BOOK II

The Mortal Realm Part 1

PROLOGUE: GLOBAL EVENT

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15:40 LOCAL TIME 13TH JULY 1ME

UNCOMMON PERIOD

THE MORTAL REALM

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LOS ANGELES

JANE SANTOS

Jane used to love Fridays. Since the world had changed, and everyone got access to the local date and time in their HUDs, they had learned that each month had twenty-eight days, which meant that the thirteenth always fell on a Friday. In the past she wasn’t very superstitious, as a matter of fact, she always used to tease people about their superstitions, she was starting to believe that Karma had finally caught up to her on this Friday the thirteenth.

The Mayor as she was called looked out her office window overlooking the Stronghold. The under-construction third outer wall that was miles away from her was going up faster now that the One Blood gang had become a vassal unit of the Stronghold. She had received a Quest that was mandatory to keep them as vassals, however. She wanted to refuse, saying she didn’t have the Authority to do so, but much to her surprise they were willing to leave if it couldn’t be done, it was more important to them than their safety.

That was how she got forty thousand new members added to her Stronghold in the last few days, apparently, the gang had brought half of their now freed enslaved players with them, no wonder their old ally the West Side Guild was pissed, they had lost half of their fighting force, all of them high tier combatants, and crafters. Jane didn’t mind because they added a professional presence, about 10,000 of the players with the one Blood gang were Amateur 1st class or above in their Professions. But it was the tier 5 Professionals that were stronghold-changing beings.

The three-tier 5 non-combat Professionals, or Artisans had up the productivity of the Stronghold by almost double in the last week or so. It was the Perks they had that were purchased with their -Intent-, a new energy source and Game currency that could be used in the skill Perk store that Professionals earned at tier 5. The mayor had no idea what it was, or how it worked, but AJ her Steward, had said it made the creations of professionals more potent, even allowing those creations to grow stronger over time in some cases. They could also choose Enchantments or Perks that allow them to control which bonus effect they added instead of them being random. If there was one thing that could be said about this new world as opposed to the last, was most people loved leveling up. It was almost addicting especially to Classers. Professionals level up differently, and since Jane was a noble she didn’t get a profession, but she did have the passive Trade skill Acting that she did level up a little every time she used it, the little benefits it gave her were useful enough to keep leveling it. The euphoria was muted compared to the orgasmic level of leveling up her classes and adding a ton of stats, but it was still potent enough to push yourself to the next level.

NPC had the lowest leveling high of all of the castes in the Stronghold. For some reason Skill level-ups, other than the added stats didn’t make you feel nearly as good, she could attest to that, she had a few Skills she had gotten to high or peak Novice Tier. Skill-trees were harder to level and train up than the other paths as well... well except for NPC they actually leveled their three free Skills faster than any of the other Caste until Peak Apprentice.

There was a whole research faction run by the JTF learning the rules, and quirks of the game, they passed that information on to everyone in the Stronghold schools, with the information, and the stats, that were good enough to keep Skill users going as well. But at high to peak Apprentice Skill level slowed to crawl even for NPCs. The stronghold only had two players with a Skill above Apprentice 9 in a city of millions. That was a testament to the difficulty level of Skill users increasing in power. But even an Apprentice Skill user was infinitely and objectively superior to a pre-breaking human.

Productivity was off the charts. Combat provided damn near unlimited Loot constantly coming in. The public works they had done in the last six months would have bankrupted any country let alone a Town the size of LA. The walls alone would have been a marvel to rival the Great Wall of China or the Great Green Wall in Alkebulan that was used to tame the Sahara desert in the early 2030s, it took the funding of all of the north and Sub-Saharan African nations to complete and took a half a decade to see results. But in a little over six months, the players of the LA Stronghold built three similar albeit significantly smaller walls.

Not taking into account the low road or Noble Road, which had to be taken into account, Magic changed the way everyone looked at how to fix a problem. It didn’t allow for skipping parts of a process, but it did speed up the work exponentially. Stats were real and tangible, they made Professionals stronger, faster, and more precise. Professionals also infused their Mana into their work which also made the work more precise, and depending on their rank, Trade bonuses, and other benefits, they could increase the durability of any of their creations. But what truly made Professionals so valuable was the fact that they could make others more productive, especially NPCs.

The first week after magic had arrived, most didn’t notice that the Mana in the air was breaking down buildings slowly, it was even breaking down clothing that wasn’t worn by a player. A player’s magical Presence protected their personal gear.

They did learn that anything built by a Professional, or a Pro as they were commonly called, didn’t lose durability nearly as fast, though that changed a bit after the Uncommon Period. So Professionals were the driving force in rebuilding the city of LA. While the Governor was a fighter first, Jane was an administrator first. It was her city after all. That was why when they had discovered the Stronghold points she quickly made sure no one else could use them. The GREAT GAME had many different ways to advance in power. Team Points come from a full five-player team completing Quests, and Events, those points can be used to upgrade your team’s base capabilities, like flat bonuses to attack, defense, and movement speed while in a team. There were Party, and Raid points which were similar to team points except they affected parties and raid parties. Stronghold’s points were different. They allowed for parts of the construction process to be skipped at the bare minimum.

