《King of the Mountain》 Prologue - My Not So Simple Life How could such an ordinary day end so bizarrely? It all started like any other day. I heard my alarm go off for the first time and immediately hit snooze. It may be a bad habit of mine, but I am just not a morning person. After two or three times of this my brain had finally engaged enough to tell my body I had to get up to go to work. Work, the very word, can both conjure images of horror and of satisfaction. How can work be both good and bad you might wonder? Try being a middle school teacher sometime and you will understand. When my students were well behaved, which occurred according to some arcane mystical schedule that science has not figured out yet, my job as a middle school science teacher was excellent and extremely satisfying. However, when middle school students are having an off day, everything just seems horrible. Hormones at that level make even the nicest kids seem bipolar at times. Heaven help the teacher that has somehow invoked the wrath of the middle school children. There is nothing quite like the warm feeling you get when a struggling student finally understands something they have been having trouble with. I wish I could go back in time to experience that feeling once again, but middle school, along with many other things, has either disappeared or changed to fit the new reality that has become my life. Anyway back to the story. After arriving at school and prepping for class the students started to arrive for homeroom. They were all talking about the mysterious disappearances happening all over the world. People would go missing for 24 to 72 hours and then reappear near where they had disappeared, but with no memory of what had happened to them. A few people could be explained away, but at the last count over 500 people in the United States alone had experienced this phenomenon. The number worldwide must be in the thousands to tens of thousands if not more. It seemed that anyone over the age of 12 and under the age of 60 could be affected by this phenomenon. No one knew what was going on, or if they knew they were not telling the rest of us. Parents were starting to get worried, and imitators and sickos were already starting to appear to get their 15 minutes of fame. I managed to make it through homeroom and the rest of my teaching day and was looking forward to my upcoming break. Friday was finished and I could already imagine how great my lazy three-day weekend would be. I know why we celebrate Memorial Day, and any holiday that gives me long weekends and helps us remember our fallen soldiers was OK in my book. I left school light hearted not realizing what big changes were in store for me.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. As I was pulling into the driveway of my rental house I noticed that my daughter¡¯s car was not there. Oh yeah, she was going down to visit my parents this weekend. As the oldest grandchild she was a little spoiled growing up, but she turned into a great young lady none the less. Being divorced for several years this meant that I could indulge in a weekend of underwear and video games. I know what you are thinking. What self-respecting 30+ (that¡¯s as close as you will get to my real age) year old guy still looks forward to such things, this one, that who. I was an unashamed and overweight gamer geek. The kind of guy whose house is filled with fantasy and science fiction books, movies and games, and had posters of zombies next to the ones of dragons on my wall. I loved thinking and mentally preparing for disasters. I had not one, but over 10 different zombie apocalypse escape plans. Each one detailed and dependent on time of year, weather, location, who was with me, etc.¡­ I never thought I would actually need them, but it was fun to imagine scenarios and think about what I would do. Just as I was locking the door behind me and getting ready to get comfortable I heard horns. Have you ever heard the trumpet music that announces kings in just about every movie out there? That was what I was hearing. At first I thought that my daughter had left some weird music on in her room so I started heading in that direction. Suddenly the whole world suddenly changed color. A semi- transparent large blue floating box with a message appeared before me.
¡°Congratulations, you have been selected to be a beta tester for your world¡¯s entrance into the GREAT GAME. You have 60 seconds from the end of this message to collect what you need to survive the next 72 hours. Good Luck!¡±
Crap this cannot be real. This has to be some sort of elaborate prank, but what if it is not? I need to get ready, how much time is left? Quickly I grabbed my bug out bag and started towards the kitchen. I need more food, my bag only has 3 meals in it. I grab a grocery bag and start throwing as much canned food I can in it. That¡¯s enough, what else am I forgetting? Weapons, I quickly grab a machete from my knife collection and I am heading to get a rifle out of the gun safe when I froze in place. I literally could not move at all.
¡°Your 60 seconds are up. Transport will begin in 3..2..1..¡±
Just like that my lazy weekend turned into a nightmare of survival. 1 - Is This Real? CHAPTER 1: Is this real? Everything was dark. I reached into my bag to find my flashlight. Wait I can move again. Turning on the light I could see rock walls all around me. It was a cave. How in the hell did I get here? Alright, let¡¯s break this down logically. There are three possibilities here. Number one I am part of the greatest prank of all time and someone will jump out soon and say ¡°gotcha¡±. OK that is probably not going to happen, I really do not have anyone in my life who knows me well enough to pull this elaborate of a prank except my daughter, and she does not have the resources or funds to do it. Number two I am hallucinating or in some sort of coma and this is all a dream. If that is true then I might as well go with the flow, because there is not much else I can do. Number three this is really happening and I need to survive for 72 hours. The message said survive which means that there is something or some situation I need to overcome. I think I will go with option three. Even if this is all just a dream it won¡¯t hurt to be a little cautious. All right, number three it is, I need to check out my surroundings and try to figure out where I am. Shining my flashlight around I take a close look at the cave I was transported to. The cave looks natural with a few stone formations scattered around. It reminds me a little of Mammoth caves in Kentucky where my daughter and I went on vacation. It looks like there is only one passage out of here. As I get closer to the opening I note a sign posted next to the cave opening.
¡°Welcome to the GREAT GAME beta testing dungeon. Your task is to reach the end of the dungeon alive within 72 hours. If you are killed or do not reach the exit in time you will be respawned where you came from. You will not remember any of this unless you complete the dungeon. Do your best and remember to HAVE FUN!¡°
Well OK, at least now I know what I have to do. Wait a second, all those mysterious disappearances and people with no memory. They must have been Beta testers also. I guess they did not pass the test since they lost their memory. I hope I can do better, but let¡¯s be realistic. The chances of an overweight and out of shape middle school science teacher finishing what so many others failed at is not likely. I mean the spirit is willing but the flesh is fat. I have a huge wealth of game, novel, and science knowledge locked up in my head, but the ability to do physical feats left me sometime after high school. Too many years of sitting behind my teacher¡¯s desk and eating too much does not an athlete make.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Well let¡¯s give this my best effort. First I better check my supplies and repack. I have always had what we zombie apocalypse guys call a bug out bag, just in case. It was pretty standard. One change of clothes, one liter of water, compass, three MRE¡¯s, an emergency blanket, dust mask, matches, lighter, pocket knife, water purifying tablets, rope, candles, and a basic first aid kit. In addition to my bag I grabbed 12 random canned food items and a box of crackers, so I won¡¯t go hungry in the 72 hours. I also managed to grab one of my machetes. Alright if I can find a source of water I will be just fine. Even if I don¡¯t find one I should be able to survive 72 hours on just 1 liter of water. It won¡¯t be pleasant, and I might get dehydrated, but it should be possible. Since I have seen game screens maybe I can find out more about what is going on. OK how does this always work in the books. I yell out loud, ¡°STATS!¡±
¡°Stats are not available during the beta testing dungeon.¡±
Well that is disappointing, but at least I now that there will be stats eventually. How about, ¡°SKILLS!¡±
"Skills are not available during the beta testing dungeon.¡±
Is this going to happen for everything? ¡°HELP!¡±
¡°Help is not available during the beta testing dungeon.¡±
This sucks. I get transported to a game world and remember everything the main character usually forgets and none of it is working. So frustrating! Alright let¡¯s just get on with it. It is time to conquer a dungeon. Man that sounded cheesy even in my head. 2 - Reality Hurts, Make It Stop! Chapter 2: Reality hurts make it stop. Double checking everything before I leave the starting cavern, I finally head out into the passage. It¡¯s strange even though the tunnels passage looks natural I get the impression that it is artificial. The tunnel has been running in a fairly straight manner for 15 minutes. Sometimes it narrows, sometimes it widens up. It looks like it is supposed to be mimicking a lava tube. That must mean that I am headed either to a vent on the outside of the volcano or towards the heart of the volcano. Nothing indicates which of the two options it could be. The temperature has remained constant and there is no discernable air flow. As I have been walking, I have stopped randomly every few minutes and turned off my light and listened and strained my eyes to try and determine if there are any changes ahead of me. Finally, after 30 minutes of walking I reach an intersection. I decide to use this as an opportunity to rest and make a decision. I tried to calculate how far I had come so far. Probably 20 minutes of actual walking with all the pauses, listening and just plain distractions. So about 800 meters to 1 kilometer. There are just too many other factors to be more precise. After I finish my break I pulled out my compass. I want to know which direction each passage takes so I can make a mental map of this place in case I need to run away, um I mean perform a strategic retreat. That¡¯s weird the compass needle is pointing to the left hand passage. Almost as if there was something magnetic pulling it in that direction. Well that solves my dilemma about which direction to choose. I really want to know what could mess up my magnetic compass. I feel that with this being a game like world unusual circumstances will either mean greater rewards, greater danger, or both. Either way this beta test is the best chance for me to find out with limited penalties. I mean if I die here, it may be horrible and even painful but the power that brought me here promised a respawn. With all of those people that lost their memory most likely being beta testers also, I can at least trust it that far. Who knows if respawning will be possible later, I cannot waste this opportunity. As I start walking down the left passage I consciously make an effort to be as quiet as possible. I feel that I should run into something soon. What I don¡¯t know, but beta test implies I am going to be tested somehow. It looks like the walls are getting shinier. Curious I stop to check this out. Metal??? It seems the walls are becoming metallic. Now why would that be happening. Is that a glow ahead? I quickly turn off my flashlight. It IS a glow. Somewhere up ahead something is giving off a light. I carefully put away the flashlight. If I let my eyes adjust I should be able to work my way forward without giving myself away. I notice as I approach the light source that the passage seems to be opening up. Suddenly another screen pops up,
¡°Welcome to your first challenge. There is no escape until it is complete. Remember like calls to like and anything else is useless.¡±
Great what does that mean like calls to like? I examine the chamber that I have entered. Where did the tunnel I came through go? It disappeared. So that¡¯s what it meant about no escape, but what do I need to do? Suddenly a rumbling sound starts. What is going on? I look at the wall and too my amazement, a humanoid shape seems to be stepping out of it. I back up quickly while examining this new being. It seems to be some sort of earth/metal golem about 6 feet tall. It turns towards me and to my shock speaks, "Defeat me for the blessing of the Earth.¡±This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Defeat it? It¡¯s a walking talking man made out of metal, what should I do, splash water on it and hope it rusts to death? No wonder it seems that no one else has passed these tests. Isn¡¯t it just a bit unrealistic to think unprepared people can defeat magic constructs? I mean come on. It¡¯s coming in my direction, well crap this not going to last long. I take out my machete hoping that it can do something against this thing. Thing? I need to call it something other than thing. How about Steve? Why is my mind wandering so much right now? Focus! At least Steve is slow. As Steve the metal golem reaches for me I dodge to the right and take a swing at his elbow trying to disable it. Perfect hit, and nothing. It felt like I was hitting a metal post. Oh well keep trying. Wait something is wrong. Why is my weapon stuck? Suddenly, Steve¡¯s other arm comes around and punches me. Damn it that HURT! While trying to unstick my machete Steve hit me. It feels like he might have broken my arm. Luckily I quickly retreated. No I need to tell the truth. I stumbled back and landed on my butt while crying out in pain. There went my hope of this being a game like world in which I won¡¯t feel any pain. I scoot along the floor as quickly as I can to give myself some time to think. OK quickly let¡¯s review the situation and come up with a new strategy, because well, my last one sucked and hurt like hell. Primary weapon lost, my left arm is injured, pain level rising, fear surprisingly low. Right now I am angry more than anything else. I didn¡¯t want this to happen, I¡¯m not a hero, an athlete, or anybody special. What I am is pissed off. I should be in my underwear, lying in my hammock right now enjoying a good book. NOT trying to survive. None of that matters now, if I am going down I am going down fighting. As quick as an out of shape 30 something can, I run as far away from Steve as possible. I start pulling out everything I can from my pack, looking for anything that might help. The cans of food. Maybe if I hit it hard enough I can at least knock it over. I really wish I can say what followed was an epic battle filled with inspiration and a mighty victory. No such luck. Years later my daughter still loves to embarrass me by retelling this story as the reason why I always carry a magnet in my pocket. You see after I decided that throwing things would be the winning strategy, the first thing I grabbed out of my pack and threw was not a can of food but my compass. When my compass hit metal Steve it broke and Steve collapsed to the ground. What the hell? How did my compass kill that thing? I hit it with my machete and nothing, but being struck by a little compass causes it to break apart. While I am trying to understand what just happened I cautiously approach the remains of the golem formerly known as Steve. I cautiously reach out with my foot and nudge the Steve pile. As soon as I touch it another green box appears in front of me.
¡°Congratulations on finishing your first challenge. Results will be tallied at the end of the beta test and applied to surviving characters at that time.¡±
3 - Goodbye Steve Chapter 3: Goodbye Steve. Well at least I know Steve died for a good cause, my survival and future stats. Now what exactly happened here? As I start to go through the rubble that once was Steve the Metal Golem I noticed that besides my broken compass and my machete there is a small white box with a red medical cross on it. Where did that come from. I know, it must be loot! My very first drop in the game is in front of me. I am so excited what could it be? As I open the box I see three red pills and a note. The note was just a description telling me that these are light healing pills. Well no time like the present to try these out, my arm still hurts. I pop a pill and wash it down with some water. A warm feeling rushes through my body. My arm doesn¡¯t hurt anymore. That¡¯s great! These pills are quick and efficient. I need to keep these easily accessible. After placing them in my front pocket I reach down to retrieve my machete. As I pick it up I try and wipe it clean. Huh, pieces of Steve are sticking to my machete almost as if they were magnetic. That¡¯s it, I know what happened. I remember the box at the beginning of the challenge. It read, ¡°Like calls to like and anything else is useless.¡± Steve wasn¡¯t a metal golem; he was a magnetic golem. When my compass broke the magnetic needle must have impacted him. This wasn¡¯t a battle challenge, it was a riddle and preparedness challenge. Are all the challenges like this? I only beat Steve through sheer dumb luck. However, armed with my new knowledge I might actually have a chance. Fully healed and feeling good about myself I looked around the now empty underground chamber. Some obvious changes had occurred. There are now four new passages leading out, each with an inscription above it. Passage #1 says trial 2 in red letters, passage #2 also says trial 2 in blue letters, passage #3 says trial 2 in white letters, and the final passage #4 has a glowing exit sign above it. Alright calm down, this seems a little too easy. I just happen to beat a deadly golem through sheer luck and now I can go home. I need to think about this first. I quickly set up a little camp/rest area as best I can. I have 72 hours to finish the beta test and I have only used less than 5 hours. Why would they give me three days unless they felt it was necessary? Maybe in the past some participants just refused to move and the time limit is so the person or being in charge does not have to wait for them to starve to death or die of thirst. Somehow a feeling comes to me that this is the correct reason. Since I have used very little of my time here and already passed the first challenge I decide to take a nap. I want to make sure I am fully rested and that the healing pill has worked completely before I make a decision on which path to take next.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I blink my eyes awake and check my watch. It has been just over an hour since I laid down for my impromptu nap. Other than a slight pain in my back from sleeping on the ground I feel pretty good. I open my non-magical med kit and wash down a couple of generic pain pills for my back. How cool is it that I can say this? I have a magical and non-magical medical kit. Focus, a decision needs to be made. I am pretty sure that since I have calmed down and rested I can make a good one. In the beginning the blue box said I had to clear the dungeon or reach an exit. I am fairly confident that an exit will appear after each challenge is complete. Steve the golem told me that if I defeated him I would receive the blessing of the earth. From all of the fantasy novels I have read this most likely means I will have access to earth magic or its equivalent in the new world. I wonder if that means I can earn access to other types of magic if I continue the challenges. That seems logical. Each of the new passages have the same message but are different colors, red, blue, and white. That may be a hint to which type of magic element that they correspond too. Since I have already earned the blessing of the earth the simplest explanation would be red=fire, blue=water, and white=air. I need to remember though that the earth challenge was part riddle and used an obscure part of earth, namely magnets and magnetic force for the challenge. Is it even worth risking my life for more magic or should I just get out of here while I can? If this beta test is just a minor example of the new world, then I need to be as strong as possible in order to help out my friends and family. Alright my decision is made, I am going to try for another element, but which one? Air is always portrayed as the opposite of Earth and Fire and Water are often linked as being opponents. I think I will skip Air for now. It seems best that I try for one of the other elements. Which one would be the most beneficial to me. Earth is often listed as a great protector, usually strong in defense. I need something for offense. As much as I would like to just hide in a bunker and hope this all goes away there are two major problems with that strategy. First and foremost is that I do not own a bunker to hide in and secondly no matter how good at hiding I am eventually I would have to come out for food or water. Better to be prepared form the beginning than be completely clueless after a year or two of hiding. Fire destroys. Fire is always portrayed as an element of destruction. If I can get fire magic to complement my earth magic I should have my basics covered. The red tunnel it is. I need to pack everything up and prepare as best I can for my nest challenge. The longer I wait the more I may question my decision. Let¡¯s do this. 4 - Fire Burns Chapter 4: Fire Burns Alright what can I do to make sure I am ready for this challenge. It will obviously have something to do with fire, but it may be only a certain aspect of it. Let¡¯s see what I have. Keep the health pills in my front pocket for emergencies. I also have matches and candles. These both have potential to be needed in the fire test so into the other pocket they go. Hold the machete in my hand so I don¡¯t have to touch anything hot with my bare hand. Finally, I check my water bottle. It is about half full. That should put out or bring down a small fire. OK I am as ready as I can be. I walk towards the passage with the glowing red letters that read trial 2. No turning back now. As I enter the passage the walls start to glow red and the temperature starts to rise. It seems that I am at least right about which element this is going to represent. Up ahead I see an entrance to what looks like another chamber. It looks almost identical to the entrance to the chamber I took the Earth challenge in. Now is the time to be cautious. Just like before I slowly approach the entrance as sneakily as I can. I can understand dying in a challenge, especially against magic monsters, but if I get killed for something stupid like not examining an area carefully for obvious traps or hazards I will never forgive myself. I cautiously peer into the next chamber. It looks just like the previous test taking chamber. In fact it might be identical. The only difference that I see is that the walls are glowing red and are not metallic. The temperature is also much higher here. Seeing nothing suspicious I start to walk into the chamber. Just as before as soon as I cross into the room a blue box pops up,
¡°Welcome to your second challenge. There is no escape until it is complete. Remember sometimes confronting a being with its own mortality is more advantageous than actually killing it yourself.¡±
Fantastic another riddle, at least this time I know that killing whatever shows up is either A) not a good idea, B) Impossible, or C) All of the above. What is going to show up this time? Across the chamber the wall starts to flicker like firelight. A golem of fire starts to step out of the wall. Seriously, is this just a copy paste of the last challenge with a new riddle and element? If so this might be easier than I first thought. Aww crap I just jinxed myself didn¡¯t I? Quickly, I need to solve this riddle before this new golem, let¡¯s call him Bob, turns me into a crispy critter. Why does my mind always start to wander when I am in a dangerous situation? Is it a coping mechanism? Focus! What could scare or show a golem of fire its own mortality. Mortality reminds me of death. What is left after a fire dies? Ashes! I need to show this golem some ashes. I fumble in my pocket for my matches. I don¡¯t want to take my eyes off this golem for even a second. How come it is just standing there? Wait a second it kind of looks like it is moving its arms back. Is it stretching? Suddenly Bob¡¯s arms snap forward and 2 glowing balls of fire are heading straight for my head. I flop to the ground in my best imitation of dodging. The two fireballs impact the wall beside me. Man that was close. I need to finish this before Bob starts too, ITS RAISING ITS ARMS AGAIN ALREADY? Cut a fat man a break. I get to my feet as quick as I can. Bob¡¯s arms snap forward once again. Four! There are four fireballs this time. Were two flaming balls of death not good enough? Two fireballs are aimed at my head and two are aimed at where I flopped, I mean dodged, to the floor last time. Dang, I think this mean it will keep increasing the number of fireballs each time and each new set will go towards the direction I dodge. This means I need to finish this quick or I am going to run out of places I can dodge those burning orbs of doom.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. I somehow manage to pull out my book of matches while dodging to the left this time. Close but no cigar Bob. As the fiery orbs of destruction strike the cave wall to my right I confidently strike a match and blow it out. I strike a heroic pose, or at least what I imagine a heroic pose looks like. I shout, ¡°Look upon your doom Bob of the fire clan!¡± Umm¡­ shouldn¡¯t he be disappearing at this point? I know I got this riddle right. What am I missing? The magnet golem Steve broke apart as soon as the magnet touched him. That¡¯s it, I need the ash to touch Bob. I throw the match with all my might right as Bob launches six burning spheres of ultimate crispiness. As I scramble to the right to avoid certain death I watch my match travel all of about three feet before falling down to the ground. What an EPIC FAIL. Why did I think that would work? What do I do now? If I have to get that close to Bob, I am going to fry. I need something that will travel far enough that I won¡¯t get burned. My candles, candles will definitely travel that far if I throw them. I reach for one of my candles while starting to move diagonally to my left. A diagonal direction is just about my only option at this point. If I am lucky I might make it out of the fireball throwing pattern. Man am I out of shape. Bob looks like he is about ready to throw again. I hope I get the timing of this right. As eight different flaming orbs of destruction start to spread out, I try and do a forward combat roll. Man those guys on T.V. make this seem so easy, they never talk about how much it hurts your shoulder to do one of these on hard ground. One of Bob¡¯s fireballs just grazes my foot, blistering my heel. It burn¡¯s! Ignore it, I have to finish this. I light a match and hold it to the candle wick. Come on, come on light you stupid thing. Finally, it catches fire. I quickly blow it out and throw it at Bob the fire elemental. Direct hit, and poor Bob is now just a pile of ashes on the floor of the cave. I open up the healing pill box I received from beating Steve the Magnificent Magnet Man, popped my 2nd pill, and relished in the warm glow of its curative power. Now that I have healed up my injuries it is time for every gamer¡¯s favorite action, checking out the loot. I walk up to the ash pile Bob left behind. Let¡¯s see if this is the same as last time. I cautiously touch the ashes, and as soon as I do another blue box appears.
