Multiple new notifications blinked away at the corner of my vision, awaiting my attention. I didn’t immediately open them as some of the crowd dispersed. I placed a hand on Stella’s shoulder. “Thanks, Stella.” Taking a deep breath, I held my exhale for a moment as I mentally cleared away any lingering doubt. Letting it out, I was a bit more refreshed and ready to keep moving forward. With a nod from Stella, I allowed the System prompts to appear, one after the other.
Congratulations! You have become the mayor of Merton.
Congratulations! You have unlocked a new settlement. Please see your Accelerator to see the new options open to you. Lead well, Hunter!
System Notification: You have been granted a new title, ‘Mayor of Merton.’
You’ve either been voted in (yeah for Democracy!) or you’ve ‘disposed’ of the previous holder of this title. Well, the latter is usually the case when it comes to Hunter’s. Either way, you’re in charge now. So, get out there and lead your civilization into a true empire.
Title Benefits: plus 25% charisma bonus to all residents of Merton. Plus 10% reputation gains with all friendly aligned settlements within 250 miles.
Would you like to change your Title to ‘Mayor of Merton?’ Note – Title benefits remain regardless of the displayed title. Yes/No?
“That’s unexpected,” I muttered as I declined the new title. The charisma bonus and positive reputation gains were nice, but I was quite content with my title remaining ‘the Hunter Killer.’ Unfortunately for me, I never got into the whole empire-building and games like in my former life on Earth. I had nothing against the genre, it simply never appealed to me like MMORPGs had. Here, becoming mayor had only landed in my lap because the previous mayor had gone insane. I hadn’t done anything to earn it, let alone deserve it, in my opinion. Hell, it was Ripley who had killed the man and only in my self-defense. In the middle of it all was the System AI and, in its mind, I was responsible for the man’s demise.
I wondered how the villagers would take it, with me suddenly becoming their mayor. My thoughts returned to something Stella had said before, way back when we were helping my friends in Winterfalls after Duke and the goblins attack. “The System stepped in and adjusted their memories to avoid any conflict,” she had said seemingly so long ago. Back then Stella had been talking about NPCs being able to accept me becoming a Hunter so easily, so I wondered inwardly if it would happen here as well. Me being the new mayor and all.
In short order, the System’s interference was confirmed to be true. As obvious as the rising sun, I wasn’t fazed when every single guard, many of whom had weapons bared minutes earlier, pledged their loyalty to me. The matter was settled, though I considered asking Stella how to get the title removed. I’d have to wait to see what came of it. Maybe I would delegate it
My first official order was to take care of Alistair and Eckhart’s bodies. It wouldn’t do to leave them about, which the now-friendly guards wholeheartedly agreed. A pair of the men went to grisly task, assuring me it would be handled properly.
I was dead on my feet even though it was probably close to nine or ten o’clock in the morning. Natasha was nearby and caught my glance her way. When she came over, I asked her where we could rest for a while. A confused expression crossed her face at my question.
“Um, it’s right here,” Natasha said as she pointed up the stairs. I mentally face-palmed. I was the mayor now, and we were standing right in front of the mayor’s home.
“Sorry, I’m pretty spent,” I said with a sigh, I needed a rest. At least a couple of hours. Even though I hardly considered myself mayor, I wasn’t about to turn down the warm bed only a few flights up some stairs. “Thanks, Natasha,” I said, trying to force some enthusiasm in my voice. It must have helped somewhat as she returned my words with a gentle smile.
“For the time being,” I continued. “Can I rely on you to help me with my new… responsibilities as town mayor? This is all new to me and I could use some help."
During the long journey bringing people back from Tsurra’s tomb of horrors, I formed a strong connection with the intellectual woman. She had an easy-going bearing, not shying away when most of the other survivors had. She had a stoic bearing and was easy to talk to. From what I had overheard from her conversations with Stella, she was trustworthy as well. Not knowing of anyone better, Natasha was the only person I was confident in right now.
“Of course. I’d be happy to.” Natasha replied earnestly.