Stronghold points grew per day once a Stronghold got to Hamlet level or Tier 2, it was based on the area of control, or AOC of the Stronghold, the population size, and the percentage of the CASTE members among other things. Early on the vast majority of players in the Stronghold were Classers, which didn’t do much for them at first. Once the Merchant Caste players started to establish markets and banks, they even took over the housing, and sanitary programs, there was a fundamental change in the city mechanics. While the Strongholds made random Events based on the available Mana and EXP stored, Stronghold points could be used to bypass prerequisites. Blueprints, schematics, recipes, with enough Stronghold points you can research and build anything. Of course like with anything in the GREAT GAME that meant Stronghold points were hard to come by and the things you could purchase doubled in cost every time so planning was imperative.

When the Stronghold was a CAMP(Tier 1) the lowest level, it didn’t generate any Stronghold points. Once it became a Hamlet, however, the points were a leaky faucet,

(1 point a week). They didn’t know at the time, but that was because of the high percentage of low-level Classers. Once Classers started specializing however, they had gotten access to their Professions, essentially making professionals the highest percentage of players in the Stronghold, which turned the leaky faucet into a trickle of points (3 a week).

The first Horde changed all of that. Most people had just taken the first week as a national holiday. People hung out at the beach, and park, some even went skiing. Everyone biked everywhere, and though crime was up a little, it wasn’t nearly as bad, purely because when anyone might be able to throw a fire bolt, most people were just wary of each other, and avoided groups they didn’t know.

That was when the animals started to attack in mass numbers. Humans weren’t the only ones to be changed by the Breaking, a matter of fact animals changed even more. They became Beast, some even became Monsters which were sapient beasts, or bestial sapients some of which were at the human level of inelegance. Most were pack hunters and went after solitary players. Without basic social services, only the Strongholds could give someone a modicum of information, and safety, but on the seventh day, instead of rest and relaxation, they learned the most valuable lesson of the GREAT GAME.

There is no such thing as safety.

Some geniuses decided they wanted to ‘see’ how the LA zoo had changed like they didn’t learn from the Duster pandemic and zoo revolts that had happened. The world had grown and changed so when the team of four former gamers found the ‘zoo’ and identified it as the first wild Dungeon in Long Angeles they tried to clear it. Only one of them made it back. He was a Herbalist, but not a common rank one, like most other Herbalist professionals, the rank of his Profession had to be at least Rare. He said that the Dungeon was a high-tiered one, and needed to be cleared before it horded, and it was beyond him and his team, he was looking for someone powerful who could help, and he was certain that that person was in LA. No one believed him, and they had to lock him up when he got violent with a few other players. Less than a day after the Herbalist was detained every human on earth got a prompt.

It was the seventh day after the breaking.

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< GLOBAL EVENT >

{The Common grace period has ended. If you haven’t cleared your local Common Dungeons they will start to expel their excess creatures in order to grow. The Beast Hordes are upon you Player, seek out a Stronghold for protection, or go at it alone, there are benefits in that as well, just know either way you should Live Well or Die Free.

Let the Games begin.}

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The Los Angeles Hamlet hadn’t cleared any Dungeons in the first week, they were too busy consolidating power to even put up a real wall. They weren’t idle either, they were hunting down packs of Beast, and even a Kobold nest; the first monster they had encountered, that in and of itself punctuated that the world had changed. Seeing thousands of three-foot-tall bipedal alligator-like monsters, defending their own little Hamlet with sticks for spares drove the new reality home. The only reason they could overcome them despite their numbers, was because of the old real estate adage. Location, location, location. The Kobolds were sub-terrain foes, with low visibility in the sunlight, and aggressive to fault, they often just threw bodies literally blindly at the human lead Hamlet. After beating them, and finishing the Event and Quest it generated, the LA Hamlet got their first influx of Stronghold points. There was nothing like defeating an overwhelming force, the GREAT GAME always rewarded major challenges.

Guns played a major part in protecting the Stronghold in the first few weeks. They were the only reason for the high survival rate after the first Horde, with so few casualties LA gained a ton of confidence. By being mayor and having the governor with her at the Breaking made taking control of police, military, and the JTF seamless. Other than the JTF who were just contractors for the Stronghold so were not counted as members, but had a caveat of them joining in the future once they figure out their leadership situation. They had to take them because the JTF had access to most of the older weapon systems that weren’t obsolete after the Breaking. They also guarded all of the ammo depots in the LA area, making them the most valuable faction in the early days. The wall of bullets they used against the wall of the beast that came wave after wave after wave was thanks to the JTF and their steadfast support. Because of that first victory players started to flock to the local Strongholds apparently going at it alone was suicide. One in twenty parties outside of strongholds during a horde made it back. That made Strongholds even more valuable, and three major ones emerged. The Golden Bear tribe only accepted people with a certain bloodline and their families, the LA hamlet accepted everyone willing to live by the previous laws of the land, and the Westside gang scooped up everyone else, willingly or not.