¡°Congratulations on finishing your second challenge. Results will be tallied at the end of the beta test and applied at that time. As a bonus for being the first human on Earth to pass two challenges in the beta test of the GREAT GAME all previous results and memories of the beta test will be applied regardless of the outcome of the final two challenges.¡±
Well that message was different. It seems that aside from pain and suffering there is no downside to me continuing now. I get to keep my upgrades no matter what. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I¡¯m not looking forward to the next two challenges, but at least I know now I am getting a reward for my efforts no matter the outcome. I can think about this later, lets comb the ashes for the loot. Oh shiny! What is that? As I sift through the ashes of Bob I find what looks like a glowing ruby. What could this be? How can I find out? I know, Identify.
¡°Identify is not available during beta testing.¡±
Dang I forgot that commands are turned off. I need to make a mental note to check this thing as soon as Identify works. Worst case scenario is that I now have a ruby worth a lot of money, best case scenario is that I am now a proud owner of a magic gem. 5 - The End Of Beta Chapter 5: The End of Beta Since I knew that I would get rewards no matter what happened not, the next two challenges almost seemed anti-climactic, just kidding. The next challenge I decided to tackle was the water element. Long story short, the water golem was poisoned. I defeated it with my water purifying tablets, but not before I almost drowned while simultaneously being poisoned. Not a fun experience. Luckily, or maybe by design, the loot drop for this golem was a small case with a green cross on it. The note inside said they were recovery pills that would remove abnormal statuses. Translation, it would cure the poison. After the water golem I decided to take a break before trying the last challenge. I was down to a single health pill, two recovery pills, and was completely wiped out physically and mentally. After a nap, a meal, and making use of the little boy¡¯s room on the far side of the cave I feel much better. Mental note to self, add toilet paper to bug out bag. Using a sock is not fun and now I only have one clean sock. Alright it is time to start the final challenge. The last challenge element is Air. I have no idea what to expect on this one. If the golem is made out of air how would I even, see it? Would it glow? Will I need to breathe on it to kill it? Oh well let¡¯s see what it actually is. As I entered the last challenge cavern the now familiar blue screen popped up.
¡°Welcome to your final challenge. There is no escape until it is complete. Remember like calls to like and anything else is useless.¡±
Great it is a repeat of challenge one. I am going to have to get close enough to breathe on this thing which means it is going to be able to hurt me bad. I stare that the wall waiting for the air golem to step out. All of the sudden the wall starts to crackle and spark. That is no air golem! God damn you screwed up game logic. That¡¯s a lightning golem. OK don¡¯t panic, do I even have anything that can beat that thing? I am running out of time, it¡¯s already started the standard if you beat me blah blah get the blessing speech. Think Mark think. What is lightning? Lightning is a collection or movement of electrons, its energy, and its fast, do I have anything that matches that description? My train of thought is interrupted by the sight of a miniature lightning bolt heading my direction. I don¡¯t have time to dodge and my machete being metal takes a direct hit. I start twitching in pain from the residual electrical effects that arced into my body. That could have ended much worse if the metal in the machete had not attracted the lightning bolt and the rubber grip helped to partially insulate me. Wait, electricity is the answer. I do not know if this screwed up GREAT GAME will acknowledge my brilliance. Only one way to find out. I take out my flashlight as quick as I can and start to open it up. Please let this work. As soon as the batteries hit my hand I toss them at the lightning golem. Too late it launched another bolt at me before they could reach it. The last thing I remember before blacking out is severe pain, and falling towards the floor. Uhh, why do I hurt so bad? Did I sleep wrong? What is that smell? I slowly blink my eyes awake. Hanging in front of me is one of those stupid blue boxes. I guess it wasn¡¯t just a bad dream.
¡°Congratulations on finishing the elemental trials beta test. All bonuses and reward will be tallied and applied when the user exits the beta testing area. Thank You for playing the GREAT GAME.¡±
As soon as I finish reading the notice the box disappears. Wow, I survived. From the way I feel it must have been a close thing, and what is that awful smell. It smells like a combination of bacon, sewage, and burnt hair. Oh wait that¡¯s me. I must have lost control of my bowels after that last big shock. Thank god I keep a change of clothes in my bug out bag. After cleaning myself up as best I can and swallowing my last healing pill I feel like a new man, or at least one that can function long enough to get home. I stumble over to where I last saw that stupid lightning golem. I mean seriously, I know that lightning happens in the sky which is full of ¡°air¡± but that sucked. What is that? Bonus, there is both a red cross box and a glowing white gem. I collect everything and repack in preparation for going home. There it is, the final passage with the glowing EXIT sign above it. I can finally leave this place, rest up, think and plan what I¡¯m going to do next. I walk through cautiously, afraid that I will be sent somewhere other than back home. There is the screen I want to see,
¡°Transport back to Earth will commence in 3..2..1..¡±
My couch, never have I been so happy as to see my couch. As I collapse onto the couch I see another blue screen,
¡°Final results of the beta test have been calculated. Surviving participants will be able to check their status after all body modifications have been made.¡±
What? What body modifications? I never agreed to any of this.
¡°Body modifications will commence in 3..2..1..¡±
Dear God the pain! Arrghhh! I pass out for the second time today. As I slowly blink the sleep from my eyes I noticed I was on the couch. Huh, I must have fallen asleep watching T.V. last night. What a bizarre dream. It all seemed so real, but the good dreams always do. Oh well back to the real world. I stumble towards the bathroom to take care of my morning business. Wow I must have been really tired last night. I even fell asleep in my clothes. As I leaned over the toilet to help improve my sleepy morning aim, I thought to myself how cool would it be though if it was real. Just think status and,
Name: Mark Anderson Titles: Survivor +1, Quadelementalist +4, Lucky One +1
Level: 3 - 10% Unspent Attribute Points: 15
Strength: 12 HP: 120
Intelligence: 20 MP: 400
Wisdom: 20 HP/Regen: 12% per 15 min.
Agility: 10 MP/Regen: 20% per 15 min
Constitution: 12 Luck: 20 ?
Affinities: Earth - 100% Fire ¨C 100%If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Water ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100% ????
Oh Jesus, that blue screen popped up as soon as I thought status. That means it was not a dream. Man what do I do now. First things first, how do I turn this screen off so I can finish my morning business. The other screens just faded away. This one is staying in front of me but is transparent enough to see through. That is probably a safety feature so no one is blinded by alerts. I know how about I use HELP. The status screen disappears only to be replaced by,
¡°Welcome to the Great Game help section. How can we help you today?¡±
Hmmm... Do I just think my question and this guide will answer me?
¡°Yes.¡±
Ok that was a little creepy. Let¡¯s try it out. How can I remove game screens from my view?
¡°Staring to the side for 3 or more seconds will automatically cause screens to fade out. Users may also employ voice commands, with the default being set to Command Off.¡±
Help Off. It worked. I quickly finish my morning rituals in the bathroom and retreat to my thinking spot. Once I have relocated to the recliner I start my brainstorming session. Ok I remember being surprised by a green screen, being given almost no time to prepare, dick move by the way Great Game, luckily I had my go bag, I bumbled my way through the beginning of the challenges, got extremely lucky, and barely survived. Then at the end something about body modifications then waking back up. Wait, body modifications! Oh crap. I run towards my daughter¡¯s room and stand in front of the only full length mirror in the house. What the hell? The game must have put me on a diet. I must be 50-75 pounds skinnier. I am not a twig by any means, but I have lost a lot of weight. Was that the only change? Maybe the help screen can answer some questions. HELP.
¡°Yes¡±
Can you explain the body modification process?
¡°Body modification occurs as soon as a subject is safe after placing stat points. Body modification only occurs only if needed.¡±
Can you give me an example please?
¡°Certainly, if a player places 5 points into their strength stat then as soon as feasible the Great Game system will alter their musculature to reflect this new level of strength.¡±
Why is body modification so painful?
¡°Most users experience little to no pain. The only time pain is involved is if the body modifications are extreme.¡±
Wow, I am pretty sure the help menu just called me fat. How rude, accurate, but rude. So my new physique is just a reflection of my new stats. How are ability points earned?
¡°Users get 5 stat points per level and can be awarded bonus points for unique achievements and through the title system. Bonus points from titles are not available until after reaching level 10.¡±
I must have gotten my extra points from being the first to pass the beta test. I will save my unspent points until I am sure of all the ramifications of using them. How are levels usually gained?
¡°Users get xp or experience points for defeating monsters, defeating other users, completing quests, using skills and abilities, earning titles, or inventing or discovering new items or spells. The amount of xp is determined by the game system and is a combination of difficulty, user level, and a proprietary algorithm.¡±
When will this world fully enter into the Great Game?
¡°This world will enter the Great Game in 4 stages. Stage 1 is testing. This stage is occurring right now. Stage 2 will occur on the following summer solstice. Stage 3 will then occur on the next winter solstice and finally stage four will occur one year after the introduction of stage 2 on the next summer solstice.¡±
Can you explain each stage?
¡°Information on each stage is only available for the current and next stage. Testing stage 1 is to make sure the sentient species on the planet is able to interface with the Great Game system. Stage 2 will introduce class F through C monsters to the planet, limit or change certain aspects of technology, and introduce quests and dungeons.¡±
Can you please elaborate on monster classes?
¡°Monsters are ranked from F class, the easiest to defeat, up through E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS, and X class. The higher the class the more difficult the opponent. A very loose comparison might be F class can be defeated by levels 1-10, E class by levels 10-20, D class by levels 20-30, C class by levels 30-40, and B Class by levels 40-50. These are estimates, due to a wide variety of personal skills on the part of humans and monsters lower level adventurers could defeat higher class monsters and vice versa. Once Monsters reach A class they develop an intelligence no less than the human race and the correlation starts to fall apart. A class is equivalent to levels 50-75, S class levels 75 -100, SS class Levels 100 ¨C 150, SSS class Levels 150 -200, and finally X class is equivalent to level 200+. Please understand that this is just an estimate and the number of factors including intelligence, skill, elements, location, etc.¡­ can drastically affect the outcome of battles.¡±
That is an extremely thorough explanation. What about technological limits, what can I expect to happen after changeover?
¡°Initial technology limits are determined by the Great Game system as needed. Common initial limits have included nuclear dampening, loss of electrical energy storage, and limiting of chemical and nuclear explosives.¡±
I read a lot of fantasy and LitRPG books and I think I can summarize or guess about these restrictions. If I make guesses about restrictions can you confirm or deny them for me?
"Yes that falls within acceptable parameters for the help system.¡±
I was hoping that this loophole would work. Ok think about all of those stories you have read over the years. What was common between them all? Many stories bring technology down to a level that would reduce pollution and allow mother nature to regenerate the planet. This would mean no large scale fossil fuel burning, or anything above cottage scale or minor electrical generation. The system already said that energy storage would be altered so no batteries. No nuclear detonations or decay to prevent world-wide problems. However, in some stories work-around tech is acknowledged and used. Help screen, will technology still work as long as it is powered or energy stored by a magical alternative?
¡°Yes.¡±
Will guns and weapons that use chemical reactions cease to function?
¡°Yes.¡±
If a magical propellant or alternative is created will those firearm types be allowed?
¡°Yes.¡±
Have magical firearms, batteries, and explosives been used successfully in the Great Game before?
¡°Yes.¡±
Help Off. 6 - Making Plans Chapter 6: Making Plans Now that I have some concrete information I can start to make some real plans. Mark Anderson¡¯s End of the World to Do List:
  1. Figure out what to tell everyone. Do I try and convince them? How do I explain my body change?
  2. Figure out how to use magic. I have these awesome ¡°blessings of the elements¡± so I need to make sure not to waste them.
  3. Train my abilities and try to learn skills I feel will be necessary in the new world.
  4. Invent or discover ways to keep necessary technology operating. (Like indoor plumbing)
  5. Keep using help screen to learn as much as I can ahead of time. Knowledge is power.
  6. Find a new place to live. Much of what I want to do cannot be done in or near my rental house.
Secrecy on many things is probably a good idea. If I show off my new abilities, I will likely run into problems. Either scared people turning into mobs, witch hunts, or even government dissection. I hope that last one is an exaggeration, but I have watched a lot of movies and it never ends well for the person/being that has unique powers. Help, the Great Game system has been modifying memories of failed beta testers correct?
¡°Yes.¡±
Is this because only users are allowed knowledge of the Great Game?
¡°Yes.¡±
Will anyone notice my body modifications?
¡°If noticed non-users will attribute it to a change in lifestyle or another easily explained reason.¡±
Alright, the first item on my checklist has been taken care of without me having to even do anything. Is there anything I am forgetting? Oh yeah, those other commands that were locked during beta testing should be available now. Let¡¯s try them out. I go and grab the two gems I received for beating those elemental golems. First up is the ruby. Identify:
¡°Ruby ¨C Flawless ¨C Enchantable, Value = 1,000 gold, Mana Capacity = 500¡±
Excellent, now the white gem,
¡°Diamond ¨C Cloudy ¨C Enchantable, Value = 250 gold, Mana Capacity = 125¡±
Ok it seems that the mana capacity is ? the gold value of a gem. Wait a second, what is the currency of the Great Game? Help, please list the common Great Game currencies and exchange rates. Examples would be appreciated.
¡°The currency of the Great Game is standardized as follows:
100 copper bits = 1 silver piece
100 silver pieces = 1 gold piece
1,000 gold pieces = 1 platinum piece
1,000 platinum pieces = 1 mithral coin
During stage 1 and 2 local currencies can be exchanged through a user¡¯s inventory screen after reaching ??????level 5 with Great Game currencies. All exchanges of Great Game currency and local currency will be ??????subjected to a 1% conversion fee. For example, 1 of your gold pieces currently would exchange for ??????$1,728.32 in U.S. dollars.¡±????
Wait a minute one of my gold coins? I have gold coins? INVENTORY!
0 of 240lbs used
0 copper 0 silver 200 Gold 0 Platinum 0 Mithral
240lb capacity that must be my Strength + Constitution X 10 lbs. I bet the coins were from defeating the elemental golems. It is nice to know I do not have to pick up every single coin, but I will still have to search for special drops like the pills and gems. I do the math in my head really quick and realize that I now have over $300,000 in gold in my inventory. I really need to start figuring out a way to level myself up. Not only will it make myself and my family safer, but I can use some of my Great Game wealth after level 5 to outfit a good place to survive the transition. If I can come up with some sort of excuse to invite the family over during the change-over period I will be able to keep them safe without having to explain the unexplainable. I continued to think of oddball things for the rest of the day and gave the poor help person/program/spirit or whatever it was a good workout. I broke up my think fests and questioning time with reading. I started to reread and skim through everything I had in the house that dealt with the LitRPG, Game Worlds, Survival, and end of the world scenarios. It was both to refresh the information in my head and also a little experiment. I will check my status in the morning to see if my idea is correct. When I wake up the next morning I immediately called up my STATUS,
Name: Mark Anderson Titles: Survivor +1, Quadelementalist +4, Lucky One +1
Level: 3 - 60% Unspent Attribute Points: 15
Strength: 12 HP: 120
Intelligence: 20 MP: 400
Wisdom: 20 HP/Regen: 12% per 15 min.
Agility: 10 MP/Regen: 20% per 15 min
Constitution: 12 Luck: 20 ?
Affinities: Earth - 100% Fire ¨C 100%This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Water ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100% ????
I was right. Studying and learning along with experimentation granted me some experience. More than I expected. I assume it will be diminishing returns as I get better in the same fields. I bet only new information and skills add to the experience bar. Probably the same way a child learns and experiences in school and has rapid growth through the first years of their life. They can continue to learn as they get older, but the new knowledge and skills take longer to master. Alright let the learning montage begin. Hah, I wish I could just do a learning montage. That would make everything else so much easier. Instead I continue my weekend reading binge for some easy xp. I nervously wait for my daughter Nicole to get home from her trip to my parent¡¯s house. If she does not notice the change than my plans for training can go forward. A few hours later while I was taking a break I heard my daughter¡¯s car pull up outside. This is the moment of truth. Play it casual Mark, don¡¯t get nervous. I meet my daughter Nicole at the door, ¡°Hi sweet pea! Do you notice anything different about your dad?¡± ¡°Well Dad your diet and exercise seems to be paying off, you are looking good,¡± replied Nicole. The help screen was right. She rationalized away my sudden weight loss. I can work with this. ¡°By the way kiddo how was Grandma¡¯s house?¡± With that Nicole was off and running and started to give me the updates on all the family happenings. Wait a second if the Great Game system wants to stay hidden it should help me hide money transfers and life style changes. I can use this to have more time to prepare for the upcoming changes. When Nicole got to a stopping point I tried out my new theory. ¡°Hey Nicole my investments that I made look like they might be paying off soon. If that happens then we can build our dream house, I can stop working full time, and you my dear can attend any college you want.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great Dad, when will you know?¡± Excellent, she never even questioned my fabrication about some mysterious investments. ¡°I will probably know sometime this summer.¡± ¡°That sounds great, don¡¯t forget to call grandma and tell her the good news.¡± ¡°OK, sweet pea I will.¡± Just like that I was able to verify that the changes to my lifestyle that I needed to make in order to prepare for the Great Game should be covered. My excuses only need to work for a little over a year anyway. Then everyone will know and experience the Great Game just like me. Hmm, if I build a big enough place I can protect others besides my family. Oh well I will firm up my plans as I go along. The next week was filled with me wrapping up my ¡°normal life and scheduling my new training. I resigned from my teaching job as soon as I reached level 5 and was able to transfer my gold coin funds into dollars. I set up classes in self-defense for 2 times a week and signed up for as many workshops about survival, gardening, cooking, canning, home repair, and just about anything else I could think of that might be beneficial to survival in the new world. I was hoping to learn new skills and abilities and continuing to earn some slow but safe xp to raise my level before next year¡¯s summer solstice. My new job was learning and preparing. I felt that I could check my progress at the end of each month and compare it to the past to check how I was doing and make any changes if necessary. The summer passed by quickly. I have been steadily progressing in skills and abilities but the most exciting thing to me is my new ¡°spells¡± that I have created. Since all I had was affinities to elements and the knowledge that mana existed I decided that this was a you can develop your own spells kind of world. I studied meditation and was able to develop some ¡°spells¡± that will be extremely helpful. However, the most interesting thing to me is with my 100% affinity I can manipulate any of the elements in any way I can imagine. It just takes concentration and time. I have also finally distributed some of my earned attribute points to check on how they affected me. The results convinced me that while I primarily seem to be a mage type character, I cannot neglect my physical attributes if I want to survive. After I double check my stats and gains for this month I think I will be able to start on #6 of my to do list. Find a new place to live. STATS
Name: Mark Anderson Titles: Survivor +1, Quadelementalist +4, Lucky One +1
Level: 7 - 153% Unspent Attribute Points: 4
Strength: 15 HP: 150
Intelligence: 30????+10% MP MP: 660
Wisdom: 30?????+10% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 15% per 15 min.
