Loki sipped on a steamy cup of tea. This was his favorite tea house at the moment. Firstly, he enjoyed its delicate porcelain and white china, with handpainted blue swans and doves. Secondly, they also served his favorite herbal tea: [Mosswerth Tea]. It was an expensive mix of swamp herbs and a type of moss that only grew in the Core Tower. Thirdly, it offered him the best view of his most valuable properties.

Architecture in the capital was similar to real life. The auction house was a massive skyscraper, only rivaled in height by the Core Tower. It used to be called Capital’s Central Auction Tower, but after negotiating a hefty sum of 10 million, Loki renamed it Chilliza Frozen Pizzas Auction Tower.

The former Capital Coliseum hosted all major fighting tournaments. After signing a multimillion-dollar deal with another one of his new customers, it became Pepsi Zenith Coliseum.

He laughed as he saw some players hawking their wares in front of the auction tower. After the guilds purchased all auction houses in the game and set a 10% tax on all transactions, the player base offered some resistance. It didn’t take long, though, for them to come to terms with the new economic reality of the game.

Even though a few frugal players tried to bypass the middleman and sell things directly, who had the time to go from stall to stall looking for the items, anyway? Despite the appearance of player-owned shops and stalls, the vast majority still used the auction house, and every time they did so, Loki won a pretty buck.

“He’s here,” his lookout messaged.

Loki spotted his guest arriving at the Chic Ware Teleportation Pads. Loki didn’t miss the hidden meaning of how BlueFire had chosen to travel to the capital. Teleportation was expensive, and BlueFire forking out 5k was a show of financial strength.

The most annoying part was that it had worked. Loki was thrown off by the move. How had the Ogres been able to buy so much property and still have enough gold to splurge on teleportation like this? Outwardly, however, Loki maintained a peaceful demeanor and even waved at a couple of players who recognized him and pointed at him.

“Ethan. Punctual as always. Please have a seat,” Loki invited.

“Barry,” BlueFire responded in kind, showing that he, too, knew Loki’s real name.

Let the dance begin, thought Loki. The fiery general regarded him stoically. Despite his attempts to look relaxed, BlueFire was tense and in full battle readiness, as if he were dealing with a coiled viper poised to strike.

Loki couldn’t say he was unhappy about this level of respect. He sipped his tea again, showing his relaxation. He had the upper hand in this meeting.

“Can I get you anything, Ethan?”

“No, thank you. So, to what do the Ogres owe the pleasure?”

“I can't help but notice that your guild leader didn't come to attend this meeting personally. I wonder why that is?”

BlueFire shrugged. “He's busy.”

“Too busy to talk to the richest man in AstroTerra? Maybe in the world?”

BlueFire laughed aloud, slapping the table and spilling some of Loki’s tea. “Don’t flatter yourself, Loki. I'm pretty sure that Phineas Cotton has much more money than you. And despite how much estate you own, don’t think you are at Jaw-Long’s or the Phoenixes’ level yet.”

Loki tried hiding his annoyance. BlueFire was right. He was only making money off the platform built by the Nexus company. The one with true power here was Phineas Cotton. But he would also surpass him in time.

“So, how are the Ogres doing?”

“Never better,” BlueFire said, smiling confidently.

Loki operated a few controls merely for dramatic effect. He already knew all this intel by heart. “Good job getting those auction houses in the Fire Pits. It’s impressive that you reacted so quickly to the patch,” Loki said as if praising a dog for performing an amusing trick.

BlueFire shrugged again. “What can I say? We have our ways.”

Seeing how BlueFire didn’t flinch despite all the taunts he threw at him, Loki grew tired of the charade and decided to stop beating around the bush. “How much?”

“How much for what?” BlueFire asked.

“Ethan, you hold 10% of the stocks of the Ogre guild.”

BlueFire's expression sank. “Yes? So what?”

“How much for it? 10 million?”

“Barry, I’m not stupid. There's no way I'm going to sell you my shares.”

“100 million?” Loki pressed.

“I’ve told you. It’s not—”

“A billion?”

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BlueFire paled. “Are you really willing to pay that much for Ogres’ stock? You and I know it isn't worth that much.”

“Two billion,” Loki offered, amused. He knew that BlueFire would never sell his shares in the market. He was just too proud. But he was enjoying seeing the man trying to control his greed.

“Such a big decision… Maybe I should ask Roth if this is a good move. As the newest guild elder, he also owns some shares in the Ogres now.”

Loki paused.

“Did you know he’s broken into the top 50?”

Of course, Loki knew. He could think of little else. Roth was getting dangerously close to the top 10. He had meant it as a cruel joke when he set that up as the condition for him to leave the pod. He could have never imagined that he would climb through the ranks like this.

Why did I play things so foolishly? Loki thought.

Well, in hindsight, Zin had been the one suggesting it. Even after they had severed their relationship weeks ago, his traps and moves still tortured Loki.

“Roth Taylor. What a character. Amazing man. It’s impressive how quickly he grew. He has only been playing the game for a few months. He was placed in the 70s last week and is already considered the 46th-strongest player by the system. It’s incredible. By the way, what place are you in the rankings right now, Loki?”

