《Mafia King System》 A NEW WORLD Alex lay on his deathbed with no one around. He had no family of his own, and all his ''friends'' already died. He had lived a life as a servant of one of the cartels. Perfecting ways for them to grow their drugs, he made them hundreds of millions from his methods. While he himself was left with little to nothing. He is tired, he doesn''t want to die but he does hope reincarnation is real. Being able to restart would be amazing, and he wouldn''t waste his life being a servant of anyone. No he would be the boss. The one in the background who ordered others to do his bidding. It was a nice dream. He closed his eyes with a small smile while thinking of this, he took his last breath and drifted into the darkness. =)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=) [Hello new user] This was the first thing Alex heard. He looked around and saw nothing but darkness. {Where am I?} he thought. [You are in the void. The infinite nothingness of the universe. Where only the dead reside.] {Who are you? What do you want with little old me?} Alex thought since whoever this is can clearly read his mind. [I am a system. My purpose is to choose a host and aid them in their goals. Each system get only one host so the longer you live then the longer I live. I have chosen you. I see what you wish to achieve and I can help you accomplish what you wish. I will give you missions and reward occasionally, however I suggest you do not rely solely on me. Also my name is irrelevant, perhaps you will learn it if we survive together long enough, for now just call me system.] {Well that''s a lot to take in. This is like having that metaphoric devil on my shoulder, only it''s in my head. Whatever as long as I get to live again and can do what I want, I don''t care. Okay system so are we going back to my world?} [Hell no! Why would I want me or my host being in that shit show of a planet? No I have the perfect world for us. It is a world of Magic and perhaps more. I will give you a starting gift when we arrive. Now hold tight or whatever, it''s going to be a bumpy ride.] You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. =)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=) His eyes shot open, he was lying on the ground and felt like throwing up. A bumpy ride indeed it was. After getting his stomach settled he sat up and looked around. He''s in a room? {Um system who''s room am I in?} [You are in a room at the local inn of this small town. This will be your starting zone. Show your potential and I will allow us to travel out into the wider world. Now you have received your starting package. Think ''inventory'' and you will see it. Soon you will receive your first quest. Until then¡­.stay alive. Also the inn room is payed for for one week. Now I''m going to half sleep.] Half sleep? What the fuck? Well here goes nothing. {Inventory} A screen popped up in front of me. It showed 36 squares of space. In the first slot was a gift. Guessing what he needed to do Alex tapped on the gift and it appeared in his hands. He stood still shocked for a second. If he could store anything in this inventory then dealing drugs would become so easy. Tearing open the large gift he found two packets of seeds. 4 small planter pots, a watering can, fertilizer and some basic tools. Well this would be useful. If he knew what these damn seeds were. The packets were red and blue with no logos or words on them. [Think inspect when looking at an item fool. Haven''t you ever read a webnovel? Or played a game? Or watched an anime? Idiot.] {Um¡­.no?} Alex looked back down at the packets of seed and now he saw descriptions for them. The red packet said, "Red lily seeds. The petals of this flower can be used to make health potions. Can become highly addictive. Takes 30 days to grow in average conditions." The blue packet read, "Blue lily seeds. The petals of this flower can be used to make mana potions. Can become highly addictive. Takes 30 days to grow in average conditions." Huh well it''s a start. Looking at the planter pots he saw the description said, "Fast growth pots. Plants will grow at 10x the speed when in these pots." The watering can said, "Water used in this can will increase the health and production of plants its used on." And finally the fertilizer read, "Infinite bag of fertilizer. You will always have fertilizer as long as this bag isn''t destroyed." All of these would be extremely helpful for him. All the tools were just plain old gardening tools. First he put fertilizer in all four planter pots, then he added 2 red and 2 blue seeds to them. And finally he went into a nearby bathroom and surprisingly found a sink with running water. He filled up the watering can and then watered the seeds. Both seeds would usually take 30 days to fully grow. But with the 10x growth speed from the watering can, these should be grown in only 3 days. Well time to explore the town and gather some information while he waited for them to grow. FIRST DEAL During the three days it took for the seeds to become full grown plants, Alex had been exploring the town of Everwinter. The name suited it, considering it was cold year round. Luckily there was rarely clouds, meaning his plants could still get sunlight. If he decided to set up full farms then he would either need to use greenhouses or Magic to keep them from dying in the frigid temperatures. That was another thing he had learned about, Magic. This world was full of it, around 45% of the world could harness magic. However only around 8% of those were combat magic users. Everything from butcher, tailors to even farmers used magic in their professions. It''s unfortunate he didn''t have the ability to use magic yet. Why? Simple he was reborn in his body from his past life, only deaged to around twenty. During his discovery of magic he found out something that would greatly benefit him. There are very few ways to regenerate magic outside of some artifacts that only the top 1% of Magic users could pay to use. Even then those artifacts are owned and controlled by the Church of Life. What does this mean? It means Alex would end up having a monopoly on mana potions, these would be available to the masses unlike the artifacts. Of course this would also make him an enemy of the CoL. He would need to be careful once he started selling. Currently he was sitting in his room at the inn, staring at the four fully grown plants. The mana plant was roughly two feet tall and had dozens of stems coming out of it. From those stems grew a flower on each, and each flower had five petals. Oh and of course the petals are blue. The health plant was about a foot tall with only six stems, from those stems is of course a flower, however these flowers had a dozen petals but they are much smaller. And the petals are red. Now why was he staring at the plants? Well he is trying to figure out exactly how the hell to turn them into potions. [Ah host well done on growing your first plants without me having to hold your hand! For this I will reward you. And your reward is: System Potion Creation!] [Due to you being broke and not having the money to buy the required tools to make potions, I the system have decided to be generous and create them for you. Now do remember this will only be for a short time until you have enough gold to buy the required tools.] [SYSTEM QUEST 001: Sell 6 Mana Potions and 6 Health Potions!] [REWARD: 100 System Credits, 25 Gold, Random Pack of Seeds!] Well that is helpful. Another this he had learned in the three days was the monetary system in this world, it pretty simple. 100 Copper = 1 Silver 100 Silver = 1 Gold 1000 Gold = 1 Platinum Most everyday items could be bought using silver. So getting 25 gold for his first quest seems pretty good. Alex didn''t know what the system credits are but figure his system would tell him when the damned this wanted to. Now time to make some potions, he already had a potential buyer in mind. A mage named Ailas who he met while explore the town. He met the Elf man in the bar where he and some other mages were complaining about running out of Magic to fast. And since they were young they hadn''t built up their reserves from years of use like the more experienced mages had. Of course Alex didn''t speak to the mages at all, he simply listened and took mental notes. {System create 1 mana potion} Alex thought. [Creating one mana potions. Requires: 6 mana petals. Shall I proceed with creating the potion?] With only requiring 6 petals he could create a couple dozen right now if he wanted. However that wasn''t the smart thing to do. If he pick say one petal from six different flowers on the plant, then the flowers wouldn''t die and could regrow the petals he harvested. After thinking this he did exactly that. Taking a petal from six different flowers on the plant and holding them in his hand. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. {System create the potion using the petals I''m holding.} He thought to his system. [Confirmed. Creating. Created. Check your inventory.] And he did just that. Seeing a blue potion in his first slot in the inventory. He needs to now by a hood or mask to conceal his identity. {System you wanna help me here? I kinda don''t have money and it would be bad for both of us if everyone knows we are the providers of the potions. We don''t want the church knowing who I am until I have great influence in this world.} He thought to the system. [Hmm¡­very well your suggestion makes sense. However I will deduct 15 system credits when the first quest is complete.] After the system said this a black cloak with a hood appeared in his inventory. Taking it out he inspected it. ''Cloak of Shadows: Prevents others from seeing your face and dilutes your voice.'' This would do. Leaving the inn he went to a nearby alley before putting the cloak on and throwing the hood over his head. It was only midday so chance are Ailas was at the store his family owned. A bookstore. Walking quickly to it he entered and saw Ailas was indeed behind a redwood counter, looking bored while reading. After walking over to him Alex said, "Ailas do you by chance have a back room where we may speak?" Ailas jumped slightly before looking at him with narrowed eyes, "And why would I take someone hiding themselves under a cloak anywhere private?" "I have an item of value I believe you will be interested in purchasing. An item that can help with your magic." Thinking on in for a minute Ailas finally decided to humor him, he couldn''t feel any magic coming from the cloaked stranger. Even though he himself was not skilled in combat magic, he knew enough to defend against a non-magical. Standing and motioning for the stranger to follow he opened a door leading to a hall before walking down and opening the second door on the right, which lead to his current bedroom. "So what is this item stranger?" Ailas asked. Alex put his hand in his cloak, so Ailas didn''t see the potion appear out of nowhere, before pulling out the potion. "This my magic friend is a mana potion. Something only I can make. It doubles your mana regeneration for six hour." Ailas stood still staring at the potion in shock, this was impossible. "Do you really think you can fool me? Clearly this is a scam. Now leave." "Not so fast Ailas. You are a decent magic user. Can you not sense it? The magic flowing through it? Here drink some and then you will know I speak the truth." Alex said before grabbing a nearby clay cup and pouring an ounce of potion into it. Each potion had around eight servings or eight ounces. Meaning an ounce of the potion would double magic regeneration for six hours. Handing the cup to Ailas he gestured for him to drink. Ailas sniffed at it for a few second before taking a sip. His eyes flew open in shock before he drained the rest of it. Ailas looked up at Alex in greed. He was going to just rob this non-magic user of the potion, however if only this person could create the potions then he should buy as many as possible. "How much for each of these potions? I want as many as you can get me!" Ailas said in an excited tone. "Calm yourself. Each potion has eight servings, you just took one so buying the rest of this potion would allowing you to have seven more. Enough for a week if you take one serving a day. However these are not the only potions I have. I also have healing potions that increase your healing by twenty five percent for six hour. Now the price for the mana potions is 5 gold each. The price for healing potions is 2 gold 50 silver each." Alex explained to the Elf. Ailas thought for a few moments, he makes around 40 gold a month from his bookstore and another 15 from adventuring. However he could make triple or more gold from adventuring if he had some of these potions. Currently he had 355 gold saved. "I want to buy 10 of each potion!" Ailas told the stranger. Alex thought for a moment, he definitely had enough for the mana potions. However he doesn''t know how many petals are needed for the health potions. However 50 gold from the mana potions is a good start. "I will sell you this potion now for 5 gold. In seven days I will return with 10 more mana potions. However I may not be able to make 10 healing potions in that time. I will bring what I can make." Alex told the man. Ailas nodded before reaching into a pouch on his waist and pulling out five gold coins. The two exchanged coins for potion and then Alex left quickly. Stopping in an alley way to take off the cloak and to put the coins in his inventory. Luckily they only took up one slot. [Congratulations host on becoming a dealer.] CRAFTING POTIONS AND MAKING GOLD It has been 3 days since Alex made his first deal with Ailas. During this time he had solely focused on making potions and planning for the future. It turns out that although the plants take 3 days to grow, the petals he picked for the potions only take 1 day to regrow. In these 3 days he was able to make 48 mana potions and 18 health potions. The mana plants have 24 flowers and each flower has 5 petals, if he takes 2 petals from each flower every day then that''s 48 petals a day. It takes 6 petal per potion, that mean every day he''s able to make 8 mana potions while also keeping all the flowers healthy enough to regrow. If he picks to many petals from a flower then it will die. However he has two of both plants allowing him to double his production to 16 mana potions daily. The health plants have only 6 flowers and each flower has 12 petals. Taking 5 petals from each makes 30 petals daily. It turns out the health potions take 10 petals to make, most likely due to these petals being smaller then the mana plant petals. Picking a total of 60 petals daily from his 2 health plants allowed for him to make 6 health potions every day. Alex planned to finish the deal with Ailas today and get the gold. Tomorrow would be the last day the system payed for the inn room. Why did he wait this long to finish the deal with Ailas? Simple, he wanted the Elf to be addicted to his potions. Consistent use made people addicted like any drug. He also waited a few days so that Ailas had time to tell his mage friends about it as well, bringing in more potential buyers. Then after he made his money he would find someone who owned land in the nearby forest and try to rent out a cabin and some land. After checking his storage to make sure he had all his potions and his cloak of shadows, he left the inn. Stopping in an alley near the bookstore to equip his cloak before entering the shop. The Elf man was sitting behind the countertop, however he looked like he hadn''t gotten enough sleep. He was twitchy and kept looking around, when he spotted Alex he lept up with a wide smile. "Ah just the person I wanted to see! Please tell me you have the potions." Ailas practically shouted. "Be quiet you fool. Take me to your room and we can finish this deal." Alex responded. Ailas nodded before turning and beckoning Alex to follow, the went to the same room as before. After entering Ailas reached under his bed to pull out a small chest, after opening it Alex could see it was full of gold. "It will be 50 gold for 10 mana potions and 50 gold for 10 health potions." Alex told the man. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. "WHAT! You changed the price! You said it was 5 per mana and 2.5 per health." The Elf shouted. "Indeed I did, however the health potions take more resources and produce less the the mana. Normally I would charge 7 gold per health potion but I''m giving you a discount for this deal." Ailas looked at him before grumbling and grabbing 100 gold, putting it in a pouch and handing it to Alex. Earlier Alex has spent 1 of his 5 gold to buy a large bag to put the potions in. A bag sitting in his inventory. Reaching into his cloak before removing it from his inventory and setting the bag on the Elf''s bed. He removed all 20 potions and set them on the bed. "You still have 3 more servings of the first potions I sold you correct?" Alex asked. The Elf started rubbing his neck, making Alex suspicious. "We''ll you see that same day I went out with my adventuring party and they wanted to try some so I gave away 3 servings. After that I decided I would have 2 servings a day so I had an excuse not to share. I ran out yesterday and my group has been pestering me for more." Alex smiled under his hood, this was perfect. The man was addicted and more then likely so were 3 of his friends. He would have to find a way to get more of those growth pots soon. Luckily you can''t die from overdosing on the potions, if you take to much you simply fall asleep until your mana or health stabilizes. "Fine. Our deal is complete. Do you wish to order more?" "Yes definitely. However not just for me. I think my party members will want some too. Can we set up a time to meet?" Ailas asked. "Only this once. In the future if your party members want more they will make deals with me alone, not as a group. In 2 days, I will arrive at your shop sometime during the night. Now if that is all, goodbye for now." Saying this Alex quickly left. Stopping in an alley to put his cloak and gold in his inventory. He headed to the town hall where he could find the names of those who owned land in the forest. After arriving and asking one of the workers there for the list he came across a name that stood out to him. Kognum Warheart. The Dwarf blacksmith of Everwinter. Quickly leaving the town hall and heading the to blacksmith, he entered to find a young Dwarf hammering away at a sword. "Hello sir. Is Kognum in the shop currently? I wish to speak to him about renting or buying some land." Alex asked. The Dwarf sized him up for a minute before grunting and pointing at a back door with his hammer. Walking out he saw rows of shinning weapons and an old Dwarf, with an eye patch on his left eye, inspecting them. "Kognum Warheart?" Alex asked loudly. The Dwarf looked up at him. "Indeed boy. What do you want?" He asked gruffly. "I wish to speak about purchasing or renting your forest land." "Hmm. Fine. 650 gold to purchase. 