Agility: 15 MP/Regen: 33% per 15 min
Constitution: 15 Luck: 20 ?
Affinities: Earth - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Water ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100% ????
Using some of my unspent attribute points has let me determine that constitution X 10 determines HP. Intelligence + Wisdom X 10 determines MP. Also you get a bonus if a stat passes 20 points. The most interesting thing I think is still the no limit to spells. Spells are only limited by the imagination. More complex things take more mana and more time. My spells are just short cuts to a type of action I have performed over and over. It is quicker to use but not as powerful. For example, my fire bullet spell cost 4 mana and does approximately ? my intelligence rating in damage, but I can cast the same spell, same mana cost manually for twice as much damage. However, it takes twice as long to cast. Basically it seems that spells are quick for battle where manual mana manipulation is more efficient outside of combat. I have tons of ideas for more spells but space and having to hide what I can do has limited my experiments so far. I do think that spells are all that ¡°normal¡± players will get until they advance their affinities to 100% in an element. I think that with my overall progress I am ready to implement my master plan to raise funds and build a safe place for my family and friends. With the conversion fees I have a little over $300,000 dollars from the 200 gold coins I won from completing the beta test dungeon. After questioning the help section over the summer I have found out that I can place precious metals and gems from this world into my inventory and have them converted into U.S. dollars also for a fee. The more money I have the better off my family and friends will be. I can buy supplies and set up a survival compound. Not just a compound, but an entire safe domain. I discovered the land management section of help last week. 7 - Making Money Chapter 7: Making Money Under the land management section of help I learned that if you own a certain amount of land different perks come with it. For 160 acres you can designate 10 acres as a sanctuary. This means that within that space no monsters can spawn. They can still travel through but they cannot live there or appear there. At 320 acres the sanctuary size quadruples to 40 acres. At 640 acres the sanctuary size quadruples again to 160 acres and you start to have access to the town/village developer. The help menu seemed reluctant to give me details, but I inferred from other questions that it would allow for magic building of infrastructure and possibly access to a Great Game store. Once you hit a personal property amount of 2 square miles¡¯ things start to get interesting. The sanctuary size only doubles to 320 acres but your area is now considered your domain. In a domain the owner is considered the ruler and gets special bonuses and can confer bonuses to others. Basically you become a noble and can give perks to others. The part I almost missed when questioning help but will be the best for me is that when you become a ruler you are allowed to claim surrounding unclaimed land and add it your domain. At 5 square miles you officially become a king with a kingdom and earn even more perks under the Great Game system. Help also taught me that the land has to be directly owned by an individual or family. The government of the United States does not count. Basically all of the national forests, parks, wildlife refuges etc.¡­ will revert to unclaimed land. Each person over the age of 16 can ¡°Homestead¡± 80 acres a year. Finding all of this information solidified my plans for prepping for the Great Game change over. I am going to purchase as much land as possible next to a national forest as possible. It has to have at least 1,280 acres so I qualify as a domain. Then using the claim function, I will claim as much of the unclaimed forest land as the system will let me. This should vastly increase the safety of my family and friends because of the large sanctuary, bonuses I can hand out and access to a Great Game store that many people will not have at the beginning of the game. In order to make this work I need more money. I have been working on developing my long range sensing capability to help fix this problem. I first got the idea from several different stories and anime. If I send out a pulse of mana through the ground, air, or water I can get a return and sense where living things are along with a general sense of the terrain. This works similar to a bat¡¯s echolocation ability. I decided if it could do this then it should just be a matter of imagination, intent, and amount of mana to sense other things besides living organisms. So I started some simple experiments. I first tried to become a human metal detector. It took some time but was surprisingly easy to do. After I figured out how to sense all metals, I just fine tuned my efforts to sense precious metals and gems. I can now sense concentrations of precious metals and harvestable gems up to 500 meters away. I expect this range to increase with practice. I do have to concentrate for 30 minutes to an hour, so it is not a fast process. However not only can I sense the metals and gems I can call them to me with double the mana cost. So the next two weeks will be a ¡°camping trip¡± with my daughter. One last hurrah before she starts college. We will be traveling to a variety of areas up and down the Appalachian Mountains where precious metals and gems have been found before. This is totally by coincidence of course. I will also be checking out several properties in the area. The Appalachian Mountains provide security, water, relatively mild seasons and lots of land for sale and in the way of national forests and especially the Appalachian trail which connects a lot of different types of government land together. I think it will be an ideal area to start my sanctuary. After copious amounts of research, I discovered that Appalachia, especially North Carolina, is renowned for pockets of gem quality diamonds, sapphires, rubies, but emeralds most of all. Small deposits of precious metals such as copper, silver, gold, and platinum can also be found relatively easily. Most of them are not large enough for commercial exploitation, but should be perfect for my needs. I hope to come back with millions after this 2 week trip. I can only hope that I am as lucky as my game title says. The funds that I need are in the ground, I just have to find them. What a fun trip that was. I had a great time with my daughter and spent a significant amount of time searching and finding the funds I need. After 2 weeks I was able to significantly increase the amount of money I have to work with. I lucked into enough gems that I can hold a few back for learning to enchant purposes. Diamonds hold air enchantments, Rubies hold fire enchantments, Sapphires hold water enchantments, and Emeralds hold Earth enchantments. There were also many lesser quality gems that can be used as enchantment holders like topaz. They only work ? as well but are much more plentiful than the precious gems. On this trip I was able to find,Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
50 flawed gems @ 100 Gold 4 Platinum Pieces worth of loose platinum
22 cloudy gems @ 250 Gold 432 Gold Pieces worth of loose gold
10 flawless gems @ 1000 Gold 616 Silver Pieces worth of loose silver
I plan on keeping all the flawless gems and 2 each of the cloudy gems, converting the rest into Gold and into dollars. With the conversion fees charged by the Great Game, I should have just over 21 million dollars. At least I know that with minimal effort on my part I can make a ton of money and be able to keep financing this operation. I also realize that this disparity and easiness of me making money will only last so long. When the Great Game starts and coinage is the only method of trade my regular fortune will be worthless. I need to use this conversion to the best effect I can now while it helps. Mental note to self, convert everything back into Great Game currency before the switch over. I have selected my starting piece of land and will purchase everything that I can around it, connected or not. I have the unfortunate feeling that a lot of land will become ownerless after the Great Game starts through human deaths. My primary piece of land is along the French Broad River, and is approximately 1400 acres in size. There are several other pieces of land available near it and it runs up against the Pisgah National forest. The Nantahala national forest is within 15 miles also. It¡¯s perfect, close enough to small towns and Asheville to scavenge for supplies, and isolated enough that it should be safe from large bands of marauders. It has plentiful natural resource throughout the area. I contacted my lawyers and real estate agent and started the paperwork for purchases of the land I had selected. I also left instructions for them to purchase any and all other pieces within a 5 mile radius. I am feeding them and the world a story about starting an Eco Tourism resort. This should help the Great Game cover up my large purchases of land and supplies. By the time my land purchases go through another 2 months have passed and I have a general map of my new domain and a rough idea of how I am going to set things up. I have spent ? of my recent windfall on just the land purchases. 16 million dollars has bought over 5000 acres in different pieces. My main section of land is just under 2200 acres. After I move up to my new land I will start searching for more funds to continue my plan. I will need millions more to be able to finish what I want in time. Rush jobs always cost more. I have moved a mobile home and some empty shipping containers moved out to one of the pieces of my new property in North Carolina. I will use this as a base of operations and storage/workroom area until my main Eco-Tourism/Survival Compound is built. Speaking of building things I took inspiration from several stories and have started developing my Earth Manipulation skills into tunneling and wall building. I am keeping the above ground construction small and explainable for now, but I am pretty sure I could build basic housing and structures for over 100 people in less than 12 hours with just my current skill level. The detail and speed should increase as I practice. Underground is a different story. I dig tunnels like some sort of Giant Mutant Mole on steroids. I do not even have to dispose of the Earth I dig out. I just compact it around the tunnels and rooms underground to help with stability. Reading all those reincarnated into a dungeon stories I read paid off for me. I have built a ton of interconnecting tunnels and bunkers under most of my property. This will allow for more people to occupy without increasing my defensive perimeter and will also serve as storage and a safe place to retreat to if needed. Doing all of this construction, building, and experimenting on how to keep people safe has made me realize one important thing about my plan. The largest flaw in my plan to save people is that I hate people. Not individually or I want to kill someone, but bunches of people, large crowds, etc. I seriously hate interacting with them. I guess it is more that I hate large groups of people. Large groups tend to follow a herd mentality and do stupid things that piss me off. I am most happy with 1 or 2 people surrounding me at most. This is creating a bit of a problem for me. I love my family, I want to help save my friends and humanity as a whole, but I want to do it with as little interaction with them as possible. I mean I am building this refuge for people after the Great Game, but I do not want to be a daily part of it. I think the best answer for now is to build everything as I planned and set up a group or ruling council to be in charge. I will reserve the right as the highest leveled and ruling monarch of the area (per Great Game Rules) to veto anything I want. I can use my magic to keep an eye on everything from a distance. This will let me build my own lair somewhere away from the primary refuge I am constructing and let me do my best impression of a hermit while still being available to help out if truly needed. I think this set up will be along the lines of sects in Wuxia and Xianxia eastern novels. I will act as the hidden benevolent Patriarch that can swoop in and save the day and other people can have the headache of running the day to day details. I like this plan. Along with the new ruling council I can also develop a school for all the children. One that will finally pay back those brats for all the hell they put me through as a teacher. I mean I can develop a fair and balanced curriculum that will teach them everything they need to know to survive in the new world. Ha, Ha, Ha, I am going to make those twerps suffer. I mean that adversity will give them the strength to survive in the new world. Wow, I seem to be holding onto more resentment than I thought. Oh well, I hope it does not change or alter my behavior in the future. 8 - Its Only Stealing If You Are Caught Chapter 8: It¡¯s only stealing if you are caught Since I have moved up to my new land in North Carolina I have seen a temporary boost in my stats and abilities. As long as I stay on my land I receive these benefits. If I move more than 1 kilometer away from my claimed land under the system these bonus benefits disappear. The help screen has hinted that the range will increase as my holdings increase. This means I need to keep expanding until I reach an optimal size for my little kingdom. We need to be self-sufficient and able to defend ourselves without out growing so large that management becomes an issue. From what I understand if my kingdom reaches a certain size than the bonuses I enjoy could become permanent and passed down as a legacy to my heirs. Even though owning and ruling over more land is extremely beneficial, I am going to make it a secondary priority. After the Great Game goes live I am sure that unclaimed land and opportunities to grow the kingdom will present themselves. I believe that my priority needs to be on training and resource acquisition. I think that the more in game currency I can accumulate before monsters and other distractions and troubles appear the better. I am about 99% sure that the easy money I am making now is because I am either the only one or one of the few people at this point that passed the beta test. This gives me a huge advantage until the Great Game is fully integrated. There is basically no competition and the threats from the game world have yet to materialize allowing me to travel and use time intense spells that might still work later but will undoubtedly be harder to use without interruption. As for my wealth I am burning through money like there is no tomorrow. I need to go on another resource gathering trip, but I want it to be outside my projected area of my new kingdom. The resources that are in my kingdom I want to leave alone and have them be there for when I need them later when travel is sure to be much harder. I do have a somewhat risky plan to get massive quantities of gold and other resources that I need. I am about 75% or better confident that it will work. I think that this is a high enough percentage that I have to try. It should give me a massive influx of gold and other precious materials to spend at the beginning of the Great Game to outfit my entire kingdom with equipment that would be almost unheard of for starting players. If I do this right I will only have to make this one extended trip and can use the rest of the time until the switch over building up my area and making myself better. There is so much to do and so little time to accomplish everything that I feel is necessary. I need to speed up my training and underground construction skills and increase my level if at all possible. It will be essential to my plan and will allow me much greater confidence in accomplishing my goals. I will check my progress again before the Christmas Holidays, spend a little time with family, and then start on the big plan. I have discovered that I cannot accomplish everything myself. I am going to have to start delegating things to others without letting them know the real reasons behind what I am doing. This realization also made me understand that I need to identify helpful and potential employees, friends and others to have close by during the changeover. Travel will be very difficult once the Great Game starts so I need to get these people close by before it happens. Some of the critical needs areas that I have identified are doctors/nurses, soldiers/law enforcement, gamers, farmers /ranchers, veterinarians, general contractors, and just general workers. I do not care about nationality, religion, language, etc. As long as they are good workers and have the potential for loyalty to me it will all work out. There will be no discrimination in my little kingdom. I plan on having it run mostly as a meritocracy where your contributions to the greater good are rewarded with wealth and power. This means that anyone regardless of background can do well as long as they put in the time and effort. I need to come up with some method to interview and find out if these people will be compatible with me and my goals. I could probably use my mana sense to watch skin temperature, pupil dilation, and other bodily signs as a crude lie detector for in person interviews. I can rely on back ground checks and other things until technology stops after the Great Game starts. Finally Christmas break has arrived for my daughter¡¯s college. I did not want to start my new plan until after I had a chance to see her and the family again. She has come home and is remarkably upbeat about all of the changes I have made in our lifestyle. We have a new house and compound, new wealth, new businesses and land and she just rationalizes everything away. It¡¯s actually kind of creepy.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I have accumulated more wealth while practicing and traveling locally, but with my estimations it will definitely not be enough for my grandiose plans. I have increased my skills and level and feel confident my plan should be feasible. The boost from my titles once I reached level 10 actually was a big help and raised my confidence in my scheme working. Let¡¯s see where I am at now: Status
Name: Mark Anderson Titles: Survivor +1, Quadelementalist +4, Lucky One +1
Level: 12 - 46% Unspent Attribute Points: 5
Strength: 25 HP: 250
Intelligence: 40 +10%MP MP: 800
Wisdom: 40 +10% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 25% per 15 min.
Agility: 25 MP/Regen: 40% per 15 min.
Constitution: 25 Luck: 30
Affinities: Earth - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Water ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
What I have planned will either be the start of a brilliant, but short criminal career. Or an absolute failure and I will end up in jail. However, even if I end up in jail I will just stay there until the Great Game starts and then break out using my overpowered stats to make it home as quick as possible. I am going to rob gold and precious metal depositories, diamond brokers, and mines around the world. Hopefully if my plan works no one will ever even know it happened. In fact with the Great Game switch over in about 6 months I am not even sure I can call it robbery. More of a wealth redistribution trip before the start of the game. I like that, it sounds less villainy. From everything I learned, governments do not ¡°count¡± as owners of property or wealth after the Great Game Switch over. Thus everything they own such as gold depositories, land, etc. reverts back to the first come first served rule. Rather than letting somebody else just walk into Fort Knox after the Great Game starts and having all of that wealth to themselves I am going to take a significant portion of it and other places around the world to use for my new kingdom. I have been practicing my fine elemental manipulation for the last few months for a reason. I am going to approach each area from deep underground, using silence and earth manipulation spells to not set off alarms. I won¡¯t ever enter any vaults. I will use Earth manipulation to drill holes up to where the gold and other precious metals are stored and then use a trick I have been working on to siphon off gold and other metals without leaving a trace. The tricky part is I now have enough control over my mana that I can hollow out the bars of precious metals and replace the interiors with stone. This will leave just a thin film of metal surrounding a block of worthless rock. In practice I have been able to average around 500 bars an hour. I have been practicing with copper bars and should be able to increase my speed with practice as I travel the world. I can continue doing this until I get tired, run out of mana, or just feel like I should move on to the next location. This plan should net me an untold amount of wealth. The majority of which will be the new kingdoms treasury with enough left out for personal use. I hope to accomplish several goals of mine at once with this plan. First and foremost I will increase the amount of funds that I have to be able to help others directly after the switch. Second it should increase my magic and control to unprecedented levels as I drain the gold deposits. Finally I should also be able to get ideas and samples of various helpful things in my travels. This could be from architectural designs, management techniques, and just exposure to how other cultures work. During my world travels I will also add in some public mine tours and tours of played out mines to increase my take without exposing myself to more risk. Hopefully I can also meet and invite several people from around the world to my compound. This will ensure a healthy mix of peoples and cultures for my little kingdom. 9 - Stealing The World My first stop will be the Fort Knox gold depository. I reserved a hotel suite in a nearby town and started the first heist of my career. After checking into the hotel and resting until the afternoon, I then rented a car and traveled to the closest deserted area near Fort Knox. 10 minutes after parking and close observation to make sure no one was paying attention I let my Earth magic do the work. I created a cave underneath the surface of the ground and added several small ventilation holes so I would not suffocate. After checking the area one more time I quickly opened up an entrance to the underground cave and entered. I then carefully closed the entrance behind me. I use my earth magic to tunnel down around 100 meters and then started tunneling towards Fort Knox. About every 50 meters I make a ten to fifteen centimeter in diameter ventilation shaft to the surface and leave an air enchantment next to it that would circulate air. When I first started to practice this technique back in North Carolina I almost killed myself. Nothing dramatic like a collapsed tunnel or anything, but rather I just assumed that the air holes I created would refresh the air. They do allow fresh air in, but the small size means that without an air enchantment next to them to keep it flowing it takes too long to replace the bad air with good. I almost suffocated to death before I realized what was happening. After a lot of experimentation this is the system I came up with. My earth magic automatically reinforces the walls of my tunnel and my mana sense keeps me moving in the correct direction and helps me avoid any problems like underground pockets of water, well pipes, and anything else that would cause me a problem. Tunneling under Fort Knox using magic is surprisingly easy. I reached the main vaults in under two hours. Now comes the hard part. I have practiced this technique at home and I sure hope it works as well here as it did there. I carefully drill upwards creating a spiral ramp, with my mana sense at full power, until I am just underneath the foundation of the vaults in Fort Knox. I use my magic to bore two 10 centimeter test holes into the bottom of the vault. This is the tricky part where I may have to retreat. I do not know all of the alarms and other tricks they might have for the vault rooms. I know a regular drill would have a 99% or greater chance of setting something off from the vibrations and destruction it would cause to get through the concrete and metal, but magic is different. With my earth magic manipulation matter just sort of ¡°flows¡± to where I want it. It is quite strange to watch, but the good part is that no vibrations or violence whatsoever happens to the material, which in turn means that I should not set off any alarms. Alright, phase one is complete, and I do not think I set off any alarms. I will wait for 30 minutes before I start phase two just to be extra careful. While I am waiting I cannot help but think about how cool it would be if I could brag about this adventure and my powers to people. I know it would cause more problems and could result in my death, but I am about to rob Fort Knox and no one will ever know. Well I guess after the changeover I can let people know. It is not like there will be a functioning government that would be able to arrest me for prior crimes at that point. But I still have the urge to tell people now just because for once in my life I am doing something so freaking cool, even if it is illegal, and I can¡¯t tell a single person. Wait time is up, on to phase two. Phase two is much more difficult. I have practiced on bricks and lead blocks, but this will be my first real test run in the real world. What I want to do and have accomplished in practice is hollowing out the bars of gold just leaving a shell of gold while filling them in with stone. Why fill them in, I am afraid that if the weight changes too much a pressure sensor might go off. I do not want anyone to know that there has even been a robbery. People looking for people with new found wealth and spending habits might stumble into my projects and land acquisitions in North Carolina.