Eternal Dominion
Book 2

Traction

Bern Dean

Copyright © 2022 Bern L Dean

All rights reserved

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Cover design by: ebooklaunch.com

Contents

Title Page

Copyright

ED, year 1, day 61.

Morning, August 6, 2266.

ED, year 1, day 62.

Evening, August 6, 2266.

ED, year 1, day 63.

Morning, August 7, 2266.

August 8-14, 2266, & ED, year 1, days 66-86.

ED, year 1, day 87-88.

Morning, August 15, 2266.

ED, year 1 day 89.

Evening August 15, 2266.

ED, year 1, day 90-91.

Morning, August 16, 2266.

ED, year 1, day 92.

August 16-29 ,2266 & ED, year 1, days 93-131.

ED, year 1, day 132.

ED, year 1, day 133.

Preview.

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Afterword

ED, year 1, day 61.

Xeal opened his eyes after Anna’s birthday dinner. The system update had completed. This meant no time had passed in game while he had been logged off. He was still in the room inside the arena where he had been led to. It was just after noon and 60 days had passed in Eternal Dominion time since the  start. His guild FAE was growing well, although its member numbers had stagnated slightly around 7,000 members. They had still made it to guild level 20, allowing them to accept over 10,000 members. Now that Xeal had made level 20, he could utilize the teleportation gates between outposts and cities. While they cost coins to use, it was only a single silver to go between a city and its associated outposts. Xeal’s guild was currently using Dragon’s Eye as its main base and it would be a while before others would be able to reach the cities. That said, he himself had sold some information that, in retrospect, cost him a huge chunk of his lead. The guild Eternal Valhalla knew the secret to obtain the Behemoth Slayer title he had discovered. They had used it to add several members to their ranks who could go toe to toe with higher level monsters. Some of them had only been a single level behind Xeal when he was at level 18. Right now Xeal needed to set up three more guild posts to grow his guild and make a move towards securing the area around Dragon’s Heart city, the kingdom of Nium’s southernmost city. Its three outposts, other than Dragon’s Eye, were Dragon’s Claw, Dragon’s Wing and Dragon’s Tail. He would need to find players who could be trusted in the areas to act as vice guild leaders and give them the task of finding new members to join FAE. The easiest way to accomplish this was to just find some small guilds and get them to merge into his guild. The main issue with that was often times the guild leaders would insist on gaining a certain amount of ownership of the guild, and while Xeal knew a few players that he would be willing to recruit in such a way, he refused to use it on any but those few. That left him with option two, find an unassociated player that was trustworthy and able to become a vice guild leader and recruit in the area. Luckily Xeal knew a few players he would be happy to recruit that had based themselves out of each of those outposts at the start of the game.

Xeal made his way out of the room, but as he did so he was stopped by the guard outside the room and informed that Baron Ulric had requested his presence once he awoke. Following the guard, he made his way into the main building of the villa. Xeal followed the guard down a hallway and up a flight of stairs until they came to a door with two guards stationed outside of it. The guard who had guided Xeal here informed the other guards that Baron Ulric had requested his presence, to which they knocked on the door and a reply was heard from within.

“Yes, what is it?”

“Baron Ulric, Sir Xeal is here to see you.”

“Oh, let him in.”

One of the guards opened the door allowing Xeal to see the study within. The walls were lined with bookshelves that, besides the numerous books, also displayed various artifacts, several of which looked magical in nature. The Baron sat behind a large wooden desk that looked exquisite with intricate carvings throughout its sides. As Xeal took in the room the door closed and he knew proper etiquette required him to speak and show his respect by lowering his head.

“Sir Xeal Bluefire is here, responding to your summons Baron Ulric.”

“Thank you, Sir Xeal, for answering my summons. Now let’s get to the reason you have been summoned here, but first, please take a seat.”

Xeal raised his head and sat in the chair to which Baron Ulric gestured to. Once he was seated the Baron continued to talk.

“That was quite the show you put on for us in the arena. Do you know what the typical knight’s results are in that test?”

“I do not, Baron Ulric.”

“Typically, a candidate for knighthood would arrive at level 19 and face off against a level 20 foe in single combat. Most only face the first foe and even then, they often barely achieve that. I have never seen or heard of a challenger taking the path you did and not only succeeding but, pushing far past what I would have thought possible. Now what I would like to know is, are all of the new adventurers who have arrived in our lands as powerful as this?”

“I would not think so Baron Ulric. While I do believe many of us have the ability to become such, few would be able to replicate what I did in the arena. That said, most will prove to have far more potential than almost all guards and most knights. It is why I believe having guilds like mine to call on in the future will be crucial for the Kingdom of Nium before long.”

“Indeed. With that in mind, I do not know if you are familiar with the guest I brought to view the start of your test, but that was the crown prince of Nium, Prince Victor Vidfamne. He was quite impressed as well and asked me to pass this to you.”

Baron Ulric passed Xeal a piece of fabric bearing a seal he recognized as the prince’s. After analyzing it for a bit he quickly stored it in his inventory.

“He has asked that, when you visit the capital, for you to present that to a guard at the palace and ask that the prince be informed that you have come as per his summons.”

“I understand. Although it might be a while before I make my way to the capital, I will definitely make it one of my first stops, Baron Ulric.”

“Don’t put it off for too long. I would suggest you travel there before you reach level 41. I myself will be reporting the results of your test to the prince in the next few days.”

“Thank you, Baron Ulric.”

With that, the meeting came to an end with Baron Ulric excusing him. Xeal was grateful for the invite and the warning. It looked like he would need to make his way to the capital as soon as he reached level 40 and the gate to the capital was opened. While he could now hop around the outposts surrounding Dragon’s Heart city, there were still three more teleportation restrictions he needed to overcome. First, a player had to reach level 40 before they could jump between cities in a country. Next, level 60 was needed to travel across the current continent you were on to other countries. And lastly, you needed to reach level 80 before traveling to other continents by teleportation. The first and second could be ignored by traveling by foot and the last could be bypassed through naval travel, but that was far less convenient, and while Xeal knew he would need to expand his guild past the borders of Nium, he didn’t plan to establish himself anywhere else on this continent until after Nium ruled the whole of it. Beyond just travel between continents, many areas were only reachable by naval means, making development of a guild navy important.

As Xeal made his way to the teleportation gate, he sent a message to his friends letting them know that he had completed his class quest and would be making a trip to the other outposts to begin recruiting more members. Along the way he stopped by the guild post and withdrew 3,000 of the 4,000 gold from the guild fund to purchase three more guild posts. He was happy to see that the guild members had started to buy up guild points. Now he just had to ensure they could supply them with opportunities to use those points. After which, he made his way to Dragon’s Eye’s HQ where the gate was located, and after paying the single silver piece he teleported to Dragon’s Heart city. Upon arrival he was greeted to a system notification.

(Welcome to Dragon’s Heart city, congratulations on being the first player to enter a city awarding 10,000 renown.)

Xeal smirked at the announcement. 10,000 renown was nice, but his guild needed over 1,000,000 to rank up again so it wasn’t that significant. Wasting little time, he turned around and teleported once more. This time it was to Dragon’s Claw. Once more the scene shifted around him and he found himself at Dragon’s Claw’s HQ and he quickly made his way over to an attendant at the counter to purchase a guild post for 1,000 gold. With that complete it was time for Xeal to find the player he was looking for, Casmir Drakos, or Henry in real life. He was a warrior who would become a magus and in Xeal’s last life he had been one of the most reliable friends he had made in ED. Xeal hoped nothing had changed and he would be able to find him somewhere in this outpost and that he could convince him to join FAE. Casmir had always been a leader and had joined along with several of his friends who, like Xeal’s friends, didn’t make it as professional players but had still played recreationally. The main reason Casmir hadn’t joined any guilds until later had been his refusal to start at the bottom. Xeal had to work for months with guild leadership and Casmir to get them to offer a team leader position to him and for him to accept it. The guild had realized Casmir’s talent for leadership quickly and within a year had promoted him to a vice guild leader position.

As Xeal entered the street, players started to notice him and his level, with many stopping in the middle of the road to stare at him. While this was a great way to advertise his guild, it could also cause issues. As he listened to players murmur around him, he resolved to pick up a cloak that would let him hide his level after this trip. Most of the players on the street were level 15 and under, with a few who had reached level 16. For many it would still be a few months before they even looked at challenging a class quest. This was another thing he had to remember. The first players didn’t start making it to the cities until over a month had passed in real life in his last life, but now he had done it in under three weeks. Right now, he had a massive lead that he had to make sure he didn’t squander. As he thought about this, a group of players approached him.

“Excuse me.”

Before Xeal stood a group of six players. All of them were level 16 and in the front was a female player who looked like she was a dexterity-based build with several throwing weapons and a rapier hung from her belt. She had short purple twin tails and stood at five foot five. Xeal was shocked to see her here. Amser Sojourner had been famous in his last life as the crazy ring blade berserker. She had always led a small group of friends on adventure after adventure, never joining a guild, but still being a force to reckon with in the arena. While many had tried to recruit her, she always insisted that she was too free to be pinned down by a guild.

“Yes, how can I help you?”

“I was just wondering, how are you already at level 20? Oh, my name’s Amser. And you are?”

“I would be Xeal, the guild leader of FAE, and as for how I am already at level 20, it is from constantly challenging foes who are five or more levels above myself.”

“Wait, how are you able to maintain that? I’m a dex build, but I can barely kite most monsters two or three levels up.”

“I’m sorry, but that is a guild secret. That said, my business here is to recruit a few promising teams. You look like you all can handle yourselves. Are you interested?”

Amser giggled before replying, “Sorry, but not really into the whole guild thing, too many rules.”

“Are you sure? What makes a guild legit to you, and why don’t you want to join one?”

“Credits. Any guild that can pay its members, even if it’s only a small group of them. However, they always seem to get tied up with rules laid down by those who fund it. I want to play when and how I like. I can earn some spare credits here or there with mercenary work, or selling some gear, but really, it’s the arena I’m after. Once it opens, I plan to enjoy giving all of those guild players a run for their money.”

“Ah, you don’t want to be controlled. Got it. What if all you had to do was inform us of what you find while you play and outside of that we leave you alone while giving you another avenue to sell your surplus loot?”

“What are you talking about? First off, your FAE is in no way legit. You may have established it before any other guild out there, but you have no record. It won’t be long before you fall into decline and disappear like so many other guilds. Look, you might be an excellent player but trust me, this isn’t my first time around. Even if you do manage to survive, you will always be in the shadow of the major gaming corporations that most of the top players already belong to.”

“You would be right 999 out of 1,000 times with your assessment, but I will say this, FAE will be a top guild, it’s only a matter of time.”

“Sure it will be. Anyhow, seeing as this conversation is going nowhere I’ll bid you farewell. I wish your guild luck, but I expect in a month’s time a guild like Abysses End will have absorbed you.”

“Abysses End can go eat a turd; I would sooner stop playing ED than allow them to get their hands on my guild!”

Amser stopped at Xeal’s words and looked back.

“Wow, over reaction much? What has Abysses End done to you, or is that just any other guild in general?”

“No, while my beef with them is too personal to get into right now, all I’ll say is take a second to think about my guild’s name.”

She paused for a second, then started laughing.

“Well, shoot. I guess I’ll join you for this ride after all, on two conditions. First, I and any who are associated directly with me, are free to leave if you ever ally with Abysses End, and second, you ensure that my arena winnings are 100 percent mine.”

“Hmm, the first one is fine, however, as I intend to invest in you for the arena if you are as good as you claim, I have to ask you give the guild 15 percent, and that you partake in guild mock battles to help our other competitors improve as well. That said, if you make our arena team, you would be guaranteed a salary of at least 240,000 credits a year.”

“So, you’re saying that you would bar me from the arena if I don’t make the team?”

“Nope. I am saying if you don’t make the official team, you won’t get the salary and we won’t take the 15 percent.”

“Give me a few minutes to talk with my friends. You will be taking all of us, right?”

“Of course. They are your team after all.”

With that, Amser and her friends huddled to quietly discuss his offer. After several minutes of back-and-forth, Amser turned around.

“Ok, Xeal, you have yourself a frontier team, on one more condition. We will send info back to guild leadership about what we find, but we want first dibs on the loot found there.”

“Are you talking about what you yourself find, or what the guild finds as a whole?”

“Both.”

“No, if it was just what your team finds, you can keep what you want, but the moment a guild force is mobilized, all loot distribution will be decided by bidding using guild coins.”

“So as long as we have enough guild coins, we could still have it?”

“Only if you are in the guild force that finds it.”

Xeal went on to explain how the guild coin system within FAE was set up, and after a bit more back and forth, Amser and her team relented on any loot they were not present for and agreed to join FAE for the time being. They parted after adding each other as friends so they could continue communications when needed. Xeal returned to looking for Casmir by asking other players if they knew him. Most didn’t, and the few that did weren’t much help. After spending a few hours at this, Xeal got a message from Aalin. They had made contact with Anna’s character Nanami Kaida, and that she was in Quickwind, and they had given her some gold and found a small party to recruit with her and they were setting off to level up. Finally, after four hours of recruiting, Xeal found a player who was on Casmir’s friend list and had gotten him to join the guild. A message later and he found out that Casmir was currently grinding about two hours away from Dragon’s Claw and wouldn’t be returning for at least 19 more hours. Through that, Xeal was able to set up a meeting with Casmir for right after Xeal would log back in, which was 31 hours away in ED time. All told, Xeal was able to pick up 50 new members by that point. With that out of the way, Xeal returned to Dragon’s Heart city before moving on to Dragon’s Tail outpost, to set up a guild post and find his next target who had been a major help with administrative tasks in the guild. As a crafting player who focused on tailoring, Taya Moire, Tara in real life, had never really been that big of a help in combat, or raids, but she had been an excellent tailor and great at managing guild members.

Once again Xeal acquired a guild post before moving on to find Taya. This time he didn’t have to look too hard and was able to quickly find her at one of the local tailor shops, where she was working as an apprentice. She was only level 13, with plain gear on. Standing five foot three, she had long dark hair tied up in a ponytail and a pair of round rim glasses on, which Xeal knew was an item that helped crafting players with detail work. Like most crafting players at this stage, she was utilizing the fastest way to level up her rank without spending a small fortune, but it was a dreadfully slow and repetitive process. Players would work in NPC shops assisting the NPCs in their work. This was a cost-effective way to reach iron rank, but after that it was just way too slow and inefficient. Xeal had given much thought on how he was going to recruit Taya without arousing too much suspicion from her as to why she caught his eye. In the end, no good plan had come to him, so he was just going to use the excuse of looking for crafting players for his guild and hope it worked out.

“Excuse me, Excuse me.”

“Oh, huh, are you talking to me?”

“Yes, do you have a few minutes?”

“Um, give me a bit to finish this, then I think a few minutes will be fine.”

Xeal waited as Taya finished prepping the materials for what looked like a basic arcane robe. This was what players doing an apprenticeship quest typically did after the basic instruction was complete. Had Xeal used this route, he would have been doing tasks such as heating metal ingots and turning blades for the smith as he worked them into finished products. Once she had completed her task, she came over to Xeal.

“So, what can I do for you?”

“Hello, I’m Xeal and I lead the guild FAE and I am currently expanding into the outpost around Dragon’s Heart. At the same time, I’m looking to invest in crafting players, and I was wondering if you would be interested?”

“Hmm, I don’t know. What benefits would your guild offer, and what would you expect of me?”

“First, can I get your name?”

“Ah, sorry, it’s Taya.”

“Okay, Taya. The benefits my guild would offer are mainly once you reach level 20 and can enter Dragon’s Heart city, as once there you would have access to our guild facilities and the resources that are gathered by our members. Now, what we would expect from you is to improve your crafting, meet any production goals set, and if you are interested and able to work, to be involved in guild administration.”

“It sounds like I would have to wait for a while before your guild would do anything for me. With that, how the hell are you already at level 20?”

“You are mostly correct as a guild’s benefits are ambiguous at best until they are established inside of a city with a guild hall. That said, my guild is taking extra time to grow our crafting department and we already are secure where smithing is concerned, but we still need to expand all our other crafting areas. The main benefit that comes from joining right now is seniority when the time comes for distribution of resources and promotion. In fact, if you are interested in a provisional vice guild leader position, I still need one for this outpost, but that would require you to work on recruitment as well. As for my level, I just fight foes that are higher level than myself.”

“Hmm, why me, and why would you offer a vice guild leader position to someone you just met?”

“I know what those glasses are. The fact that you have them means you have a great chance to rise in the crafting world, and I’m only offering a provisional vice guild leader position. Think of it like a job interview that involves a trial run. That said, if you accept, we will need to talk offline about pay.”

“Wait, it’s a paid position? How much?”

“Hmm, If you accept, it would be 5,000 credits every two weeks until you reach level 20 and have been with us for at least four weeks. After that we will review your performance and if we find it satisfactory, 240,000 credits a year would be your base salary with performance bonuses available if we are exceeding expectations.”

“Where do I sign?!”

“That depends. Do you want ED to take five percent, or get a direct transfer?”

“Direct transfer, please.”

“Ok, then first sign the contract and pass me a way to call you in the real world. From there we will set up a direct transfer for you.”

Xeal handed her a simple contract that stated that she would serve as a vice guild leader until further notice and that she would not do anything to purposely harm FAE. Once she read it over, she quickly signed it and passed Xeal her phone number in real life and they arranged to get in contact at 5:30 am after she logged out. With that, Xeal guided her to the guild outpost and recruited a few players along the way. She agreed to try to recruit around 1,000 promising players. Xeal stayed a few hours to help with the first few as his level was a great recruiting tool and he needed the news to spread to ensure good results. By the time he left, FAE had 30 members in Dragon’s Tail, but he knew the best time to recruit was when players were just logging on, or returning to town to log off, and like him most day one players were still on the 6:00 to 4:00 schedule in real life. With that Xeal made his way to Dragon’s Wing to set up a guild post there and hopefully find someone to become a vice guild leader. Unlike the last two stops, he didn’t have any players tapped that he remembered starting in that area, but he was sure a few of his old friends must have and he just forgot.

As Xeal walked around Dragon’s Wing, like the other outpost, players were gawking at his level and speaking in hushed voices. This time Xeal decided to just spend the remaining time before he took a rest doing an open recruitment, so in a loud voice, he announced that his guild FAE was looking to expand to this area and was recruiting teams and crafting players. Only a few players came over at first, but as time passed, several more came over as he repeated this process for 12 hours and managed to recruit 240 players. While several showed promise, none of them were players he remembered from his last life. Finally, he found a player he knew, Souh Takeshi, or Kazuyuki in real life, who was walking by with his party. Each was level 16. Standing at six-feet-tall, Souh had on light armor and at his waist was a katana. His green hair was tied behind his head. Xeal quickly made his way to intercept him. While Souh had never been a member of Xeal’s guild in the past, he had become a vice guild leader in a small guild that had some success in the first few years of ED, before being absorbed into a larger guild. Souh had been one of the few who could exploit the samurai class at its highest tier, and was one of the few eight tier players he had been able to meet in his last life. Xeal reached his side before politely getting his attention.

“Excuse me, can I have a moment of your time?”

Souh stopped and assessed Xeal before responding.

“What would Bluefire-san of FAE like from this one?”

“Ah, you already know who I am? Can I please have your name for starters?”

“This one goes by Souh Takeshi here. You may refer to me as Takeshi-san.”

“Thank you, Takeshi-san. I would like to recruit yourself and your friends to FAE.”

“Indeed Bluefire-san, I have heard of your exploits and as I can see you in front of me, I can tell the forums have not been completely off base. But what benefit is there in walking behind you?”

“Takeshi-san, I do not wish you to walk behind me. I wish for you and all who join FAE to walk their own path. For it is only through pushing one’s self that you can come to know what you are truly capable of.”

“You speak well Bluefire-san. Perhaps your path has promise, but that does not mean your guild’s path will continue.”

“It is as you say Takeshi-san, without talented leaders and a strong foundation any guild can vanish in the wind. It is for that reason why I stand here laying down the roots which will hold us firm when that wind comes. While I know not what path you see before you, I can tell you have great potential, far more than any of the other players I have found here today. If you would be interested, I would be happy to extend a provisional vice guild leader position to you. I’m sure you would easily exceed my expectations and become a permanent one.”

“You honor this one Bluefire-san, but what benefit is there to exerting myself for your guild’s benefit?”

“It is a paid position Takeshi-san. You would start at 5,000 credits every two weeks, and once you become a permanent vice guild leader, the pay would jump to 10,000 credits plus performance bonuses, based on how the guild as a whole is doing.”

“Your offer is most tempting Bluefire-san, however, how would that affect myself and my comrades here as we play ED?”

“The only thing that would change would be that I would ask you to recruit players who show promise, and participate in guild operations when you are able. Beyond that, joining our guild will get you access to our guild coin system, and in turn, our crafting players at preferred rates. While both are a work in progress, we have already set up our smithing department to be one of the strongest in all of ED.”

Souh looked to his friends, who nodded to him, before turning back to Xeal.

“I will accept your offer with the condition that if you remove me from being a vice guild leader, my friends and I are free to leave and are released from all restrictions placed on us.”

“That will be fine, so long as the reason for your demotion is not a breach of contract by you.”

“Hmm, very well. Where do I sign Bluefire-san, or should it be Bluefire-dono now?”

“Just Xeal, or Xeal-san if you must, is fine, Takeshi-san. In my culture we don’t use honorifics, but I will respect your wish for them to be used when addressing you and ask that others do as well.”

“Thank you, Xeal-san. I hope that soon I feel comfortable for you to call me Souh-san, but for now, please continue to use Takeshi-san.”

With that Xeal and Souh agreed to speak offline after the call with Taya, or if she was ok with it, at the same time. With that taken care of, Xeal made his way back to Dragon’s Claw to recruit some more players, and if he was lucky, run into Casmir. However, all Xeal managed to accomplish was recruiting another 40 players before renting a room in the inn to rest.

Morning, August 6, 2266.

Alex arrived for the morning run with his friends. For once, he was the last one there.

“What’s going on? Why are you all already here?”

“Today’s a big day, isn’t it? The girls are moving out, so we all shifted our schedules by a half hour so we can help them move this afternoon,” answered Dan smiling at himself.

“Really now, did you tell your parents Nicole?” asked Alex.

“Yah,” sighed Nicole dejectedly.

“They are pissed, and she is staying with me right now. My parents are cool with it as it was only for a night, but yah, her parents might make a scene if they wake up while we are out here,” vented Sam and she warned the group.

“Well then let’s get moving, but let’s end the run at my place to give us a chance to talk for a few minutes,” replied Alex.

With that everyone started the run. Everyone looked a little awkward about the drama with Nicole’s parents, but they all kept up a good pace until the end. While everyone rested for a minute in front of Alex’s house, Alex told them about his results from going to the other outposts, and that he was going to create a new chat room for guild leadership. He wanted to keep the one they were using private as it was more of a place for them to casually talk than anything else. They talked about what was still needed for the move. Apparently, Nicole only had a single suitcase she had packed in case things went the way they did. So, she would need a bed, which the girls had bought last night and Dan was going to pick up, after using his dad’s truck to move Sam’s and Amanda’s stuff over to the apartment. The girls had found a used car one of Amanda’s neighbors was selling and paid him 21,000 credits for it. It wasn’t anything special, but it would let them get around. They all agreed to meet at Alex’s house for the morning runs after today, and to change their route to avoid Nicole’s parents for a while.

It was 4:46 when Alex walked back into his house after seeing everyone off and reassuring Nicole that everything would be ok. Alex’s dad greeted him as he poured himself a bowl of cereal and the two talked about ED and whether his mom would take the bait Alex had put out, but in the end, neither had a good read on the situation. After Alex’s shower, he ran into Anna who had just stopped playing for the night.

“Morning Anna, how was it?”

“Eh, it was alright. Still feels weird that it’s only been ten hours when I spent over a day in ED.”

“You’ll get used to it. Just make sure you get some rest in game. It can make a huge difference.”

“Will do. I might just log in after the mandatory break time for a few hours to sleep.”

“Ok, well, I have a meeting in a few minutes. I’m glad you are having fun, but I have to go.”

“It’s not even 5:30 yet. Who do you have a meeting with at this hour?”

“A player who is interviewing for a vice guild leader position. Two, actually.”

“Really weird. Why do they want the job? it’s not like it’s a paid position, right?”

“It is paid, that’s why it’s necessary to interview them.”

“Really, if I keep playing will you pay me?”

“Only if you are a crafting player or a vice guild leader, both of which are a long way off for you.”

“Why?”

“Until you graduate high school you can’t devote enough time to ED to take a leadership spot, and crafting takes time to master. While my guild will help, it comes in the form of a loan essentially, as we make sure to take a larger portion of your profit from the items you make until we make back what we invested up front. Even so, it still works out great for the crafter as we can accelerate their growth.”

“Huh, ok, guess I look at crafting in my spare time.”

“You do that. Anyhow, love you sis, but I need to go.”

Alex pulled out his phone and called the number Taya had given him and waited as it rang.

“Hello.”

“Taya, hi, it’s Xeal.”

“Oh, hello Xeal. So how does this work?”

“Well, I am sitting at my computer with my banking info pulled up. If you want to pass me the account info, I’ll send the test transfer, then if you are willing to stay on the line for an extra minute, I have another new vice guild leader who I need to call if you would like a chance to speak with him.”

“What outpost is he out of?”

“He is based out of Dragon’s Wing right now; he is more of a combat player.”

“Sure, I’ll stay on the line for a few after I pass the banking info, also the name is Tara.”

“Sure, thing Tara. I’m ready for your info whenever you want to pass it over. Oh, and I’m Alex out here by the way.”

With that Tara passed Alex her info and he got her transfer started. He made sure to tell her to message him when the test transfer went through so he could send the rest of the advance. Once that was done, he informed her of Kazuyuki’s preference to use honorifics and put her on hold as he got Kazuyuki on the line.

“Hello, is this Xeal-San?” asked Kazuyuki.

“Yes, Takeshi-san, although out here you can call me Alex-san.”

“Ok, Alex-san, then Sato-san will work for myself.”

“Hold on for one second, I am going to get Tara, back onto this line, … Is everyone still here?”

“I’m still here Alex-san.”

“I’m back as well.”

The three talked for about 15 minutes about ED and what they were currently working on. Alex passed them the new chat room’s info before he brought the conversation to a close as it was 5:50 and he needed to return to ED at 6:00 to meet with Casmir. After Tara was off the line, Kazuyuki passed Alex his banking info for the transfer and they both ended the call to return to ED.

Tenbris Amplexus joined the conference call that had been hastily put together after a disturbing report was circulated. Anger welled within him as he thought about the smug Xeal who was the cause of this call and was responsible for most of Tenbris’s problems.

“Tenbris reporting in.”

“Good. Now that we have everyone, on let’s go over the report,” declared Unknown 1.

“Yes, as reported by all team leaders in the Dragon’s Heart city area, the player known as Xeal Bluefire has reached level 20 and has started to establish his guild FAE in each outpost. Furthermore, our reports say that he has already taken anti-spying maneuvers like requiring all recruits to sign a contract that bars them from passing any information they obtain from the guild for 90 days. To include accessing it while logged out, and it specifically bars any of their members from joining any guild put on, or allied, with the list of hostile forces for six years, and that list currently only has our guild listed. This also includes an auto withdraw if the system deems there to be an alliance. We are not sure how the system would judge this, but our members are hesitant to try to infiltrate due to this information, as there are some who think the system can read your thoughts and will know you have violated a contract, even offline,” Reported Unknown 2.

“How have our experiments with this gone?” inquired Unknown 1.

“So far it has been mixed. If the players signing the contract both know that it’s intended to be broken offline, the system only seems to hold the violator accountable one out of ten times, but if the punishment is harsher, it increases. So far, we have only done a moderate punishment, but even that caused two out of five to receive the consequences. Next, we had players who intended to break contracts sign them with unknowing players. That time around 19 out of every 20 were hit regardless of level of consequences. It’s almost like the system knows what we are doing and it is toying with us, and we can’t figure out any common links on avoiding the punishment as all test subjects experienced about an equal amount of failures,” answered Unknown 2.

“So, we can’t send spies in. Hmm well at least this has given us a useful tool to avoid spies as well. Saboteurs would probably fail as well for the same reason. How many other guilds do you think have realized this already?” inquired Unknown 1.

“We are not sure, but if we started to have all of our members, including those who have yet to join, sign a similar contract, the others would quickly realize something and do tests of their own,” cautioned Unknown 2.

“Ok, that’s enough for now. Just have everyone present sign a gag order,” replied Unknown 1.

“We can’t. Only players who are face to face in ED can sign a contract and we have already confirmed that ED ignores contracts not made in game,” informed Unknown 2.

“Shit, okay. Now how should we deal with Xeal and FAE?” grumbled Unknown 1.

“If I may sir, right now the main issue that we face is a lack of manpower in the area, correct?” checked Tenbris.

“That depends on how we want to deal with the situation. While it is inconvenient that FAE has marked us as hostile, the area they occupy would only cause us a small loss in the long run from the reports you and the other team leaders in the area have sent,” replied Unknown 2 ignoring Tenbris.

“Can we really allow such a slight to go unpunished?” pushed Tenbris acting like he hadn’t been ignored.

“Whose fault is it FAE has marked us as an enemy? Did you not try to attack him simply because he would not give you the time of day?” shot Unknown 2 annoyed.

“Look, what is done is done. Now let’s hear what he has to say,” placated Unknown 1.

“Thank you. If I and the other team leaders in the area were allowed to start recruiting, surely we would be able to not only secure several promising members, but also deny FAE more members as well. Then once we have the manpower, we go on the offensive. While Xeal is powerful enough to handle our attacks, FAE’s rank and file would be easy targets,” suggested Tenbris.

“Hmm, I can see how that plan could work and backfire, depending on how things play out. Ok, I will accept it. However, if you fail you, will not only lose your team leader status, but you will be disavowed by us completely,” warned Unknown 1.

“Understood, sir, and thank you.”

“Then all team leaders in the Dragon’s Heart city area go ahead and found your own guilds to act as temporary homes for the members you recruit. When you do so, ensure they know they are auditioning for Abysses End.” Declared Unknown 1.

“““Understood sir””” responded Unknown 3, 4 & 5.

Tenbris couldn’t help but smile. It might take a few weeks, but he was sure that FAE’s days were numbered and he would become the area leader for Dragon’s Heart city. Bringing himself one step closer to becoming the kingdom leader in Nium and a vice guild leader, with the glory and money that came with it. He couldn’t wait to see the look on Xeal’s face when FAE came tumbling down.

ED, year 1, day 62.

Xeal arrived at the meeting spot to find Casmir and his friends already waiting for him. Casmir had short, messy black hair with blue and red tips. He stood at six foot two. He wore mail armor and on his back was a great sword. Xeal could tell from their gear that the rest of the party had a healer, caster, rogue, and another front-line fighter. Xeal made his way over to the group and addressed Casmir.

“Casmir, I presume.”

“You must be Xeal. Can we keep this short? We really want to get back to leveling.”

“Certainly. As you already know, I am recruiting members for FAE and I would like to extend an invitation to you and your friends.”

“I appreciate the offer, and I’ll admit I mainly agreed to this meeting to get a good look at you, but at this time we don’t feel like joining an unknown guild is the right move for us.”

“I understand that view, and you’re not wrong to have your reservations. Still, I feel you are making a mistake. Is there anything that could sway you?”

“Nah, we are here to earn credits as much as have fun, and to do that successfully we either need to be able to sell enough, or join a guild that can afford to pay.”

“So, you’re saying if it was a paid position, you would be interested? Well, I do still need a vice guild leader for Dragon’s Claw. You could take that position provisionally, which would be a paid position.”

“Even if it is a paid position, what good is it if it will be gone in a month when your guild falls?”

“Why are you so certain that my guild will fail?”

“You lack any players outside of the Dragon’s Heart city area. The way ED is designed, by the time you can expand it will already be too late.”

“You are perceptive. Now I definitely want you to join. As for that, don’t worry about that. For now, my goal is just this kingdom. I don’t plan on spreading myself thin and challenging every major guild out there for supremacy. Besides, if you look at the forums, you might have noticed this whole continent has been mostly ignored by major gaming companies. Yes, they have sent several teams to test the waters, but on the whole, they are focused elsewhere.”

“And you’re saying this gives you an opening to claim this kingdom?”

“Precisely. Now it won’t be easy, but it should be possible to as long as I can build the foundation needed and reach level 40 before others do so.”