30 gold a month to rent. It has a small cabin will running water and working magic fire pit, as well as 10 acres of land." 30 gold seemed a bit much per month but other then that it sounded exactly like what he needed. "Very well I will pay 2 months rent in advance. Can I purchase it at a later date?" "Fine but the price stays the same." The Dwarf responded. Before pulling out a magic contract from a nearby desk and signing it. He handed it to Alex who read and signed it, then he gave the dwarf 60 gold and left quickly with a map of the cabins location. / Current gold/ : 44 / Current potions / : 38 mana, 8 health A NEW HOME Alex returned to the inn to gather his belongings before leaving to search for the cabin. He traveled for roughly 40 minutes before finally finding the cabin, it was surrounded by trees. The 10 acres of land were all fenced off showing clearly what was and wasn''t his land, luckily there isn''t anyone close by. Entering the cabin, he saw it was only 2 rooms. A bedroom and kitchen hybrid took up most of the cabin space, what was left was a bathroom. After looking around the cabin for a bit he took out his plant pots before putting them in a spot near one of the two windows in the cabin, he then sat down to reflect on todays dealing. It was good his scheme to get the Elf addicted to his potions worked, and now he had more potential buyers. The cabin is expensive but if things continue going well then money will not be an issue. Now he just had to find a way to get more planter pots from the system. He didn''t want to start a full farm until he had a mage to keep the plants alive and some muscle to keep unwanted guests away. He would also need to find dealers, for them he would need to see if he could get more cloaks of shadows. That didn''t matter until he actually had underlings though. Speaking of the system. {Hey system where is my reward for the mission I completed?} Alex thought to the system. [Ugh fine I guess I can wake up. Well done, yay you completed such an easy quest. You''re now such a badass boss or whatever. Here take your rewards.} [100 System Credits, 25 Gold, 1 pack of Mana Plant Seeds. -15 Store Credits for the cloak of shadows. System store unlocked. Think {store} to view.] {Store.} [FAST GROWTH PLANTER POTS - 15 Store Credits. 10x Growth Speed. Can Hold 1 Small Plant.] [FAST GROWTH GREENHOUSE - 60 Store Credits. 10x Growth Speed. Can Hold 7 Small Plants.] [CLOAK OF SHADOWS - 40 Store Credits. Prevent other from seeing your face, dilutes voice.] [MANA SEED PACK - 5 Store Credits.] [HEALTH SEED PACK - 8 Store Credits] [SPEED SEED PACK - 10 Store Credits] [POPPY SEED PACK - 15 Store Credits] [CANNABIS SEED PACK - 12 Store Credits] [AS YOU EARN MORE CREDITS MORE ITEMS WILL BECOME AVAILABLE.] {Hm nice, very nice. Thanks system.} The green house is exactly what he wanted. Unfortunately he would only have 25 credits after buying it. However he could increase his potions productivity by nearly triple. For now he would focus on mana potions. Buying the greenhouse then going outside and taking it out of his inventory he noticed it was the size of his hand. Maybe it expands once placed down? Making sure to step away from the cabin a bit he place it down then backpedaled away. Indeed it did expand but it took around 20 seconds to start. After it was finished he went inside and took out his ever refilling bag of fertilizer and then filled in all 7 spaces for the plants. He then took out the mana seed pack he got before opening it and seeing 3 seeds this time. {Is it random how many I get system?} Alex asked the system. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. [Well done host you used a small portion of your brain. Yes it''s random, between 2-10 seeds per pack. And since you are a beginner you are more likely to get 2 seeds. As you complete more quests and if you impress me I might increase the chances. I know I said I want you to survive for as long as possible, BUT I also like being an ass to you.] Well¡­okay then. The 7 plant beds in the greenhouse made a U shape allowing you to stand in the middle and tend to all of them if needed. The also had slits of wood to keep the roots from entangling. Alex walked to the back 3 beds and planted a seed in each. He then bought 2 more mana packs. Making his total Store credits 15. Both packs each had 2 seed, these 4 seeds allowed him to fill in the last 4 beds. He then watered them and went back inside. =)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=) 3 DAYS LATER Alex stood in the greenhouse looking overwhelmed. All the mana plants finished growing, now it was time to harvest and make potions. Alex had done the math, with the 7 mana plants in the greenhouse and the 2 in the pots, there is 24 flowers on each or 216 total. And on each flower is 5 petals, meaning total there are 1,080 petals. And picking 2 from each flower is 48 per plant or 432 total. He was going to be here for hours, luckily this would allow him to create many potions, 72 to be exact. 72 potions daily. He was overwhelmed but also grinning madly, this was the beginning of his empire¡­.no his mafia. 72 potions at 5 gold each is 360 gold daily. The biggest issue is going to be finding buyers. Hopefully Ailas has been doing this job for him by spreading the word. Should he give the Elf a discount if he is spreading the word? Hmm naw the man is a fool and won''t even realize what he''s doing. He was supposed to meet Ailas and his friends last night but he told the Elf it would happen tonight when he had a large supply of potions. He had also been making health potions the last few days. He was able to make 18 more, so he had 24 total now. He had also been making mana potions with his other 2 plants for the last 3 days allowing him to make 48 more during those 3 days. On top of his 38 mana and 8 health he had left over from his last deal, he had 86 mana potions and 24 health potions. He had already made the 16 potions from the plants in the planter pots, meaning he has to make 56 more perform the meeting tonight. [QUEST 1: Sell 50 mana potions and 20 Health potions.] [REWARD 1: 150 Credits, 1 Fast Growth Pot, 1 Random Seed pack.] [QUEST 2: Recruit your first underling.] [REWARD 2: 100 Credits, 1 Fast Growth Greenhouse, 1 Cloak of Shadows.] {Wow these are great missions system. Hey system is there an item I can give to my buyers so I know they are indeed a past buyer? I don''t care to remember everyone''s names.} [Lazy bastard. Yes, however I will deducted credits from your reward to pay for 10 of these unique coins. 35 Credits for 10. Nothing is free, either you earn it or pay for it.] {3.5 credits each seems expensive but I''ll take them.} [Mafia buyer coins x10 added to inventory. Also you aren''t a mafia until you have underling. Just saying.] Alex opened his inventory to look at the coins, they are pure black coins with a blood red stamp on them. The stamp was a hooded face with 2 scythes crossing each other behind the hooded face. As far as he know there are no other coins similar in this world. Granted he didn''t know everything. Now it was time to make the rest of the potions before tonight''s meeting. / CURRENT GOLD / 69 / CURRENT POTIONS / 86 MANA, 24 HEALTH THE MEETING EVERWINTER Alex was walking quickly towards Ailas''s bookstore. He already had his cloak on because he realized something, most Everwinter residents wore cloaks while outside due to the frigid weather. Most people wouldn''t notice anything off about his unless they were trying to spot it, and even then if he kept his head down they would not notice a thing. In his inventory Alex had 142 mana potions and 24 health potions. If the demand was great enough then he would use the next greenhouse from his rewards for health potions. Walking into the bookstore he spotted Ailas who smiled brightly when he saw Alex come in. "Close the store Ailas. We don''t need someone walking in and come searching for you." Alex told the Elf who nodded and did as told. Both the went back into the same bedroom as before where 3 others were waiting. A male Human, a female Elf and a male Dwarf. All showed slight signs of addiction however not nearly as bad as the last time he met with Ailas. The Elf probably shared with his group. "Quite the group we have here. I do not care for your names, I will not remember them. If we complete deals tonight I will give you a way to identify yourselves to my group. Now speak what you want one at a time. Ladies first of course." Alex told them. The female Elf stepped forward before saying, "You are quite rude, but very well. I wish for 20 of the mana potions and 7 of the health potions. What is your price and can you supply them now?" "Yes I can supply them right now. 100 gold for the mana potions and 49 gold for the health potions. 149 gold total. Ailas do you have a separate room where we may complete the deals?" "Yes, come." Ailas respond while the female Elf and Alex followed him to a room directly across from the bedroom. After entering it looked to be a storage room, with boxes full of books piled up. Luckily there was a desk nearby cleared of anything. Bringing out the same large bag he removed 20 mana and 7 health potions. After seeing them the female Elf gave him a pouch, which he pretended to put in his pouch before storing it in his inventory where he confirmed the amount was correct. "You aren''t going to confirm it''s the right amount of gold?" The woman asked. "No need. I know your face and if you''ve payed less then the agreed amount then I will simply never supply you again." Alex said. For some reason that seemed to shock her. After returning he gestured for the human to speak. "I want 25 mana potions and 8 health potions. And I''ve already calculated that it is 181 gold total." The man said. Nodding Alex and the man went into the storage room and traded before returning where the Dwarf quickly said. "I don''t like you. But I want 35 mana potions and 4 health potions. I don''t do numbers so how much is it?" "203 gold total." Alex responded. The Dwarf looked at the Human who nodded, before grunting and walking to the storage room. After that deal the Dwarf left leaving Ailas and Alex alone in the storage room. "So do you wish to buy any Ailas?" Alex asked. The Elf should still have plenty but if he has been sharing then he might be low. "Yes 10 mana and health potions." "I only have 5 health potions left currently. It will cost 85 gold for 10 mana potions and 5 health potions." Alex told him. Nodding the two exchanged gold for potions. "Come I wish to speak to the others." Alex said before walking back to the bedroom. Pulling out 4 of the Mafia Buyer Coins he said. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. "These are Buyer coins. They are proof that you have bought potions from us before. If you see someone where a cloak like this with the same marking on it as the coin, then approach them and ask ''Mafia?''. They will respond with ''Identification'' after that show them the coins. They will either set up a time and location for a deal or they will take you somewhere to deal right then. If they do not make the proper response then they are not one of us. Any questions?" Alex told them before handing all four a coin. "Will it always be you we deal with?" The Human asked. "No. For now it will be me but soon others will arrive and you will rarely make deals with me." "Will your group, Mafia, sell other potions or items." The Dwarf asked roughly. "Within time other items will become available to buy. Simply ask whoever you are dealing with if there is anything new in our menu." "Can we bring others with us?" Ailas asked. "You may not bring other coin holders to your deals. If you know others who want to buy from us but never have, you may bring one new buyer with you per deal. All deals will require full payment during the deal. Do not mention these potions to any town guards or city officials. After all we don''t want the Church of Light coming and ruining this for everyone. Right?" All of them nodded before looking around to see if anyone else was going to ask anything. "Well good doing business with you all. Good night." Alex said before quickly leaving. Making sure he wasn''t followed he returned to his cabin before checking his inventory. 687 Gold. Holy shit. He made 618 gold from those deals. He still had 52 mana potions but no health potions. He sold 90 mana potions and all 24 health potions. He had 6 Buyer coins left. =)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=) IN THE CABIN {System I finished a mission!} [Ugh it''s quest you fool but fine.] [QUEST 1: Sell 50 mana potions and 20 Health potions.] [COMPLETED] [REWARD 1: 150 Credits, 1 Fast Growth Pot, 1 Random Seed pack.] [DEDUCTING 35 Credits for 10 Mafia Buyer Coins] [REWARD 1: 115 Credits, 1 Fast Growth Pot, 1 Speed Seed Pack. Check Inventory Host.] He still had 15 credits so now he had 130 total. Another FGP is nice and a new type of seed. He would wait a bit before growing those. He needed to focus on having a decent supply of mana and health plants. {System can I use credits or gold to customize my cloak.} Alex asked. [After buying or receiving an item from the system store you may use either credits or gold to customize them. Living items such as the plants are not customizable. It will cost 5 Store Credits or 25 gold to add the reaper emblem to your cloak.] {I need every store credit I can get so use 25 gold. Add the emblem to the right breast of my cloak.} [DEDUCTING 25 Gold. Customizing. Completed. Check inventory host. Now let me half-sleep.] Shaking his head before pulling the cloak out of his inventory, he saw the same red emblem from the coins on his cloak. It wasn''t huge but large enough to be noticed. Good now he needed to buy another greenhouse and health seed packs. {Store.} [FAST GROWTH PLANTER POTS - 15 Store Credits. 10x Growth Speed. Can Hold 1 Small Plant.] [FAST GROWTH GREENHOUSE - 60 Store Credits. 10x Growth Speed. Can Hold 7 Small Plants.] [CLOAK OF SHADOWS - 40 Store Credits. Prevent other from seeing your face, dilutes voice.] [MANA SEED PACK - 5 Store Credits.] [HEALTH SEED PACK - 8 Store Credits] [SPEED SEED PACK - 10 Store Credits] [POPPY SEED PACK - 15 Store Credits] [CANNABIS SEED PACK - 12 Store Credits] [CUSTOMIZED CLOAK OF SHADOWS - 45 Store Credits. Has reaper emblem on the right breast of the cloak. Allowing others to identify members of your mafia.] [AS YOU EARN MORE CREDITS MORE ITEMS WILL BECOME AVAILABLE.] Buying a greenhouse and 3 health seed pack, Alex was left with 46 credits. Going out back to his first greenhouse he place the second next to it and stepped away for it to expand. He nearly got the distance right. They were only 4 inches between each other. Opening his seed pack 2 of them had 3 seed and the last had 4. He got lucky, 10 seeds total. Enough the fill the greenhouse as well as the new planter pot and still have 2 left over. Using the fertilizer he filled all 7 plant beds in the greenhouse as well as the new pot. After planting and water the seeds he left the pot inside before leaving and going back to the cabin. Tomorrow he planned to scout the town for his first recruit. Everwinter has a population of 8,000 people. Surely someone would stand out to him. =)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=) /CURRENT GOLD/ 662 GOLD/ /CURRENT CREDITS/ 46 CREDITS/ /CURRENT MANA POTS/ 52 MANA POTIONS/ /CURRENT HEALTH POTS/ 0 HEALTH POTS/ /CURRENT MANA PLANTS/ 9 MANA PLANTS/ /CURRENT HEALTH PLANTS/ 10 HEALTH PLANTS/ /CURRENT BUYER COINS/ 6 BUYER COINS/ /CURRENT # OF BUYERS/ 4 BUYERS/ FIRST DEALER The morning after the meeting Alex harvested and crafted all 72 mana potions and the 6 health potions for the day, he still needed 3 more days before the 8 new health plants finished growing. After finishing this task and storing the potions in his inventory, he put on his cloak before traveling into town. He spent hours simply walking around and inspecting people. Most were just going about their days, buying, selling, trading and socializing. One group that caught his attention was a group of 4 Dwarves, after stalking them for a bit he came to the conclusion that they were idiots. However they could be used as soldiers in his Mafia, but soldiers would come laters. Right now he was looking for someone who was stealthy, agile and intelligent. They would be his first dealer. It was nearing evening time and he had yet to find a potential recruit. Currently he is walking down one of the more poorly maintained neighborhoods, if he could find someone here to recruit then with the promise of a bit of gold per sale there is a higher chance of loyalty. Of course greed is something most sapient beings are familiar with. He would need to find a way to observe his underlings, perhaps the system had a way. But that''s a conversation for later. Currently he was watching as a cloaked form attempted to steal from one of the few vendor stalls in this neighborhood. It looked to be a female or a thin male with little muscle. The jumped down from the roof above the stall and grabbed a small bad of silver in one of the stall drawers. All before the vendor could take action, unfortunately for the would be thief the vendor seemed used to such things happening. As the thief turned to run the vendor pulled on a rope hooked to the stall, the other end of said rope lay on the ground beneath the mud right where the thief would. The rope tied around the thief''s legs causing them to fall to the ground, dropping the pouch of silver. The vendor looked pissed, and who could blame him, he was approaching the downed thief with a knife in hand. Alex quickly made his way over grabbing the vendors hand and putting a gold coin in it before whispering in the man''s ear. "Now good sir there is no need to resort to violence today. I have given you a gold, let me take this thief off your hands." The man quickly looked at the coin in his hand before grunting and untying the thief, who Alex firmly put a hand on there shoulder. Quickly walking away, the thief began struggling to get out of his grip. "Now none of that. You will come along, you''ve impressed me so we will speak about you getting a job and opportunity