Once the UnCommon period started six weeks later, however, bullets started to do a whole lot less damage to the beast they were fighting, and even the old weapons were rusting away faster and misfired more often as the Mana levels rose. Some Stronghold points were used to make weapons that didn’t lose 10 to 15 durability just from using them. Some players had their guns fall apart in their hands as the durability fell to 0. By the time the continuous horde had started the stronghold had upgraded twice from a Hamlet(Tier 2) to a Town(Tier 4). The Professional weapon-smiths had the army and policing force outfitted with the best gear they could make. Dungeon dives provided the materials needed, and Pros were churning out gear and items that helped the Stronghold as a whole.

What had just happened was they had just added 25,000 new NPCs which made them the highest percentage of the Stronghold. The trickle of Stronghold points became a flood. High-tier NPCs give amazing benefits to a Stronghold in general, but just for Stronghold points alone, Jane believed they were worth it. In the last few hours, she had earned enough points to finish a section of the city’s outer third wall. But with one blood gang’s Artisans, they could be done right before the war, if it’s not, she can always use the Stronghold points to instantly finish it.

She had put the Stronghold on high alert after her Knight Commander Alex, and the only other nobles left. She was very much aware that this was a gamble. If she were to die, the whole Stronghold would be lost, and with it, all its bonuses for having a noble, followed closely by all of the Los Angeles area falling. But Lisa was a stubborn lady, and she cared fiercely about her family. Jane shrugged thinking that she hadn’t had a choice in the matter. “Some mayor I am.” She said under her breath.

Alicia the Lead knight of her house guard, the policing force of the Stronghold. Turned to her from her position behind her liege. “Don’t be so hard on yourself hermana.” Alicia’s dirty blond hair blew in the breeze that started to blow as soon as she started to talk, she was only this familiar with her because they were in private... well AJ Jane’s steward was there, but he was Alicia’s husband and the mayor’s best friend. That was why they were members of her personal team.

“I know, I am just being a little dramatic.” She sighed in exasperation.

AJ, who was always unable to read the room of Y chromosomes. Tried to be helpful. “We are actors, drama is kinda in the job description.” He smiled.

“I think she was talking about the fact that she has to talk to all of those factions, and what they are going to demand of her instead of asking. This is part of being a democratic government.”

“They know without the mayor LA will fall,” AJ added.

The Noble was not about to let that happen. Jane was the mayor of LA, but that was just a name really, it was her Classes that gave her the power and authority over the Stronghold. At level 39 in her combat Class and 19 in her Noble class she was a powerhouse, especially since her Noble class was upgraded a few Ranks up to Viscount giving her even more stats. She looked over her Top Sheet as she contemplated her next move.

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< TOP SHEET >

{TITLES: Nobility, Hero, Survivor

PLAYER NAME: Mayor Jane Santos

LEVEL: 39/19, EXP to level [742000/1600000]/[3190/40000-250000]

Free EXP:0

CASTE: Noble BASE CLASS: Combat; Mage/Noble; Viscount

Specializations:

1)Shaman(MAX) 2)Shaman+(MAX) 3)Witchdoctor

RACE: Evolved Human(Tier 3)

POOLS:

HP: 12,420/12,420 regen 624 HP per day

MP: 538/538 regen 1494 MP per hour

DR: 28/28 DR per minute

ATTRIBUTES:

Strength:106 Dexterity:139 Constitution:621 Magic:2.69 Intelligence:747 Charisma:747 Luck:266

Free Attributes:4

Current attribute gain per level:

Noble Class: +3 to all except for magic

Combat Class: +6 CON +8 INT,+8 CHA +4 LUCK

Spec 1:+4 CON, INT, CHA.

Spec 2:+8 CON, INT, CHA.

Spec 3:+12 INT, CHA, +6 CON, LUCK

Title: +4 to mental

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***

Jane hadn’t been idle after Alex had left, she had reached out to all of the factions in the Stronghold. The Guard faction, the Army, the Merchants, the NPCs, and lastly the JTF, she wanted to save them for after everyone else, she had talked to the other factions because they had remained neutral for too long, and she needed them to come to the table now more than ever she had a little more leverage now.

The guards were the first to heed her call. They were the combat might within Stronghold, made up of men and women of all backgrounds prior to the Breaking. Led by Alicia her Guard Captain they were made up mostly of Classers, they had a few contingents of Professionals supporting them because every faction needed professionals. She had Alicia give them orders to double the night guard and increase the Dungeon drives immediately. The first order would keep them safe from sneaky predators, and the second would have a long-term effect in making her people stronger, the real monsters were at her gates, and she intended to put herself between them, and her people to give them time to power up. The Dungeon policy was to always leave a few slots open for sale and negotiation. But now they would have to give a few of those slots to the guard exclusively.

Second came the merchants’ faction, they were in an uproar because of the One Blood gang, the gang had some of the best trade skills, and higher levels than any other members of the merchant faction save one.