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. I carefully start the process of switching out the gold in the bars above me for stone. I send the stone up one small access tube I drilled and the gold comes down the other. After 30 minutes I take a break and check on my gains. I will also wait another ? an hour just to make sure the switch has not tripped some alarm. The gold I have liberated is just in a shiny pile next to me. I start cutting it into chunks and placing it into my inventory. After I max out my carrying capacity I exchange it into ¡°Great Game¡± currency. This is somewhat of a cheat that I discovered. The ¡°Great Game¡± help section told me that I could exchange currency until the changeover. I have also realized that I am limited in what I can carry in my inventory. However, after several months I realized something. The ¡°Great Game¡± does not count game currency weight against your inventory limit. That means I can carry 200 kilos of gold bars and max out my inventory or exchange them for ¡°Great Game¡± gold coins with a small transaction fee paid and basically have the same amount of wealth but no penalty on weight limits. This helped me solidify my plans for this wealth redistribution trip. I mean what good is it to steal two tons of gold if you cannot move it or sell it? Sure I lose a little bit in transaction fees from switching it to gold coins, and I lose a little more for switching back into usable currency when I need it, but considering that it wasn¡¯t my money to start with I am making out like a bandit. The half hour rest period is up and no alarms. It looks like my little plan is working. The rest of the day was quite boring. It was basically just a rinse and repeat operation until I retrieved all of the easily accessible gold on the bottom floor. I am not going to get greedy and try for all of it. That is how people make mistakes and get caught. I finish converting the last of the gold I stole into game currency and start the long walk back to my rental vehicle. All along the way I seal up the tunnel and air ventilation holes behind me. No need to leave evidence that will just confuse people. That was easier than I thought. I need to be careful about becoming overconfident and screwing up in the future. Now where will I go for my next heist? After I make it back to the hotel I use a little google time to research where I need to be going. It looks like I will be travelling to the Denver and Philadelphia mints, the bullion depository in West Point, N.Y and the Federal Reserve Bank in Manhattan. That should do it for the United States. I then will travel to London and the world¡¯s largest stash of silver. Those are the easy ones. After that I need to access mines for gems and other precious metals at the source. There are several other reserves around the world, but they are not in areas where I could pass off my tourism easily or where there is enough precious metals to make it worthwhile. After London I think I will head to Africa to hit up some precious metal mines in South Africa and some gemstone mines in some of the relatively safer African countries. I need to be smart about this. I have limited time to accomplish my goals and I still want to play tourist a little bit as I travel around the world. It would be tragic to get to greedy and get shot in some third world hell hole, just because I wanted a little bit more. Where else? Madagascar and Sri Lanka for sapphires, Myanmar for rubies, Colombia for emeralds, and Australia for a large variety of metals and precious gemstones. I think I will stop in several touristy areas along the way and if I find something or someone I want or need for my new kingdom I will buy it or offer them a job. Ok, this plan sounds like it should work. 10 - Latin Love The United States stops went off without a hitch. I emptied out a lot of precious metals in the mints and the bullion depository. The Federal Reserve Bank in Manhattan was a pain in the neck and London was almost as bad. I had forgotten to take into consideration that each of those cities is extremely built up. There are drainage tunnels, subways, utilities, and for all I know mole men tunnels that were so annoying to avoid I almost gave up. It took me an extra two days in both Manhattan and London to empty the vaults. Not because of difficulty of alarms or anything but just for the convoluted system of access tunnels I had to follow in order to get close enough to finish the job. It was like a horrible maze. Africa was different. Planning out what to do is easy. Accomplishing my goals was very difficult. Once again, it was not security or man-made problem, but rather a cultural, linguistic, and I hate to say it but a skin tone problem. First off I did not consider how difficult it would be to get some alone time without people noticing. In the U.S. and U.K. I was just another pasty white guy walking around and people ignored me. In Africa I was the only pasty white guy walking around and was a source of amusement for the locals. All of the local kids would follow the weird white guy around as I tried to find someplace I could start the beginning of my tunnel. I finally had to sneak out of my hotel late at night in a hoodie and pray I did not get mugged until I found an alleyway with no one in it. Once I made it underground it was an even easier time than in the U.S. to access the metal and gems that I needed. I may be a thief, but I did have a conscious. In every country where I accessed mines and not vaults I made sure to send some gems and metals closer to the surface of where the mines were operating. Since I knew that in about a year these mines might shut down entirely I decided that the last year of mining should be especially beneficial to them. Hopefully that will ease my conscious a little by helping out the locals. I also over tipped and gave out money where ever I traveled. This I hoped left a great impression with the locals and would help my recruitment efforts. Whenever I was given excellent service or someone helped me out I left a business card and $100 with a message to call and see if there was a position in my new company that they would like to apply for. Moving costs are covered, families are welcome, we will teach you English.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Asia was fun, Australia was a blast. I probably spent more time in Australia than I should have, but I had always wanted to visit and this might be my last chance. So I went on outback tours and purchased significant land holdings in Australia. I set up a management company and built up some quick underground bunkers that my Australian employers could use. I left a detailed set of instructions sealed in the company with the instruction to open it the morning of the summer solstice. I would have liked to warn them ahead of time but I figured they would just think I was crazy. This way even if they thought I was crazy the world would change soon after and validate my plans and preparations. I might be able to save more people this way. My favorite place on the world wide stealing trip was South America. I first arrived in Brazil as a tourist for a week of fun and sun before I planned on going up to Colombia and its emerald mines. Brazil was an amazing mixture of culture, cute girls, history, fantastic looking women, wonderful beaches and have I mentioned how pretty the ladies are. I probably handed out my business card a little more than I should have but I have very little defense against beautiful women who flirt with me. The last stop on the grand world tour was Colombia. Now I have met several people from Colombia and even more who have visited the country. I knew it was nothing like what they show in movies with drug dealers and cocaine lords everywhere, but I was unprepared for the sheer beauty and wonderful attitude of its people. Everywhere I went people were universally kind and treated me well. The lovely ladies flirted with me, it may be because of my nationality, it may have been because I can actually speak enough Spanish that they feel I am trying more than other tourists. Whatever the reason I decided that the majority of my staff if I could should be from Colombia. To me it was simple, if they treated me this well and had such positive attitudes now, then when the world ended and I kept them safe the loyalty they should demonstrate at that time should be amazing. It did not hurt that I love their accents and that the girls are gorgeous. I think I may have been single a little too long. I hope that this does not come back and haunt me later. I have arranged for several coastal sections of land to be bought in my company¡¯s name. This should allow my employees access to a boat I will send for them to leave the country and emigrate to America right before the change over. 11 - Prepping For The Change Over Chapter 11: Prepping for the change over I am a genius and one luck guy. My plan worked better than I expected. I visited 5 continents, 35 countries, and have brought back an amazing amount of wealth for my new kingdom. I also made some great contacts and invited a few people to join me at the ¡°Resort¡± for its grand opening. I am set monetary wise for the rest of my life and my kingdom probably has enough wealth to survive for dozens if not hundreds of years. As a bonus I also picked up three more titles and 6 more levels. The titles were unexpected but a great bonus. I really think I am starting to turn into an OP character. However, that is a good thing. The stronger I am the easier it will be to protect those around me. When I finally arrive back in North Carolina I will inspect the construction efforts that have been going on while I have been traveling and start ordering consumables. I will also need to start enchanting items and creating a magic based technology platform for after the Great Game start. After my world-wide trip this is where I stand: Stats
Name: Mark Anderson Titles: Survivor +1, Quadelementalist +4, Lucky One +1, Master Thief +1, World Traveler +1, Wealthy +1
Level: 18 - 23% Unspent Attribute Points: 3
Strength: 30 HP: 300
Intelligence:?55 +20%MP MP: 1320
Wisdom: 55 +20% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 33% per 15 min.
Agility: 30 MP/Regen: 66% per 15 min.
Constitution: 30 +10% HP/Regen Luck: 40
Affinities: Earth - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Water ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
I have finally figured out all my stat bonuses except for luck. I assume luck will come into play for drops once monsters are introduced to the world. I am keeping it high because being lucky is never a bad thing. An average adult has 10 points across the board in all stats. If you double the stats you double their abilities. For instance a person with 15 strength is 1.5 times stronger than a normal person. However, after you double your attributes it keeps on being double. What I mean is that 20 strength is 2 times stronger than a regular person, but to be 3 times as strong you have to raise your strength to 40. You get a 10 percent bonus for every 25 points in Intelligence, Wisdom, and Constitution.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. You get 5 points to distribute after each level up into the six different stats. The titles each provide extra points in all 6 stats dependent on their worth. Each +1 on a title is equivalent to a free level and just a little bit more. This means I have 9-10 levels worth of free stat points that others will not. That is a huge advantage. Each title is awarded after fulfilling unique conditions, I believe that some are repeatable and others will not be. This means that I need to grab or earn as many titles as possible before others get the free bonus points. Invitations for the grand opening of my eco-tourism resort have started going out and I am already starting to get some RSVP¡¯s. I have told my family and friends that I am hosting an extended family reunion and summer solstice grand opening part at my new resort. All expenses paid so they do not have to worry about anything. They have been fed the line that they will be testers of all of the resorts amenities before I open it up to the general public so I can work out any problems. All of the people invited someone I have met and interacted with or are friends of friends. I hope this will increase the number of people that accept the invitations. Everything is going smoothly. There is just one more month until the ¡°Great Game¡± change over. Over 80% of the people who received invitations have made reservations. All of the facilities have been finished and I have even expanded everything. I am about 75% done with converting my entire set of properties to magic power. The going green movement is a great cover for this. I have installed solar panels everywhere and have just not bothered to mention that they are not hooked up and instead I am powering everything on magic gems. Transportation was giving me one of the biggest problems. I have prepared numerous low tech alternatives, horses, carriages, etc., but knowing that I can use magic power to run technology has made me want more. I have finally fixed that issue. My kingdom will run on a combination of magic/electric vehicles and steam power. Most chemical reactions will continue to work on a small scale but complex machinery using them will be out. I have read enough books to know that while you can still use oil to burn things and set stuff on fire, using it to power technology never works. The help screen even told me that electrical storage in normal batteries will no longer work. Without batteries a lot of technology is going to fail. Batteries are in everything in today¡¯s society. This was the first thing I worked on. With enchanting I am able to store lightning/electricity inside gems and have them work as a battery. Same basic concept, I just had to apply a magical solution to the problem. I am changing batteries out all over my kingdom and anyone who notices or asks is just told it is a new proprietary technology that is being tested out to usher in a new green revolution. Once they hear that they just ignore it. This means that my kingdom will be one of the few after the Great Game change over where things like lights and vehicles will still work. This alone will attract people to join my kingdom. This will be both good and bad. Good because it will let us expand, but bad because it will make us a target. I have even prepared a huge array of the largest diamonds and topaz I have to serve as a central power source for the entire kingdom. I plan on creating smaller but similar arrays around the kingdom as needed for expansion. The current array could probably power 20,000 homes in today¡¯s society. It took a week to set up underground. It took me almost another week just to charge it with mana. Now it is self-sustaining and I do not have to worry about it. If we ever start to overdraw its power we can recharge it manually or just create new arrays and hook them into the main array. However, with time constraints I just made the single large array so I could work on and finish some of the other projects. Once the changeover happens I should have other that can help me with the magic and construction, but as for right now it is just me and I have limited time. 12 - Magic Weapons Chapter 12: Magic Weapons What I am having the most trouble with is actually creating the magic weapons I know we will need. I can enchant swords, blades, and other hand weapons quite easily. As such I have a wide and interesting collection for my own use and to hand out to subordinates when necessary. I have covered everything from fire to ice and lightning, I even have made shields with defense bonuses from earth magic. What I want most is a projectile weapon. Don¡¯t get me wrong I have both bows and crossbows enchanted along with their arrows and bolts. However projectile weapons like guns are surprisingly hard to enchant. The enchantments themselves are not hard, it¡¯s just that there are a lot more fiddly bits and small things inside modern guns than most people expect. Smaller things are much harder to enchant than larger things. I not only have to enchant small fiddly bits I have to chain together enchantments if I want to make them strong enough to do any good. Modifying existing weapons seems to be almost impossible, at least with my level of understanding. I am sure that in the future if gunsmiths and other specialists survive and become enchanters they might be able to do better than me, however I do not have the luxury of waiting for what might happen. It looks like I will have to create a simplified version of a projectile weapon without all of today¡¯s technology for me to be able to get something to work. Along those lines I have two different concepts I am currently working on. The first is a rail gun concept that is powered by both lightning and earth magic and the second is a simple air rifle. They are both simplistic and large enough that I can engrave whatever enchantments on them that I like. In my limited tests the rail gun is more impressive but larger, heavier and harder to manufacture. It will most likely end up being used for fixed gun emplacements where I can scale up size and not worry about weight as much. The air pressure gun works well and only has a few bugs left to work out. I have it done in pistol, rifle and shotgun configuration. The rifle is semi-automatic, gravity fed, and looks like a paintball gun but shoots solid ball bearings of a smaller size. This allows for a surprisingly high rate of fire. I also have a smaller machine pistol size air gun, and a larger bolt action sniper rifle version. The sniper rifle I had to make larger because I needed an ammunition size large enough that I could enchant individual bullets/ammunition. The ammunition is still ball bearings just of a much larger size. I have gotten the air guns to shoot around 4,000 feet per second which is equivalent to a large hunting rifle shooting a regular bullet. I believe that I can get the fps even higher. The problem is accuracy and ammunition. Current ammunition is going to be worthless because of the non-functioning primer and gunpowder after the changeover. Converting existing ammunition would just be a waste of time and resources. Instead I am using ball bearings which are easy to stockpile, and even easier to create with simple molds and regular fire and metals. Using magic just makes everything easier. I have decided to use ? inch in diameter ball bearings for pistol rounds, 1 inch for rifle rounds and a massive 3 inches in diameter for sniper rounds. Fixed placement rounds will probably be in the 5-6 inch in diameter range. I discovered after much testing that three inches is about as small as I can enchant and have the spell do anything useful.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The smaller rounds are just air pressure spells and iron sight accuracy. About 25 -50 meters for pistols and 100-150 meters for the rifles. The larger 3 inch round can be imbued with accuracy enchantments or even elemental enchantments. I have successfully tested these out to around 500 meters. I think an expert and some design tweaks could push this distance to almost a kilometer. These distances are not as far as conventional modern weapons but are easier to learn to use and faster than bows and arrows. My final gun development is the shotgun. It is both practical and let¡¯s face it cool. Every end of the world story that has guns has shotguns in it somewhere. They just look great and are easy to maintain. A simple double barrel shotgun is the only modern firearm I can enchant easily. I can produce about 25 shotguns a day along with 100 modified rounds for each of them. It will be the go to weapon early in the changeover. The resort I built is called Appalachia Kingdom. Come enjoy your stay and be treated like royalty. With this theme I have been able to construct moats, huge castle walls, towers and outposts that otherwise might have had people questioning my sanity. I have just about completed every prep step I can think of and just need to start stockpiling everything I can think of. I have about 1 month left until the solstice and the beginning of the Great Game for everyone else. I suddenly see an unexpected blue game screen in front of me:
¡°Phase 2 will begin in one lunar month. World map is now activated. Skill, attribute, and ability limiters removed. Beginner dungeons now activated. Limited Great Game store access is granted to all beta test users.¡±
Alright I was not expecting this. I thought I was almost prepared. Looking harder at the message I think that this is all positive for me. First off I did not know there were limits placed on everything. Once I got everything to a certain level I switched to working on something else. I am more a jack of all trades. I felt that this was the best way to protect everyone until we get specialist in different areas trained up. I need to check with the help menu on some of these things but access to the store should let me stock up on ¡°magic items¡± like HP and MP recovery potions and other assorted bits and bobs that I would have had to make myself before the changeover. This will free up a lot of my time. However, the piece of the message I am most interested in is the beginner dungeons. I need to see just what is in store for my family and friends after the change and a dungeon could provide essential information. World Map:
¡°The following is a world map tutorial provided to all game users the first time world map is activated. World map will show any unknown or unexplored Great Game recognized village or higher population concentration within a 10 kilometer range. World map will display any unknown or unexplored Great Game stores and official local outlets within 5 kilometers. World map will show all dungeons of appropriate levels (player level + 10 levels or below) within 100 kilometers. There are secret dungeons that are not displayed and abilities that can hide things from world map users. World map can be expanded and refined with the explorer and cartographer skills. All locations that have been explored personally by the user are accessible at any time from the world map.¡±
There seems to be three blinking red dots on a transparent screen which I assume is the world map. It seems to be a very basic interface, but it is easy to understand. If I want more information or detail I am going to have to get the explorer and/or cartographer skills or titles. These dots must be dungeons. Without more information I am just going to have to drive until I get close and then search for an entrance. 13 - Dungeons Can Be Fun Chapter 13: Dungeons Can Be Fun I spent the last 2 days getting ready for my first ever dungeon crawl. I have stocked my inventory with just about everything I can think of. I have 3 dozen each of HP and MP recovery potions bought from the Great Game store and a traveling alchemical kit to sample things. Empty vials and jars, rope, rations for 2 weeks and a variety of other mundane things. I also have some magic jewelry and accessories to boost my stats, some enchanted clothes instead of armor, and hand weapons and shooting weapons of all sorts to try out. I am going to use these beginner dungeons for some quick xp and to test my magic weapons against actual Great Game creatures. The 1st dungeon I am going to travel to looks to be slightly north and east of my castle. After a little more than an hour of driving I realize that I am very close to the town of Asheville, North Carolina. If a dungeon opened up near people you think that it would have made the news. Maybe there is something else going on, or the Great Game is hiding things again. I expected to be led into the mountains and needing to hike to some cave entrance. This is way outside my expectations. I guess I read to many role playing books and they have colored my expectations. Strange, the blinking red dot has led me to Biltmore Estates. If the dungeon is located at a such a prominent tourist attraction how come no one has said or reported anything? Is it some sort of government cover up? Well only one way to find out. I load anything suspicious, like my weapons, into my inventory where no one else will see them and put on a pair of serviceable and functional camo fatigues and a backpack that has been enchanted with extra storage capacity. Let¡¯s go see what this whole dungeon thing is about. After I buy a ticket at the guest services area I approach the main house and am surprised when a blue screen pops up in front of me. I look around quickly to see if anyone else notices, but it looks like it is just visible to me. I concentrate on the screen and read:
¡°Biltmore Estates is a Level 20 instanced dungeon, make sure you and your party are in contact with each other after reading this message or you will be transported to different instances of the dungeon. You will teleport in 30 seconds.¡±
OK, this actually makes a little more sense. I guess an instance dungeon is usable by different parties at the same time. Since I am the only beta tester that passed no other person is being transported into the dungeons and are just visiting the normal Biltmore Estates. After the 30 second countdown I see sort of a heat shimmer and the other people around me disappear. After which another screen pops up:
¡°For being the first to enter Biltmore Estates Dungeon you will be rewarded with double xp for the first 48 hours. If the dungeon is finished within the bonus time frame unique rewards will be given to the party.¡±
As I look at the manor in front of me I notice a distinct difference between the ¡°real world¡± and the ¡°dungeon¡± Biltmore Estates. The dungeon estates looks much more run down and generally exudes a creepy feeling. Well they certainly got the ambiance of a dungeon correct. This place has horror movie written all over it. Oh well let¡¯s see what we have. As I approach the front of the manor another blue screen pops up:
¡°Biltmore Estates Dungeon is divided into 3 parts. The order you complete them will influence the rest of the dungeon.
