"I know this all sounds bad, but if you think about it, more workers isn't really a bad thing, is it?"
Nathan stared at Zayen for several long seconds.
Zayen chuckled awkwardly and took a single step backward.
They were currently inside the meeting hall. Gius, Papim, and the rest of the council were arranged in their usual seats, with Nathan at the front. In the middle, between all of them, stood Zayen. He tugged at the collar of his shirt.
"Is it hot in here," he said, "or is it just me?"
Nathan folded his fingers together into a bridge and rested his nose on it.
"Zayen, while I was asleep, you took advantage of that fact to transport your entire kingdom into my town. You deliberately deceived and went around my advisors. I have half a mind to throw you out right now."
"That's fine, but do you plan to do that for the rest of my people?"
Nathan's lips drew into a thin line.
"Why would you do this?" he said.
At the mention of purpose, Zayen's neck craned up, and he looked at Nathan with a steady glare.
"Because I honestly believe that you have a chance of breaking free of this hellscape."
Nathan blinked. "What? What do you mean—?”
"This isn't any way to live." Zayen's fists clenched. "The system isn't a natural thing. The world we live in isn't natural. It was designed as a petty prize for our ancestors getting as far as they did. And since then, we've paid the price. I tire of the desert, Nathan. I tire of the system. I want to be free, I want my people to be free, I wish for us to live in a world that isn't covered in sand."
Nathan's head drooped. He'd suspected it was something like that.
"There are some people who would consider you pretty lucky,” he said. “Especially now that the Dustend is gone—"
"The Dustend will return. The system needs a new boss for its delvers to challenge. And then we'll be right back where we started. The only hope of breaking free of the cycle is to escape the system entirely, to escape the world of circles and levels."
There was a beat of silence. Nathan leaned back in his chair.
Gius, at Nathan's right hand, gave him a sly smirk.
"Can you blame the boy?" he said in a low tone.
Nathan pressed his fingers against the temple of his head.
"What makes you so certain that I'll even be able to get you out of here?" he said.
"Call it a hunch."
Nathan rolled his eyes.
"Leave. I think we have all the information we need."
----------------------------------------
As soon as Zayen had left the building, all eyes turned toward Nathan.
"So?" Bricks said. "Are you going to do it? Kick them all out?"
"We can't!" Papim pointed at Bricks. "He's right, living in a prison is worse than no life at all!"
Sticks reached up and rubbed the back of his neck, a strand of wheat poking out from between his lips.
"I don't know," he said. "I think living is a pretty fine proposition, myself. Prison or not.”
"Are we even supposed to be here?" Vee said. "More than a few of you are representatives, and the rest of you haven't been confirmed to the executive branch."
"Vee is correct," Burrau said. "According to Article 3 of our new constitution—"
Nathan waved him off. "You're all part of my interim cabinet. Bang. Now can we please stay on topic?"
Gius tapped on the table with his finger. Instantly, everyone stopped and turned to look at him.
"I'm afraid we've been quite outwitted," he said. "If we turned around and punished Zayen, the will of the people would turn against us very quickly due to our cruelty. At the same time, we don't want to come off as neutral. That would make us look indecisive and unsure. No, Zayen has ensured that we have only one response to his actions."
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Nathan felt his heart sink. "And what would that be?"
“We will have to reward him, of course."
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In the end, Zayen was given a top executive position in the zoning board for the city. It would just be a matter of going through some formalities in order to approve the creation of the new position with the parliament. And, for some reason, Nathan was required to be there.
The parliamentary building wasn't so much a building as it was an outdoor amphitheater, but Nathan didn't really care about the fine technicalities. At the present moment, Zayen was being questioned by a few members of the housing and zoning board committee.
(When exactly had Nathan signed off on that? Perhaps he should have taken a closer look at what the final plans were for this new government.)
Nathan tapped his fingers against his desk. He rested his chin in his palm and glared at Zayen. The boy was speaking quite passionately about his qualifications as an urban developer. For just a split second, Nathan caught a smirk and a slight turn of the eyes toward him.
Nathan's left eye twitched.
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After everything was taken care of, Nathan retired to the meeting hall—they'd added a bedroom specifically for him—and finally opened up his class options.