“That’s a lot of what ifs. However, at the very least you have a plan. Now as to us joining you, I can see you won’t give up for some reason. So, how about this? You and I sign a contract that if you can beat my friends and I in the arena solo, I will become your provisional vice guild leader. However, if you lose, you accept defeat and leave us be.”

“Deal.”

“Wait. What? Really?”

“Yah, just give me ten minutes to update some of my gear.”

“You’re not looking down on us, right?”

“Nope. I just know that I can take you.”

“Alright, sign here and we’ll meet you at the arena in 30 minutes”

“See you there.”

As Xeal made his way to the weapon shop to pick up a second rapier, he opened his class skill tab and looked at what was available to him. Most of these skills were still grayed out as he didn’t have the stats to unlock them. Then there were the two different types of skills. First, those that, once unlocked, were always active, like dual wielding proficiency, which also improve the handling of shields as well as allowing a second weapon to be used. The second type were like normal skills, and cost SP or MP to use. These were usually cheaper due to the cost to use them. Players only started to get skill points at tier three, where they would get one point per level. This would increase by one every tier. Besides leveling up, the easiest way to get extra points was from the completion bonus from class quests. Xeal had earned 25, and one from leveling up, giving himself 26 to work with. The price of tier one dual wielding was ten skill points, and the second tier cost an extra 15. The fact that he could afford two of the four tiers right now was awesome. Most players only received a completion bonus of 10-15 points from reaching tier three. Still, Xeal would need to invest 70 points to unlock all the dual wielding tiers. The soonest that could happen is when he reached tier four. Still, he invested the 25 points in it as his dexterity was high enough thanks to him focusing on it. Then he bought his second rapier for one gold and headed to the arena for the showdown.

Every outpost had a small arena for PVP matches. To use the arena players could either pay five gold, or allow spectators, which meant that all players close by would receive a notification. It cost at least one silver to spectate and those who paid would be auto transported to their seat when the time came. The second advantage to this method was the winner would keep half of the admissions earned, minus the five gold. However, if the five gold mark was not hit, the loser had to pay the short fall. Due to this, players rarely used any arenas until much later in the game. Furthermore, the system would allow all the players watching to place bets after it calculated the odds of the match, and the winner would receive 25 percent of the house winnings, and the loser five percent. Xeal received a notification asking for him to confirm his fight, and shortly after he did, a system notification went out to all 200,000 plus players who were within range.

(Attention there will be a 1 vs 5 arena battle in 30 minutes between Guild leader of FAE Xeal Bluefire and Casmir Drakos’s party. All those who wish to attend please select to attend and pay the 1 silver entrance fee. Attend yes or no?)

As Xeal arrived at the arena he could already tell a large crowd was on hand, and the odds were set at 25 to 1, with Xeal losing favored. Xeal only wished he was allowed to bet on his own matches, but the system prevented participants from doing so, and by agreeing to the match the player signed a contract stating that they wouldn’t lose on purpose. Still, to get 25 to 1 odds must have meant that players didn’t think he could win, as the system would adjust the odds to offset any losses. Xeal entered his waiting room and prepared mentally for this match. No consumable items were allowed, and a player was out the moment their health dropped below ten percent. Other than that, it was straight forward as could be. Most players would aim for the healer first as they would cause the most problems when trying to finish off another player, but he knew Casmir would expect that, so it wasn’t an option right out of the gate. Instead, Xeal would have to use another strategy, which he thought over several times, and finally came up with what he thought was the optimal plan. If he was able to execute it correctly, everything would work out for the best.

As Xeal entered the arena he could only laugh as it had expanded to accommodate well over 100,000 players and the betting odds sat at 45 to 1. His name must have been spreading quite quickly if this many players came to watch. That said, they didn’t seem to think he could win from the odds. Across from Xeal stood Casmir and his team in a three-one-one formation, with the healer in the middle and the mage behind him. Casmir was in the middle, the other warrior on his right and the rogue to his left. As the countdown started, both sides readied their weapons. With a rapier in each hand, Xeal looked across from him and plotted his path to his target. The moment the countdown ended, Xeal broke straight for Casmir, much to Casmir’s surprise, but at the last moment Xeal shifted right to attack the rogue with a piercing thrust. Casmir’s whole team looked shocked as a full tenth of the rogues HP disappeared. Xeal used this opening to snake around the front ranks and make like he was going for the cleric who was already casting a spell to heal the rogue. Casmir and the warrior made to head Xeal off, but once again Xeal changed the script by moving around to attack the mage, who had just finished his group buffing spell, when Xeal attacked him with not one, but four piercing thrusts. The cleric had only just healed the rogue when the mage was eliminated from the fight.

Casmir was quick to reorganize his forces, leaving the warrior next to the cleric and moving to engage Xeal with the rogue. Xeal engaged both in a back and forth that would have been completely one sided if not for the cleric healing. Even so, after five minutes the rogue was out, and the cleric had no MP, or SP, left for his healing spells, or skills. With the cleric reduced to a weak melee fighter, the remaining three came at Xeal who was still above half health. The crowd had been really into the match the whole time, but once the cleric ran out of spells and the rogue fell, a large portion had sour looks on their faces while a small few were cheering vigorously. Xeal smiled as he quickly finished the cleric off and disengaged for a second before Casmir smirked.

“Well, looks bad for us, doesn’t it?”

“Nah, I can tell you are still holding onto a card to play.”

“Well, looks like I can’t wait for your guard to drop.”

Casmir and the warrior charged forward as they both activated the same skill, horizontal slash. One thing about Casmir was that, as he was left-handed, he activated slashing skills from the opposite side from a right-handed player. This caused the slashes coming at Xeal to act like a pincer attack. Had he not had two blades equipped, he would have had no way to deal with the second blade, but even so, he wouldn’t be able to escape unharmed. However, instead of retreating, Xeal moved straight in, executing a piercing thrust on the warrior and parrying the blow slightly. Xeal stepped through the hole that opened between the two before turning and sending several more piercing thrusts at the warrior who, like Casmir, was slightly off balance. As both sides reset themselves, Xeal could only grin as his plan had almost worked perfectly. He could use five more piercing thrusts and he was down to around 40 percent health, while Casmir was at 30 percent, and the warrior was at 50 percent. Four more hits with piercing thrust and the warrior would be out, and if the plan worked out, he would finish Casmir off last, ending the match with between 15 and 20 percent health.

“Holy crap, you’re too good. Even if we did that again, I don’t think it would change the outcome. Man, we should have led with that before the healing ran out. Well, let’s just get this over with.”

“Very well. I look forward to you joining my guild.”

It was over just like Xeal planned. The crowd cheered and groaned as the match ended and Xeal won. Between the betting and attendance, Xeal had made 750 gold, 34 silver and 16 copper. Casmir was going to join FAE and the match was sure to spread his fame. He had needed to impress while not overwhelming Casmir to avoid other guilds realizing just how much of a threat he was. Xeal wasn’t quite ready for a full-scale confrontation, yet. This fight had also shown him how reaching tier three had changed how the elder dragon mark affected him. He could feel how his senses had sharpened further during combat; the change had allowed him to react better than he had anticipated. As Xeal made his way to the exit, he found Amser waiting for him.

“Is there a reason you made that match look so close?”

“Ah, you could tell. Man, I hope the enemy doesn’t notice as well.”

“So, you want to be underestimated. I can see that, though I find it cowardly.”

“That’s only part of the reason. I intend to have Casmir act as a vice guild leader around here for now. Embarrassing him too much would only lead to problems as others might look down on him for it.”

“Ah, I see. Well, at least there was a good reason. By the way, you know Abysses End was watching this match closely, right?”

“So, they do have members here as well. Oh, well. Not like I can do much about that. I’ll just need to be ready when the time comes.”

“Just a heads up, the team leader in this area founded a guild today and has started to recruit aggressively.”

“Sounds like they plan to make a move. Hmm, it could be problematic if they can suppress us here before we have enough members. Thanks for the info. I better get Casmir recruiting soon if I hope to keep pace.”

Xeal passed her ten gold before heading to meet up with Casmir, who was sitting with his team in a restaurant nearby, according to the message Xeal received. When he walked in, he could tell they were all depressed, and each had a glass of amber liquid in front of them. Xeal joined their table, thankful for the arena’s auto teleport feature that returned players to where they were before the match upon its conclusion, otherwise the number of players trying to meet up with him would have driven him crazy.

“Well, a deal’s a deal. So, what do you pay a vice guild leader? 500 credits a month, or is it even less?” asked Casmir.

“Relax. You will start at 5,000 every two weeks, and if you become an official vice guild leader it will increase to 10,000.”

“Wait. What? Really, are you rich or something?”

“Nope. Every cent of your pay has been earned here in ED, although now that I think about it, I do suppose I could be seen as wealthy now.”

“Just how much have you made?”

“Sorry, but that is confidential, but in relative terms I have enough to pay a small leadership team decent money, but nowhere near enough to fund a full-size guild yet. If I reach my goals, team leaders in our main force will make 200,000 credits a year and regular members of that force will make 100,000 credits a year.”

“That’s insane. How will you be able to afford that?”

“First, all of you sign the contracts I just passed you.”

Casmir and his party took a minute to look over the simple NDA Xeal had passed over to them before signing them and turning their attention back to Xeal.

“We are talking years down the road, but it is why crafting players are so important. They may cost us in the short run, but once they are developed, the system will work like this. First, guild members gather materials and turn them in for guild coins. Next, crafting players turn those materials into gear to be sold, both in the guild shop for guild coins and on the open market. Either way, the profit from those sales are split between the guild and the crafter. The guild will take somewhere between 10-20 percent, depending on the agreement with each crafter. This will accomplish two things. It will keep the number of guild coins in circulation down, and fund the expansion of the guild across ED. Now as for the guild’s main force, they will be used to explore and raid some of the most profitable areas, but other than what they win with guild coin auctions, they will not keep any of it. They will also not receive any guild coins from turning loot in. Instead, they will be provided top tier gear whenever possible, a salary, guild coins based on performance, and several other benefits. Some might get pissed off as the guild will likely make more credits than they get paid from the relationship, but that will be mainly thanks to the guild sending them to the most profitable areas that aren’t common knowledge yet. Once a great area for looting is public knowledge, it becomes extremely less profitable. Thus, our cycle is main force loots once or twice, guild members are informed about the area, then finally other guilds and players learn of it as well.”

“It sounds good as long as we find the areas before other guilds. How are you going to out scout them?”

“What, do you think my level is just for show?”

“No, but what does that have to do with finding new loot spots?”

“The most important thing for finding good areas for loot is being able to explore them in the first place. Once players start to reach level 40, movement around the kingdom will open up dramatically. By that point, I plan to have already reached level 50 and have our main force around level 45. This will ensure our dominance in trail blazing into new areas. While we won’t be able to be the first to every location, it will still be a great boost.”

“I still think you have some holes in your plan, but it doesn’t really matter now. So what do you want from me?”

“For now, focus on recruitment of talented players and crafters, avoid Abysses End’s members who are putting together a temp guild and recruiting right now as well. There may be a need to deal with them soon, so keep an eye on them, but after spending today just recruiting, focus on leveling and getting everyone to tier three. If you look under the guild chat rooms, you will find one for just vice guild leaders and up. Spend some time there to get to know the other guild leaders. Finally, pass me a good number to reach you at in RL so we can get you paid.”

Casmir passed Xeal his number and they agreed to talk at 5:50 that night, after which he and his team bid Xeal farewell for the day and left the restaurant. Xeal could only sigh in relief that he had been able to land three talented individuals to run these areas. With that out of the way, he could now put his full focus towards exploiting all the benefits from being the first player to make it to a city and knowing most of that city’s secrets. With that plan in mind, he made his way back to the teleportation gate.

Xeal stepped out of the Dragon’s Heart city’s teleportation hall and made his way down the streets, making sure to speed around every one of them to fill in the city map. This took a full 20 hours, but finally he had all of the main roads populated in. He then made his way to an inn. Once settled in, Xeal brought up ED’s guild publication menu and started by putting his newly filled in map in the store for one silver, or 50 credits. At the same time, he put it in the guild store for free for all members. In ED you could share maps with others if you had filled them in yourself, but the system prevented the use of any map you had received from others from being shared. Instead, you could only send a map of the area you had personally visited. While it would still be a while before players would start to reach a city, many were curious, or wanted to plan ahead, and one silver was cheap enough that most players could afford it. Then there were the large guilds who would have all of their leadership buy the map simply to see what a city was like, even if it wasn’t the one they were going to enter soon. Xeal knew this single move could make him more credits than both of Geitir’s purchases. All he needed was around 500,000 of the roughly 1,200,000 players who should be in the area to buy the map using credits to achieve that mark. With that complete, he settled in for a good rest before his log out.

Evening, August 6, 2266.

Alex awoke at 3:30 to help the girls with the move. Right now, the plan was to meet everyone there at 4:00, but before that Alex needed to head to the apartments to pay the lease for six months, plus deposit. As he borrowed his mom’s car once more, he thought about how he really should get his own, but then there was the issue about how to get it to Colorado if he did get one. He could always give it to Anna, but he didn’t want to spend that money. In the end, he would just keep borrowing his mom’s car for now. Alex arrived at the apartment office at 3:40 and was still filling out paperwork and putting down the deposit when Dan arrived with Nicole and Sam in his dad’s truck. Alex could only chuckle at the grin Dan couldn’t lose. He could have only assumed that Sam had been the one in the middle seat in the truck. At 4:05 Alex was done with the paperwork and received four keys, one parking gate remote and sticker for the apartment. Amanda and Fred were outside when everyone exited.

“Well, let’s get this move-in done. The internet is scheduled to be turned on at 5:30,” Amanda announced.

“Good. Dan, take Sam and move the truck around to the gate to unload. Everyone else, let’s meet them there,” Directed Alex.

With that Dan took the parking gate remote and happily got in the truck with Sam to drive around to the gated parking while everyone else walked to the apartment. Alex could tell Nicole was having a hard time with something, so he hung back slightly with her.

“Nicole, how are you holding up?” checked Alex.

“Okay, I guess. It just doesn’t feel real yet. My mom was yelling at us when Dan was loading the truck, saying things that I don’t really want to get into right now,” responded Nicole doing her best to keep her emotions in check.

“Sorry about that.”

“It’s not your fault. I made this decision. Things would have probably been much worse if you hadn’t helped like this. I was just avoiding it hoping that they would accept it once it was too late.”

“Hey, that’s what friends are for. I’m sure Sam or Amanda would have tried to put you up if I couldn’t afford this.”

“I’m not so sure. Sam’s parents didn’t look too happy even if it was just for the one night. I don’t know Amanda’s parents too well, but I don’t like bringing my problems to others.”

“What are you two talking about back there? - ouch” interrupted Fred.

“Shut up you idiot,” scolded Amanda, shaking her head.

“Looks like it’s time to get to work. We can talk more later,” smiled Alex.

“I think I’d like that,” blushed Nicole as Alex turned away.

The group had made it to the apartment and Sam was walking in with a box, meaning the truck was ready to be unloaded. It only took them 15 minutes to unload the truck, after which Dan, Fred and Amanda piled into the truck to pick up her stuff, while Alex, Nicole and Sam started to put Sam’s room together. The hardest part was the bed, but even that didn’t take long, and they were done with everything except emptying boxes, which Sam had vehemently refused Alex’s help with. So, the three of them waited for the next load to arrive.

“Thanks again for getting us this place,” stated Sam.

“No problem. Let me know if there are any problems. Oh, here,” replied Alex.

Alex handed Sam the keys for the apartment he had been holding.

“Oh, thanks, but why are there four keys?” inquired Sam with a raised eyebrow.

“One spare in case you lose one, or you can hide it somewhere, like in the car in case you get locked out.”

“Hmm, here, you take the spare. That way if we get locked out you can just come over to let us in. Besides, you are the one paying for this place. Just don’t come over unannounced. Unless you want to see three girls walking around in our underwear,” quipped Sam.

“What did I say about acting like a lady? I mean look at what you’re doing to poor Nicole,” quipped Alex back

Nicole was bright red and from the looks of it was having problems with the image Sam just put in both of their head’s.

“I’m in my own apartment, well kind of, but still it’s not a public area so, nope, I’m 100 percent not a lady right now.”

“How do you deal with her Nicole?”

“Um, well you see, huh, I don’t know, but at least she is always there.”

“Your parents don’t seem to be so happy about that. They hate me now.”

“Ah, so that’s what happened. Sorry, I didn’t realize, but yah, they probably don’t like me either at this point. Oh, well. Not like I would change my actions based on that. Don’t worry about it, Nicole.”

“See, even Alex thinks helping you is worth being hated by your parents.”

“My parents don’t hate Alex. I don’t even think they know he is the one paying for this apartment, they-”

“It’s ok, you don’t need to explain. The point is that we are your friends and while we might not be perfect, we will help you if we can,” comforted Alex.

“Thanks.”

The three of them talked about happier topics like the new guild members and how everyone had reached level 18 already thanks to Fred’s character Amet being able to act as a great tank against higher level foes. FAE was still not completely full, but after a shortened video of the match was streamed online only an hour after it happened by ED itself as promo material, recruitment had sped up. At the pace it was going they would be full by the end of Alex’s next login period. Soon, they would have a wait list. Xeal would need to make sure they could still recruit struggling crafters before other guilds set their sights on them. Thanks to the NPC dwarf Darefret and his mine, FAE already had over 100 smiths, the best of which were already steel ranked. It would still be a while before those operations were profitable, but at least they were self-sustaining right now. Still, he needed to find a way to ramp up other crafting disciplines, especially alchemy, enchanting, engineering, accessory crafting, tailoring, fletching, and scribing. He had a few ideas to do so but he wasn’t sure if they would all work.

As Alex was lost in these thoughts, Dan, Fred and Amanda returned and it was time to unload again. By the time they had unloaded everything and put Amanda’s bed together, after Dan left to pick up the bed, it was 5:20. Alex needed to get home if he wanted to eat before his meeting with Casmir, so he said his farewells and made his way home. After a quick meal Alex returned to his room and dialed the number Casmir had given him and after a few rings it was answered.

“Hello?”

“Is this Casmir?”

“Yes, but call me Henry, Xeal I take it.”

“Yes, but Alex is fine.”

“Ok Alex, how does this work?”

“All I need is your account and routing numbers, then I will send a test transfer. Once you get it, send me a message and I will send the real one.”

“Cool”

Henry passed Xeal his info before continuing the conversation.

“Anything else I should know?”

“Yah, we have a member in the area that should be treated as if she and her team are a special unit that reports directly to me. Her name is Amser Sojourner and you will know her by her purple twin tails. Say hi and let her know who you are if you get a chance.”

“Alright, will do. Well, it’s time to jump back online. See you around.”

“Later.”

ED, year 1, day 63.

As Xeal returned to ED, he quickly made his way out of the inn he was using and returned to the streets of Dragon’s Heart city. The map he had posted was starting to pick up traction and over 1,000 copies had already sold and he could see the numbers increasing. ED would send him the funds in lump sums every night at midnight for the prior 24 hours of sales, but only after a full 24 hours had passed since the item was published. This was to give the system time to ensure no false information was sold. If what was sold was found to contain false information the system would refund all the purchasers and give the user who published it a strike. If a user got three strikes, then the player was barred from publishing until a strike expired, which took a full year in ED. This was another reason a map with no extra info was the only thing most players published, as it was safe, with the system viewing many things that were subjective as misleading and issuing a strike.

As Xeal made his way through the city, he had to admit it was weird to not see any players around. In his last life the streets of a city were always full of players looking for quests, or other means to profit, even in a minor city like this one. Of the roughly 5,000 cities in ED at launch, only around 500 were accessible to players at level 20 without traveling by foot, and all of these were minor cities like Dragon’s Heart city. These cities were a decent place to develop in but lacked the full benefits of large, or major cities, not to mention the capitals. Still, any guild who wished to do well needed a presence in these cities to recruit new players as they joined ED. Furthermore, even when you reached level 40 you could only move between the capital and other minor cities players had activated the teleportation gates at. In Xeal’s last life it wasn’t unusual for a country to still have locked cities when players reached level 200 due to the areas around them being too treacherous for players, and NPCs only offering help in reaching them once a few other players had unlocked the teleportation gate for their guild. Only once five guilds level 30 and up had activated the gates would they be opened for the general public. Guilds had gone to war at times to prevent others from entering a city they wished to monopolize. Then there were the countless guild towns and cities that were built and managed completely by guilds. These could be used to earn great sums for the guilds if they managed them right, or they could cost them a fortune just to have another guild steal it from them.

Finally, after 30 minutes of walking, Xeal was at his destination, the slums. While not as large as the slums of a major city they still took up a good five percent of the total city’s area, with ramshackle houses built on top of one another as far as the eye could see. Most players would steer clear of areas like these due to the smell and the assumption that no decent quests would be available in such a place. That was true for the most part and the few worthwhile quests were extremely hard to find, and even if you found them you might not know it. Every NPC in the slums would beg for money. Most would simply thank you for giving them some, increasing your renown by a miniscule amount. However, one day, years after ED had launched, a player who had more gold than they knew what to do with decided he was going to walk the slums giving every beggar he passed a single silver coin. His guild had been overjoyed at the results. After he had given out 10,000 silver, or 100 gold worth of coins, the guild gained a spy network within the city. This network had provided the guild with information pertaining to many hidden quests that were difficult to find within the city, earning the guild far more than the measly 100 gold needed to activate it and the 20 silver a day to maintain it. Through experimentation the guild learned that you needed to reach a ten percent threshold to activate the spy network, which in a minor city was only around 1,000 NPC’s. They had also learned that one silver was the least you needed to give each beggar. With plenty of gold Xeal planned to spend this day activating this perk before any other guild learned of it. Ten gold was nothing to pay for such a buff, and with the coins he would hopefully get from the map sales he would have the funds to get a guild hall in this city in a few days.

It only took Xeal a few hours to pass out the ten gold as he made his way to his second stop in the slums. Once more it was a quest that took forever to activate. Some players even said it was random, but there were times when a player would drop a full 100 gold on a beggar and an extremely rare quest would be activated. Xeal was about to find out if it was really random. One of the few NPC’s he had known to drop a rare quest was the one that was found in Dragon’s Heart city where he had spent a ton of time in. As he found the NPC in question sitting against a wall huddling in a ruined state, worn down from the years of poverty, on his withered frame hung shabby clothes that were little more than rags and he had a mess of long white hair. Yet, unlike the rest, he did not beg for scraps and held himself with pride that stemmed from somewhere. He was not the only NPC here like this, but he was one of the few.

“Excuse me, good sir.”

“Are you speaking to this one, young knight?”

“Yes, I am. I was wondering how you came to be here; you have a different air about you.”

“Do not waste your time worrying about one who’s glory has long passed. No, look to the future that you will write.”

“Please allow me to help one who has helped to write the story until now. Here.”

Xeal pulled out a sack with 100 gold in it and handed it to the elderly man. The man took the pouch with eyes full of shock as tears started to form in his eyes. The man reached into his shirt and pulled a necklace over his head. Attached to the end was the hilt of a sword, which had broken.

“Thank you, young knight. While it may not be much, please, take this. It is the hilt of the blade by which I lived by for years, and while the other pieces are lost, it still holds its core. With help you may be able to find them in the Vault of Ucnuc, where my friends’ journeys ended, and my courage failed. Travel west over the Fox Plains until you reach the Ethereal Bog. Within that cursed place you will find the Vault of Ucnuc and the undead horde that guard it. Alas, my poor comrades have probably joined their ranks now.”

“Thank you.”

“Before you go, be warned. That area is not for the faint of heart. As you currently are, you will be no match for the army of the dead.”

Xeal bid the man farewell and looked at the hilt he now held. While many would see just an old sword, Xeal knew that it was much more. In his hand was one of the few untouchable class magical weapons he knew of from his last life. Magic weapons were some of the hardest items to come by in ED before forging and enchanters reached gold rank and worked together to make them. Even then the weapons would only be low class. Still much better than most weapons on the market, but not that great. Of course, as they ranked up, the weapons they could make would improve. The issue came from the sheer lack of players who could reach adamantium rank and tier eight. Without both of those, a smith and enchanter could only make a superior class item at best. There had only been one of each in his last life, and to make things worse, they didn’t get along. Only five known items had ever been made by the two working together and the rumors were that the buyer had made them an offer they couldn’t refuse to secure the items. While it would still be a long time before Xeal could gather the pieces and reforge the blade, it would be worth all his effort. With those two tasks out of the way, Xeal made his way to a shop to stock up on recovery items, before going outside the city to do a little bit of grinding before logging out for the day.

On the Fox Plains that surrounded Dragon’s Heart city was a level 22-30 area which contained beast style monsters. Once you left the line of sight of the guard towers that were spread along the walls around the city, encounters would become regular. Right now, Xeal was in an area that level 25 tree bears dominated. These bears were ambush predators, smaller than your typical bears, only standing four foot tall. They had four-inch claws on each of their front paws that they would try to dig into their prey when landing on them from above. Their fur matched the coloring of the sparsely populated trees in the area and you could roughly assume, that you would be ambushed once out of every ten trees. At least that had been how it was in Xeal’s last life, but right now every tree he went by led to an attack from above. With the pace Xeal was keeping, he would be able to reach the 33 kills he needed for level 21 by the end of his next log out. Eventually, with 12 kills under his belt for the day, he returned to the inn and logged out.

Morning, August 7, 2266.

Alex made his way downstairs and outside to wait for everyone to show up for the morning run. Both Taya and Kazuyuki had sent him a message that the test transfer was successful, and he planned to send them the rest as soon as Henry confirmed his. What Alex really needed to do was find a payroll company to use that could handle paying his employees and ensuring that their taxes were taken care of. Then he needed to take care of the legal benefits he would be required to provide. These could be extremely complex since as time went on, he would have players on the payroll who hail from all corners of the world. Keeping up with all the legal requirements in all of those countries had been another reason a guild city was such an important step. By housing around two and a half million members, you could get those who lived in difficult to deal with areas to relocate there, saving you the hassle. As Alex pondered these actions, the girls arrived in their car and started to get out.

“Morning, ladies. How was your first night in your own apartment?”

“There he goes again. How many times do you think it will take for him to give up and realize it’s too early to be a lady?” quipped Sam.

“I don’t know, I think it’s kind of cute. I say let him keep his delusions,” joked Amanda.

“Ha, ha, very funny, but seriously, how is the apartment working out?”

“It was fine. It’s not like we have done anything but eat some delivery and play ED yet,” shrugged Sam.

“True, but let me know if any issues pop up.”

“Oh, what, you want to come over to play our handyman?” said Sam with a wink and line in a tone that would easily get a young man excited.

“Sam, I don’t even want to know what you are insinuating with that tone, but nah, if anything, I would just send Dan over. I’m sure he would love to help.”

“Alex, please don’t. Dan is a good friend, but just that, a friend. It’s hard enough just trying to send him hints that I’m not interested, especially since we got paid. I can tell he is working up the courage to ask me out, but I keep blocking him whenever possible. When you had me ride with him to the parking lot, I was worried he would try then, but luckily, he didn’t. I don’t want that kind of relationship with him. It would just make playing ED harder if it went sour. Now, if he was just looking for some fun it might be different, but he’s not. Some girl will be lucky to have him, but I am not looking for that right now,” said Sam in a serious tone.

“Nicole, pinch me. Sam actually said it to Alex. I didn’t think she could do it,” laughed Amanda.

“Shut it, Amanda. Like it or not, Alex is kind of our boss. He needs to know. Besides, what about you and Fred?” Sam shot back.

“What, I don’t have to think like you. Heck, he even agreed to slow down Dan this morning so you had this chance,” taunted Amanda.

“So that’s what’s keeping them. Man, poor Dan. Not only will he be heart broken when he learns you’re a hard no, he’ll also have to deal with Fred going out with Amanda as well,” sighed Alex.

“Yah, I know, but if I went out with him it would only make it worse, so can you get him to lay off?” pleaded Sam.

“Nope. You need to tell him to his face you’re not interested, otherwise he won’t give up and he will just keep looking for an opening,” responded Alex.

“Oh, come on, please?” begged Sam.

“No. All it would accomplish is more problems. What am I supposed to do? Say Sam asked me to tell you she’s not interested in you? I can’t say relationships with coworkers are not allowed, then Amanda and Fred would have to break up. Besides, odds are any of us who do get married will meet our spouse in ED, and odds are they will be members of FAE, or whatever guild we end up in if we don’t survive. The only clean way is for you to say it right to him. Yah, it might cause some problems for a few days, but he’s a big boy, and between Fred and I, we will be able to get him right again.”

“Fine.”

“Now let’s get ready for a run. Oh, and don’t do it in ED. Do it right after this run.”

“Okay,” Sam said poutingly.

Shortly after the conversation ended, Dan and Fred showed up. Both looked like they had already gotten a bit of exercise in before showing up. After asking what they had been up to, Dan said Fred had decided to challenge him to a push up contest to see who could do more sets of ten before showing up. To Alex’s surprise, both had done over a hundred before Fred had lost. After the run, Alex was able to catch Sam pulling Dan to the side, so Alex did the same with Fred.

“Fred, come over here for a second.”

“What’s up, Alex?”

“You know what Sam is about to do to Dan, right?”

“Yah, kind of, though I thought she was going to have you do it.”

“Nope. I told her she had to do it, or it would just cause issues as time went on.”

“Ouch. Dan’s going to be down after this.”

“Yep, but that’s where we come in. We’re his buddies. For today, I want you to grab a few guild mates and split with the girls. Go somewhere where Dan can blow off some steam by killing tons of easy monsters, then we will go out tonight, just us guys.”

“Sure man. I just hope it helps.”

With that everyone went their separate ways with Dan looking a little down, but agreeing to go out for food that afternoon. Alex left a note on the refrigerator for his mom letting her know not to worry about dinner for him and that he would need the car. Then he returned to ED and focused on grinding to level 21, after which he did maintenance on his equipment to restore its lost durability. Once he logged out, Casmir had sent him that the test transfer was successful, so he quickly sent all three real transfers. On his way out he said hi to his mom and Anna. Both were talking, and from the bits Alex had made out, it sounded like it was about ED. Ten minutes later Fred and Dan were in the car. All three men were dressed in business casual attire as Alex had instructed. They were on their way to Bloc Suave, a fine dining establishment that served some of the best food in the area. Luckily, they still had room for a 4:45 reservation, even if it was only for the four-course meal option.

“Why did we have to get dressed up like this again?” grumbled Dan.

“Sorry, but where I’m taking you two has a dress code,” answered Alex with a smile.

“Wait, are you taking us to some fine dining place? Dude, you know we don’t belong in those places,” responded Fred in disbelief.

“Well, you better get used to it. Soon we will have to entertain several prospective sponsors and other business partners in places like this, even if we just intend to turn down their offers.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Dan.

“Look, the guild is doing really well. If we keep this up it won’t be long before we pick up sponsors who want to use our fame as advertisement. If we just host them in a casual setting, they might look down on us, but if we show that we aren’t hurting financially by rolling out the red carpet, so to speak, it makes them rethink that notion. Some will think it’s an act to project confidence, others will accept it, and if nothing else, do some research before approaching us again.”

“Ok, you really lost me now. Why would Dan and I be there?” questioned Fred.

“You may not always be there, but when it comes to those talks it is always advantageous to have at least one other person there with me. It helps avoid any traps they might lay and ensure they don’t try any tactics that are too underhanded.”

“You’re thinking too much. Can’t we just accept or reject them?” responded Dan.

“Nope. Reputation is 90 percent of the game. Depending on how you handle one, the others will react accordingly. One affront and we can find ourselves blacklisted, not just by the current suiter but by the whole industry as they wait. Then once they smell blood, they might pounce to ruin us, even if we are successful and grow to have 50,000,000 members. If a large part of ED unites against us, we could fall.”

“Why would others in ED go out of their way for that though?” asked Dan looking unconvinced.

“Who sponsors them? It’s important that we at least make a few connections to counter that situation.”

“And what does fine dining have to do with that?” inquired Fred.

“Huh, ok, one more time, by putting on a show it will cause them to hesitate in blacklisting us if things go bad, giving us a chance to secure another ally before we get cut off.”

“And you think we will need that?” retorted Dan.

“Yes. The first sponsor to approach us will likely be looking to basically acquire us at next to nothing. They will see a group of kids who started something without realizing what it’s worth. They will talk with honeyed words and promises, only for us to realize after signing that they basically own us.”