1. Save the villagers
2. Stop the Zombie Plague
3. Defeat the Lich
Teleportation is disabled inside the dungeon.¡±
Interesting it seems that there may be some strategy involved. The simple strategy seems to be to just go in order 1, 2, 3. However, I always like to do things differently. I think the most efficient way to do this will actually be to go in the order of task 2, then task 3, and then finish with task 1. I will stop the zombies before the numbers increase, then take on the ¡°main boss¡±, the Lich, leaving the villager rescue last. This may backfire on me but I think it will work. If the villagers have survived this long hopefully they can survive a little bit longer. I think it would be a mistake to let the zombies and Lich gather strength while I save the villagers. I also might have to then protect the villagers from all of the other dungeon creatures until the end. Now I need to figure out where everything is. When in doubt conquer the high ground. Most people would probably go inside the mansion and head up, but that is so predictable. I quickly scan the outside of the manor. There we are, that side has windows all the way up to the roof with relatively wide ledges. I can simply climb right up to the roof. I would not have been even able to think about doing this a year ago. With my new Great Game earned levels and strength it should be easy to use those windows as a make shift ladder to the top. I can do some basic reconnaissance while looking through the windows and then scan the entire are from the roof. The climb was easier than I expected. I could not see much through the windows though, it might be a function of the dungeon. Wandering around the roof I am able to see a large cemetery with shambling figures behind the mansion. That was never there before. Find zombie plague check. This dungeon seems to be following standard horror/bad guy movie logic. This means that the villagers should be imprisoned in the basement/dungeon and the Lich will be in either a grand ballroom/throne room or in a laboratory on the upper floor. That means that I can head to the cemetery in the back and deal with the zombies, climb back up to the roof and work my way down the manor until I find and defeat the Lich and eventually end up in the basement to set free the villagers. Easy peasy lemon squeeze. Alright time to gear up. I probably should have done this before climbing to the roof, but I forgot. I have my magical fatigues on that give some armor bonuses but allow me freedom of movement. These things are fantastic, they have an improved protection ability, self-cleaning and limited repair ability, and to top it all off I gave them a temperature regulation enchantment. Making it a set of 4 was the best I could do, 1 for shoes, 1 for undergarments, 1 for pants, and one enchantment for the shirt. Some people may question why army fatigues, well they are durable, comfortable, have lots of pockets and just plain look cool. I gave them such a variety of enchantments because it seems that enchantments do not stack in the Great Game. In other words if I have a ring of protection +2 and boots of protection +3 I do not get protection +5 I just get the highest value and the other one is wasted. So variety is the name of the game when enchanting. clothing, armor and accessories.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Strangely enough you can stack weapon enchantments. I do not know why, probably some strange game logic I just won''t understand. Next is my accessories, I have different sets for different situations. Through experimentation I have found out that I can have one necklace, 4 rings, 1 head covering, and one outer covering. The outer covering can be a cloak, a jacket, or any other similar type thing. For this dungeon I think I will go with 1 HP regen boosting ring, 1 MP regen boosting ring, 1 agility boosting ring, 1 strength boosting ring, a disease resisting necklace, a duster jacket of camouflage and finally a magic resisting boonie cap. These choices should cover most situations I will run into in this dungeon. All right sooner started, sooner done. First I think I will try out my new sniper rifle. I want to try out each of the special ammunitions I have created along with a ¡°normal¡± projectile. I think I will try out the lightning bullet first. I carefully aim for the head of one of the zombies wandering around in the cemetery and squeeze the trigger. The head just disintegrated and the zombie flopped down on the ground. It looks like the there is a small 1-2 foot crater in the dirt behind it. Ok, note to self, special ammunition is overkill for smaller non armored targets. The penetration was fantastic, but I did not get to see lightning affect the zombie because it just went through the target so fast. What a waste of an enchantment. Oh well at least it was only one. I think I will postpone the trial run of the other special ammunition until I find a more suitable target. The sound of the bullet hitting the ground has started to attract more zombies near the crater that was formed. I put away the sniper rifle into my inventory and bring out my newest version of the rifle the MA 12. Why is it called the MA 12? Well, that would be rifle designation ¡°Mark Anderson version 12¡±. Some people are probably curious about what happened to versions 1-11, please do not ask, several of them were extremely painful and embarrassing failures. I carefully line up a shot on another zombie. I have to be careful, unlike my sniper rifle which I had equipped with a scope, the MA 12 is iron sights only. I fire my first shot and check to see what the damage was. I see an arm slowly pinwheel through the air and then hit the ground. Huh, just like in the movies, it was just not in slow motion. I did not know that could happen in real life. Well an arm is not lethal to a zombie but at least I know the MA 12 is a success. I just need to work on my personal aim a bit. I want to finish this as quickly as possible so I should move closer to make aiming easier. This way I should eliminate the zombies and their threat quicker. I climb down the back of Biltmore and cautiously make my way over to a garden shed just outside of the cemetery. Using the slight height advantage should allow me to see farther and also keep me relatively safe from the slow shambling zombies. After I set up a small shooters nest on top of the shed I get to work. This is becoming monotonous. Is there no end to these things? I have been up here for over an hour and while there are less zombies now I still am getting new zombies from deep in the cemetery wandering into my shooting zone. Wait a minute. New zombies? Maybe there is something deeper in the graveyard that keeps spawning these things. It seems I am going to have to do this the hard way. I clear up my immediate area and pack everything up. I jump down from the shed and pull out my shotgun, ¡°Betsy¡± and make sure that she is easily available on her quick sling. I then take out a rather large Warhammer that I have nicknamed the ¡°Persuader¡±. Now I realize that some out there may wonder about or question my selection of weapons. Experience and movies have taught me many things that make this the best combination. First with a shotgun all I have to do is be close. My aim does not have to be perfect in order to do a massive amount of damage. Second it is easier to crush a skull with my enhanced strength than to cut a head off. I learned this through T.V. and I actually tested it out on some pigs and their carcasses during training. Why a pig? I needed to train myself not to hesitate or get sick at the sight of blood. I have read to many books and seen to many movies where some character kills something for the first time and is then overwhelmed or killed when they get sick to their stomach. Pigs are pretty good representatives of humans for tissue layers, weight, and have similar anatomy. They are the best I could do because I am not a sociopath and was not going to train on humans. Feeling like I was prepared for anything I set out. Man this is boring. I do not know if I am overpowered, but this just seems too easy. I know theme music, that¡¯s what I need to make this better. Man there goes my brain wandering off again, although it would be great to have some theme music, Na Na Na Na, Na Na Na Na, Mark Man. Stop it brain and focus. What is that up ahead? It looks like a campfire. I decide that discretion is the better part of valor and sneak closer instead of just blasting my way in like an 80¡¯s action hero. As I sneak closer I see that there appears to be a, Witch Doctor, Shaman, Some Guy with feathers on his head, chanting near the fire. Let¡¯s call him Hank. As I watch Hank chant I see 3 new zombies start to claw their way up out of the ground in front of him. So Hank is the source of the new zombies. He must be like a mini boss in a game. Alright, time to get psyched. I can do this. I carefully and quietly put my shotgun back into my inventory and switch it out for my sniper rifle with a fire enchanted bullet. I quickly but carefully line up my shot, breathe out, and squeeze the trigger.
¡°Congratulations on finishing part 2 of the Biltmore Estates Dungeon, stop the zombie plague. The dungeon has been modified. All experience will be tallied and administered after exiting the dungeon.¡±
That was terribly anti-climactic. One shot one kill. I should be ecstatic, but I am actually kind of nervous. Should it be this easy? The experience from kills is not awarded until the end of the dungeon so I thought I would struggle more being a level 18 character in a level 20 dungeon. Could I be that much of an OP character? Perhaps it is my weapons, maybe they are over leveled for this dungeon. I need to figure this out so I can safely prepare my friends and family. This is so strange. I guess another marathon round of ask the help screen will occur when I get out of this dungeon. Let¡¯s loot everything first and then move on to the next stage. Nothing spectacular in the loot, a couple gems and a magic weapon that is worse than what I have. That is an indicator that I may actually have over powered equipment for this dungeon. Good to know. Oh well, I need to focus on right now. I can figure out the other stuff later. Next I think I will try and defeat the Lich. That was task #3, and then go back and rescue the villagers. So according to video game logic which has served me well so far, the end boss or Lich should be on an upper floor of the mansion. There are not throne rooms in the Biltmore Estates, but there are a couple of rooms that are very large and ostentatious. The grand dining room, it is large and from what I remember when I took the tour years ago it could easily be fancy enough to double as a throne room. 14 - Meeting the Lich Chapter 14: Meeting the Lich I climb back up the outside of the manor to the roof. I want to work from the top down. That may be opposite of regular logic, but I do not want to leave anything behind me and I think it will give me a slight advantage. I need to remember to be careful and not to get cocky. That is how people die in the stories and movies. The zombie part I already cleared may have been easy, but it does not mean that the rest of this dungeon will be. I take the ladder down from the roof access I pried open and arrive in what must have been a storage room. Ok let¡¯s focus and prepare. I¡¯m inside and fighting the undead so let¡¯s stay with a shotgun and a blunt weapon. Betsy and the Persuader it is. As I ready my weapons I try and think of any of my magic that might be helpful. Magic, that¡¯s what I forgot to test during the first part. I became the world¡¯s only magic using ¡°Quadelementalist¡± and I completely forgot to use any magic on the first part of the dungeon. To be fair I have never been in a dungeon and magic is pretty new to me, but that was rather dumb. On the other hand, if the first part was that easy when I did not even use any of my magic maybe I really am turning into an OP character. The first magic that comes to mind that would be useful is the fire element, because in stories undead are always weak to either holy/light magic or fire magic. Seeing as how I do not even know if holy/light magic is real I think I will stick with fire. However, I can only use fire in emergencies. This is real life and if I just shoot fire balls and such around I am going to set stuff on fire and burn this place down around me. Wait a second, do I need to be careful of that? What if set Biltmore Estates on fire and just let it burn down and kill everything inside? Would that count as a win? I congratulate myself for some excellent outside the box thinking, but remember that I have not rescued the villagers yet so burning down the manor may not be the best of ideas. However, if you can do an instance dungeon more than once then I might rescue the villagers, lead them outside and then set the whole dang place on fire. Something to remember for the future, just because in the books they leave dungeons intact does not mean I have too. Ok other magic that I can use since fire is out except for emergencies. Well I do have ¡°bullet¡± spells of all types of elements. I have a water bullet, more useful for a water fight, ice bullet, which is quite deadly, rock bullet, also deadly, and a wind bullet which just sort of pushes things back. That settles it. When I get back I need to develop my spells some more. I know of all of these great spells in books and I need to try and develop them soon. Where is my wind blade, my chain lightning, etc. I have been so focused on developing traditional weapons that I have ignored straight magic attacks which should be devastating and completely separate. Ok here I go, I will just have to test out the magic I have as I go along. I will clear each of the rooms I come to on the way to the Grand Ballroom so nothing can surprise me from behind in the boss fight. After several rooms full of undead later I have some positive and negative results to pass onto others. First with zombies per usual as long as you destroy the head they die. With my limited skills this is ice and rock bullets. Second ghosts and wraiths CAN hurt you and a lot, and they only can be hit by magic or magic weapons. My shotgun was useless in the encounter. The shotgun works based on magic but the pellets coming out were not enchanted so they just went straight through those transparent suckers. That was not a fun fight. Finally skeletons are tricky. Most skeletons are kind of wusses and pushovers. Low level fodder easy to destroy with magic or a weapon, however when they wear armor they are higher level and harder to kill. Red glowing eyes mean normal skeleton, blue glowing eyes means skeleton mage and kill it fast and first. I was right about the fire magic being a safety problem in real life. Most of a room was set on fire from a fire using skeleton mage before I figured out the blue eyes and kill it first thing. I had to waste half an hour after the fight using my limited water bullet spells to put the dang thing out. I mean I really felt it could have burned the whole place down. No self-preservation from those skeleton mages.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. The best news is I have finally reached the outside of the Grand Ballroom. I seriously underestimated the sheer number of rooms I would have to check on the way, but I am glad I did because of 75% of those rooms held undead and loot. This whole thing has taken me hours. If the Lich is in here after I beat it I am going to have to make a temporary camp just to rejuvenate myself. I don¡¯t want to camp right now without dealing with the Lich first. I open the door to the Grand Ballroom and quickly dart to side and hide behind a pillar. As I peek out to survey the situation I see a large skeleton with a crown on his head sitting on a large chair/throne thing. Bingo I was right, that has to be the Lich. It is holding a scepter with a large ruby on top of it and it definitely has glowing blue eyes so it is a spell caster. This all seems pretty clich¨¦, but I have been working off my game knowledge the entire time and seems to be helpful so I should probably stop complaining. Alright, quick mental review of what I know about Lich¡¯s before I attack. They are a powerful undead sorcerer and use the same type of magic in death as they did in life. Usually can summon hordes of undead and minions to act as shields and to help attack. Not very physically strong, but are powerful ranged magicians. I feel like I am forgetting something important about them though. Oh well, it will come to me if needed, let¡¯s think strategy. Damage it early from a distance and then rush it and swinging so it cannot chant or summon reinforcements. Since I don¡¯t have life or holy magic I think I will sneak as close to it as I can and use a magma bullet in the sniper rifle and then rush and smash with the Warhammer. That seems to be a pretty solid and fool proof plan. I have been wanting to try out the magma bullet. It is one of my only magic combination experiments that has worked. It has both earth and fire magic enchanted on it so when it hits something Lava spews out and covers it on the outside if hard enough or on the inside if it penetrates. That was a rather fun test day on the shooting range. It is also what I call a variable bullet. That means it gets more devastating the more mana I put into it before I shoot it. I sneak off to the left and start to set up my first shot from behind a side table. Before I can pump mana into the bullet the Lich turns its head and looks straight at me. ¡°I can sense your life force little one, there is no use in hiding.¡± Ok this was not part of the plan. Since I no longer have the element of surprise, let¡¯s try overwhelming might. I quickly dump in the maximum amount of mana this little bullet can hold. About 250 mana that is about 10 times the amount of a regular fireball. I line up the shot and fire it before anything else unexpected happens. Have you ever had that moment when a small tear comes to your eye because what you are watching is just so damn awesome? I am having one of those moments right now. Note to self, 250 mana seems to be overkill. Not only is there nothing left of the Lich, throne, or much or the area surrounding it, but a little miniature mushroom cloud has formed over the area where they used to be. Thank you "Great Game", that little extra touch made it fantastic. I do a little victory dance before I start casting my limited water spells as fast as I can so I do not burn down the rest of the Manor. Now it is time to search for loot my favorite part. As I start getting closer to where any remains might be I start getting the feeling that I missed something. Quick review, snuck in, Lich saw me, shot Lich, Lich died, Great Game notice that this part of the dungeon was complete, wait a second there was no notice. That means the Lich is not dead yet. Crap how could anything survive that. 15 - Death Of The Lich Chapter 15: Death of the Lich I quickly scan the area. How on earth is this even freaking possible? I saw the beautiful mushroom cloud of death. I mean the Lich¡¯s body was vaporized. The only way he could survive is if he had a clone or a DANGIT. A phylactery, I forgot that Liches store their soul in a phylactery. Stupid undead magic user, hiding his stupid soul, now I have to go and find it. Where do Lich¡¯s usually store their souls in the books? Depending on the author it is either in a gem or some vase type container. Ok, time to start breaking things. HULK SMASH! Man I have always wanted to say that and then start breaking stuff. Wow this is surprisingly fun. I think I like destruction, now if only I could find, well hello there my pretty. What¡¯s a nice scepter like you doing in a place like this? Wait a second, this was the scepter that the Lich was holding. It must have rolled over here after that beautiful big boom. What is that twinkle, why it comes from the ruby at the end of the scepter? Wouldn¡¯t that make a dandy phylactery for a lich? If I am right I move on to the next challenge, if I am wrong I am only out a ruby. Listen to me now. Only out a ruby. A year ago I would have done just about anything to get my hands on a ruby like that to sell it for some cash. How things change. One solid whack from the old Warhammer and I am now a proud owner of cracked ruby that seems to be leaking tar. Oh that disgusting, let¡¯s just burn that grossness away. As soon as the black substance was burned I received that notice I was waiting for.
¡°Congratulations on finishing part 3 of the Biltmore Estates Dungeon, defeat the Lich. The dungeon has been modified. All experience will be tallied and administered after exiting the dungeon.¡±
It said that last time too, the dungeon has been modified. I hope it is just a level modification or perhaps more of a behavioral one for the NPC¡¯s. Since I did the dungeon out of order, I think a quick rest is in order then back to work. I still need to clear the rooms all the way down to the basement and look for the villagers. I think I will just continue on until I find a nice little room I can barricade myself into for a few hours of rest and recuperation. A wonderful 6 hours of down time I am ready to go. Another marathon session of clearing rooms one by one until I reach the basement, about 4 hours¡¯ worth, and I finally reach the set of stairs that lead down into the bowels of Biltmore. Huh, bowels of Biltmore that¡¯s kind of fun to say. Bowels of Biltmore, Biltmore¡¯s bowels, the beautiful bombastic benevolent bowels of Biltmore. Stop it brain. Man I have to wonder about myself sometimes. Is this random crap in my head a coping mechanism or is it a sign of a problem I need to get medically checked out for. I can¡¯t go to a psychiatrist, they would lock me up for sure if I told them my story right now. I guess I should schedule a full medical check-up before we lose technology, just to be on the safe side. Enough wandering thoughts and future planning, let¡¯s finish this dungeon. As I open the door I can hear voices in the distance. The stairs winding down are lit poorly with torches. I use the flickering light and shadows to work myself closer. I am curious as to the dialogue that might be going on and who it might be between. The only thing I have heard speak with intelligence in this whole dungeon was the chanting Witch Doctor guy and the Lich. I wonder who or what is talking now. I get close enough to start hearing snippets of the conversation. ¡°Let us go¡±, ¡°How could you do this to us¡±, ¡°SHUT UP¡±. Interesting it seems to be an interaction between the captive villagers and the jailer. I carefully look around the last curve of the stairwell to scope out the scene. In front of me I see a sight that could be taken straight from a movie plot or video game. A fat shirtless man, with a whip, is walking the aisle between cells packed full of people. Young, old, children, it looks like someone just grabbed an entire village and stuffed them into the prison cells. Seeing as the villagers are relatively safe at the moment, I think I will just hide and continue to watch and listen for a time to see what I can learn. I hope that any talking I might hear will give me some more insight into the overall ¡°Great Game¡± or dungeon situation. ¡°William¡± one of the prisoners spoke. ¡°How could you betray us like this?¡±This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. A rough gravelly voice answered, ¡°Listen old man, you all had the same screen and the same choice as me. I saw which way the wind was blowing and decided to break free of my position in the Great Game. I am no longer going to have to just accept my role in life. Working for the Lich is a chance at power and if that means some or all of you have to suffer, so be it.¡± ¡°You know that you will never get away with this.¡± ¡°Who do you think is going to stop me? My contract with the Lich is over as soon as the game goes live on the backwater planet. At that point in time I can just join the regular population with a significant boost to my stats.¡± Alright if that clich¨¦ line was not a flag for me to do something, then all of my game playing, book reading, and movie watching was for nothing. I pull out my pistol and step around the corner. I see the eyes of some of the prisoners widen when they realize I am not the Lich or one of his minions. Quick Mark this is your chance, say something cool. ¡°Traitors don¡¯t deserve to live.¡± Nailed it. The jailer William spins around at the sound of my voice and has the most dumbfounded expression on his face. Awesome, who could ask for a better entrance and one liner? Before William can even speak I put two bullets into his chest and watch him fall. I approach cautiously and put another bullet into his head just to be sure. My momma didn¡¯t raise no fool, always double tap and make sure the bad guy stays down.
¡°Congratulations on finishing the Biltmore Estates Dungeon. Calculating rewards. As the first person on Earth to finish a dungeon you are granted the title, Dungeon Explorer +3, as you cleared the dungeon faster than any other party you are granted the title, Unstoppable +2, because you cleared the dungeon alone you are granted the title, Army of One +1, due to causing more than 100 gold coins of damage to buildings in a dungeon you are granted the title of, Arsonist +1. As a ruler of your own domain you have fulfilled the unique hidden conditions of Biltmore Estates Dungeon. You have the choice of adding Hidden Valley Village to your Kingdom of Appalachia. Do you wish to add this village to your kingdom? Yes/No."
Ok this is a lot to take in. First before I decide on the village let¡¯s see if I can get some answers out of the villagers. ¡°Alright who is in charge here?¡± ¡°I am my lord my name is Edward, I am the head of Hidden Valley Village.¡± ¡°Ok Edward, here is the deal, I just received a notice from the ¡°Great Game¡± that I could add Hidden Valley Village to my kingdom. First off would you like to be part of my kingdom, and second who the hell are you people and where did you come from? It is obvious you are real and not NPC¡¯s or constructs of the ¡°Great Game¡±. ¡°My lord I do not know what an NPC is but our village will pledge loyalty to you. Our village is from the planet Arta, we do not know where we are now but have lived as part of the ¡°Great Game¡± for generations.¡± ¡°One last question before I add you to my kingdom, why would you pledge loyalty to me? You know nothing about me,¡± I say perplexed about his reaction. ¡°That is not true my lord. We know that you are strong. In all the stories we know of I have never heard of someone establishing a kingdom before the ¡°Great Game¡± started. We know you are fair because you gave us the choice of choosing to join you,¡± he said in a lofty manner. ¡°That seems to be well thought out. I will definitely have some questions for you so let me add you to my kingdom and we can go from there.¡± I selected yes from the menu.
