An Anarchic-Capitalist society, when it worked, hung on a delicate balance. All citizens must be almost equal with no power imbalances for it to sustain itself. No government meant the power to rule over others was up for grabs. Like all social systems that depended on equality, it usually leveled things to the lowest common denominator, the communist countries of Earth being a prime example. It meant people lived in the worst conditions possible. Usually with a ruling elite that called the shots but Anarcho-Capitalism hadn’t such luxuries because one of its basic premises was the lack of a government.
Once an exceptional individual appeared in such societies and was successful in his capitalist endeavors, they would quickly grow in power and wealth and fill this power vacuum, becoming the de-facto government and imposing their own rules. Thus an Anarchic-Capitalist society wasn’t a construct that could survive its own built-in pitfalls. That is the reason one didn’t see it very often, aside from localized bubbles and willing social experiments.
Thus the gnome society moved from its “ankle-deep in literal crap” Anarcho-Capitalist cave dwellings into a sunlight-baked monarchy. I destroyed things in this desert in a myriad of ways. The gnomes didn’t mind the change as it came with an improved quality of life, surely making Lysander Spooner twist in his grave.
----------------------------------------
“Tina,” Grenniana approached me one day, “why does the [Queen] and [Pope] act like you’re their superior?”
“Because I am,” I replied without falsehood. The girl was an adult now, she deserved the truth.
“You’re the Matriarch, right? Sometimes you slipped and talked about the Goddess in the first person.”
“You passed my test. Now I know you are not a naive girl, I can leave the gnomes to you,” I deadpanned.
She snickered and shoved me away, “Stop teasing me! I know you’re not leaving!”
She had no idea how much I wanted to go. I had a deadline to get as strong as I could and I needed to level up. An angry goddess who had a thousand years of head start was preparing to come down and kick my ass. And then maybe imprison my soul so I couldn’t be reborn. That’s what I’d do if I were her.
“One day, I’ll have to go. That’s still years ahead. Grow strong quickly so I can go faster,” I snickered back at her.
“Why?”
“I have to kill a goddess.”
I sat with her and spent the rest of the day telling her my story and why I had to fight the brood-bitch.
----------------------------------------
The repaired Queen Lorna was now safely kept in my item box. Without the kobold menace, we didn’t need armored vehicles to collect salvage. The few patrols that survived the blast were too busy trying to rebuild their society from the ashes and they had trouble breeding their raptors or even multiplying. They needed the gnomes magic juice to improve both scaled species’ fertility rate and now they had none. Much of their knowledge and technology was also lost because only warriors survived, making them devolve into feral monster bands who avoided the gnome vehicles out of fear. Kobold sightings were rare nowadays and I didn’t bother with them anymore. They weren’t worth the effort to exterminate, conquer, or assimilate. Even if they managed to rebuild their strength, they lacked divine assistance and it would only be a problem centuries down the road.
The gnomes learned how to build steam engines and flywheel batteries, making wood was a major import of Glimmervale. The wood they bought mostly came from the Lierin elves living in Tuisto’s valley. The tiny folk could recycle metal very well so they could make their machines with the metal they salvaged themselves. A few dwarves came from Windemere, enduring the low mana area to learn gnomish tinkering and engineering. They exchanged their knowledge of metallurgy for that.
Windemere and Glimmervale were building a road through the mountains to connect both places. Skirting Tuisto’s Valley through the south, the projected road path looked like a smile on the map and would take years to complete. They needed to set settlements and fortifications along the way to protect the travelers from monsters and exploit the local resources. They found rich surface mineral deposits and monster dens, along with a Labyrinth access point halfway between the sister nations.
I created a special category for the Gnome priests of the Matriarch with purely martial and physical abilities. These gnomes learned a lot of weapon abilities and added a portion of their Faith score to their physical Attributes in a magical area. They also could move in high magic density regions without incurring significant damage or pain.
That caused another unforeseen problem a few years down the road.
----------------------------------------
5 years later
----------------------------------------
Glimmervale was growing with the new evolution of the Scavenger gnomes no longer suffering from either poison glands or mana sickness. These gnomes grew with only tales of a time where water was scarce and lizards were fierce and the first generation finally came of age. They were blessed at the local temple by the gnomish war-priests and were guided through their first Dungeon delve and Class orientation day.
Then the System sprung this up on me.
> > WARNING: You now have a whole subspecies of gnomes with more than 10,000 individuals worshipping you. This challenges Wyxnos’ exclusive claim to the gnome species. You have two choices:
>
> 1. Challenge Wyxnos’ claim and keep the scavenger gnomes as your sole worshippers. This may trigger conflict between your church and Wyxnos’.
> 2. Agree to share half the faith from the scavenger gnomes with Wyxnos. This does not change their allegiance.
>
>
Goodness. Ben Franklyn was right. The only inevitable things were indeed death and taxes. Before I could choose either, I was dragged into a call.
----------------------------------------
> [Administrator Hotline]
>
> CALL START
>
> Wyxnos: What do you think you’re doing!?!