“Dude, I thought we were going out to blow some steam off, not get a crash course in etiquette,” grumbled Fred.

“Can’t we do both?” quipped Alex with a smile.

“You’re crazy man. What do you have planned?” Dan smiled back.

“Simple, we are going to play a game. First one kicked out pays for dinner.”

“Not cool man. Just how expensive is this place?” Fred said looking worried.

“250 credits a head plus tip and tax, and tonight should cost an easy grand. Now, if no one gets booted, then I’ll pay.”

“Dude, I know we have made a ton but still, a grand is a grand,” objected Fred.

“I’m game, let’s do it. Just don’t cry when we don’t get kicked out,” asserted Dan.

“You serious man?” Fred said in disbelief as he accepted his fate.

“Yah, we have the funds. It might be fun,” answered Dan.

The three sat and enjoyed some of the best food the area had to offer, from the baked clams to the perfectly aged steak they each enjoyed. Alex tried a few tricks to trip Dan and Fred up, but other than a few moments, the two did well, acting like they belonged. The moment they were back in the car the act fell completely apart; they couldn’t stop laughing for a good 5 minutes. It was like they were releasing everything they had held in from when Alex tried to trip them up, and then some.

“Thanks man, I needed that,” laughed Dan.

“So, you’re doing ok?” confirmed Alex.

“Yah, I mean it sucks. I’ve really liked Sam for a while but never really had the guts to act on it. Then we got paid and I started thinking how I could afford stuff like this and thought it was a good chance to ask her out. I thought I just needed to find the right opportunity, but yah, maybe Fred is right, and I was just letting my crush on her blind me to reality.”

“Finally, some sense has returned. I’m telling you, the right girl for you is out there, you just need to keep your eyes open” comforted Fred.

“What’s this? Fred can give good advice? Who knew?” quipped Alex.

“Hey, just because I like to be a goof doesn’t mean I don’t get serious when I need to. I think tonight proved that.”

“Fair enough. Well, it’s almost six. We should be getting back now.”

As Alex entered his house, his mom was just putting dinner away, save for the portion she put aside for his dad when he got home around 7:00. As she noticed Alex, she turned to speak with him before he could slip upstairs.

“How was your dinner with your friends?”

“It was nice. Nothing like a great steak with a couple of buddies. So, what’s up Mom?”

“Anna and I were talking, and I think I will take you up on your offer. Also, I’m going to let your dad start playing as well, but he is going to have to sign a contract with me that gives me the ability to auto log him out like you suggested.”

“Awesome. When are you going to start?”

“Tomorrow night when we go to bed. Is there anything other than starting in Quickwind we should do?”

“Not right now. Just have some fun getting used to the game. Don’t start looking at crafting until you’re both level 10.”

“Okay, see you in game then.”

With that Alex was able to make his way upstairs and return to ED.

August 8-14, 2266, & ED, year 1, days 66-86.

Xeal and his friends spent the next three weeks grinding in ED. Thanks to Xeal’s advice all five of his friends had been able to complete their class quests and reach level 20. Meanwhile, Xeal continued to power level himself and was now level 25, and was enjoying the current state of the game, where for a while each level became easier to reach. This made the greatest obstacle in leveling the class quests to make it to the next tier, but those started to drift apart as the next one was not until level 40. Xeal could have easily reached higher levels, but he had been spending time working on his forging and helping other players level up as well. FAE had grown to a level 23 guild and was currently full, housing over 20,000 members, 500 of which were level 19 and up and working to tier up. The map Xeal had put in ED’s pub store had sold extremely well with 11,264,749 copies selling, earning him 83,762 gold, 94 silver and 137,201,612 credits. Xeal had been shocked at the results himself. The only thing he could think of was that many players had been that curious at what a city would look like and after a while, when no other maps had been published yet, decided to look at this one, even if it wasn’t of direct use for them.

These funds allowed Xeal to secure a basic guild hall for 10,000 gold in Dragon’s Heart city as that was all a guild needed in a minor city. The real race was for one of the premium plots in the capital, which ranged from 500,000 to 2,000,000 gold. Even a basic guild hall cost 100,000 gold in the capital. Depending on the size of a capital, it could contain anywhere from 10 to 25 of these plots, and once they were gone, they were gone. Still, most guilds would stick to the basic guild hall everywhere but where they designated their HQ. This led to most capitals still having open premium plots years after players had reached them. Even with the funds from the map sales, when he thought of all the guild halls he would need to build throughout the kingdom, he could only shake his head as he remembered this being one of the main driving forces of silver staying above 20 credits for so long. Just since Xeal had published the map the price had dropped to 45 credits per silver. In another month players who were making money through selling coins would start to realize their mistake. They had been sacrificing their growth for cash and they would be unable to keep up the pace once it hit its first valley. The market would eventually even out after several years to a silver only being worth a single credit, making it hard for new players to make a living by selling gear and silver. It had gotten to the point where several guilds and player run shops dealt exclusively in credits when it came to rare items. This was also when crafting players who had reached the upper ranks truly became indispensable, as ED had very few NPC’s who could match them in quality. Even when they did, they took far longer to produce each item and required you to build a close relationship with them before they would even do business with you.

Xeal had also taken 130,000,000 credits and invested it straight into the same two stocks. This had caused the price of both of those stocks to jump drastically, which in turn caused more investments to pour in for both. Meanwhile, he had unintentionally become a major player in each, now owning four percent of the VR pod company “VR Life Pods,” and a two and a half percent owner of the nutrition fluid company “Drops of Life.” Both had sent him messages thanking him for his investment and asking if he was seeking a spot on their boards. When he had told them absolutely not, and that if anything, he might want to be able to purchase surplus supplies in bulk at a discounted rate in the future, they had seemed extremely relieved and said that when the time came, they could negotiate then. This also made Xeal realize that it might be time to look for other investment opportunities. If only ED wasn’t held by a private company. In the end, Xeal wasn’t sure how to proceed. No other map would net such a profit and he was still far from the 50,000,000,000 credits he would need, even if the stocks took off like he expected.

Next, Xeal had contacted and secured the services of a payroll company he knew from his last life, Background Incorporated. With their help Xeal had already set up everyone as a salaried employee. In addition, they had already started to work on making sure everyone would receive the benefits they were legally due. They were far more than just that. They were a full-service business administration solutions company. They were already looking for an office building in Colorado Springs that could act as FAE’s temporary HQ. Furthermore, they were handling all the legal aspects of his planned move in January, such as the changeover of business licensing and ensuring everything would take effect as of the first of January. What a day that was going to be. It would be the grand opening of their official world HQ, a staff that would be made up of individuals who would be working for FAE, both in, and out, of the game as guild administrators. This was one of the things that in a few years would become common place, but right now was seen as eccentric. That said, when the recruitment ads went out in a few months it would read something like: “Do you have a background in business administration? Has the new VRMMO Eternal Dominion caught your eye? Well then, do we have the job for you, with competitive salaries and benefits. Apply now to the gaming workshop FAE.”

With the windfall from the map, he had put out to his guild that funds were currently very strong, and players should focus on reaching level 20 before donating more coins. This was also helped by the access to the city’s markets that sold better items at lower rates than the outposts. A health potion that would cost a gold in a town, or outpost, only cost 75 silvers in the town, and the potions that cost a gold had twice the potency. Xeal had bought large amounts of these and other items the city offered, putting them straight into the guild store at cost. This had made several players who had dumped considerable amounts of their coins into the guild fund while rewards were doubled to jump for joy. While this caused a large hit to Xeal’s funds, it was worth it for the increased trust and morale it brought his guild. Also, no guild could expect its members to keep contributing without gaining any benefits. Many small guilds had started strong for this single fact to end them.

While they hadn’t yet made it to Dragon’s Heart city yet, most of Eternal Valhalla’s players led by Geitir were reportedly close to completing their class quests as well. Soon FAE would lose its exclusive access to this city’s resources and Xeal knew before that happened, he needed to secure the Ethereal Bog area that contains the level 50 to 200 dungeon Vault of Ucnuc. While it would be a while before his guild would be able to efficiently exploit it, they still could lock down the area around it as their leveling turf. This would make the area far less appealing to other guilds and ensure that if his guild could cleanse the area, they might be able to monopolize the benefits it held for enchanters to master their craft. Now that his friends were here, he could finally start working on actions to do just that, but first they needed to get used to tier three and level up some more.

ED, year 1, day 87-88.

Xeal stood with his friends, each of which had upgraded their gear greatly over the last three weeks. Xeal was wearing a leather armor with metal plates placed at key points to increase protection. At his sides were two rapiers, all of which were level 25 gear. The rest of his friends had level 20 gear equipped. Clara had passed the test to become a champion (holy warrior) and wore a breast plate, while wielding a long sword and kite shield with holy symbols on it. Amet had on chainmail and was wielding a pair of war axes. Gale stood in an intricate mix of chainmail and strung white fur armor, holding a staff, while a holy symbol hung from her neck and a mace from her waist. Aalin and Ignis both stood in new robes. Aalin’s were blue while Ignis’s were shades of red and orange. Aalin held a wand with a beautiful blue gem at its base while Ignis wielded an oddly shaped staff with a vibrant red gem inlayed in it’s top. As Xeal looked at all his friends, he could only smile before speaking.

“Well, it looks like you all have done rather well. Are you all ready to have some fun?”

“Hell yah. What do you have in mind?” grinned Amet.

“Something Clara and Gale should have a blast with, seeing as each of them are so religious now,” quipped Xeal.

“Hey, I’m sorry this game requires us to join one of the faiths to gain these classes. It’s not like I’m all holier than thou now. If anything, you should be thankful Clara and I went with Freya as our goddess,” Gale in a slightly annoyed tone.

“Hey, you were the one who suggested her. I was good so long as it was a god of war. You’re the one insistent on it being a god of love as well,” added Clara shaking her head.

“What are you saying? That you didn’t agree with the suggestion?” retorted Gale.

“Let’s drop it, I don’t want to get into it here,” sighed Clara.

“What did the two of you go through in your class quest?” inquired Amet.

“Shut it, or else!” warned Clara.

“Okay.”

Xeal could only laugh. He hadn’t realized they had chosen Freya. Had he known, he might have warned them. In ED you could choose your faith and deity from any of the ones in the whole game regardless of what was practiced in your area. All of the deities were taken from historical pantheons, and while not all pantheons were represented, or complete, popular ones such as Freya were. The only issue was ED did not block explicit content even if you wanted it to. It was often viewed as part of some challenges. Xeal was sure that the two must have gone through something that involved both war and sex. As to what exactly happened, he knew better then to ask.

“Ok, let’s move on. I didn’t mean to start a fight here. The plan for the day is to grind in the Ethereal Bog, which contains hordes of undead. Gale, Clara and Ignis, you will be our main damage outputs as Amet and I work as tanks while Aalin focuses on buffing the party as a whole. Now this area is a level 30 and up area, so Amet, don’t expect to do that much damage even with your buff from your title. The important thing is to keep the back lines safe. We will be moving in a file formation with myself in the front, followed by Gale, Clara, Aalin, Ignis, and Amet, in that order. Unlike most foes, the undead can rise up from the ground just as you pass them. This can lead to us finding ourselves surrounded quickly. To avoid our back liners from being targeted, Amet, Clara and I need to be ready to form a perimeter to protect the rest while they reduce our foes.”

With that Xeal led the group out of the city. His goal was to get the group to where they could handle grinding the Ethereal Bog without his help. As they were currently, Xeal doubted any of them would be able to deal any real damage to the skeletons that occupied the fringes of the bog. Once you added the terrain in and the general resistances of them in as well, even he would have trouble dealing any real damage. If it wasn’t for just how effective magic was and how weak the early undead’s attacks were, he wouldn’t have even tried it yet. This was the one saving grace the system gave players the first time they entered an area with the undead in it. Players would always fight a monster that, while on par in most aspects of other monsters of similar level, their attack was always low, comparatively.

Xeal guided them across the Fox Plains, carefully avoiding monsters along the way until they arrived at the outskirts where a few skeletons could be seen roaming around. Slowly he led them towards the closest one and engaged it directly in combat. Xeal and Amet tanked it while Clara shifted to the rear to protect the flank, while switching out with both of them to use her holy smite skill she had picked up, before dropping back to wait out its charge period. Finally, after a solid 30 minutes of work, they were able to take down the skeleton. While no one was injured badly, everyone was low on mana and skill points.

“Geeze, that thing just didn’t want to die, and you want us to grind here?” commented Ignis.

“Yah, I could barely keep up with it at all. Are you sure we shouldn’t focus on something a little lower level for a while?” suggested Amet.

“Relax. Look at your HP. These enemies are great for you all to push your limits with. If my math is right, you should all be level 25 and I should be over halfway to level 27 if we can keep this going for our next 8 log ins,” responded Xeal.

“Damn, that’s way too fast. Wait. Won’t that mean we will be moving onto level 31 foes before we are done?” replied Ignis.

“Wait. Didn’t you say only the level 30 foes would be weak damage dealers?” asked Aalin.

“It will be fine. You will all be level 23 before we make that jump, and by then you should all be able to fight more effectively,” assured Xeal.

After a long rest to recover, they started to continue their assault which was going fine for most of the day, with them singling out a skeleton and slowly whittling down its HP while fighting defensively. They had repeated this process 17 times and were about to look for one more foe for the day when suddenly three skeletons rose from the ground and charged at the group.

“Shit, this isn’t cool man!” shouted Amet.

“Calm down. Come on, we need to head them off,” rallied Xeal.

“What? No way. This is where we should run,” countered Amet.

“Calm down, we will be fine; Gale pass me your mace,” directed Xeal.

“Um, sure, but why?” asked Gale while she tossed her mace to nim.

“No time right now. Ignis, Clara, Gale, Amet, focus on the one to the far left. You just need to take care of it while I keep the other two occupied. Clara, be ready in case one gets by me. Aalin, just keep those buffs coming.”

Everyone responded in the affirmative and went about their tasks. They all could tell this was going to be a hard fight. Xeal would have no chance to switch out until the first one fell. Xeal had taken the mace due to the fact that it was the most effective weapon against a skeleton. It would have been nice to be fighting a zombie instead, as then slashing attacks would be effective. The only reason Xeal hadn’t been using a blunt weapon from the start was due to how awkward they felt to him. He hated off balance weapons and had always favored swords. The rapiers which he wielded now were great for piercing attacks and alright for slashing, but incapable of any form of blunt attack. Xeal focused on wielding it in his right hand, swinging it at the skeleton on the far right and was happy to see the increase in damage output. However, his stance was thrown off and he was having problems keeping the one in the middle from slipping by.

“My damage is up, but my movements are too sloppy now. Everyone, just focus on downing the one to the left. I think I can weather these two for a while at least,” called out Xeal.

“You sure?” confirmed Amet.

“Yah, just make sure you take care of it quickly.”

“Will do.”

“Okay, Clara don’t hold anything back. You and Amet are going to double up on the one to the left. Ignis, tell them each time you have a spell ready so they can give you an opening. Aalin, focus on me. Gale, just keep doing what you’re doing.”

With the plan altered, everyone sprang into action with Clara unleashing wave after wave of holy smite, Ignis supplying a steady stream of fireballs, Gale bathing the whole area in holy spells and Amet landing blow after blow. The first skeleton fell after 30 minutes of work. Amet was sitting around a quarter health and looking tired, so Xeal went back to dual wielding rapiers, calling out.

“Everyone take a break. I will keep these two busy for a while.”

“What, you want us to disengage?” asked Clara in confusion.

“Yes. You’re all low on SP and MP, and Amet needs some healing. I will be fine. Just use items to restore yourselves. I can last at least 20 minutes, then switch with me Amet.”

“You got it. Thanks man,” called out Amet.

Xeal spent the next 20 minutes doing his best to dodge and parry the attacks that were coming his way. This had become easier thanks to all the hits he had landed with the mace on the knee joints of the skeleton, causing them to start to crack, slightly hindering the skeletons movements. He hoped it would be enough for him to last with no healing while his party recovered. At no time did he go on the offensive as it would only serve to cause openings for the skeletons to land hits on him while the negative energy of the bog restored their health. This too was one of the greatest weaknesses of the undead. If you were able to cleanse the area of negative energy, they would lose HP just standing still. However, it could also be said that the negative energy was leaving them to try and infect the area once more. This was a constant battle for tier five and up clerics and champions, as they could gain access to area affect spells that could cleanse an area of negative energy. The density of the energy present was directly related to the strength of the undead in the area as well. so even if they didn’t have the power to completely remove the energy, they could weaken the foes in the area for a time. In Xeal’s last life the Vault of Ucnuc had been completely purified and taken over by the player’s guild who had reforged the blade Xeal now held the fragment to. They held onto it for years before a group of evil role-playing players had managed to sneak in and conduct a ritual that bathed the area in negative energy far greater than before, rebirthing the Vault of Ucnuc as a level 200-300 area, with it spilling out into the Ethereal Bog and Fox Plains with hordes of undead appearing and laying siege to Dragon’s Heart city. Many had thought the city would fall when undead armies of tens of thousands of level 100 and up monsters had surrounded the area. But after years of work the area outside of the Vault was cleansed, but due to the lack of tier eight clerics the Vault was never completely cleansed again.

The end result was the guild that had conquered it first and based themselves out of it fell and were lost to time. This had taught many guilds a valuable lesson. They had thought that they could hold onto their power from one stronghold that provided immense benefits, guarding it like a dog with a bone. They all had thought, if anything, another guild would come to take it from them in a fight. They never thought players would come to just watch it burn. The time directly after the area was infected with negative energy saw the merging of many guilds that had their power too concentrated in one place with others that were similar and in a close proximity. It had marked the end of most small regional powers and led to the age of a small guild being considered any guild with less than 1,000,000 members. Guilds with less than 10,000 members were just ignored, except in rare cases where they were formed of exclusively talented individuals, but those guilds were extremely rare.

“Alright man, we’re back,” alerted Ignis.

“Great, let’s focus on the one to the right,” directed Xeal.

“Will do, but for now you should focus on taking a breather yourself.”

“No need. I still have over half health and can go for another hour easily. Remember, I’m used to being solo. Everyone being here just lets me take it easy.”

“You’re crazy, man,” shouted Amet.

“It’s fun to have you around to,” quipped Xeal.

“Stop crushing on each other you two and keep those damn skeletons occupied,” teased Clara.

“Right, I’ll switch back to the mace. Amet, keep the one on the left pinned down. Clara, only use half your reserves on this one. Same goes for you, Ignis. Aalin, focus your buffs on me and Gale. You know what to do.”

It took 25 minutes to finish off the next skeleton, and Amet was in bad shape with less than an eighth of his health intact when Xeal relieved him. That said, once they started in on the last skeleton, it became easy. With no reason to hold anything back, everyone unleashed everything they had left to end it as quickly as possible, and after 20 minutes the fight was over, and everyone pulled out a scroll to return to Dragon’s Heart city for a rest. They had done about as well as Xeal could have hoped. The loot was mostly items that could be used in crafting various different items. So, like most of what Xeal had gotten recently, it was added to the guild storehouse for use by the guild’s crafters. As they reached the inn, Xeal noticed that Clara and Amet had gotten a room together. It seems they had brought their relationship into ED as well. Aalin and Ignis each paid for their own room, as contrary to reality, ED actually charged more per person for a double room than if each got their own. At first many had complained saying that it wasn’t fair, but over time it came to be realized that double rooms offered several benefits single rooms did not, one of which he was sure Amet and Gale would be enjoying. Xeal was just about to get a single room himself until Gale asked him a question with a red face.

“Xeal, can I talk to you for a bit?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“It’s the faith Clara and I joined. The goddess Freya is the goddess of battle and love. As such she encourages her champions and clerics to partake in both regularly. Doing so gives us some decent passive buffs. Clara has Amet but-”

“Wow, there. I don’t like where this is going.”

“Oh, shut up. I’m not asking you to do me or anything, that would be too messed up. No, I just wanted your advice on how to secure a partner without hurting Ignis, more than I have already.”

“That’s a hard one. Are there any requirements?”

“The buffs are better the stronger our partner is, and the buffs we get from NPC’s are way weaker.”

“And you don’t want to bat for the other team either, right?”

“Nope, I’m straight. A group thing would be one thing, but I’m not interested in any one on one like that.”

“Too much info Gale. Well, my only answer to you is to find a boyfriend here in ED and date them. It might cause some problems, but it is the best answer I can give you. Just don’t start banging random guys whenever you can. I can’t have one of my vice guild leaders getting that kind of reputation.”

“Ugh, being a lady sucks.”

“Yep, the spotlight is no fun.”

Gale made her way to the counter seeming slightly disappointed and paid for a room before disappearing, following which Xeal did the same.

Morning, August 15, 2266.

It was the first pay day that the payroll company would be handling. Alex had decided to treat the money everyone had made as a signing bonus. His company was now set up to pay everyone on the first and fifteenth. While they were flush on credits for now, Alex still worried about the long term finances of FAE and once other guilds started to take off as well. He was only one player and even with 20 years of playing ED, he probably knew less than one percent of what opportunities were out there. With over 100 countries spread between 13 continents and countless islands, not to mention the pocket dimensions one could stumble upon, ED was simply too vast for even the most informed guilds to keep track of it. While Alex could access most of it through his guild’s archives and the ED forums in his last life, none of that was available to him now. He had to build off what he remembered, take the concepts that others had used successfully, and exploit them. The first guild cities didn’t start to pop up until ED had been out for over five years, and it had taken another five before they were operational. Guilds had ignored crafting players until tier six players started to emerge and the need for weapons other than those dropped in loot became apparent.

Alex stretched as he prepared to do his morning run. As he did so, he thought of the conversations he had with the three new vice guild leaders. He had told them about his plans to move to Colorado Springs and invited them to join him there if they became permanent vice guild leaders. Henry had declined as he didn’t want to leave his friends behind. Kazuyuki had said he would consider it once he was sure FAE would be able to stand the test of time. Tara had jumped on the opportunity the moment she had learned that housing would be covered by the guild. Alex knew that once the guild city was operational, all three would move as they would have no reasons not to, and that was enough for him. He had laughed at Tara’s reaction to being told she needed to stay in shape the most. Kazuyuki had already been doing so and Henry accepted it and forced his friends into it as well. Only Tara had protested and almost begging to not have to. Only relenting after Alex made it perfectly clear that if she were to end up unable to play ED due to her physical condition deteriorating from her negligence, she would lose her rights to the vice guild leader position.

Alex was still getting used to finding his parents downstairs together each morning. After they had started to play ED, the pair seemed much more intimate than he could remember them ever being when he lived at home. Both were only playing in their sleep right now, but they seemed to have been enjoying the extra time it allowed them to spend together. Anna had taken to giving Alex a death stare whenever he was present and their parents started acting like newlyweds in front of them. To his surprise, Anna had started to join him and his friends for their morning runs saying she needed to stay active. She was playing as much as she could now and blaming Alex for pushing an addictive substance onto her in the form of ED. Needless to say, she wasn’t looking forward to the start of school on the 23rd. Their mom had already stated that if she didn’t maintain at least a 3.5 GPA she would be barred from playing ED. Alex was waiting outside for his friends to show up for the run with Anna when she broke the silence.

“So, when are you going to ask Nicole or Sam out?”

“Nope, not talking about me and dating with my little sister.”

“Aww, are you embarrassed that I have noticed it?”

“I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

“You really haven’t noticed how they have started to look at you? Oh boy, I know you’re not the most adept when it comes to girls, but really, I’ve known them both for years now and the way they look at you has changed.”

“Again, I’m not getting into this with you.”

“So, you just plan to keep ignoring the situation. Poor girls, you won’t even give them the time of day.”

“Look, even if I wanted to, both are a bad idea. Dan is still torn up about being shut down by Sam and Nicole is dealing with intense family drama.”

“And your point?”

“If I went out with Sam, Dan would have an issue with it, and if I went out with Nicole it would run the risk of her becoming too dependent on me. Neither would end well.”

“Oh, really, is that what you think? You really are clueless.”

“Ugh, why are we talking about this?”

Alex had never learned how to handle relationships in his past life, and while he had dated several girls, none of those had materialized into a serious relationship. He had been too focused on making a living in ED to make time for a successful relationship. While he had never dated Sam, he did know how his relationship with Nicole had turned out. While they had stayed friends, it hadn’t been a healthy relationship while it had lasted. It might be different in this life, as that had been the closest to settling down he had ever been, but the issues with her parents had been too much in the end. By the time he was 35 he had given up and was dating NPC’s just to avoid all the real-world issues that came with women. Alex was grateful when the girls’ car pulled up as it would mean that Anna would drop it for the time being. As the three got out of the car, Fred and Dan came around the corner. Amanda made her way over to him giving him a deep kiss for everyone to see.

“Get a room you two,” grumbled Dan.

“We did. Don’t you remember at the inn? This is just the wake-up kiss.” Shot back Amanda.

“Ugh, forget it,” groaned Dan.

“Hey Dan, would you be pissed if my idiot brother asked Sam out?” Anna asked out of left field.

Time stopped. Sam was red, Nicole was looking shell shocked, Dan was just blinking, Fred was looking off into space, Amanda was just shaking her head, while Alex debated how best to hide his sister’s body after he killed her for this. Everyone just stood there for several seconds before the now smug Anna continued.

“Well?”

“You’re kidding, right? She is just being a brat little sister, right Alex?” Dan asked looking lost.

“Don’t turn to him. He is just a clueless idiot who will never take a step forward unless someone pushes him into a corner,” pressed Anna.

“Hey!” shot Alex.

“Don’t say I’m wrong when you have never even kissed a girl,” retorted Anna.

“Why are you so bent on being such a pest today?” groaned Alex.

“I have my reasons. Don’t worry too much about them, okay?”

“Look, I don’t know if I would really like to see it, but they are my friends and at the end of the day, if they make each other happy, that should be good enough for me. There. I answered your question. Now can we drop it before this gets any more awkward?” answered Dan looking like he wanted to hid in a hole under Anna’s gaze.

“Sure thing. Thanks. See, you will be fine Alex.”

“Anna, you’re such a little sister!” Sam grumbled.

“Ow, what was that for?”

Sam had walked up behind Anna and given her a quick backhand to the head.

“Oh, I don’t know, how would you like it if I were to ask Alex what he would feel if Dan asked you out right in front of you? Huh, would be really awkward wouldn’t it. You know what? Hey, Alex, how would you feel if Dan asked Anna out?” mocked Sam.

“Can we just drop this, like now?” pleaded Dan.

“Nope, I want to hear Alex’s answer to make Anna here get a good taste of her own medicine. Sorry to put you back in the middle of this Dan,” said Sam with a mix of fury and guilt in her tone.

“Sam, please stop,” cut in Nicole.

“Nicole, no you should be as pissed as I am at this brat. Sorry, but nope. Hurry up Alex, I want to hear what you have to say.”

Alex shook his head before answering.

“Honestly, I haven’t given it much thought, over all. Other than the fact she is still a minor, I wouldn’t mind it in principle. I know Dan well enough that he wouldn’t hurt her intentionally and it might even be a good match.”

Dan was back to blinking while Anna had turned red like Sam had been when Anna asked Dan about Sam dating Alex. Awkwardness was everywhere as Sam had a smug look on her face. Alex couldn’t believe how this morning was turning out, and then the other shoe dropped. Sam walked right up to Alex, grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him down slightly as she kissed him straight and deep on the lips before he could even react.

“Ah, that was a load off. Sorry. Kind of just did what I wanted there for a second. Don’t take this as I want anything serious with you, just had too much stress build up and yah.”

Alex couldn’t even process what had just happened while everyone just stood there with their mouths hanging open, eyes blinking, until the sound was broken with a loud slap as Nicole lost it and slapped Sam straight across the face.

“How could you. I thought we had an agreement, yet here you are throwing all of that out.”

“Sorry. As I said, I wasn’t really thinking. Besides, you heard Anna. Chances are he needs a good push.”

“Can we please just go for a run before things get even worse, or do you two want to have this talk in front of Alex?” interjected Amanda.

Nicole and Sam went extremely red before nodding to each other and dropping the subject, if only Anna could be so kind.

“Told you.”

“Shut it, this is all your fault.”

“Whatever you say.”

Amanda, Nicole and Sam all stared daggers at Anna and Alex, causing Anna to shrink back in fear and Alex to face palm. Fred and Dan could be seen inching away giving Anna and Alex pitying looks. The message was clear. The conversation was over and it was time for the run. Alex could almost feel the eyes on his back as they ran around the neighborhood. He couldn’t believe what had happened. Yah, he had a vague idea that both Sam and Nicole were at least curious about a relationship with him, but for things to turn out like this. If things went bad it could ruin not only friendships, but cause major issues for FAE as well. After the run everyone was quiet as they went their separate ways to shower and eat before logging back in. Alex wanted to kick Anna. What had possessed her to pull a stunt like that? Could it be that she had an interest in Dan and wanted him to get over Sam? Any way he thought about it just annoyed him more and more, so he decided to drop it for now and get ready for another day in ED.

ED, year 1 day 89.

As Xeal and his friends made their way back to the Ethereal Bog to continue grinding, there seemed to be an unspoken understanding not to bring up what had just happened in real life. Everyone but Xeal reached level 21 after they had fought a few more skeletons, and things were going fine despite the awkwardness. As the day wore on, Xeal got a message informing him that a few more players from FAE had made it to the city along with the first few from Eternal Valhalla, including Geitir. Xeal would need to make some time to greet him and see if he was interested in some information, namely how to establish the spy network. Xeal couldn’t just sell this bit of info for a few million though, so he had to make sure he was careful about who learned about it. With that in mind, he sent Geitir a message asking to meet up with him just before Xeal planned to check into an inn. Geitir agreed and suggested a restaurant for the meeting. With that out of the way the rest of the day passed with them grinding more skeletons before returning to the city. Just before Xeal broke off to meet with Geitir, Clara asked him to stop by the apartment for a talk after he logged out, to which he agreed. Hopefully they could move past the morning’s theatrics caused by Anna and get rid of the awkwardness that was hanging in the air.

Xeal sat across from Geitir in a restaurant off the main road as they enjoyed a light meal and some refreshments. In ED food was not mandatory, but eating it had some nice buffs. The higher it’s quality, the better the buff. The food they were eating now could only be considered silver ranked and provided only a modest boost if consumed. The meal Xeal had chosen was one that was meant to stack with a rest in an inn by giving the player a boost to their constitution when they woke up after taking a long rest. Still, it was lacking when you compared it to the exquisite meals he used to enjoy in his last life when mithril ranked-and-up chefs were common enough that even solo players could partake in the benefits occasionally. Compared to those days, the food he ate right now was tasteless and bland. It didn’t help that his mom was such an excellent cook either.

“So Xeal, to what do I owe this honor to.”

“Can’t I just wish to congratulate you on reaching Dragon’s Heart city?”

“Yes, you could, but I think you have more to share. Surely that map you published isn’t the only intel on the area you have.”

“Of course I have more, but I have no need of credits as I’m sure you know by now, thanks to that map.”

“Yah, which puts me in a bind as to what deals can be made.”

“Materials.”

“What about them?”

“My guild is working to develop an extensive crafting department. Doing so requires an immense investment. The issue comes in from a lack of supply. While common things like iron ore are easy enough to come by, we need it in massive quantities and have to take losses until a smith is at least at silver rank if our assumptions are correct. It is similar with other crafts as well, and silver is more of a breakeven point. Profits won’t be easy until gold rank is achieved.”

“Ok, and what does this have to do with me? I can’t make any deals regarding materials other than those I collect myself.”

“True, I would need an agreement from your guild as a whole, but I don’t even know where they’re based out of, or how big they are.”

“Ah, yah, we aren’t a famous group or anything. Really, we are a new workshop who all spread out to recruit members. We didn’t realize just how long leveling would take in this game and thought we would be able to power level before meeting up with the players we recruited.”

“Wow, then how did you manage to recruit so many on day one?”

“We bought them their VR gear and gave them access to our facilities across Europe, things like showers and gym equipment. Really, several of them were homeless and now work part time in our gyms while playing ED in a back room while sleeping on a cot.”

“So, you basically pulled people off the streets, employing them in what I’m guessing is a large chain of gyms.”

“Yep, they each have a rotation and they each work two, hour and a half shifts each day. We also make sure they have access to food and the like. So far it has been working great, and we are looking to see if we can increase our use of it, but we still need normal employees who pull an 8-hour shift. Most of those who are in this program only handle tasks like cleaning and maintenance right now.”