My attention wandered, mostly thinking of taking the steps up to my new bed, as Natasha rattled off instructions to the remaining guards. The rest of the village had dispersed shortly after the showdown, slowly at first, but now only a handful of stragglers remained. Several were doing their best to grab my attention, though I pretended not to notice." Maybe later,” I muttered under my breath.
“Sir,” Natasha said questioningly.
“Please, call me Xaz,” I replied. ‘Sir’ was too formal for me, and I preferred to keep my relationships on a first-name basis. “Can you manage things for a couple of hours?”
“Of course,” came the quick response.
Bidding her well, our much smaller party made the short trip into my new home. Beyond the wood door, we were greeted with a fragrant mix of hearty woods, oils, and freshly cut flowers. A spacious entryway was quickly traversed as I headed upstairs. Mirrors, antique paintings, and decorative embellishments adorned the walls. It didn’t hold my attention as I pressed on, a singular goal in mind. Stella pointed to a room as we got to the second floor, the door quickly falling open and my body touching down on the plush bedding. The bed’s smooth sheets and plush pillow invited me in.
Stella landed gracefully on the opposite side of the bed, circling around like a cat before plopping down. In minutes, she had found her way to the side of my chest, sleeping soundly at my side. I found myself thankful for the ease sleep found her. While Stella seemed to have the spirit of a child, at other times she was intensely mature. I was glad she wasn’t too troubled by the events of the day.
Doing my best to not disturb my snoring companion, I quietly ordered Ripley to keep watch over us. Lowki pressed his face against the side of the bed, questioningly. I invited him to get some rest if he wanted. “Or, you can help Ripley keep watch,” I whispered to the great cat. His response was a giant-sized yawn before flopping heavily on the floor.
With my new empowered aegis and with a tireless skeleton Al friend as a protector, little harm could find us here. Dreams found me as soon as I closed my eyes.
I awoke a pair of hours later, feeling well-rested. Stella had snuggled herself between my neck and shoulder. Turning my head to look at her, I could only see her legs pointing away. She shifted, my movement rousing her. "Comfortable, are we?” I asked jokingly, unable to turn my head completely to the side because of her warm body.
Stella yawned before burying her head further into the side of my neck. I believe she uttered something, though it was too muffled to make out. Looking towards the door, Ripley had her back up against the end of the bed, her head locked in place like she was a Terminator. Lowki was nowhere to be seen, though my low position made it impossible to see beyond the corners of the bed. I caught movement in the corner of my eyes, finding his paw-like appendages waving lazily about.
It was peaceful and, for at least another pair of long minutes, I couldn’t bring myself to wake Stella fully. Not yet. I was about to lean forward in bed when a notification opened in my vision. The message had been accompanied by a loud chime. Stella sputtered a muffled surprise into my neck.
Congratulations on your first 24 hours in-game! The proprietors of Prime World “Echo” wish to thank you for your purchase of Hunter Tier {ERROR – NO TIER SELECTION FOUND} and hope that you have enjoyed your time thus far.
In this short time, you have received 2,743,373 views and earned 664,622 followers. This rates you in the 95th percentile of all initiate Hunters within their first day for Prime World “Echo”!
As a show of our appreciation for your performance, and in accordance with your Contract {ERROR, CONTRACT NOT FOUND}…
Please hold a moment…
“Um, Stella,” I said from the side of my mouth, not wanting to turn away from the hovering messages. “These error messages are a bit concerning.”
Notice! The default Hunter contract has automatically been loaded to your profile.
As a show of our appreciation for your performance, and in accordance with your Contract, you will receive one free upgrade to your most recent accomplishment.
Congratulations! You have received one free settlement upgrade. You have 24 hours to make a selection, or it will be randomly chosen for you. Choose well!
On behalf of the Universal Games, we hope for your continued success as you reach for new heights of fame, power, and glory. May you ever be successful, Hunter!
Stella finally righted herself, floating in the air as if slightly tipsy. “You good, Stell?” I questioned.
