Floating in front of her in a vast empty void was Julia's avatar, Ophelia Von Luna, a character she spent fifteen years playing. Ophelia was a masterpiece, it took Julia hours in character creation editing all the fine details. Her silver hair was wild and thick, flowing across her shoulders and down her back, with skin as white and smooth as porcelain, giving her an otherworldly feeling. Deep golden cat-like eyes instilled the thought of "predator" to all who gazed upon her. Yet, her alluring body, bewitching face, and her seductive lips made any creature gaze at her in both fear and delight. Selecting her avatar, she closed her eyes until she heard a slight ding noise, a cue she had successfully logged in.

Standing in the middle of a passageway, Ophelia opened her eyes. The magical flames in the braziers along the wall weakly flickered, the obsidian walls gleamed in the fire's light. These were the halls of the Ichor Sanctuary, a secret refuge built deep within a mountain. It had taken Ophelia and her supporters years to build it, without the notice of their enemies. Brushing her gauntlet against the walls, she smiled, happy to have a place to belong. Shaking her head, she pushed those thoughts aside and quickly pulled up the menu.

Accessing her character menu, she examined her inventory, making sure everything was there and in order. Before she had logged out the day prior, Ophelia had just completed a quest. By the time she finished it and received her reward, it was already late into the night. She had logged off before she could really look at what she received.

Scrolling to her outfit and equipment screen, Ophelia changed out of her armor and into something more regal. Although the NPCs around her wouldn't notice, to her it was about setting the mood. Right now she wasn't an adventurer, she was their leader and empress. Ophelia selected her favorite long-sleeved, deep v-neck ebony dress that clung to her curves. Over top of that, she equipped a matching high waisted corset belt. Then she chose a long raven-black robe with hidden patterns woven into it over the dress. Finally, she picked out her accessories: the void-black crystal earrings called the "Tears of the Styx" and a necklace named "Draconic Authority", which were some of the best equipment she had.

With that done, Ophelia exited the menu screen before making her way toward the conference room. Although she was a little late for the meeting with her retainers, they wouldn't complain. Turning the corner, she saw attendants and knights carrying chests, barrels, and crates towards the vaults and supply rooms. Their blank expressions focused on the task at hand. The only complaint she had about the game was although the NPCs were lifelike, they had almost no personality. Which was a little disappointing, considering she spent hours writing backstory for some of them. They just simply followed commands and schedules, doing whatever she asked.

Ignoring them, she continued down the corridor until she stopped in front of two large iron double doors. Taking a deep breath in, she got herself into character, before letting out a long sigh. Placing her hand on the ornate silver doorknob, she twisted and pushed the doors open. Standing there in the doorway, the room was eerily quiet, considering it was filled with her most trusted confidants. Upon seeing her, they all stood in silent unison and bowed to her. Walking across the glimmering marble floors, she made her way to the head of the table. It was an impressive sanguine quartz table that cost her quite the fortune to acquire.

At the head of the table was a large black armchair made from precious twilight jade, making it seem like it was made from the night sky. Its intricate details always fascinated her, usually finding some little detail she had never seen before every time she saw it. You needed a high strength stat to move it, but that really wasn't a concern for Ophelia. With little effort, she slid it back and sat down before issuing the command "Sit" to all of them.

Everyone in the room silently sat down in unison and looked at her blankly for further orders. Every one of them were NPCs and each of them were her trusted retainers. Some of them held influential positions within the alliance, while others didn't. And although they were not real, to Ophelia they were precious. The Northern State Alliance had brought them all together, and now they were planning to tear it apart. To be fair, the alliance was already doomed, but because of them, it would be much more brutal.

In Ophelia's opinion, it had to be done, after her reign her political enemies were going to vote to nominate a traitor to the throne. She had also become tired of dealing with the petty squabbles of the other players within the alliance. You just couldn't trust a player because you never could fully predict what they would do. At least the NPCs had a loyalty bar that you could max out.