“Still, it sounds like you’re testing out quite the novel concept. Are you solely based out of Europe?”

“Yah, we thought about expanding, but decided that legally it would be easier not to and we have enough credits to live as we like already. So we didn’t see much point to it, until ED came about. Now we wish we had more players to pull from.”

“Hey, I think considering everything, you’re doing great.”

“I have you to thank for that. Without the tip on how to get the behemoth slayer title we would have likely faded into the background.”

“So as a whole your teams are spread out, but it sounds like you are doing well. In that case I will tell you what I am hoping for. I have learned of a method to greatly increase the amount of quests that populate in guild halls. What I am looking for are guilds who sell us materials at 90 percent of the market rate. In return, we will share this info and give that guild access to our priority shop where we will put items that we don’t want the general populace to get as we don’t want to equip our enemies with them.”

“Hmm, wouldn’t this hurt our guild in the long run? We would basically be handing all crafting over to you and paying you for the finished products too.”

“True, this would essentially shut down any plans for a crafting department you might have had, but it would save you the upfront investment and still give you access to top tier goods. Besides, even if you built up your own department, you would only save 15 percent or so as no crafting player will accept handing over all their profits to a guild.”

“I see, and the extra quests could make up for that. But still, we might be better off with market rate for our materials.”

“Yes, you might be right. However, the way I look at it is by selling to me at 90 percent you are helping to keep the market from collapsing. We intend to make multiple deals like this, and while it might cost us more than if we let the market collapse, it will also ensure we have a steady supply coming in.”

“Wouldn’t your activity in buying up the goods on the market just correct the price though?”

“To a point, yes, but I would shift to a buy it when it tanks model as guilds moved to a sell it when it rises model. In both cases it hurts everyone as I can’t get the materials I need in a timely manner and you’re stuck waiting for the right time to sell.”

“Hmm, you make some good points, but I can’t make this decision without consulting the guild leader and my fellow vice guild leaders. Also, are you sure you can trust my word as you can’t reach the guild master until you’re at least level 80, and I won’t be an official member until we make contact? Really, this game can be quite inconvenient at times.”

“True, but if you say your guild leader will keep his word, I don’t see the issue, and of course it wouldn’t go into effect until I make contact with him and can establish a normalized exchange routine. That said, I will be putting several conditions on you that if he goes against the deal you have to pay for it.”

“Like what?”

“Oh, just things like, if he breaks it, you can never join his guild and you owe me something like 100,000,000 gold.”

“That sounds intense.”

“As I said, don’t agree unless you’re 100 percent sure he will keep his word.”

“Thank you for the warning. I will have to speak to him. Thank you for greeting me and I hope our guilds continue to stay friends.”

With that Xeal and Geitir went their separate ways. Xeal made his way to the inn. Hopefully, the next meeting he had would go just as smooth as the one he just finished, he thought. Though he highly doubted it, playing the clueless idiot probably wouldn’t work how he had hoped it would. Why did women have to be so complicated?

Evening August 15, 2266.

Alex made his way to the apartment. It was 4:15 when he knocked on the door. Amanda was the one to answer, greeting him with a cheerful smile which lifted Alex’s hope that the morning’s scene wouldn’t ruin everything.

“Come on in. Sam and Nicole are on the couch.”

“So, did they work things out?”

“That’s between you and them. I’ll be in my room if you need someone to rescue you.”

“Wait, what?”

“Hurry up, they are waiting.”

As Alex stepped inside, he could see that they had started to decorate slightly, mainly with some cheap bookshelves and a plant or two. They had avoided anything that would hang from a wall to avoid the work required from patching it when they left. Then his eyes drifted around. All three girls were not dressed to go out. Amanda had on a bath robe, Nicole was wearing some fluffy pajamas that looked like a blue sky with fluffy clouds, and Sam sat in a pair of booty shorts and a slightly baggy tee shirt.

“Well now, you three have a constructive talk. No yelling, or I’ll follow through on my threat,” Amanda warned.

“What threat?” asked Alex.

“It’s nothing you need to worry about,” quickly shot Sam.

“Yah, please just leave it be,” sighed Nicole.

Both Nicole and Sam looked like they had swallowed something unpleasant as they said those words.

“Well, I’ll just leave you to it,” said Amanda.

With that Amanda proceeded to her room before shutting the door, and a few moments later Alex could barely make out some music playing. Everyone was silent for what seemed like ages and Alex just kind of stood there awkwardly. The room only had the one couch and the three barstools at the counter to sit on. Sam and Nicole were each leaning on an arm rest of the three-seater couch, leaving enough room for Alex to easily sit between them. Just as Alex was about to grab a barstool, Sam stopped him.

“Alex, stop standing there and come sit down already. I promise we won’t bite, unless you want us to.”

“Sam, stop it.”

“What, I’m just trying to break the ice. Besides, Alex looks like he has no idea what to do.”

“Still, no flirting. We agreed that today would be a blunt discussion where we each said how we feel, and move on.”

“Fine. Alex would you please come sit down between us? To be blunt, we are being selfish and making you listen to us before you respond, so please just sit down for now.”

Alex thought about saying he could just sit on a stool, but the look in the two girls’ eyes told him he was to sit between them. This was just as much to act as a barrier between them as it was to be close to him. Amanda’s smile had lied to him. These two were observing a tenuous truce that could fall apart easily. Realizing that he had no choice if he wanted to resolve this situation with everyone still being friends, he had to go along with their script, at least partly. So, he sat down between the two of them, making sure not to be closer to one than the other.

“Thank you,” blushed Nicole.

“Okay, so what now?” asked Alex.

“Now you sit and listen while we talk. Please don’t interrupt. Just listen to what we have to say, and after we have said what we want to, you can respond how you see fit. We have both agreed not to hold your choice against you, or be upset with the outcome. All we ask is that you’re honest with us as we are about to be with you,” proposed Nicole.

“Okay,” agreed Alex.

“Good, then I’ll kick things off. Alex, Nicole and I both have the hots for you.”

“What is annoying is we both started to like you around the same time so we can’t even say who liked you first,” added Nicole.

“Yah, at first we agreed to see if you would show interest in one of us, but with how ED messes with your sense of time, it kind of got harder, fast,” sighed Sam.

“Then Anna had to pull that stunt today and we both lost our cool,” Nicole said obviously annoyed.

“It was then that we understood we were going to destroy our friendship if we kept waiting for you to grow a pair and ask one of us out,” Sam added.

“And this is the compromise we came up with.”

“Yep, we’re going to tell you exactly how we feel and leave the ball completely in your court.”

“Okay, and what happens if I decide to just drop it and-”

“Shh, we told you wait until were done talking” interrupted Sam.

“Now, we agreed that I would go first. Alex, I have started to see you as someone who can be relied on, who would be able to be the support I need. You are responsible, kind, driven and honestly, you carry yourself with such confidence now that I can’t help but want to get to know you on a more intimate level. While I don’t know if we would be a good fit, I just can’t keep my thoughts from drifting there when you’re around,” declared Nicole as she blushed but kept her eyes on Alex.

“Alex, like Nicole said, your confidence has gone through the roof recently, and on top of that you’re working to get into shape. Don’t think I haven’t noticed you have beefed up a bit as well. I know you must be doing some strength training in addition to our morning runs. That said, I’m not looking for anything serious right now, and I get the feeling it’s the same for you. Really, I don’t think I would have lost my cool if it wasn’t for that damn class quest. I won’t talk about the details, but I feel like it made me lose a bit of my restraint. At the same time, the thought of getting involved with you actually scares me a bit as I’m not sure I could let go once I grabbed on,” confessed Sam looking vulnerable.

“Am I allowed to speak now?”

“I’ve said what I feel I needed to. How about you?” asked Nicole.

“Yah, I’m good,” confirmed Sam.

“Okay. Sam, Nicole, I’m not looking for any relationship right now. I’m flattered that you both like me and believe you me, I can see myself with either of you. It’s just not the right time. Believe me when I say that I hate that I have to give you such an ambiguous answer, but it is the truth. Part of me would like nothing more than to see where things lead between us. However, I don’t have the time to devote to developing the guild and fostering a meaningful relationship. I would hate myself for ignoring you and it could very well lead to what could have been a wonderful experience to be a terrible one. I’m sorry, but I can’t respond to either of your feelings right now. All I can do is accept them and say thank you.”

For the second time that day Alex felt a pair of lips pressed against his. Unlike last time when Sam had pulled him by the shirt into a deep kiss, it was Nicole. She had slipped her hand onto his cheek, turning his head towards her and was kissing him just as passionately as Sam had. As she pulled away, she smiled before speaking.

“Sorry, but this was also part of our selfish agreement,” said Nicole a little short of breath.

“Wait, what?”

“Yah, I told her if she didn’t like that I had kissed you, she might as well steal one as well, then we would be even. Please take it out on me if you’re going to be upset about it. Still, this sucks. You basically just told us you like us, but are too much of a pussy to do anything about it.”

“You’re right Sam, it is harder to let him be after that. My head just won’t calm down.”

“Umm, what’s going on?”

“Well, we never said we would accept your answer if we didn’t like it, right?” smiled Sam.

“Even if you say that, why are you both so close?”

“Alex, you gave such a heartfelt answer in which you acknowledged both of our feelings and that you had some of your own towards us. We also agreed that neither of us would hold back if you accepted our feelings,” replied Sam.

“Exactly, and you did accept them. While I may not be as bold as Sam, I will do my best not to lose to her,” added Nicole.

Alex sat basically restrained by Sam and Nicole as Sam’s arms were now hugging him from the side, with her knees slightly parted on the couch and her chest pressed against his arm, which hung between her thighs at this point. Meanwhile, Nicole had stood up and sat down on his lap, her arms around his neck as she looked like she might start round two of kissing him at any moment.

“What is going on here? I thought I said I wasn’t interested in a relationship?”

“You did, but you left the doorway too open, so we are putting our foot in and pushing the door open. That is unless you were lying when you accepted our feelings?” stated Sam.

“No way, Alex wouldn’t lie like that. He might try lying to escape now, but it’s too late for him to take it back. Besides, that part you said never lies is being oh so honest right now,” giggled Nicole.

Alex was getting desperate as the two girls clung to him. He didn’t need this to go any further, or real problems might happen. He only saw one option left and so he used it.

“AMANDA, please HELP ME!” cried out Alex.

“Hey, what are you doing? Aren’t you enjoying this?” pouted Sam.

“Even after I worked up all this nerve, you take the escape route,” sulked Nicole.

Alex was waiting for Amanda to walk in but instead all that happened is the music became louder. Alex’s heart sunk as he realized he had been abandoned. No help was coming to his rescue. He had to escape on his own. However, Sam and Nicole just snuggled in closer, not making any moves to escalate the situation further, to Alex’s relief. After around 15 minutes of this, Nicole broke the silence.

“Alex, all three of us have discussed it and you should help out Sam in game with the buffs. Before you say no, know that we discussed at length what was involved, and what they went through in their class quest. It even made me pause to wonder if I could handle it without some form of release.”

“Nicole, just drop it. I already said I wasn’t going to resort to that. I will just deal with it somehow.”

“Nope, Amanda already told me what options there were and how it’s going to get worse the longer you go without.”

“Still, I can get by. I’ll just use what the system provides.”

“Absolutely not! That would be terrible.”

“Stop, both of you. I’m not sleeping with Sam in ED and Sam will avoid that system as well if it is so bad. You’re both over reacting. All we need to do is find a way around the issue. So, please what are the details?”

“Nope, you only get the bare bones of info necessary. My choices are to find a player to hook up with once every 21 ED days, or return to a shrine of Freya and be transported to an establishment for a night. If I fail to do so and don’t repent, I lose my class on the 28th day. Our initiate guide recommended partaking more regularly to be safe, and because it will help us to increase our piety points, as backward as that sounds.”

Alex could only grimace at the mention of an establishment. He knew just what kind of place those were and even he had avoided them when he had given up on a relationship in his last life. Still, he didn’t know of any way around it and it was a very time sensitive matter.

“You still have 18 days, right?”

“No, only 3. It started from when I finished my initiation and it was more awkward than hard, so Amanda and I were still level 19 when we finished. Fred was overjoyed when Amanda told him about the requirements, meanwhile it was beyond awkward with the way I had shut Dan down. I thought I would have to use the establishment until we made it to Dragon’s Heart city. I’ll admit you called it right the time at the inn. I was holding out that I could avoid it, but now I’ll just deal and get it over with.”

“Alex, please, as much as I don’t want you to do it, I would rather that than to let her go to that kind of place.”

Everything was clicking into place for Alex. He understood why Sam was so forward with her feelings, even if she normally kept them hidden. It made sense that Nicole would step aside to help Sam avoid the negative repercussions, but most of all it reminded him just how devious ED could be. He knew it wasn’t as easy as switching faiths either as the system barred any player who chose another faith as a cleric to switch deities. Alex couldn’t think of any solution that didn’t cause any issues, then once more Sam dropped the other shoe.

“Then you’re joining in with us!” declared Sam.

“Whhaaat, no, umm, hmm, no, umm…” stuttered Nicole.

Nicole had lost all of her composure and was redder than a tomato. Alex just sat stunned at what Sam had just suggested. His brain was short circuiting. This was getting bad, very, very bad. If he didn’t do something fast, things would only go downhill quicker.

“Sam, you can’t just thrust that on someone. How would you like being told to join Amanda and Fred once in a while? That could be a viable solution as well. Heck, even just becoming intimate with Amanda should work for both of you,” chided Alex.

“I know that, but she already said no. It’s her way of getting back at me for choosing Freya. Had we known what we know now, we would have chosen a different god.”

“So basically, you either have to follow through, or give up being a cleric and find a new class,” confirmed Alex.

“Yep, so yah, I’m planning to take care of it after the next grinding session. Please just leave it. It’s my mistake and I have to deal with it.”

“Sam, no, your first time can’t be with some random player or NPC. That would be even worse than asking Dan to help out,” protested Nicole.

“Nicole, drop it. I don’t want a pity fuck either. No, I’m screwed no matter what I do.”

“Sam, we will go on a date in ED at the end of the next session. If things go that way, they do. If not, you have said you’re prepared, so I won’t step on your resolve.”

“What, you’re not doing this out of pity, right?”

“I would be lying if I said it wasn’t forced a bit, but as Nicole has said, a first time should be special. While I don’t know how things will play out, at the very least I can see if my interest in you goes beyond just that, before you accept that fate. I have no intention of doing you out of pity, or having you and Nicole do something you might regret.”

“Fine, but you have to take Nicole and I on dates. It wouldn’t be fair otherwise.”

“At the same time?”

“No, just we each get to date you at the same time. You still need to spend time with us alone to make us feel special.”

“What are you saying Sam?” asked Nicole.

“That I would rather share Alex until he makes up his mind than lose you as a friend. I’m not saying anything about joining in during any bedroom activities, but yah, the dating part should be fine.”

“Wow, the three of you still have clothes on. Seems like Alex is a gentleman. Anyhow, times up. We need to eat at some point and Alex needs to get home. The three of you can talk more after we kill some undead.” Cut in Amanda.

“Ugh, we were almost done. Fine. Bye Alex, see you as Xeal,” grumbled Sam.

“Yep, see you in ED Alex,” added Nicole.

“Okay, see you three in a bit.”

With that Alex left deep in thought about any options he could use to avoid the situation altogether. Going out with Sam and Nicole was one thing, but jumping straight into the bedroom could really mess things up. He knew there had to be a loophole. ED was full of them, but he couldn’t think of one that wouldn’t cause major issues down the line.

ED, year 1, day 90-91.

Xeal and his friends continued their grind against the undead. The air still held a certain amount of awkwardness for him, but it didn’t seem to be affecting anyone’s performance. They had increased their efficiency a fair bit, and just past the halfway mark for the day, all of Xeal’s friends had reached level 22. They also received news that several more guild members had made it to level 20. Some of them had made their way to Dragon’s Heart city, but most kept diving deeper into the kobold infested mine. Geitir messaged Xeal that his guild leader had accepted his proposal on the condition that he could guarantee regular contact in the next 300 days. This wouldn’t be a problem for Xeal as he would easily reach level 80 by then, so he accepted and set a meetup for later that session. Still, it was an incredible pace that most players could only dream of. The forums were busy in recent days as players tried to figure out how some players were already reaching level 20. Most serious players hadn’t thought too much about it as they were only a few levels behind, but then they realized just how much of a wall levels 17 to 20 were. This had led many of them to realize that there either had to be a trick to it, or it was just that these other players were just that skilled. Many parties who were confident in their abilities had started to take on stronger foes to get the level difference multiplier. Some were showing success while others were having problems keeping up. Still more formed larger parties to handle the increased difficulty. The end result was players were starting to level more efficiently in this life than in Xeal’s past life.

He worried about just how much of ED that would change. Would areas that were hidden be uncovered early, or would the power balances formed in his last life be destroyed. Both of these could cause major problems for Xeal as both favored large gaming workshops like Abysses End. He was already having to prep for the upcoming fight with Abysses End’s subordinate guilds in the area that were actively recruiting. His latest report had their numbers around 3,000 each and steadily climbing as players jumped at the opportunity to try out for one of the largest and most successful gaming workshops. Even Xeal would have jumped at such an opportunity in his last life so he couldn’t be too upset at the individual player. He was relieved when the forums revealed that it was only in the outposts around Dragon’s Heart city that Abysses End was doing this. That meant as long as he crushed these guilds when the time came, he would still have time to shore up the rest of the kingdom of Nium as his power base before they could establish a foot hold here. Once he had it secure, he could focus on expanding elsewhere and crippling Abysses End and any other guild who tried to undermine FAE.

Xeal and his party returned a few hours early from the Ethereal Bog. This was in order for the two dates Xeal had. He would first take Aalin (Nicole) out for a stroll around town doing some accessory shopping for her character. Then they would meet up at the meeting with Geitir. Both Aalin and Gale (Sam) would join him for the meeting to gain insight on how he did business. Then he would bid Aalin farewell and take Gale out to dinner and an after-dinner stroll. Anything beyond that was still up in the air. Xeal took a deep breath as he bid his friends goodbye and took Aalin by the hand and started their walk. Aalin was quiet for a good bit as they made their way to the accessory shops in the city.

“You don’t have to hold my hand if you don’t want to. I know you didn’t really want this date.”

Xeal stopped walking, turned to Aalin who wore a complicated expression that looked like a mix of doubt, guilt and joy, pulling her into an embrace that brought them face to face.

“No, I think I will keep holding onto it. Whether or not I wanted to, I have agreed to see where our feelings lead. To not give my honest and fullest efforts to each of you would be a terrible mistake. Though I may feel guilty at having both of you at the same time, I will do my best to make you both happy for as long as we decide to be together. Life doesn’t offer many second chances, and for all I know, you or Sam could be the right woman for me, Nicole.”

Aalin was blushing deeply as Xeal spoke those words to her, finally managing to speak again after a few seconds had passed in Xeal’s embrace.

“Umm…Why did you just use my real name in game. Isn’t that taboo?”

“It is. However, when it is just us and no other players are around, I will only refer to a girl who I am dating by her true name. To do otherwise would be to forget the real you, the one to which I am truly looking to see if she is the one.”

“Hah, I don’t know what to say, but thank you Alex.”

Xeal released her from the embrace, though she didn’t look like she wished for it to end, but her expression had changed to one of curiosity mixed with joy, making her look far more beautiful to Xeal.

“Now let’s see what we can find in the shops.”

With that Xeal and Aalin spent the rest of their allotted two hours going from shop to shop picking up a few accessories for Aalin along the way. By halfway through the date, Aalin was cuddling up to Xeal any opportunity she got. They both had a great time, although Xeal couldn’t help but remember his time with her in his past life. It was hard as the memories were both bitter and sweet. He had truly fallen for her in his last life only for things to sour as time passed. He knew many of her likes and dislikes that she wasn’t even aware of yet. Had he wanted to, he knew just what to say to make her lower her walls even further. However, the guilt he felt at what would come next when he went out with Gale kept him from pushing too far, too fast. It would only lead to Aalin having an even harder time sharing him with Gale and he needed to ensure both stayed friends above his own happiness. As the date was coming to a close, Aalin turned to Xeal and pulled herself against his chest as he returned the gesture by wrapping his arms around her.

“Thank you, Alex. This was a wonderful date. I only wish you hadn’t pulled back a bit. Yes, I noticed, and I understand you are trying to ensure that my feelings stay intact. I know what you and Sam will likely do after your date. I’m okay with it. If anything, I’m just a little jealous, so I just want one promise from you. Since she gets you first in ED, if this works out and we are able to accept this relationship long enough for it to spill over into real life, I want our first time to be there.”

Xeal studied the face looking at him with such hopeful eyes, and he found himself unable to resist them. Leaning forward he pressed his lips against hers, pulling her closer to himself as he did so. Focusing solely on the woman before him, he gave her a kiss while holding nothing back. As he did so she practically melted in his arms as he caressed her in all the right ways. Finally, he broke the kiss and Aalin worked to calm her breathing.

“Nicole, no matter how this turns out, thank you for being so wonderful, and I promise that so long as this shared relationship continues, I will not bed another woman in real life before you.”

“Alex, I’m in trouble. I think I’m already in love with you. I knew I really liked you, but yah, please take care of me.”

“Nicole, I hope I am worthy of such love, and I’ll apologize now for all the time we will spend apart in the future.”

“Why do we have to be apart?”

“If I am to build FAE as it needs to be, I will have to spend countless hours working to secure our future. During these times I will have to venture to places where I won’t be able to take others, and at times I will vanish for months at a time. It’s why you and the others’ role keeping the guild running is so vital. I am the symbol of the guild’s power while the vice guild leaders ensure it is run efficiently.”

“I understand, but promise me that you will come by every evening I don’t see you in game to kiss me like you just did, and I won’t be mad if you have to give Sam the same treatment.”

“It’s a deal.”

Xeal leaned in once more giving Aalin one more passionate kiss before they both made their way to the meeting point where Gale and Geitir awaited them. As they drew near, they could see both Gale and Geitir talking while they waited for them to arrive. They seemed to be just passing the time discussing ED and all of its intricacies, but stopped once they noticed Xeal.

“My, my, Xeal you are popular. Not only do you have a beauty awaiting you here, but another arrives with you. Please tell me what your secret is,” quipped Geitir.

“Let’s not get into that. Here is the contract to review.”

“True, here is not the place, but at least let me buy you a drink next time we’re both free.”

“I will take you up on that, though it might be a while before I’m free.”

Xeal looked between Aalin and Gale as he said his last line.

“Don’t say it like that. You make it seem as if we are just causing you problems,” teased Gale.

“Ah, lass, to us men women are just that, a problem, one to which many of us spend our lives trying to understand and solve. Some have an easier time than others, and it is a problem that we truly love as it can bring so much joy to our lives.”

“Well said Geitir.”

With that Geitir signed the contract. Then with a kiss on her cheek, Xeal bid Aalin farewell before turning to Gale as the two were now alone.

“So, umm shall we go get dinner?”

Xeal could tell Gale was nervous, which made her look really cute to him. However, unlike with Aalin, he was venturing into uncharted territory for him with Gale. He had no experience with her to know what type of things she liked, or disliked, past the obvious stuff friends would know. All he could think to do was project confidence, and at the same time, not get cocky. He could feel the nervousness in himself. It both scared and excited him. He was going on an adventure and all he could do was step forward. So, he took her hand in his, bringing her closer to him and locked arms with her before making their way to the restaurant not far from where they were.

“Sam, relax. There is no need to rush right now. Let’s just enjoy this time together.”

“Easy for you to say. I was doing fine until I saw Aalin’s face. What did you do that made her so happy?”

“Sam, would you like me to tell her everything we do on this date?”

Gale’s face turned red and her eyes went to the ground as she heard that.

“No, please don’t. Also, why are you using my real name in game?”

“Sam, I don’t believe in treating a date in ED different from one in reality. I am not dating Gale and Aalin, I am dating the wonderful women who play them. Understand that when it is just you and I, I will insist on calling you Sam.”

“Okay, then I suppose I should call you Alex as well. So, Alex let’s have some fun together.”

The pair had arrived at the same restaurant that Geitir and Xeal had met at before. This time however, Xeal had reserved a private table for Gale and him. They found themselves in a medium sized room with a single round table big enough for six if you sat completely around it. Along one side was a rounded bench big enough for four, if needed. It was soft and perfect for cuddling as the pair settled into it. Gale still seemed a bit on edge as Xeal put his arm around her to pull her closer.

“Alex, this is really nice and all, but could you please give me a little more space?”

“Certainly. Please be as open and honest with me as possible. This time is meant for us to figure out what works and what doesn’t.”

“Thank you. It wasn’t that I didn’t like it, it’s just, um well, you know.”

Sam was extremely red and just couldn’t seem to find the right words. The way she was fumbling made Xeal’s heart race. He had enjoyed his time with Aalin immensely, even if it brought bittersweet memories back, but this was amazing. He had forgotten how wonderful it was to step into the unknown, to not have an answer key to every situation.

“Sam, you’re wonderful.”

“Huh, what?”

Xeal put his hand on Gale’s cheek and looked straight in her eyes as he drew her closer.

“You’re wonderful. I love this side of you. I apologize if this makes you uncomfortable, but the way you are right now is amazing, and the way you stole that kiss was so sexy. I can’t help but to enjoy this for what it is, and I find that wonderful. Regardless of where this leads, I find myself wanting to just enjoy the moment and lose myself in you Sam.”

“Alex, I don’t know what to say. How can you be so open with what you’re feeling right now? I just think-”

Xeal pressed his lips to hers in a deep kiss before she could finish speaking. Her eyes went wide at first before slowly closing and her body started to take over. Her hands were on Xeal’s back as she pulled herself onto his lap. She was so grateful for the privacy the room offered as she guided his hands down her back until they were firmly on her rear. She could feel the passion building and if it hadn’t been for the knock meaning the waiter was returning for their order, she may have completely let go of all restraint right then. However reluctantly, she broke off the kiss to let Xeal respond to the knock. She stayed on his lap as they ordered some fancy sounding food and then the waiter left, seemingly unsurprised at the sight of her on Xeal’s lap.

“Alex, I don’t think I can hold it in me much longer.”

“Sam, just relax and stop thinking and just be here with me. Don’t worry about what the next turn will bring. We are on a roller coaster together right now and we shouldn’t worry about the next turn, or drop, but simply enjoy the ride.”

“Alex, thank you.”

With that Gale snuggled into Alex as they waited for their food to arrive. Once it did, Gale reluctantly left Xeal’s lap. She found herself playing footsy with him out of a desire to be closer, and while the food was nice, and she was enjoying talking to Xeal about what he had been doing in ED while they had been apart, she wanted more. More of his lips on hers, more time where there was nothing that existed but the two of them. She wanted to lose herself completely in him. She wondered how much of this was due to her deity, and how much were her own feelings. She had found it so strange after her initiation was complete how she had such strong urges, but nowhere to direct it. That had changed the first time she had seen Xeal after, and what had made it worse was it had carried over to reality as well. Every time she looked at him, she wanted him so much it really did scare her. It hurt to know her best friend felt similarly to herself without the push she felt from her deity’s influence. She felt guilty, like she was stealing from her. Sure, she had liked him before she was initiated, but that had been a small flame. Now it was like a bonfire. The thing that scared her the most was losing him, or her best friend. She had been willing to sacrifice her own happiness for theirs. Now, however, she couldn’t see herself without him. The weirdest part was she didn’t feel possessive like she thought she would. All she cared about was that he saw her, that he cared about her. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t the only one he noticed, as long as she could have him as well. All of this was overwhelming her. She didn’t want to get serious, but she couldn’t stop. As Xeal had said, the pair were on a roller coaster and all they could do is see where it took them and enjoy the ride in the meantime.

“Alex, can I ask you something?”

“Sam, you can ask me anything.”

“Okay, what will you do if you fall for both of us?”

“Hmm, I don’t know. I certainly can see that happening, but it highly depends on the two of you. If I feel this situation is going to destroy our friendships, I will end it regardless of my feelings. If one or both of you loses interest in me, I would have to accept it and move on. Relationships are complicated and if I’m being honest, this situation is exceptionally so. All I intend to do is answer each of your feelings with honesty and sincerity. If you both do the same with me and each other, it should help us all accept the outcome, whatever it may be.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“It won’t be. There will be times when we don’t want to hurt one another and think hiding something would be for the best, but it would probably do more harm than good.”

“Why are you putting so much effort in? You didn’t even really want this.”

Alex drew her in closer and made sure their eyes locked before answering.

“Sam, if I said I wasn’t interested in you, or Nicole, it would be a lie, and if I were to not take both of you seriously, it would just become something that I regretted later in life. Love is not something that we get to schedule. We have to see where it leads.”

“Then why try to turn us down?”

“Simple. I really think the timing is bad. I will be extremely busy for the next several years. I fully expect you both to grow tired of how often I have to ignore you, other than a message here, or there.”

“So, you’re saying that in a few years, if one of us was still available, you might have asked us out.”

“Yes, that was the possibility I was trying to preserve.”

“Idiot. For all your confidence you don’t know how a girl’s heart works, but that’s ok. I’ll be sure to train you. Even if we don’t work out, at least you will learn something from this. Consider it my apology for putting you in this situation. Lesson one, if you like a girl and she likes you back and you’re both single, just ask her out, especially when she opens herself up to you. Now, let’s get back to enjoying ourselves. This conversation is killing the mood.”

“Thank you, Sam, I truly appreciate it. Now, how was your meal?”

“It was nice, but the seat wasn’t as nice as the one I had before.”

“Well, dessert is next.”

With that, Xeal pulled Gale back onto his lap as they awaited the chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream they had ordered to share. When it arrived, he took the fork, and instead of using it to feed himself, he brought it to Gale’s lips. They took their time on dessert, flirting, playing and kissing the whole time. By the time they left, both had playful smiles on their faces. They enjoyed a short walk in each other’s arms through the town before they made their way to the inn.

“Alex, are you sure you’re okay with this?”

“Yes, although I would like to wait, I am looking forward to it.”

“Really.”

Gale was looking shy and unsure of herself as she looked at Xeal. They were sitting on a bed next to each other in the inn, still fully clothed. Xeal brought her in close and started making out with her passionately. They both allowed passion to overtake them and let it guide their movements.

Morning, August 16, 2266.

Alex and Anna were outside waiting when the girls arrived for the morning run. The first thing Nicole and Sam did was to walk over to Alex and give him a deep kiss and hug to say good morning. First Nicole, then Sam. Anna gasped in shock at the sight before her and started to step away.

“What the hell is going on!?”

“What do you mean?” mocked Alex.

“Why did Sam and Nicole both just kiss you like that, and why are they still hanging off you like it’s the most natural thing in the world?”

“What are you talking about? You’re the one responsible for this,” smiled Alex.

“Yah, your little game yesterday caused this, so just shut up,” pressed Sam.

“Be nice you two. We should thank her. After all, she gave us the push we needed Sam,” smiled Nicole.

“I, I, I, I, I caused what? How? Why? Huh, this makes no sense. My head hurts.”

“Oh, boy, did you step in it. Next time, think about what you’re stirring up before you try to play matchmaker,” counseled Amanda.

“I, no, they are just crazy, right? This is just to mess with me, right?” cried Anna.

“Afraid not little girl. You really caused this. You better accept it and move on,” said Amanda.

“Hey, I’m not just a little girl, and don’t blame me for my brother being a playboy!”

“I would say more of a Casanova, from the way those two have been acting,” quipped Amanda.

“Stop it. No, no, no, it’s just wrong, all wrong. Please, it has to be a joke!”

“Stop your whining and deal with it,” mocked Sam.

“Anna, relax. Just please don’t play another of your games. While I don’t mind sharing with Sam as we figure this out, it would be a problem if you caused another girl to try and butt in,” Nicole said while looking at Anna seriously.

“Wait. What? No, please no. What are you even saying!” cried Anna.

“What is who saying?” asked Dan unaware.

“Dan, Fred, my brother and those three are just joking, right? He isn’t really dating both of them, right?”

“Afraid not, and if I were you, I wouldn’t speak to Dan about it too much. He is okay with it, but after what happened yesterday, he’s a little miffed at how it played out.”

“Fred, it’s ok. After the explanation Amanda gave us, I understand why, and while I might be a bit envious of Alex, I’m interested in how it will play out.”

“No, just no.”

