Hellion’s man was in a mood.

“We came in sixth!” David raged at his team. “We were supposed to take this town as an outside settlement. What were you all doing out there, looking at the daisies?”

They had all fought, and the paper raid had escalated farther than they thought it would. They were all long-term players in this game. At times this game was just as hard as real life. With each passing day, this world felt like more of a job.

She reminded herself why she was here.

When Hellion was diagnosed with cancer, her choices were to live for six more months in the real world or spend decades streaming and playing the game. The game sounded a lot more fun than the chemotherapy.

She had been tapped to play the role of wife to the emperor, who was to be the dinosaur warlord of the thirteenth shell in an expanded and concurrent game. She went along with it and had chosen the form of a Parasaurolophus. Sure, it gave her a weird forehead. Old science fiction shows gave aliens strange new foreheads all the time. She was able to wear whatever she wanted, the dress she wore faltered her body to the point everyone turned their heads as she walked past. Just the way she wanted, she craved that attention, from all.

David, who she had never met before, had taken the form of an Ankylosaur, the armored dinosaur. With his set up, the more he was attacked, the more damage he could do. He was always fighting on a knife’s edge, augmented by the rocket hammer. The hammer needed to be repaired and refueled after every engagement.

Greg, the one playing the tank of the group, was the team member that got the most points, having tanked the raid boss. After the raid, he went from level thirty-seven to level thirty-nine. It was becoming more and more rare for any of the inner circle to gain levels.

The group had been playing together as long-term members of the game for around two years. None of them had hit the max level, but level thirty-eight was a milestone because it gave access to the strongest power in the primary power set. As a tank of his class, he very well may be the first one to get it. The dinosaur races were considered new in the game. They had fewer players, and with no one having reached max level yet, there was always more to find.

David was a good leader, and he played the part well, but all he cared about was winning every battle. For the most part, they did win every battle, but the man had no idea how to lead an army.

Sometimes he reminded Hellion of one of her favorite quotes, “My logisticians are a humorless lot . . . they know if my campaign fails, they are the first ones I will slay.” David may be able to fight well, but armies only move when they are fed. Hellion had been arguing for peace and trade in the last few months. Their supply lines had gotten long and thin. But David was still pushing to conquer this trading town and add it to his domain.

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At this point, their group controlled two hundred forty-two cities with populations between ten thousand to one hundred thousand. Most of the land was devoted to farming and military production. Not much trading to be had on the last shell segment with the expanding conquering army. Army building and near endless battles were good for business, but only for local business. How can you sell something to the town next door, when you know, they are going to attack you sooner than later. Withholding the trade may delay the attack. Many players came at the call of coin and experience. Not many stayed. Their little empire was made up of NPCs. Other warlords did the same, and most of the time, whoever had the most troops with the best equipment.

“They weren’t looking at the daisies, dear. They were fighting, but the resources needed to take and hold that town were greater than we anticipated.” Hellion let an edge seep into her voice. “Not to mention that we would be starting another border war. A war on two fronts is a fool’s war, and we have wars on five fronts now.”

“Four. Allstone fell three days ago.” David replied with frustration continuing to show.

“Our sponsors like it when we win, but how long until the betting houses see how things are going and start betting against us?” The wizard lizard said.

The room went silent. Everyone knew what he meant. Even here, coins turned the world. They needed their streams. Being sponsored was how they afforded to stay in as long-term players, never logging out but adding time to their lives with nutrients and monitoring. Their minds were active here, but their bodies were as broken down as old cars after a weekend at the derby.

Hellion’s grandkids logged in every Wednesday to see her. But she would do anything to be able to see her family in real life. At some point they could, individually or as a group, be asked to take a loss. No one in the group was really in the position to say no to a bribe. Her family came first, the youngest grandchild was entering university soon. An expensive one at that. A bride that paid for the school would be enough. Leaving the game was a final curtain call, the bribes would allow an encore, just at another venue.

“The name at the top of the leader board was redacted. I have no idea what to even make of that. They were third in terms of damage overall, and I’m a damage dealer.” David would not let the scoreboard go.

Hellion replied, “The mayor is at max level fifty, and has prestige classes and levels, possibly a decade of play time on us. Not to mention items, power ups, and whatever else he has up his sleeve as mayor. It would take at least a legion just to take him out, if not more. The lightning rod power alone deals massive damage, and he was able to add superior holy damage.” She was trying to state how hard it would be to take this town.

The group remained silent for a long moment.

“The low-level necromancer that led a mixed NPC player team could be more dangerous than the mayor.” The triceratops spoke quietly. “She reorganized the defenders, and then picked the weak points on the raid boss. I only ever saw one skeleton out at a time. If we send troops to take her down, everyone we send could end up being a weapon in her tool belt.”

“Fine. Two legions for each of them, plus an extra for the rest of the town. We import food for around seven legions. They haven’t been min maxing their farms, so it would be worth at least twelve legions. We’re going to be hitting a plateau soon. The super nations are going to start to look at us, finding ways to use us or abuse us. The higher the numbers on our side, the better.”

David had a point, but the risk benefit analysis did not make sense to Hellion yet. “We can’t go to war with any of the super nations unless we have trading partners. If we have a sudden shortage, we will need a way to trade to get those goods.” This was an old argument, but she tried to delay the inevitable. Hellion knew i