Names were easy, since anything could hypothetically be one. Now, good names? Good names were a bit harder. Especially considering that it was entirely subjective, and what one person thought was a decent idea might seem entirely awful to someone else.
Jordan’s Kingdom? Nah, a five-year-old could do better than that. Maybe base it off my Class for the Nation of Combat Engineering, or Combat Engineer’s Kingdom? Hmm. You know what? That second one’s not too horrible, but let’s just add it to the “maybe” column for now. Actually… would adding the Kingdom just be redundant? Because if they’re all Kingdoms, then would adding it to the end of the name just become Kingdom Kingdom? Or would the System add the extra Kingdom to the front instead? Jordan asked himself.
He considered the question as his hands mindlessly worked to construct a spit over the fire. There were plenty of sticks and branches to construct one out of, especially now that the clearing had enough light for him to actually see them.
So, as his mind was occupied, he just tried to stay productive by getting something set up to hang a metal helmet from. The helmet in question had already been pulled from his pocket space, with spare clothing used to plug up the eye holes as tightly as he could. In lieu of a proper bucket, it was the best he had. The sooner he could get some water boiling to kill off any germs and then let it cool back down until it was no longer hot enough to burn his mouth, the better.
When Jordan had collected the water just earlier, he’d been tempted to drink straight from the source. In the dim light his drone provided, the river had looked crystal clear and welcomingly refreshing. With how thirsty he already was, a large part of him had been tempted to just cup his hands into the river and finally start drinking something. Hell, there was even a chance that his Vitality, if functioned like he assumed it did, was now high enough that he wouldn’t get sick.
Or for that matter, would the germs of another planet even impact him? Both bacteria and viruses tended to only affect certain types of victims based on which ones they directly evolved to infect, right? So who was to say if some alien virus would even know what to do if it found itself inside his human digestive system?
Anyway, the rational part of his brain had won out in deciding to play it safe. He’d heard before at some point that one of the worst things that can happen in a survival situation was to get sick or injured. Which meant that the least he could do was not be an idiot and get himself sick by taking unnecessary and wholly avoidable risks.
The Techno Empire? No, that sounds… tacky? Is that the right word? Meh. Anyway, how about, hmm. How about The Drone Empire? Jordan continued to internally comment on the ideas as they came to him. He didn’t put that much thought into any of them, just allowing a stream of consciousness to spit out names that he then considered for just a few seconds at most before moving on to the next.
It helped to have something so simple and honestly kind of silly to think about. While the decision would be permanent and likely follow him forever, that didn’t stop it from feeling like something kids might do as they thought about names for their made-up nations to rule over. And then debated about how their nation’s name was obviously the most awesome of them all. Compared to the much darker subjects he could have been currently thinking about instead, it made for a nice distraction.
You know what? Jordan thought as he used his old shirt to tie the helmet to a branch, allowing to just slightly hang from the middle.
The helmet swung a bit as his tying skills were put to the test. Hands raised, he was prepared to stop it from falling before it crashed into the fire below. But thankfully, it held, and seemed to be stable enough for him to pour the water in. For that, all he had to do was hold his palm over the upside-down helmet and open his pocket space. Then with his other hand, he “pulled out” a stream of water.
He thought of it that way, because he still made the same motion that was like drawing a sword from an invisible sheath. However, that was mainly just because it was the closest comparison he could currently make. Because all he needed to do to activate the pocket space was the action of acting as if he was reaching into it.
The moment he did so while thinking about what he wanted, it just spat the thing out into his waiting hand. In this case, that item had been approximately enough water to fill the space within the helmet. Since that was how the pocket space worked and its very loose definition of what was considered a valid item, he could just as easily start collecting the air around him if he really wanted to.
Why don’t I just simplify things by taking a page out of the System’s book? Jordan continued his earlier thought. The Boon it gave me was called the Herald of Industry, so why not just base the name on that? How about… The Center of Industry. Hmm, no, probably too wordy for a nation’s name. Actually, why not just Industry?
Jordan rubbed his chin as he actually latched onto that idea. One word, short and simple. Whether or not the System throws in Kingdom every time it's mentioned, it still works either way. So that could be Industry, Industry Kingdom, or Kingdom of Industry. I guess the only way it doesn’t really work is if the System decides to make it read as Kingdom Industry instead. But if it does that for everyone else, I’m sure others will suffer that too as an awkward start to every name. And if collective suffering is the case, then I can live with that.
The desired name of the Kingdom has been finalized!
Industry’s placement on the leaderboard has been finalized!
With that prompt, his next action was obviously to open the leaderboard to see it for himself.
Mightiest Kingdom:
1: Golden Empire of the Eternal Golden Prince (Rank 1)
Stolen story; please report.
2: Golden Empire of the Eternal Golden Prince (Rank 1)
3: Kingdom of Clan Qorath’zyrunch (Rank 1)
4: Vervina’s Heartland (Rank 1)
5: Golden Empire of the Eternal Golden Prince (Rank 1)
…
8: Industry (Rank 1)
What the Hell? Jordan’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the screen, confused. In any normal circumstance, his initial reaction would been of joy at being so high up and so close to the top five. But now he was just weirded out about the three Kingdoms whose repeating name had taken up not one, not two, but three of those top spots.
And it didn’t even end there. The seventh spot on the list was a fourth instance. Behind him, the total number of Kingdoms on the leaderboard currently tallied 12. There luckily wasn’t another instance of this Golden Empire, at least not yet. Though at this rate, he would not be surprised if it showed up at least a few more times by the time all 25 freely guided Kingdoms from the Quest were established.