She had tried to fight the corruption within the alliance with her trusted NPCs, but that didn't solve the root of the problem. The greed from the players in the alliance made it hard to move or create new policies. Many players belonging to the alliance had in some way already betrayed it, many working with nations to the south. And when the new emperor came to power, they and their companions would sell out the alliance.

Ophelia with the help of her spymaster Cybel had long learned their plans to plunder and sell out the other alliance members to nations in the south. Instead of using this information to try keeping the alliance together, Ophelia had decided to use it for her own gain. She had worked hard, turning the alliance from a weak fourth-rate power into a regional powerhouse. Instead of allowing others to take the riches and power she had built up for the alliance, she would take it. There was no way in hell she would allow someone else to take what she and her retainers bled for.

Now, with the 15th-anniversary celebration going on, it was a perfect distraction to drain the alliance vaults of more wealth and assets. She had set a plan in motion a year earlier to take advantage of this moment to transfer gold, items, and materials into the Sanctuary vaults. After the celebration ended, the players within the alliance would quickly learn what happened. Before that time, she would make sure that every trace of her disappeared. And during the chaos that would erupt in the alliance, she would secretly make her move.

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The Ichor sanctuary would become a secret place for her shadow empire. An empire that had no borders or direct line of communications, it would only exist in rumors. Everything had already been long planned out, and today was the last piece. It filled Ophelia with euphoria over the fact that her plans had succeeded. These last three years had been a genuine test of her nerves, but it was finally almost over. Pushing all these thoughts aside, she turned to her right towards one of her most loyal retainers, Diego de León, the chancellor of the alliance.

Diego was a cobalt-blue cambion that rose to power quickly within the alliance. At first Ophelia was quite distrustful of the man, but he had quickly gained her trust. He was extremely intelligent, friendly, and if she didn't know better, a little sweet. Diego was of medium height and slender build, with no combat skills. With shaggy and unruly black hair, he reminded her of a young nerdy college student. Whenever she saw him, he moved with the grace one would expect from a gentleman. His attire, although orderly and fanciful, didn't pull too much attention to it.

"Report status of Operation Purlion, Chancellor Diego" Ophelia commanded Diego.

As if being turned on, he gave her a meek smile, his eyes focusing on her. Although the AI sometimes gave the NPCs awkward facial movements, it was well enough to pass her standards. It was just a shame that unless you interacted with a NPC; they had a lifeless look to them. But she couldn't be too picky. It would be impossible for current AI technology to keep up with every NPC in-game.

"Blessings of the night, your highness." He greeted her in a honeyed tenor, bowing slightly before doing as she requested.

"Operation Purlion, is ninety-nine percent complete as of the last reporting from my subordinates." Diego continued before waiting for further commands.

Satisfied, Ophelia turned her attention to the woman sitting next to Diego, Cephal Nordsee, the Trade Minister for the Northern State Alliance. She hailed from a large merchant family that joined the alliance because of privateers from the southern nations attacking their ships. From what Ophelia observed when talking to the woman is that she was calculating. The AI made her believe that this woman wouldn't do anything if it didn't profit her.

Like all scylla, she had a human top with a bottom that closely resembled that of an octopus. Her human top was that of a beautiful, voluptuous woman. With lustrous lavender hair and the face that could tempt any sailors to jump into the sea for her. Her skin was a pale white silver and her eyes were jet-black. Her tentacles were dark-indigo purple with black accents, her suckers lilac. She wore a black-scaled and purple lace nightdress, which barely covered her.

"Report status of the Northern State Alliance main vaults." Ophelia asked, sitting back in her chair.

From the corner of her eye, she saw the life drain away from Diego as Cephal came to life. Even after all these years of playing, she hated to see that happen. It pained her to see her retainers return to their black expressions, waiting for a command. She silently prayed that one day the game would upgrade to where all NPCs had their own AI.

"Blessings of the night, your highness." Cephal greeted Ophelia in her usual low and sultry voice, bowing slightly before answering Ophelia's request.