The merchant family leadership had so many questions, and she wasn’t happy to answer them, but with the government choice they had made, they really were dependent on the Merchant families. She tried to appease them, but after an hour-long questioning, she had just given up.

“We are at war.” She flatly said to the gathered family heads in her office. “And I don’t want to force you into supporting our troops, it is in your best interest to support them, but if you need a kick in the ass, I will be wearing my nice Louboutin stilettos tonight at the ball, and I will gladly give it to you.” She said the words like she had just promised them a dance at the prom, a promise that no one wanted to accept.

Say what you want about the new world. Tier disparity and the weight of a Classer's Presence with Tier made talking to lower-tiered players and other Caste members easier. There were only two Merchants that were a higher tier than her, but only one was a danger to her, he was an Artisan. But fortunately for her, he was always on her side. She knew he had a crush on her, and he was the most powerful Artisan and his family was the most powerful family of the merchants. All of his children were all close to crossing the Artisan threshold as well.

So as soon as she had drawn the line in the sand, Ryan Gibson of the Gibson Trading Company smiled. “No need for all of that Mayor.” The man was always respectful, he was a Trinidadian citizen though he had immigrated at a very young age to New York City. He was a Duster prior to the Breaking. He had a hybrid Profession both combat and non-combat, with both magical and mundane Trades. He was a Fae writer, anything he wrote, he could bring to life for a limited time with enough infused Mana. But once he had made it to the Artisan rank of his Profession, he was able to keep one story active semi-permanently for an ongoing cost. That was why he had a three-eye bird sitting on his shoulder, the pure black crow sat still like a statue unless Ryan interacted with it. The bird was at a higher level than anyone in the room save its creator. No one wanted to be beaten up by a four-pound bird...again.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Jane surreptitiously looked to the head of the second strongest merchant family, and the biggest one. Jeff Bezos was one of the richest men in the world prior to the pandemic. The pandemic wiped out most of his wealth, but like any other billionaire he made political friends so they could bail him out, and Ron the Governor did. Jane didn’t know why the man had so much influence within the Stronghold, but Ryan didn’t like him and always messed with him. Jeff was one trade level and one Platinum creation away from Artisan Tier quest himself, he was excited to have other Artisans in the Stronghold since Ryan was never going to help the arrogant man advance, crossing the gap into Artisan was just as much luck and materials than it was skill for the most part.

“Are we going to get hazard pay? I think a 30% increase in Mana crystals would be perfect. Throw in some Uncommon crystals, and we will be able to reduce the hazard pay to let’s say 22%” Jeff demanded.

Alicia wanted to punch the bald man in the face. She stood behind her liege with her husband next to her. She had been calmed down multiple times through team chat with her Viscount. But that statement almost put her over the edge, her ever-present spear was slammed into the ground making a dent in the profession-enhanced flooring. Jane didn’t look back at her, but all of the merchant leaders did. Jeff didn’t seem to be deterred, however, and continued.

“Also we will have to charge a premium for ammo, the hordes drain us dry, and we don’t have enough low-rank Professionals to make them so we must convince our Amateur 1st classes and Trainee 2nd classes to do it, the latter get zero EXP from completing simple bolts and arrows. So we have to pay them more, for it to be worth it for them.” Jeff said smugly, but honestly. He himself was stuck at his Rank because he had to continue to make low-level gear, not to mention tools, basic buildings, and roads so, so many roads. “With the large influx of NPC can the Stronghold train them in road building? That way my highly trained Pros can move onto more important projects so that we can level up in time for the next crisis.”

Jane lost it then, she had forgone her personal level for the last few months just so that she could serve her Stronghold better. And while she understood the motivation of the Merchants to get powerful, their role was not that in this case. In times of war, the Merchants were supposed to be a force multiplier. Now this man wanted to extort the Stronghold, and even pass the burden of training on to the Stronghold... while the Stronghold was preparing for war at that. No, Jane wasn’t having that, she had given the group too much of her time. A Noble’s time was not a small thing in a town-size Stronghold, and this man if you could even call him a man, more a rat fat on too much cheese, kept pushing her buttons. She was about to give him a piece of her mind, but that was when her second teammate made his presence known, and why AJ was chosen as her steward.

Alberto Juan Rivera or AJ for short was a Puerto Rican-born former college baseball player, and a fairly successful actor, TV show, commercials, and stuff, he had one of those faces that you knew, but couldn’t quite place. He was best friends with the mayor prior to the breaking, but he had always been a gamer. If Jane was being fair her own success was due to AJ, he had seamlessly transitioned to the new world, and his advice had saved the Stronghold multiple times. The somewhat heavy-set man had his clipboard out and began to read even as Jeff continued to add more requests to the mayor.

“A 10,000 UnCommon Mana crystal interest-free loan was given to the Bezos family to establish training for NPC’s five months ago. We have not received any payments, nor have you established said school.” AJ began. “You got a 100 Rare MC government grant for ‘research’ with no oversight.” He continued. “A 10 platinum MC loan for your personal advancement, and yet you fail to do even that,” AJ said the last just to get under Jeff’s skin, knowing the man had been rushing to Artisan and falling short. He got the reaction he wanted.

