Sam looked up from his notification and saw that everyone in the yard was looking at him apprehensively.
“We did it!” Sam shouted, causing everyone to erupt into cheers. “There’s only one thing left to do. We need to find a name. Anyone have any ideas?” The crowd started to shout out names, none of which Sam heard clearly.
“Hey! One at a time,” Eduardo shouted, imbuing his voice with a little bit of his aura. The crowd stilled, and then a few people raised their hands.
“Yes? You with the orange hat,” Sam said, pointing at a woman in very gaudy attire.
“What about the Peacemakers?”
“Uh, good concept, but I’m not sure if that's the image we want to go for,” Sam answered,wondering how the woman had gotten anywhere during the tournament if she was so enamored with peace. She nodded and fell silent. The rest of the people all had good suggestions, but none of them had the ring to them that Sam was looking for. Finally, Eduardo stepped in and spoke.
“Why don’t we let our leader pick? After all, this is his faction.”
Everyone nodded in agreement, and soon Sam was beset with the hopeful gazes of everyone in the crowd. He pursed his lips and thought about it for a minute.
“What about something modeled after our purpose? The purpose that I started by choosing the name of the Arbiter. We are all here as an alternative to the other options, the tyranny of the Overlord, and the immoral evil of Rodney Kane. With that in mind, my suggestion is that we call our faction this,” Sam said, pausing before he said the name. “The Arbiters of Justice.” The crowd went silent, and then a deafening cheer caused as few birds to fly off in fright. Sam took that as assent for the name, and he changed the name of the faction on his interface.
“Alright. Next order of business is the faction captains. I already have a few people who will be filling some spaces, but there will be four left open for the rest of you. If you want to apply, go talk to Profound Visionary. He will vet you. We are looking for people who are both powerful, and compassionate. An ideal captain will use their power to protect the others in the faction, rather than use their position as a source of riches. When this is done, we can start with the expansion process.”
Sam and the other five finalists walked into the hut in the corner after Jeffrey, and sat down on the floor, as there was only a single chair. Sam had refused to sit in it, instead allowing Lao to do so. The man had muttered something about how Sam was biased against him because of his age, but he still took the seat. Rax lay on the floor between them, apparently asleep. Sam took a breath and then spoke.
“I assume that you all are willing to become captains in the faction? If so, then I will begin the process now.”
Everyone nodded, and then Jeffrey frowned.
“Wait, will you be able to include me in the faction? In the initial stages of the initialization, things like my species might play as a factor for something like this. Later, it might not be a problem, but the System might limit me from joining you now.”
“Well, I’ll just try then.” Sam pulled up his interface, and tried to add Jeffrey to the captains area from where it was already in the members list.
Individual Torturna Salvinii-Breson is not of the species “Human”. He cannot be added-
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Error. Individual Torturna Salvinii-Brescon has lived within this universe before the initialization process began. Individual Torturna Salvinii-Breson is human.
You have made Torturna Salvinii Brescon a captain of the faction Arbiters of Justice.
“I guess it worked,” Sam told Jeffrey as the man started to fiddle around with his notifications. “It gave some weird error messages, but it eventually allowed me to do it.”
Jeffrey then looked up from what he was doing.
“Error messages? Are you sure? Those are quite rare.”
Sam nodded and Jeffrey shrugged.
“Must have been to do with me having lived on the Earth before the System came, right?”
“Yeah, that was why. Anyway, as you figure out how to work this, I’ll get everyone else into the position.” Sam opened up his faction interface and slotted everyone else in the room, except for Rax, into captain positions. There was no issue this time, and they all were accepted. Sam rubbed his hands together, and then nodded.
“Right. Now it's time to get to business. We need to start expanding the compound. It shouldn't be that hard with so many of us.”
The others nodded in agreement, and they all walked out of the hut. As Sam headed back towards the group of people that were still waiting awkwardly in the center of the fort, his interface notified him of a change.
You have completed the requirements for the ability to create a Metropolis Core. (2500 faction members, 50% of captain slots filled)
Do you wish to purchase this item?
Y/N
Sam fiddled around with his interface until he could see what he was actually dealing with here.
Mid G Rank Metropolis Core
G Rank Item
A Metropolis core is the seed of a System registered city. Without one, one cannot create a truly System integrated city. The use of a Metropolis Core allows for the use of a unique user interface that makes construction and design of infrastructure more streamlined and far easier. A Mid G Rank Metropolis Core is capable of operating over an area of 10 miles. Metropolis cores can only be purchased through the faction interface by a faction leader or captain, and they will match the rank of the faction.
Satisfied with the description, Sam then checked how much it cost. This was yet another example of how the System had to be sometimes tweaked in order to be used efficiently. He had already done so with his stat sheet, and he was not afraid to do so again now.
G Rank Metropolis Core:5,000,000 Credits
When he saw the cost, he almost swore. Jeffrey, who was the closest to him right now, frowned.
“Sam? What is it?”
“Some popup for the purchase of a Metropolis Core came up, but it costs 5 million credits.”
Jeffrey snorted.
“Of course you would be able to get one of those, but not know how much something like that is worth. Sam, this is one of the best opportunities for a burgeoning faction that you can get. It's worth every credit of that cost.”
“I don’t have enough though,” Sam said, as he prepared to close the notification.
“Then borrow it, you idiot. There should be enough credits here if everyone chips in.”
“Won’t people not want to pay?” Sam said.
As Jeffrey moved to reply, Eduardo cut him off.
“I for one am happy to pay whatever is within my ability.”
“So am I,” Lao added. “How much do you need?”
“I have 3 million right now, so another 2 million.”
People around them started to catch on, and then a woman raised her hand.
“Yes?” Jeffrey said, pointing at her.
“We should let the faction leader save a bit of his money. He has made all of this possible after all. I believe that we can come up with 5 million between everyone here, quite easily in fact. It should mean that everyone will have to give about 2000 credits each, which is almost nothing.”
Everyone nodded, and soon Sam was deluged in a rain of notifications. His credits total started to grow and grow, until it stood around 8 million. Sam opened the interface again, and selected the Metropolis Core for purchase. The credits were siphoned out of him, and then a glowing orb started to grow out of the air in the middle of the fort. It continued to grow, until it stood at its full height of about ten feet. A large pedestal grew underneath it, and it rose a few feet off the ground. Sam walked over to it, and laid his hand on the object. Immediately, a notification appeared.
Mid G Rank Metropolis Core #1
The Arbiters of Justice
Options
Construct
Salvage
Demolish