to make much gold." Alex said to the now confirmed female Elf. Eventually they made their way to Ailas''s bookstore, who jumped up with a smile when seeing Alex come in. "Ailas I''m not here for a deal. I require use of a room so this Elf and I may speak away from any unwanted ears. Here take 1 gold for use of one of your rooms. Any will do." Alex told the man. Ailas nodded before beckoning them to the back hall and opening the door to the same storage room from the night before. "I will leave you." Ailas said before shutting the door and walking back to the front of the store. "Lower your hood. I want to see the face of my potential underling." Alex told the woman. "Well why don''t you lower yours? I want to see the face of my potential boss." The woman said with a sassy tone. Chuckling Alex replied, "Until you have gained my trust I will not show my face. My business has potential to draw powerful enemies. The less who know who I am the better for all." The woman glared for a moment before lowering her hood. She had silver head and purple eyes with pointed ear and thin lips. This explained why she was living as she is, the silver hair is the tell tale sign of void magic. A Magic banned by the Church of Life for being evil or some nonsense, meaning she would have very few employment opportunities, even if she tried being a prostitute men would still avoid her. And dye apparently get destroyed by their void Magic within minutes of applying it to the hair. "Well an interesting development. This certainly explains a bit of your situation." Alex told the woman. "So what is your name?" This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. "Nyana. What''s this job you have for me?" "Well Nyana, you will be selling my¡­products to specific customers. The man running this store for example is one said customer. With each sale you make 10%. So if you sell 100 gold worth then you take home 10 gold that day. If you prove to be loyal, how much you make and your position will increase. If you''re loyal you get more wealth and power. After all I am the only person in the world who has these products, so being one of my dealers with bring you much." Alex told her. "What''s your name? And what are these products of yours?" Nyana asked. "You may call me the Don. As for the products, you may only know after accepting to join me." Nyana was quiet for nearly ten minutes. She got the creeps from this person, however he is offering her wealth and power if she''s loyal and sells his products. She would accept and if it turned out to be true she would tell this man about others like her. "Fine I accept." Nyana said. "Tomorrow morning return here. We will speak more." Nyana nodded before saying, "If this turns out to be real, then I know of others that will be interested in this. After all there is an entire underground society, of outcasts and criminals such as myself, in this kingdom." She quickly left after saying that. Alex was shocked, nothing he read mentioned such a thing. Every book made it seem like society was thriving after 150 years of peace. Hmm and interesting development. He quickly left the store after telling Ailas he would return the following morning with the same person. Luckily the man hadn''t Nyana''s face. =)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=) After returning to the cabin Alex asked the system, {System is there any to observe my underlings from a distance?} [Yes after you unlock the ability to use magic. Which you can now because¡­] [QUEST 2: Recruit your first underling.] [COMPLETED] [REWARD 2: 100 Credits, 1 Fast Growth Greenhouse, 1 Cloak of Shadows.] [Check the store you have unlocked new items.] {Store.} [FAST GROWTH PLANTER POTS - 15 Store Credits. 10x Growth Speed. Can Hold 1 Small Plant.] [FAST GROWTH GREENHOUSE - 60 Store Credits. 10x Growth Speed. Can Hold 7 Small Plants.] [CLOAK OF SHADOWS - 40 Store Credits. Prevent other from seeing your face, dilutes voice.] [MANA SEED PACK - 5 Store Credits.] [HEALTH SEED PACK - 8 Store Credits] [SPEED SEED PACK - 10 Store Credits] [POPPY SEED PACK - 15 Store Credits] [CANNABIS SEED PACK - 12 Store Credits] [CUSTOMIZED CLOAK OF SHADOWS - 45 Store Credits. Has reaper emblem on the right breast of the cloak. Allowing others to identify members of your mafia.] [MANA STONE - 150 Store Credits. Infuses the user''s body with mana, allowing them to harness and use magics. CAN ONLY BUY 3.] [COLT M1911A1 - 200 Store Credits. A reliable pistol with a 7 round mag. Ammo sold separately.] [.45 ACP AMMO BOX - 25 Store Credits. A box containing 100 rounds of .45 ACP ammo.] [MOLOTOV COCKTAIL - 35 Store Credits. Let''s burn some shit.] [AS YOU EARN MORE CREDITS MORE ITEMS WILL BECOME AVAILABLE.] He has 146 credits now. An extra greenhouse and cloak is nice too. What truly shocked him wasn''t that he could now use magic. No it''s the fact that the store was allowing him to purchase modern weaponry in a medieval magical world. If you didn''t use magic then you used other weapons such and swords and bows. As much as he wants to buy both the colt and mana stone he didn''t have enough for either. {Thanks system. Is there another way to make credits though?} Alex asked. [Hmm fine. Doing this means I don''t have to waste so much of both our time with dumbass quests, meaning I can sleep more.] [Currency exchange unlocked.] [Current Exchange Rate: 3 gold : 1 credit] Alex currently has 662 gold. Meaning he could exchange it all for 220 credits if he wanted. So even if he bought both the mana stone and colt he still wouldn''t have enough to buy ammo. Whatever. {System exchange 600 gold.} [Confirmed. Exchanged. You have received 200 credits.] Now having 346 credits Alex decided to spend some on what he needed. The mana stone for 150, 3 health seed packs for 24 and changing the new cloak to have his emblem for 5. He would spend a total of 179, leaving him with 167. {System purchase 1 mana stone. 3 health seed pack and use 5 credits on the new cloak to add my emblem.} [Confirmed. Completed. Check inventory.] Checking his inventory he saw a dark blue stone, the 3 health seed packs and the cloak now had his emblem. Quickly taking the stone out and inspecting it he saw. [Infused user''s body with mana. Crush in hand to begin process.] shrugging he crushed it and suddenly passed out. =)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=) /CURRENT GOLD/ 62 GOLD/ /CURRENT CREDITS/ 167 CREDITS/ /CURRENT MANA POTS/ 124 MANA POTIONS/ /CURRENT HEALTH POTS/ 8 HEALTH POTS/ /CURRENT MANA PLANTS/ 9 MANA PLANTS/ /CURRENT HEALTH PLANTS/ 10 HEALTH PLANTS/ /CURRENT BUYER COINS/ 6 BUYER COINS/ /CURRENT # OF BUYERS/ 4 BUYERS/ DEALERS: Nyana - Female - Elf MAGIC Alex woke up a few hour later in the cabin. As he stood he felt lighter, and stronger. Was this the difference between those with and without magic? Magic. He could feel it coursing through his body, bubbling up, begging to be released. [Congratulation on not being totally useless in this world host!] the system said in an overly cheerful tone. [As a reward for unlocking mana, you get to choose a tome of basic spells for 1 of the following categories.] [Fire Magic, Water Magic, Earth Magic, Wind Magic, Light Magic, Dark Magic, Necromancy Magic, Blood Magic, Soul Magic, Enchanting Magic, Utility Magic.] [Choose wisely, the system will only give you this once. After this all Magic must be learned naturally from the world.] Alex was stunned at how many types of Magic there are. Clearly the Church of Life decided books can only mention certain types of Magic. He is tempted to choose Dark, Necromancy, Blood, or Soul Magic. However all of those are Void Magics, meaning they affect affect the Mind, Body and Soul of the used on. He can not risk being known as a practitioner of void magics right now. All of them seemed interesting however Utility seemed like what he wanted, a way to spy on his dealers. Screw it. {Utility Magic} [Confirmed. Utility Magic Tome added to inventory. Think ''Use'' while holding it in your hands.] [QUEST: LEARN AND INCREASE YOUR PROFICIENCY TO ADEPT IN ONE UTILITY MAGIC SKILL.] [REWARD: 50 Store Credits, Ever Burning Cauldron, 250 Potion Vials.] Alex was happy as well as annoyed. The quest reward meant he would have to start making the potions himself soon. He needed to find an alchemist soon. For now though, Magic. Opening his inventory and holding the tome he tried to open it, however it would not budge. {Use} Suddenly the tome burst into light particles and flew up to his face before entering his nose. Alex sat there for a minute not knowing what the hell just happened, before suddenly basic information on utility magic started filling his head. Utility Magics 1.) Spy Magic 2.) Cloaking Magic 3.) Cleaning Magic 4.) Warding Magic 5.) Tracking Magic Interesting, the last one involved tracking others through their magic as well as how to remove his magic to prevent others from tracking him. Warding allowed him to add magical defenses to an area. Cleaning is just that, Magic to clean items. Cloaking involved not only cloaking his body in magic but also ways to cloak his magic from others. However spy Magic is what he wanted currently. The ability to spy on others through magic. He only had a few spells for each branch of Utility Magic. Spy Spells 1.) Magic Eye - Send out a magical eye to observe others. Current max distance: 1.5 Kilometers If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.2.) Magical Ear - Casting this on an item allows the user to listen to those nearby. Current max duration: 6 hours. Effectiveness decreases with age. 3.) Magic Orb - send out an orb with both sight and sound. Max distance: 500 Meters. Max duration: 1.5 hours. All of these are extremely useful, and as he increased his proficiency in spy Magic he would be able to do more for longer. Taking a breath he cast magical eye. Suddenly his vision changed and now he could see¡­himself, sitting on his bed. Now time to test what exactly he could do as the eye. First he tried flying through the walls, he passed through them without issue. Next he flew into the forest quickly finding a deer, he flew through it. The deer stopped and looked around trying to find whatever spooked it. Hm so living things feel something if touched by it. Next he tried flying as high as possible, only to find that the height of course was a part of his max distance. Now time for a few more tests. =)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=) Several hours later saw Alex making the 72 mana and 8 health potions for the day. Increasing his total to, 196 mana and 16 health. He had played around with his eye for an hour or so before getting some sleep the night before. It turned out to be extremely useful but not undetectable. Luckily his cabin was only about 700 meters from the town meaning he could use his eye from the cabin and look into the town. After getting some more gold he would need to buy a location in Everwinter, a headquarters, where he could drop of products for his dealers. He couldn''t keep meeting them in person after he had a few. Quickly walking into the bookstore to see Nyana standing nearby with here cloaks hood up and Ailas behind the counts looking uncomfortable. Walking to Ailas he pulled out a mana potions setting it on the counter. "Your payment for letting us use your backroom these last couple days." Alex told the man who smiled before showing them to the same storage room as yesterday before leaving and closing the door. "So you are still willing to work under me?" Alex asked turning to look at Nyana. "Yes, if what you said is true then this is the best opportunity for someone like me." "Take off your cloak. I have one far more useful for you job." Alex said while also opening his inventory to look at the other Cloak of Shadows that had his reaper emblem on it. {System how much would it cost to change the color of this emblem} Alex asked. [Now you''re learning. Since the Emblem is already on the cloak,only 1 credit. In the future when paying to change an item, be specific.] {Use one credit and change the emblem of the cloak in my inventory to a dark green.} Alex said. He only wanted his to be red. Shows the difference of rank. [Completed.] Alex pulled out the cloak and handed it to Nyana who was looking at him oddly. He nearly checked to make sure he had his own cloak on. "Wear this whenever you are working. It casts shadows on your face preventing others from identifying you. And alters your voice. Now I will give you 10 mana potions. Your job is to sell them. Each sells for 5 gold. You get to keep 50 silver per potion sold. Do not sell to town officials or guards or official members of the church. We don''t need that attention. Do not use the potions. They may grant great benefits, however they are highly addictive. Only a fool become reliant on their own product." Alex said before pulling out a Buyer Coin. "Lastly these are Buyer coins. They prove that the person has bought from us in the past. I will give you a few of these to give your customers. If you give one to a customer, tell them to only approach those with cloaks that have our emblem on it if they wish to buy more. The mana potions double regeneration for 6 hours. Do you understand?" "That''s a lot but yeah I understand." She said. Nyana wanted to ask him about his magic that he clearly didn''t have the day before, but she didn''t want to piss off her new boss. "Good. If you prove yourself you will be rewarded." Alex said before taking out a bag with 10 mana potions. "This bag has the 10 potions. Now go, and be careful." He handed her the bag and 3 buyer coins. She nodded before leaving. Now it''s time for him to return home and watch her. NYANA鈥橲 FIRST DEAL After Nyana left the bookstore with her new cloak and the potions, Alex decided to go and rent a room at the inn for the day so he could observe her wherever she went in the city. The room only cost 50 silver a day so it was worth it, considering if she made even a single deal then he''d have his money back and more. The first thing she did was go to one of the more shady streets, full of stores that looked as if they had a "special" menu. These are store owners that would never go to the Church, after all they wouldn''t want the church to look into their own business. The first shop was a bust, she came out after only 30 seconds. However the second shop seemed to be a different story. Using his skill [Magic Orb], so he could see and listen, he flew into the shop to observe the interaction. The first thing she did was ask if the man behind the shop counter was the owner, after getting the affirmative answer, she then asked him to close the shop as she had ''an interesting item'' to sell to him. The man looked at her curiously for a minute before doing as she asked. She then place a mana potion on the shop counter before saying. "This is a mana potion. It will double mana regeneration for 6 hours. It is 5 gold per potion. We are the only ones who can offer such an item." "Hmm, if what you say is true then I am very interested. However, who exactly is "we"?" The man asked. "That is something you do not get the privilege to know at this time. Do you wish to buy or not? There are others I can go to if not. Do not waste more of my time." Nyana told the man. Alex was worried at first that something could happen to her¡­not because he cared about her but because he cared about his potions being stolen. However she was a mage and could fight with daggers as well. "Very well I will pay for this one now and test it. If it works I will buy more." The man said before using some magic to summon 5 gold from a nearby pouch. He handed her the gold and went to drink the potions before Nyana stopped him. "Don''t drink the whole thing fool. Why do you think those markings are on the vial? There are 8 servings per potion." The man stared at her for a minutes before shaking his head, he then summoned a clay cup and pored one serving (1 ounce) into the cup and then drank it. Alex watched as the man stood completely still before his eyes went wide and he grinned. "Yes, yes I will buy all you have. NOW!" The man practically shouted. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Nyana took the other 9 potions out and told the man to pay 45 more gold, which he seemed to do happily. "One last thing. This coin is proof you''ve done a deal with us before. If you wish to buy more potions after those, then find someone with a cloak bearing this marking. They can provide more for the right price. If you give this coin away, we will know and you will punish you accordingly." Nyana said. Alex raised an eyebrow at the threat. He hadn''t told her to say that, this is good, very good. She could improvise as needed. And for more shady customers threats might be needed. After taking as storing the gold in a pouch Nyana left. Now Alex wanted to see what she would do. Would she run with the gold? Soon he got his answer, she was heading straight towards Ailas''s store. Alex canceled his magic orb before donning his cloak and leaving the inn. Walking to intercept her, she saw him and walked to him. "Come." Is all he said before heading back into the inn and leading her to his room. "You did well. Now the gold." Alex said holding out his hand. He wasn''t going to pretend he just happened to bump into her. She wasn''t that stupid. She took off the pouch and handed it to him almost reluctantly. Alex chuckled before putting it in his inventory to confirm the amount. He didn''t really care if she saw something like that, now that he has magic he had an explanation for such a thing. He then removed 5 gold, putting it in the pouch and handing it back to the Elf woman. She seemed genuinely surprised. "Very good. Tomorrow mid-morning I will meet you in this inn. I will pay for 2 more days. Well done today." Alex said before standing and leaving. =)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=) Alex went straight back to the cabin. When he finally sat down on his bed he heard. [QUEST: LEARN AND INCREASE YOUR PROFICIENCY TO ADEPT IN ONE UTILITY MAGIC SKILL.] [COMPLETED] [REWARD: 50 Store Credits, Ever Burning Cauldron, 250 Potion Vials.] Shit. While it''s nice having more credits, he has 217 total now. This also meant he had to make the damned potions himself. [Oh quit whining. Honestly it''s pretty easy for simple potions such as these. Just add the flower petals and some water and let the chest cauldron I gave you do the work.] {Wait¡­if it''s that simple why hasn''t someone else done it?