Mason couldn't stop smiling as he walked towards the center of Nassau. He and Naya had made-out a little like teenagers, kissing and touching as they moved to the bed. For a second he thought it was going to go further, but when his hands got increasingly curious, Naya had stopped him.

"I'm sorry, but…we should still be married first. Though I'm...very eager," she said, kissing him again. "So please choose a date quickly."

He'd pretended to actually care about a wedding and promised he would. And he did suppose it would be a good chance for his people and Naya's to mingle and feel unified.

He almost groaned as he realized it meant an actual ceremony and some kind of party, and a whole collection of basically everything he hated. And he'd have to get Blake back from his ridiculous tower...

It all added up to more time than Mason had. Which meant he would need to get the elf princess out of his mind just as he had to get all his other girls out of his mind, and go out to deal with the Central Hub. And if that went well than maybe the orcs...

So he'd gather his players and explain things shortly. But he still needed to test his Teleporter. And before anything he was going to do the most important thing: he was going to test this bow.

He considered the Training Hall but decided against it. He didn't want to deal with monsters, and he didn't want to figure out how the hell the thing worked. The whole place also stunk like arcane magic and made him uncomfortable. He just wanted a few targets and some peace and quiet, with the sound of his settlement and the forest and a little sun coming through the canopy.

So he set up some wooden targets made by the crafters, plus a few broken pieces of furniture and building materials. Then he stood at a good fifty paces and summoned his bow.

The material really was beautiful and well made. He couldn't tell what kind of wood it was and supposed in this new fantasy world it might be something he'd never heard of.

Despite knowing the thing was hundreds of years old, it felt completely immaculate. It was on the shorter side, which would make the draw weaker but actually using the thing far faster and nimbler.

He expected he could shoot with it on the move, or use it mounted (not that he expected to ride anything). A human army would have thought of it as a 'short bow' rather than a 'long bow' you might expect on foot archers.

He pulled back on the string and almost jerked in surprise. It wasn't 'hard', but it wasn't easy, either. So far every bow Mason had drawn was basically effortless.

Considering it was such a simple weapon with a string and a relatively small size, he could hardly see how it even made sense. Mason's strength was enormous. The longer he was in this game and the higher his statistics got, the more the world felt sort of...brittle.

He had to be incredibly careful now just walking around, not running into anyone—or using door handles and sinks. He had to touch his girls (with the exception of Becky) with care, always worried he might hurt them. Fortunately his reflexes and perception seemed ludicrous, and his control of his physical body had become equally inhuman.

But it all meant when he'd readied to draw Naya's bow he had assumed he had to be careful. That the thing might come apart in his hands if he didn't handle it properly. Instead the wood flexed beautifully and easily, letting Mason pull back the string basically as far as he dared.

He flicked open Endless Quiver and looked for his new 'Fey' arrows but didn't see anything. He scrolled back and forth before realizing the power itself had a slightly green tint with what looked like an elf ear. Did that mean all his arrows were 'fey' arrows? He picked a basic bullet head and loosed.

His arrow struck like a bolt of lightning, ripping straight through a wooden barrel, then sinking so far into the grass it almost vanished.

For a long moment he just stood there and stared. He ran his fingers down the string, holding up the bow for another inspection before he drew it back, this time much faster, and loosed another arrow.

Again it crossed the distance in a blink, lancing straight through a target to stick into the grass. Mason felt his lips curl into a smile.

He moved through his Endless Quiver, picking every kind of arrow imaginable as fast as he could. One of his targets burst into flame. A straw-man blew apart. He ran forward, backward, sideways, testing himself to see how fast he could move and keep loosing with any kind of aim. The answer was 'quite fast'.

Soon all he could feel was his pulse and the string as it sprung off his fingers. His arrows hammered home with a constant, brutal, thwack thwack thwacking until his targets had been ripped to shreds. He loosed a Power Shot with a fire arrow, and an old chair literally exploded.

"Ha!"

A voice from behind surprised him, and Mason stopped to see Carl...and quite a few other people...were standing around watching.

In fact it looked like players were filtering in from all over the place, which made the scene a little different. Mason had been so obsessed with his bow apparently he hadn't noticed. He tried not to feel too bothered by all the attention.

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"That was vaguely terrifying, kid." Carl grinned. "Are a lot of goblins going to die today?"

Mason shook his head. But he could see by the curious eyes it was time for a bit of a speech. Or at least…you know, communication.

"No," he said, then looked around at the players, feeling in a rather good mood. "But we have a new challenge. Maybe the most important chance we've had. It’s going to change the game for us, maybe for everyone."

Carl grinned. "Dramatic."

"Kiaan found us something." Mason saw the man in the small crowd and nodded to him. "It's an opportunity we can't ignore. Now all we need to do is go there and win it." He took a little pause and shrugged. "I know this world is frightening. It changes fast and things aren’t perfect. But we’re strong, and getting stronger. We’ve been pretty far now, and we haven't found anything in this world like Nassau."

He took a second to let that sink in.