Jeff turned beet red and stood with indignant fury. The man was livid. AJ smiled from behind his clipboard.

“Sit down!” Alicia said through gritted teeth, as she gripped her spear tighter her knuckles white.

The Merchant didn’t read the room. He rolled up his sleeve revealing a living tattoo, it was a snake coiled around a lightning bolt. Jane identified it as a Style.

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< IDENTIFY >

{STYLE NAME: Electric Constrictor

STYLE TYPE: Spell/Summon

STYLE RANK: Platinum

STYLE DAMAGE: Variable

STYLE DESCRIPTION: When activated this style summons a level 39-44 snake that has two major special abilities. The first is its natural attack that crushes their foes slowly, the second shocks them during this process.

Bonded to Jeff

RARE Effect:???

PLATINUM Effect:???}

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Before Jeff could even say the activation word the tip of Alicia’s spear was at his neck. Her Presence with her Noble Job stats was heavy on the bald man’s soul. Even though Jeff was a Tier above her, Presences were based on a player’s overall stats as well as Tier and Alicia had almost double the physical stats of Jeff. She had a look of pure fury on her face. Jeff finally started to see that he wasn’t on as sure ground as he thought. He and the Governor had very different conversations, but since he had been gone for the last few months he had had to deal with Jane, and Jane was not nearly as accommodating.

Alicia touched his neck with the sharp tip of the spear. She was so precise that only a single drop of blood rolled down his collarbone as he gulped softly his mouth drying up. “You forget your place Merchant,” Alicia said the last word like a curse. “As my husband has already said, you, owe, us! It isn’t the other way around. Secondly, and this is much more important.” She paused for effect, “Never, threaten, anyone, in this Stronghold, and NEVER, ever threaten, my Liege in her office. Is that understood!” She said the last three words in a clipped tone, and with a slight push of her spear, more blood ran down Jeff’s neck, he didn’t move out of fear.

Jeff slowly moved his hand away from his Style, showing that even fat rats have self-preservation thoughts. The other merchants were all in shock at both Jeff’s arrogances and Alicia’s swift punishment. All but Ryan, whose bird sat on Jeff’s shoulder, no one had even seen it move there, it was like Ryan had planned on stopping the angry man before Alicia intervened.

Jane nodded at him.

Ryan nodded back. Then began to speak to the other Merchant family leaders. “If we want autonomy, we need to be able to police ourselves, that being said, we have a symbiotic relationship with the nobility.” He sighed. “Sit down Jeff. I apologize for using my Style in your office my Lady.” He said in deference.

“As you say your faction should be able to police themselves,” Jane answered with kindness, and little flirtatiously. On the inside though, her mind was reeling, she had just witnessed the power of an Artisan. She was the highest level Noble in the Stronghold currently, but if the people knew of Ryan’s power, she didn’t think she could beat his bird, the damn thing had moved so fast that it looked like it had teleported to her eyes, and she had a perfect view of the whole scene. This man was dangerous. She really prayed that the Governor was a Tier 5 when he returned, or policing the Merchant faction would be impossible. Especially since they had added five more Artisans to the Stronghold in the last few days.

She chuckled beside herself. This was her new life now, trying to control powers that she knew nothing about. She was like a penguin watching a pigeon on a wire, and wondering how do I get up there? She didn’t want to be a pigeon or a merchant, but she wanted that power. Her chuckle cleared the air because everyone who had eyes could see it was genuine. She blinked some tears away, and Ryan’s bird was suddenly next to her with a handkerchief in its beak, she wasn’t even startled, as happy as she was, she took it and tapped the bird on the head earning a coo, then she wiped her tears. The material used in the handkerchief was Rare tier, and by using it she gained a useful buff.

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< BUFF ADDED >

{BUFF: Don’t cry; For every tear you wipe with this handkerchief, you gain 10 Charisma for 10 hours up to your next major threshold. You have gained 70 Charisma for 70 hours.}

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Jane closed the prompt wide-eyed as the handkerchief dissipated into motes of white light. Ryan smiled knowingly at her. Alicia had already stepped away from Jeff, but she was now more worried about Ryan, but the black man hadn’t moved the entire time, she relaxed fully when her Lady laughed and received a gift from the Artisan.

“Thank you, Artisan Gibson, that was a wonderful apology for your factions’ actions today.” The words came out much easier than she had meant to say, little did she know the 70 Charisma had put her over a minor threshold giving her a temporary boost in a negotiation.

A loud ‘what?’ came from the other family heads in the room.

Ryan ignored the faces and words. “It was only fair. We serve the Stronghold as much as it serves us. Tell us what are your terms, we will agree to them if they are fair, as long as after the war you allow us our autonomy again.” Ryan inquired.

“Steward,” Jane said quickly, it was hours of dealing with all of this, and she just wanted it over with. Plus every politician knew you took your wins, it was always when you started asking for more, you got pushback and ended up losing them.