Just who could this Golden Prince even be? Unless the System just put at least four Mandates bunched together in one spot, there’s no way one group could have claimed that many. Unless… maybe they didn’t need to be close together? What if all these guys are part of some faction, and at least one person got a Class that allows for long-range communication? Jordan asked himself as the water steadily continued to heat up.
It was very possible for such a Class and related Skills to exist. In a world where he could conjure drones out of thin air, long-range telepathy or something wouldn’t exactly be the strangest thing. He wasn’t sure what kind of Trait one would even need to have picked to unlock such a Class, but when billions of people existed, practically every Trait had a chance to get picked at least once. If you only needed one person with such Skills to establish communication between far-away groups, then mass coordination on day one was definitely viable.
As he remained lost in idle thought, the water slowly came to a boil. When it did so, he allowed it to stay boiling for a few minutes before moving it away from the fire. Then as the water was given time to cool back down a bit, Jordan used that time to throw a Rabbit on the spit. However, it turned out that being lost in your own head wasn’t always the best idea.
“Ah, shit!” Jordan cursed as the horrid stench of burning fur assaulted his nose. He’d started to cook the Rabbit without thinking about preparing it, and so this was the natural result. While his patrolling land drone allowed him some peace of mind from the cooking meat and its potential to attract hungry predators, the smell itself was still horrible.
Jordan then hurriedly pulled the branch away from the fire as the easiest way to remove the Rabbit quickly. But in the rush, he knocked over the clumsily built spit, causing the whole thing to fall apart into the fire below. One stick only dipped into the flames for a moment before rolling off. Thankfully, it hadn’t been in there long enough to catch fire and spread it to the dry leaves outside the cleared pit.
Pulling it off hadn’t helped with the already burning fur, however. But then after cursing himself for not doing so first, Jordan threw the small body into his pocket space. Closing his eyes, the young man then rubbed at his face as the moment of chaos passed. Then after taking a deep breath to calm himself, he began to gather a fresh set of sticks to rebuild a new spit over the campfire.
It’s not a big deal. Just some burnt fur that smelled bad. Not a big deal at all; just get over it and move on, he mentally told himself. But deeper in his heart, Jordan knew that he wasn’t in the
best place. If even a minor inconvenience could throw him off his game by this much, then it only proved that what he needed now was water, a hot meal, and then some especially needed sleep.
To at least address that first need, the water had at least gotten cool enough to not scald his tongue. Taking a careful sip at first to make sure of that, he allowed it to sit in his mouth before gulping the liquid down. Then he took a large swig, gulping down entire mouthfuls at a time with barely any breaths taken between each gulp. The heat from the recently boiled water filled his gut and chest.
But while he normally preferred his drinks ice-cold, it was still almost heavenly now in its refreshment. From a trip to the movies with plenty of popcorn and caffeinated soda, Jordan had arguably been dehydrated even before the Merging. Something made worse by the long day filled with more than its fair share of stress and physical exertion.
Yet more than just quench his thirst, the water did wonders for his psyche. It felt almost cleaning, like the bit of tightness his throat had been holding for hours could finally relax. How much it actually helped versus how much the feeling was just him imagining it was hard to say. But for the time being, something was most certainly better than nothing.
Sighing with satisfaction, most of the water had been drained. With a helmet not acting as the best cup, quite a bit had gone down his chin and spilled onto his shirt. But that was fine. Taking out a sword from his pocket space, Jordan studied how it reflected the fire’s light for a moment. Then he pulled out a different Rabbit, and cut into its fur.
You’re supposed to do it like this, right, Dad? The memories of camping and being taught such things by his father were distant. It’d easily been well over a decade since those days, before Jordan’s dad had lost his job and been forced to switch to one that paid considerably less. With that forcing every week to be a long one to compensate for the pay difference by always working overtime, there hadn’t been many chances for more camping trips.
After making the cut, Jordan pushed his fingers into the incision. Then, with both hands, he pulled in opposite directions. It only took a bit of effort for the skin and fur to peel off as he pulled. He vaguely recalled that Rabbits and such were one of the easier critters to deskin like this.
Experience Earned!
+24 EXP
He glanced up at the notification. Speaking of critters, it seemed his drone had just murdered a Bark Snake or something else that was Level 2. At least the main benefit of its constant patrol was now starting to kick in. If anything came close while he slept tonight, they should turn into additional notifications for him to view upon waking.
Moving a bit away from the campfire for this next part, Jordan still had the sword in hand. Grabbing a few arrows from the Ranger’s quiver, Jordan stuck the skinned mammal into the side of a tree. Then stretching out its legs with one hand, it took just a single good swing to cut off the Rabbit’s legs. Letting the blood drain out was another thing he recalled as a common practice.
Jordan’s stomach rumbled as he walked around. The water currently sloshing around inside hadn’t a lot for his actual hunger and had only helped a little by filling his stomach. But it could wait for a bit longer, because if he was going to have a meal, he’d do it right and prepare it properly. Or at least as properly as Jordan knew to do, anyway.
But since that now needed some time to drain, it was finally time to address something he’d been putting off. Mostly out of nervousness at what it could possibly be, since it would apparently define the very path his Kingdom would start on. It was about time he went inside the building and saw just what the already installed Boon had for him.