“Hello there, can you tell me where the General is?”
The maid was startled, a look of surprise flashing across her face upon seeing Azeroth awake, it was common knowledge after all that the young lord usually slept well past the afternoon.
Azeroth’s stay over here in the castle of Hamshil over the past few weeks led to the servant’s in the castle already being used to their new master’s habits.
It was not her place to judge the master of the house and the maid quickly regained her control of herself and her expressions and volunteered to guide Azeroth to the War room. Azeroth accepted and followed her.
On the way Azeroth admired the interior of the castle as he made his way to this “War room”. He guessed it was where the Lord and his people formulated strategies and made important decisions during times of war.
The maid opened the doors and announced his entry to the room’s occupants.
Azeroth took note of this maid’s name and dismissed her as he entered the room. He looked around and saw a group of tough looking, battle-hardened men standing around a round table. The table was covered in a map that contained the layout of the city and its surroundings.
On the map were several well-crafted pieces of wood that represented the forces of the city and the enemies. The red coloured enemy pieces vastly outnumbered the blue pieces of the city.
Azeroth took his eyes of the map and looked at the men surrounding table and greeted them politely,
“Gentlemen, it appears we are in quite the dilemma.”
There was no need for introduction among these people as his past self had already done so for him. Albeit it was a not the best of impressions his past self made. It was up to him to rebuild his relationship with these people and take his place as their lord not just in name but in their hearts as well.
“Lord Azeroth, this General offers his greetings.”
A large man with a head full of white hair and with a long beard to match to boot greeted him. The man’s muscular physique belied his old age as he stood tall beside the lord’s seat.
A large scar ran through his eyes from the top of his forehead to his chin giving him a slightly ferocious look which coupled with his physique gave an intimidating appearance.
General Randheim served in the military of Hamshil for a long time and had many merits to his name.
Azeroth took froze for an instant before a smile crossed his face and he said.
“General Randheim, you have worked hard.”
Although he already knew of the general from this body’s memories, looking at such a figure in the flesh still shocked him a bit. He wasn’t too disturbed by such an appearance though. While he may have been normal citizen of Earth, he was also someone who witnessed much in Zenith Online.
While the limits of technology may have prevented some things from being felt in virtual reality, he still faced various monstrosities in the game and the general and the rest of the soldiers in this room didn’t shake his heart much.
Azeroth calmly made his way to the Lord’s seat at the head of the table under the watch of these men.
Looking at the map and the surprised faces of the men around him Azeroth spoke,
“General, brief me about our current situation.”
The General and the men in the room were still astonished at Azeroth’s sudden arrival. The young lord just walked into the room, strode up to the head of the table and sat on his seat like it was a normal occurrence for him.
It had only been a few weeks since Azeroth came to this city and was appointed as its lord but not once had he performed his duties.
He lazed around all day and left all the work to the city’s officials and left the army in the General’s care. The lord of a city was supposed to look after its administration and bring development and prosperity to the city but Azeroth did none of that.
There was nothing to be done if their Lord did not instruct them and the people would never take things into their own hands, considering Azeroth’s special identity.
Azeroth’s father Garen made sure that he couldn’t use his identity in this test as that would make the whole ordeal worthless. After all who would dare oppose the Prince of the Empire?
All that was informed to the public was that their new lord was the son of a powerful noble from another planet. This would allow Azeroth to gain control of the city while also not making things too easy for him.
The title of nobility would not necessarily ward of other more powerful city-states and kingdoms.
Other territories would want to challenge Azeroth if they knew of his nobility in order to prove themselves and to obtain greater wealth and these conflicts would help Azeroth to grow stronger. Garen’s thoughts were on the right track but he unfortunately underestimated his own son’s laziness.
Azeroth was not going to repeat what his predecessor did, he would fulfil his duties and complete his father’s test.
“Well General, I’m waiting.”
Randheim was shook out of his stupor and replied quickly,
“Forgive me milord, this old man was too caught up in his thoughts.”
Azeroth smiled and told the general it was ok and gestured him to continue. Randheim then gave him a detailed report on the city’s current predicament.
The enemy had the city surrounded on all sides and were currently trying to use siege ladders to try and scale the walls. The enemy army had ten thousand troops and were trying to use their numbers to overwhelm them at the walls.
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Luckily the soldiers of Hamshil weren’t weak and managed to repel the invaders using their advantages as the defenders. After losing many men the enemy knew that siege ladders alone weren’t enough especially when General Randheim or the captains of the army arrived to assist the ordinary soldiers whenever a stronger enemy came up the ladders.
The enemy retreated back to their camps and the soldiers of Hamshil cheered thinking they warded off the enemy but reality was cruel.
The city discovered that the enemy wasn’t leaving at all and upon sending scouts to gather information were terrified to discover what was happening. Their opponents were bringing siege towers to attack their city.
Unlike siege ladders that enabled soldiers to climb up the walls one by one, siege towers would enable multiple soldiers to scale the walls at once. The siege towers were nothing more than gigantic elevators that would bring a group of soldiers up the walls.
This would allow the enemy to launch more coordinated attacks as they would regain their number advantage.
The past few days had been peaceful with no major battles occurring as the enemy was biding their time, waiting for the arrival of the siege towers. Only the occasional warning shots from both sides every now and then reminded the citizens of the city that they were under attack.
The city officials and the military put on brave faces and assured the people that nothing would happen and everything would be alright in a few days.
They even used the name of their new lord to bring hope to the citizens. Wasn’t their new lord a son of a noble from another far-off land? He would surely have a way to save the city from its current predicament, right?
It was all they could do to prevent panic and tensions from spreading across the populace.
