Alistair spent about a week refining the anti-scrying array, a task significantly expedited by the help of mermaid array experts. They had already laid a solid foundation but lacked the precise rune work needed to complete it, which he provided. Meanwhile, the Ryser Clan's Network finally went online, covering the entire star system. With it came the introduction of Ryser Credits—a currency system Nessyra spearheaded. She had crafted gold coins of varying sizes, each stamped with their clan’s sigil on one side and its value on the other. When stored, these coins were converted into digital credits within the Network, allowing for seamless transfers or reconversion back into physical gold, solving what would have otherwise been a logistical Nightmare.
In preparation for the Network’s launch, they coordinated wages and service pricing with key figures like Resni Stoneheart, Barton, the Fichera family, and others. The AI Core played a crucial role in managing an exchange system that enabled people to spend their credits on services, skill training, and treasures. The Alpha AI Core proved invaluable in establishing fair exchange rates and automating credit distribution, saving Nessyra and her team months—if not years—of administrative effort.
While he worked on the array, Riseth and the others explored Nautilis and its resources, the most notable find being a growing crystal reef treasure. These crystals could be transplanted into their own oceans and larger lakes. They could serve as a fuel source for their mana reactors, as they were packed with water-aspected mana and grew at a steady rate without affecting the mana density of their environment. Nessyra was particularly thrilled by this discovery and spent much of her time coordinating with Denodia to harvest these crystal reefs while also aligning finances, currency, contracts, and trade. She also had people work on a teleportation array between the planet and its moon to facilitate easier travel.
Alistair looked around in the dimly lit bunker, examining the now almost finished array faintly glowing on the stone floor, a small host of mermaid array experts applying the finishing touches, throwing him the occasionally longing glances with one of them approaching him again. They had dropped a lot of hints and flirtatious comments during the time he had been down here. His solution to this had been to send them all Simon's way, and since none of them returned, he kept doing it. He started his usual spiel on the mermaid to send her Simon's way when he sensed Simon coming down into the bunker and approached him in a huff once he realized what he was doing.
“Damn it, Alistair, stop sending every mermaid my way!” Simon exclaimed.
“What’s the issue? You’re a young, eligible bachelor,” Alistair replied playfully. “Is it because you have a thing for feet? Don’t worry about that; they can transform their tails,” he teased.
“You know that’s not it. And unlike you, I don’t go for the first woman who shows interest in me,” Simon retorted with a smug expression.
Alistair embraced him in their usual greeting before continuing to rib his friend as they headed for the exit, still bantering. The mermaids, seemingly unfazed by their exchange, watched them depart before continuing their work.
"I'm surprised it took you this long to call me out," Alistair remarked as they ascended toward the palace above.
"A gentleman doesn't tell," Simon retorted with a smirk. "Actually, Nessyra told me to fetch you because the ladies down there don't need your assistance anymore."
Nessyra had informed Alistair that they would be departing soon, so this news didn't come as a big surprise. As they made their way through the palace, Simon led him to an office space where Nessyra had been working, then quickly excused himself, apparently eager to get somewhere. Upon entering the office, Alistair found Nessyra and Riseth discussing upcoming tasks while Nessyra packed up her belongings in preparation to leave Nautilus.
"Ah, good you are here; let's settle that contract clause while we are here," Nessyra said as a magical contract appeared in front of each of them, stating the terms they had agreed to what felt like ages ago.
As soon as all of them signed and agreed to strike the clause, something clicked into place. Alistair heard a series of chimes, and a quick glance at his bloodline tab revealed that it had advanced from the Establishment stage to Established. The tab was now filled with new information, including growth speed, clan potential, average clan member and follower satisfaction, estimated strength relative to their surroundings, and more. Overwhelmed by the sudden influx of information, he temporarily swiped the tab aside and focused on the new title instead.
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TITLES:
Tier: [Unique]
Name: Ryser Bloodline Patriarch
Effect:
Territories held by the Ryser Clan experience a slight growth in magical density and quality.
Members and followers of the Ryser Clan receive the skill [Akashic Link] at the Grade 8 [Rare] tier.
Clan leadership's ability to sway the attitudes of members and followers is improved.
Arrays maintained by the Ryser Clan have overall increased efficiency.
Beneficial Heritage Records for Offspring for all Bloodline members.
Origin: A title held by [Alistair Ryser], the Clan patriarch of Clan Ryser, and shared with [Riseth Ryser], the Clan Matriarch. This title evolves, with its potential benefits and drawbacks scaling with the clan's success. Success is determined by the clan's actions, number of members, influence, member and follower satisfaction, individual power of its members and leadership, quality of leadership, amount of claimed territory, and economic power and growth.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
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Alistair whistled appreciatively. He could make educated guesses about most of the effects the title conferred. He surmised that the ability to sway attitudes stemmed from the high satisfaction levels among their followers, which were excellent at the moment. This made it significantly easier to implement policies that might have otherwise met with grumbling—though he found this influence somewhat unsettling.
Setting aside his personal reservations about some of the titles, he examined the second benefit. They had been promoting the Akashic Link skill in anticipation of their Network going live. However, many had already spent a skill point to acquire it and wouldn't gain any additional advantage. Still, he was certain that the effort of spreading the skill had contributed to the perk appearing in the first place.
The only thing that truly surprised him was the increased array efficiency. While they worked frequently with array formations, he wouldn't have considered them specialized in it. He suspected their acquisition of various array formation manuals through trial rewards must have elevated their status among other bloodlines using arrays. He wouldn't complain, as it was one of the better benefits.