“You…”

“The story of how he became trapped inside a Nexus pod is terrifying. Imagine that. A human being imprisoned in one of Nexus’ capsules. When I chatted with Phineas Cotton the other day, he told me how baffled he was that someone could tamper with a supposedly unhackable pod. Only someone with some connection to the Nexus hardware department could pull such a stunt. Now that I think about it, aren’t you a shareholder in Nexus's hardware division? Who among your colleagues could do such a thing?”

“Beats me,” Loki managed, incensed. He had never imagined that BlueFire would confront him with such an accusation. BlueFire was probably recording this conversation.

Loki clenched his fists and tried to control his breathing. It was highly unlikely that the Ogres or Nexus would bring what had happened to Roth to the authorities' attention. There was just too much money involved. How many people would be willing to keep playing in Nexus capsules if they knew they could be hacked and turned into prisons? What would happen to the Ogre guild, then?

BlueFire watched him with an amused smile. “Cat got your tongue, Loki?”

Using the word ‘cat’ to tease him only enraged him further. Loki couldn’t help but think back to how it was probably Roth’s pet who had broken into his safe.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Loki said, throwing all diplomacy into the wind. “Taking in Roth Taylor was a mistake. He’s nothing but trouble.”

“We’ll take our chances,” BlueFire said, winking. He stood up and walked away. Loki watched him leave, and once he was sure he was gone, he grabbed the delicate cup of tea and threw it against a nearby wall.

*

Ali took the key from his neck and inserted it into the metal lock. It hadn’t been easy to climb to the position of head botanist for the Lindstors. But here he was, heading the team caring for their precious greenhouse. He groaned as he pulled the glass door, opening the greenhouse for the rest of his team.

Ali had been playing AstroTerra from the first day it came out. He was even lucky enough to be among the beta testers. His character level was 54, but his botany was at level 67. As far as he was aware, he was currently the highest-level botanist in the game. These days, most other botanists near his level hung out in the capital, but he still made time every week to come here and care for the Lindstors’ garden. The benefits were just too many to ignore. They were kind employers and the reason why he had such a high botany level.

Ali began his inspection as the gardeners working under him spread out and started tending to the garden. First, he checked for any signs of pests. None of the foliage he inspected had holes, discoloration, or chew marks. There were no slime trails, either. Every plant, leaf, bush, and flower looked lush and well cared for.

He moved on to gauge the pest control population. He frowned. He was having trouble finding the predators they'd introduced in this ecosystem. After much searching, he found one juvenile praying mantis hiding under a leaf. What was it scared of? Perhaps it was hiding from the wasps.

He crossed the garden and headed toward the oak. He searched the leaves for any golden acorns but found nothing. Just regular ones. That was also odd. It had been many weeks since he had come up empty after a visit to this oak tree. It wasn't unprecedented, though. Maybe it was just a bad week.

He searched through the branches to see if the wasps were active but frowned as he struggled to find the nest. Where had they gone? He walked around, carefully searching for any golden acorns that had fallen, and noticed something odd.

There was a pile of smashed debris. These were the remains of the wasp nest! he realized. Maybe the nest had become so large and heavy that it had collapsed. It wasn't unprecedented either, although very rare. Ali scratched his head. He had a bad feeling. Despite the absence of signs of pests, there was something wrong with the garden.

He kept running his rounds and approached one of the gardeners, pumping oil on the burning bushes. “So? Good harvest?”

“Yes, sir. Ten ashberries. There are still more over there.”

“Good! Good!” He said, pleased.

He moved over to the snake tree. “Uh? Thierry? Have you harvested the snake fruit already?”

“I beg your pardon, sir? No. It had no fruit.”

“Really? I could swear that there would be one today. Did I make a mistake when taking notes?” He had been in this garden so often that one visit sometimes blurred into the next. As he kept visiting the different plants, he found that the harvest this time was subpar, to put it mildly.

The only explanation was that some pests were in the greenhouse. They were harming the plants, so they couldn't produce the nutritious stat boosters the Lindstors relished. But how could there be pests without signs of pest activity?

O’Shaughnessy was elected last week, and he kept asking the family to ship more stat boosters to the capital to use as gifts to cement his political alliances. They would be unhappy if production plummeted at this critical juncture. He had enough stock to appease them, but this had to be fixed immediately.

“I want the predator population to be doubled. Rotate it. Change the species of beetles and mantises. I also want a few wasp queens in here. Bring three hundred flies for pollination.”

“Very well, sir!” The gardener responsible for bringing the insects promptly obeyed. Sometimes, the game started coming up with different pests that gained resistance to the current form of pest control. Ali shifted it and rotated the species of predators often. Maybe he had just taken too long this time around.

He should also check with the other houses to see if their greenhouses were struggling. He was good friends with the Busterds' head botanist and would ask him if they had experienced any similar drop in production.

Ali left the greenhouse, waited for all the other gardeners to follow, and then watched approvingly as the last gardener released several mantises, beetles, and wasp queens around the garden. Ali waited for him to leave and then locked the greenhouse with two turns of the key.

Hopefully, when he came next week, everything would be back to normal.