The military force of the city only numbered two thousand soldiers and five hundred them were new recruits from the emergency prescription due to the city’s state of war.
If the enemy truly managed to bring their siege towers and successfully managed to bring a significant amount of their soldiers inside the walls then there was no way for the army of Hamshil to resist them.
Listening to the report, Azeroth knew that things were in dire straits indeed. He himself possessed no real power and the soldiers they had would not be enough to stop the incoming invaders.
What could he possibly do to save this city?
Looking at the worry on Azeroth’s face, one of the captains of the army present spoke,
“My lord, there is no need for you to worry. If the invaders do manage to succeed, the others and I will help you to escape the city. As long as the lord could ask his noble house to avenge the city, we soldiers would be able to die in peace.”
The person who spoke just now was Captain Harrison. He was a strong man who spent most of his life in the army. He was devoted to the city and its people like all the others in the room.
After the old lord and his family died, the switches in allegiance made many of the men in the military including him anxious but General Randheim assured them that under their new lord they would rise to new heights.
Unfortunately, they only got disappointment in return and now that the city was under such danger, he along with the others knew that there was little to no hope of overcoming this obstacle. Nevertheless, they were loyal soldiers and fulfil their duty to the end.
Looking at these men who were ready to die for their people, Azeroth’s respect for them grew. He smiled and said,
“Let us hope it won’t come to that captain, although I do appreciate your loyalty.”
Azeroth was deep in thought as his gaze wandered across the solemn men in the room and then the map. The men here were at their wits end and were already talking about fighting to the death and such.
It was understandable as there was truly nothing the city could do in this situation. Even the evacuation of the citizen’s was impossible. Things did look bleak for them and Azeroth could think of nothing to solve it.
There was no special strategy they could employ as nothing would work in the face of sheer power. This was more so true in a world of powerful individuals. Cultivation allowed one man to possess power that could overwhelm hundreds.
The strongest warrior in the city was General Randheim, a peak Mortal realm Warrior. The captains were all Middle Mortal realm warriors and the soldiers below them were all early Mortal realm warriors.
If Azeroth remembered properly, the cultivation realms went from Mortal, Spirit Mortal and Transcendent. Each realm was split into Early, Middle, Late and Peak stages. There were more realms above this but the chances of encountering them in this small planet were impossible.
At most the highest power on this planet would be an early Spirit Mortal. More powerful cultivators would head to toward the centre of the empire in search of greater prospects.
The rulers of most cites would be peak Mortal realm warriors and perhaps they would have an ancestor level figure that was at the Early Spirit Mortal Realm. It was quite surprising in fact that Randheim had managed to reach Peak Mortal Realm as that was already on the level of top powers on this planet.
Randheim though still stayed loyal and continued to lead the armies of Hamshil. Many forces tried to recruit him but Randheim did not waver at all. Randheim’s presence was most likely one of the reasons his father confidently left him in this place.
Alas, even a Peak Mortal Realm warrior like Randheim could do nothing in the face of a large army. Azeroth himself was currently at the Middle Mortal Realm but that meant nothing. Other heirs in his generation from powers equal to the Verath Empire were already in the Spirit Mortal and Transcendent realms.
His brothers were legendary talents and were existences above the Transcendent Realm at his age. Azeroth couldn’t help feel frustrated at the fact that this body of his did not possess similar talent.
A Mortal realm cultivator could not go against armies singlehandedly, split oceans and tear mountains. Those things could only be achieved by those of a higher realm. While thinking of power that was out of his reach, Azeroth couldn’t help but ponder about his days as the Big Boss.
‘If only I was still the Big Boss. This army would tremble before me, I could crush them like ants, I could squish them like bugs, I could squash them like inse….”
*Ding
| System initializing…. 3…2…1|
|Welcome back player @!*$)U$ “BIG BOSS” @&T*^R |
|Loading Character please wait 1%....|
Azeroth couldn’t help but jerk back in his seat upon hearing voices in his head and seeing notifications on a blue screen in front of him.
The others in the room saw this and wondered if their lord was having a nervous breakdown. They couldn’t help but take a step back when Azeroth suddenly got up with a wild smile on his face.
“Milord, is everything all right?”, asked Randheim with concern.
Azeroth laughed and left the room while saying,
“Things have never been better my general. I must go back to my room to meditate, do not worry about me all of you focus on increasing the morale of the soldiers. I may have something that can help us get through our troubles.”
Azeroth quickly headed back to his room and told the maid who previously helped him to not let others disturb him. He locked the doors and sat on his bed and looked straight in the air.
Well actually he wasn’t looking at air he was looking at a screen he was all too familiar with.
|Loading Character please wait 5%....|
The animation of the screen, the voice that read out the notifications, it was all too familiar to him. It was the system that guided him during his days in Zenith Online.
Zenith Online’s Supreme AI decided that in order to give user’s a better experience and smoother journey, each player would be assigned their own basic AI assistant whose gender and voice they could select.
It was a low-level AI that would act as their guide in navigating the system and its various functions in Zenith Online. It didn’t have any personality of its own but you could give it a name and it would help you through out your entire play time.
Rather then a generic AI that you would hear when logged in and out of Zenith Online, it would be your own AI assistant that would greet you. Such a concept worked well considering Zenith Online had a futuristic setting much like his present world.
Azeroth hesitated, what if this was all just a hallucination? Maybe his recent reincarnation affected him mentally more than he thought? He was scared, a false hope is always worse then a harsh reality.
‘Wait, if me reincarnating in another universe is possible, then what is impossible?’
Before he could hesitate any further, he called out,
“Viki?”
“Hello Big Boss."