“Yup,” Stella replied as she opened her eyes wide. “Always a little dizzy when I wake up.” Her eyes peered over at me. “Now, you may be wondering if a supreme artificial intelligence requires sleep. Well, this one does.”
“Anything to worry about this message and the… errors?” I asked.
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“Nah,” Stella answered easily. “The default contract, which the System AI gave you, is a good one. Only the extremely, and I mean extremely, wealthy Hunter would bother changing to a different contract. So, nothing to worry about.”
“I can’t believe it’s only been a day since you made me a Hunter,” I said as I stretched out and moved my feet off the side of the bed. I turned to Stella with a questioning look on my face. “Ready to get back to it?”
“Yup, though let's see if this place has any food,” Stella gave a great shake of her body, looking as if she was shaking off water though none existed on her. “And, no, before you ask. I don’t want any of your pocket food.”
I laughed, “Pocket food, Stell, you’ve eaten this before without complaint.”
“Well, if you must know, we were out in the wilderness if you hadn’t noticed. We’re in a city now.” She coughed. “Err, village. Whatever. Don’t look at me like that. We’re in a town so we should get some real food.”
“Let’s see what we can find then,” I replied, turning my head so Stella wouldn’t notice my amusement at her fussiness. As we descended the stairs, the aroma of something delicious hit our noises. Stella immediately perked up and led us directly to its source. As we opened what looked to be a dining room, with its rather large, stained table and ornate chairs, our stomachs were greeted with a large plate of homemade pancakes.
“Now,” Stella said enthusiastically as she sat down, her small head barely reaching above the tabletop. She floated half a foot higher to give ample room to admire the hearty meal. Rubbing her hands she continued, “Let’s eat.”
“Say, Stella,” I started in between bites. “I think we talked about this earlier, but can you remind me about this prime-world stuff? The message from upstairs talked about us being in the ‘Echo’ world. Just how many Hunter worlds are out there?”
I had to wait for a few seconds for Stella to work a mouthful of fluffy cakes and sausages down. As an artificial being, Stella could eat far more than she appeared she could. “Prime worlds are basically starter worlds. Usually, it is randomized so not too many Hunters are placed in the same one. Though, like those special contracts I mentioned, if someone pays enough, they get to choose which world they’ll enter.” Another few seconds passed in silence as she helped herself to more breakfast. Actually, not too silent as Stella was making more than a fair share of satisfied grunts with each bite. The food was amazing. “To my knowledge, there are well over a few hundred prime worlds at any given time, and their size can vary greatly. Most are as big as your home planet, but others can be far larger. Beyond a prime world, the sky’s the limit really. As long as Hunters continue to level and ascend there is no end to the number of worlds the System uses.”
“Any idea how many Hunters are on this planet with us?” I asked.
“No idea,” Stella answered with a mouthful bulging out. “My access to my Accelerator screens grows as you do. In levels, that is. Right now, there’s no way of knowing. Like when we talked about Duke, an Accelerator’s System access still has a decent amount of information marked as ‘off limits’ to not give an undue advantage. I have more information than the common, or even rare, accelerator, but I doubt anyone can gather information about other Hunters."
We ate in silence for a few minutes, basking in the scent of syrup and a warm cooked meal. Natasha must have sprung for this, though I wondered where it came from considering the state Merton was in when we found it. The village must have storerooms, or maybe Tsurra left the mayor’s residence alone meaning this was a typical morning meal for when Alistair was running the place.
A new icon had appeared in my vision, which appeared to be a few houses lined in a row. It was my new settlement menu. A small ‘plus’ symbol blinked in its corner, likely the upgrade I would need to pick soon. I hadn’t even opened the menu but the thought of running an entire town, even as small of one as Merton… Well, let’s say overwhelming wouldn’t be far off the mark. Sadly, for me, when I actually opened the menu after finishing my four pancakes, the feeling only magnified. “Oh, crap. That’s a lot of information.”
“Just be glad you didn’t receive ownership over a kingdom,” Stella’s cheeks bulged as she smiled. “Your fuzzy little head would explode.”