AJ stepped forward at her word with his clipboard. “As of today, and for the duration of the war all items Uncommon and below will be sold at a 90% discount to the crown. You may increase the cost to anyone else by 20% no more. Any styles Uncommon and below will be discounted 80% and can be up-charged 35%.”

The other heads start to mumble, but a glare from Ryan and they all stop. Even Jeff had sat down his eyes never leaving the beautiful Knight captain who could have decapitated him. He wasn’t attracted to her, he was terrified of her. She had dismissed him from her mind after her threat had gotten through to him.

“Rare and platinum creations?” The Artisan asked smiling at the cowed Jeff.

“Rare items and Styles will be 50% and 40% for discounts and 35% and 55% for up-charge,” AJ answered, he looked at Jane on the Platinum.

The Noble nodded. “The crown will pay full price for any and all Platinum creations, you can not sell them to anyone else however.”

The room was silent at that pronouncement. There was only one person who could make Platinum creations consistently at all, and he had a very high failure rate. Trade skills, while powerful, but every rank usually reduced the chance of completing the creation, Ryan had a 65% completion chance to make a Platinum style and that was with the best materials and a long process.

The man didn’t say a word for thirty seconds. Jane let him think, she was pushing her luck, but she had quite a few points in the stat so she was fairly confident that if she let everything play out. She was wrong. Jeff cut in.

The man only had a 23% chance at crafting a platinum item and he needed to do that and more to get to Artisan. With the arrogance of falling upstairs your whole life, Jeff turned to the mayor and said, “Ten percent up-charge for the crown and exclusive rights.”

Jane turned back to Ryan, and the man nodded, “That is a better deal my lady the failure rate is too high to break even during wartime, if it was something more significant we would gladly give you a bigger discount. But we are the biggest fighting force in the region we don’t think any of the forces arrayed against us can beat us as we are. According to our intel, with the defection of the One Blood gang, we have weakened our attacker significantly, so unless you have any other threats to add, a ten percent up-charge seems fair for low Platinum creations. And we want to formally request access to the Rare Dungeons when they are upgraded, for materials.”

The noble looked at the whole room. All the heads look back at her in anticipation. She internally smiled for multiple reasons. Firstly, they had no idea of the levels of the enemies, nor were they aware of the reason why the One Blood gang joined, she had no doubt that they would find out soon enough, that was why she had called for the factions before the gang had joined. The last reason for her smile was Ryan had done her a major favor, by including all creations and not just his styles, it held all of the heads accountable, and now she knew she owed him a favor, that was why he asked for access to the Dungeons. She would gladly give up a few slots for cheaper gear for the troops. But she still had to negotiate the best terms. While she wanted to keep the levels of the enemy from the Merchants, she didn’t want a massive panic in the Stronghold. The new world had made many people cowards, and they wouldn’t hesitate to sell out the Stronghold if they thought the enemy had way more power. So she gambled a little.

“Your intelligence is a little off.” Alicia shifted uncomfortably behind her as she began. “But close enough.” Jane gave her an admonishing look. “What information you don’t have is that there is another force allied with the Westside Guild.” She knew she messed up right away, but it was too late, every one of the family heads zeroed in on one word. Guild.

Every Merchant wanted a Guild, it allowed them to expand Strongholds, not level them up, but expand them. Guilds can help Nobles expand their own Stronghold. As a matter of fact, every one of the Heads in the room wanted to be a Noble Guild for LA once it made it to City Tier. The problem was there were only a few ways to start a Guild, and the first requirement was a Tier 5 leader or council member. The myriad of expressions playing across every one of the heads’ faces was disappointing. Jane cursed her damn Luck, what was she going to do now? She thought.

AJ saved the day. “With the influx of more Artisans, we will be offering the Noble Guild quest for the war. We wanted to agree to the prices before we had said that so it wouldn’t sway your negotiation.” He looked at Jane.

“Right, ten percent up-charge for platinum creations for the duration of the war.”

Jeff found his balls. “Are you crazy? Do you seek to oppose a council of at least Tier 5 Classers? That is suicide, and you know it, Jane.” With a flash of silver, Alicia was in front of Jeff again.

“Mayor, my Lady, My liege or even Viscountess, never act so familiar with my liege again, is that understood... Jeff?” She stood over the seated man, her spear was in her hand, but not pointing at him.

Jeff flinched but still kept talking through Alicia. “It won’t matter what I call you when those powerhouses walk through our Town killing every man, woman, and child, my lady.” He said the last word mockingly. The others murmured in agreement.

Alicia, like her liege took that as a win, and walked back to stand behind Jane. She had used her Job skill Sprint twice, and her Mana was halfway drained by the back-to-back uses, it allowed her to boost her Dexterity by her tier but it burned 25% of her Mana per use and the cooldown went up per use in a day. Jane could see her teammate’s MP bar in her HUD and shook her head.

“We have five weeks until the war, our Dungeon team is on the way back with a few Tier 5 Classers of our own.” She lied.

The room went quiet at that pronouncement. AJ continued. “With the addition of the One Blood gang’s Artisans, we are in good shape. They even brought a combat Artisan.”