"God damn it, we should have done that earlier," Nessyra cursed as she swiped wildly through her system structure.
"Yeah, I didn't expect it to make such a huge difference either," Alistair admitted, glancing between the title and the greatly expanded Bloodline tabs.
Their bloodline title, which enhanced the environmental magical density and quality, was an especially significant boon. Alistair surmised that this benefit resulted from their efforts to balance environmental stability while increasing Lacustrine's mana density and quality. They had managed to enhance the planet's mana without harming the environment, and the title's benefits might continue to improve as long as they maintained this careful approach. However, the fact that there were no organizational or similar benefits bothered him as Nessyra did a lot of incredible work.
"Did you get a separate title?" Alistair inquired as he felt like the title he got did not reflect her efforts.
"Yes, check your bloodline tab. There is one listing the bloodline titles for different leadership positions," Nessyra replied while continuing to flip through the pages.
Alistair sucked in air through his teeth as he reviewed the various bloodline-related titles. Bloodline benefits were no joke. As he browsed through the titles, he noticed that each had different levels of benefits based on the performance of the individual leader. Nessyra and James, in particular, had remarkable benefits, some of which enhanced their abilities, such as increased mental stats or improved record gains while performing their duties. However, most skill effects were passive in nature and quite different from his usual, more combat-related skills and titles, as most of their benefits were mainly directed toward the members and followers rather than the just owner of the bloodline title. However, what stood out to him more was that they currently only had 12 slots for bloodline titles based on the clan size, and 8 of those slots had already been assigned due to him and Riseth sharing one of the slots. This meant they needed to be more restrained when handing out made-up titles as they now had even more relevancy.
Even Denodia had received a bloodline title, but since she had only recently joined them, she hadn't gained many benefits from it yet. Alistair was pulled out of his thoughts by a knock at the door. Riseth opened it to let in Denodia, who had come to see them off. Most of them had grown closer during their weeklong stay, and Deonida had proven an excellent host, although a little too flirtatious at times.
"It's such a shame you have to leave already. I am looking forward to seeing you all again," Denodia said in her usual bubbly manner as she hugged them.
"Not to worry, Alistair and I are sure to visit again; the food and the beaches are too enticing to pass up," Riseth assured warmly.
Having spent most of his time in a large underground bunker beneath the palace setting up an array, Alistair hadn't had the chance to explore the surroundings. He was particularly curious about the beaches and the beautiful crystal reefs he hadn't been able to experience for himself yet.
"Oh, I look forward to hosting the two of you," Denodia said with a toothy smile.
Alistair didn't miss the undertone but didn't even bat an eye anymore, and neither did Riseth or Nessyra.
Accompanied by Denodia, they made their way to the surface. Simon would remain on Nautilus until the teleportation array was completed to protect the mermaids from any emerging beasts and threats. Karrut alone wouldn't be powerful enough, and it would take time to implement the defensive arrays from their manuals. Over the past week, Alistair had grown more adept at laying down arrays, even identifying inefficiencies that the system had not highlighted. Once he recognized them, the interface updated based on his insights, though it did not result in a skill upgrade. He mused that a programmer or technician would likely excel in enchantment, speculating that their previous professions might have granted them an increased affinity for it.
After waving his goodbyes, Alistair boarded the Artemis, which Riseth had deployed a few meters above the ocean. He eagerly anticipated a change of scenery and the opportunity to explore Lacustrine properly. Taking advantage of the moment, he initiated a group call with his brother, who had asked him to check in once they were on their way back.
"Oh, hey guys! Glad to hear you're on your way back. And Alistair, your cat's been getting a bit restless, so make sure you pick her up when you get home," James said.
Alistair felt a pang of guilt but knew his cat would be just fine. It wasn't the first time he'd left her with his mother for a week.
"But that's not the main reason I'm calling," James continued as Alistair received a stream of information. "My drones have discovered a wide assortment of interesting locations. One stands out in particular, and we suspect it might be either a dungeon or a realm."
Alistair sat up a little straighter as curiosity gripped him. Either possibility would be a significant boon. His dungeon sense had already detected a handful of dungeons on both Lacustrine and Nautilus. The difference compared to the trial was quite pronounced; during the trial, he sensed an incredible number of dungeons, even though he had found hardly any. On planets he had visited outside the trial, he suspected finding dungeons without a proper seeker skill like an improved dungeon sense would rely heavily on patience and time.
"The location is a few dozen kilometers northwest of Rathos, in the heart of one of the green forests. Take a look at this," James said.
Alistair, Riseth, and Nessyra gathered to inspect the footage. The drone flew over a vast forest expanse dotted with creeks, small rivers, and lakes. The majority of the forest had the same green trees and foliage as around Rathos, but at its center was a large patch of gold and autumn-colored trees, standing out like a sore thumb.
"We suspect that either a small dungeon is forming and converting the area, or it's a dungeon realm or regular realm spilling over. We initially discovered the location due to sensors reporting the appearance of a strong Grade 8 beast. Still, we couldn't properly spot or record it, as it seems to appear and disappear at will, presumably returning into the Dungeon."
The footage showed the drone navigating through the different environments. The trees in the golden patch resembled oaks more than the pine and poplar-like trees they had encountered so far. Before long, a weasel-like Zerster beast attacked the drone, driving it out of the area.
James was already talking and showing footage of a few other locations of interest, and Alistair keenly listened and disseminated the footage, eager to explore each one.