"We have emptied the Northern State Alliance vaults, which you have designated, leaving only one gold coin in each, as you have instructed." She replied with a smile, waiting again for another command.

The good thing about NPCs was that they did what you asked them, depending on your connection to them and loyalty meter. The problem is that they were not flexible in their thinking, so the instructions you gave them needed to be detailed. If it wasn't for her work experience in government and foreign affairs, her plans would have failed years ago. Now as soon as they finished moving everything into the vaults, everything was finally coming to an end. She had been on edge for a very long time, nervous to log in one day and learn that someone discovered what she was up to. Nodding to herself, she peered around the table, trying to think about the next part of the plan.

Her eyes stopped on Sorzo Wavea, the Ichor Sanctuaries overseer. Ophelia had known the old man for years and had even done a few tasks and missions for him. Originally he was the steward for a citadel, but was chased out when a new lord came to own the fortress. Trusting the man and knowing no one better for the job, Ophelia offered him the position of overseer. Now for the last three years, he has been faithfully overseeing all of it.

Sorzo was a lime-green male lizardian, or as some players called them "lizard folk". His scales covered most of his body. He had a sharp talon-like claws on his feet, and razor-like teeth. His face, like most of his kind, resembled that of an Iguana, but his had an almost constant smirk on it. Considering his age, Sorzo still had a tall and powerful build. Matched with his gold-vertically slitted eyes, it gave him an intimidating look.

"What is the status of the food and crafting supplies within Ichor Sanctuary, Overseer Sorzo." She asked the old lizardian, strumming her fingers on the arm of the chair.

Just like Diego, Cephal's face dimmed and became blank as Sorzo came to life. She pushed her unhappiness away from seeing such sites again, and focused her attention on Sorzo.

"Blesssingss of the night, your highnesss." Sorzo greeted in a slithery deep voice, bowing slightly before answering to Ophelia.

"The ssupply rooms dessignated for crafting suppliesss within the Ichor Ssanctuary are at full capacity. The sstore roomss designated for food are at 50% capacity." Sorzo answered, before waiting for further inquiries.

"What is the amount of blood vials we have? And what's the status of obtaining more from the null council?" Ophelia asked, straightening herself out in her seat.

"The Ichor Ssanctuary currently hass 3,271 blood vialss according to our latest recordss. As your insstructionss we are currently negotiating the price and payment of more blood vialss from the null council. However, the council has not agreed upon the price point you provided to me." He obediently answered with his usual smirk.

One by one she went around the room, asking everyone the status of certain things. This was going to probably be the last time, in a very long time she would be able to have everyone together like this. Once the alliance was thrown into chaos, everyone would be working hard. Many of the faces in this room needed to go to other nations and regions to begin building up contacts. All in part to build up her influence and connections, allowing her to control things from the shadows.

By the time she had gone through everything and gave everyone new detailed instructions, three hours had passed. Looking up at the game clock, she quickly realized it was 23: 59. This was the downside to running an empire, most of your time was wrapped up in management. It was rare for her to travel out and do actual quests these days, at least not like she used to. Ophelia would need to find time to go out and have some fun and do some quests. Of course, it would need to be well out of the reach of prying eyes of those within the alliance. She was sure that they would put out a massive bounty on her come Monday morning.

Standing up from her chair, she was about to dismiss everyone when a notification popped up. That was highly unusual, usually, the game tried to never allow that unless absolutely necessary. It was simply telling her she has received an urgent message. Worried, she opened up her menu screen and went to her message screen, and looked at her inbox. There at the very top was an unopened message that simply said "Champion Selection" on it. Curious, she opened it to see what it said, but found nothing but an almost endless sequence of letters and numbers.

Growing more confused by the second, a strange tingling sensation came over her. Then a stabbing sensation struck her head, causing her to lurch forward onto the table. She grabbed the sides of her head, screaming for the pain to stop. From teary eyes, she watched as her retainers watched her with blank stares. Until finally everything in the room faded and the world went black.