Again the room broke out into loud mumbles. Jane didn’t have time for this, she had gotten what she wanted, a little less, but then she almost lost it, so again a win.

“We agree, please inform us if the situation gets worse, however, we will gladly renegotiate,” Ryan said after getting nods from all the heads.

Jane knew that they had their own way of silently communicating. But in her office that HUD feature didn’t work. That was why the noble had them come to her. She looked at the only person who didn’t nod. Jeff.

“Are we going to have a problem lesser Enchanter Bezos?” By using his newly upgraded Profession prefix Jeff knew his next words would determine whether he lived or died.

“What about macro enchantments Lady Santos?”

Jane actually didn’t think about them. She actually wasn’t aware fully of what macro enchantments were capable of, or what they were at all. She looked to AJ for help, but it was the newest type of Trade that had been discovered by the Bezos family, and the only on the 1st of June, a matter of fact Jeff’s second platinum enchantment was a macro enchantment on the inner wall, which gave a minor regen to the wall. It didn’t seem like much, but considering Professionals needed to constantly infuse Mana into all structures to maintain them, constantly for some structures like the wall required infusion once a day. That one enchantment had cut down the time to once a week, it had also taken Jeff a full month to complete it. So needless to say they needed a scale for it. They were saved from coming up with an answer by the weekly prompts, another reason why Jane wanted the meeting when she had them. The Horde prompts came every week at this time.

_____________________________________________________________

00:00 ZULU TIME 14TH JULY 1ME

16:00 LOCAL TIME 13TH JULY 1ME

RARE PERIOD

MORTAL REALM

_____________________________________________________________

< GLOBAL EVENT >

{The RARE grace period has ended. If you haven’t cleared your local RARE dungeons, they will start to expel their excess creatures in order to grow. The beast and monster of nightmares are upon you, Human. Fight, for this will be your hardest challenge yet. Rare creatures are different from your typical creatures, they are true powerhouses, and not just in raw physical stats, they are intelligent and won’t just throw themselves at your defenses, instead, Monsters will establish forts that will have to be cleared in order to get full completion credit for hordes. Not many of the Rare elites will be Tier 5, but the numbers that a Tier 5 entity can command will be prodigious. Seek out a Stronghold for protection, or go at it alone, there are always benefits in suicidal actions, just know either way you should Live Well or you will more than likely Die Free.

Let the Rare Game begin.}

_____________________________________________________________

She wasn’t expecting that at all. She thought it would have been the regular UnCommon horde prompt. She again thanked Ryan for the extra Charisma, because her surprise didn’t show on her face. Jane also got an alert that a couple of the Uncommon Dungeons had upgraded to Rare now that Mana levels had risen again, they cost the Stronghold more Mana, but with the people they had that cost was covered easily. Personally, she smiled smugly internally, as her pools grew again, now that the mana levels grew and her Evolved mark showed its benefits. The prompt was very ominous, but she had gotten accustomed to that early on as her HUD read to her. She had learned everyone had a different voice, and each voice was supposed to be the best fit for the person, so what she heard was more of a reflection of herself, than the game being negative. After accepting that, she just smiled at the good news.

“Looks like we can start our renegotiation now,” Jane said with an external smirk.

_____________________________________________________________

< CEASEFIRE HAS BEEN REINSTATED >

< EVENT: WAR >

{WAR HAS BEEN DECLARED ON YOUR STRONGHOLD BY THE WESTSIDE GUILD.}

{Time until the start of war PAUSED 5W:1D:23H:59m.58s}

_____________________________________________________________

Neither AJ nor Alicia could keep the gasp from their mouths at the Global Event and then WAR prompt.

Jane would have been right behind them, but she frankly had thought this was going happen on the first of July since it was the seventh month, and sevens seemed to play a vital role in the game. Every seven days was a Common horde, every Seven weeks was an Uncommon horde, so naturally she had thought the seventh-month mark would have one. She was wrong, but she was always ready, well until the war declaration. She didn’t understand why the war was paused, but she was not about to complain. Now the cease-fire was a pleasant surprise, the Merchants wouldn’t have gotten that Prompt, but every guard would have so the people would know in a few minutes, for now, she had the negotiating power with that knowledge.

_____________________________________________________________

< THE GOLDEN BEAR HAS CALLED FOR A PARLAY >

{The Golden Bear has stopped the war because of the Rare Horde. Make your way to the tribe’s territory so that the golden bear may oversee temporary parlay. You are being summoned by a god, choose your representative appropriately. Only Tier 5 or above players will be allowed.

LIVE WELL or DIE FREE!}

< Time frame for accepting invitation 2D:23H:59M:59S >

_____________________________________________________________

‘Puta!’ The mayor internally cursed. She knew it took at least a day to make it to the native tribal territory. She had to send a Noble representative. She also knew she was the right person for the job, the last time the Governor interacted with the tribe he had been defeated and was forced to give a ton of concessions for his life. She knew he would not be a good representative. The problem was she wasn’t a Tier 5 nor was she even close to getting there. Maybe if she went into a Rare Dungeon. She shook her head. That wouldn’t work because even with the time dilation she would have Dungeon sickness for the meeting, that’s not a good look.

