her without warning.
"Excellent job. You have finally begun your journey. The system has given you its reward I see." Michael glanced over his shoulder and a smile was on his face as he turned back to us. "Now it is my turn." With a wave of his hand, I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head and heard the others yell out in pain. The agony went away quickly and I was about to swing my staff at Michael but another system prompt stopped me in my tracks.
[Elemental affinity unlocked: Air.]
[Base ability added: Air Blast]
Michael saw me stop and nodded. “Sorry about the pain, it happens sometimes. Those abilities are base abilities, so even if they have some cool names, it’s just a blast of elemental power. It's nothing fancy but it will allow you to better harness your affinities.” Everyone was looking at Michael as he spoke, so it was hard to miss Urdo who was revealed when he folded his wings in.
“What the hell is even that?” I couldn’t help myself from finally being able to quote the popular meme. “We came here to finish one quest and suddenly we have a to-do list that would make my old boss seem easygoing!" I took a step closer to the very much not-an-angel.
“You see, the system has a lot of convoluted rules, some of which even I don’t fully understand or know. One of the ones in newly integrated universes is, we severely overpowered beings can’t directly interfere. I was able to assist you more directly when you were my champions, but now the system has decided that you were not committed to working for me as my champions and broke that tether. It hurts you more than me." He raised his palms to the sky and shrugged. “I think it’s for the best for you to build your strength though, in all honesty. I will assist if and when I can but that will be limited moving forward.” He motioned to his head to indicate the new abilities he gifted us. “You have no doubt been given the to-do list as you call it, related to starting your own faction. This is a big step, as factions can rule entire galaxies, and the really powerful ones are left as forces to police the universes that survived being integrated into the system. You need more than just a couple of people normally, but this must have been the base of a fledgling faction so, that was a lucky break at least.”
“And what about us?” Aiden stepped forward and pleaded with the angel. “Dax is in shock, acting like a robot, Heidi is distracted and not doing her best in a fight, Janet is breaking down, and I have done unforgivable things I know the lord will not forgive me for. How can any of this fix all of that?"
“Your faith in a god that is not here I can’t speak to. As for the mental and emotional health and stress of all of you though, you need to learn to get past that and continue to grow and get stronger or die. I won’t apologize for taking you from your lives and bringing you here, because balance needs to be restored, but I will give you some gifts that the system will permit me to. This is my offer to try to make this transition easier. First, I bring you Urdo. She is a native to this universe but has power-leveled thanks to some unique quests. She is level 12 and was given an administrative class. She is the strongest member of your faction for now, but her physical strength will be surpassed quickly by you four, and she will best serve as an overseer of the faction from a home base. She can help you manage and grow the faction.
The next and last gift I can give you is the [Fasting Tea Service] that I used to serve you when we first met. It can be used to serve four champions once per month. The tea with the added sweetener will satisfy hunger, hydration, and sleep needs for three days, the only downside is at the end of the three days you will be very thirsty, hungry, and tired. Use it wisely so you are not crippled in the middle of a fight by this downside." Michael waved his hand and several of the rabbit creatures that nearly killed us when we first arrived appeared. They looked as though they were freshly killed. Next to the pile of carcasses sat two barrels that looked like they were stolen straight off a pirate ship "This doesn't count as a gift by the system's standards, but this should be enough meat and drink to get you through the week." With that, Michael looked up into the sky and waved before disappearing in an instant.
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“I just need to sleep.” Dax looked at Aiden as the five of us stood there. “It seems this is our life now, and I need to rest and come to grips with that.”
“I think we should move to the only building. Might be a place to sit at least.” Urdo spoke as she raised her hand to point at the reward the system gave us. “Standing here and hating our lot in life will not help anyone, even ourselves." We all looked at the calloused-sounding woman. Even if we wanted to fight her, she would probably be able to end us without little effort. What she said though, did make sense and I hated her a little because of that even as I nodded and began walking towards the headquarters building.