Taken aback, I shot my fingers up to my head, feeling my short brown locks. They were longer than I normally liked, but it was hardly ‘fuzzy.’ I asked Stella as much.
Stella didn’t answer other than making louder grunts of enjoyment, all the while she wore a happy grin on her face. Seeing she wasn’t going to explain her ludicrous comment, I instead asked for her help with the interface. “Can you help with… this?”
The information on screen was massive, to say the least. Option upon option was available, all the tabs, drop-down menus, and similar selectable information. In short order, my vision was bombarded with a few dozen windows.
“Yup, one second. Don’t go crashing the System,” Stella said sarcastically with a casual wave of her paw. “Okay, there, you should see basic information now. If it helps, instead of trying to blunder through like a drunken sailor, ask me and I call pull up whatever you want to see.”
“Thanks,” I said as my eyes tried to make sense of the ‘basic’ information now in front of me. Obviously, I was a bit lost, so I swiped everything away, closing the settlement interface. “We’re going to be leaving soon, so why bother? I’m hoping I can leave Natasha in charge. Is that, can that be a thing?”
“Yeah, though I would recommend you click on the bank icon you missed.”
With a sigh, I pulled the menu back up. Sure enough, there was an icon that had the outline of a bank. I clicked on it. The town’s ‘vault’ was quite pitiful actually, though after noticing an option for the mayor’s personal safe, my eyes went wide. There was a massive amount of gold there, even a handful of platinum coins. “Blood money,” I said with a sneer. I didn’t want anything to do with it. This wealth had cost nearly a hundred people their lives.
“You can donate it to the town,” Stella said as she pushed her empty plate forward. Not a single cake or sausage remained. “The money could help us, but I feel the same way. With Stella’s help, I transferred close to three hundred gold coins and nearly a dozen platinum pieces into the town’s coffers. I didn’t take any for myself, though the option to do so blinked away in my vision.
With the delicious breakfast complete, we made our way to the front door and pushed it open. A warm, earthy breeze greeted our nostrils. “Can you show me information about the free upgrade we got,” I asked. The townsfolk were out and about with a fervor. Groups of men and women were working to rebuild what had been destroyed. They had a lot of work ahead of them.
“Can you help me pick a good one?” My voice went low to keep it from carrying on the wind. “Keep in mind we’re not going to be back here, at least for a long while I suspect.”
Before Stella could answer, my thoughts returned to Natasha, “There is a way to select another person to be able to take control or at least the reins of the settlement before we head out?”
“Yeah, you mentioned Natasha earlier,” Stella responded as we descended the steps. “It is usually recommended for another to take charge. Not many Hunters, at least not right away, want to set down roots and stay in one place for any length of time. The Game and the System takes this into account and has built-in ways for towns to self-improve.”
A new window popped up in my vision as Stella continued, “There, enter Natasha’s name, and she’ll be granted access to run the town. She won’t be able to see the interface you can, but she will act in accordance with what helps you and the town the most.”
“You mean the System will make her?” I asked.
“Yes, but it won’t harm her or change her personality. The ability to govern will essentially be uploaded into her consciousness. From her perspective, Natasha will simply act like she has always been your second in command.”
“Thanks, Stella,” I said. “This will make it easier. Although, I don’t like the fact the System makes her follow me without her say in the matter.”
“Trust me,” Stella added, her voice empowered. “If she didn’t want to help, the System couldn’t make her. It can affect people in subtle ways, but it can’t force them to go against their nature.”
Confirming the choice of Natasha to be my second-in-command, the matter was settled. Seconds later, Natasha walked near with a new title resting below her nameplate. It read, ‘Assistant to Mayor Xazorus.’
“Good afternoon, Xaz,” Natasha called out as she approached. She changed, now wearing a simple blue dress. She looked refreshed. “I realize your time is short so let me know how I can help.”