Ryan’s speaking brought her out of her musings, she had missed the first part of his sentence. “...and I believe the standard horde prices are fair, and from now on we will do the standard horde price for defense War events, if we are the aggressor we can negotiate another rate.”

Jane smiled a genuine smile, that was what she wanted. If she had a commerce Skill it would have just leveled. “That is something the crown will agree to Artisan. In return, we will give the Merchant faction access to the newly upgraded, Rare Crafters Dungeon in the noble quarter.”

The family heads look at her with excitement. All she could think was ‘Got you.’ Then to her surprise, she got another unexpected prompt, one that made all her victories today go away, and changed her world forever.

_____________________________________________________________

< STRONGHOLD ALERT >

{Your Stronghold leadership has changed. Your type of Government is being updated.}

_____________________________________________________________

That was it. No more information. The wide eyes on everyone’s faces in the room left no question that everyone had gotten a similar alert.

Jeff was the first to respond. “Does that void all of our deals? Is the Government planning on reneging on your promise of democracy and free trade?”

The mayor and her teammates ignored the man as Jane sent them a personal prompt she had received.

_____________________________________________________________

< ALERT >

{Because you were a Vassal of the Governor and the Governor had handed control over to another you have been demoted. Your Noble class will reflect this demotion. Viscountess to Baroness.}

< NOTE >

{The new leadership has chosen a Military Meritocracy type of Government. While the rules of this type of government is straight forward it is easily corruptible by nepotism, so the leadership of the Stronghold is tasked with giving everyone the same starting point.}

< ALERT >

{Your JOB has changed you are no longer the Mayor that rank does not exist in a Military Meritocracy. You have been laterally promoted to the JOB of Town Lord(Major military rank equivalent. In your Town you outrank any other Major, outside you don’t.) New functionality is available in your JOB tab. (Your combat skills now level up at a very high rate despite affinity.*}

< NOTE >

{* denotes powers or bonuses that don’t show up on the Character Sheet. And can’t be shared with anyone else in the GREAT GAME, the player can’t even tell anyone due to the magic of the game.}

_____________________________________________________________

[There is good news and bad news in that prompt. The good news is the Governor is still alive. The bad news is we have a Warlord of some type as our leader now.] AJ said in their team text.

[We have time before this warlord can claim the Stronghold we have options. The guard is with you we can get the Merchants on board they lose a lot by the government change. All we need is the Army and hopefully, the JTF stays neutral at the very least.] Alicia added.

[Agreed.] Jane said knowing the note she read wasn’t seen by her teammates, she also knew from experience that she couldn’t tell them either, the GREAT GAME loved its secrets. Leaving that thought behind since she couldn’t do anything about that so she moved on to what she could control. She looked up to the family heads. “Well, looks like we all need to talk ab...” Much to her surprise all of the family heads were on one knee.

“We are here to serve Town Lord.” There was no jest, or hesitation in any of their eyes. Jane was so shocked her mouth fell open involuntarily.

***

JANE SANTOS

An hour later the Town Lord, she actually really liked that name, was left in the room with the loyalty of the entire Merchant faction. This was good because she had no idea who this new mysterious leader was, but just by having him take over the Town had hit max level. That was why the Merchants all bent the knee. To Max out a Hamlet or above Stronghold required a Tier 5 individual at the very least. The max bonuses couldn’t be claimed until the Warlord touched the Stronghold vault, but just that Lore alone gave everyone in the room peace of mind for today and the future. One thing that was very clear with the type of government chosen, a Meritocracy does not have slaves. So whoever this warlord was they had to be a new power in the region.

The leader of the NPC faction came next the conversation was quick. “We are with you Town Lord.” Michael the tall black man was still taller than her kneeling. He was a former professional basketball player who was one of the first Enlightened to openly play the game, he could dunk from the three-point line, and he was the most exciting player to play basketball ever. So naturally when the Breaking happened like all former Dusters he gained a ranked-up skill or Ability. With his high Charisma, unique Ability, and Diamond ranked high Journeyman Tier Skill, he was probably the equal of any combatant in the stronghold, no one had even gotten a Skill to Mid Apprentice and Michael was only 1 skill level away from his Expert Skill quest, but here he was on one knee swearing his faction to the her, with a smile on his handsome face. Jane shook the invasive thoughts out of her head, this man's high Charisma was insidious, he was an illusion user so he could make anyone see what he wanted them to see if you don’t have any defenses up he could put a player in a whole new world of their own, for however long he had Mana. She chuckled to herself as she looked at the man, he was now her asset, and she could get used to this kind of government.

That was when the Army executive officer(XO) walked in, more like strolled in, and with confidence written all over his face. He didn’t give the custom salute, or even acknowledge his Town Lord. That was when Jane and her Team learned why most Stronghold governments don’t choose a meritocracy. The blonde-haired man stopped thirteen paces in front of her and proclaimed. “I challenging you for your position of Town Lord in single combat.”

‘Mierda!’ Jane cursed this type of government.