When we entered the faction headquarters, we were greeted by what looked like a stylish town hall. There was a desk sitting straight back from the door, two curving staircases went up to a second floor where it looked as though they turned into one another to form a single staircase to a third floor. On the other side of each staircase had a hallway running straight back. The place was lit by big floating bubbles, the light very slightly tinged with hues of blues and greens.
Urdo took everything in quickly before heading for a staircase while the rest of us stood with gaping mouths. "We should get started with setting the foundation of our faction." Her words were filled with exhausted annoyance as if she were dealing with toddlers. We moved to follow her as a group, and we climbed the stairs to the third floor. "This will be my office." Urdo declared without even asking as we emerged onto the third floor.
The stairs led to just a tall set of double doors. When they were opened a big office sat in the middle with two doors on each side and 2 doors on the back wall. The central office had a round meeting table and each of the doors off led into a separate office that would have been comfortable for any mid-level executive back on Earth. "I don't think you need 6 offices and a meeting room all to yourself," I spoke with some satisfaction in telling someone no, in this crazy world.
“Those two.” Urdo pointed to the doors on the back wall. “One will be my office, and the other will be my room.” As she spoke, the rest of us looked at each other and shrugged, not having any reason to disagree.
The rest of us split up and went to claim our offices. I had barely enough time to walk around my desk before I heard a loud banging of wood against wood from the central room. I grabbed my bo staff and charged out. My dread over another fight gave way to even more annoyance as Urdo sat at the table and the banging came from a block of wood she held in her hand. "We have decisions that cannot wait."
I took a seat after watching everyone else roll their eyes and take one first. “I am going to end up killing this chick if she doesn’t lighten up.” I shook my head as the thought brought some pleasure back.
"Think of factions as villages that grow to towns, cities, states, countries, and even worlds. Just like all of these, a faction needs a form of government, and it must be established by the founder or founders of a faction so the system can give the power to the correct person."
“Or people.” Aiden spoke up as he waved at the whole group, “Four of us founded the faction, we should all hold the power.”
"So, you wish to establish the faction as an oligarchy?" Urdo asked flatly. The four of us immediately started to shake our heads. "What is the problem with that?" confusion finally broke the stoic look Urdo maintained.
"Where we are from, Oligarchy is used to describe corrupt and evil governments," Janet spoke up to try to explain.
"Here it just means the power is held by a group of people who were selected for some reason. The reason here is that you are the founders. It's what you want, and oligarchy." Urdo raised an eyebrow as we sat in silence and a system prompt appeared.
[Establish faction as an oligarchy?]
[yes or no]
“Can’t we just call it a faction ruled by a council?” I asked out loud and, in my head, as I prepared to answer yes.
[Establish faction as ruled by a council?]
[yes or no]
I heard the other sigh in relief as I laughed and selected yes. The system then displayed a prompt asking for the number of council members and who. We decided just the four founders would fill these roles, with Urdo acting as administrator under us. We had to name the town and faction, and we decided on Haven because it would be our safe haven in this messed-up universe. Aiden energetically pushed for Eden, but no one else was even remotely interested in that name.
As we finished answering the system’s questions to form the faction, a magical glow filled the room. As it faded away, the doors to the offices changed. The one Urdo claimed as her apartment basically, lost its window and gained a lock, while her office gained a name and title. “Urdo” was printed in stylish black letters, with “Faction Administrator” scrawled just below it. The doors to each of the offices claimed by us four founders had our names with “Faction Council Member” below it and a third line, “Founder” below even that.
Everyone, including Urdo, took on a glassy eyes stare as we all pulled up our sheets to see any changes there.
[Name] Heidi Paulson
[Level] 3
[Race] Human
[Titles] Haven Founder, council member
[Strength] 5
[Agility] 7
[Endurance] 9
[Constitution] 10
[Mind] 10
[Quest] Weapon Proficiency-Bo Staff
Work with the bow staff to survive to better understand the weapon and how to use it.
[30%]
[Quest] Armor Proficiency-Leather Armor
Survive while wearing your armor to understand how to use it.
[43%]