Jeffrey rushed over and embraced Sam, which was not what he had been expecting. Then he saw the others.
“Who are these people?”
“Well, about that. I have something to show you.” Sam led Jeffrey out from behind the shack, and the man stopped as he saw the large crowd standing there.
“What the fu-” Jeffrey began, before turning to Sam. “Where the hell did all these people come from? And how did you get past the aliens?”
Lao stepped forward.
“Aliens? Is that why you built these walls?” he asked, pointing at the large wooden constructions.
“Yes, that’s why I turned this place into a fort. May I ask who you are?”
“My name is Lao, but you might know me by a different title. Profound Visionary.”
“You’re the guy who made a Dao right after Sam… Oh, shit. I forgot that he was using an alias now.” He bit his lip and looked at Sam, who shrugged.
“It doesn't really matter anymore. I’m the frontrunner of Earth now. There’s already a target on my back, whether or not my name is known. Besides, most of these people already know my name.”
Jeffrey raised one of his eyebrows, and then laughed.
“Damn, so you’re some sort of bigshot then? Maybe you can get the aliens to leave then.”
“Where are they? Also, why are you calling them aliens? It's not like you’re a native of this planet.”
“I've been here for a hundred years. I am entitled to a little jingoism now and again.”
Sam laughed at this, and Eduardo chuckled. The Bear did a double take.
“You’re not a human? But you look exactly like one of us.”
“It's this nifty little device,” Jeffrey said, pointing at his wristband. “It allows me to disguise myself. Been using it ever since I got here, which was some time in the 1920s.”
“The 1920s?” Solitaire exclaimed. “But that means that you’re almost a hundred years old. Does your race age slower?”
“No, in fact most races seem to be similar to you humans in a fundamental manner. No, I was an F Ranker before I came here, but I lost all my progress. When the System returned, then I started again. Now, I appreciate the chat, but can we deal with the problem first?”
Sam nodded and started after Jeffrey as he began jogging over to a ladder on the wall. He climbed up it, and Sam followed. When the two men stepped out, Sam gasped. The entire compound was completely surrounded by tents and other dwelling spaces, and thousands of aliens milled about on the grass. Jeffrey winced.
“As you can see, quite a problem. They can’t take the area, as it belongs to me, and by extension, you, a native of the planet, and they are not authorized to do so by the System, but they can make it very inconvenient for us.”
“I assume that they want the tree?”
Jeffrey nodded, and Sam gazed out with a thoughtful look. He analyzed a random alien, and saw that it was only about level 20.
“Why are they so weak?” He asked Jeffrey.
“These guys were probably serfs on some planetary ruler’s estates before, and now they decided to go search for a better future in a new universe. They borrowed from their lords, and in return they now have to pay it off within a few years, with interest. This tree would cancel the debts of everyone here, and then some.”
“How are they allowed to do this? Isn't this stealing from Tantalos, as he owns this universe?”
“Do you really think that someone like Tantalos would care about a paltry G rank Dao tree? He's waiting for the big reward at the end, the essence. As far as he’s concerned, people can do what they want with his universe, as long as they pay him first,” Jeffrey said.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Is that a common practice? You told me before that you had never heard of the man.”
“Is that a common practice? Oh God yes. Money has a way of opening doors that would otherwise remain closed. Tantalos is probably raking in the credits right now. Strip mining a universe for resources is pretty lucrative.”
“Hmm…” Sam began, looking out at the camp. “What do you want me to do about it?”
“I want you to scare them off. You can’t attack them, or else they would be allowed to attack back, but you can use a little bit of your aura. They will be coming back soon, after the planetary protections are lifted, but that shouldn't be for a bit. We need time to create a solid defense, and for you to create that faction.”
Sam nodded, and decided to ignore the questions that he had, namely about the planetary protections, until he was done. A sudden wind rose up around Sam as he started to channel his Dao into his aura, and he started to rise off the ground, limned in a halo of red light. The aliens below gazed up at him, and a few pointed. Then a transparent dome of red hued light burst out over the camp, and the screaming began. Twin wings of fiery energy formed behind Sam’s back and he opened his mouth, before roaring in rage. A sound like an avalanche rolled out over the land, and the aliens started running, leaving their tents there. Sam dropped back to the ground, and smiled at Jeffrey.