} [Fool I never said these plants are easy to find now did I? In fact plants that give any positive properties are extremely rare in this world. Now I''ll give you the Health and Mana potion recipes but all future recipes you either earn or buy. Going to half-sleep now.] {What the fuck is this half-sleep shit?!} Alex shouted in his mind. [Ugh stop screaming like a little girl. Half-sleep because my conscious self doesn''t have to deal with you. It''s usually my subconscious that gives you quests and shit. So I''m half-asleep.] {That''s dumb but whatever.} Looking in his inventory Alex saw the cauldron, vials and 2 sheets of paper, probably the recipes. Well let''s get to learning potion making or whatever the hell it''s called. ALCHEMY Alex was currently sitting on his bed in the cabin, staring at the recipes in his inventory. If they are anything like the tome he got, then simply putting them in his hand and thinking use would have him learning the recipes. He had so much shit to plan and now on top of it he had to deal with making potions manually. However it could also be seen as a good thing, maybe he can experiment and unlock new or more potent potions. First he took the mana recipe out. {Use} he thought while holding it. The recipe turned into wisps of light before flying up his nose, before he gained knowledge of the recipe. 6 mana petals boiled at 101¡ã in 12 ounces of water for 10 minutes, stir once during process. Remove petals once completed. This would make one potion. He could make more at once too. Say 24 mana petals in 48 ounces of water. The times did not change at all. Now he just needed to learn how to use the cauldron. Pulling it out of his inventory he used inspect on it. [Force your mana into the cauldron and think the temperature you want to change the temperature. The cauldron will stay at this this temperature for 12 hours before resetting to 1¡ãC. Or you can reset the temperature by forcing mana into the cauldron and thinking reset. Force your mana into the cauldron and think stir to stir the ingredients in the cauldron. Max liquid: 10 gallons or 1280 ounces.] This wasn''t to bad. Currently he could make daily 72 mana potions all at once. And the cauldron had marks in the inside showing how much liquid was in it. For all 72 potions he would need 864 ounces of water, or 6.75 gallons. Now time for the health recipe. He pulled it out and use it. 10 health petals boiled at 101¡ã in 20 ounces of water for 15 minutes. Stir twice during process. Remove petals once completed. So for the water it''s double the amount of petals. The time stays the same. Well this didn''t seem to hard so far. He would have to try in the following morning. [QUEST: MAKE 50 MANA POTIONS AND 25 HEALTH POTIONS.] [REWARD: 50 STORE CREDITS, SPEED POTION RECIPE, 1 CLOAK OF SHADOWS] He would be able to finish that quest tomorrow morning since the health plants in the greenhouse would be done growing by the time he woke up. =)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=) After waking up Alex went and picked the 432 mana petals and 300 health petals. He then filled the cauldron with 12 ounces of water before setting it on the fire brick fire place. He spent the next 10 minutes forcing his mana into the cauldron experimenting with changing the temp quickly. After that he set the temperature to 101¡ã and watched until it was boiling before putting in the 6 mana leaves. He let them boil for 5 minutes before pushing his mana into the cauldron and stirring them. 5 minutes later he quickly changed the temperature back down to 1¡ã. Seeking some more information Alex risked touching the outside of the cauldron, only to feel no heat at all. Next he touched the potion¡­which burned his finger. After cursing like a sailor for a few minutes, Alex grabbed a nearby wooden spoon and took out the now grey limp petals. He then dumped the potion into a metal bucket that was already in the cabin when he rented it, he had cleaned it out the night before. Alex didn''t want to immediately put the potion into a vial and risk shattering the glass. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Next he cleaned the cauldron, just to be safe, before adding 852 ounces of water and boiling it. After reaching the boiling point he added the remaining 426 mana petals. While the potion was cooking or whatever, he pulled out one of the vials and before adding the finished potion into it he decided to inspect the vial. Something he should''ve already done. [Regular glass vial with enchantments of heat and cold resistance. Resists up to 150¡ã heat and -60¡ã cold.] Damnit he could''ve just put the potion straight into the vial. After pouring the potion into the vial, he it had been 5 minutes, so he stirred the cauldron. After another 5 minutes he reset the cauldron temperature before scooping out the petals. He then used the spoon to start filling vials, this process took the longest as he had to fill 71 more vials. Once he completed the mana potions he then moved onto the health potions. Filling the cauldron with 600 ounces of water, after boiling he added the 300 health petal. At the 7 and 14 minute mark he stirred it. Once finished he turned down the temperature, removed the petals and filled all 30 vials. {Wow I''m pretty good at this. Maybe I should forget about being a crime boss and just open up a shop¡­.yeah no I''m good.} [These are the simplest potions, you fool. A child could make them. I''d like to see you make a divine potion.] Ignoring the system Alex cleaned the cauldron before putting on his cloak and heading to the town. After arriving he entered the inn to see Nyana at a nearby table eating. As soon as she saw him enter she rose and led him to her room. She was already wearing her cloak even while having her breakfast, smart girl. After entering he quickly pulled out 30 mana and 10 health potions, he put them in the bag she still had. "If you sell all of these today, you will make 20 gold. The health potions also sell for 5 gold each. Remember everything I told you. One thing I did not tell you is the procedure for those who have buyer coins. If someone comes up to you and says ''Mafia?'' You reply with ''Identification'' they will then show you the coin. From there you can take them somewhere to make a deal if need be. Don''t make deals out in the open. That should be all, good luck, I''ll see you at the end of the day." Alex told her. After leaving the inn he walked around for a bit looking for a building to purchase as they''re headquarters in Everwinter. Eventually he found one, it''s a 2 story house with a basement. It''s in one of the less populated neighborhoods, not really a shady part of town, just less people around. Another bonus is the church and guard center is on the other side of the town. After finding the house he left to the cabin, from there he would use his eye to spy on Nyana. /CURRENT INVENTORY/ GOLD: 107 BUYER COINS: 3 STORE CREDITS: 217 MANA POTIONS: 228 HEALTH POTIONS: 36 POTION VIALS: 148 FAST GROWTH GREENHOUSE: 1 SPEED SEED PACK: 1 SECOND DEALER It''s had been one week since Alex had found his future Everwinter headquarters. Everyday he would give Nyana 30 mana and 10 health potions. Making him 180 gold daily since Nyana got paid 20. After 7 days he had 1,367 gold, plenty to buy the house which only cost 300 gold. Everyday he would wake up and make 72 mana and 30 health potions, manually. After the second day he had to buy more vials, spending 50 credits for 1000 vials. The system had given him his reward for finishing the potions quest meaning he was left with 217 credits. He had used his 3rd greenhouse to start growing speed plants 3 days ago, they would be ready to harvest this morning. The speed plants are 2 feet tall. They have 3 dozen stems, with a flower coming off each stem. Each flower has 3 green petals, only allowing him to safely pick one per flower. That means he get 36 petals per plant, he has 7 plants, so 252 petals total. It costs 3 petals per potion, allowing him to make 84 potions daily. He had already learned the speed recipe he got from the last quest. 3 speed petals boiled at 105¡ã in 10 ounces of water for 15 minutes. Remove petals when finished. So for 84 potions he would need 840 ounces of water. Luckily he could do them all at ounce. Alex started working on the potions, and within a hour he completed, 72 mana, 30 health and 84 speed. Today he would give Nyana her first major batch. Having 48 mana and 20 health potions left over after giving Nyana what she needed to sell, allowed him to stockpile. He currently has 522 mana pots, 176 health pots, and 84 speed pots which he made today. He had recently started calling them pots¡­because it''s easier. After today he only had 202 vials, he would need to buy more soon. He planned to give Nyana 60 Mana 30 Health and 50 Speed pots to sell today. And since they had a new product she could seek out previous customers. He planned to sell the speed pots at 7.5 gold per pots as well. Inspecting one this is what he saw. [SPEED POTION: DOUBLES USERS SPELL CASTING SPEED, PHYSICAL SPEED, AND CRAFTING SPEED FOR 3 HOURS. USING MULTIPLE DOSES DOES NOT STACK EFFECT.] This was amazing. His mana potions can only be used by those with magic. His health potions are usually bought by adventurer parties. However the speed potions can be used by pretty much everyone. Your a blacksmith and want to hammer faster? Drink a serving of speed. Oh you''re a swordsman with no man and want to be faster? Drink some speed. Or maybe you are a magic user, but since you have a mana potion which regens mana faster, maybe you want something that also lets you cast fast. Drink some speed. He was grinning now. Luckily he has his hood up while walking through the town. Recently Nyana had rented out a room at the inn. By renting for a full month she got a reduced price, instead of 50 silver daily or 15 gold a month, she gets it for 35 silver daily or 10 gold 50 silver a month. He quickly entered the inn and went straight to her room. As always she was already awake with her cloak on, waiting for him. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. "Today you will have a large batch, and will be introducing a new product. You can go to our previous customers and offer to sell to them. It might make your job easier. It''s called a speed potion, it''s the green one, it''s sold for 7 gold 50 silver each." He told her, before also telling her what it does. She then took the bag with 140 potions, she had expanded the internal space of the bag after the second day of selling. Now it could fit hundreds, maybe thousands, of potions inside. She left with a spring in her step. He couldn''t blame her, if she sold all those potions then she''d make 82 gold and 50 silver while he''d make another 742.5 gold. =)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=) Soon evening cam and Alex met with Nyana again in her room. She handed him a pouch with 825 gold, he was surprised she sold it all in a single day. He gave her the 82.5 gold before turning to leave. "Wait boss." Nyana said. He turned to look at the Elf. "I know someone else who''d be interested in this work. He''s like a little brother to me, he barely surviving. So I figured he could work for you and it means you can sell more of your products." She said. While it did mean he''d have to pay another person, it would be worth it doubling his daily income. He would have to watch them for a bit and make sure they weren''t planning anything. "I will speak with him. Where can I find him? And what''s his name?" Alex asked. "Um, actually he right outside the inn. His names Jason. And don''t worry I didn''t tell him anything, other then there''s a possible job opportunity. One thing you should know is he''s also a corrupted like me." She told him. Corrupted, it''s the name the church gave to those who use void magic. "Very well go get him." Alex said while sighing. She left and soon returned with a young man wearing a cloak. He lowered it as he entered. The man had the same grey hair as Nyana. He was human however. He wasn''t bulky but definitely wasn''t thin either. He had muscle but you could tell he hadn''t eaten well until recently, Nyana must be paying to feed him. "Jason. You want a job yes?" Alex asked. The man nodded. "And what has Nyana told you so far?" "She didn''t tell me anything. Only that the same person she''s working for might be willing to offer me a job. And that she''s getting payed very well." Jason said. "I don''t care what you need me to do. Fighting people, stealing, hell even killing. As long as I get paid for it then I''ll take the job." Alex smiled under his hood. He could see a fire in this man''s eyes. He wanted wealth and power, even more then Nyana did. He would use him as a dealer, and if need be a soldier. Spending 25 gold Alex added the green reaper emblem onto the extra Cloak of Shadows in his inventory. Taking it out and handing it to the man. "Very well. Nyana you will give him the run down of every thing. Tomorrow you will start." Alex said before quickly leaving. Tomorrow after giving the two the products for the day, he would buy that house and start setting it up as his headquarters. /CURRENT INVENTORY/ PLATINUM: 2 GOLD: 84 SILVER: 50 BUYER COINS: 0 MANA POTS: 462 HEALTH POTS: 146 SPEED POTS: 34 STORE CREDITS:217 POTION VIALS: 202 NEW HEADQUARTERS The next day Alex made all his potions early in the morning. He had noticed he didn''t need as much sleep now that he had mana flowing through his body. He usually slept 3 hours per night. The days in this world are shorter at 20 hours. 1 hour of sunrise, 9 hours of day, 1 hour of sunset and 9 hours of night. The year and months are shorter too, 336 days a year and 28 days a month. Anyways he made the 72 mana, 30 health and 84 speed potions. Leaving him with only 16 potion vials left. {Store} Alex thought. [FAST GROWTH PLANTER POTS - 15 Store Credits. 10x Growth Speed. Can Hold 1 Small Plant.] [FAST GROWTH GREENHOUSE - 60 Store Credits. 10x Growth Speed. Can Hold 7 Small Plants.] [CLOAK OF SHADOWS - 40 Store Credits. Prevent other from seeing your face, dilutes voice.] [MANA SEED PACK - 5 Store Credits.] [HEALTH SEED PACK - 8 Store Credits] [SPEED SEED PACK - 10 Store Credits] [POPPY SEED PACK - 15 Store Credits] [CANNABIS SEED PACK - 12 Store Credits] [CUSTOMIZED CLOAK OF SHADOWS - 45 Store Credits. Has reaper emblem on the right breast of the cloak. Allowing others to identify members of your mafia.] [MANA STONE - 150 Store Credits. Infuses the user''s body with mana, allowing them to harness and use magics. CAN ONLY BUY 3.] [COLT M1911A1 - 200 Store Credits. A reliable pistol with a 7 round mag. Ammo sold separately.] [.45 ACP AMMO BOX - 25 Store Credits. A box containing 100 rounds of .45 ACP ammo.] [MOLOTOV COCKTAIL - 35 Store Credits. Let''s burn some shit.] [Potion Vials - 25 Store Credits. Get 500 heat and cold resistant potion vials. Holds 8 ounces of fluid. Comes with a cork.] [BUYER COINS - 1 Store Credit. Allows you to identify previous customers.] [EVER BURNING CAULDRON - 125 Store Credits. Stays a specific temperature for hours or until reset. The perfect cauldron for a beginner alchemist.] [EXPANDED STORAGE CRATE - 25 Store Credits. A magically expanded storage crate, can hold up to 3000 potions inside.] [AS YOU EARN MORE CREDITS MORE ITEMS WILL BECOME AVAILABLE.] He had of 2000 gold, or 2 platinum. He decided to spend 600 on Store credits. Making his total come up to 417. Next he bought 1000 more vials for 50 credits. Next he bought another cauldron, he really wanted to buy the gun but at this time the cauldron was a better investment. He currently has no enemies and didn''t plan to make any until he had a few soldiers at least. He then bought 50 buyer coins so he could split them between his dealers. He could eventually expand a storage crate himself but having one in his headquarters would be nice so he bought one. This left him with 167 credits. He was tempted to buy more greenhouses and seed pack but felt he was at his limit for now. He now had 1,484.5 gold. He currently had 534 mana potions, 176 potions, and 118 speed potions. He took out the storage crate before climbing in. It seemed to be 100 meters wide, tall and long. He started organizing the potions in rows. After that he climbed back out and stored the crate in his inventory. Now time to go get his 2 dealers, buy the house and fully buy the farm. The farm is what he was calling the cabin and the land it''s on. Leaving he soon arrived at the inn with his cloak on, after entering and going to the room he found his two deals both with their cloaks on already. Luckily the system allowed him to see their faces, so unlike everyone else he knew who he was looking at. "Come, we have business to attend to." Alex said before heading to the town hall. Arriving he went to one of the property administrators, the house he looked at wasn''t bought yet so a town administrator was responsible for it. He had spent the last day looking into how properties worked in this world. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. There aren''t any street names. Simply numbers and 1 letter. H stands for house, B for business, P for public building, T for town owned. For example the town hall is T1. Or the inn is B22. The house he wanted to own was currently T455, after he bought it then it would change to H455. "Hello I wish to buy T455." He told the administrator, who was looking at the 3 of them suspiciously. It would be fine he''d give them some extra gold and they would go away. "Hm, fine it will be 235 gold." The man said. So he wanted an extra 35 gold for not making any trouble with them. Fine he''d let the many get away with his scam but he''d also remember this. "Very well." Alex said before reaching into his cloak and putting gold into the pouch on his hip. Pulling it out he set it on the counter. The man cast a spell to count it. "Name?" The administrator asked, "Alexander Power." This wasn''t actually Alex''s last name in his previous life¡­not like they knew that. The last name was actually that of a once good friend. The administrator put some mana invite the paper changing the info and making a copy of the sheet, before casting a spell to prevent the papers from being tampered with. Then handing a copy to Alex. "All done. It is now H455. Here is your magic lock and key." The man said handing him what looked like a bracelet, this would go on the door handle and stick there. The key had the same magical signature, meaning even if someone tried pick locking the door the couldn''t get in. You needed a key with the exact same magic signature to open it. "Thank you. Good day." Alex left with his 2 follower. Next he headed towards the blacksmith. When he arrived he told his 2 followers to wait outside before entering and quickly removing his hood. Kognum had already seen his face. He walked further in and saw Kognum out back hammering away. "Kognum hello." Alex said. "Hm, what do you want boy? Rents not due yet." "I wish to purchase the land. It''s 650 is it not?" Alex asked. "Yes. Come let us do this quickly. I have work to do." They quickly signed a contract that basically stated Alex as the new owner. Unlike in the town, cabins and land are not numbered. Farms and the like are identified by the family who owns it. Another thing Alex thought while dealing with the blacksmith, blacksmiths are the perfect buyers for the speed potions. He would mention it to his dealers later. Putting on his hood before leaving, Alex stepped out and beckoned the other 2 to follow. Soon they arrived out the house. After putting the magical lock on they stepped inside. It was completely barren, as expected. "This will be out new headquarters. For now you may stay here, find a room. Do not enter the basement without my permission." /CURRENT INVENTORY/ PLATINUM: 0 GOLD: 599 SILVER: 50 BUYER COINS: 50 MANA POTS: 532 (in crate) HEALTH POTS: 176 (in crate) SPEED POTS: 118(in crate) STORE CREDITS:167 POTION VIALS: 1016 CAULDRON: 1 STORAGE CRATE: 1 AUTHORS NOTE: Thanks for reading. Do you guys want to see more magic? It won''t be a main focus for a while, but I''ll do a chapter here and there focusing on it. Magic will become big in the second volume. What did you think of the chapter? Also we are nearly at 15K words! In less then a week! I need to slow down lol, I don''t want to burn out. Another reason I''m just going to be doing 1 chap a day. Anyways what underling should he get next? More dealers or a soldier? Also big thanks to TheLibraryOfLife, they joined this discord and gave some good ideas. If I use them I''ll be sure to give him credit. Anyways vote with your power stone if you like the story! And join the discord! https://discord.gg/vRJ333TCev ONE MONTH LATER It has been one month since Alex bought this house, one busy month. A couple days after buying this house Alex bought 3 more greenhouses for the farm, allowing him to double his daily output of potions. He now makes 128 mana, 51 health and 168 speed pots daily. He now had 4 dealers, Nyana and Jason are no longer dealing, they are now Capos or captains of the dealers. He''s making around 2,100 gold daily. Each dealer makes 53.5 gold daily, leaving Alex with around 1,886 after paying them, he then pays Nyana and Jason 75 gold each leaving him with 1,736 gold. He had also gotten Kognum addicted to the speed potions, as they helped him craft his weapons and armor much faster. During one meeting Kognum couldn''t pay the full amount and this one time Alex took an alternative payment. Soldiers. Something very few know of Kognum is that he is secretly providing armor and weapons to a group of Dwarf bandits. After he put Alex in contact with them, all he had to do was offer the 5 of them 20 gold daily to work for him. They aren''t the smartest and usually aren''t needed but Alex has one soldier with each dealer, and occasionally a buyer will attempt to steal if they can''t pay. It has yet to end well for them. The 100 gold per days for the Dwarves leaves him at 1,636 gold. Finally the last person working for him in an alchemist Nyana found nearly dead in an alley. He pays the man 35 gold a day, on return the man harvests and makes the potions everyday, of course he had to explain the process to him. This left him with exactly 1,601 gold earned daily. In one month he had earned 48,030 gold, a significant wealth from a large town. He couldn''t wait to move his products into a city. Harvir, the fifth dwarf who didn''t shadow a dealer came rushing into his office. He was the most intelligent of the Dwarves, so Alex made him the a Capo of soldiers, usually he was guarding the headquarters or was with Nyana and Jason working with them on better procedures. "Don we have a problem. A store owner who buys our potions, and while that isn''t a major issue, he has sold to a couple guards. A couple of my men have subdued them and covered them in the back of a cart, they are traveling here as we speak." The Dwarf Capo told him. Today might be the first time Alex has to send a message to his buyers. "We will wait until the soldiers get here with our¡­prisoners, then we will go deal with this merchant." Alex said. The Capo nodded and they waited. Soon, around 10 minutes later, the front door of the HQ was banged on. Alex went down the stairs to the door before using a utility spell to see through it, both his dwarf soldiers are dragging a human guard. Quickly opening the door both looked up to see the Don. "Uh..Don sir boss, these are the ones." One elegantly said. "Bring them to the basement." He said. Once they arrived he ordered. "Remove all their armor and weapons then tie them up. I''ll deal with them when I return." He and his Dwarf Capo left, his Capo leading him to the store. It turns out to the the same store Nyana made her first deal at. The owner was a magic user, however he mainly used Utility Magic, like most store owners. Alex himself had gotten all spells from each sub-branch of Utility Magic to adept. He then bought a fire magic tome and had gotten a couple combat spells to adept. Quickly entering, the man noticed their cloaks and smiled. However that quickly changed when Harvir rushed him and pulled him over the counter, throwing him to the ground. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. "What is the meaning of this! Do you know who I am." The man shouted while quickly pulling out his buyer coin. "The boss wants to talk to you." Harvir said. The man''s eyes widened hearing the word boss, he quickly looked towards Alex, of course he couldn''t see his face through the cloaks hood. Alex leaned down and grabbed the man''s face. "You fucked up. We already knew you were selling our products, and we let it be for now. Letting your greed go unchecked. A mistake on our part. But selling to guards? How stupid can you be? They would eventually go to the church, who would call a crusade to cleanse this town, as an excuse to steal or destroy the potions. Now you''ve forced me to make an example of you." Alex told the now fearful man. Alex quickly cast a spell to block sound from escaping the shop for a short while, before pulling out his pistol and shooting the man in the head. The man''s foolishness didn''t warrant torture, best to get it over quickly. "Harvir take anything of value from this shop and store it at the headquarters. Call the other soldiers if needed." He told the dwarf who nodded. Alex then stored the body in his inventory before heading back to the HQ. After arriving he headed into the basement, both the human guards are awake and his 2 soldiers are standing behind them watching them. "Now we can make this easy or hard. It''s your choices. Did either of you tell anyone about the potions?" Alex asked while taking the gag out of their mouths. "No. I swear we didn''t!" One said while the other simply shook his head. Alex sighed before shooting the man who spoke in the left knee. Luckily there are permanent sound nullification wardstones in the basement. The man screamed, making his partner flinch in fear. "I will ask one last time. Did you tell anyone about the potions?" Alex asked in a low, deadly tone. The man not wounded shouted, "NO! We didn''t have a chance to even try them. We just bought them a few hours ago." Alex nodded, before quickly putting a bullet in both their heads. He removed the shop owners body before digging out all 3 bullets. Maybe he should''ve used a knife? Shaking his head Alex cast a few fire spells, burning all their clothes and most of their torsos and lower body. Only the faces remained untouched. Alex pulled a buyer coin out of his inventory before putting it between the teeth of the shop owner. He then cast some Utility Magic to carve his emblem into the guards. This was a message, he wanted all his buyers to understand. Next he wrote a quick not before pinning it to the shop owner. It simply read: "He sold what was not his to sell. This is his punishment for going behind the back of the reaper. Now the reaper has taken his soul as payment for his transgressions." "Tonight, put their bodies in the town center, for all to see." Alex told them before leaving for his office. He would need to push his plans forward earlier then he wanted. Time to recruit more. /CURRENT INVENTORY/ PLATINUM: 48 GOLD: 629 SILVER: 50 BUYER COINS: Unknown MANA POTS: Unknown HEALTH POTS: Unknown SPEED POTS: Unknown STORE CREDITS: Unknown POTION VIALS: Unknown AUTHORS NOTE: I decided to do a time skip this chapter. I didn''t want to fall into the same trap as other authors who drag their story on by writing about day to day activities. Most days not much changes, I''d rather do a quickly "recap" of the major things that happened then to drag the story out for 20 chapters to get to that point. I also don''t want to fall into the trap of the MC becoming super powerful in like a week. So many stories are hundreds of chapters but the time relevancy is so shit. Do you guys think this is fine or not? Also you might think that him putting his emblem on the bodies is dumb, but he''s getting to the point where if he doesn''t make a point then his buyers will think they can walk all over him and his underlings. To those who have voted with their power stones, THANK YOU! Also if you feel like you''ve read enough to make a review please do so. Id love to know what I can work on to improve the store. Also join the discord dedicated to this story! https://discord.gg/vRJ333TCev MAJOR RECRUITMENT The town of Everwinter reeked of fear, the citizens walked with their heads down quickly to their destinations, most did not know who killed the three men, or why. However the few hundred who had the black coins with the reaper emblem on it, they knew, and they understood the message. Those with thoughts of selling the potions, for more then they bought them, quickly reconsider if it would be worth it. The town guards are more alert then ever, two of their own had been killed. The mayor is in his office panicking, trying to find a solution to put his people at ease. Alex though was in his office smiling, it seemed his message had been received. Now it is time for more recruitment. With bringing in 2 platinum a day, he could afford dozens of not hundreds of new soldiers. He didn''t need more dealers for now. His 3 Capos, Nyana, Jason, and Harvir entered his office and sat before him. "We need more soldiers. Soon we will make it known that we are a major faction in this town. Any ideas?" Alex asked them. "There are some guilds in the criminal underworld. Their members may be persuaded to join us for the right price. And while there is a good chance of some spies joining, we simply won''t trust them until they''ve proved themselves." Nyana said. Jason was nodding his head in agreement. Harvir looked¡­thoughtful, which was an odd expression to see on a Dwarf. "There are also other Dwarf bandits we could go to and offer daily payment for them serving you." Harvir said. "While we are making much profit, we can not pay the 20 gold a day to each soldier like our current ones. The current soldiers will keep getting paid the 20 gold, however we will only offer new members 5 gold a day to join us. Do you think that is enough to entice most?" Alex stated. "Hm for the bandits it will be plenty. Most bandits are broke and only occasionally steal something of value. Which they will usually sell and spend what they earned on booze, women and gambling." Harvir told them. Alex looked to Nyana and Jason next. "For most members 5 gold a day will be a wealth they''ve never seen. However for the higher up I doubt it will be enough." Nyana said, again Jason simply nodded. "While I''d like the more intelligent and powerful members of these guilds, right now we need numbers. All of you go and make offers to the groups you think will be interested. Remember the deal is 5 gold a day. Come report back to me at the end of the day." Alex told them. He didn''t expect to get hundreds of new members, but 2 or 3 dozen would be nice. He currently has 3,225 Store credits so he can buy plenty of cloaks as needed. The dealer cloaks have a green emblem while the soldiers have a yellow-orange emblem and his Capos have a purple emblem. Once he chose an underboss theirs would be blue, and only his is blood red. Alex planned to expand the farms again soon. He wanted to amp up production again. He feels that soon the system will let him travel out of this town, which will let him expand his operations to the rest of this kingdom and after that all the other kingdoms. But for now he needed to focus on this town. Hopefully his captains would come back with good news. Checking his inventory, he has over a thousand buyer coins. He only has 100 of each potion, just in case it''s ever needed. Pretty much all the potions made daily get sold the same day, any extras are stored in one of his crates in the basement, waiting to be sold the next day. He also had a crate with weapons from his old world, it currently held 2 dozen AR15s, 100 Colt M1911A1''s, and 2 thousand rounds of ammunition for both types of guns. He also had a couple dozen Molotov cocktails, just in case he wanted his soldiers to torch something. Once he had plenty of troops, he would find the best and most disciplined, then he''d train them with the weapons of his world. He currently has 10,000 potion vials, every day he will drop off enough for his alchemist to make all the potions that day. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Time to wait and see what news his Capos bring him, and to do boring ass paperwork. =)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=) First Harvir came back, not long after Nyana and Jason returned. It was already night outside, Alex motioned for them to sit before asking. "What news do you all bring? Were you successful?" "Aye. I got a total of 21 bandits to agree to work for you as soldiers, for 5 gold a day each." Harvir said first. Nodding Alex looked at the other two. "We spoke to many guilds. A total of 54 others have agreed to join us, 23 from the mercenary guild, 19 from the mages guild, 7 from the thieves guild and 5 from the assassins guild. All agreed for 5 gold a day. However I doubt they will have any loyalty towards us, but in time we may be able to instill some into them." Nyana spoke for both her and Jason. Nodding Alex fell into thought, he would have 80 soldiers if they all joined him. More then he expected. He would have to buy 75 more cloaks which would cost him a good bit of gold or credits, it would cost 3,375 credits or 10,125 gold. Granted he now has over 50,000 gold, or 50 platinum. Still it would hurt to spend that much, but needs must be met. He would also have to pay out an extra 375 gold daily for the 80 soldiers, which honestly wasn''t to bad compared to his other underling. That would lower his daily profit to 1,226 gold, which is still fucking great. "We will bring them in batches of 15. Nyana tomorrow bring 15 of the 54, of your choosing. You as the Capo will be responsible for the soldiers Harvir, however you may need a second to help you lead so many. If any of our new recruits proves themselves to you, bring it to my attention." Alex said before dismissing them. Alex decided to purchase all the cloaks after converting the 10,125 gold to credits, it''s cheaper to convert to credits them buying straight up with gold. A few days later saw a huge increase in number of those wearing cloaks with the same emblem that was carved into the guards, this caused even more fear amongst the citizens. The mayor was tempted to start arresting and interrogating them, however he didn''t want any retaliation. He decided to speak to the local church priest to get her opinion on the matter. /CURRENT INVENTORY/ PLATINUM: 41 GOLD: 504 SILVER: 50 BUYER COINS: 1000 MANA POTS: 100 HEALTH POTS: 100 SPEED POTS: 100 STORE CREDITS: 3225 POTION VIALS: 10000 /CURRENT MAFIA/ The Don/The Boss: Alexander Power (MC) Underboss: N/A Dealer Capos/Captains: Nyana, Jason Soldier Capos/Captains: Harvir # of Soldiers: 80 # of Dealers: 4 Growers/Alchemists: 1 (I know I said I''m only going to post one chapter a day, but I said screw it. I''m writing 2-3 chapters a day usually, so I can post at more. I want to stockpile chapters, but I want to give y''all extra chapters even more lol.) THE WAR FOR EVERWINTER BEGINS In the local church of life the mayor and priest are plotting, at the same time Alex and his Capos are in the headquarters making plans. It has been a week since they hired the extra 75 soldiers, all around the town groups of 5 or 6 cloaked figured strolled through town. Most are simply there in case anything happens to the dealers and the soldiers guarding them. However 13 of the cloaked soldiers have a different job. The 7 thieves and 5 assassins are tasked with finding out any plots against the mafia. "Boss we need to increase production again. The guilds from the criminal underworld have become interested in buying from us. And they have hundreds of members." Nyana told Alex. "Hmm, fine we increase production. Even if I''m hesitant to sell to other criminal organizations. It will be a few days before we see any increase in products though. And the price remains the same for them. Is there anything else?" "The soldiers tasked with spying have learned of a plot on us. The mayor of Everwinter has spoken to the churches local representative, and while the church has decided not to send there own soldiers yet they do plan to aid the mayor in his plots. Currently he plans to arrest a full group so it takes time before we find out, allowing his men to ''interrogate'' them longer without retaliation." Harvir said. "Tell the soldiers to be on guard and see if we have someone with a mastery in Utility Magic. I have a plan that if it works will allow for long distance communication. Now anything else?" Jason is the quietest of the 3 capos, he usually has Nyana speak for him, today though he didn''t. "There is someone boss, I think you should meet with him. He''s a young apprentice necromancer. He might be a great asset for us." The young man said. "Fine. Bring him to meet with me this evening. Now I need to go and make sure our production will be increased in a few days time." Alex said before standing and leaving for the farm. =)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=) Meanwhile the mayor had ordered a group of 10 guards to track and arrest one of the groups of cloaked figures with the reaper emblem. Currently the 10 guards are walking around town looking for an opportunity to do as ordered, unknown to them, they are being followed and watched by 2 of the ones they were ordered to arrest. The 2 mafia soldiers are following the 10 guards, waiting for the to pick a ground of soldiers to try arresting, when the guards would go for the arrest, no doubt a fight would break out. And the 2 watching would attack the guards from behind. Soon the guards found a group in a small alley were no one else was around. A fight broke out, in that moment the 2 cloaked figures attacked from behind the guards. But not with sword or magic like everyone else, no they had been trained with the Don''s new weapons, guns. Both pulled out their pistols before taking aim and firing at the backs of the guards, they watched as the bullet tore through the magically reinforced armor and entered the guards backs. Then they picked another target and repeated, until all the guards are on the ground dead or dying. They walked over to the downed guards, ignoring what the other soldiers are saying, before using magic to remove the bullets. The Don wanted his unique weapons to remain undiscovered for as long as possible. After this one of the 2 soldiers with guns turned to the other soldiers before saying. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. "Kill the ones that are still alive. Take their armor and weapons, then put one of these coins between their teeth''s and leave their bodies in the town center. Every time we are attacked we will retaliate and send a message." They ordered before giving the group of 5 enough buyer coins for the guards. They quickly left after that, fading into the shadows. Similar situations were happening all around the town that day. Soon dozens of guard bodies lay in the town center with a buyer coin sticking out of the mouths. The mayor was now in his office raging, throwing anything he could get his hands on. He was raging and panicking. =)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=) Alex returned to the headquarters that evening after adding 6 more greenhouses, 2 for each plant type. He soon learned of all the attacks on his soldiers, and he learned about the dozens of bodies now laying in the town center. Under his cloaks hood he had a chilling grin, soon he would spread word around the town. The mayor is going on a crusade against those who''ve only aided the citizens, the mayor is wasting the guards lives attacking his betters. Yes he would have his dealers subtly mention it to their buyers, who would then spread word to the rest of the town. Soon the mayor would be villainized. Now though it''s time to have an interesting meeting with this necromancer. Jason soon entered with a young pale man, the effects of necromancy already showing on the man. "Sit. Now tell me what you want in return for joining us." Alex ordered. "As I''m sure Jason told you, I''m a necromancer apprentice. However to truly delve into the necromantic arts, I have to stop living. I need to become a greater Lich. After all how can the living know all the magics of the dead. I need protection while I become an undead. It will attract the attention of the church no doubt. If you give me protection and when I need them, materials for my¡­studies, then I''ll serve you." The pale man said. Alex could definitely see the advantage of having a full blown necromancer on his side, however he doesn''t want to rely on this man to much. So he would make it seem like he is doing the man a favor. "Very well we will provide you protection, and materials. In return you will server the Mafia and when your aid is asked for you will provide it." Alex said before standing. "Now let''s go buy a place for you, out in the forest I think would be best." Alex didn''t want the man near his farm yet. He didn''t want to risk the destruction of his plants if he could avoid such a thing. No best to spend some gold getting the man his own place instead. Maybe he could find a property near the cemetery, that would be interesting. /CURRENT INVENTORY/ PLATINUM: 50 GOLD: 86 SILVER: 50 BUYER COINS: 1000 MANA POTS: 100 HEALTH POTS: 100 SPEED POTS: 100 STORE CREDITS: 3225 POTION VIALS: 10000 /CURRENT MAFIA/ The Don/The Boss: Alexander Power (MC) Underboss: N/A Dealer Capos/Captains: Nyana, Jason Soldier Capos/Captains: Harvir # of Soldiers: 80 # of Dealers: 4 Growers/Alchemists: 1 THE NECROMANCERS EVOLUTION A few days after buying the necromancer a house outside the town, near the cemetery, Alex stood inside. The necromancer, Harold, was preparing the ritual to turn into a Lich. "Boss it will begin soon. All the silencing wards are in place." Harold said. Alex simply nodded and beckoned the man to begin. Soon the ritual began, the man was chanting in a language Alex couldn''t comprehend. Nothing seemed to change, however soon the young pale man was on the ground screaming as if he is experiencing the worst pain possible. At this point Alex decided to step outside a watch from a window. Within a few minutes the change had begun. The hair began falling from his head, his skin seemed to sink in on its self until it merged with the bone, small ridges appeared on his head. Harold is no longer screaming or thrashing around on the ground, he now stands as a fully transformed Lich, his robes have holes in them where bones poked through. His eyes now have dark red flames coming from them. Walking into the house Alex asked. "So it''s completed. How do you feel." "Powerful." =)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=) It has been a few days since Harold became a Lich, currently he is sitting in the middle of the graveyard. Surrounded by a dozen skeletons who await his commands, each of them have dark red flames coming from their eyes and the same flames burn in the core of their body. He knows the local church priest definitely knows of his presence, he can only hope the mafia protects him. He has only been able to resurrect a dozen skeletons in 3 days, he needs more time to make a formidable force, however his necromantic skills are growing by the day. The coffins have Magic to prevent decomposing, but the dead don''t need their skin to serve so they shed it when being reborn. There are over 10,000 graves in this town''s cemetery, he would be here for awhile, luckily he doesn''t need to eat or sleep. He only needs to rest to regenerate his mana, the boss has refused to allow him to use mana potion. So he sits and rests while his mana regenerates. =)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=) Alex is currently sitting in his office, reading reports from the soldiers tasked to watch Harold the Lich. Nearby also laid reports on the churches activities, it seems the priest has asked for aid in dealing with an "undead" problem. Soon Everwinter will have squad of templars arriving. Although Alex expected such a thing, he was hoping for more time. Over the last few days his dealers had been spreading word of the mayors actions, and also leaving a small threat that sales may stop if this continues. He also recruited 4 more dealers to help with the increasing numbers of buyers, they now have 800 regular buyers. Luckily the plants in the 6 new greenhouses finished growing the day Harold became a Lich, Alex now has 12 greenhouses, 4 for each of the 3 types of plants he''s currently growing. Currently they are producing 240 mana, 93 health and 336 speed potions daily, Alex has to help his alchemist pick the petals and make the potions to keep up the daily supply. Around 100 potions don''t get sold every day, so they go into the stockpile in the basement. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. His buyers are furious with the mayor, and of course they''ve spread the word of his attacks on a "law-abiding guild" this has led to thousands of the citizens marching into the town center and screaming for the mayor to remove himself from the position. Alex already has an idea of who he wants in the position of mayor. Ailas has continued buying from him, and if he''s mayor then the Eld can make it completely legal for them to sell the potions in Everwinter. Allowing them to set up shops, the news would eventually spread and others would travel to the town to see if it is real. Of course this would get the churches attention too, however Alex already has his soldiers training with guns, and his mages working on enchanting the guns and bullets to have the most effect. The church will eventually figure his weapons out, so he would need to find more aces to put up his sleeve. Alex plans to have Harold''s minions help the alchemist, but the Lich needs to grow and learn his power first. "Don, the mayor has agreed to open the elections and when they are complete he will step down." Nyana said as she entered his office. "Good. Make sure Ailas begins campaigning immediately. Tell him we will give him half off his purchases. Now what news on the church?" "Currently the templars are still a month away at least. This should give us enough time to recruit and train more soldiers. However the priest is continuing to talk out against us. We can remove her to send a message but it will turn much of the town against us." The Elf told him. "Hmm no we don''t need to send a message. For now kill her and give the body to Harold, I suspect he will enjoy having a fresh corpse. The election will only take a week, we need to prepare wether Ailas will win or not. Start looking for more recruits, also look for another alchemist or two. Now what of the merchants?" "The merchants we sold to have begun traveling to other towns and cities. Like you suspected, they plan to sell our potions at ridiculous prices. While this will potentially bring in others to buy from us, it will only be the rich. However a couple of the merchants plan to sell to the masses, they believe they will make more profit this way." "Good. We will deal with them after the templars. I''m fine with them spreading the potions for us, but for them to make a profit and not us will not be tolerated for to long. I want to increase the number of buyers to at least half the population of Everwinter by the time the Templars arrive. We need to recruit more soldier, dealers and alchemists. I will increase the size of the farm again. In a few days we will double our production to 480 mana, 186 health and 672 speed potions. You need to focus on recruiting, have the other capos deal with our other tasks." Alex told the woman. She nodded before leaving his office. Alex knows that the increase in potions isn''t necessary, however he is planning for the future. He wants a large stockpile of potions for when he travels to other towns and cities. For now though he has work to do and plans to complete. /CURRENT INVENTORY/ PLATINUM: 57 GOLD: 280 SILVER: 50 BUYER COINS: 1000 MANA POTS: 100 HEALTH POTS: 100 SPEED POTS: 100 STORE CREDITS: 3225 POTION VIALS: 10000 /CURRENT MAFIA/ The Don/The Boss: Alexander Power (MC) Underboss: N/A Dealer Capos/Captains: Nyana, Jason Soldier Capos/Captains: Harvir # of Soldiers: 80 # of Dealers: 8 Growers/Alchemists: 1 Lich: 1 /CURRENT DAILY PRODUCTION/ Mana Pots: 240 Health Pots: 92 Speed Pots: 336 Authors Note: It looks like we will hit the 50 power stone goal today. So tomorrow 3 chapters will be released. Also the idea for a Necromancer/Lich came from TheLibraryOfLife, thanks for the suggestion! Anyways things are starting to pick up. Soon Alex will be able to leave his starting area (Everwinter). What do you think about the story so far? How was this chapter? Also join the discord and share the story if you''re enjoying! https://discord.gg/vRJ333TCev THE WAR FOR EVERWINTER PT.1 Alex stood in the town center with a few soldiers around him, he is currently watching Ailas give a speech to the crowd of thousands. The elections have only been going on for a few days and yet the crowd seemed to favor Ailas, after all he is an upstanding business owner and adventure. It also helps that Alex has put a couple thousand gold into his campaign, not that such a little amount affected him, he has over 100 platinum by this point. Watching the reactions of the crowd Alex knows he will soon control the political side of the town, soon it will be time to show he owns it in force as well. Nyana has done well in recruiting, even going to the nearby towns of Draven''s Hill and Icewood. They currently have 186 soldiers, 22 dealers and 3 alchemists. For now Alex wouldn''t need to use Harold''s undead on the farm, Harold seemed to have some kind of magical breakthrough after working with the priests fresh corpse, allowing him to make 6 new undead a day. Currently they are producing 480 mana, 186 health and 672 speed potions a day, however they only sell 400 mana, 110 health and 450 speed potions a day. They have around 1,400 regular buyers, allowing for them to make 5,925 gold daily. However he''s paying 930 gold a day to the soldiers, the dealers no longer get 10% of the sales now it''s a set pay of 15 gold daily. So he paying 330 gold daily to the dealers, 60 gold to his alchemists, and 100 gold to his 4 Capos. This left him with a profit of 4,505 gold a day. Alex had recently promoted another soldier Capo, a human man named Geralt. The crowd seemed to go wild at something Ailas said, Alex simply shook his head before turning and leaving. He needs to plan for the war that will no doubt begin soon. =)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=) It is 2 weeks after the end of the elections, Ailas ended up winning by a landslide. Alex had started pushing his "reforms" through the Elf mayor. However more importantly all of his 186 soldiers and 22 dealers have been trained in the basics of guns, now all of them carried Colt M1911A1''s. Alex has also been using his significant wealth to clean up the town, spending thousands of gold to have it cleaned and building repaired. Why? Simple, it makes the mafia look good in the eyes of regular citizens, so when the templars come and start spewing nonsense of how the mafia is evil, the citizens will be in disbelief and doubt the church. "Boss, the templars are nearing town. They seem to be heading straight to the graveyard like you thought." Geralt said after entering his office. "Good. Harold and all his undead have been moved into the basement here right? And the magic suppression wardstones activated?" Alex asked. "Yes boss. He and his 100 undead are below. The mages activated the wardstones not long ago. Should we attack the templars?" "No, not now. Let them come into town and spew their nonsense, after the citizens of Everwinter have turned against them we will strike. For now have them followed by several of our more stealthy squads. Let Ailas know they are here, with the mayor also speaking out against them the templars will have a difficult time turning the town to their cause." Alex ordered. Nodding Geralt left to do as ordered. Alex knew he''s taking a risk even letting them into the town, but if he can get full control of this town then he will be able to leave to other more populated towns and cities. Pulling up the system he looks at his current quest. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. [QUEST: TAKE CONTROL OF EVERWINTER POLITICALLY AND MILITARILY] [REWARD: ABLE TO LEAVE STARTING ZONE, 350 CREDITS, MORE STORE UNLOCKS] This is his current goal, he can on,y do so much in this town before he starts harming the economy and his own earnings. Hopefully this war wouldn''t be dragged on for to long. Alex was also hoping the templars didn''t have magic that can resist the force of a bullet, that would make this much more difficult. Although the soldiers have been training with the guns, it''s the brutish Dwarves that seemed to instantly take a liking to the weapons. (FLASHBACK) (Alex stood deep in the forest behind a dozen Dwarves that were training with the AR15''s, currently Geralt was showing them how to operate the weapon. After he fired a few rounds the Dwarves seemed to perk up and get excited at the loud noise. Then Harvir stepped up and said. "Now my brother let me show you the best way to use these weapons." He grabbed two ARs and loaded them with a magically extended 50 round mags, before turning to the straw targets 10 meters away, one gun in each of his small arms. It looked ridiculous seeing a 4 foot man holding 2 guns that are around 3 feet long. "AHHHHHHHHHHH HAHAHAHAHA" Harvir shouted as he fired both automatic weapons, before the shout turned into a laugh. It was a sight Alex wouldn''t forget for many years, Dwarf holding and firing 2 automatic rifles while laughing madly.) After remembering that day Alex was hesitant to give the Dwarves ARs unless absolutely necessary, that decision of course made Harvir pout like a kicked puppy. Another sight Alex would forget¡­.a Dwarf pouting. Shaking his head Alex got back to his plans. Soon the Templars would be here and they needed to be prepared. While he has nearly 200 soldiers he doesn''t want to underestimate the Templars, he has yet to meet an outside force and the town guards aren''t exactly powerful. Quickly standing and going to the basement, he walked in to see Harold meditating on the floor while all his undead slumbered around him. "Harold as you know the Templars have arrived, and while I''d like to end this quickly, depending on how powerful they are we may need your undead." Alex told the Lich on the floor. "Very well. Just let me know if you need them." "I will. I''d prefer we don''t simply because it will possibly turn the town against us but we''ll see. For now rest. I will return if we need you in this war." Alex said before turning and leaving. Time to find his Capos. /MC INVENTORY/ PLATINUM: 100 GOLD: 280 SILVER: 50 BUYER COINS: 1000 MANA POTS: 100 HEALTH POTS: 100 SPEED POTS: 100 STORE CREDITS: 3225 POTION VIALS: 10000 /CURRENT MAFIA/ The Don/The Boss: Alexander Power (MC) Underboss: N/A Dealer Capos/Captains: Nyana, Jason Soldier Capos/Captains: Harvir # of Soldiers: 186 # of Dealers: 22 Growers/Alchemists: 3 Lich: 1 /CURRENT DAILY PRODUCTION/ Mana Pots: 480 Health Pots: 186 Speed Pots: 672 (AUTHORS NOTE: How was this chapter? The 2 bonus chapters will be out today. Also I know there has been quite a few time skips, even if they are small ones, but remember I want the time passing to be realistic in this story. He isn''t going to become all powerful in a few weeks like most stories on this site. Also do you all want to see more of the system? I''m trying not to make him rely on it so much, the store is the main thing he relies on. Even