"Now it’s time to leave the nest. I’m going south. We have a kind of...teleporter. I can bring a group of you through in a blink. So everyone can stay and defend until the right moment. We teleport. We fight. We teleport back. So with all your free time I want every single player in that new training building. Figure it out together. Test your powers. Then teach me please because I don't understand the damn thing."

A few people chuckled at that, which Mason hoped was a good sign. He saw some elves had come closer to watch the gathering, too, and gestured at a few.

"The elves that joined us…they’re here because they needed somewhere safe. And we’re it. Kiaan has explored more than probably anyone alive now. He found nothing, nothing like our settlement. As far as we know, we’re the strongest thing humanity has, and we need to act like it. We need to help others, brings them to us, get stronger. Learn more. Because though I don't really like it there's a whole bunch more to this game than just survival."

"Where's Blake?" Jason asked with a fairly neutral tone.

"Getting stronger, learning more. I know you don't trust him, but I need you to trust me. Blake is with us. Right to the very end. I know he frightens some of you. Just wait till you see what he does to people who fuck with us." He turned and pointed at the players. "And what all our 'warriors' will do. With a little practice, and a lot of help from our civilians."

Mason grinned, feeling like maybe he was getting the hang of this shit. Or so he hoped. He thought of all the dead creatures who'd tried to fight him and his people.

"The orcs came for us and we slaughtered them. The 'Green Blood Order' is smashed to pieces. The great trees are cleared and this whole forest is ours. And we're just getting started. I don't know what this next challenge means, exactly. But I know we can do this. We’re doing it now. I need you to hold on, to fight with me, to tell this son of a bitch fucking game we won’t give up, that it’s not over until we say so."

"Amen." Carl said with a grin.

Mason took a breath, meaning every word he'd said, and getting a little angry about it. He shook his head, thinking about everything that had just vanished from the old world, no closure for anyone, no time to grieve.

He had no idea what to do about any of that. He saw some confused elves looking at him but ignored that for now, focusing on the people who at least a little hope in their eyes.

"Well. Speech over, I guess." A few people laughed. A few even clapped a bit. "One last thing." Mason winced, not sure how the hell he existed in a world that needed him to say anything like the following...

"The game apparently likes kings. Tell you the truth I'm way too American to appreciate it. But I've got some kind of 'House' now and anyone who joins is going to get some boosts. So I don't see why we shouldn't use it. I'll invite everyone, and you can all do whatever you like. I’ll understand either way."

He flipped open the menu and made a blanket invite to everyone in Nassau, then tried to figure out how the hell someone ended a speech and walked away gracefully.

He was looking for Haley when he saw his House icon flicker. The players were all gathering up and speaking to each other with quiet voices, and Mason was about to go see what was up when he opened the menu and watched the names scroll.

The players went first, signing and popping up in a different window than the elves. Mason could see their classes, their 'tiers' or strength ranking. When he saw they weren't all at the top, he was reminded that there were other players out there he just hadn't found or met. And there could very well be large settlements.

Then the civilians started appearing. The whole crowd of people watching had gone kind of silent as their eyes glazed and they focused on the 'screens'.

Word was spreading around the settlement, and more and more people were walking up to see or hear what was going on. As they did Mason saw them accept, too. He wasn't sure if everyone had joined his 'House', but in a couple minutes it looked pretty damn close.

It was clear they could see all the names, too, and maybe even the titles and bonus options Mason hadn't yet chosen. People were talking excitedly, flicking through the menus, saying they liked the crest and what things they thought should be chosen for bonuses. Mason just grinned as he watched and listened, happy to suddenly be mostly ignored in the bustle and excitement.

Carl and Phuong and Alex came up with most of the players behind them. Carl took Mason's hand and grinned, bowing slightly as if to kiss it before Mason pulled it away.

"My lord," Carl said in a dramatic voice.

"Oh Jesus Christ, we're definitely not..."

"You're wrong, kid," Carl said, his smile dropping as he glanced at the other players. "About Blake I mean. Being with us."

Mason practically sagged. He really didn’t want to have to argue the merits of his brother again, especially since he had no way to explain how they could all trust him. Carl held up a hand for him just to listen.

"He's not with us, Mason. He's with you. And that’s alright, because so are we."

Mason stopped and swallowed the growing lump in his throat. He grinned a little as he met the eyes of the men. His men, he supposed. Technically speaking.

It was a strange feeling and a bit overwhelming. To be an orphan was to know you were alone. To know when the chips were down you were something 'other', something different.

That beneath all the pleasant smiles of your adopted family you still weren't blood. Mason had made a brother and thought that was enough. He loved his girls but that was different—he'd chosen them, wanted them.

But these people, it seemed, had chosen him.

As he looked into the friendly eyes around him he was finally starting to realize—he'd been wrong, dead wrong. One brother wasn't enough. A man needed a family, a tribe.

He needed men he could rely on, who looked to him as he looked to them, who loved what he loved and would help him guard it while he slept.

Mason smiled and slapped Carl's shoulder just hard enough to hurt.

"Then get your shit together, old man, and start training. Because I'm going to fight until our AI overlord throws in the towel. And I guess this means you stupid bastards are coming with me."

A few men winced. A few others grinned. Mason didn't bother to fight his laugh.