“First, I want you to look after the village when I leave. Do your best to repair what was destroyed, get the town back up and running,” I said as Natasha followed us down the town road where we had first entered. “We’re on a mission, so to speak, and time is of the essence. Can you check to see if another Hunter named Duke passed through town recently? It would have been mid-day to late evening yesterday, possibly even this morning.”
“Sure, give me a moment,” Natasha said as she walked off and called out to some nearby guards. She had a brief conversation with the men before the guards nodded and went in different directions. Natasha came back over. “Eli and Samuel will be back soon after they talk to a few people and guards who were around. Neither had seen your Hunter themselves, but it doesn’t mean he wasn’t here.”
“I’ll also get people to help rebuild,” Natasha continued. “We’ve lost a lot of people so it may take longer than expected, but we have good people around. I’m sure they would be more than happy to help bring our fair village to what it once was.”
“Thank you,” I said with small nods of my head. “I’d also like you to get some people to work on town defenses. Specifically, the pitiful stone wall ringing the town. Just about anything can walk over it at this point and I would hate for a monster to get in here.”
Stella rose up in the air, looking between me and Natasha, “I think I have an idea. The free upgrade could be used to vastly, and speedily, help there. Looking it over… it would come with four guard towers, a barbican main gate, and a myriad number of other defenses.”
“Do you see anything else we could choose with that upgrade worth considering?” I asked but before Stella could answer Natasha jumped in.
“Having a wall built quickly would be incredibly helpful both for the development and security of the town. We have access to a stone quarry, but not enough people to mine and move the stone, let alone transport it here, then build it.” Natasha said. I appreciated her directness and foresight. She was already proving to be a great pick to help look over the town. “Having a secure place to live would no doubt help with the heartache we all share.”
I looked to Stella, gauging her opinion. Her eyes were unfocused, skimming left to right, no doubt reading information about the available upgrades. After a short moment, she looked at me and nodded. “Yeah, it’s a good one.”
“Great, thanks you two,” I said appreciatively to both Natasha and Stella. “Let’s get that going, if you would, Stell.”
“Done,” Stella said as she swiped her paw in the air. “Nothing needs to be done by the townsfolk with this one. The magic of the System will get the stone from the quarry, lay the foundation, and then build the wall. It’s all automatic.” Stella paused a moment before continuing, “Oh, I also designated the wall to reach out to near its maximum range allowed by the upgrade. It should leave the town with plenty of room to grow. It also leaves room for improvement for the nearby shipyard.”
“Wait, shipyard,” I said. “I thought we were heading out on foot. Good work, Stella, but maybe we have an opportunity here.”
As I spoke, guards Eli and Samuel ran over at a light jog. Both saluted me before describing how a few of the town’s residents had spotted another Hunter. Though most people ducked away trying to remain hidden in fear it was Tsurra. One woman, Nilla, had told Eli she saw the man take a few looks around town but, after seeing it nearly deserted and in ill repair, he simply continued on down the road on the north side of town.
Natasha, catching my earlier statement, added, “The road he took runs parallel to the river. It leads to the capital.” There was indeed an opportunity here if we were lucky. Duke was on foot, and it sounded like there may be a few ships docked nearby. If I could get passage on one, we could make up some of the ground.
“Natasha, do you know if there are any ships leaving soon?” I asked after thanking the two guards. “I’m hoping to get passage north to follow this Hunter.”
“I don’t know offhand, but we can ask the harbor master. Follow me,” Natasha turned and led us in the opposite direction. Five minutes later, a pair of sturdy-looking ships were presently docked. The flowing river was wider than I had anticipated. It was close to a hundred yards wide. Small waves clipped at a steady pace, the ships bobbing with the rhythm of the water.
Natasha asked us to wait a moment before walking over to a burly-looking man. While we waited, I was about to turn to Stella to ask a question about the harbor when a thought crashed into my head. Quickly pulling up the item’s description, I was thrilled to see my thoughts confirmed. “Yes!” I called out gleefully.
“You alright there, Xaz?” Stella asked. “What’s got you all excited?” My grin widened as I pulled out the leather-bound tome for lesser chained lightning.