Anna was having a mental breakdown; she couldn’t grasp what was going on. How could the three of them be like that? Her brother was clueless when it came to girls. He had never so much as gone out on a date. Now, two girls were happily hanging off him, flirting without a care for who was watching. It made her sick.

“What are Mom and Dad going to say when they find out?”

“Who cares? He can always stay over at our place if he needs to. Nicole and I would love to have him.”

“Ahh, no, no, no, stop it!”

“Okay, everyone let’s calm down. It’s time for our run and I think this conversation is just going around in circles anyways,” said Alex taking mercy on his sister.

With that Alex brought an end to the subject, for the time being at least. Anna was still in shock and Dan still seemed lonely; Sam looked like a fun game had ended. Fred looked relieved as Amanda was giving him his good morning kiss as Nicole just smiled brightly at the scene that had played out in front of her. Once the run was finished and a few more kisses were exchanged, everyone went their separate ways to clean up and get a quick meal in before they returned to ED. As Alex and Anna walked in, their mom and dad were sitting at the table flirting once more. This had become the normal and it was part of why Anna was more than happy to join in on the daily runs.

“Mom, Dad Alex has something to tell you.”

“Oh, what is it son?” responded Mr. Bell.

“I have no idea what Anna is talking about.”

“Your son has not one, but two girlfriends.”

“Say what?!” exclaimed Mrs. Bell.

“Yep, he is dating both Sam and Nicole.”

“Alex, is that true?” asked Mrs. Bell.

Alex shot a look at Anna who was looking smug, then to his dad who had an eyebrow raised, and finally his mom who looked ready to launch into a tirade. He knew his mom wouldn’t like the answer and his dad was smart enough to fall in line with her on this matter. He had to be careful on how he approached the issue as it could very easily end with him staying with the girls until he got his own place.

“Well, I guess I should go pack up. I love you all, but nothing I say will keep you from going off on me. I’m better off just telling it straight as it is, leaving home after, and letting you all cool down for a few months. When you’re ready to talk I can give you the details and how Anna is to thank for things turning out this way.”

Alex’s mom was about to launch into her tirade when his father cut her off. Anna was shooting a dirty look at Alex over him directing the blame her way.

“Honey, calm down. Hold on son, let’s not be too hasty now,” calmed Mr. Bell

“Dear, what are you doing?” retorted Mrs. Bell.

“Honey, if you just go off on Alex, he will be out of the house in 20 minutes, he has the credits. Let’s at least give him a chance to explain the circumstances unless you want him to move in with them right now,” calmly stated Mr. Bell.

“Fine, Alex please explain yourself,” grumbled Mrs. Bell.

“Alright, Anna don’t try to run.”

Anna stopped when their mom’s eyes landed on her. She had been slowly making her way to the stairs. She gave Alex another glare before sitting down at the table across from their mother and father. Alex went onto tell the story of how Anna had stirred everything up and the initial fall out, and how Sam and Nicole had decided that they would date him at the same time. He had given Anna a small mercy and omitted the part where Sam asked Alex how he would feel about Dan dating her. When he had finished, his dad had a complicated expression on his face, while his mom didn’t look any less angry, only now, she also shot Anna a look or two.

“Okay, so I understand how it happened. I don’t approve, but your father’s right. All that giving you a piece of my mind would do would be to drive you out of this house and into their beds. That said, Anna, while you’re not responsible for your brother’s actions, you still need to learn to think before you act. For now, both of you just, just, leave and play ED. Your father and I need to have a discussion,” sighed Mrs. Bell.

Alex and Anna grabbed some granola bars to substitute for breakfast before leaving the kitchen to get cleaned up and ready for another session of ED. Anna was still irate at Alex for pushing the blame partially on her and for the fact that he would even date both Nicole and Sam at the same time. She planned on telling Jessica and Lauran all about it. They would understand her outrage at the whole thing and let her vent properly.

ED, year 1, day 92.

Xeal opened his eyes to find himself and Gale still cuddled up beneath the sheets in the inn. She was already awake and didn’t seem to be in a hurry to get out of bed. One of her hands was caressing Xeal’s chest as they explored the scales that made up the elder dragon mark. Xeal could see she was focused on it, so much so she hadn’t noticed he was back in game as well. He just enjoyed the moment as she continued to explore the mark for a few minutes until he decided it was time to get ready. Moving his arms to bring her into a full embrace, he pulled her into another good morning kiss.

“Good morning to you too,” responded Gale.

“This is such a nice way to wake up.”

“Oh, does that mean you want to wake up like this every day?”

“Want, yes, but that’s not likely at this stage. Nicole would feel too left out and I want to take a bit more time before I take that step with her.”

“To bad. Although, if it’s just Nicole and I, you could always wake up in game like this with me and out of game with her.”

“Absolutely not. There are so many issues with that.”

“Like what?”

“Like going from a passionate exchange with either of you, then waking up to the other. It would mess with my head too much.”

“I guess I can see that. Still, don’t hold back too long or she is going to feel left out.”

“True, it is something the three of us need to discuss.”

“You really do want to keep everything in the open.”

“Yes, I do, Sam. I plan on making you both feel special. I want you two to have different experiences and things that I only did, or do with you. If I just took you both to the same places and did the same things with each of you, not only would it be boring for me, but it would be unfair to you. No, while it’s fine to compare with each other how I treat you, don’t expect it to be the same. You each are unique, and our relationships will be as well.”

“Alex.”

“Yes?”

“You better be careful or you’re going to be stuck with both of us for the rest of your life.”

“I don’t know if that would be a good, or bad thing.”

“Yah, could go either way. So, while we’re here, what is the deal with this thing?”

Gale was pointing to the elder dragon mark on his chest with a look of intrigue on her face.

“That is something I picked up during my class quest. As for the details of what exactly it is, even I’m not completely sure.”

“What happened to being open and honest? Come on, tell me more. Like how I get one and what affects you know about so far?”

“Look, the details are something I have to keep close for multiple reasons, the least of which is it’s one of my trump cards. As for the basics, it is an ability booster and it’s more of something you get from spinning a wheel for a prize than something I can just send you off to do with a guarantee.”

“Okay, so how did you get it?”

Xeal told her about the first test in his class quest to become a knight of the kingdom. After which it was pass time to meet up with the others. When they finally made it to the group, Ignis was looking slightly sulky and Aalin had on a troubled expression, while both Amet and Clara had on a knowing look that made Gale turn red, before she went over to Aalin and whispering something in her ear that calmed her expression.

“Sorry for being late everyone. Let’s get going,” said Xeal while clearing his throat.

They once more spent their day grinding level 30 skeletons in the Ethereal Bog, during which they continued to receive updates as their members reached level 20 one after the other. FAE now had over 100 players above level 20 who could come to Dragon’s Heart city. Additionally, thanks to the tanks with the behemoth slayer title, they continued to develop from recruiting new players. Even their lower ranked members were rising fast. Right now, FAE was sitting at level 23 and held over 20,000 members, but a full third of those were crafting players and half of the rest were under level 14. Meanwhile, the four Abysses End subordinate guilds were each level 18 and between all of them held over 13,000 level 16 to 18 players. It was getting to the point where things could turn sour once they reached Dragon’s Heart city. The worst part was how Xeal had to wait for them to make their move. If he made the first strike it would turn FAE into the aggressor. While it would still take care of these idiots, it would make it easier for Abysses End to paint them as a threat to another large guild. It hadn’t been uncommon for established workshops to join forces in destroying a rising workshop in Xeal’s last life. This had been especially true when the rising workshop went after an established one. Xeal expected they would make their move before level 20. They probably were just being cautious due to the large group in the kobold mine they didn’t have good intel on.

As the party made their way to the inn, Gale and Aalin pulled Xeal aside. They made their way back to the restaurant where he had taken Gale. Once inside a private room once more, this time between the two lovely ladies, they finally started talking.

“So, Nicole and I have been talking and we figured we need some time to talk with you.”

“Okay, what’s on your minds?”

“You, of course. To be precise, how we want to proceed moving forward.”

“Precisely. Sam and I know that we can’t have dates every day, you have already said as much. We understand that for you, building FAE into a stable and sustainable workshop is at the top of your list.”

“At the same time, I need you at least once every 18 ED days, and both of us agree we want to be more then friends with benefits to you.”

“So, we have decided that you will take one of us out here in ED every sixth session, at a minimum. I also told Sam about our promise and that I want that to be our first time.”

“Yep, that took a huge bunch of guilt off me. I also only said I would refrain from using you at every opportunity until she is ready to partake as well.”

“It sounds like you two have it all figured out.”

“Not quite. We are still worried that things will get messed up along the way,” replied Gale.

“Yah, we both shared everything we did with you and we agree you made us both feel special, but we both also agreed we were jealous of the other,” added Aalin.

“Especially of the physical parts. While I lost a good bit of guilt from your promise, it still was hard to accept it.”

“Just as it was hard for me to deal with the fact you two are doing it in ED already. Don’t get me wrong, I am nowhere near ready to take that step.”

“Thank you for letting me know and for being open with each other. Your feelings are to be expected, and to be honest, every action that brings me closer to each of you makes me worry about what I’m doing to the other. I like both of you a lot and would sooner see you two turn on me than on each other. I feel, as Anna put it, like a playboy when I’m with both of you like this and while I would be lying if I said part of me didn’t love it. The other part that is rational knows that this is a precarious situation that could have major ramifications if it goes south. Especially since we will all be under one roof starting in January.”

“That’s another thing. We don’t know quite what to expect. It’s so soon, yet so far away. All we want is that if we are still together, you let us help pick it out,” requested Gale.

“Sorry, but other than some input on the features we want the house to have, I will be leaving it to an agency I’ll be paying to find us a good spot.”

“Really, are you sure that will be okay?” questioned Aalin.

“Yah, it will work out. It’s not like we can go house hunting out there before we move. So, what kind of things are you two wanting?”

The three spent the following hour enjoying a meal and talking about what they wanted in a house. Much of it was along the lines of what a dream house would have, like a full Japanese bath house, or enough of a yard to play some sports instead of running all the time. In the end, they agreed that while it was fun to dream of those things, no house that was going to be ready to move in by January would have all of them. Still, it was nice to know what each one wanted in a dream home. He could use this if things worked out and they were still together when he started developing the guild city. The practical things they each agreed on were things like at least two and a half bathrooms, easy access to food, and enough bedrooms that they didn’t need to share with more than one other person. Having a good climate control system was also a big must for them as Colorado experienced both very hot and very cold days. A safe neighborhood was at the top of the list though, as both had reservations of leaving the area they grew up in for the unknown. Once they made it back to the inn, Xeal gave each a kiss before parting ways with them. Gale had on a slightly disappointed look but didn’t make a fuss about it. Aalin was smiling as she watched Xeal leave for his room.

August 16-29 ,2266 & ED, year 1, days 93-131.

Over the next six weeks in ED, Xeal and his friends continued to level and grind while taking breaks to help take care of the administration of FAE. They now had over 2,000 members who were level 20 and up. The guild had room for almost 40,000 members, but were stalled out around 32,000 thanks to Abysses End’s recruitment in the area. It had even gotten out on the forums and many new players were choosing to start in the area just for the chance of being accepted into Abysses End. Over 50,000 players now made up the four subordinate guilds, while their levels ranged from 14 to 19, with a few about to reach level 20 any day now. This is the one advantage FAE held. It had many players who were already over level 25, and the only other guild that the forums talked about having similar results was Eternal Valhalla. Still, Xeal couldn’t figure out what Abysses End was waiting for; his guild was not only outnumbered significantly, but he didn’t mind. Each day that passed, he got closer and closer to hitting level 40 with his friends. Tier four would bring them to a whole new level once more and if his meeting with the crown prince went well, FAE’s future in Nium would be secure.

Xeal had managed to reach level 33 and his friends weren’t far behind. The guild had several smiths who had reached silver level. Things were going well, and in preparation for the fight ahead, he had everyone who was level 20 and up purchase a cloak that would cause their level to read 19 to anyone under level 20. It wasn’t foolproof, but it would help hide just how high level wise FAE’s members had reached, making it harder for Abysses End to plan. With each level Xeal could feel the mark of the elder dragon’s power grow. It seemed to be pushing him to reach level 40 and unlock its next secret.

The business side of things had been going well, as well. He still had plenty of funds on hand, but had decided to accelerate the hunt for a residence in Colorado. He had hired a company to find and outfit a house with the necessary features. They had found one that would fit the bill, but it needed a fair bit of work. Luckily, the stocks had already started to take off and he was able to funnel some of his gains into the property. The current schedule had it reaching completion by December first, but he was expecting it to run over by at least a few weeks. Background Incorporated had successfully found an intermediate sized office building that was available for rent and were in the process of furnishing it. He had also secured 100 VR chambers for use in the office at a 25 percent discount. Things were looking good. All that was left was staffing and the funding that was needed to keep it functional. Xeal knew that by then FAE would have plenty of gold ranked smiths who could turn out enough profits for his guild to keep the minor operation he was starting with funded.

Anna was also back in school, causing her time she could play ED to be restricted to just one ten-hour block. What had surprised Alex was when Jessica and Lauran had started to stay over and join in the morning runs. They would come over and do homework until dinner, and then start playing ED until 4:00 am, go for the run, and do more homework until 7:30 am when they would go to school. It had started as just a few nights before school started, but then it turned into an almost every night thing. Xeal wouldn’t have minded, but they seemed to be around to run defense for Anna, although he could have sworn Jessica had sent a few looks his way when Anna wasn’t looking. Xeal did his best to avoid her at all costs because of his worries. Sam and Nicole were more than enough for him. Both of which were still very happy with how the relationship was progressing. Sam still wanted to be physical more often, but was keeping it under control. In four months Alex would have to be ready to take the relationships to another level, or end them before it got out of control. He still wasn’t sure which it would be yet and wasn’t sure he would until it was too late.

Alex still hadn’t told his parents that he was moving to Colorado, let alone that everyone was going with him, including Nicole and Sam. He didn’t know how they would take it as his mom was still not speaking to him and he could tell she was upset over what she had been fixing for dinner. While it was still excellent food, she seemed to be going out of her way to include something he didn’t care for in each meal. As if she was waiting for him to complain about it, so she could have a reason to tell him off for something. His dad had just been awkward the whole time. Both were still members of FAE and didn’t plan to leave, but if things stayed the way they were, he wasn’t sure that wouldn’t change. Alex knew he couldn’t let things remain the way they were. He needed to bring his mom around, but it was still too soon for Nicole and Sam to try to smooth things over. With a little luck, everything would work out. However, he wasn’t sure that it would happen anytime in the near future.

Tenbris Amplexus and his fellow temporary guild leaders were all present for their final planning meeting before they cut out Xeal’s legs beneath him. They had finally put together the final piece of the puzzle of where his guild was hiding. It was in a mine and they had almost 400 players working as smiths, with several thousand more focusing on providing the raw materials from the mine to support them. They had found it when they tailed a player who was delivering a load of materials from outside the mine. They couldn’t believe just how many crafting players FAE was developing. The amount of resources it would require was insane. Just the few that Abysses End was developing were costing more than leadership liked. They had shelved expanding it until after the guild was connected. This had been the main reason they had waited so long to attack. Tenbris wanted to absorb the 10,000 crafters FAE was developing. If he could bring even half of them to his faction the benefits would be great, especially since FAE would have footed a large portion of the bill to develop them.

Still, he couldn’t wait forever. The other leaders in the area were getting impatient and he couldn’t blame them. They outnumbered FAE in their areas almost three to one. Only Tenbris’s area had an even fight, but that was treating the crafters like a fighting force. In the end, he expected them to surrender and agree to join Abysses End once FAE disbanded. He had put out direct instructions to leave the crafters alone if they agreed to surrender. Though most never left the outposts except for gathering extra materials in highly under leveled areas every once in a while. This was another part that baffled Tenbris. According to the research Abysses End had done, it should take around 100 players to supply one crafter. Yet FAE was making do with only around two players for every crafter. He figured the mine had to be part of the answer, but he didn’t understand how Xeal was successfully knocking the number down by so much.

He could figure all that out later. For now, he needed to focus on the plan. It was really straight forward. All four guilds would declare war on FAE and demand their surrender and disbandment. Of course, that would be after Xeal handed the guild over to him so he could build up the guild that would become the official home for Abysses End once they meet up at level 80. The benefits he would gain by simply handing the guild over to their leader were immense. He was assured to live an easy life once that was done. If FAE resisted, they would simply ruin them by starving them out and hunting any members out of the safe zones. Soon, members would leave in droves and it would wither to nothing as even the crafting would stagnate as they lost their access to materials.

“So, are we in agreement?” confirmed Tenbris.

“So, we are finally making our move. Good. I was getting tired of all this waiting. We could have taken them out a week ago,” complained Atius.

“Yah, once we lock down our outposts all that will be left is to reach level 20 and take care of the holdouts there,” added Djimon.

“I still don’t understand why we waited this long. Even if Dragon’s Eye had caused some issues, it would have still ended quick enough after we secured ours,” protested Martelli.

“We need to make sure that everything goes as planned, especially on my end. Remember, it’s my butt on the line if we fail, Martelli,” explained Tenbris.

“And I should care, why?” shot back Martelli.

“You’re hopeless. Even if it’s not your butt on the line, if this goes well, you’ll gain a lot from it as well. Also, if it fails terribly, even if you’re not kicked out, you will still lose face to our leaders,” berated Tenbris.

“Yah, yah, whatever. I just want to have some fun. Hopefully, at least some of these noobs will put up a good fight,” said Martelli dismissively.

“I couldn’t agree with you more. I just hope our numbers don’t overwhelm them before I get a chance to face off with them,” agreed Djimon.

“That’s not the point. Djimon, don’t let your battle junky tendencies get in the way of you doing your jobs,” ordered Tenbris.

“Relax, we will have everything wrapped up in a few days now. Then you can tell everyone how your plan was a success. However, leadership has been getting impatient as well, so we better act quickly,” assured Atius.

“Atius, I know, that’s why the time is now. Level 20 is within sight for most of our members and we can wrap up the outposts, then meet in the city and finish the job,” responded Tenbris.

With that they went over the finer details and agreed to initiate the operation and how they would deal with any troublemakers. Tenbris was excited and ready to start. Everything was going according to plan.

ED, year 1, day 132.

Xeal and his friends had just logged back in after their dinner break. It was then that they received the news that the subordinate guilds had made their move. They had declared that starting on day 133, all players still in FAE would be hunted by them until they left the guild. The guild chat was in an uproar over the declaration. Many players were going back and forth. Some were demanding to be allowed to leave. If it hadn’t been for the fact that his members had to gain approval to leave the guild, then many would have likely already left. Still, Xeal could only smile at how what was quickly becoming his main force had reacted to it. They were cheering, saying things like, “Finally some fun!”, or “Can’t wait to see our guild leader kick their asses!” Over all, they were confident and ready to go. They had 12 hours left in game before the hunt started, and Xeal needed to let the others know his plan. He could only smile as he sent the order for all 2054 members who were level 20 and up to meet at the guild hall in Dragon’s Heart city. There he would give them their orders. Unfortunately, Taya was still under level 20 so she couldn’t be present, so he was going to handle the operation in Dragon’s Tail himself.

One hour later, the guild hall was packed as Xeal sat in a room with the seven vice guild leaders and Amser to go over the plan of action. They all seemed ready to go, especially his friends. Still, his plan was basically to pit 50,000 players against 5,000. He wondered what they would think when he explained it to them. Would they still be ready to go?

“So, which group do you want to get rid of first guild leader?” asked Casmir.

“Casmir, we have to be able to take them all out at the same time. If we try to jump from place to place, wherever we are not will be decimated,” explained Xeal.

“Then how are we going to deal with this?” inquired Ignis.

“Simple, we are going to divide this force into four. Casmir and Takeshi-san will take 800 each and handle their outpost and have any players who are willing and able to fight join them in hunting down our opponents. Ignis, Amet, Clara, you will return to Dragon’s Eye with 300 players. Try to lure them to the mine. If they attack, Darefret should come to your aid. Once he is involved, you might as well sit back with some popcorn and enjoy the show. Gale, Aalin, Amser and I will head to Dragon’s Tail with the remaining 146 players and handle things there.”

“Are you insane? You’re setting us up to fall hard. Why don’t we just have the players in Dragon’s Tail lay low for a while?” asked Amet.

“Yah, if we have our forces jump between the different locations, we could handle each while the others are in their forced log out,” added Ignis.

“Ignis, Amet I wish it were that simple, but our enemy is a bunch of cowards trying to cling onto what they perceive as strength. They won’t come out to play unless they think it will be an easy win. We have to make them think they have victory in the bag and turn the tables on them. Not only this, but it has to be done simultaneously in all four areas or they may rethink their actions. Clara, I want you to take lead for your group. Have every member head for the mine. Make it look like we are hiding. If we are lucky, you will attract all 13,000 players that way. I’ll make sure Darefret knows what’s coming.”

“Xeal-san, do you think our forces will be alright up against such numbers?”

“Takeshi-san, I trust in your judgement. Use whichever tactics you see fit, and yes, I can see our members being able to thrash them. If you faced the full 13,000 at once with just the 800 I’m sending with you, it might cause us to suffer major losses on our end as well but, we should still win. The difference in a tier two and tier three players is just that great.”

“But you only just took us down when you fought us?” countered Casmir.

“Did you really think he was going all out at that time?” interjected Amser.

“Are you saying he was toying with us?”

“No, he was testing you while protecting your dignity. He needed to know what you were capable of and he needed others to still respect you.”

“Xeal, is that true?”

“Casmir, you have talent and a good head, but yes, I could have ended that match with over 90 percent of my HP intact if I wanted to. That said, without healers even I would have struggled against ten or more foes at once.”

“So that’s why I’m assigned to you,” stated Gale.

“Yep, our job will be the hardest, and your job will be simply to keep me alive while Amser keeps you safe and Aalin thins the herd out.”

“Why am I being reduced to a bodyguard?”

“Amser, Gale’s survival is the pin on which my whole plan rests. I could not give you a more important role. If she falls, I will too. Our forces are the ones with the highest difficulty rating in front of us.”

“I understand, but still, I would be of more use in the thick of things with you.”

“No. No offence, but with what I have planned, being next to me would be a one-way ticket to the death penalty.”

“Are you planning on dying on us?” asked Gale.

“Not at all. That single target skill you picked up will keep me alive.”

“But that will-”

“Make it so you can only heal me, and you will be a sitting duck. I know, it’s the only way to make sure I survive,” said Xeal cutting Gale off.

“What skill is this?” asked Amser with a raised eye brow.

“Soul link,” responded Gale.

“Don’t ask for the full details, but to use it she has to establish the link and keep her eyes closed the entire time.”

“Okay, now I see why a dedicated bodyguard is needed for her. Still, why me?”

“Amser, you’re the only one available who has enough skill to keep her safe. Besides, it will put you in the best spot on the battlefield, in case I need you to take over as commander once I make my move.”

“Fine. Let’s get this over with,” grumbled Amser.

“Good. Now that everyone has their orders, put together your teams. The operation starts at midnight and I expect everything to go into full motion. Clara, you need to be in the mines by then, so put your team together and go now. Remember, your force should be mostly those who are just past level 20. Takeshi-san, Casmir, try to take the players who are most familiar with your areas, but leave me our top 25 members outside of your own parties. Consider this your test to become official vice guild leaders.”

“Oh yah, that’s what I’m talking about. Consider it done.”

“I will hold you to that Xeal-san.”

“Good. Also, make sure you take note of how well your members perform. We will need to form an official main force soon. It will only be around 500 players at the start, but let them know that they will go on a salary of 2,000 credits a month if they maintain their spot.”

“Do we really have the credits for that?” asked Aalin.

“It will be fine. We need to make the investment now. Besides, once our crafters are developed further, we should be able to easily maintain that.”

“Okay.”

“Now, we have 10 hours to be in place. Be ready for the long haul. Keep me informed on what is going on and take these.”

Xeal handed Takeshi-san, Casmir, and Clara a small seal that he had bought and explained to them how it worked and when to use it. After which, he left to make contact with Darefret and make sure he was okay with it. Once he was gone, the rest of those present went about dividing their forces for the upcoming battle. Once that and other preparations were made, they moved out to execute the plan. It took Xeal five hours to reach the mine. It had developed immensely since he had first stepped foot in it. Hundreds of workstations currently had smiths working on a variety of items that Darefret had assigned them as training. An enormous smelting rig was complete, and several players were operating it under Darefret’s supervision. Xeal made his way over to the dwarf and stood next to him as he shouted instructions over the noise of all the hammers and grinding stones in use.

“Ah, Xeal, what do I owe the honor of seeing ye to?”

“I know, it’s been to long since I’ve been able to make it out here. How are things going Darefret?”

“Wonderful. Those men ye lent me to build all this have really done well, but ye’re not here to talk about that.”

“No’ I’m not. I’m sorry to bring this to you, but a fight is coming this way. Others are seeking to take what I’ve built, even if they have to destroy it to do so.”

“And I take it that means here as well.”

“Most likely. Your mine and workshop are two of our biggest deals. I’m here to ask if you will stand with us in defending them.”

“Aye, I will, but I expect something for it.”

“Name it.”

“Ye’re going to have to build a fort at the entrance after this fight is over. I’ll not be having another foe walking into here looking to wreck the place.”

“I’ll gladly do that if we make it through this fight. Now, you’re going to see a large group of our members arrive shortly. We plan to use the area as a base while this war rages. If we are lucky, this will all be over in a day.”

“Oh, ye’re expecting them to come that soon?”

“Yes. I wouldn’t be surprised if they storm in right at midnight and demand our surrender.”

“Ye’re not going to be here, are ye?”

“Nope. We have to face them on four fronts, but I can rest easy knowing that you will be here. None of them are even level 20 yet.”

Darefret raised an eye at that information as a smile grew across his face and he started to shake with surprised laughter.

“Oh, this will be fun. How many are ye expecting?”

“Around 13,000.”

Darefret stopped laughing and his tone changed from before, becoming something far more menacing.

“This won’t even be a workout; those fools will die and learn their place under my boot. Xeal, tell yer men to set up in here to guard the workshop, except for a few clerics to keep me healthy, and some guards for them. Those 13,000 are all mine. I’ve needed some stress relief for a while now and who am I to turn down such an opportunity.”

Xeal gulped at the pressure Darefret was putting off. Those poor players wouldn’t even know what hit them. He had expected Darefret to lend a hand, but to take over practically the entire fight was far more than he expected.

“Man, now I wish I could stay and watch this. Can you do me a favor and capture whoever is leading them alive?”

“Sure, but why?”

“Oh, I need to make an example of them as a warning to others. One of my men will take care of them once you hand them over.”

“Alright, now get going. I’m sure you have your own fight to deal with.”

ED, year 1, day 133.

It was just after midnight and FAE’s members were being targeted left and right across all areas surrounding the four outposts. Tenbris had been pissed to learn that all his prey was holed up in that damn mine. He had wanted to avoid harming that area. Now he had to deal with over 14,000 players there. If it wasn’t for the fact that most of them were under level 15, he might have been concerned. Instead, he was looking on the bright side. This would save him a ton of time, and so he set out. Meanwhile, Martelli was in Dragon’s Claw dealing with Casmir’s hit and run tactics that were causing him some major problems. Every time one of his teams would tail a group from FAE, they would report that they were about to attack and where they were, as ordered, then nothing. It was one of the nastier parts of a death penalty when killed by a player. or NPC. They would be locked into a zone for a full 12 hours in game unless their auto logout time came first. The only work around was to have someone set off the safety sensors that monitored your environment. While they were sensitive at first as the game progressed, your gear would begin to recognize your normal environment. Over 1,000 of his men were already out and it had only been 30 minutes. So, he messaged Djimon to see how things were going on his end. Djimon reply only shook Martelli further. In the area surrounding Dragon’s Wing, FAE was standing, seemingly awaiting a battle. It made no sense. Only around 1,300 players were there. It would be ten on one when the fight started. Well, at least Djimon’s foe has some guts. Martelli’s seemed to want to play the game of attrition. It was 13,000 on 5,000 and Martelli liked his odds, but just to make sure, he had put out orders to move in groups of 100 after his initial losses.

Atius read the reports Djimon, Martelli and Tenbris had sent on their status and laughed. Each faced a completely different tactic and from it he could tell that FAE was divided. His subordinates had informed him that only a few players in Dragon’s Tail had been lost so far. It was like the FAE members in Dragon’s Tail had just logged out to hide. He was bored. Why didn’t they want to play with him? He knew the leader in charge of the outpost was just an under leveled crafting player, but still, they could at least try. Were they hoping he would get bored and give up?

Dragon’s Claw-

Saima was a level 19 rogue style player with long black hair tied into a long ponytail. She had been playing ED since day one, but now she finally had her chance. She had been assigned as the group leader for 100 other players. She had been working hard over the last few weeks to show what she was capable of. Her efforts weren’t in vain, she thought, as she must be in the top one percent to be trusted with such a role. While she felt bad for FAE, she cared about her own future far more. She was going to join Abysses End, then she would make her way into its leadership. Once she made it to that point, she could sit back and enjoy life as a professional gamer. While she didn’t expect to be rich, making enough to live comfortably while doing what she loved was enough for her. They were currently in the process of tailing a group of ten players from FAE who had just left the safe zone. Honestly, she didn’t get how they could be so bold, or stupid. They knew open season had been declared on them. It would have been better to just log out until the whole thing ended. Once FAE’s guild leader accepted his defeat it would all be over, and you could find a new guild. Still, the fact that the poor fools hadn’t done so spoke volumes for their loyalty and made Saima wonder what Xeal must have done to inspire so many.

Saima received a report that the ten players they were tailing had engaged with a monster. It was time to act. She sent her report to Martelli as required and proceeded to secure the encirclement. Once it was closed, she went to issue the command to strike, but it was too late. Already her member’s names were disappearing rapidly. It made no sense; she had brought over 100 players with her and they were being eliminated. She went to find out what was going wrong, only to find herself in a pickle. She had barely dodged the first strike, now she was doing all she could just to deflect and avoid each one that followed. She had no room to counterattack. She couldn’t understand what was going on. She was one of the most skilled players she knew and now a single opponent was overwhelming her completely. As she watched her health drop into the yellow, she knew it was only a matter of time before she lost.

“Who the hell are you?”

No response came.

“What, you think you’re too good to answer me? At least let me know who is skilled enough to do this to me.”

While he still didn’t speak, her opponent was now shaking his head while looking at her.

“I am Saima Mahal. I will be a pro player. Surely someone with your skills would be welcomed to Abysses End with open arms.”

Finally, her opponent responded, but how he did, floored her.

“I am no one special. Where I stand now is thanks to our guild leader. Compared to him I am but an ant. Now, Saima Mahal, I must bid you farewell. Please accept this. I do not do it out of malice, or a desire to see you fail, only out of a sense of duty.”

“Wait, at least give me your name.”

“Gektor Damnir. Now, farewell.”

Gektor’s blade pierced through Saima’s chest as her last remaining health disappeared. She was at peace with her loss. Gektor felt sorry for her as she had been entrapped by a promise that would never be fulfilled. The cape he wore that masked his true level to her only added to it. Gektor had been sweeping through the enemies with nine other FAE members who were assigned to this ambush. Saima was the only player he had ran into who could even exchange blows with him. He made a note of it for the report he would submit after this war. Then, like instructed, he disappeared into the night to find his next target.

Martelli was awaiting Saima’s report of a successful hit that would never come. He was confident in her abilities. She was one of the few players he had secured during this mass recruitment that he was sure Abysses End would accept. Most of the fools would be cast aside once their usefulness ended. This was how Abysses End worked. Find players who want to join, agree to give them a trial period, normally around a year, pay them nothing while forcing them to perform tasks that were beneficial for the guild. String them along by throwing a peanut or two their way. Only if they were really talented would they be able to escape this trap and become an official member. The rest would be told we really think you’re making progress, but you’re not ready yet, until they quit on their own. It didn’t always work and if it wasn’t for the NDA’s they all signed to be able to join them, Martelli was sure the internet would be full of pissed off ex members. The simple threat of legal action being brought against you was enough to deter most, and it wasn’t like other gaming workshops were much different. Every time a new game dropped, they would pull in as many players as they could get, just to dismiss most of them a month or two later. Only after Martelli failed to receive the report from Saima and was unable to contact her did he realize things were bad. He still had 10,000 players left but he was starting to worry he might lose in this war of attrition. Fearing the worst, he sent a message to recall all members to regroup and reorganize.