>
> Matriarch: Dude, you aren’t my boss. Piss off. Use that Logic domain of yours and go straight to the point. C’mon, I used to be a software engineer.
>
> Wyxnos: Why are you trying to steal my gnomes?
>
> Matriarch: I’m not. You should ask the System why it’s doing that. I’m just working with the scavenger gnomes you abandoned. Wuss.
>
> Wyxnos: I demand you step down.
>
> Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
>
> Matriarch: Dude, take a chill pill. If I wanted to take the gnomes away from you, I’d do the same thing to you that I did to Bundeus. Break your church, kill your clergy. I’m not. Now, you should step down before I get pissed. I was thinking about what I should slaughter to increase my level. Your clerics and worshippers are as good as any other source of Exp. You don’t want to fight me, Wyxnos. You know that.
>
> Wyxnos: You don’t want to fight me. I’m still an administrator.
>
> Matriarch: One of three. I bet convincing the other two to vote with you is mighty expensive. How deep are your pockets?
>
> Wyxnos: I’m going to bring this upon the Pantheon.
>
> Matriarch: Do what you want, dude. It’s a free world. Just remember, I’m not beholden to the Pantheon. You and your cronies can do shit to me. Loki can do shit to me.
>
> Loki: You break this benefactor’s heart.
>
> Matriarch: Look, it’s a simple yes or no question. Do you want war? I can do war. I’m running out of temples to drop on people. But I dug those gnomes out of, damn, literally, a hole filled with excrement. You had the opportunity to do something for them and you FUCKING RAN AWAY. Now, do everyone a favor and go whine to the System for being unfair to you. I’m not sharing my toys against my will with those who sucked on their thumbs then stuck it up to their arses. Either give up or meet me behind the gym building after class. Bring your friends, your mom, the school principal. I don’t care. I got enough sucker-punches for all of them. Or complain to Loki for killing me in NYC with a fucking truck and bringing me here. But now that I’m here, I’m staying.
>
> Loki: I did everyone a favor. Why can’t you guys see it?
>
> Wyxnos: Stay out of this, Loki.
>
> Loki: I was going to vote for you, now I’m going to abstain. See if you can convince the old Germanic dude of anything.
>
> Wyxnos: I’m warning you. If the Pantheon unites…
>
> Matriarch: If they had the ability to unite, they would’ve eliminated me when I was a maimed little girl. You guys are so narcissistic you can’t even have a barbecue together.
>
> Matriarch: Oh, how about we make a little wager?
>
> Wyxnos: What do you mean?
>
> Matriarch: You list what set of benefits you’ll give the scavenger gnomes. You must give all your worshippers the same benefits. Then we list what they get from me. We will show both lists to the gnomes as a quest, and have them vote on which deity they want. Simple majority wins. No divine messages, no campaign. Just pop the notification in front of everyone and let them decide. If the gnomes vote for you, you can have them. If they vote for me, you lose the rule over the Gnome domain. Can’t be more American than that.
>
> Wyxnos: You erased me from their mind! You converted them! That’s a violation of every treaty we gods agreed on.
>
> Matriarch: Again, I’m an outsider. I’m not beholden to your treaties and accords, or council decisions. I made you an offer, are you taking it?
>
> Wyxnos: It does not benefit me even if I win.
>
> Matriarch: Then we’re done here. I’m having your church expelled from Windemere and if I see you move a single finger against me, I’m going ballistic.
>
> CALL END
----------------------------------------
The call ended, leaving me in the temple overseeing the new generation orientation. I hear gasps from the streets. As I look outside the church, I see the gnomes pointing at the sky. I {Shadow Warped} to some gnome’s shadow outside the church and looked up. A gigantic meteor was coming down on Glimmervale. Burning and leaving a trail of smoke, it was going faster than the speed of sound as it silently descended from the north, going over the mountains and coming straight at us.
> > WARNING: A renegade deity has released a titanic creature. All [Heroes] are issued a QUEST: Kill the titanic creature before it destroys the Auvanini continent. Rewards: 2 Ultra-Rare Perk vouchers of any Rank, 50 Attribute Points, The Exp award won’t be affected by rank-up thresholds.
Interesting to know there were others with the [Hero] title.
I spread my wings as I shapeshifted into a harpy and soared up to meet the meteor. My danger sense went off and I went on an erratic pattern as hundreds of projectiles rained down on me. I dodged all of them and stared in shock as they struck the town underneath me, destroying whole buildings. Gnome souls came to me, attracted by {Soul Shepherd}.
“WYXNOS! You’ll regret your choice!” I shouted at the sky.
Moving up as fast as I could, I reached the range of the item box and tried to put the meteor in it.
> > ERROR. Living creatures cannot be stored.
> WARNING: Wyxnos has been demoted from the Pantheon. All priests and temples of Wyxnos lose divine status.
What the fuck was that?
> > Level 200 ???