[Tideguard]
The tides now answer your call, forming walls and torrents with greater power and control. You can shape water into hardened constructs, forging temporary weapons and shields from the ocean’s embrace. Your bond with sea creatures deepens, giving you an affinity for larger and more intelligent marine beings. The sea is your ally, and its wrath is yours to wield.
Nathan scratched his chin as he read over the description. The general feeling he got was that it would enhance most of his abilities without necessarily specializing in anything too much. It seemed like the logical next step for an Ocean Warden.
[Abyssal Watcher]
The deeper waters now answer your call. Your defenses extend beyond mere water, drawing upon the crushing pressure of the deep. Your barriers can grow dense, sapping the strength of enemies caught within them. You can briefly alter water’s weight and pressure, slowing foes or trapping them in aquatic prisons.
So… like a gravity mage, but using water? Interesting… Nathan could see some intriguing applications for being able to trap enemies, and to sap their strength—that seemed like it could be pretty useful.
[Stormtide Sentinel]
The storms now answer your call. You gain limited control over wind and lightning, allowing you to infuse your defenses with electric charges. Your barriers can strike back, shocking foes that dare attack you. As a sentinel of the ocean’s fury, your presence alone is a warning to those who would challenge you.
Okay, now that was tempting. After being blasted with lightning multiple times by the Dustend, he knew full well how dangerous lightning was. But on the other hand, was raw offensive power really what he was going for? Beyond that, did he want to risk splintering his abilities and training time when he could be focusing on what he was already good at—water manipulation and similar skills?
[Seasworn]
The creatures of the sea now answer your call. You gain the ability to create a protective sphere, sheltering yourself or an ally from harm. Small sea creatures revere you, and even some of the deep’s more fearsome predators hesitate before striking you. The ocean defends its own.
This seemed like the animal tamer class, at least from the general feeling Nathan got. It was a bit vague, but based on the wording, it seemed to imply that Nathan would eventually be able to tame sea creatures.
It would be nice if I could just summon a giant shark to eat my enemies. That might be fun.
The conventional answer was, of course, Tideguard. That would have been the easiest choice and probably the one that would give him the greatest amount of success. He felt like he’d gained a strong mastery over his water manipulation abilities. Doubling down on that would make a lot of sense. Did he really need more offensive power? No, not really. Thinking back to the fight with the Dustend, were there any points where he was seriously lacking in his current combat abilities?
On the other hand, Thalassa had definitely given him a scare. She said the game wasn’t fair. So maybe he should be taking risky options with the highest potential reward.
Nathan felt that Abyssal Watcher had enormous potential. Altering weight and pressure—Nathan wasn’t a scientist, but he got the feeling there would be ways to exploit an ability like that.
The only problem, of course, was that Nathan wasn’t a scientist, as already mentioned. Exploiting rules didn’t come easily to him. He would certainly give it his best effort, and he could probably enlist the help of others. But would he be able to use this class to its maximum potential? No, he didn’t think so. He wasn’t going to cross it out, but he was definitely hesitant.
Stormtide Sentinel, as mentioned, seemed to be the most offensively inclined option. Nothing screamed attack like a million volts of electricity flooding your system.
But did Nathan need that? Did he really want that? The whole reason he’d selected Ocean Warden in the first place was because he was freaked out by his violent rampage on the first circle. He’d moved past that—he’d made progress. He’d taken that part of himself and shoved it deep down inside, where hopefully no one would ever find it.
But would it stay that way if he pursued options that increased his attack power?
It was paranoia, of course. He knew that. There was no reason why the mere selection of a class would turn him into a raging psychopath.
Even so…
Then there was Seasworn. It was definitely the most unique class out of all of them. The rest all dealt with water, and in one case, lightning. All of them were forces of nature. This class seemed to deal with animals instead.
Nathan knew just how dangerous the sea creatures of the circles were. He’d seen them in action firsthand. If he could get them on his side—make more contracts… That could give him a number of capabilities.
On the other hand, that would probably take time—and there was no guarantee he’d be able to figure out how to persuade some of the dumber fish to come to his side.
He reached up and scratched his head.
“This is tough…”
Finally, he crossed his arms and nodded.
There was only one option.
He reached out his finger to select it…