Dragon’s Wing-

Djimon made his way with his men to the large plain that his foe, Suoh Takeshi, had decided to use as the battlefield. It had taken a few hours to get his forces in order as they had been prepped for a hunt, not a battle, but he liked it this way too. When he arrived, he found Suoh Takeshi sitting in the middle of the field at a chabudai, drinking some tea from the midget of a table like it was the most natural thing in the world. Djimon didn’t know what to make of the scene other then it was meant for the two of them to engage in a dialog before the battle. Did Suoh Takeshi wish to beg for mercy? Djimon would enjoy that as he refused to accept it. He was looking forward to a good fight, even if it would quickly turn into a slaughter. Had it not been for the fact he was representing Abysses End right now, he would have just ordered the charge, but they had to keep up appearances. So, after passing the order for his men to get ready, he made his way to the middle of the field. If Suoh Takeshi attacked him it would be great. He would get a good fight and his men would charge the meager force behind Suoh Takeshi. With these thoughts, Djimon made his way to the center for the talks.

“Suoh Takeshi, I take it.”

“Yes, and you would be Djimon Oya-san.”

“Well, at least you realize who you’re dealing with and it’s nice that you are already on your knees. Now, when are you going to start begging?”

“Please, Djimon-san, join me for some tea while we talk.”

“What need is there for talk? Your only options are surrender, or annihilation.”

“Still, I think it only right to at least keep up the appearances, Djimon-san.”

“Stop with the san crap. If you want to use them, then use the right one. It should be dono, or sama. Now, when are you going to start begging?”

“Djimon-san, I plan on no such thing. Also, you are nothing more than a bump on the road. Accept the respect I am showing you, or would you rather attack me? Understand that I have no intentions other than to demoralize you by destroying the forces you have brought with you today.”

“You sure talk big for a dead man.”

“Dead or otherwise, this is a fight neither side can avoid. Why not enjoy some tea before it? Only your temperament has caused the taste to suffer.”

Djimon was getting pissed the longer he looked at Takeshi. He had come here to provoke him, but now he was being provoked. He needed to get his head on straight. He couldn’t be the one to strike first. While the outcome of the battle would remain unchanged, it would look bad on Abysses End. He also couldn’t just blow off the talks for the same reason. The whole thing pissed him off. He wasn’t meant to be someone who had to deal with this stuff. He hated FAE for even existing. If they had just never been, he could have enjoyed his role as a team leader and deferred all important decisions to his superiors. Why did this jerk have to use this damn table that required him to sit on the ground for this talk? He had no idea how to properly sit at such a thing and he would only make a fool of himself if he tried to imitate Takeshi.

Takeshi was watching the idiot in front of him do his best to remain calm. Pissing him off had been too easy. The poor fool lacked even the basics of discipline. The fact that he hadn’t attacked in a rage yet spoke volumes about how much Abysses End cared about appearances. Xeal had made sure that everyone knew just how much a major workshop cared about their public image. While removing a guild like FAE was easy to justify, not showing respect and honoring agreed upon norms could have lasting consequences. Takeshi was doing everything he could to push Djimon over the edge. It would make everything so much easier.

Dragon’s Tail-

Finally, after several hours of no news on FAE’s movements, Atius received word of a single player who matched the description of FAE’s guild master Xeal. He was reportedly standing alone on a hill just outside of the safe zone. It smelled like a trap, one that Atius was hesitant to step into, but how could he avoid it without being called a coward? It was just one player, but he was sure the others would strike when the opportunity presented itself. He was sure an ambush was waiting. He had to make sure he was ready to counter it when it came. He could just use the full 13,000 and deal with it by sheer power. The issue was if Xeal was planning for that, then it could result in a disaster. He had to think hard on how he would approach this. An hour later, with 3,000 players, he made his way to the hill, on guard the whole way, but nothing happened. He had the remaining 10,000 on standby and split into four groups that could charge in from any direction within 15 minutes if an ambush happened. Now it was time to see what hand Xeal planned to play.

Xeal stood atop the hill he had chosen. If all went as planned, he would soon be surrounded by the full force of the subordinate guild in this area. He was taking a huge risk with this plan, but he was confident. Amser, Aalin and Gale were standing by with their forces ready to take action. It would be interesting to see how things played out. He knew Darefret could easily handle 13,000 tier two players, but it was a different story for him. This was going to be pushing the very limits, even with help. Finally, after hours of waiting, he could see a large force coming into sight. Unfortunately, it was only around 3,000 players strong. This could complicate things, but Xeal still felt confident in the results as a single player stepped forward.

Amser stood in the shadows high in the trees with the rest of the reserve forces doing the same. Next to her was Gale. A thick blind fold covered her eyes and Amser couldn’t help but look at her lips and think of how she had activated the soul link skill. It would allow Xeal to be healed continually as long as she didn’t look upon another and he remained within five miles of her. She had thought Xeal was crazy for trying to pull this plan off even with the items that let them blend into the trees that hid their force right now. Still, the moment a player attacked, the item would break, revealing them to the world. If they were lucky, all 13,000 would show, and win or lose, they could be done with this. Amser was pissed she couldn’t rush headfirst into battle; Abysses End held a special place in her heart for how messed up they were. She had once been an aspiring member, one which many had thought would become a star member, until one day she quit. To an outsider it looked like she had just left for no reason, but they weren’t that nice. The only reason they let her leave was to avoid a lawsuit. She was looking forward to the show that was about to start as the 3,000 players came into view, especially the after party.

Aalin watched from her perch, ready to release the spell she had ready the moment Xeal gave the signal. Her attack would signal the first wave to engage, and once they did, all hell would break loose and there would be no turning back from this fight. Hopefully, they could finish it here. She was really hoping that it wouldn’t disrupt her date with Xeal that was coming up. She would really have to give Abysses End a piece of her mind if it did. Still, it might be fun to watch her and Gale’s man thoroughly thrash them, over and over again. Still, she was worried when only 3,000 players came into view.

Atius stepped away from his men and slowly crossed the 1,000 feet that separated them. With each step he took in more details. He was annoyed at the cape Xeal wore. He was sure it was masking his true level and displaying level 19. Just how high had this man reached that he could calmly stand there while looking at a force of 3,000 players who were there to kill him? No, he must have something up his sleeve. He just couldn’t figure out what it was. Did he have an item that allowed for mass invisibility? Atius didn’t like the feeling he was getting. If only they had waited another week in ED, then they would have had several level 20 players to counter Xeal and gather more intel about Dragon’s Heart city. Who knew what items the player in front of him had up his sleeves? Finally, he came to a stop ten feet from him.

“Am I correct in assuming you are Xeal, the guild leader of FAE?”

“You would be Atius, I take it. So, were you the brains behind this scheme?”

“No, the one who made this plan was Tenbris. He is going to pout once he learns you fell to me.”

“Well, that’s a relief. If that idiot is calling the shots, FAE has all but won this already.”

“Getting a bit too confident, aren’t you? Even if he is a coward and incompetent, your guild will still fall due to the sheer numbers you face. Surely you don’t think you can win against such a force?”

“Oh, I would worry about yourself if I was you. I am simply here to issue you an ultimatum and give you a chance to lessen your humiliation.”

“You really have gone crazy. It’s a pity. You could have been a great addition to our ranks, but now we have to remove you from the equation.”

“Atius, I hereby announce that you and your guild are under arrest for rebellion. Surrender yourself to the mercy of the kingdom of Nium if you wish for a future.”

“Say, what? You really have lost it. No way. ED doesn’t have any rules that prevent guild wars outside of safe zones. Sorry, but I’m going to call your bluff.”

“Your choice. Just don’t hold what happens next against me.”

“Very well, since you don’t intend to surrender and save us the trouble, I think it’s time for us to get started.”

Atius turned his back on Xeal to head back to his forces. This had really been an annoying encounter. If one of those other three had been here they might have lost their cool and done something stupid.

“Before you go, do you really think those three can keep their cool?”

“They will do what is expected of them.”

Atius didn’t like how on the mark Xeal was and it made him worry. Was his goal at this point just to cause Abysses End’s reputation to suffer? Could those other three really avoid taking the bait like he just did? Just the thought made his stomach hurt. By the reports he had received, Djimon should already be in talks, Martelli was regrouping, and Tenbris should almost be at the mine. It was already too late for him to reach out to them before ending the fight before him. He just had to make sure to make it quick. The moment he was back to his forces he ordered a full assault, including the forces surrounding them.

Dragon’s Eye-

Tenbris was frustrated as the mine finally came into view. Everything was progressing too slow. He had expected Atius, Martelli, and Djimon to have taken care of things on their ends already. Instead, he was reading reports about needing to regroup to deal with ambushes, and negotiations that were just wasting time. In front of the entrance to the mine stood a few players. One of them stepped forward, stopping about 100 feet from the entrance. Were they expecting him to talk before he killed them? Maybe if they were an entity that was worth respecting, he might have? No, he had to at least keep up appearances. Besides, it looked like the representative was a woman. He could always try and recruit her. FAE must be understaffed if she was the best they had. This fight would be easy. Maybe he could gloat about having the hardest job and being the one done first later.

“Tenbris, I assume.”

“Yes, and you would be?”

“Clara Holyscar, I am a vice guild leader of FAE.”

“Well Clara, why don’t we do this the easy way. You surrender, and we go out for dinner.”

“No. Now I am here to inform you that the area ahead is off limits to all and if you take a step into the tunnel your life will be forfeit.”

“Huh, your joking, right? FAE is done. By noon your guild will be crippled. I’m at least offering you a chance to avoid that fate. Instead, you throw it in my face. Do you even know who I am, and what I will be once this war ends?”

“Of course, I know. You’re an idiot who only thinks with the microscopic thing between your legs and you will be even less once this is over.”

“Bitch, you need to learn your place. Enjoy starting over. I’ll make sure you’re hunted whenever you leave a safe zone.”

“Aww, is the little boy sad? Did the big, mean girl tell him the truth and it hurt?”

Tenbris had enough of Clara and raised his wand to cast a spell. It was a quick cast spell that would stun her until the next hit was landed. It was one he had wanted to use since he learned it in conjunction with a binding spell. It was perfect for capture. He would take his time with this one, as he made her beg for mercy. The best part was actions in ED were not prosecutable in reality. While he couldn’t do anything he wanted due to the system’s safeties in place, he could still do plenty. This was going to be great; he couldn’t wait to play with her like a toy. That was what she was, a new toy for him.

Clara wanted to throw up at the look Tenbris had on his face as he raised his wand. Just what was he thinking about? Xeal had said to provoke the enemy so they would make mistakes, but maybe she had done a little too well, or this fool was just that insecure. Either way, she had to take the hit and use it to hurt Abysses End’s reputation. She cast a protection spell on herself as the light left his wand, slamming right into her chest. She only had a second to enjoy the look of shock on his face as she slammed the item Xeal had given her directly into his chest. It burst open and smoke came out, forming into chains that bound him tight, causing him to fall to the ground as he shouted,

“Attack!”

Clara grasped the chains and started to drag him to the cave as she ran. Thankfully, her levels let her outpace the charging mass, as she dragged Tenbris away, securing her target. Now it was time for Darefret to get the exercise he was looking forward to. He stood ready just before the cave opened into the cavern, battle axe in hand, and a grin that said he was looking forward to this. Behind him were the rest of her forces, ready and awaiting anyone who slipped past Darefert with their life.

“Unhand me you bitch. Just you wait. You’re done. I’m going to make sure your life is miserable both in here and in reality, just you wait,” screamed Tenbris as he struggled in vain.

“Man, does he not realize, the situation he is in?” asked Amet.

“No babe, he is just some trash. Ignis, can you take him and store him somewhere? I need some time with Amet to deal with touching that filth,” shuddered Clara.

“So, that welp is their leader? Ye all sure you need my help?” inquired Darefert.

“Unfortunately, he had the backing of some bigger names he used to entice the poor fools about to fill that tunnel. Amet, did you get the video of him attacking first?” asked Clara.

“Sure did. Man, he really stepped in it now,” laughed Amet.

Clara stepped forward and pulled Amet into a deep kiss as the sounds of an army charging into the tunnel could be heard behind her. How she would have loved to just take Amet to the side and have some fun, but the fight before them needed their attention.

Dragon’s Claw-

Martelli was getting frustrated. Why did he have to deal with damn guerrilla tactics? It was annoying. He had no idea what his enemy forces were made up of, and to make it worse, no players had escaped to give him the rundown of what they were facing. So, with all 10,000 of his troops, he had charged into one of the areas he had lost over 1,000 players to see what they found, only for nothing to happen. He was pissed off. If he split his forces, they would be picked apart bit by bit, but if he kept them together the enemy would hide. How were they able to disappear so easily? It was like trying to catch a shadow. He needed a plan, but what? It was in the middle of this that he received a message. It was stating that the enemy had called for a parley. He was to only bring 1,000 men, tops. Any more and they would bolt before the talks could get started and return to the slow game again. Martelli thought about ignoring the member cap, but decided against it. Even if they used this to attack him, he could use it as justification. He needed to relieve some stress and it would be nice to put a face to his frustration, so he accepted it and selected the best 1,000 players he could to be his backup. The rest would be on standby, close by in case it was a trap.

Casmir couldn’t believe Martelli had actually agreed to the meeting. He had to know it was a trap. Still, it was just like Xeal had said, following etiquette was important to them and he would have to play along as well. As Casmir was thinking over his plan, he received a message from Amet and couldn’t help but laugh at the video attached. This was wonderful. Now he had to make sure he didn’t mess things up on his end. It would suck to fail to capture his target. So, he made his way to the small clearing that he had chosen for this meeting. The most annoying part was clearing out the monsters around it.

Martelli made his way to the designated meeting location. It pissed him off that he was the last to start talks, even if they were just a formality. Heck, the others had started before losing any men, but he was down almost a quarter of his forces. Maybe that was why they wanted to talk now. Had they lost too many men to be able to continue? That must have been it. Still, why hadn’t he heard how any of the others talks went, yet? They must be done by now. The only explanation would be that a fight had started right after the talks, or that they were really taking that long. As he entered the area designated for the talks, he separated from the force he had brought with him and made his way to the player standing in the middle of the clearing.

“So, you’re Casmir.”

“And you’re Martelli. So, tell me, how have you been enjoying this little game you started?”

“Ha, you’ve given me some problems, but you’re probably running out of players. So, are you here to beg for mercy?”

“I think you have our situations reversed; I mean you’re so scared, you’ve stopped even trying to hunt us down. I was thinking that meant you wanted to admit defeat and save some face. If not, we can just continue this game until you’re ready to surrender.”

“Ha, you wish. No, I think we both know who is going to lose here. You’re just a bunch of nobodies trying to play at being important. In a year, no one will even remember you. Meanwhile, we will be ruling over these lands and the players in them.”

“Is that really how you see this ending? What a shame. You really can’t see the writing on the wall. Let me paint you a picture. The great gaming workshop Abysses End set out to crush a new and upcoming workshop, only to get their butts handed to them. To save face, the workshop claims that they had no involvement and all members acted on their own, cutting ties with them completely.”

“Shut up, idiot. Now, if you didn’t want to surrender, are you just here to provoke me? Don’t bother. None of us are so stupid as to be lured by such tricks.”

“Are you so sure about that? I’ve seen a video that says otherwise, and man is it good.”

“Liar!”

“Oh, and what if I’m not? Would that just ruin all of this work you’ve been doing? What would Abysses End do to the one who acted out and those who were working with him at the time?”

“Shut up! You’re just a liar.”

“You want to see it?”

“What!?”

“Here, I’ll send it to you.”

Martelli couldn’t believe what he was watching. That damn idiot Tenbris had really done it. He had really screwed them all over. Now, even if they won, the damage this video would do to their reputation would take years to repair. His rage was boiling over and that damned player across from him was just laughing at it all. All Martelli could see was red.

“Hahaha, he really stepped in it didn’t he? Man, that idiot.”

“You’re taking this well. It must be great to be led by someone of his caliber.”

“Shut it. That fool just sealed his fate.”

“No, he just sealed all of your fates. There is no saving it now. Abysses End will wash its hands of all of you. Especially after the humiliation you are suffering at the hands of us, some nobody guild whose workshop is barely a month and a half old.”

“I said shut it.”

Martelli just wanted to find Tenbris and chop him into thousands of little pieces, but some idiot in front of him kept talking. He had to remain calm. If he let his rage do the thinking, it would really be the end of his career in Abysses End.

“No, I think I’ll keep talking. Unless you’re going to make me stop.”

“You know full well I won’t. I’m not an imbecile like someone.”

“Then how about a duel, right here, right now.”

“And what, the loser’s forces have to surrender?”

“Oh no, the losers side just loses their leader. Feel free to pass down any orders you need to for when you lose.”

“Bastard. Fine, I accept. It will feel nice to wipe that look off your face.”

“Excellent. Now please inform your forces that terms have been agreed on, and once the match ends, the truce is over.”

Casmir couldn’t believe it had worked. Once he captured this cocky idiot, his forces would take care of the 1,000 players here. He sent his friends a message telling them to get into position to strike. The players behind him were just for show. Right now, 250 of the 800 he had been given command of were circling around to strike from behind the moment he finished the duel. These were those who had abilities that let them move quietly and avoid being noticed until the last moment. They had been the main drivers of his hit and run plan, but now it was getting harder to find targets.

Martelli smiled. This noob was going to get his ass handed to him and his men would charge the moment it ended, along with those who were nearby. He would finally be done with all this BS and could move on to laughing at Tenbris being humiliated in front of the whole world.

The two stood with around 15 feet between them, ready to start at any moment. They locked eyes, both waiting for the other to move first, but neither was making their move. After a few minutes of this stare down Casmir smiled and started to laugh, pissing off Martelli who had started to calm down more.

“I thought you wanted to attack me first, now that it wouldn’t make you look like a fool to all of Abysses End. Oh, wait, you’re still going to look the fool when you lose.”

Martelli had enough. This punk needed to die, not just once, but a few times. He would enjoy hunting him every three days for a while. Finally, he made his move while the idiot was laughing. Losing your composure during a fight was a quick way to lose. Martelli brought his sword down in a vertical slash expecting it to be blocked, but not stopped as it had been. Casmir had raised an arm with a bracer on it to block the strike, while his other swung his sword in a horizontal slash. There was no time for Martelli to avoid it. All he could do is roll with it to lessen the damage a bit. Once the attack made contact with his armor, he didn’t resist it, but once again his expectations were destroyed. The force of the attack dealt far more damage than he expected and carried far more strength then predicted, as well. Instead of a graceful maneuver where Casmir’s blade slid up his armor and onto his now tilted sword as he rolled to the side to attack again, Martelli found himself hitting the ground too fast and with too much force, causing him to fail his roll completely. Instead, he was now on the ground, his sword several feet away with Casmir standing over him. It was the worst possible outcome. He was going to lose. As he braced for Casmir to bring his blade down on him and finish him off after a few more strikes, he was surprised when instead Casmir pulled out an item and slammed it into his chest. From the item now firmly attached to Martelli’s chest, chains sprung forth. They wrapped him up tight, making it impossible to move. Then Casmir grabbed him and started to drag him away. Why hadn’t his forces closed in on them yet? As Martelli looked back at his army, he was shocked. They were in disarray. Stunned from his loss, they had failed to notice the attack from the rear. Now they were trying to regroup and fend off the attackers, but much like Martelli’s fight with Casmir, they were being overpowered and out matched at every turn.

“How are you this powerful?”

“Huh, oh you recovered quickly. Nothing like that idiot Clara caught. Well, our guild leader has given us great advice. We just took it to heart and grew strong. Honestly, you have way more skill than me, but your level is just too low. It’s a pity, really. I would have liked a better fight, but now I guess I will only get that in practice matches with my guild mates.”

“Crap. Why can’t I message anyone, or logout? What are these chains?”

“Don’t worry about that. They are just to hold on to you for a while. Now let’s be on our way.”

Dragon’s Wing-

Djimon was pissed as the jerk in front of him kept testing his patience. Why were these talks dragging on for so long? Was he just trying to buy time? Djimon just wanted to get the whole thing over with, but didn’t know the right way to end the talks. So, there they were. They had been locked into a staring match for some time now, which had only been broken when Takeshi received a message and started laughing.

“I really must thank your friend Tenbris-Bō for being so wonderful. He really knows how to help us out.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Oh, nothing that you won’t find out in time, but for now, it seems I no longer need your help, so please go tell your guild to hurry up and charge to their deaths now.”

“Bastard, you’re the ones who are dying here today.”

“Good. Keep that fantasy alive. It will make it all the better when reality hits you hard.”

“Ha, you should go into comedy. Oh, I’m going to enjoy wiping that smug look off your face.”

“Why wait?”

“Because I’m not a complete idiot-”

“Unlike your friend Tenbris-Bō. What do you think he did, Djimon-kun?”

“I don’t care. He can deal with his own problems. Now, if you have nothing else, I guess we should just start the slaughter.”

“Suit yourself. Should we start with each other, or do you want to hide behind your army like a chicken?”

“Hmm, we are about an even distance between each of our forces. How about we signal both of our forces to charge and fight one on one until they reach us. Who knows? You might even last long enough to run away when that happens, like the little girl you are.”

“Ah, to be so naïve. Very well, we shall do it your way Djimon-kun.”

With that, Takeshi stored the table and tea set before taking his stance across from Djimon. Both men returned to their staring contest before giving their forces the signal to charge. Djimon’s guild ran straight forward while Takeshi’s men fanned out, leaving a single row of fighters in the center.  Takeshi moved first; he needed this over quickly so he could secure his target. Djimon failed to even react as Takeshi closed the distance, and instead of the slash he had expected, he thrusted the hilt of the katana straight into Djimon’s stomach. Takeshi did this by simply gripping the sheath and flicking the blade’s guard with his thumb and following through by spinning to place the hand he normally would have drawn with on the base of the sheath and sheathing his katana into it once more. This action took the wind straight out of Djimon and took him off his feet and onto the ground face first. He quickly rolled over just in time for him to see Takeshi’s hand come down on him while holding something that broke on contact. Before he even had time to react, he was bound in chains. Both armies were still 100 feet from them as Takeshi began dragging Djimon at a frightening pace towards FAE’s line, bouncing all the way.

Kehinde charged once Djimon gave the order. He was right at the front in the center of the forces he led in Djimon’s absence. As he ran, he watched the duel in front of him play out. He was looking forward to Djimon’s victory, only to be shocked to see him being dragged away. What had that no-good bastard done? It had to be a trick. Djimon needed him, and fast. How was that player able to drag him like that? Either way, the line he was running to for safety was way too thin to actually hold. He and his men would crash right through it like it wasn’t there and overwhelm the bastard with sheer numbers. Only that didn’t happen. His forces crashed like a wave on a cliff. Before Kehinde even knew what happened, he found himself in a room. It had two timers on the wall that were counting down. One was in ED time while the other was synced with reality. The system asked him if he wanted to disable time dilation for his death holding period. He had heard of this zone. So, a player must have killed him in game. Now he would spend a holding period here before he could log out. As he looked around, he could see a bed and a screen imbedded in the wall for watching some old-time movies that were free for ED to use. Most players would just use the time to sleep as it was the easiest way to pass the time. So, after selecting ED time, Kehinde decided to sleep. He could use the rest as once he logged out it would be a day before he could play again.

Djimon watched as his would be rescuers were rebuffed and surrounded. Most only lasted a few seconds as waves of spells and melee attacks drove them back. He was wondering what was stopping his own force’s spells from hitting hard. He could only grimace at what he saw. A small force had come from behind and blindsided them. The battle was absolute chaos; his forces didn’t even have an easy target. He was being hauled away as the enemy mixed within his force’s ranks, and like a virus, destroyed them from within. His guild was not used to working in large groups and barely even knew one another. They were failing to tell friend from foe quick enough to act. This battle was far from over, but it wasn’t looking good. What was Kehinde doing? Was he even still alive?

“This should be a good spot to watch.”

“You bastard, why am I still alive? You can’t even give me the peace of defeat.”

“No, my apologies, but your presence is required once this fight is over. If it is peace you’re after Djimon-kun, you should make it now. You should be able to see now that this battle is a forgone conclusion.”

“Shut up. Just kill me already. I’m not going to do what you want, so, save us both some time and get it over with.”

“Oh, who said anything about you doing anything? We just need you there Djimon-kun.”

Djimon just glared at Takeshi wishing he could kill him as the battle unfolded before them. He would return this favor one day, and he would enjoy watching Takeshi fall before him. Even if it took him years, he would make this bastard pay for this humiliation. Screw FAE, screw Abysses End. He, Djimon Oya, would make Suoh Takeshi pay, no matter the cost.

Dragon’s Tail-

Xeal watched as the force in front of him charged right at him as Atius let them pass him by. The coward wasn’t even going to face him with the rest of his men. Xeal knew this from the start. Atius had always been that way. In his past life he had gone up against him multiple times. The fact that he was in this area was a surprise for Xeal. Still, it was a nice treat to get to take him down like this. Hopefully, it would ruin him from ever rising as he did in Xeal’s last life. Xeal waited until the last of the forces were within range to give the signal.

Aalin released the spell she held ready; a spell circle formed in the middle of the players currently racing towards Xeal. Only a few of them even noticed before it was too late, and none of them could escape due to the players around them as the large ice spears started to rain down in the middle of their ranks. Before the players could recover, the spears splintered into tiny pieces and sprayed out like shrapnel into any player unlucky enough to be in its path. This was followed by several more spells going off, cast by other members of FAE. The players were in a full panic as the blast had come from all directions.

By the time the second wave of spells were ready, the players were still at a loss of how to react and Atius was trying to regain control, only to fail completely. All Atius could think to do was save himself so, he began to retreat, only to turn around to see Xeal standing behind him.

“How did you get there?”

“What do you mean? Oh, were you too focused on the show in front of you that you forgot to pay close attention to me?”

Atius couldn’t believe what was happening. How was this eyesore able to move so fast? He needed to buy time.

“You know, with skills like yours I’m sure our leaders would love to recruit you. Who knows, you could even climb to become part of our upper management in time.”

“Hmm, let me think. Nope, not interested. I have problems listening to idiots, especially ones who can’t even back up what they say.”

“You’re really going to turn down such an opportunity?”

“Of course. Oh, but if you could pass a message on for me that would be great.”

“Oh, and what is that?”

“Enjoy ED while you can, but stay off of this continent if you want to enjoy it. As of right now, I will take any presence as hostility. Players already here should just lay low until they can leave. Other than the four idiots that have already made themselves known here. They should just start over. That includes you, of course. Now, where was I? Oh, yah. It’s time for me to capture you.”

“You really don’t care about the future. Ha, what a fool. Let me give you a bit of advice. Enjoy this victory while you can. Abysses End will make sure you bow, and when you do, I’ll be sure to be there. It might have been different if you had some actual backing, but all you are is a bunch of teenagers playing at being adults. You may have talent and even luck with what you’ve accomplished, but that will lose out once the adults decide play time is over.”

“You think this is play time? No, this is just a warmup exercise. A good chance for my members to gain experience before a real match. It really is a shame that I have to hold back so much, though. It would have been fun to see just how many of you I could have killed.”

About a minute earlier, Jawanza was charging straight at Xeal with his fellow guild mates. He didn’t understand why it was so important to crush FAE, but he wanted to join Abysses End. So, like every player around him, he would try to be the one to land the killing blow on this fool. That’s when it happened behind him. He could hear players screaming and feel a rush of cool air. Turning to look, he saw carnage as more spells went off left and right. He didn’t understand how this was possible. He only knew of single target spells, but these were hitting wide areas. Was this a tier three spell? Just how many spells were going off right now? It looked like a firework show to him. By the time Jawanza turned back to look at Xeal a mere five seconds later, Xeal had moved and was about to rush straight into Abysses End’s ranks. Jawanza gasped as he watched Xeal move throughout the chaotic mess like it wasn’t even there. Even when he was caught up in a spell he kept running. Player after player fell when Xeal attacked them. Those that managed to block were sent flying. Just what kind of monster were they facing? This could no longer be seen as an easy victory. Their opponent outclassed them completely and had made his way to behind Atius in around 30 seconds. As Jawanza and almost every other player not being hit with spells watched with awe, they failed to notice the 50 players racing out of the woods and into their ranks. Before they even knew what was happening, they were being attacked from within their ranks. Jawanza tried to identify friend from foe, but it was difficult as other than the guild symbol everyone had on placed wherever on their armor they liked, nothing made it obvious which side they were on. He didn’t even recognize many faces. He even saw more than one pair of Abysses End players attacking each other in the confusion. It was over. FAE had won and Abysses End would do the work for them. It was almost funny, if only it wasn’t happening to him.

Gale was breathing hard as she cried out in pain from all the damage Xeal was transferring to her. She was doing all she could to keep her health in the green. While it had only been for a minute maybe, Xeal had taken a ton of damage while crossing the battlefield, but now it was done. Gale smiled as she felt accomplished for completing the first leg of the plan. Now the hard part was over. Still, she knew Xeal would need her help many more times before this was over. Amser looked at Gale with a complicated expression as she thought about what she was experiencing. All hits that Xeal was taking were being sent to Gale instead and she was feeling all of it like it was real life. That was one of the major drawbacks to the soul link skill that she had been told about. Pain reduction was negated during its use. How could Gale handle all of that, and how could Xeal put her through it? Was he just another jerk using these two girls? Had she really let her guard down again, letting a pig convince her he was a gentleman? She had already been pissed when she found out he was dating two girls at once. She had almost demanded to be released from FAE, until both Gale and Aalin had adamantly said Xeal had tried to refuse both of them, but they insisted once they found out he did have at least an interest in each of them. It still bugged her. How could these two girls stand sharing their lover? She wasn’t sure she even wanted to understand it, but she couldn’t stop thinking about it. What was wrong with her? Why did it fascinate her so? She knew that if she asked again, both Gale and Aalin would likely try to explain it again because Xeal had made it clear to each of them that he was not going to be the one defending it to others. That had just made her even more curious about the whole thing. Why were they working so hard to stay in the arrangement they had instead of gaining the upper hand on the other by some means?

“How do you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Deal with all that pain for someone who won’t even give you the respect you deserve?”

“Amser, I thought we went over this. Xeal has made me very happy and Aalin feels the same as I do. We are best friends in real life and our mutual crush on him almost ruined that, even though we are both looking for different things from him. He has given us far more respect than we ever expected possible in this kind of arrangement. Even I who was looking for more of a fling don’t want to let him go. I was worried about how things would play out and I had expected it to only last a few days at most before we couldn’t handle it. Now, I don’t see it ending at all. The only complaint I have is that he is too busy with ED, but I understand that he needs to ensure FAE’s future if he wants to secure his own and ours along with it.”

“It still makes no sense. Is it only because Aalin is your best friend that you can stand it, or would you be fine even now if another girl tried to date him as well?”

“No, if some skank tries to weasel her way in, she will be in for a rude awakening.”

“So, if Xeal brings another girl around you would attack her and not him? How does that make sense?”

“Oh, no, I would dump him really quick. He has already said he would turn down any advances with the fact that he has us and we are more than enough for him. I can deal with things as they are, maybe even accept it as permanent if things keep going well, but as he has said, there is no room for distrust in what we have. So, yah, one purposeful lie, or betrayal, and it’s over. Aalin would likely be the same, but I’m not too worried about that as it would basically cause issues across the board for him. Just think what it would do to FAE, and if there is one thing he values more than Aalin and I, it’s our guild. Heck, he even threatened to end it if we couldn’t calm you down.”

“You really think he would have ended the relationship over my thoughts?”

“Not your thoughts. More of you’re one of the players he values extremely high and expects great things from. Losing you would be a major blow to the guild. I would be lying if I said that didn’t miff me slightly, but he did say from the start that he was prioritizing the guild above all else. So, it was to be expected and it helped to make it known he was not the one pushing for this arrangement, so it quelled a lot of rumors within the guild at least.”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being so open about it. I still don’t approve of it, and I find the whole thing wrong, but it helps to know Xeal isn’t a chauvinist bastard. I have dealt with enough of them in this industry and refuse to be led by another one.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“Be grateful for that. Most major workshops are like that. If you haven’t noticed yet, all four of the idiots leading the Abysses End guilds are men. While FAE still seems to lean towards the male side, the fact that it has four of eight of its vice guild leaders as women is very unusual. In most guilds it would be more like one woman for every ten, if not more, men who hold leadership.”

“Why is it that hard for women to rise?”