¡°Hidden Valley Village is now a part of the Kingdom of Appalachia. Notice since you were able to expand your kingdom and subjects before any others you have been granted the title, Manifest Destiny +3.¡±
Bonus! This dungeon has more than paid for itself in titles and bonus stats alone. ¡°Alright Edward, some questions as we set everyone free, I need to know how you got here and how I can get you back to my kingdom without causing any problems.¡± ¡°Those questions are easy to answer my Lord. The village was given a choice to emigrate to a new game world. The village as a whole discussed and voted to move. The last kingdom we were in did little to protect us and was raising its taxes to the point we were not sure we could survive. Usually emigration means the village and surroundings get transported entirely to the new world. It is an advantage for the village because we know and have lived under the ¡°Great Game¡± system. Many villages have prospered greatly after moving. Unfortunately this time one of our own, William, whom you dispatched must have been given a separate choice of betrayal and accepted. While unusual this has happened in the past from what we have heard. It is a way for new worlds to have access to unique dungeons and rewards . From the stories that I have been told our village will appear in your world as soon as you exit the dungeon. We just have to reach it.¡± 16 - Leaving Biltmore Chapter 16: Leaving Biltmore Edward was the first person I released from the cells. He then told me all this information as he helped me free the other villagers. This explanation as we freed the other villagers allowed me to form a rough plan. I am assuming that the ¡°Great Game¡± or whoever is in charge will alter memories to explain a new village like they have done for everything else. So know I just need to get them to the village. That should be easy enough, a couple of little white lies, some phone calls and money should take care of the transportation. ¡°Alright Edward, here is what we are going to do. Technology in my world still works for another month, so you might see some unusual things. I need you to inform all of the villagers and warn them not to look too surprised. Next, do you all have access to the inventory system?¡± ¡°Yes my lord we all have inventory. It is given to everyone over the age of 8. Your level and class determines how large it is so there is some variety among the villagers.¡± ¡°Excellent, then here is the plan. We are going to take everything that we can fit into our inventories before we leave this dungeon. 20% or 2 out of every 10 items that you grab will be donated to the kingdom. Everything else is yours to keep as compensation for having to go through this ordeal.¡± Looking completely bewildered Edward asked, ¡°My lord, are you sure?¡± ¡°What, am I asking for too much?¡± ¡°No my lord you are very generous. Never would I have expected this much consideration.¡± ¡°Edward you need to understand something about me. First off I have more than I need, I will only take a minimum because I feel that it is only fair that you help provide funding for defense and protection in the kingdom. I will set taxes low, but I expect everyone in my kingdom to help each other out so we can grow stronger and stay safe. I will only adjust these policies under special circumstances. Second, I really do not like to have a lot of people around, so as long as nothing major happens do not expect to see me a lot. I will be doing my own thing most of the time leaving you in charge of your village. Now stop crying and thanking me and let¡¯s loot this place.¡± The next few hours were interesting to say the least. These villagers looted that dungeon like professionals. Everything from chairs, to beds, drapes, linens, candle sticks and vases made it into their inventories. I even saw one guy taking the already cut firewood from next to a fire place. I even asked the guy what he was doing. He just looked at me and said, ¡°I have inventory space my lord and every piece I get here is one that I do not have to cut myself later.¡± This was a man after my own heart. The villagers picked that place clean. I led them all to the entrance and addressed them one more time. ¡°Ok people here it is. When we step outside we should exit the dungeon. There might be other people around. They may talk, act, and dress differently than you do. So remember the story I gave you. You are reenactors waiting for you tour bus. I will arrange transportation and we will get you settled back in your village as soon as possible.¡± As soon as I opened the door I was greeted with notifications and weird looks from other tourists.
¡°For leading an entire village in looting a dungeon you are granted the title, Not Nailed Down +1, For completely wiping out all denizens of the dungeon you are granted the title, Scourge of the Undead +1, for completing the dungeon in a unique order you are granted the title, Thinks Outside the Box +1. Calculating all experience and monetary rewards, you gain 5 levels, 1093 gold, 463 silver. You are also granted 3 common magic items, 2 uncommon magic items, 1 rare item, and 1 unique item or skill from the ¡°Great Game¡± store for defeating a dungeon boss 5 levels or higher than you with only one hit.¡±
This dungeon is the gift that just keeps on giving. I love it. I start making some calls to tour bus companies as soon as get the villagers collected all off to one side. I feed them a line about mechanical troubles with another bus service and tell them I will pay them a premium to get 6 tour buses to transport just under 200 villagers back to their village. The village by the way appeared on my world map about 5 miles away from my ¡°castle¡±, nestled in a little valley in the Pisgah National Forest. The village and what looks like 400 to 800 meters of surrounding land is now registering as my property. I am going to have to remember to claim all the land between my castle and the new village as soon as the ¡°Great Game¡± starts.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Ok things to do. Settle in the villagers, claim my prizes from the ¡°Great Game¡± store, and write a quick dungeon guide to Biltmore for others to use in the future. Also I really need to get to as many dungeons as possible before the changeover. These titles are giving me a huge boost and should help me and mine stay safe. The weapons I designed work wonderfully, but I need to reserve some time to make more before the changeover. In fact I need to check my status and assign my points. It¡¯s been a while since I have leveled up. I have been increasing my skills, but leveling opportunities are harder to get just through skills after level 15. I mean I get a few points every time I reach a new mastery level in a skill. For a while I was learning skills just for the experience. With the dungeons now available I think I should start to specialize soon. Status:
Name: Mark Anderson Titles: Survivor +1, Quadelementalist +4, Lucky One +1,Master Thief +1, World Traveler +1, Wealthy +1, Dungeon Explorer +3, Unstoppable +2, Army of One +1, Arsonist +1, Manifest Destiny +3, Not Nailed Down +1, Scourge of the Undead +1, Think Outside the Box +1
Level: 23 - 41% Unspent Attribute Points: 28
Strength: 43 HP: 430
Intelligence: 68 +20%MP MP: 1732
Wisdom: 68 +20% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 47% per 15 min.
Agility: 43 MP/Regen: 81% per 15 min.
Constitution: 43 +10% HP/Regen Luck: 53
Affinities: Earth - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Water ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%¡±
Wow those titles really make a difference. I gained 23 points in all stats across the board just from my titles. That¡¯s 138 stat points or just over 27 levels worth. Most of the titles seem to be awarded for doing something or discovering something first. With me being the only surviving beta tester this is an amazing opportunity for me. I feel that levels are going to be harder to acquire as your level goes up. This means the more bonuses I have the more powerful I will become compared to other people. I mean in stats alone I should be hitting around level 50 even though I am only a level 23 character. Some of the titles even seem repeatable. Not for me but for my family and friends to get bonuses as well. Think Outside the Box and Unstoppable for sure seem to be something that multiple people can earn. As long as they defeat a dungeon in a unique way and/or beat the old time record they should win those titles. Now the question is how I should spend my attribute points. From what I figured out earlier the average person starts at around 10 points in each attribute. Doubling points doubles your abilities. So 20 points is twice the normal human, and doubling again to 40 points is three times a normal human. Basically there is a diminishing return almost forcing people to start to specialize after level 20 or so. If it was not for all of my titles I would only be around twice as strong as the average human instead of 3 times as strong. This means that I need to earn as many titles as possible for the free points. With the 28 unassigned points I still have I think I will round everything to -5 and take my Intelligence and Wisdom to 75 to get the next bonus. That will leave 6 points left over in case of emergencies or new discoveries. This should bring me to Str-45, Int-75, Wis-75, Agi-45, Con-45, and Luck 55. This puts me at 3 times the average human in all areas, and close to 4 times the average person in Intelligence and Wisdom. This should act as a surprise to many people both friend and foe. Most will look for a specialization and since I am so well rounded with my titles switching between magic and physical attacks could really surprise people and win a confrontation for me. It also seems to me that some skills are either easier to obtain or can only be obtained in the ¡°Great Game¡± situations or dungeons. I picked up marksmanship and leadership in the Biltmore dungeon. I thought if they existed I should already have had them due to my time on the firing range and leading what is now a large corporation. In fact I have not earned any new skills lately until the dungeon, I have only leveled them up. Maybe there is a limit to the number of skills you can have based on your level? I mean I went up five levels in the dungeon and suddenly picked up skills I had been using. Oh well time will tell. 17 - Hidden Valley Village Chapter 17: Hidden Valley Village When my new villagers are finally loaded on the buses, I lead the caravan back to my castle and feed them lunch. During this time I go out and find the exact route to the Hidden Valley Village. It would not look good if no one could give the bus drivers directions. We finally arrive at my new village. I see an interesting mix of medieval architecture through pre industrial construction and buildings. None of the bus drivers seem to notice anything weird so the ¡°Great Game¡± confusion seems to be working just fine. After I manage to get everybody off the buses and back into their normal housing Village Head Edward takes me on a tour of the village and invites me to stay for a celebration that evening. It is around 2 p.m. so the festivities will begin in a few hours. I let him know that this sounds great, but in the mean time I am going to wander the local area of my new territory. He smiles and says he understands. I start to wander around and access my kingdom menu. I want to set everything up before the celebration so I can announce it during the festivities. First I set taxes to 5% + a mutual defense pact. I have resources of my own so I do not need that much, but I do have to charge them something. I find some interesting sub menus as I walk along. I can set up war time taxes and immigration policies among other things. Ok press here, confirm there, accept, and finished. Now I am going to prepare a little surprise, and gift for the village. I have about 4 hours left until the celebration which with my new mana levels should be more than enough. I start enchanting some decent size boulders. I need them to be big enough to hold a decent amount of mana, but small enough for me to move. About 200-250lbs should be about right. I start laughing out loud. I can¡¯t believe that I can now easily move such weight around. I pump each stone with around 500 points of mana and set them up in a giant octagon around 500 to 600 meters out from the boundary of the village. Almost to the line of where I can feel ¡°my land¡± ends and another land begins. This should be a great surprise for them. I tie all of the stones together into one large enchantment and head back for the celebration. After a wonderful BBQ of something I was pretty sure was not beef from Earth and songs and dancing I told Edward to gather everyone up. I had a few announcements to make. I welcomed all of them again to the Kingdom of Appalachia and began my spiel. ¡°Alright everyone we need to go over a few rules, expectations, and some non-fun things like taxes.¡± I could see them all tense up. ¡°First taxes in my kingdom are set at 5% in peaceful times and 10% in times of war.¡± It was hilarious to see their expressions. It was obvious that they expected something much worse. I continued, ¡°This can be in currency or its equivalent in goods the kingdom requests. For safety and defense the Kingdom of Appalachia requires each village, town, or city to hire and maintain 1 guardsmen per 75 people. All citizens ages 16-35 will participate in twice monthly militia drills and be on call to defend their homes when needed. In the event of war each town shall muster a squad of 10% of their current militia age population as a levy for the Kingdom¡¯s armies and defense. Anyone who falls in defense of the kingdom will receive 1 years guard wages delivered to their closest relatives. To encourage innovation and good will any citizen who is recognized as contributing greatly to the kingdom in any form will be exempt from taxes for 1 year. A town¡¯s tax rate cannot exceed the Kingdom¡¯s tax rate. All towns will elect a leader once every 10 years or as necessary. Leaders shall report twice yearly to the king. As a welcome gift from the kingdom and to help with the defense of Hidden Valley Village, I will be sending construction people around to modernize all homes and to build some new structures like barracks and such at no cost to the village. Remember, they do not know about the ¡°Great Game¡± yet so keep with the story about being reenactors. As a final gift for your safety I give Hidden Valley Village a new defensive wall. I activated the enchantments I had placed in the stones around the village. Using my stored mana they started growing into a 5 meter tall 1 ? meter thick octagon shaped wall surrounding the village with two entrances. No gates yet, but that will be taken care of by the craftsman I will send to you. Last but not least, remember my simple motto. Be Good, Be Loyal, or Be Punished.¡± This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. After much cheering and well wishes I excused myself after promising to visit soon and headed back to my place for some rest. I also wanted a chance to relax and choose my rewards from the ¡°Great Game¡± store. Lying in bed later that night I was scrolling through my possible choices for rewards. I easily chose a random assortment of magic weapons and armor for the common and uncommon items. These rewards just mean that there is less for me to have to enchant later. Next is the rare item. What to get, skill books? I can buy skill books? As I read further I realize that skill books can only be rewarded through dungeons and not purchase through the store. Alright which rare skill do I want? Hello what¡¯s this? Magical tattooing? It seems to be a mix of enchantment and drawing. Requirements to learn are master level in one of the 2 skills and advanced level in the other. This means that with experimentation I might be able to combine other skills and discover new ones in the future. I already have master level enchanting so if I get the skill book I will need to learn and advance my drawing skill. Ok I will purchase it and learn it as soon as I can. Finally I can choose one unique skill or item. What is available? Bloodlines, intelligent weapons, man how am I supposed to pick just one thing? Wait Loot King? This skill bestows a title and gives me infinite inventory, daddy like. I click on my choice before I can second guess myself.
¡°You have been awarded the title of Loot King +2. As the first person to receive a unique skill on Earth you are granted the title of Snowflake +3.¡±
Ooh a bonus title. The description of Loot King reads, ¡°This skill allows the user to store an infinite amount of material only limited by mass. Level 10 gives the user 10 tons of hauling capacity, and every 10 levels after that doubles the amount that can be carried. If the user reaches level 100 all restrictions on inventory weight will be removed allowing for an infinite storage capacity in an alternate sub-dimension. This skill can be combined with others to allow living things to be stored, but initially only non-living items are storable. I just got an infinite bag of holding. Yes, it is the holy grail of all D&D nerds. Time for a happy dance, what, even kings need a happy dance every now and then. No size limit means I can build and carry a house or base eventually, just like in those eastern fantasy novels. If I can figure out which skill will let me store living things, I could sneak armies into different places. This skill is outrageous. The best thing is that it is unique. That means no one else on Earth can have it as long as I am around. With my current level of 23 I can haul around 20 tons of material. How awesome is that. After playing around with my new ability, I mean practicing for the next hour, I fill my inventory with every supply I can think of including beds and an empty tool shed, just in case it rains and I need a premade shelter. This should make adventuring and dungeon diving much easier. Speaking of which I have less than a month to grind levels, raise points and map out local dungeons for use of my people. Well sooner started sooner done. I will arrange for an extended trip and come back 3-5 days before the ¡°Great Game¡± changeover. 18 - Credit Cards Chapter 18: Credit Cards After a wonderful night¡¯s sleep I get up and start to set things in order. First send workers to modernize Hidden Valley, second triple the supplies order to account for the new village and possible future people.Wait why stop at tripling?In less than a month everything is going to change. I am just going to max out my credit and convert everything except 1 million for emergencies into game currency and supplies. This is great, the feeling of knowing you are never going to have to pay for something or pay off that pesky credit card bill. My dungeon diving can be put off for a day while I sort this out. I spend the first half of the day ordering everything I can think of, from seeds and fertilizer to food and women¡¯s sanitary products. I even ordered ten containers worth of toilet paper, because even if the world is ending I am a king and my butt should be clean. I ordered hard copies of survival books, education books, even novels, enough to fill 3-4 libraries worth. This should give my little kingdom a leg up in the next world and provide some cheap entertainment. The second half of the day, I spent sneaking around my own property and creating storage areas. I had to create basic storage facilities for everything I just ordered. Simple stone walled sheds made with magic. The problem was I had to make sure no one could see what I was doing. If I build it with magic and people just discover it later they will rationalize it away. However, I do not know what would happen if they actually saw me growing new buildings out of the ground. Everything should be prepared now. I sent a message to Edward and let him know I will be unavailable for a while. Everyone here at the ¡°resort¡± knows about the incoming shipments and supplies and to just store it away. They probably think I am crazy, but who cares as long as they store it and take care of the shipment when it arrives. Alright that should wrap everything up I need to do here at the castle. It is now time to plan my dungeon diving route. Since my level went up to 23, two new dungeon dots have been added to the world map. This means they are probably higher level. Biltmore¡¯s dot turned yellow, I guess that means it is still level appropriate, but I have already cleared it once. Wait, I now have the dungeon explorer achievement that should give me more information about the various dungeons. I mentally select another red dot on the world map.
¡°Goblin Caves level 25 recommended.¡±
Ok, that is convenient. Let¡¯s see, start at Biltmore again, try for a new title and some more levels, than I will go from dungeon to dungeon start from the closest and working my way out from the castle. Sounds like a plan. If new dungeons pop up as I level up I will re-evaluate at that time. ************************************************************************************* Dear lord, two weeks of this dungeon crawling is exhausting. I picked up 5 new titles, Traditionalist +1, Every Way Possible +2, Poison King +3, Pentakill +5, and finally Speed Demon +3. I also leveled all the way up to 35. I got Poison King when I killed a goblin tribe by sneaking in and poisoning their food. Pentakill was an upgraded title. I first started with Doublekill. I received it for finishing two different dungeons in a single 24 hour period. I then decided to do speed runs to see if I could get a better title and received both the Speed Demon and Pentakill titles when I finished 5 different dungeons in a 24 hour period.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. I have decided to specialize in my magic and primarily will raise my intelligence and wisdom stats. I will still add the odd point here and there into the other stats because it is always good to have high stats, but I think I will try and keep the intelligence and wisdom stats to be at least double of all my other stats except for luck. I have always felt it is better to be lucky than good and let¡¯s face it I would not even be here if it was not for my luck in the tutorial. Now my build looks like this. Stats:
Name: Mark Anderson Titles: Survivor +1, Quadelementalist +4, Lucky One +1 Master Thief +1, World Traveler +1, Wealthy +1, Dungeon Explorer +3, Unstoppable +2, Army of One +1, Arsonist +1, Manifest Destiny +3, Not Nailed Down +1, Army of One +1, Scourge of the Undead +1, Think Outside the Box +1, Loot King +2, Traditionalist +1, Every Way Possible +2, Poison King +3, Pentakill +5, Speed Demon +3
Level: 35 - 11% Unspent Attribute Points: 1
Strength: 65 HP: 650
Intelligence: 110 +40%MP MP: 3080
Wisdom: 110 +40% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 78% per 15 min.
Agility: 65 MP/Regen: 154% per 15 min.
Constitution: 65 +20% HP/Regen Luck: 80
Affinities: Earth - 100% Fire ¨C 100%Water ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
I think with these stats I am a rather OP broken character for the start of the ¡°Great Game¡±. This should keep me alive and vastly increase the survival rate of my friends, family and kingdom. I am heading back to my little kingdom for a break and then 1 more week of leveling before the ¡°Great Game¡± changeover. On the drive back I am going to explore a black dot dungeon. I should probably explain. I was driving from the Goblin Caves dungeon to a Man Eating Plants Dungeon when this black dot suddenly appeared on my world map. It seems that the world map only automatically plots dungeons 10 levels higher than you and down. You have to be within 5 kilometers of a higher level dungeon for it to appear on the map. Coincidentally I now know that when a dungeon becomes 20 levels lower than you it turns green on the map. That means that red dots are level appropriate unexplored, yellow dots are level appropriate explored, green dots are low level dungeons, and black dots are high level dungeons. With the cartographer skill I have mapped out the area and all of the dungeon locations and levels I have been to. This has leveled both the cartographer and drawing skill which means I can now access my magical tattooing skill. I have not tried it yet but look forward to some quick experiments when I reach the castle and a safe quiet environment. I am going to try the black dot dungeon on the way back because when I clicked on the world map all I got was special dungeon as the description. With all of my titles I am equal to a character level of over 75 which I think will keep me safe even in a higher level dungeon. 19 - Bloodlines Chapter 19: Bloodlines As I step into the dungeon zone of the black dot dungeon I see the following message.
¡°Welcome to the Blood Lines Dungeon. Recommended level 50+ dependent on bloodline selected. User may select Random and be guaranteed at least a rare bloodline if they survive. Please select Bloodline now.¡±
A list of dozens of different animals and plants appears. Level 50+? Well I should be fine. I may only be level 35, but like I said I hit at a much higher level due to all my titles. I¡¯m going to try it. Since I do not know which bloodlines are the best I think I will take the random option to make sure I at least get a rare bloodline, time to try out my luck stat. I mentally select random from the screen.
¡°Eliminating all non-compatible, common, and uncommon bloodlines. Randomizing selections. Please spin wheel.¡±
It actually took all the selections and put them on a virtual spinning wheel. It looks like some selections have a bigger pie wedge than others. That must mean they are more common even if they are ¡°rare¡± bloodline. Well here goes nothing. I give the mental equivalent of a giant spin. Come on luck stat show me what your worth. The bloodlines are whirring by quicker than I can read them. The wheel is starting to slow down. There goes vampire, lycan just passed by, ooh titan that could have been fun. Still slowing, goodbye archmage, never liked high elves any way, the whole next section looks similar. As it gets closer the wheel slows down, let¡¯s see it looks like these are all versions of dragons? Yes dragon heritage! How many games, books, and movies deal with draconic heritage. My inner geek is just screaming with glee. The colored dragons go by first as the wheel slows down to almost a stop. Red, green, black , gold, etc. Here comes eastern dragon, sky dragon, and finally the arrow stops on elemental dragon. I am not sure what an elemental dragon is but who cares, it is still a dragon. ¡°Checking compatibility, since user has the designation Quadelementalist the Legendary Bloodline elemental dragon can be upgraded to ¡°King of the Elements Dragon Bloodline¡± a unique bloodline. Does the user wish to test for this upgrade?¡± Of course I want to test for a unique bloodline. My luck stat has finally paid off big time. I mentally select yes and receive the following message.
¡°Elemental King of Dragons test, recommended level 150+ will start in 5, 4, 3,¡­¡±
Level 150+, I take it back that¡¯s too much, cancel, stop, no no no.