“There, all done.” Sam then noticed that Jeffrey was quivering in terror.
“Jeffrey? Are you ok?” The man only whimpered. It took him a few minutes to recover, and when he did, his voice was still shaky.
“How did you get that strong? I read your level, and it's not that much higher than mine.”
“I created a Dao Fragment out of my two Daos.”
“What do you mean, you created one? You were able to get them both to the maximum level for a Mote in such a short time?”
“No, I ran into a bit of trouble with my Daos’ conflicting natures, and I had to break them apart and fuse them back together. I have the Dao Fragment of Righteous Anger now.”
Jeffrey froze.
“You what? That’s not how upgrading Daos works. It should have taken you a minimum of a few months to reach the level at which you could have created a Fragment, and that’s accounting for your insane speed. It took me far longer than that.”
“Well, I’m just special I guess. I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about that though, at least not until it would seem realistic for me to have one. I think that most people just believe that I have an especially powerful Mote stage Dao.”
“That seems for the best. Now that the aliens are gone, how bout we get to work?”
“That sounds good to me.”
Both men climbed down the ladder and told the others of their success with clearing off the aliens. As it turned out, they had all felt Sam’s aura, some a lot more than others. He hadn't really had to explain it. Seeing quite a few unconscious people lying on the ground made him feel a bit guilty, but he was assured that none of them would hold that against him. Sam organized everyone in the area into a tight group after the others had woken up. He pointed to Jeffrey and introduced him.
“This is my good friend Jeffrey. He has been holding down the fort here, pun intended, and will now tell you what the plan is.” Sam stepped to the side, and Jeffrey clapped his hands together.
“Hello, everyone. I am Jeffrey, but I am actually an alien who has been living on Earth for a while. My real name is Torturna Salvinii-Brescon, but as you can probably guess, I don’t really like that name.” A few people in the crowd laughed.
“Yeah, yeah. Eat it up. Sam here told me that it sounded like a pasta brand, which I suppose is pretty accurate. I told Sam after that that his name sounded like a certain word in my language that means-” Jeffrey was suddenly interrupted by Sam who had cleared his throat as loudly as he could.
“Ahem! That’s not relevant right now,” Sam said, his face going an interesting shade of red. Jeffrey smirked, but continued without any more commentary on the subject, which he was pretty sure Sam had finally figured out. Establishments that mainly operated at night indeed.
“In any case, Sam was able to banish the aliens who were lounging around the fort, which means that we have some time to reclaim the land before the serious threats come. I have never personally gone through an initialization process before this one, but I have heard of them before. They are all different, depending on how the Dao Annals organize the initialization, but usually one of the factors is some sort of invasion from extra universal forces.”
Sam leaned in towards Jeffrey and whispered in his ear.
“Oh right. Sam just reminded me that most of you might not know what the Dao Annals are. It's basically like a sort of blueprint stored within the collective consciousness of the Dao that serves to propagate itself.”
“Like the Akashic Records?” A man shouted out from the crowd. Jeffrey squinted at him and nodded.
“Exactly so. That is in fact one of the terms for the Dao Annals. Anyway, if you have not done so already, you should all check out the Interweb, as Sam has told me that you all have access now. If you need help with that, come see me after we get everything sorted out. For now, all we need is to wait for Sam to set up the faction.”
Everyone turned to Sam, and he smiled awkwardly, before pulling out the token.
Do you wish to use this item and forever bind your faction headquarters to this spot? (Size of territory might change over time.)
Y/N
Sam hit yes, and the token dissolved into his hand and then a dome of rainbow light expanded outward, enveloping everyone in the area as well as a good portion of the surrounding forest and the alien campsite.
Congratulations, you have created a faction! You have taken the first step on the path to regional power.
Faction Name:Unnamed
Mid G Rank Faction
Faction Leader:Sam Atlas
Faction Captains:Unfilled(10 spots)
Faction Officers:2457
Members:2458
Treasury:0 Credits