The meteor struck me and I clung to its burning outside. I started to strike it with the [Unicorn King Spear] but my attacks for a few billion HP of damage were but a dent on the creature's massive HP pool. Worse, it regenerated a few hundred million every second. Even if I attacked it with all my might, I wouldn’t bring it to half health before it crashed on the ground below.
I ran through my list of options and came out short. Then I had an idea. First, I activated {Kitsune Possession}.
> > Contested Magic (vs Magic + Ego) test lost.
>
> > Contested Magic (vs Magic + Ego) test lost.
>
> > Contested Magic (vs Magic + Ego) test lost.
>
> > Contested Magic (vs Magic + Ego) test lost.
>
> > Contested Magic (vs Magic + Ego) test lost.
I activated {Eldritch Aura} and {Royal Aura}, lowering the monster’s Attributes enough to punch through.
> > Contested Magic (vs Magic + Ego) test won.
I became the meteor creature. It had little to no perception of its environment but it was capable of floating in space and perceiving… gravity? I hit the brakes and used {Blink Step} to move my host as far up as I could. Not enough when you’re moving faster than the speed of sound. Without much choice, I shifted my host bodily to the Ethereal world.
There we went through the ground as I slowed down and tried to move back up. But the creature was too massive and too fast to slow before we crossed into the Ethereal version of the dead magic zone. I felt the creature's rocky exterior crumble and dissolve as it squirmed in pain.
It fought back against the possession and ejected me. I made sure to leave going up. The flaming meteor now appeared like a round stone golem that was on fire. The siphon started to attack me as well but I went full speed up, trying to escape before I too was dissolved into raw magic by the dead magic zone. The golem shot more projectiles but the size difference between us was so enormous not even a critical would hit me with all the Perks I had to fight things bigger than me.
I didn’t want to end this life yet. Yes, I could probably be reborn again and start it all over but I needed the levels. Wasting another decade as a child was something I wanted to avoid at all costs. I didn’t even mind losing the Quest rewards if the System didn’t consider throwing the titanic meteor in the siphon as my kill.
I saw dim sunlight as I left the underground over the desert. The Ethereal might be a more magical dimension but was a parallel reality with all its own rules. One of them was that magic emanated light. Inside the dead magic zone, everything seemed dim, grayscale, and faded. I couldn’t use magic and was trapped in it until I could leave the dead magic zone. The sands remained calm, heedless of the monstrosity being dissolved underneath. Then everything shook. I looked up at the mountains and saw massive landslides as the earthquake shattered the peaks. I kept going up until I felt I’d left the dead magic zone. The world regained its color as magic was once again on the menu.
I flew back to Glimmervale. About two in every ten buildings was destroyed and I had a lot of gnome souls floating around. The tremors were still going as the titanic golem raged in an attempt to save its life. I shifted back to the real world and started to sing. I kid not, the first song that came to mind was “Earthquake” by BabyBus. One of my friends’ kids back in NYC loved it. My spell covered the town with a dampening field that absorbed the shock from the vibrations. As I kept the spell-song going, I flew toward the landslide and captured the rocks in the item box.
Eventually, it stopped.
> > QUEST COMPLETED.
The titanic monster was dead. As it died in the dead magic zone, I got zero rewards but Glimmervale survived. Then the “red phone” rang.
----------------------------------------
> [Administrator Hotline]
>
> CALL START
>
> Tuisto: Thank you for your quick response.
>
> Matriarch: Any chance I can get credit for killing the creature? And what happened to Wyxnos?
>
> Tuisto: He was demoted from his position as administrator and the Pantheon. He is now a renegade deity.
>
> Matriarch: I beg your pardon, I don’t quite understand what it means.
>
> Tuisto: He has no domain, no priests, no sources of Divinity except what he may steal. And no protection.
>
> Loki: To put it bluntly, he is now like a Jotunn set loose in Asgard. When my dear brother’s home.
>
> Matriarch: Are you telling me to go hunt him?
>
> Loki: Don’t be silly. Never. I would tell you the same thing I would tell my brother: Don’t bother the poor misplaced Jotunn.
>
> Matriarch: And Thor would…
>
> Loki: Thor does what Thor does. He’s a grown Aesir, he can make his own choices.
>
> Matriarch: Where did that titan golem come from?
>
> Loki: Dunno, Tartarus, maybe? We had no idea he had that. But Wyxnos took something from the System Core with him. Tuisto and I would want it back.
>
> Tuisto: That’s true. Would you retrieve it for us?
>
> Matriarch: What is it?
>
> Loki: A small core. Nothing of significance.
>
> (I knew Loki was lying but didn’t call him on that).
>
> Matriarch: Sure. Give me the rewards for removing the titan, and I’ll see what I can do.
>
> Loki: Ah! I remembered. Tuisto, “give the Matriarch the Quiz”.
>
> Tuisto: She is not ready yet. Nevertheless, your actions removed the titan from Yznarian. We will grant you the rewards.
>
> CALL END
----------------------------------------
What a mess.