quests won''t be needed for him after a certain point, since the currency exchange is a thing. Also I made this system have a lazy and snarky personality, it''s perfectly fine letting Alex do all the work if it can just sit back and watch the show. Anyways Vote with your power stones if you''re enjoying. Leave a review if you think you''ve read enough to leave one. And join the discord to chat with me about the story!) https://discord.gg/vRJ333TCev THE WAR FOR EVERWINTER PT.2 Rodrick Lightheart has been a templar for nearly 20 years, this is only the 3rd Lich he''s ever had to deal with. This Lich also seemed to have the backing of a new criminal group, the last report he got from the local priest said she would try finding more information on them. However that report was nearly a month ago, chances are she was being held captive or was dead. He and his fellow Templars entered the towns cemetery, although most of the Magic had been cleansed he could still feel the undercurrents of necromantic magic. "Spread out. Search for the Lich. I want to leave this freezing hell as soon as possible." He ordered and got shouts of, "Yes Captain!" They soon realized the Lich had moved on. They needed to find it before any damage happens to the citizens of the town. First he wanted to find out more about this new faction, if the Lich was back by them then they would know where it is. After remounting their horses they quickly rode into town, Rodrick had been to this town once before, years ago. It looked much better, building freshly repaired, the citizens seemed energetic. He and his 15 templars rode to the town hall, he was expecting to find the fat hot headed mayor the priest had told him of, instead he found a tall Elf man going over paperwork. "Where is the mayor?" Rodrick asked the Elf. "I am the mayor Templar captain. My name is Ailas Frostfoot. The previous mayor stepped down recently and I was elected to replace him. How can I help you good sirs?" Ailas said. "What do you know of this new criminal organization? The priest told me they have killed several gaurds." "Criminal organization? Ha. No they are not criminal, they defended themselves, the last mayor in his foolishness decided to have the guards attack their members without provocation. So they of course fought back and anyone would." Ailas purposely left out the fact that the Mafia had killed 2 guards and a businessman before those events played out. "Hmmm. And where is the priest? I have not gotten a report from her in nearly a month." Rodrick asked. "We don''t know. She has been missing for a couple weeks, we''ve search for her but have found nothing. All her belongings were gone as well which was odd. I''m not sure why you gentlemen are here but Everwinter has very little crime, aside from some occasional grave robbing very little happens here." Ailas said what Alex had told him to. "We''ll see about that. We will be searching for our missing priest so we may be here for awhile." "Very well. Shall I set up some accommodations or do you have your own?" This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. "No it''s fine we will make do with what we have." Rodrick said before quickly leaving. The Elf was odd, something seemed off. Almost like that conversation was rehearsed. He didn''t trust the Elf. He and his men would rent some rooms at the inn and then they would find the old mayor. =)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=) "Boss the Templars are here. They already met with Ailas. Should we let thing play out for now?" Geralt asked. "Yes for now just have them followed. No doubt they will be searching for their missing priest and possibly the old mayor. Ones dead and the other left town already. In a day or two we will top all sales, make it seem like they are forcing us to. This will cause even more outrage considering have over a quarter of the town''s population addicted to out products, and they will push they''re friends and family to be pissed as well. The citizens of Everwinter will be hesitant to aid the Templars, some will even be hostile. And a few days after that when the addicts are having the worst withdrawals we will start selling again and tell them we decided to go against the church for them. This will make them see us as a kind of savior." Alex explained to the man. "For now make sure we always have a few squads around the headquarters. Tell all others that if they are attacked to send up the flares, this will alert nearby squads that they need aid." Nodding Geralt said, "it''ll be done boss. I''ll have the HQ guards carry the ARs, everyone else has a pistol." Then he left quickly to give out orders. =)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=) Rodrick is pissed. In nearly every town he''s ever been to, the church always has some people in it, even on days without a sermon. The one in this frozen shit hole is completely empty, not only empty in people but all the belongings of the church are gone, only the pews remain. Not only that but the Templar he sent to search for the previous mayor, had just reported back saying that the man had left town already. Gods he already wanted to leave this town and he had just arrived. They had started questioning the citizens but most seemed hesitant to speak to them, some even nearing heresy. The one of the few things they did find out was that this so called Mafia had spent some major gold cleaning and fixing the town. Which is all well and good. But where did they get that gold. He could already feel the headache coming. "Let''s go. We need to find out more about this so called Mafia. Even if we have to use less pleasant means." Rodrick ordered his men. "Yes sir!" Walking out of the church Rodrick started scanning the crowds for those wearing cloaks with a reaper emblem. /INVENTORY/ PLATINUM: 100 GOLD: 280 SILVER: 50 BUYER COINS: 1000 MANA POTS: 100 HEALTH POTS: 100 SPEED POTS: 100 STORE CREDITS: 3225 POTION VIALS: 10000 /MAFIA/ The Don/The Boss: Alexander Power (MC) Underboss: N/A Dealer Capos/Captains: Nyana, Jason Soldier Capos/Captains: Harvir # of Soldiers: 186 # of Dealers: 22 Growers/Alchemists: 3 Lich: 1 /DAILY PRODUCTION/ Mana Pots: 480 Health Pots: 186 Speed Pots: 672 (AUTHOR NOTE: First of the two bonus chapters. Things are starting to pick up. How was the chapter. Leave a review if you want to, and comment any suggestions or just to say hi. I read them all. Vote with your power stones if you are enjoying! Thank you for all your support so far. I have a discord for this story!) https://discord.gg/vRJ333TCev THE WAR FOR EVERWINTER PT.3 Terin stalked the Templars from the shadows, he had joined the Mafia a month ago. Before that he was a member of the thieves guild, however the pay was much better in the Mafia. Currently he and his partner Eliot are tasked with observing their unwelcome guests. He watched as the men came out of the church and started searching the crowds, the spotted a group of their soldiers walking by. Quickly the Templars sprinted towards the group of 5, this would not end well for their soldiers. The small group has 2 dwarves who noticed the charging, and them being fools pulled out their weapons, not even thinking about sending the flare signal. Terin himself doesn''t have access to Magic to send the flare, but his partner does, nodding to the other man who raised his hand before a large fireball shot into the sky and exploded. The Templars and soldiers didn''t seem to notice as they are already fight, the two dwarves hacking away at the Templars legs while the other soldiers attempt to pierce the magic armor with bullets. At first there is no damage being done, but after a dozen shot are fired into one of the breastplates, a bullet finally makes it through the magical enchantment and flies through the armor hitting the Templar in the heart and killing him instantly. The fight briefly calms down as the Templar look to be in shock that one of theirs died so quickly, mean while the other 3 soldiers are reloading. The dwarves being dwarves don''t even notices and just keep hacking away. A second later though the Templars seem pissed off and start fighting with their anger burning. The fight doesn''t last though, soon Mafia soldiers flood into the town center, many of them with ARs. The Templar captain seeing he and his men surrounded by people wielding the odd looking weapons, called for his men to stop. The 3 gunners from the original squad quickly pull back their dwarf comrades to the Allie''s now surrounding the Templars. At this moment one of the 100 cloaked figures step forward, Terin realized who it is right away¡­The Don. "Templars! You come into our peaceful town, attacking my faction member unprovoked in broad daylight. You demand answers from the citizens of Everwinter, knowing full well they aren''t required to answer you. You have proven you aren''t here peacefully. I will give you this one chance to leave our town. If you do not, then I and my faction will defend our home from invaders." The Don shouted for all the citizens, who had come back out, to hear. "We will not leave until we find our priest and kill the Lich in this town. Tell me where they are and we will leave." Rodrick yells back. "Haha your little priestess left during the elections, when she realized we would now have a mayor she couldn''t bribe and corrupt to do you churches bidding. Isn''t that what you people are all about? Taking over kingdoms using the excuse of "religion" all while preaching about being incorruptible? As for your Lich, he was never in the town. Sure he was outside however we killed him weeks ago." "Do you have proof of killing the undead?" Rodrick asked. Terin could tell that the Templar captain was pissed after hearing the Don call his faction corrupt. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. "Hahaha¡­.proof. Why would I keep anything of that monster. No we killed it and it''s undead before burning it all. I''m sure you''ve been by the cemetery, surely you saw the area where we had the bone fire. Go home Templars. Clearly we don''t need your false protection." The Don shouted. His words seemed to stir the crowd who began shouting at the Templars to leave "their" town. It seemed as if the Templar captain was sad hearing the shouts for them to do that. He looked towards the Dons cloaked face before screaming at the top of his lungs. "I''m afraid we won''t be leaving. HERETICS MUST BE CLEANSED!" He and his Templars then charges in all directions hoping to take and many people down as possible. The crowd screamed and ran, over it all though you could hear the cold calm voice of the Don yell one word. "NOW!" Suddenly the magical pressure in the town square increased 10 fold, and then hundreds if not thousands of bullets were being fired into the now close 15 templars. One by one the Templars fell, Terin saw why the magic increases. The Mafia had erected a barrier to prevent crossfire but allowed the bullets to enter, it also kept the Templars inside. Soon all of the Templars lay on the ground slaughtered like cattle, except the captain who is on his knees rasping for breath. The Don, now hold an AR, spoke to the captain on the other side of the barrier. "Foolish man. Did you really expect to win this fight?" "I may have lost the battle. But the church will win the war. I''ve already called for reinforcements, soon a legion will march on this corrupt town. They will cleanse your souls." The man said through the blood coming out of his mouth. "We both know your church has far bigger issues to deal with then some town in the middle of fucking now where. Like the gates opening again after 500 years of being closed. I predicted your moves from the start Templar. Thank you for aiding me in my goals, now die." The Don said before lifting his AR and unloading an entire magically extended mag into the man''s already broken armor. The bullets bunched through armor, flesh and guts, filling the man with holes. The barrier was then dropped and Mafia members started checking to make sure the 15 are actually dead before looting everything from the bodies. Another group ran off to collect the Templars belongings from the inn. Soon the citizens started coming out from hiding again, looking at the bloody scene. Terin could see an almost proud look in many if not most of the citizens. "CITIZENS OF EVERWINTER. THE MAFIA HAS DEFENDED YOU FROM INVADERS. WE ONLY ASK FOR YOU TO ACCEPT OUR FACTION INTO THIS GREAT TOWN." The Don yelled before turning and walking off. The man was smart, making it seem like he hadn''t planned all this. Instead they are seen as heroes and in return he only asked for acceptance, something most would do. They didn''t realize they had given up all the power in the town to one man. (Author''s Note: so has was the second bonus chapter? Really the first major action scene. Did I write it alright? Anyways I just want to thank everyone who''s voting for my story. We got to 50 power stones way faster then I thought we would lol. I hope you all have a great rest of your day. Vote and leave a review if you enjoy! Comment if you liked the chapter, hated it or just want to say hi! Also join the discord for the story.) https://discord.gg/vRJ333TCev EXPANSION PT.1 In the weeks following the Templars slaughter, Alex has been preparing to leave Everwinter. Finally he earned the ability to leave this town. Another reward he earned is more Store unlocks. {Store} Alex thought. [FAST GROWTH PLANTER POTS - 15 Store Credits. 10x Growth Speed. Can Hold 1 Small Plant.] [FAST GROWTH GREENHOUSE - 60 Store Credits. 10x Growth Speed. Can Hold 7 Small Plants.] [CLOAK OF SHADOWS - 40 Store Credits. Prevent other from seeing your face, dilutes voice.] [MANA SEED PACK - 5 Store Credits.] [HEALTH SEED PACK - 8 Store Credits] [SPEED SEED PACK - 10 Store Credits] [POPPY SEED PACK - 15 Store Credits] [CANNABIS SEED PACK - 12 Store Credits] [CUSTOMIZED CLOAK OF SHADOWS - 45 Store Credits. Has reaper emblem on the right breast of the cloak. Allowing others to identify members of your mafia.] [MANA STONE - 150 Store Credits. Infuses the user''s body with mana, allowing them to harness and use magics. CAN ONLY BUY 3.] [COLT M1911A1 - 200 Store Credits. A reliable pistol with a 7 round mag. Ammo sold separately.] [.45 ACP AMMO BOX - 25 Store Credits. A box containing 100 rounds of .45 ACP ammo.] [MOLOTOV COCKTAIL - 35 Store Credits. Let''s burn some shit.] [Potion Vials - 25 Store Credits. Get 500 heat and cold resistant potion vials. Holds 8 ounces of fluid. Comes with a cork.] [BUYER COINS - 1 Store Credit. Allows you to identify previous customers.] [EVER BURNING CAULDRON - 125 Store Credits. Stays a specific temperature for hours or until reset. The perfect cauldron for a beginner alchemist.] [EXPANDED STORAGE CRATE - 25 Store Credits. A magically expanded storage crate, can hold up to 3000 potions inside.] [Colt AR15A4 - 350 Store Credits - One of the many AR variants, comes with a 30 round mag. Ammo sold separately.] [5.56 NATO AMMO BOX - 35 Store Credits - A box containing 250 rounds of 5.56 NATO ammo] [SYSTEM CELLPHONE - 50 Store Credits - Phones that can only call each other. Can not be tampered with from outside interference. No other application besides phone callsCurrent limit: 10] [M1 MORTAR - 500 Store Credits - An 81mm caliber mortar. Total weight: 136 pounds. Max range: 3000 meters. Rate of fire: 18 rounds per minute. Velocity: 210 m/s.] [M43A1 LIGHT HE - 150 Store Credits - A light weight high explosive shell. Weight 6.87 pounds. Min. Range: 183 meters. Max. Range: 3010 meters. Explode on contact.] [AS YOU EARN MORE CREDITS MORE ITEMS WILL BECOME AVAILABLE.] Alex had instantly bought 5 cellphones, giving each of his Capos one and keeping one for himself, then he taught them how to use it. He also spent exchanged 2,250 gold to credits daily to buy 2 AR15s everyday. Over the last this allowed him to buy 42 plus the dozen he already had before the Templars, he has 54 rifles currently. The mortar and shells he wouldn''t buy until he absolutely needed them. Currently he and his capos are going over the plans for expansion into other towns and cities. It was decided Geralt and Jason would stay here in Everwinter with most of their soldiers and dealers. Meanwhile Alex, Nyana and Harvir would take 50 of their now 300 soldiers to a major city, there Alex would use his significant wealth to buy a large amount of land. He would bring 1 of his 3 alchemists with him, as well as 5 of his 35 dealers. As for Harold the Lich, well he would need to stay here for now until he became more powerful. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. "Boss most of the traveling merchants are back looking to buy more potions. We have all the ones that returned down in the basement waiting for you." Harvir said. Nodding Alex stood and left to the basement, with his capos following. He entered to see a dozen men and one woman all tied up. When he entered all the captives looked up to see who was here, upon noticing the color of his emblem their eyes widened. They knows he''s the boss¡­good. "You all disappoint me. I was generous to sell my potions to you, believing you''d keep them for personal use. Instead you go behind my back, selling them for three sometimes four times what I sold them to you for. And what do I get in return for providing you such wealth? Nothing. You sold what was not yours to sell. Now you have to pay the price. So what will you offer me in return for your lives." Alex told them in a cold tone. Most of the men are trying or offer wealth, contacts or even their children. Some have given up completely, simply lowering their heads. Then Alex hears the one woman speak. "My company will offer your faction transportation to any destination in this kingdom, as well as storage for good. I have contacts with politicians in every city if you need them. We will also give 60% for any potions we sell." This was a good deal. She sells at 3 times what we do, so 15 gold for health and mana pots, 22.5 gold for speed pots. Meaning we would make 9 gold from health and mana, she''d make 6. For the speed we would make 13.5 gold and she''d make 9. Plus storage and transportation, and city contacts. A very good deal. "Very well. Bring her to my office. As for the rest¡­.get rid of them, then collect anything they have of value in Everwinter." Alex said. With capos followed him, Geralt and Harvir walking beside the woman to make sure she wouldn''t try anything. After reaching the office they all sat down. "Now let''s finish this deal" Alex said. /INVENTORY/ PLATINUM: 100 GOLD: 280 SILVER: 50 BUYER COINS: 1000 MANA POTS: 100 HEALTH POTS: 100 SPEED POTS: 100 STORE CREDITS: 3225 POTION VIALS: 10000 /MAFIA/ The Don/The Boss: Alexander Power (MC) Underboss: N/A Dealer Capos/Captains: Nyana, Jason Soldier Capos/Captains: Harvir # of Soldiers: 300 # of Dealers: 35 Growers/Alchemists: 3 Lich: 1 /DAILY PRODUCTION/ Mana Pots: 480 Health Pots: 186 Speed Pots: 672 (AUTHORS NOTE: Ugh this chapter was hard to write. Not sure why but I had no motivation to write this, and I kept getting blocks. But it''s done. Hopefully you all enjoyed it. If so please vote with your daily power stones, add the story to your library, leave a review and comment on the chapter. Also join the discord! For those of you on RoyalRoad and Wattpad, this is the latest chapter. From this point forward it will be one chapter daily.) https://discord.gg/vRJ333TCev EXPANSION PT.2 Alex now stood in the city of Midcross, it took around 8 days to travel the 200 or so kilometers to the city. It turns out that all cities have teleportation gates, allowing travel from one city to another. Towns and villages though are usually to poor to allow the creation of gates, meaning you had to travel by wagon, horseback or on foot. Considering their group consisted of Alex, Nyana, Harvir, 50 soldiers, 5 dealers, 1 alchemist, and Sabina (the female merchant) and her group. They had to take wagons, making them slower then riding horseback but still it gave him time to plan. Sabina knows many wealth businessmen and land owners, as well as some powerful local politicians. This would be his way of getting some major land, he would then build a tall stone wall on the border of his land, then he would fill the unsaid with as many greenhouses as he can. This would allow thousands of potions to be made daily, he would have plenty to start taking of the city. He and his capos followed Sabina to a meeting with one of the landowners she knows. Walking through the stone streets they soon arrived at a large two story stone building. Sabina knocked and a man wearing a butler suit answered. {This world is weird. So many similarities but at the same time huge differences.} Alex thought while looking at the man. "Ah Lady Sabina welcome. Lord Henrix is waiting for you and your¡­.associates." The butler said before leading us up the second floor to a pair of large redwood doors. After entering Alex observed the office, there is paperwork scattered on the desk unorderly. A large fat man is sitting behind the desk, one hand holding a quill and the other a glass of alcohol. Looking up the man notices them. "Ah Sabina come in. You said you have a business opportunity for me?" Sabina and I sit while Nyana and Harvir stood behind me. "Yes this man would like to purchase a large amount of land. When I found this out I thought of you." She told the man. "Hmm, you look shady as hell. What''s to say I sell you this land and you do something stupid and get caught? How would that make me look?" Scoffing Alex said, "You simply sold us the land. What we do after that is none of your business. It isn''t your land anymore so how would you know what happens on it? No one could fault you as long as you aren''t making visits to said land." "Ha, I like you. Very well I own much land in and outside the city. What do you want and how much land do you want?" "Outside the city. I want around 100 acres of land. Preferably with nothing already on the land." "That''s a good bit of land. It''ll cost a good bit too. However I have just the place. I can sell you a portion of the old Saloway farm. It''s not being used currently, no buildings on the section I''d sell you." Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Alex looked at Sabina, she subtly nodded, telling him it was a good area. "How much?" "For the 100 acres, 45 platinum." The man said. Alex has around 150 platinum, this would make a large dent. "30" "42" "35" "38" "Deal" The went back and forth until settling on 38, allowing Alex to save 7 platinum. "Come let us go look at your new land, then we will transfer the ownership." The fat bastard said happily. They left the building and the businessman called for a carriage, soon they left the city and arrived an a large empty section of land. The butler, who came with them, jumped out and set up did some magic before setting up 4 posts, making a large rectangle. "Everything in these 4 posts will be yours. As you can see there isn''t a thing here. So you still want it?" "Yes." Alex simply said. They soon returned to the man''s office to sign the paperwork, and to pay. After that Alex, Sabina and his capos left. "There is a builders guild in the city, they have mages who can quickly and efficiently build whatever you want. Of course it costs more to have construction done magically." Alex would be willing to part with more platinum if it meant having the farm ready sooner. "Show me." They walked for a good 15 minutes before arriving at a building made of black stone, entering he say groups of people walking around and discussing projects. Sabina introduced him to a group of magical builders, he is pay them 8 platinum now and another 8 after construction is complete. They are building the wall and 2 houses, a smaller one just for him and the a mansion sized one for his men. It would allow for up to 250 people to live in it, 125 bedrooms large enough for 2 people each, 15 bathrooms, and a large kitchen/common area. This is only possible using expansion Magic, allowing for the inside of the house to be much larger then the outside. Finally they would build a large warehouse to store his products and weapons. The wall and his house could be done by the end of the day, the barracks (as he calling it) and warehouse would take another day or two. Leaving they met up with the rest of his men, he gave each of them 1 gold to pay for a night at an inn. He and his capos went to a more high end inn, he payed 5 gold for each of them to stay a night. Alex recently completed a quest to travel 150 kilometers out of Everwinter, this unlocked a new purchase for him. The 2 acre greenhouse, a huge upgrade, 2 acres wide and long, taking up 4 acres total. This would allow him to grow hundreds of plants in a single greenhouse. And it being 20 feet tall would allow him to make a second floor, doubling the production of each greenhouse. Luckily he ordered for the wall to be 30 feet tall, allowing it to prevent others from seeing his greenhouses. The only shit this is it costs 800 credits per greenhouse, or 2,400 gold. It is expensive but he''ll be able to make at least 10x that daily from each greenhouse, considering the population of Midcross is nearing 500,000 people. For now though he has 500 of each potion stored in his inventory, his dealer would get started on finding buyers the next day. /INVENTORY/ PLATINUM: 96 GOLD: 215 SILVER: 50 BUYER COINS: 1000 MANA POTS: 500 HEALTH POTS: 500 SPEED POTS: 500 STORE CREDITS: 3225 POTION VIALS: 10000 /MAFIA/ The Don/The Boss: Alexander Power (MC) Underboss: N/A Dealer Capos/Captains: Nyana, Jason Soldier Capos/Captains: Harvir # of Soldiers: 300 # of Dealers: 35 Growers/Alchemists: 3 Lich: 1 EXPANSION PT.3 It''s been 6 days since Alex and his mafia arrived in Midcross, in that time the magical builders had finished building his wall, house, barracks, and warehouse. After they had finished Alex had set up 3 large greenhouses, each greenhouse had 10 rows of plants, each row has 10 plants, allowing for 100 plants to be grown on the first floor. Alex then had some of his mage soldiers make a second floor, however it took a day to complete. The second floor wasn''t truly a full floor, otherwise the plants below would get less sunlight, instead they but strips of flooring above all the walkways between the rows of plants. This allowed for each greenhouse to have 180 plants total. Having 3 greenhouses allowed him to grow one of each potion plant in each greenhouse, 180 mana, health and speed plants. Having 180 mana plants, each with 24 flowers and each flower having 5 petals, for a total of 21,600 petals. Picking 2 per flower they would get 8,640 petals daily, using 6 petals per potions would allow them to make 1,440 potions daily. Having 180 health plants, each with 6 flowers and each flower having 12 petals, for a total of 12,960 petals. Picking 5 per flower they would get 5,400 petals daily, then using 10 petals per potions they could make 540 health potions ever day. Having 180 speed plants, each with 36 flowers and each flower having 3 petals, for a total of 19,440 petals. Picking 1 per flower they would get 6,480 petals daily, using 3 petals per potions would allow them to make 2,160 potions daily. If they sold all the potions everyday they could make 26,100 gold or 26 platinum and 100 gold, in a single month they could make 783,000 gold. However chances are they wouldn''t be able to sell all the potions daily in only Midcross, they would have to take the teleportation arrays to other cities and sell there. Doing this would also expand the Mafias influence, Alex had also registered the Mafia as an official guild. This would give them some legal influence as well, however he gave very little info to the guild administrator. Only that if anyone wished to join then they would have to speak to a member with a purple emblem, which is the capos. Alex had also spent the first few days in the city looking for more alchemists, he had gotten 4 more, so they currently have 5 alchemists in the Midcross compound. However he allowed the alchemists to use the more magically useful Mafia members he brought with him, this made sure all the potions are getting made everyday. His biggest worry currently is the church, they have much more influence in the large cities. This would become a problem in the future, so he plans to gain as much influence as possible. In Midcross alone there are a couple thousand church guards, and a few hundred Templars. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Walking outside he saw dozens of his soldiers moving around the compound, the alchemists and some soldiers are moving in and out of the greenhouses. They had set up their own makeshift alchemy stations, he would have to make a larger and better equipped one soon. Near the alchemist the original dealer is standing with the other 20 or so dealers that his capos had recruited since they arrived. They had only recruited an extra 50 soldiers, soon they would need to step up their recruitment. Each dealer has at least a group of 5 soldiers that trail them, not only to protect the products but also to prevent the dealers from becoming greedy and stealing. Walking into the barracks Alex saw his capos sitting at a table going over paperwork. "Anything I should be updated on?" Alex asked. "Yes. The Lich has increased his horde to nearly a thousand skeletons. He has also evolved 2 of them into minor Liches, he still controls them since he is a major Lich, however they have more autonomy then basic skeletons. And they can control minor undead themselves." Nyana told me. "Hmm good. Tell the Lich, Harold, to study teleportation arrays. If we can make our own between our territories, it would be greatly helpful. Anything else?" "Aye, there is a couple, who are soldiers in the mafia, we think they should be promoted to Capos. They are intelligent and would be more useful helping us deal with this administrative bullshit." Harvir said. Smirking at the Dwarf who hated paperwork, Alex said. "Very well. I''m assuming you have a profile written on them already, get it to me by the end of the day. I''ll look through it and then decide. Now we need to start recruiting more, we need everything. Alchemists, dealers and soldiers, go to other cities if needed." "Very well. We will start on that as soon as we are done here. What are we going to do about the merchants boss?" Nyana asked. "After your killing the last group, most have begun buying the potions and giving us a cut when they sell them. However the merchants from here don''t know about that situation. Sabina has done her best to make sure the other merchants understand there will be severe consequences if we don''t get a cut, but most don''t believe her." Chuckling darkly Alex said, "For now we do nothing. Let them grow confident that nothing will happen. And when they least expect it we will strike, taking everything from them. Maybe even their lives. Also setup a meeting with Sabina the next time she''s in the city. We can make a huge fortune using her and her merchant company." Sabina, who isn''t wearing her cloak, raised an eyebrow before saying, "If you say so boss. And are you sure it isn''t because she''s a pretty young woman?" "Hahaha, no, I''m a man but I don''t let my urges control me. Such thing are unimportant at the current time. Once I control entire territories, I''ll have all the time and any woman of my choosing. Before then I can not be distracted by such things." Alex said while laughing before turning and leaving quickly. EXPANSION FINALE A month had passed quickly for Jev and Jess, the couple who Harvir and Nyana had recommended to be capos, the Don had promoted them the day after they had been recommended. Since then the couple had adjusted well to having more power in the Mafia, as well as a large pay increase. Currently they and the other capos are standing before a teleportation array that had been built over the last month, now only the final step remained before it would be an active array. They had remained in contact with Geralt, the capo in Everwinter, through the cellphones the boss had given them. Doing this allowed for information the Lich had found on teleportation arrays to be passed quickly, the was very helpful in speeding up the building process. Now stood six large stone pillars, in the center of the stone platform that the pillars stand on, is a blood ritual. Each of the pillars inscribed with a different part of the ritual, combined they create the symbol in the center of the platform. Currently six unfortunate homeless are tied to the pillars, crying and begging as the times comes closer for their deaths. Six soldiers stand near each of them waiting for the boss to give the signal to slice open their necks. Alex does just that, watching as his soldiers use knifes to slice open the sacrifices necks. Then watching the blood flow down their bodies and into the cut outs in the stone, the blood then flowed and filled the blood ritual symbol in the stone platform. Once it was completely full the blood flared and started glowing, then Alex could feel Magic being drawn out of the very air and empowering the ritual. Next the blood was absorbed into the stone, giving it the power of teleportation. It is connected directly to the platform Harold had made near the cabin in Everwinter. Since both platforms used the same symbol they are directly connected, when someone uses the platform they change places and transport whoever and whatever is on it with it, the platforms can hold up to 30 people at one time. Seeing that the ritual is done, and having a soldier test it, Alex nodded at his capos before walking back to his house while thinking on the last month. They had made around 700 platinum, the first week they didn''t sell all their daily stock, instead his dealers would go to other cities and sell what they could there. During that week those who did buy would start realizing the potions did as advertised, and they would get addicted, then they would spread the word. Soon they had tens of thousands of customers, most only buying one or two potions every few days. His capos had also been recruiting aggressively, now they have over a thousand soldiers, 100 dealers and 20 alchemists. It had been a good month, but there were some issues he dealt with as well. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. The first issue was space for all his subordinates, he had to spend another 280 platinum on 80 more acres of land around the original 10 acres. Then he had a wall build around all of it and 10 more barracks for all his soldiers, he didn''t need that many but they would continue expanding so he wanted to be more prepared, this cost him another 125 platinum. He also spent another 100 platinum to get 95 more Ar15s, he wanted to have at least 200 of his men trained with the weapons, they would be a huge advantage especially with magic enchantments on them. All of this coast 500 platinum throughout the month, meaning he really only gained 200 or so platinum. However he also had to play everyone, this cost another 60 platinum. Every month from now on would cost at least 175 platinum in pay to his soldiers and capos. So he ended with around 140 platinum, still good, but he would need to tone down his purchases and for now they had recruited enough. He also had to deal with a few of his men stealing, he knew it would happen eventually so he decided to make a point to all of the Mafia. Bringing the thieves to the center of the compound and having them nailed to crosses and then burned. Hopefully everyone else would get the message, his capos were certainly shook for a couple days. Then he had to deal with the church''s attempts to spy on them. Little did the church know that at all times he had soldiers, that specialize in spy Magic, guarding the compound from such attempts. Then they tried getting some of their own guards to infiltrate the Mafia, however the church forgot one major thing. All church priests, guards and templars are branded with their mark. Idiotic since it made identifying them extremely easy. Then the church attempted to disrupt their selling operations, so now the dealers and their soldier escorts would simply store their cloaks until they got near their deals. This threw the church off since they couldn''t just follow those walking in the city with their cloaks on. Alex was amazed by the stupidity of the church leader here in Midcross, and with the gates opening they couldn''t request backup for something they think is only a local threat. The void gates opened, allowing for passage between the two worlds, one is this world while the other is full of all sorts of evils. Many of the larger adventurer guilds see this as an opportunity to enter the other world and collect loot, resources and items you are unable to find in this world. The church though see this for what it is, a threat. The last time the gates opened a demonic army marched into this world, destroying everything in it path. Nothing Alex read stated how exactly this army was stopped, but if the gates were opened so suddenly without armies and guilds being notified ahead of time, it could only mean one thing. They had been opened from the other world.