¡°Enjoy the test.¡±
I feel the familiar tug of teleportation and know that next is yep, I black out. I wake up in a featureless room about 10m X 10m. On each of the four walls is a door with a drawing on it. One has a mountain which I assume stands for the ¡°Earth¡± element, one has a flame ¡°Fire¡±, one has a cloud ¡°Air¡±, and the final one looks like waves ¡°Water¡±. After I examine each door a screen pops up.
¡°User must defeat a dragon of each element before being recognized as worthy of being from the ¡°King of the Elements Dragon Bloodline¡±. There is no time limit to the tests. User may exit after defeating 2 or more dragons and accept a lower bloodline or complete all 4 stages.¡±
Huh this sounds extremely similar to the test I took during the beta test trial, just with dragons instead of golems. I honestly do not know if my luck is good or bad. I mean I get the chance at an awesome bloodline, but I could also die horribly. I guess most of this is my fault for being greedy for a rare or better bloodline. I should have realized that the rarer the bloodline the harder the test.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Nothing to do now but do my best. Ok, time to gear up. Stick with light armor, better to be fast and not get hit. I should probably customize my weapons for each dragon. Let¡¯s see if I fight the water dragon first I need to replace all ammunition with fire based stuff. Elements are usually weak against opposites. So pistol on each hip, a fire and lightning enchanted Warhammer to break scales on my back, my personal favorite Mr. Boom Boom, on a sling on my front. Mr. Boom Boom was my attempt at a grenade launcher. It sort of looks like an old school pump action paintball gun, just with a much larger caliber. I can adjust the amount of mana in each ¡°shell¡± but have never tried putting more than 500 mana. Why, mostly because I thought I might blow myself up. It only has a range of 50-100 meters and 500 mana is already an explosion about 20-25 meters wide with a corresponding shockwave and crater. It looks awesome, but I don¡¯t know if it has any penetrating power. Never really tested that aspect of it out. Last but least, is the trusty MA 12. Sooner started, sooner done. I walk to the door with the wave on it and open it and step through. The door disappears behind me. In front of me I see a coastline reminiscent of Northern California or Oregon, big crashing waves and an awesome scenic view. What I don¡¯t see is a water dragon. Maybe I have to search for it? Just as I think that I hear a roar in the distance and see what looks to be a large bird dive towards the ocean and come up with a fish. As it flies back to the coast I realize my large bird is the dragon and its fish is a large seal. It must be at least 25 meters long and that seal has to weigh in excess of 200 kilos. Note to self, do NOT let it dive on me. I watch it disappear into what must be its sea side cliff lair. I can easily see why the difficulty is set so high. However, I like to think outside the box and if what I am planning works, this should not only be easier than I thought but should not be that dangerous for me. I scout out the lair over the next couple of days and prepare my ambush plan. The next time the water dragon leaves I scramble as fast as I can and enter its lair. The first thing I do is use my earth magic to tunnel an escape route out of this cave. Next I set up Mr. Boom Boom¡¯s older brother at the entrance. No name for this one, but who knows but the end of the day it might be called dragon killer. This lovely is just a one shot mortar or artillery piece. I set its angle and hide to the side. You see there is only one way into the lair and while carrying its food the dragon has to flare its wings right before it lands. This leaves it totally exposed for a split second. If this works I will launch the shell right into its stomach from just about point blank range. Aww crap, point blank range. Man am I glad I talk these things out in my head, that could have been horrible. Quick dig a trench, insert self and artillery into trench, make air holes. Ok now reposition artillery piece, at least now I shouldn¡¯t blow up with the dragon. Now it¡¯s a waiting game. About an hour later I hear the dragon approaching. I peer out of the trench. I have to time this perfectly. In 3, 2, 1, now. I pump 750 mana into the shell, overkill is better than no kill. I see surprise in the dragon¡¯s eyes as the shell launches towards it. Then the entire world erupts in flame. I hear the dragon scream over the sound of the flames and after a couple of seconds a distinct thump. Once the world returns to a normal temperature I peek my head out to investigate the situation. Twitching and thrashing at the base of the cliff is the water dragon. It¡¯s wings are destroyed and its chest is a mess of broken and shattered scaled but it is still alive, although barely. OK 750 mana was not overkill. Now I feel bad, I did not want it to suffer. I put the newly christened dragon killer back into my inventory and take out my sniper rifle. 10 shots, it took 10 more shots for it to stop moving. I mean that is just ridiculous. I realize that it is a dragon but come on. I can only hope that a lot of that movement was involuntary from something that was already dying or almost dead, otherwise this might not be doable. I am so glad I went with an ambush plan and not a frontal confrontation. I am just going to leave it down there for now in case it is faking. I¡¯ll just explore the lair while I wait. I loot everything I see and put it into inventory except one thing, a dragon egg. I do not know if I will even be able to hatch it or raise it, but the idea of a dragon pet is awesome. However I still do not have the skill to keep living things in my inventory. I make a little nest inside of my regular backpack and climb down towards the body of the one I killed. I throw a few rocks at its head and then put the whole carcass into my inventory. 20 - Dragon Hunting Chapter 20: Dragon Hunting Still no notice about clearing the level. I decide to hike back to where the door to the start of the challenge appeared. There is the door again. I open it up and walk back into the bland and featureless room.
¡°Congratulations on passing the elemental dragon test of water. Hatch the egg for bonus rewards.¡±
Bonus rewards are always good. Gamer knowledge don¡¯t fail me now. How to hatch a dragon egg? Let¡¯s see some stories have them surrounded by their element, but this guy was just in a nest of rocks so it must be something else. What other things are needed in the stories? Mana, in a lot of stories high concentrations of mana is essential for the birth of magic creatures. OK let¡¯s see if this will work. I hold the egg in both hands and imagine my mana as a cool stream of water leaving me and being absorbed by the egg. This seems to be working. I have to stop after about 10 minutes and recharge my mana. The egg still has not hatched so I will repeat until I get a result. My mana recharges very quickly now due to my higher level and bonuses. One nap and about 10 cycles later I feel like the egg is about to hatch. That equals almost 50,000 mana , hungry little egg isn¡¯t it. The egg cracks and the cutest little blue head pops out and looks at me. I can feel a mental connection with the little guy. No words just mental impressions. These impressions make me realize a couple of things number one it is a guy and number two it now regards me as its parent. The largest impression I get is that this little guy is hungry. I feed it a few chunks of meat from my inventory and think up a name. Azure, I will call him Azure. As soon as I name him I get a ¡°Great Game¡± notice.
¡°You have successfully tamed your first magic creature. You have been granted the title ¡°Beast Master +1. This skill combines with infinite inventory to allow living creatures to be stored in your inventory in a limited amount. You can store your level X 10 living things in your inventory. Time will be frozen for stored creatures.¡±
This solves some problems, like what was I going to do with little Azure while I am fighting. Well as I always say sooner started sooner done. I store Azure in my inventory and head towards the fire door. Before I enter I swap out all of my fire gear for Ice and water ammunition and enchanted weapons. As I cross through the fire door I see a smoking volcano in the distance. This should be a stereotypical place where a fire dragon is located. I keep an eye on the sky as I hike towards the volcano. There is my target. Surprisingly this dragon is not red but a black dragon with a smoky grey underbelly. Maybe to represent burned things, soot, and smoke? This dragon looks bigger than the last one. It is probably 30-35 meters long. This probably mean that each dragon will be stronger than the last one in the challenge.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Same strategy different element. The only change is that I put the dragon egg in this lair straight into storage to protect it. Let¡¯s see 750 mana was not an instant kill last time and this one is bigger so let¡¯s try an even 1,000 mana in an ice shell. A few hours later my preparations pay off. I am cold, the dragon is dead and back to the waiting room I go. I call out Azure and play around and feed him while pouring mana into the new egg to hatch his new little brother or sister. Several hours later Azure has a younger brother named Bruce. Why Bruce, because he looks like a Bruce. More precisely he looks like a Sir Bruce Shadow Flaming Ember of Doom, but I am just going to call him Bruce for short.
¡°For being the first to tame 2 magic creatures you are awarded the title Master Tamer +2.¡±
Fantastic, Azure has a little brother and I get a new title. Two more doors to go, I think air will be next followed by earth. I just have this feeling that earth is going to be trouble. Just shy of two days later and the air challenge is complete and my little dragon family has grown by one little sister named Elvira. She is cute mischievous little thing with white scales that have dark grey edges. She gets along well with the boys so no troubles there.
¡°For being the first to tame 3 dragonkin you are granted the title Dragon Tamer +3.¡± For holding 3 or more taming skills your entire inventory is now available to use for living organisms. Mana dependent creatures and plants can siphon off your mana to continue growth while in stasis if you allow it."
Another boost, these titles normally are probably spread out among an entire world. But due to my luck and unique circumstances I alone am receiving them which is just making me more and more over powered. I like it. This is what I was hoping for. With a few experiments, not with my dragon babies, I should be able to find the limits and how much mana this will take. The should be extremely helpful for the growth of my little dragons and with my ridiculously high mana regeneration rate I should be able to siphon off an amount equal to what I am regenerating and speed up the growth of my little ones making them stronger and more useful to me faster. Before that can happen I need to clear this last elemental challenge Earth. The other doors while not life threatening did not seem up to par for a 150+ level challenge. Maybe it seemed easy because of my ambushes, but I feel that the final test will step up the difficulty. 21 - The Final Dragon Challenge Chapter 21: The Final Dragon Challenge Well I better check out the situation. As I enter the last door, immediately my ears are blasted with the roaring of dragons. I am quite familiar with the sound by now. I quickly hide as best I can to figure out just what is going on. First thing I notice is that there is not just 1 dragon in this challenge. Flying what looks to be well thought out an intelligent patrol routes are 4 dragons. 1 water dragon, 1 fire dragon, 1 air dragon, and a green dragon that I can only assume is the earth dragon. Think Mark think. What to do? First I need to hide myself better then come up with a plan. I quickly scramble under a nearby tree and use earth magic to make a burrow among its roots that I can hide in. Now that my immediate safety is assured I need to analyze the situation. Why are there so many dragons? Wait there were only single dragons on all the other tests. So maybe these are their mates? That seems like a reasonable assumption, but that would mean there is still another earth dragon. Probably guarding the nest. So 5 dragons total. The message at the beginning said I only needed to defeat a dragon of each element, so I shouldn¡¯t need to kill every dragon to pass. However, if I can eliminate every dragon than I should get a ton more experience and possibly more titles for clearing everything. So is there a way to get all the dragons and the experience while minimizing the threat of death to me? I would need to set a trap that could take care of 5 dragons and somehow kill them relatively quickly. It has to be a trap because there is no way I even think about taking one let alone five dragons head on. Hmm, this may take a while, luckily there is no time limit. After discarding several ideas I realize that my trap is going to have to incorporate damage from all four elements in order to prey upon each different dragon weakness. How can I combine everything? Water against fire and vice versa, an air against earth. Oh I know I can set up a timer or delay on my spells and shells so they all go off at once. However, I will need to lure all 5 dragons into a single area. Oh that should work, let¡¯s get started. I use my earth magic to start my plan. I tunnel around creating a maze until I find the two important things necessary for my plan. First I locate the earth dragon den and confirm that yes there are 5 total dragons and they seem to be guarding the last egg and nest. Second I tunnel around until I find a large underground water source. Mission accomplished, now onto phase two. The second step in my plan is to hollow out a giant sinkhole in front of the earth dragon¡¯s lair, but I have to leave enough stone and other bits that it does not collapse yet. Basically I am creating the world¡¯s largest pit fall trap. It needs to hold the weight of the dragons combined until I want it to collapse so I reverse my wall building spell and modify it. Now when the spell is triggered it will take the stone from the roof of the trap and use it to grow spikes along the bottom and sides of the pit. When the spikes start to grow that will trigger the pit to fill with water from the underground water source I have rerouted to the area. When the water hits a certain depth it will trigger a series of modified fire and lightning shelf I have prepared and stuck to the sides of the pit like claymore mines. This should use all 4 elements in one trap. Earth spikes, lightning for air, fire, and boiling water to drown and help conduct the lighting. This will be on top of the falling, spike, and shockwave damage. While I may have no time limit to complete the test, by my calculations I have only 10 or 11 days left until the summer solstice and the ¡°Great Game¡± changeover. I really need to be back at the Appalachia kingdom by then to protect and calm down the family friends and employees. Sooner started, sooner done.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Three days later I have finally finished setting up the trap. Most of the time was making sure none of the changes underground alerted the dragon above ground. There is no such thing as overkill in this situation. It is me against 5 soon to be very pissed off dragons. I have pumped each magic artillery shell with 2000 points of mana. 10 shells each of Ice, Lava, Earth spikes, and Lightning for a grand total of 80,000 points of magical mana damage occurring in a concentrated area. In addition I will be on the perimeter with my largest caliber sniper rifle to take care of any escapees. Now for the bait, each evening right around dusk the dragons gather together in front of the lair to talk to each other. I don¡¯t actually hear any words, but that is the only thing that makes sense. I am guessing limited telepathy and body language maybe? When they do that I will use a tunnel I made to sneak in and snatch the unguarded egg, run back to the clearing underground and out of sight, and then pop up like a gopher mocking them while holding the egg in my hand. This should infuriate them and cause them to chase and dig to catch me as I duck back down the tunnel. They should refrain from breath weapons to avoid damaging the egg. While they are rushing to where I just was I will be running as fast as my modified body will allow me to another area outside of the pit trap. When I think they have all arrived and started digging I will set the entire trap off. Simple and direct. Here goes nothing, the dragons land, I rush in and grab the egg, run back outside, pop up yell something stupid while holding up the egg, look surprised to be surrounded by dragons, drop back into hole, run for my freaking life, set off the traps as I run by, clear the blast area, put new dragon egg in inventory for safety, and set up to take care of any problems with the sniper rifle. The last thing I remember is thinking wow that is a big explosion. I wake up upside down against a tree an indeterminate amount of time later. I am still a firm believer in there is no such thing as overkill, but I have got to do some more research on explosions, how big a blast radius is and such. This hurting myself thing is getting old. I down a health pill and head back to the pit/crater. It seems that I accidently created a massive steam explosion, kind of like a mini Krakatoa. I must of vaporized the dragons or blown the bodies further than I am willing to look for them. I did find part of one earth dragon corpse in what used to be the lair opening mostly crushed. I place it in my inventory along with the others. Game wisdom says that dragon parts are great crafting material. I reach the door back to the waiting room and enter back into the bland featureless room. I expect to see a notice but nothing happens. Oh wait I still have not hatched the last egg. When I finish hatching and naming the newest young lady of the family, Esmerelda, my long anticipated pop up screen appears. Let¡¯s see what I have earned this time.
¡°For completing the entire bloodline test you have been granted the following bloodline, titles and awards. Elemental Dragon King Bloodline +10, Dragon Slayer +3, Evolver +2, Dragon Master +4, Monster Slayer +1 (kill something 25 levels higher than yourself), Titan Slayer +3 (kill something 50 levels higher than yourself), Destroyer +5 (Kill something 100 levels higher than yourself), Level Maniac +2 (earn 25 levels or more in a single dungeon). The number of attribute points will now be doubled each level due to the unique bloodline you now possess including the levels from this dungeon. You will also be able to select 1 unique skill or item from the ¡°Great Game¡± store. Your bloodline body modification will now commence.¡±
Body modification, wait the last time that happened it knocked me out with the pain of the Aaargh, make it stop! I wake up sometime later with my new babies licking my face. Aww, were you concerned about daddy? Man I hate body modification. Time to check the changes, I need to know what happened to my body this time. As I explore myself I note a few key things. First I notice that I am now muscular. Not just fit, but actually ripped. This is great, I haven¡¯t looked this good since, well never. 22 - Heading Home Chapter 22: Heading Home Ok, what else has changed, I pull out a mirror from my inventory and notice something around my neck. It seems to be a set of scales that look like a necklace that are the alternating colors of the elemental dragons I defeated. Oh and I seem to have two small horns on either side of my head. Wait what? I reach up and feel, yep I definitely have horns, moving on before I complete freak out, I seem to be a bit taller or my clothes shrunk, everything else seems to be the same. Status:
Name: Mark Anderson Titles: Survivor +1, Quadelementalist +4, Lucky One +1 Master Thief +1, World Traveler +1, Wealthy +1, Dungeon Explorer +3, Unstoppable +2, Army of One +1, Arsonist +1, Manifest Destiny +3, Not Nailed Down +1, Army of One +1, Scourge of the Undead +1, Think Outside the Box +1, Beast Tamer +1, Master Tamer +2, Dragon Tamer +3, Dragon Master +4, Elemental Dragon King Bloodline +10, Evolver +2, Monster Slayer +1, Titan Slayer +3, Destroyer +5, Level Maniac +2, Loot King +2
Level: 65 - 22% Unspent Attribute Points: 301
Strength: 101 HP: 1010
Intelligence: 146 +50%MP MP: 4380
Wisdom: 146 +50% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 141% per 15 min.
Agility: 101 MP/Regen: 231% per 15 min.
Constitution: 101 +40% HP/Regen Luck: 116
Affinities: Earth - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Water ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Wow that is a lot. Compared to my starting point it is insane. The double stat points from the Elemental Dragon King Bloodline alone is crazy. I mean I know I jumped 30 levels, but 300 stat points? My MP Regen is absurd and will only get better, and my HP regen is probably on par with frontline warriors of my level instead of a magic user due to all my title bonuses. Let¡¯s distribute some points to each stat but try and keep Intelligence an Wisdom about double.
¡°For being the first to raise all stats past 100 you are awarded the title No Limits +5 an all normal attribute and level locks are removed. For being the first organism to reach an Infinite lifespan after removing level locks you are granted the title Undying +5, for having 2 or more attributes above the 200 point threshold you are granted the title Transcendent +5.
Stats:
Name: Mark Anderson Titles: Survivor +1, Quadelementalist +4, Lucky One +1 Master Thief +1, World Traveler +1, Wealthy +1, Dungeon Explorer +3, Unstoppable +2, Army of One +1, Arsonist +1, Manifest Destiny +3, Not Nailed Down +1, Loot King +2, Army of One +1, Scourge of the Undead +1, Think Outside the Box +1, Beast Tamer +1, Master Tamer +2, Dragon Tamer +3, Dragon Master +4, Elemental Dragon King Bloodline +10, Evolver +2, Monster Slayer +1, Titan Slayer +3, Destroyer +5, Level Maniac +2, No Limits +5, Undying +5, Transcendent +5
Level: 65 - 22% Unspent Attribute Points: 0
Strength: 150 HP: 1500
Intelligence: 250 +100%MP MP: 10,000
Wisdom: 250 +100% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 240% per 15 min.
Agility: 150 MP/Regen: 500% per 15 min.