“Part of it is that the player base in the competitive field is 75 percent male. Part of it is that many of them don’t even know how to approach a woman. However, the biggest issue is a ton of the top players have an inflated ego and think they are god’s gift to whichever girl they look at. This group tends to make it into leadership, and even if you’re a great player, it’s hard to fit in with them and so usually only a girl who is fine with being treated like an object for money can deal with it. There are exceptions, but they tend to be much smaller operations like FAE, although Xeal seems to be planning on some major expansions. I just hope the culture doesn’t go to shit along the way.”

“It won’t. Xeal has made it clear that personality and leadership matter far more than actual combat skills for FAE’s leadership. Besides, I think he hates that kind of bastard as much as you do from how much him being looked at like one pissed him off.”

“That’s good to hear. Forgive me if I want to wait and see before I believe it.”

“That’s fine, and thank you for respecting Aalin’s and my choice.”

“Hey, it’s your life, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t see the attraction, though you also have the benefit of seeing what he really looks like as well. Man, let me tell you, too many of the bastards who think they are god’s gift to women play hunks in game, but look like they are allergic to exercise. It really is just gross, although I hear thanks to the new VR chamber that stimulates your muscles for you that is starting to change.”

“Great. In a few years, even lazy bastards will look like they have put in the work. How the hell is a girl supposed to find a good man then?”

“Um, what?”

“Look, one of the things that really made me fall for Xeal all of a sudden is when he started to push himself to get into shape. Mind you, he was never completely disgusting, or anything, but he never put in the work like that before. It really shocked us. In fact, I would say since ED came out, he is like a different version of himself, like he grew up overnight. Don’t get it wrong, he is the same person. His interest and goals are the same as ever, but he is just so much more reliable and mature than before.”

“Ah, I see. You want a man who takes care of themselves.”

“Well, yah. If he doesn’t even care about himself; how could he ever care about you? I need to be cared for. Isn’t that standard?”

“Yah, but most look at it more in the realm of, can they pay for dinner and take me out for fun dates?”

“That’s big too. But Xeal has that more than covered, at least for now. His plans to expand the guild worry me slightly, but he hasn’t been wrong yet and he is the one who brings in most of the funds.”

“I can see how it would concern you, but he is making the right move there. Without expanding your core group and paying your top players, they will leave. Even once you have a great core, those who are on the edges will leave when they get an offer from another guild. This will lead to a gap developing between those who are part of the main force and regular players. Having a large group of supplemented players will become necessary as time goes on. Right now, everyone is happy because they are growing faster than other guilds, and as such, they think it will lead to a great offer from another guild if they don’t make the cut in FAE eventually.”

Dragon’s Eye-

Clara watched as a mass of players charged around the corner before Darefret and met their fate. Every swing of his axe cleaved any players in its path in two. A few managed to get by him, about only one, or two, of every twenty, or so. The worst part was when players started to realize something was wrong, only for the mass behind them to just push them forward. It was like watching someone being tied to a log and pushed into a buzz saw. The result was about the same as well, only on the scale of thousands.

“What the hell is going on? My guild, no, what are you doing?”

Tenbris had lost it and was shouting once more as Ignis forced him to witness the carnage unfold. Player after player died. It became so ridiculous that the dropped items started to pile up until the force finally realized things were very wrong with the plan. Finally, after over 8,000 of their guild mates died, the mass was able to push back on those behind them. Unfortunately, Darefret didn’t care as he charged forward like a knife through butter. The screams of fleeing players being cut down echoed all around the cavern and Clara could see many of her own forces looking uncomfortable with everything happening. After a few minutes the cave became quiet as Darefret made his way outside to give chase to those who were escaping.

“Well, that was unnerving,” gulped Amet.

“Shut it. Front line, hold fast. There could still be forces coming our way,” shouted Clara.

“Clara, you really think anyone would dare come this way now?” questioned Amet.

“You can’t be sure, but with Darefret out there, we have to ensure this area stays secure. Imagine what would happen if he came back and found we had failed to prevent damage to his forge,” rebuffed Clara.

“No thanks.”

“Hey, Clara, what should we do with this trash?” asked Ignis in disgust.

Clara looked to see Tenbris on the ground rocking back and forth while muttering incoherently to himself. It was really quite pathetic, but Clara could only smile at the sight after the way he had treated her. Besides, Xeal had his own plans for the poor bastard once this was finished.

“Just take him somewhere easy to guard. Xeal will let us know when it’s time to move him.”

“Right, do I really have to be the one to watch him?”

“Yes, now stop complaining.”

Trevin picked himself up off the floor. Somehow he was still in one piece. As he looked around, he found several other of his guildmates were able to move around as well. He could hear the slaughter continuing behind him and wondered how he had escaped it. He had remembered rushing in after FAE’s representative captured Tenbris. The whole guild had charged in to rescue him and exterminate FAE at the same time. Once in this tunnel, they had been pushed back from in front of him, then he found himself squeezed between the pushing from behind and in front. He hadn’t been alone as everyone around him had been the same. Then the pushing from the front lessened and he was flung forward at a short stocky figure wielding a large and bloody axe. Each time the figure swung it, players were cut in two. Without pause it moved forward and Trevin just shut his eyes to avoid reality, hoping to just wake up once it was over. Only it never came. He didn’t understand how he and the other players around had survived. Over 90 percent of the players who had been around had died. Loot now littered the floor, not that it would do them much good. Their escape route was blocked by that monster and unless they made it to an hour, the loot would just drop. Still, there was one thing that they could do. In front of them was FAE. While they might be as good as dead, they could at least take some of them out before dying.

Trevin gathered those around him and was surprised to find over 150 players still alive. He told them his thoughts and after a little work he convinced them that a charge to take on FAE was better than facing off with that monster again. At least they could take out some players with them if they continued forward. They could hear voices ahead of them as they approached the end of the tunnel and they were sure once they turned the corner it would be time to fight. Steeling themselves for what came next, they gripped their weapons tight and bounded around the corner. The players awaiting them looked shocked, but they stood their ground nonetheless. Just as Trevin thought they could break through, he watched as his guildmates fell, one after the other. It wasn’t fair. Why was there such a difference in strength? Why could those players withstand their charge like it was nothing? Trevin’s will broke, along with the few players left around him. Of the roughly 150 that charged forward, only 34 remained. However, FAE didn’t show them mercy and a small group came forward to clean them up. Why had things turned out this way? He had thought that he had finally found some luck. Abysses End, one of the top gaming workshops in the whole world, was recruiting in his area of ED. At first, he thought it was just a con, but when he looked into Tenbris, he was listed as an official member on Abysses End’s web page. There were even videos of him taking part in various different competitions and doing quite well for himself. After that, he couldn’t sign up fast enough, along with thousands of other players. When Trevin had heard that they planned to remove FAE, he had been worried until he found out this was a coordinated effort. Knowing that they were just part of the operation and that FAE had mostly crafting players in the area had boosted his confidence. Now, however, he could only laugh at himself. The whole thing had backfired spectacularly. He was sure Abysses End would disavow them to save face and claim the whole thing was just a group of rogue players, who they were disciplining for their actions.

No, he couldn’t give up. He had to at least stand out enough that he would be remembered. Trevin let out a fierce roar as a FAE player was approaching him and met him in battle. Trevin was a berserker and he activated every skill he had at once. The world slowed as all thought left his mind. Gone was the fear, gone was the despair, and gone was the concern for what came next. All that remained was the unwavering desire to attack the thing in front of him. Unfortunately, the thing in front of him didn’t even care. Every attack Trevin unleashed would have been far too much for any level 19 player, and even most new level 20 players. For Amet on the other hand, it might as well have been a level 1 player for all the difference it made. Each and every attack was blocked easily, and he didn’t even wait for the rage to end before landing the finishing blow to Trevin. The only thought he had while finishing the rampaging foe was that at least one of these poor fools had enough back bone to stand up one last time.

“Well, you were right. Some fools did come this way. I wonder how Darefret is doing outside?” commented Amet.

“Probably running all over killing players as he goes,” answered Ignis.

“Quiet. If one group came this way, another will surely be along soon. We need to focus on our job,” chided Clara.

Darefret was pissed. He had thought Xeal was joking when he said a whole guild would be coming to take the mine. Now he knew it wasn’t a joke. Was this going to be the new normal? Xeal better not expect him to do this every time he pissed someone off. He had killed thousands in the tunnel and even more right after he exited, but now they had scattered. Roughly 4,000 players remained, and as good as Darefret was compared to these weaklings, he was still just one dwarf. He decided to just catch as many as he could while they ran away like the ants they were.

Tyreek had been at the back of the formation when they had charged. He always believed it was better to be the last one in and live, than the first one in and die gloriously. Besides, in a group this large, distinguishing himself was highly unlikely. Still, he had been astounded when his guildmates had started to flood out of the tunnel instead of in. That quickly turned to terror when he saw what came next. A single figure was cutting its way through player after player. All he could think was to run. As he did, the screams of his guildmates pushed him faster. By the time Tyreek had stopped he found himself alone and surrounded by monsters. This wouldn’t have been an issue if his party was with him, but alone and out of stamina, all he could do was put up a halfhearted resistance while the monsters defeated him. Tyreek wasn’t alone in this fate. Of the around 3,000 players who escaped Darefret, only 157 made it back to town without a death penalty.

Dragon’s Claw-

Javonte stood ready to act on Martelli’s signal; he had been left in command of the 1,000 standing by in case negotiations broke down. That is just what they did, and as Javonte went to command his forces to advance, chaos descended upon them. The rear was in complete disarray and it was quickly spreading to the rest of the ranks. There was no time to recover. All he could do was alert the rest of the guild that it was a trap. With that done, he did his all to ensure his forces lasted the 15 minutes needed for the reinforcements to arrive.

Caleb received Javonte’s message and quickly led the 9,000 guild members who were standing by to the meeting point with all haste. He had to get there in time, or things would go from bad to worse. 12 minutes later, the meeting point came into view, but all that remained was an empty field littered with broken gear. No forces were left, plus the enemy had already cleared out, leaving nothing behind and leaving Caleb as the ranking member of the guild still active. Caleb didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t surrender, not after he was given the orders to fight till the last man. Furthermore, the message from Javonte had said Martelli was captured, not killed. This meant that he couldn’t just pull back until his death penalty ended to receive orders. What was he supposed to do? He had been excited when he had been put in charge of the reserve forces, but now it was all wrong. He was caught between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, if he kept the fight going, he might succeed, but after this result he didn’t think so. On the other, surrendering would be going against direct orders. He knew it would be the end of his time in Abysses End, but it would save what manpower was left. While mulling over his options, one of the men brought a letter that had been left behind. It was addressed to whomever was leading the dumb asses’ forces. Caleb was pissed at the gall of whoever wrote it, and reading it only made it worse.

To the poor bastard in charge of whatever is left,

Give up. Save everyone some time and pain and stand down and accept the fate that awaits you. For now, enjoy your freedom and don’t blame us for what is coming. Your guild leader ensured your misery the moment he turned his fangs on us. All that is left now is for the judgment to come down, so relax. All that you can manage to do now is make things worse.

-FAE’s Vice guild leader Casmir.

Caleb crumpled the note. Those bastards were so arrogant. He needed to knock them down a few pegs. So, thinking of his options, he quickly came up with a plan. He knew that the cowards wouldn’t come out if they stayed together, so, he would surround the town. He could cover the area just outside of the safe zone so that any player trying to leave town would be killed. At the same time, his forces could return to the safe zone to escape if things looked bad. It was perfect. With this strategy he could suffocate FAE while keeping his forces safe. The only problem was how long could they keep it up. The forced logout times would open holes and it would be three days before they were back to full strength. It would have to do. Hopefully it would be affective long enough for Martelli to resume command.

Casmir was reading over the report he had received and couldn’t help but laugh. It looked like at least one major issue remained. While he wasn’t too worried, it was still a good move. Martelli was being guarded by ten of his men while he figured out how to get back into town with him. They had gone the long way around to avoid the 9,000 members of Abysses End headed to the battlefield, and in return they had found the blockade. While it would be easy to break through, doing so while carrying a prisoner would be foolish. Xeal had warned him that the chains on Martelli were weak to attack and one good strike could break them. So, in order to deliver him they would need to clear a path, and fast, if they wanted to keep to the timetable. Casmir looked at his options before deciding on his plan. It was kind of mean, but this was war and he didn’t have time to be nice. Still, he would have to remember to find out who was left in charge once this was over.

Caleb laughed at FAE’s move. It was so obvious it made him chuckle. They had attacked from four different points at once, but instead of engaging them, his forces had taken a step back in to the safe zone. The FAE players had been at a loss on what to do and it had quickly turned into a staring match. His forces were saying go ahead and go to town while the FAE players were trying to start a fight. These actions confirmed one thing, they needed to return to town with Martelli still and that was what he would wait for. At this point it was obvious they had lost, but if he could rescue Martelli he might be able to salvage his own goals. Martelli would have to be grateful to him and put in a good word with Abysses End for him. Even if Martelli’s stock had fallen it would still be a major boost for him. Caleb smiled as his plan came together. If it worked out, he would be a step closer to his dream of being a professional player.

Casmir was stumped. He had expected them to send reinforcements to the points he attacked, making a hole for them to sneak Martelli in. Instead, they were retreating to the safe zone and telling his players to go ahead to town. He needed to counter this, but if they were simply waiting for them to transport Martelli into town, he was left with only one option. Brute force, but they would need to protect him all the way to town. Was his opponent willing to attack within the safe zone? If so, this was going to be extremely annoying. He was envious of Clara’s group. From the report, they had achieved almost a complete annihilation of the enemy there. His strategy was backfiring on him now. He had never planned on killing most of Abysses End’s forces here. Still, it looked like he would have to now. This sucked. He hated doing extra work.

Caleb read the message he had just received. An attack had just started in the southwest corner of the outpost, just outside of the safe zone. His guildmates were being hit from both sides as their reinforcements rushed in. The reason they had engaged this time was due to the presence of several large sacks that looked like they could contain Martelli. It was annoying how many there were, and while several had been cut open, they had been full of potatoes, or other items. One had even had a player in it, but it was a trap as they attacked as soon as they had been freed. Over 500 players were attacking his guild and it was not going well for his side. The 100 plus bags just made it harder. He had ordered 5,000 players to the area while the remaining 4,000 waited in case of another push. This push happened; this time in the northeast corner of the outpost. This time it was only around 200 players, but it was still annoying as it could be. These players also had sacks that could be Martelli. He ended up having to devote 2,500 players to that front, leaving too many holes. The worst part was his enemy was still using hit and run tactics, only this time the players carrying sacks would run into the safe zone whenever possible and the rest of their group would disengage. Caleb knew it was a test and his men had failed. None were willing to attack the sacks after they entered the safe zone. For all Caleb knew, FAE had successfully smuggled Martelli into town. The only thing that gave him pause is the fact that Casmir hadn’t been spotted yet. He quickly sent orders for players to attack the sacks even after they made it to the safe zone.

Casmir was smiling grimly; he had sent in decoys to test if they would chase his forces into the safe zone. At first, those that made it into town were left alone, but only three out of five were making it. So, he had the second group engage at the opposite end. This time, instead of five players per sack it was ten per sack. They had been able to make it in with no issues, but now on both fronts the players with the sacks were being chased into the safe zone, so no sacks were making it now. The only plus was the guards were now apprehending the attacker once they struck. Though Casmir knew it would only be a light penalty for attacking a sack, it would still keep them out of action for at least 12 hours. At first, he was planning to just continue the war of attrition, but then all of Abysses End’s forces pulled back to just inside of the safe zone. This move left Casmir at a loss for what to do next. Clearly, they planned to attack any sacks and ignore players. His foe must have realized the losses were piling up too quickly and adjusted accordingly.

Caleb had been surprised by how bad his losses were getting. At the rate they were going he would be down to under 2,000 men in under two hours. So, he ordered the remaining 6,500 men he had to stick to the safe zone and just attack any player carrying a sack. It was still a flawed plan, but it would work wonders. From what he could tell, his forces still held an immense numeric advantage. Even if FAE sent a group to protect the sack, they couldn’t attack until the sack had been attacked, or the guards would arrest them. This meant FAE needed to have enough sacks to thin his forces down to next to a point where they could no longer cover the whole outpost. Furthermore, Caleb was able to shrink the circle his guild was maintaining way down, making it easier to reinforce different sections if needed. He just needed it to turn into a 12-hour cycle, then his forces could replenish themselves with the ones being released.

Casmir was getting extremely frustrated; he didn’t have the supplies to effectively counter this move, or the manpower to take it on through blunt force. Also, Xeal had made it clear that he was not to do anything that the guards would detain them for. He had to figure something out, and fast. If he waited too long it would just turn into an endless loop. Casmir sent out his orders and made sure everyone knew the plan. It would take eight hours if his men could pull it off in a timely manner. Still, he hated having to report that he was lagging behind.

Dragon’s Wing-

Catriona watched as everything devolved into chaos around her. They had been charging forward as the duel between their leader Djimon and FAE’s leader had been fought. They had been expecting an easy win for Djimon, but instead it was a humiliating defeat. Then, when players had rushed to save him, they had been destroyed by the front line of FAE’s forces which had now mixed with their ranks. All around, players were being attacked. Catriona noticed as one dealt a minor blow to two players’ backs, causing them to think the other had attacked them. Acts like this were happening all around and it was causing Abysses End to tear itself apart. The main issue was that none of the players had a quick way to tell friend from foe and were attacking at any perceived threat. FAE’s members blended in well with Abysses End’s forces, but there must be a way to distinguish them. She looked and looked as players continued to fall. It was only a matter of time before she was dragged into this chaos. Every moment felt like an eternity as she worked her brain. Finally, she noticed one of FAE’s guild emblems on the top on the right shoulder of a player. Quickly she did a scan through the ranks. Sure enough, they all had their emblems on their right shoulder. She had the answer and she quickly shouted it to any players that could hear her. The next thing she knew, she was in a room. She had died. Had others gotten her message? Did it turn the tide, or had it all been in vain? Looking at the timer on the wall made her feel anxious. She wouldn’t know until it hit zero and she felt it would be long over by then.

Etana looked at where the player who had been shouting about the location of hers and other FAE players guild marks. She had made sure to cut her down fast once she had started to shout, but the damage was done. While chaos still ruled the battlefield, it was a quiet one. Several of the enemy had stopped killing each other and were shouting the information as well now. This was going to end badly if they didn’t adjust quickly, but they were spread too thin. Before Etana had even a chance to think, she was dealing with several players all at once. All around her FAE players were finding themselves in similar situations. They had known this would happen, but they had hoped it would have taken them a little longer. Of the over 13,000 they had faced, only around 8,000 still remained and they had yet to lose a single tier three player. That still left ten for each of them to deal with, much higher than the five they had hoped for. At this rate they would likely experience heavy losses and it would look bad on their wonderful leader. She had to do everything she could to ensure that didn’t happen. Following the plan, she located the easiest path to break out of the forces surrounding her to retreat. Hopefully this would draw them into smaller confrontations along the way. It was not easy, but with half her health left she made it out and started running. She could see hundreds of players doing the same as her and Abysses End’s forces splitting off into smaller groups to give chase.

Takeshi watched as his forces broke through to escape. It had happened much sooner than expected and he had lost over 100 players. This certainly complicated things. He had hoped to be able to watch the full battle, but now he had to escape.

“Ha, looks like your forces failed. You may have captured me, but it is going to cost you dearly, bastard.”

“Oh, Djimon-kun, don’t worry. This is still within my plans, though I must admit your guild did figure it out quicker than I expected. Feel proud about that, as it will be the sole bright spot in this conflict. Now it’s time to get a move on.”

“Put me down you bastard. Why are you running away? Are you afraid of my men coming to teach you a lesson?”

“As a matter of fact, it would be concerning and tiring to have to deal with a large group all at once. So, before that happens, I will deliver you as my guild leader has instructed. So long as I do that, win or lose, this battle means little.”

With Djimon slung over his shoulder, Takeshi made his way back to the outpost on the quickest and safest route he knew. Ten level 19 players accompanied him for monster security. The rest of the combat players in the area were waiting to engage any groups his forces led to them. While his losses were higher than expected, he still felt like his victory was only a matter of time.

Etana was being pursued by 15 players. She kept her pace constant as they slowly started to separate. After five minutes there was a 30-foot gap between the two in the front and the next one behind them. Sticking with the plan, she made a quick 180 degree turn and attacked the two in the front. This took them by surprise, and in the five seconds before the next one could arrive, she had them both under half health. This was thanks to each of them having already been hurt when the chase started and the heavy targeting of healers from the start of the plan. Soon it was five on one and the rest were catching up. Etana needed to disengage again. As she escaped, she was down to 45 percent health and her foes had even more confidence than before. She kept this cycle going and eventually only five players were still chasing her, but her health was also down to five percent. This had caused the players chasing her to think they were winning, even after most of them had fallen. Unfortunately for the players chasing Etana, this was all by design. She had purposely taken the damage to ensure her foes could taste victory, and now it was time to snatch it away. Quickly she turned 180 degrees one last time and engaged the five that remained. It was sad, really. They couldn’t even put up a decent fight. Once she had finished off the first two, the remaining three realized they had lost and tried to run. They only ever made it a few steps once they turned. They might have been able to let one escape had they worked together, but instead they only tried to save their own skin.

Sherman chased after one of the bastards from FAE. This was funny really. They had attacked, only to run once they were at a disadvantage. He had noticed that his group of ten was starting to get spaced out, so he took charge. Telling them all to stay together even if it meant losing their prey, as they needed everyone to succeed in bringing him down. He could tell the FAE player was getting frustrated that they were sticking together. What confused Sherman was why hadn’t the gap changed that much even once they had slowed down to their slowest members speed. What was his plan? Would it be better to just give up and let him go? Was this all just a trap? Quickly realizing something was off and that they couldn’t close the distance unless their target let them, he told his group to stop. When they did their target did as well, looking upset at how things had turned out.

“What, are you just going to let me go?”

“What else can we do? You certainly don’t seem to want to lose us and we can’t catch you. So, this must be a trap. Sorry, but I think we are better off surviving.”

“Ha, well let’s see, there are ten of you. Man, this won’t be easy, but I think I can manage it.”

Before Sherman could even react, they were locked in combat. He was doing everything he could to keep up with it, but he and his team were being forced back slowly. The only bright spot was that their foe was losing health fast. Sherman had hope until the first of his teammates fell, and the speed at which their foe’s health dropped slowed. At this rate they were going to lose. He yelled for everyone to go all out. For a few moments it looked like it would work, but then another member fell, and another right after that. It was over. They only had seven members left and their foe still had over a quarter of his health left. He could see his team breaking and knew the only thing he could do.

“Everyone, scatter! I’ll try to buy you some time to escape!”

Sherman put everything he had into buying as much time as possible, but sadly he fell five seconds after he shouted the order. As he looked around the blank room he was now in, he couldn’t help but hope that some of them made it out. Unfortunately, thanks to monsters and the other players running, about, every member of his team either fell in an ambush, or to a monster before they could make it to a safe zone. The return scrolls could only work if they stood still for 30 seconds and out there with everything going on that was the same as asking to die.

As Takeshi read the report submitted by his forces on the outcome of the battle, he was happy to see he had met with success. They had achieved over a 90 percent kill off and had suffered only slightly more than 200 casualties. It was more casualties than he would have liked, but still an acceptable result. Now it was time to head out to meet up with Xeal, Clara and Casmir; at least it would have been. Casmir had messaged that he was going to be very late. He smiled and thought perhaps he should send his forces over to help him. The only problem was that this was a test by Xeal, and he wasn’t sure what the ramifications would be for doing so. He couldn’t ask Xeal, as he hadn’t sent that he was in the clear yet. That had been expected as he had the least to work with and had said his fight should drag on for a bit. Takeshi debated his options before finally making a decision by messaging Casmir. He would simply offer a hand. Casmir could accept it or reject it on his own.

Dragon’s Claw-

Casmir was just about to enact his plan when he received Takashi’s message offering assistance. He paused for a moment. While the help would be a great help, this was a test for him. Could he accept the help? Would accepting the help cause him to fail, or would refusing it cause him to fail? Xeal had been adamant that they should send updates whenever possible. If he didn’t want them to help each other, why would he do that? After thinking about it for a minute, he decided that the help would be useful as it could cut almost three hours off of his operations. He sent his plan over to Takashi and accepted his assistance and asked him to get as much of the supplies for it as he could. Once that was done, he had his force start. Takashi’s force could join midway through.

Caleb read through the reports he was getting. It was going like he had thought. It would take about eight hours for FAE to be able to clear out his men at this pace. FAE was sending one player after another player carrying a sack with another player inside it into town. One by one his men were attacking the sacks and being imprisoned. He fully realized this wasn’t going to be sustainable. He needed to draw this out more if he wanted to create a revolving door affect. Would FAE play the odds, and if so, at what point would they accept them? Caleb sent out his order for his men to only attack every other bag that came in. This would be more than enough to reverse this trend.

Casmir looked at the report he was just handed and frowned; it was going to be a long day. Thankfully, with the addition of Takeshi’s forces, they would still be done in 9 hours at this rate. However, he was sure that his foe was just going to reduce the percentage of sacks they attacked once they realized the issue. He felt bad, but he sent out an order to every FAE member in Dragon’s Claw, including the crafting players to assist. He also sent a message to Clara to see if she could spare any players to help. Once totaled, Casmir had 1,500 pairs of players ready to execute the plan. All he could do now was wait to see what move his foe would make now.

Caleb wanted to throw the latest report he had gotten out the window. FAE had ramped up drastically. His forces wouldn’t even last 2 hours at this rate. When he did the math, it was even worse. He had to have his men cut back to only one of every ten to reach the equilibrium which he needed. He couldn’t figure out where all the extra manpower had come from for FAE. While he didn’t have any way to check up on the other fronts, he knew similar battles had to be raging elsewhere. Thoughts like, have the other groups already failed, was he really the last one still putting up a fight, crossed his mind. Finally, he decided to cut his losses. Even he would take a 90 percent chance of success. With no cards left to play, he had to accept it was his loss. All he could do now was file the report and hope Abysses End accepted reality.

Casmir wanted to dance when he read the report that Abysses End’s forces had withdrawn. He was still cautious as he wasn’t sure this wasn’t a trap, so, just to be sure, he had one of his men take the now gagged Martelli. Oh, how nice it had been to silence that idiot when he wouldn’t stop spouting nonsense about how we would pay and how Abysses End wouldn’t forget this. It had been really annoying, especially once he had realized his forces were successfully delaying Casmir’s plans. Now they just had to make sure this wasn’t another trick and they could close this phase of this conflict. With a decoy bag on his shoulder, Casmir made his way into town and was relieved when the report that Martelli had been delivered came through. It was time to head over to the meet up.

Dragon’s Tail-

Xeal stood across from Atius as he made ready to make his move, but to his surprise, instead of trying to escape, Atius bolted towards his forces. Xeal gave chase but Atius was successful in blending into his men before Xeal could make it. This made Xeal smile as he cut a path into the already chaotic mess of players. This was going to cause problems. Luckily, he had made a plan for this.

Aalin watched from the top of her tree as Atius slipped into the chaos below to avoid Xeal. Unfortunately for Atius, she had already marked him with a tracking spell. She watched as he made his way to the center of the group before moving towards the western edge of the mass. She quickly relayed this to the players standing by on that side of the field. They readied for when he broke out and she sent the info to Xeal so he could make his way there as well. While watching all this play out, she noticed the forces closing in from all directions. This must have been the rest of Abysses End’s forces. This could cause an issue if Atius waited for their arrival before making a break for it. Aalin passed this info to all FAE forces in the area as well. All she could do now was stick to the plan and hope Xeal knew what he was doing.

Atius watched as Xeal followed him into his forces. At first, he thought Xeal must have been a fool. That soon changed into what kind of monster was he? Even with his men knowing he was the top target, they would rarely touch him. It was like the blades were moving around him and even when they did score a hit, his health didn’t drop at all. This was bad. If it wasn’t for the fact that everyone in his guild knew his appearance by heart, he was sure he would have died already. He had to escape this foe who cut down other players like he was trimming a hedge. At least the magic bombardment had ended. Though it had done a number on his force’s health, few had fallen. The real problem was that the healers had been decimated. Between the direct targeting and the overuse of their skills, none of them were still effective. It was only a matter of time before the players around him were reduced to nothing. Atius needed them to last until the reinforcements arrived. Slowly he made his way to the western edge to escape, losing sight of Xeal as he did. Once the 2,500 men coming from that direction arrived it would be time to escape.

Xeal continued to move through the crowd, cutting the feeble remains of health left in player after player. A few seemed to still have some fight in them, but they were rarer and rarer as time went on. He felt bad for the damage he was passing onto Gale every time he was hit, especially when he stopped to read a message from Aalin twice, but they were important as they kept him up to date with the battle. Step by step he made his way through the quickly thinning mass. At this point only around 1,500 players still stood. 14 minutes after the clash started, only around 500 players remained as the first batch of reinforcements came into view on the western side of the battlefield. Xeal watched his target make a break for it and smiled at what happened next.

Atius smiled as his reinforcements came into view as he made a break for it. He wasn’t ten feet from the last group of remaining players when it happened. Spell after spell went off, covering the reinforcements in a cloud of dust and smoke. Before he even had time to process what was going on, he felt something slam into his back and turned just in time to see Xeal smiling at him like everything was according to plan. Then he felt chains wrap around his body as Xeal threw him over his shoulder and made a break straight at the reinforcements on the western side. The smoke was so thick that Atius couldn’t tell what had happened to his forces as Xeal carried him right into the thick of it. Worse yet was when they came out on the other side with no resistance. Questions circled around Atius’s head as he tried to come to grips with what was happening.

Aalin smiled. The plan had gone off perfectly, and now it was time to withdraw. They could care less about the other 7,500 players who had just came into view of the battlefield. Only the poor bastards who were Atius’s escape route mattered. She had directed the forces in the area to litter the ground with mines that they had picked up in Dragon’s Heart. Each mine only dealt 200 damage to anyone within ten feet of it when it went off, but they also only cost 1 silver. They had used the ten minutes warning they had to send 50 players to cover the area with 3,000 mines. Once the prey was in position, several simple fire spells were all it took to set them all off. They had added a few smokescreen spells to ensure Xeal had cover from any lucky survivors, but that was unlikely. The simple reason was that each player had been hit with probably around 15 of these mines as the area of effect of the mines overlapped. She watched as Xeal’s escort joined him in leaving the area and sent out the orders to withdraw.

Amser watched as the forces that were approaching from the northern side closed in as Gale started to cry out in pain once more. Their current location was terrible for defense once those forces closed in. It was time for them to move to the second location. While it would leave them blind to the approaching threat, it would allow her to defend Gale and her herself far better. The new location was a shallow cave. It was just wide enough for seven players to stand across. With a fair bit of luck, they wouldn’t be found here. They would have better chances if Xeal could stop taking the occasional hit that was causing Gale so much pain. Still, at least it wasn’t like the initial wave that he had dealt with, and Gale was getting better at muffling her outcries. Still, it must be excruciating, especially when you never know where the pain would hit next. Shortly after they entered the cave, Amser could hear the approaching army as they passed by. Just as they got close, Gale let out another wail and Amser gripped her sword as she waited to see if any foes would come.

Karik was moving with the rest of the forces Atius had stationed to the north as they rushed into the battle that was unfolding. Karik felt like this force was overkill for a single player, but he was sure that it must have been due to some hidden force. They were almost to the designated location when he heard what sounded like a player screaming in pain. He turned towards the sound and discovered a cave. He wondered if the sound came from a player fighting a monster, or perhaps someone from his guild had been checking it and was ambushed. Either way they need to ensure it was clear, or it could be used to flank them. Karik quickly sent a message to his commander that he would be leading 50 players to check it out. As they approached the cave, they could hear the occasional cry of pain, but no sounds of a struggle. Whatever was happening seemed off to him. What were they walking into? The cave itself had enough room to allow seven players at a time to cross the opening, but that would make combat difficult. So, he had the men proceed two at a time, with him standing a few rows back. As they entered, they quickly realized this cave was shallow and in front of them was a pair of players, both women. The one in front stood ready for battle while the one behind was just sitting there wearing a blindfold as she let out the occasional cry of pain. To Karik it looked like some sort of ritual. Perhaps they came across someone in the middle of their tier up quest. The two players in front were frozen waiting for orders, but Karik was at a loss on how to proceed.

Karik stood there for a long moment to decide what to do. These men were needed at the battle. He couldn’t waste too much time here. These two women were clearly in the middle of something. Exactly what was unclear, but it seemed like a defensive position. He could see the back of the cave, so it was clear that an ambush wasn’t set up here. Still, he felt uneasy. Why was the girl in front so ready for battle? She didn’t even show fear. He could tell that if a player moved into her attack range she would attack mercilessly. Finally, he decided asking was the best course of action. Still, he needed to do so quickly.

Amser watched as players streamed in two by two, holding back a smile at the situation that was being set up for her. She had been ready to strike when they stopped for some reason. As she thought about it, this must have been a weird set up to walk in on. She wasn’t sure what she would think if she stumbled across this herself. Either way this would buy them some time. How she would use it was up to her. As she was going over all of these things in her head, one of the players a few rows back spoke up.

“Excuse me, but what is your purpose here?”

“What does it look like?”

“That’s just it. I can tell you’re here to guard her, but why?”

“Does she look like she can defend against anything while she is in that state?”

“I mean, what task is she currently undertaking?”

“Really, you have no tact. Would you just tell any random player who asked your secrets?”

“I would if it meant avoiding a battle that I couldn’t win.”

“So, you intend to attack me. Well then, get on with it.”

“I never said that.”

“You sure implied it. Hurry up and make up your mind.”

“Do you want us to attack?”

“What I want has little to do with this situation, although it would be a nice way to blow off some steam.”

“You really have a death wish. Look, I don’t have the time to waste on this either. Tell us what you’re up to or enjoy your death penalty.”

“Ha, oh, so confident. You must have more players with you then these rejects.”

“Enough. I would have much rather avoided this situation, but you leave me little choice. Everyone, take care of these two so we can get back on task.”

Karik watched as his forces made their move and attacked the female player in front of him, only to be shocked. They were being repulsed and she was laughing. He instantly regretted being here. Not only were they being pushed back, but now they were getting in each other’s way when attacking. Then the first player fell, followed by the second. Karik knew that this cave was going to be the death of them. He needed to retreat and have the magic casters they had on hand attack from the outside. Just as Karik was about to attack, he heard a large explosion from the outside, followed a few seconds later with a slight tremor. While he was lost in thought, he didn’t notice as a sword bore down on him, and before he knew what happened, he found himself in a plain room.

Amser was having the time of her life. This is what she loved about VR games. She could just let loose and enjoy herself. The fact that it was attacking a group who she hated was a nice plus. Over, and over, her blade found its target as she let her rage skill take over. While raging, she would attack anything deemed hostile with enhanced strength while losing defensive capabilities other than the increase to her health. The only issue with this skill was it would leave her exhausted for four times as long as she used it afterwards. She knew that she would be in trouble if she had to fight again before that time was up, but if these armies were here then it was sure to be time to retreat soon. Then she felt the earth shake and knew that they had pulled that move. Sure enough, she had received a message while she was taking care of the poor bastards. She couldn’t read it right now, but it was either saying things had gone wrong or everything had gone right. Either way, it was time to leave. She shouted to Gale to go ahead and get out of here. Shortly afterwards, she had pushed Abysses End out of the cave, but she knew they would be back shortly. Still, all she needed was 30 seconds, and sure enough, at 29 seconds she could see various lights streaming right at her. She disappeared right as the first of them was about to make contact with her.

Leaena watched as Abysses End’s reinforcements arrived after the major explosion had taken care of those to the west. They all seemed at a loss of what to do. In the middle of the battlefield the few players still standing were just a mess. It was hard to tell friend from foe. The funniest part had been when everyone including FAE’s players had all cheered together when the reinforcements arrived. The looks on every player’s face when they took the time to realize they had been attacking their own was priceless. Still, the order had come to withdraw. Any more fighting here would just be a waste of time and cause more casualties then necessary. The main issue was how, if they pulled out a return scroll, it would be a dead giveaway, but so would be making a break for it. Leaena knew they only had seconds to make a decision before some players started to notice the guild emblems on her comrades. The main reason they hadn’t yet was due to the fact that they were so few that even if you noticed one you couldn’t find another to confirm its location. Now things were different. FAE made up around ten percent of this group. They had to make a break for the western side where she was sure they could escape in the smoke. Quickly, she started to make her way west. All of FAE’s players were watching her lead and started to do the same thing. Just as the first players began to make some distance, one of Abysses End’s members shouted that FAE was trying to make a break for it, opening up an all-out dash to the west.

Gagan coughed. He was alive, if just barely. He was still trying to make sense of what had just happened. One second he had been looking out at the battlefield, and then all hell had broken loose. All he could see around him was smoke as he stumbled towards where the battlefield should have been. When he stumbled out, he didn’t know what to make of what he was seeing. Players from all around were charging towards him, or were they chasing that group of around 50 that seemed to have the lead in the center. Gagan tried to make sense of it, but he was still disoriented from the shock he had just experienced. He failed to even react when they sped past him, and then the mass of players behind them followed and before he knew what had happened, he found himself in a plain room.

When Leaena entered the smoke, she just kept running while she and her forces spread out and began dropping traps. From caltrops to more mines, they set a trail of pain and misery behind them. They could hear the cursing from a player as they stepped on the caltrops, though it was quickly lost as they were most likely trampled by those behind them. The smoke was insane as you couldn’t see more than three feet in front of you and the chaos behind her was the result. Finally, she broke through the smoke and could see her escape open up along with her comrades. Once they had made it 20 feet past the smoke, Leaena turned around one last time, just as the first of their pursuers was breaking through the smoke, and tossed a single spell grenade. Where Xeal had found these she didn’t know, but he had made it clear they weren’t cheap. As it landed, a fire spell was unleashed, setting off the chain of mines they had left behind themselves in the smoke.

Once the smoke finally cleared, all of FAE’s members had escaped the area. All that was left was a mass of very confused and disoriented players, and a field littered with thousands of dropped items. Abysses End’s leaders were captured, and everything was over. The rest of the players were left wondering what to do now as the dust settled. Some wanted to search the area, others were sure they were already inside the outpost. Still more were trying to figure out why even though he was online Atius wasn’t responding. The one thing they were sure of was this fight had cost them a lot more than it had FAE.

Amser opened her eyes and found Gale once more and led her to the inn to wait for Xeal to return. They made themselves comfortable in the waiting area. Aalin joined them a few minutes later and after an hour Xeal finally arrived with a troubled look on his face. They paid for a four-person room. It had two beds and a pair of desks to work at.

“I hope I didn’t put you through too much Gale.”

“To much, you bastard. How dare you ask her to use such a skill. If she hadn’t had me with her, she would have fallen out of that tree with all the crap you were putting her through,” shouted Amser.

“Amser, it’s alright. I knew what I was getting into, as did Xeal.”

“Yes, you still don’t know what this cost him,” added Aalin.

“What do you mean cost him. He avoided all pain and damage while Gale was in agony. Sounds a whole of a hell like a good deal for him,” shot back Amser.

“Amser, why do you think she is still blind folded?” posed Aalin.

“What? Gale why haven’t you taken it off yet? Xeal hasn’t needed it for a few hours now.”

“Yes, he has. Amser, the only reason I insisted you wait here is to ensure you knew what he paid, since you were so angry for me. Now Xeal, are you ready?”

“No, but I don’t really have a choice,” sighed Xeal.

Xeal made his way to the bed to lay down before telling Gale to go ahead. With that Gale removed the blind fold and all anyone could hear was the screams from Xeal. It sounded like he was being ripped apart as he rolled off the bed and fell to the floor while writhing in agony.

“What the hell is going on?” asked Amser in concern.

“He is paying his price,” Gale responded looking solemn.

“Ok, and what exactly is that?”

“For every bit of pain I felt, he has to feel it twice. He will take no damage, but the pain I felt was nothing compared to this.”

“Why would he do that to himself?”

“FAE means that much to him,” answered Gale.

“Look, he didn’t have a perfect plan and he knew he was going to take more damage than he could afford to in this operation. His build practically ignores health and so he needed a way to increase his survivability, and this was the only option available,” sighed Aalin.

“He had asked me if it would be alright, and at first I thought he was crazy for even thinking about it. Then he explained why it was necessary. Make no mistake, he is going to have to make this up to me in other ways too, but how could I turn him down? He knew about the blowback and still accepted it; how could I refuse to pay half that price?”

“Still, is he going to be okay?”

“Who knows? This is the first time we’ve used this skill for more than a basic test. He is experiencing far more pain now then I even care to imagine. Hopefully the system will have some safeguards in place,” replied Aalin.

“It does, but it will cost him a death penalty if it kicks in.” answered Gale.

“And what is it?” questioned Amser.

“If he loses consciousness, he dies, but he assured me he had a guard against it.”

With that the three of them watched over Xeal as he went through his ordeal for a full hour. All the while he was fighting to stay conscious, he didn’t want to lose his fruit of life just yet. He was happy that he had it or this plan would have been far more dangerous than he would have liked, but that didn’t mean he was open to losing it. Amser was impressed with his resolve and found herself admiring his dedication to his guild. She found herself asking if she could go through this for anything in her life and hoping she never had to answer that question. She could also see the genuine worry on Gale’s and Aalin’s faces as they watched him go through this. Finally, she understood and could accept that however unorthodox their relationships were, they really did share genuine affection between each other. It actually made her a little jealous of the three of them, and how they could be so true to their feelings.

Dragon’s Heart city-

Casmir had just arrived carrying his sack, adding it to the other three that were already there. With this it was time for the next phase of Xeal’s plan. Casmir, Amser, Amet, and Takeshi each took one of the sacks as Clara, Ignis, Aalin, and Gale acted as security, with Xeal leading the way. They made their way to Dragon’s Heart city’s prison where Xeal had sent an advance warning to marshal Kaleb Bates that he would be bringing in some prisoners. When they walked in one of the guards guided them to a room in which four NPCs waited. They were, Marshal Kaleb Bates, Sheriff Sanford Colee, Baron Ulric, and Viscount Weawen, the mayor of Dragon’s Heart city. Xeal was surprised to see the viscount, baron and sheriff, but he was happy to see them as well. It would make what came next even better.

“Sir Xeal, it’s good to see you. I see you have been keeping busy. This is Viscount Weawen. He is the mayor here in Dragon’s Heart city,” welcomed Baron Ulric.

Xeal knelt and the rest behind him mimicked it as well, other than the four carrying the sacks, who just lowered their heads.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Viscount Weawen. I am Sir Xeal, a simple knight of the kingdom, as Baron Ulric has stated.”

“Simple would be an understatement from what I hear. Please rise. This is not a formal event. I am simply here as a witness.”

“Thank you, Viscount Weawen. Now, on to business. Marshal, where do you want me to put them?”

The marshal pointed to four chairs, each with restraints placed on the arms and a loop on the floor underneath where chains could be attached. It took some time to remove the four idiots from their sacks and undo the bindings to switch their restraints over. It didn’t help when Tenbris tried to make a break for it, but it was a vain effort as Amet grabbed him and threw him into the chair. Once they were all restrained, Xeal started to speak again.

“You four have been brought here under the charge of attacking a noble of the kingdom, or his holding. This action carries with it several punishments as you did so by raising an army and attacking with the force of arms. You are now all considered to be in open revolt. I will now remove your gags and yield the time to the honorable Marshal Kaleb Bates. Be warned, if you can’t hold your tongue until you have been directed to speak, the gag will go back in and you will not have another chance to defend your actions.”

With that, Casmir, Amser, Amet, and Takeshi each removed the gag from the prisoner they were standing behind.

“Thank you, Sir Xeal. Now, as witness, Viscount Weawen, the lord of Dragon’s Heart city, shall bear record. As such, he is responsible for maintaining order in the four outposts surrounding the city and the area in which they maintain. Now as stated, the four of you are seen as in open rebellion. How do you all plead?”

“Not guilty.” “Not guilty.” “Not guilty.” “Not guilty.”

“Very well, first question to you on the far left. Did you not attack the guild FAE?”

“Yes, however they are not a part of the kingdom’s nobility. They are adventurers like ourselves. No hostile actions were taken within the outpost, or any other guarded location,” answered Atius as calmly as he could.

“Do the rest of you hold the same position?”

The other three nodded in concurrence with the statement.

“Ok, now next question. Was this a coordinated action between the four of you? You on the middle right, answer.”

“I refuse to answer. Just let Atius over there answer,” responded Djimon.

“I’ll take that as a yes, we did work together, as why else would you let him answer for you.”

At this point Atius was glaring at Djimon, while Djimon ground his teeth. He had tried to be smart and just let Atius do the talking to avoid messing up and saying the wrong thing. Instead, he had only confirmed their suspicion, though why that mattered was lost on him.

“Now you on the far right. Who was the leader of your group?”

“Atius, over on the far left was,” lied Tenbris.

“You lying piece of shit. At least take responsibility for your own failings!” cursed Atius.

“Silence! Gag that one. He has made his last statement. Now you on the center left. Who was the leader?”

“It was that idiot over there on the far right, Tenbris. He came up with this plan we just followed it,” answered Martelli.

“Thank you. Now I think we have enough to pass judgment. I, Marshal Kaleb Bates, here by find you all guilty of open rebellion against the kingdom of Nium. You willfully attacked an organization recognized by the kingdom as the force of one of their knights without following protocol. You failed to petition the kingdom on any wrongdoing made by said knight and launched a full-out assault. Without a signed treaty approved by Viscount Weawen, you will all be sentenced to 100,000 gold worth of mining and each of your followers will be sentenced to 10,000 gold worth of mining. I return the floor to Sir Xeal.”

“Thank you marshal. Now, as you have all heard, you’re in a tough spot. Just to be clear, how much does the average prisoner bring in a day while incarcerated?” asked Xeal.

“Around five gold worth,” replied Marshal Bates.

“Thank you. Now, if my rough math is correct, that would mean it would take around two years for any of the followers and 20 for these four here to serve their sentence. Now what I’m going to offer each of you is the chance to save some face. I have prepared some terms of surrender under which each member of your guild has the option for a commuted sentence. For the four of you, you will sign a contract that states you will serve a sentence of 900 gold followed by exile from the kingdom of Nium. You will be forbidden from restarting your characters until after you are exiled, and you will not restart on this continent. For each of your members they will have the option of serving a sentence of 450 gold, or turning in 900 gold in raw materials over the next two years. Each of your members will also have to sign a contract that they will never take hostile actions against the kingdom of Nium again. It’s Martelli, right? Does this seem acceptable to you?”

“Why would we sign any deal with you? We would be better off to just restart,” spat Martelli.

“That’s right, you might think-mmmm” started Tenbris.

“Thank you, Amet. Now it looks like only the two of you can do the talking. As for why you would sign the deal, it is quite simple. In fact, Casmir, go ahead and let Martelli use one of his hands to look up the restart option.”

“Sure thing.”

Casmir undid the restraints on Martelli’s right arm letting him navigate the menu. As he did so his face went from angry to shocked as he found what he was looking for.

“It is showing 180 ED days as a cool down due to being charged with a major crime, right?” stated Xeal.

“You, what did you do?” groaned Martelli.

“Me, I did nothing. You four are the ones who committed crimes. Now you have the following options; refuse to sign the contract and once the cooldown ends restart, or sign the contract. If you sign the contract, you will actually need to complete the terms before you can restart which should take you 180 ED days anyway. However, you will be saving all those who joined your guilds and were dragged in this with you from suffering the same fate. Djimon what are your thoughts?”

“Stop asking me questions. I have nothing to say.”

“Well, it looks like you have to tell me your thoughts then Martelli,” smiled Xeal.

“Why the hell would we agree to do manual labor for six months? I think I’ll just take a break and restart when the time is over,” scoffed Martelli.

“Hmm, there are two glaring flaws in your logic. One, the timer only counts days you have logged in for at least six ED hours. Two, if you refuse this offer you will have 50,000 players who will be screwed over because of it. Now, I don’t know about you, but if I had my real-life information displayed on a workshop’s official website, I would be careful about screwing over a large group of people. Especially when that workshop will likely hang you out to dry after this. Oh, and we have already uploaded these terms to the forums in case you don’t think everyone will know. Now let me ask you one more time Martelli, will you accept these terms?”

“I can’t make that decision!”

“Oh, but you have to. You as well Djimon. Each of you have to for yourselves. Now, just to make sure, Viscount Weawen, do you find these terms acceptable?”

“Hmm, it does seem a bit light.”

“If I may interject Viscount Weawen, I think Xeal here is trying to give all those who followed these fools a chance to redeem themselves. He has only recently become a knight and it isn’t well known yet, so most of them may not know they even broke the law,” offered Baron Ulric.

“I see, hmm, Bates what are your thoughts?”

“It does feel a bit light, however it would remove the four main offenders. Sanford, you know Xeal the best, what are your thoughts?”

“If I may be so bold, I do believe he is thinking in the long-term best interest of the kingdom. If we imprison 50,000 adventurers, it may have a negative effect on our ability to attract new ones. His suggestion allows the vast majority to just have to work off a debt and avoid a major sentence. He even has a clause ensuring that they won’t attack again. The question I have is what is the penalty for breaking it?”

“An excellent point. What is the penalty, Sir Xeal?”

“Viscount Weawen, there are two. One for knowingly and one for unknowingly. As I feel most have unknowingly done it this time as well, it would be just double the current penalty with a ban on making a new character until the debt is paid off. However, if they knowingly and willfully do so they will be banned from ever making a new character.”

“That’s insane! No way anyone would agree to that! Mmm-” cried out Martelli.

“Sorry, I should have moved quicker; I just didn’t expect him to be so vocal,” apologized Casmir.

“It’s ok, but now Djimon, you are the only one who can speak. So, after you hear Viscount Weawen’s thoughts, I hope you can give us your thoughts,” prompted Xeal.

“Just gag me now.”

“Very well. Viscount Weawen, your thoughts?”

“Hmm, so with this it would force repeat offenders to deal with a harsher punishment. I can approve of this.”

“Thank you, Viscount Weawen. Now the four of you have a choice to make. You can either sign the peace treaty, or refuse. Marshal Bates, are you fine with letting Atius over there speak?”

“Sure, but once he has answered your questions, the gag goes back in.”

“Very well. Now Atius, I am well aware of the fact that you are the smartest of the players here. You probably have enough info to know this is a good deal. Now, do you have any questions or comments before you agree or disagree?”

“Sure, I have a few. One, where will we be exiled? What happens if the new country we join goes to war with Nium? Finally, do you really think Abysses End will take this laying down?” threatened Atius.

“Excellent questions. Let me see. I believe you will be exiled to the edges of the kingdom’s border with the wildlands. As for if the country goes to war with Nium, you just need to stay neutral in the conflict. Lastly, no, I fully expect Abysses End to be irate, but they will have no avenues to attack for quite some time. So, it is an issue I can ignore for now. Does that sound about right Marshal Bates?”

“Indeed, it does.”

“So, there you have it. Any other questions?”

“Just a single demand before we sign,” stated Atius.

“Oh, and why should you get to make one of those?” interjected Amser.

“Relax Amser, he is trying to save some face. Go on Atius.”

“Instead of the wildlands where we are sure to die, let us go to a village in another country.”

“I see you are trying to save the time that you spent on these characters. While I don’t have any issues, finding a country to take you may be an issue. So how about this. If it’s okay with Viscount Weawen, the four of you can be sent to any country that sends a letter accepting you before your sentence is up. However, you have to find a way to pay for the travel expenses, even if it is simply by adding gold onto your sentence.”

“Very well, I can agree to that.”

“Viscount Weawen, is this acceptable?”

“Very well. It does put the burden on them.”

“Well, there you have it, do you accept?”

“I do.”

Once Atius signed, Djimon, and Martelli signed with no issue. Only Tenbris was acting like he had something to say. However, all it took was the threat to withdraw the offer for him and he signed like a good little boy. Once they had signed, each were taken away, hopefully never to be seen by Xeal again. It was over. Now Xeal could focus on the growth of FAE and the upcoming expansion into the rest of the kingdom of Nium. As he walked away from the prison, he enjoyed holding both Gale’s and Aalin’s hands. He hadn’t realized when it started to feel so natural for him to do so, but he wasn’t going to complain. Life was going great and Xeal was looking forward to the next few months.

Atius had just joined the meeting that was going over the fallout from their failures in Nium. FAE had made a complete fool out of them. He knew what would come next.

“Good, now that Atius has joined us, Tenbris please explain your actions,” demanded Unknown 1.

“I failed. What else is there to say? Those bastards lured us into a trap,” sulked Tenbris.

“No, I mean why did you attack when in the middle of a parley? Your actions are beyond reprehensible. I have been in meeting after meeting with our shareholders trying to calm them down. Do you realize what you have even done?”

“Um-” stammered Tenbris.

“Forget it. You are dismissed. As of right now you are no longer a member of Abysses End. I never want to see you ever again, now leave!”

“No, please-”

Their leader had just kicked Tenbris out without even giving him the chance to defend himself. It was about what Atius had expected to happen to that idiot. Now he just had to make sure it didn’t happen to him.

“Ok, now let’s go over the reports,” sighed Unknown 1.

“Of course, sir. As stated from Tenbris’s report, his men were destroyed by a level 200 NPC at the mines controlled by FAE. Only a handful made it back to the outpost, and other than the strength of that NPC, we didn’t gain much more info from the event,” reported Unknown 2.

“Such a pity the bastard can’t even give us any useful data on FAE. Now Atius, what happened with your operation?”

“I was out matched and out gunned. As stated in my report, FAE has several members with strong AOE spells. Furthermore, their leader Xeal was using some method to ignore damage. I’m unsure how, but it let him move without fear. Lastly, the items that they used either have to be something they were buying in Dragon’s Heart city, or being made in those mines.”

“It says here that he warned you before the engagement that you were breaking the kingdom’s laws. Why didn’t you listen?” inquired Unknown 2.

“I thought it was his way to bluff his way out of the situation. The fact that we were unaware that he had gained nobility was a failing on our part. The team in Dragon’s Eye should have done a better job at keeping tabs on him.”

“Once again Tenbris has hurt us. Now, did your report say something about standardizing guild emblem placement?” inquired Unknown 1.

“Yes. We didn’t even think to ensure our men had a quick way to tell friend from foe. I would say this is one of the most valuable lessons we can apply to future conflicts. If we had thought of it, two of these battles could have turned out better,” answered Atius.

“Very good. At least you are learning and show some hope for a comeback. Now Djimon, let’s move on to your battle.”

“Yes, according to the report here you accepted a duel with the FAE vice guild leader Suoh Takeshi,” Stated Unknown 2.

“I did and that bastard made a complete fool of me. Then he made me watch as my forces were being thrown into chaos. Look, I know I am a muscle head. I never wanted to be in charge of any decisions, let alone a whole guild. This experience made that all the clearer to me. That said, I do have one burning goal.”

“And that would be?” inquired Unknown 2.

“I want to return the favor to Takeshi one day. I know it will take time to catch up with him, but when the opportunity presents itself, I want to have the chance to shove his face in the mud and see how he likes it.”

“It’s good that you know your failings and that you are driven. I’m sure there will be an opportunity eventually. For now, however, we need to be careful about our next moves. If we have another failure like today things will be bad,” warned Unknown 1. “Now, what about you Martelli?”

“Yes, your report says your men were ambushed continually and that eventually you met with the FAE vice guild leader Casmir Drakos. Afterwards, you ended up in a duel like Djimon. You were completely defeated, then your ambush failed to reach the field in time,” added Unknown 2.

“What can I say but that I suspect FAE has an item to hide their real levels. While they showed level 19, there is no way they were that much stronger than us and had the same level. From what happened in the other battles as well, I think they have far more tier 3 players then we realized. From what Djimon and I suffered, I would say they have at least 1,600. Add in what happened to Atius and it feels like 1,800. Who knows how many were against that idiot Tenbris, but needless to say, with the other info we have collected, I would say it was FAE who helped those new guys Eternal Valhalla to grow so strong, not the other way around.”

“Interesting, I hadn’t thought of that connection yet. That failure did mention that Xeal seemed to be on good terms with Eternal Valhalla’s spokesmen in Dragon’s Eye. We need to look into this further. Very good observation. At least this experience has helped you grow. There may be hope for your development still.” praised Unknown 1.

“Sir, if I may ask, what is the plan going forward?” interjected Atius.

“Hmm, well thanks to you we need to try to find a way to rescue your current characters, though that may take some time. For now, the other cells we have in Nium will be going dark and just focus on passing intel to us on the situation on the ground. We also need to make a public statement to apologize to FAE for your actions. If possible, I would like them to think we are working to become friends before our next attempt to secure their guild,” replied Unknown 1.

“So, we aren’t giving up on claiming that guild for Abysses End then?” asked Martelli.

“Heavens no. Only this time we will try to buy it rather than take it by force. FAE is sure to run into some stumbling blocks along the way. All we have to do is offer them a line of credit using their workshop as collateral. Then when they fail to pay us back, we take it along with everything else they have, including promising players. They won’t even know we’re the lender until it is too late if we do it right. Now, does anyone have anything to add before I explain what is going to happen to you?”

Atius, Martelli and Djimon each stayed silent and after a few moments their leader continued.

“Good. Now I expect each of you to be grateful to us that we didn’t just kick you to the curb like Tenbris. There will, however, be major consequences. It is necessary in order for the workshop to save face. Each of you will have your pay cut down two levels and you will not be paid for the next two months you are stuck in prison. After which, you will be transferred to different cells throughout ED. There you will act as advisers to whoever is in charge there. It may take some time before we have you settled in your new units as they will likely be outside of the country that accepts you from Nium. You will each write a written apology and make videos expressing that you acted without approval from the workshop. Hopefully, in a year this will all be behind us and we can move onto better days. Now, before we end this meeting, do any of you have any last questions before you lose access to me?”

“Just one, sir. Did you find who is behind FAE?” asked Atius.

“Yes, we did. All I will tell you is you all lost to an 18-year-old kid and his friends. I’m sure in a few years everyone will know who they are, but for now it is better we keep that fact quiet. Unless you want everyone to know you lost to some kid,” laughed Unknown 1.

“You’re kidding me, right?! Xeal is just some kid?! How is that possible? It doesn’t make any sense,” exclaimed Atius in confusion.

“Enough. Sense, or not, it is the truth and we plan to exploit his naivety for our plan. Now this meeting is adjourned. I hope to see those videos sooner, rather than later,” ordered Unknown 1.

Atius sat there as he thought to himself about how he was outdone by some 18-year-old upstart. It was humiliating. He had been working in VR gaming for over a decade now and was well known and respected. He was about to become a laughingstock and it was a kid who was probably playing one of his first VR games ever who was the cause. The whole situation pissed him off. He would have to make sure to never fail like this again. Why had he ignored the warning he was given? It was like Xeal knew he wouldn’t listen and wanted to make him blame himself for everything going wrong.

Preview.

Geitir joined the meeting that would be starting shortly to discuss the events that had transpired in the kingdom of Nium in the VRMMO game Eternal Dominion. The game had been live for the past month and a half and to record, this was the largest conflict to date. The forums were full of conflicting information and in the center of it all was a guild called FAE. They had come out of nowhere to claim the coveted first guild bonus that made their membership cap 50 percent larger. At first, Geitir hadn’t thought much about it as he and his guild never planned to go after it for fear of exactly what FAE was dealing with. Abysses End had launched a major offensive to force FAE into giving them their guild. What had surprised Geitir the most was how spectacularly it failed. Not only had Abysses End kicked out the main instigator, they had also forced the rest of the involved members to put out public apologies. To make matters worse, every player involved had been punished by the kingdom of Nium directly. Now his workshop was meeting up to discuss what their stance on everything would be. Geitir was the main one in contact with FAE’s guild leader Xeal and had benefited greatly from that relationship, but was it worth the ire of Abysses End.

“Good, it looks like we are all here. Now, let’s go over the situation,” opened Unknown 1.

“Yes, as of right now, it looks like Abysses End is in full damage control mode. It is likely they will go to ground in Nium to avoid any further damage. The question now is how will this affect their operations in other areas,” stated Unknown 2.

“Yes, while we haven’t seen a full draw back, I can tell that their operations around my team have become much more measured. It feels like they are worried about another major failure, so they are avoiding large risks they would have taken before,” reported Unknown 3.

“I’m seeing the same as well, although it is too soon to know if this is just a momentary pause while they reassess the situation, or a long-term shift like we expect in Nium,” added Unknown 4.

“I think we can all agree we need to watch and see how Abysses End responds over the coming months. However, right now we need to be careful on how we act. Several large workshops have already placed us as a friend to FAE. We need to decide if we will embrace, or distance, ourselves from FAE. Geitir, you have the most insight on FAE. What are your thoughts?” Unknown 1 asked.

“My thoughts are simple; we wouldn’t be where we are now without the info FAE has shared with us. Yes, they were each part of a transaction so we could play it off as business, or we can take the initiative to become a major ally to FAE.”

“Major allies, are you crazy?!” exclaimed Unknown 3. “That would be painting a target on our back to all the other major workshops who want the first guild bonus.”

“And what action could they take? Thanks to FAE we are the only ones in the cities right now. Sure, in a few days that will change, but right now we are way ahead of the curve and can easily avoid conflict until level 80, at which point FAE should be looking to expand to other countries. At that point we could easily reap a mighty harvest. Also, don’t forget we’re already in an agreement for resources and equipment with them,” countered Geitir.

“Both of you calm yourselves” ordered Unknown 2. “You both have good points. We need to decide which will take priority.”

“True, on the one hand we have a small workshop that nonetheless has given us great benefits. On the other hand, we have one of the most established workshops that has far reaching influence and deep pockets that has done nothing for us. Do we cut ties with the one to avoid the wrath of the other, or do we stand next to them and try to weather the storm?” Questioned Unknown 4.

“You all know where my vote lies” replied Geitir. “I say FAE will become an absolute powerhouse in the future and Abysses End will have to let them be.”

“It’s easy for you to say that, you’re in Nium. Abysses End has lost any ability to operate there until level 80 at least,” responded Unknown 3.

“Geitir, he has a point. The rest of us are spread out and if the other major guilds decide we’re a problem, it will be our end. We are already under immense pressure to share the info about the behemoth slayer title. Plus, it is only a matter of time before they realize about the spy network. We can’t keep adding reasons for them to target us.” Unknown 2 said worry evident in his voice.

“I know, but you all do realize that it is me who will pay the most if we turn our back on FAE.”

“You don’t think Xeal would understand your situation and let you out of the contract?” asked Unknown 3.

“Would you? The spy network is extremely valuable and will more than pay for itself over time. Heck, we have already seen a sharp rise in the amount of materials and gold our members are bringing in.”

“Still, what was your penalty for breaking the contract again?” Unknown 2 questioned.

“I will be barred from joining any guild in which our leader is a member and have to pay out 100,000,000 gold.”

“Why would you make an agreement like that!?” demanded Unknown 3.

“Our leader gave his word and I trust in it that much.”

“Still, it is basically saying to start over,” groaned Unknown 3.

“I can’t. It has a no restart until the debt is paid off clause in it, and the rumors on the forums are that some contracts are binding even after you make a new character.”

“Damn, that is a hard situation,” responded Unknown 3.

“Alright, I think I have an idea of the overall situation,” declared Unknown 1. “For now, we need to make preparations for either eventuality. Geitir, see if you can find a way to get Xeal to release you from the penalties in the contract. I’m not expecting him to do it for free, but he needs to understand the situation we are in and why it may not work out. The rest of you keep your eyes and ears open. We need to stay alert and ready for whatever happens next.”

Thanks!

Thank you to all of my patrons on Patreon, especially my knight tier patrons: Ottojanius, Jim Hall, Benjamin Griner, and Rowan.

Thank you to all of my book 1 readers, especially everyone who left me a review/rating. It really makes my day reading how so many of you enjoyed my story.

Afterword

Thank you for reading book two of my Eternal Dominion series. If you enjoyed it, please do me a huge favor and leave a review for me. It really means a lot to me and will help ensure that I can continue to write more. To all of those who were hoping I would cut back on the use of () in dialog, you have been heard, and I have just done a quick edit for both this book and book 1. I plan to look at improving some of the dialog further as time goes on. As for my other books yes book 3 has been fixed as well and now I just need to work on book 4, and I will have eliminated them. With that in mind, I will do my best to improve for everyone’s enjoyment and especially as I look into putting my books out on audio in the future.
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Thank you again for reading my story and I hope you return for the next instalment of Alex’s tale.  If you enjoy LitRPG and GameLit books check out the following Facebook groups. Both are great and have helped me get my stories out to you!

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