Constitution: 150 +60% HP/Regen Luck: 150
Affinities: Earth - 100% Fire ¨C 100%This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Water ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Dear Lord I just became even more OP. The extra stats are always welcome, but probably not even necessary at this point. What intrigues me the most is the removal of attribute and level locks. I did not even know there were locks. I more than doubled my mana pool and my insane MP regen rate means I can refill my entire 10,000 point mana pool every 3 minutes. Let¡¯s see a little math shows me how utterly crazy this is. That means the dragon egg that took me 6-10 hours to hatch before, with breaks can now be done in under 20 minutes. Man I have to get home and think things through. Am I really that powerful or do I just seem that way next to newbies. I mean everybody can start leveling next week. What if I just seem powerful because I have nothing to compare myself too. Thankfully nothing else occurred as I traveled back to my kingdom. I am both physically and mentally drained. Checking in with everyone will have to wait until tomorrow. Tonight I just have to relax and let my mind and body process everything that has happened. I hope morning brings some clarity to my situation. As I wake up in the morning I feel refreshed. I check my status and titles and realize that I have over 425 extra attribute points from all of the titles I have earned. That is about 85 normal levels of growth. Add in the double points from my new bloodline and I am about 115 levels of attribute points above what a ¡°normal¡± level 65 person should have. I know that this is a lot, but how much more is hard to determine. Anyone can get a bloodline, but I do not know how powerful each one is. However if they band together at low levels then they would have more levels of ¡°extra¡± stat growth. Hmm, I will have to remember that strategy now that I know where a bloodline dungeon is. My titles in reality should be spread out across the world, but I had an unfair advantage and earned several titles that others probably should have gotten. Not that I am complaining, however I do not think that others will have my advantages. The repeatable titles will help everyone out, so in conclusion it seems that everyone can get boosts to make them stronger. I just happen to have gotten a few more, and have gotten the boost a LOT earlier than most. Now I just have to keep my little slice of the world running smoothly and safely. That is easier said than done. After checking in this morning I found out both good and bad news. The good news is that over 90% of the people I invited to the ¡°opening¡± of the Appalachia Kingdom resort have sent in their R.S.V.P. This means that I should start out with a very diverse population and my family and friends should be better protected. My land acquisition team has even managed to buy up large tracts of land in Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, and even more land in North Carolina. Plotted out on a map it looks like I should be able to claim, convert, and connect them all through the various National Parks, monuments, and wildernesses. During the first month my group should be one of the few that have operable vehicles and weapons that can combat the new wave of creatures and monsters. This should allow them to be in charge of defense of my area and allow me to enough time to travel and expand my kingdom. The larger the area claimed the more bonuses and power. The more bonuses and power, the stronger my group becomes. The stronger we are the safer the area is. It is a cycle that can help keep us safe until we hit a size where expansion is no longer feasible either due to the distance being too far to protect or the bonuses diminishing in value compared to the effort of claiming the land. The bad news is that I was in the bloodline dungeon longer than I thought. I only have 3 days plus a few hours left to prep everything I can. I have to craft weapons, have a system of laws and rules in place, and have a list of people to put in charge. I probably should have a backup list in case they refuse. I will not force anyone to join my little operation. I think the relative stability of my area will draw new immigrants quickly. I should probably set up an immigration office also. So much to do and so little time to accomplish it all. To help convince people and cut down on panic I have decided to have a grand display of magic right after the changeover. I am going to lay a grand formation, similar to what I did at Hidden Valley Village, but on a much larger scale. My mana and magic now are on a whole different level so this should be relatively easy to accomplish. I will raise a massive wall around my primary piece of property with the castle as the focal point. This should impress people and help with defense also. Let¡¯s see it will probably take about one and a half days for the formation to be set up, one day for crafting weapons and supplies, the rest of the time to be spent on miscellaneous things like laws and greeting people. That should be good. Sooner started, sooner done. Now barring any emergencies we should have a smooth transition. Awww man, I just jinxed myself didn¡¯t I? Oh well nothing to do now but wait for the changeover. END OF BOOK 1 23 - Royalty Of The Kingdom Chapter 23: Royalty of the Kingdom Just three days until the whole world changes, and I have a to do list 3 miles long. I need to prioritize and figure out what HAS to be done, what Needs to be done, and what I Want to be done. OK, think Mark, what has to be done before the change over. Priority number one I think has to be setting up my kingdoms laws and appointments. I do not want anyone to exploit the situation or people in the chaos that occurs after the change over. Everything else I can deal with as it come along, but if I do not have the basics in place many bad things could happen. Let¡¯s keep the laws as simple as possible I can always add to them later if needed. OK first a simple list of what is not allowed.
  1. Slavery
  2. Stealing
  3. Murder
  4. Actions that would harm the crown or country
  5. Excessive violence against others
Those will be Appalachia Kingdoms 5 major laws. Everything else I can think of falls under those categories. For example, if a dishonest merchant starts to fix prices, that would fall under stealing. A bar fight if you pay damages, no big deal, if you can¡¯t or if there is permanent damage than it would fall under both stealing and excessive violence. Minor infractions will be dealt with by fines or imprisonment and work gangs not to exceed 1 week to pay for damages. Medium infractions will be dealt with by fines, forfeiture of property, and indentured servitude no less than 1 month, but not to exceed 1 year. Large infractions that do not deal with death or slavery, will be fines, property seizure, and prison or indentured servitude no less than 1 year and not to exceed 20 years. Indentured servitude will be enforced magically and will include hard labor of the crown¡¯s discretion. Slavery and pre-meditated murder without reason will be the death penalty. The more categories you violate with a crime the more severe the punishment. For instance, sexual assault includes stealing and excessive violence and would be a more severe crime than just theft.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Anyone has the right to appeal twice. The first appeal is to the council that will handle the day to day running of the kingdom. The second appeal will involve my decision. For each appeal lost the punishment is doubled. If I levy a punishment, there is no appeal. Let¡¯s see taxes set at 5% just like in Hidden Valley Village. There will be five levels of landed nobility and one level without lands. Nobility will be granted by merits done for the kingdom and will only be awarded by the king for the top 3 levels. The council can bestow the lower 2 levels and recommend people for the higher levels of nobility. The Nobility Levels will be: King (Me)
  1. Prince/Princess
  2. Duke/Duchess
  3. Count/Countess
  4. Baron/Baroness
  5. Knight
Landed Nobility is responsible for general defense and enforcement of laws in their granted territory. They can collect a tax of 5% on top of the kingdoms tax to help pay for infrastructure and defense in their assigned area. Each level of nobility will be granted a portion of the kingdoms funds each year to help develop and defend their area. There will be 6 great princes/princesses, 18 Dukes/Duchesses, and 36 Counts/Countesses. The council has the right to appoint 100 Barons/Baronesses and the crown reserves the right to appoint 50 more. There will be no limit on appointments to knighthood which comes with a small monetary reward but no lands. Nobility is not inherited except under special circumstances. Each noble will designate 4 heirs of which only 2 may be related. The crown will select from among the heirs based on their merits towards the kingdom. This should hopefully keep everyone working for the common good and not just trying to pass it onto their kids who might not be worthy. Any noble with more than 1 medium infraction in a 5 year period will be stripped of their nobility. Nobility is a privilege not a right. The council will consist of 7 positions with power equal to Dukes/Duchesses. There will be a Minister of Education, a Minister of Defense, a Minister of Law, a Minister of Trade and Transportation, a Minister of Magic, a Minister of Health and Wellness, and finally a Minister of Dungeons. I think that this is as well as I can plan without knowing if there are going to be rules or other surprises placed on me by the Great Game. I will have some posters made up of the laws and everything and have them ready for after the change over. 24 - The World Changes Chapter 24: The World Changes I spend the next couple of days setting up my grand display of magic and feeding/playing with my new dragons. Soon enough the day of the solstice arrives. I let everyone know that there will be a big buffet and meeting tonight in the main courtyard, followed by an announcement and then a big surprise. Everyone seems to be looking forward to it. I am having lunch with my family when suddenly I hear chimes and see a blue screen.
¡°Attention citizens of Earth. Your planet has been selected to join the Great Game. Everyone over the age of 12 will be sent into a tutorial for 1 week except for beta testers and others who have successfully completed their trials. You may select a difficulty level for your trial before you leave. Rewards will be assessed and delivered based upon your completion and level selected at the end of the tutorial.
Level 1 80% survival rate
Level 2 60% survival rate
Level 3 40% survival rate
Level 4 20% survival rate
Level 5 1% survival rate
Those that do not choose will automatically be placed in level 5 difficulty. Please note that these are estimates and may not actually be reflective of survival rates in the tutorial. All children under the age of 12 will be put in stasis until after the tutorial. If no parent or close relative survives than the children will be transported to the nearest concentration of adults that did survive. You have 10 minutes until you are transported, remember to have fun.¡±
Oh crap, this is happening faster than I expected. I quickly tell my family to run to the courtyard and that I will explain everything soon. I run at full speed to the intercom system of the resort. ¡°Everyone that can hear this please assemble in the courtyard immediately. This is not a joke and the clock is ticking.¡±If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. I run down to the courtyard and see that it is slowly filling up. I have to start now even though everyone has not arrived. ¡°Listen up the blue screen and voice you saw and heard was not a joke. Neither is the difficulty. As far as I know I am the only survivor of the beta test.¡± I create a giant fireball above my head and shoot it into the sky. This should help them focus and get them to believe in the severity of the situation. ¡°When the timer is up you must select your difficulty level. If you have family, I recommend level 1. Being alive is more important to your family than being powerful. I will help everyone who makes it back from the tutorial.¡± I start to empty my inventory of all of the weapons and stored food and water I have. It starts piling up very quickly. ¡°Grab something to take with you it might help. Remember that staying safe is more important than power at this time. You are all my friends and family so if something does happen know that I will do my best to take care of your loved ones.¡± I smile and walk towards my immediate family. I start to hand out some weapons that I held back from the pile. I encourage them all to try their best and tell them I will see them in a week. I need to keep a positive and upbeat attitude in front of everyone.
¡°Teleportation will begin in 60 seconds, please select your difficulty level now.¡±
I quickly give my daughter a hug and kiss and tell her to be smart and be careful. ¡°I will see you in a week sweet pea.¡± As people vanished all around me I finally gave in to my tears. I knew that this was the last time I would see many of them. The Great Game does not play around. How many survived and would be back in a week only time would tell. I need to pull myself together. I now have 1 week where I will be the only person on Earth and I had things I needed to do. Wait I wasn¡¯t the only one left. The entire population of Hidden Valley Village was already part of the Great Game so they should still be here. I will need to visit them soon and see if they need anything. First thing I want to do is check on my ability to claim more land. I walk outside the castle and open up my kingdom screen. 25 - The Kingdom Grows Quickly Chapter 25: The Kingdom Grows Quickly As I flip through the screens, something I have been contemplating finally comes forward in my brain. If what I am thinking is true than starting my kingdom is going to be a lot easier and a lot quicker than I originally planned for. In fact, it might even be a loophole that the Great Game did not plan for. Oh, this could be fantastic. I reach the screen in my kingdom status and select claim new land.
¡°As the ruler of Appalachia Kingdom you may claim 1 acre of land per unit of mana spent. You can designate borders for your kingdom and have mana drawn out automatically to claim all unclaimed land in that area. If the amount of claimed land exceeds 150% of another person¡¯s claimed area you may choose to annex the already claimed land. The owner has 48 hours to accept the annexation or declare war. If war is not declared annexation happens automatically. How much mana would you like to use?¡±
This is fantastic. I hoped that there would be some sort of system in place so people just can¡¯t take over everything. However, I found a loophole. I am the only person who can claim land for the next week. No one is left to protest or declare war. I can make my kingdom as large as I want. With my huge mana pool and ridiculous recharge rate I wonder how big it can get? I go and get a map of the United States. Alright Mark, don¡¯t be a pansy, go big or go home as they say. I mark out a territory that follows the Mississippi river in the Gulf of Mexico all the way up to the Ohio river. Follow that east until you get to the town of Huntington on the borders of Kentucky, West Virginia, and Ohio. Then continue heading East by South East to the tip of the Chesapeake Bay and claim Norfolk. That¡¯s a little more than 8 states worth of territory. Let¡¯s see how long that takes to claim. If I have more time before the end of the week finishes, I may try for the entire Eastern Seaboard.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. I instruct the Great Game system to draw 10,000 mana over a period of 3 minutes and 5 seconds. This will leave me with a few hundred mana for emergencies. I want to see how much territory I can actually claim. It should be 45 million to 50 million acres every 24 hours. That is such a big number that I cannot actually conceptualize it. I am not sure how much space that actually is in real life. I will have to check it after 24 hours and see. I start cleaning up the castle. The sudden departure of everyone for the trial has caused there to be quite a mess left behind. Wait a second I have vassals in Hidden Valley Village, why am I doing all this work. I was going to check up on them anyway, I might as well head over and see if any of them are willing to help out for a few coins. I decided to jog over to Hidden Valley Village for two main reasons. 1st is the fact that after several sedentary years of life I can actually run the 5 miles to Hidden Valley Village and 2nd is that running used to help clear my mind and let me think. As I jog towards the village various ideas start rolling through my head. I suddenly feel a sharp pain in my neck. Dang wasps, I reached up and felt something actually sticking out of my neck. I yanked it out and stared at the small arrow. How did, who is even left, why? No time for questions, react, adapt, and counter attack. I dive behind a tree on the side of the road just as several other arrows start to move in my direction. I manage to crash gracefully behind cover as only a king can and quickly assess the situation. 26 - Oh Right Monsters Exist Now Chapter 26: Oh Right Monsters Exist Now Someone or something is trying to kill me. I quickly pull up my status screen. Only 5 hit points are gone, I can heal that in less than a minute. So they are not very powerful whatever they are, but there is more than one. I still need to be careful. Quantity has a quality all of its own. I pull my shotgun out and sling it against my chest. Next up comes a medium shield for my left arm and of course my war hammer, The Persuader, for my right. I quickly look out from behind the tree I am hiding behind and note that 5 greenish brown, ugly, short people are running towards my hiding place while yelling and waving about sharp implements. Goblins? I ready myself and jump out and launch a quick 50 mana fireball towards the middle of the running pack of creatures and countercharge. My countercharge is useless. When the fireball hit it exploded and threw all five of the creatures flying like ragdolls. I veer over to the closest burn victim ready to finish it off and realize that, yep I really am OP and that just killed all of them. I quickly use identify on one of the corpses.
¡°Forest Goblinoid Lvl 5¡±
Huh, it really is a goblin. This is my first experience with monster mobs outside of a dungeon. They look different than the goblins I¡¯ve killed in the dungeons. I guess it¡¯s an adaptation for the forest because of the creature¡¯s designation as a forest goblinoid.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I quickly give them a cursory search, weapons I don¡¯t want and a couple of coppers I throw into my inventory. I need to hurry to the village. Man am I glad that I gifted them with a defensive wall when I settled them in. It hasn¡¯t even been 4 hours since the change over and I already ran into dangerous creatures in the new world. As I continued to hurry towards the village, one horror scene after another played through my mind. The village would be in flames, the village would be besieged by a horde of orcs and goblins, or the village would be mysteriously empty of life with only blood stains left behind. I finally rounded the last corner before I could see the village in the distance. Nothing seemed to be wrong. Oh no, that probably means that something has already wiped them out. Wait a second, those are guards on the wall. Human ones. As I get closer I realize that nothing at all seems to be wrong. It was just my overactive imagination causing problems. In fact, the village is looking much better than it did the last time I visited. It looks like Edward and the villagers have been busy. The guards see me running towards the wall and wave at me like nothing has changed. I call out to them and ask where I can find Edward. They say he should be at home. I slow down and try to look more like a king as I enter the gates to Hidden Valley Village. I thought I knew everyone in the village, but one of those guards I did not recognize, strange. As I enter the village the kids all swarm around me. I have visited the village a couple of times since I liberated them from the dungeon. I always try and keep some hard candies like Jolly Ranchers or Lollies to hand out when I do visit. 27 - I find Out I Am Not as Smart As I Think I Am Chapter 27: I find Out I Am Not as Smart As I Think I Am I give the oldest child two bags of lollipops form my inventory and declare that she is now in charge of sweets disbursement. She smiles at me and starts to have the kids line up to get their suckers. You know when I¡¯m not teaching them or responsible for them kids can be kind of cute. What did I just say? Stop it Mark, they are using their secret powers on you. Resist! Think of all the horrible things students have done to you over the years. Ahhh, that¡¯s better. After I recover from my mini existential crisis I head over to Edward¡¯s house. I see him sitting on the porch and give him a little wave. He quickly stands up and bows. ¡°What can I do for you today my king?¡± ¡°Well good morning Edward, first off did you see the Great Game notice earlier?¡± ¡°Yes my king, we even had 3 youngsters that were transported off for their trials.¡± ¡°You did? I wonder why they had to go?¡± ¡°It is simple my lord, they had not yet reached level 3 in the Great Game yet despite being of age.¡± With some more discussion and questioning I found out that when children gain their inventory at age 8 they can start earning exp. It is not much but usually by the time they reach the age of 12 it is enough to level them to at least level 3 which keep them from being transported. Those that do not reach level 3 are always transported on the solstices and are given a chance to gain experience to catch up. No one wants their child to be transported due to the high fatality rate. However, due to different circumstances there are children occasionally who do not reach that level. Usually these are the kids that slack off or have had some tragedy in their life that disrupts their learning time or ability.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Edward, the original reason I came out here was to both check on Hidden Valley Village and to see if there was anyone who would like to make a few coins helping me clean the castle until next week while everyone is gone, but I did run into some Forest Goblinoids on my way over here, so is everything alright?¡± ¡°Yes my king everything is fine. The new guards we hired from the Great Game are doing a wonderful job. While I know that many villagers would be delighted to help you out my lord, why don¡¯t you just hire some maids from the Great Game?¡± ¡°What do you mean? How can I hire them from the Great Game? I am confused.¡± Edward game me a strange look and then started to educate me. It turns out that you can post jobs and hire people at the Great Game store. That guard I did not recognize was not a villager I forgot, but one of a new set of guards hired by Edward through the Great Game. Because I set taxes much lower than the village had in the past they could now afford the salary of some dedicated guards to protect them. He explained that these guards were on a 1 year probationary contract and if they did well they would be hired permanently and be given settlement rights in the village. 28- My First Minister Chapter 28: My first Minister The more I listened and learned from Edward, the more flabbergasted I got. This would change almost everything. With my resources I could have a robust infrastructure set up before everyone came back from the 1 week trial. At the very least I could have them help out once people returned and provide a higher quality of living a lot sooner. This could save thousands of lives. I finally stopped him around dinner time and told him we should get something to eat. I asked him if he could gather everyone after dinner in the town square for a brief announcement. He shrugged and said that would be no problem and started off to pass the news around that there would be a meeting in about an hour. As he walked off, I took a quick look at the menus he mentioned to make sure I could find them and I understood how to use them. It seems that the penalties of the contracts if you violate them are enforced by the Great Game. This means that there should be very little chance of betrayal or mistakes if you word your contract correctly. After dinner I went out to the town square and addressed the village. ¡°As your king I have a couple of things to announce. First here is a basic list of laws and rules for the kingdom. I pulled several prepared posters out of my inventory. Make sure that everyone knows them. Ignorance is not an acceptable excuse for doing bad things. Next Edward is now appointed as the Kingdom¡¯s Minister of Education. I have realized that he knows more about the Great Game than I do. I may know a lot about this planet and people, but I need good advice on the Great Game and the changes it brings. This makes Edward part of the new nobility and I shall gift him with 10,000 gold coins now and lands to be decided upon later. However, I guarantee that Hidden Valley Village will be part of his holdings.¡± The look on Edward¡¯s face was priceless. I continued on and let everyone know that there would be a ceremony in 1 months time to induct all new nobility and ministers and that I would assign the rest of Edward¡¯s land at that time. After many well wishes from the villagers and thanks from Edward I let them know that I have to get back to the castle before dark. My return travel time to the castle was much slower as I was much more careful and on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary. However, the return journey was uneventful.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. The first thing I did when I got back was to lock the place up tight. I realized now that until I had guards and people of my own I needed to be extra careful. Especially at night when I was alone and sleeping. I have so much to do now that Edward has taught me about the job hiring system of the Great Game. First up will be a review of the job boards and some quick staffing hires. If I can fill all my needs without posting my own notice it would speed things up. After going through several available notices I realized two things. First the wording and contracts were quite ambiguous on the Job Board. If I wanted to feel safe about who I hired I am going to have to create my own contract and conditions. Second was that I felt that most positions were woefully underpaid. For example, I could hire a palace maid for 25 silver a month plus room and board. That is equivalent to around $400 per month with room and board. Maybe it was the American in me but that seemed much to low. I think that if I offer 3 to 4 times the going rate, even if I make really detailed job contracts I should have plenty of qualified job seekers applying. However, it will slow things down. I am going to have to post everything I need tonight on the job board and hopefully start interviewing and/or checking responses tomorrow. I am not quite sure how the Great Game handles that part. As I continued my explorations through the hiring system I started to realize that I had much much bigger problems. I am going to need fully stocked and staffed safe areas for people to arrive back at. If I don¡¯t they could be transported straight into danger on their return or to a place with little or no food due to the now limited transportation. The good news is that anything I can think of like basic housing, storehouses, walls, a city guard, shops, etc. can either be built by hand or ordered through the Great Game system. It is many times more expensive to order than have people build something, but the upside is that it is instantaneous. I have a huge surplus of funds currently and this seems like the perfect way to use them. I also have a fantastic idea on how to generate some new funds. In fact if my new plan works out I could actually make more money than I spend which would be great. 29 - Want Ad Chapter 29: Want Ad Now that I am secure in my locked room in the castle let¡¯s take a more in depth look at this job hire section of the Great Game store. It looks kind of like a job board. I can either put up my requirements or look at ¡°resumes¡± of people. The applicants can be from any Great Game world and seem to be bound by magic to their contracts. I need to be careful on who I hire. The contract needs to have severe enough penalties and good enough rewards that I will be able to hire the best. I am not lacking in resources currently and my new plan should make me and my kingdom insanely wealthy. I remember that the Great Game said that existing currency could be exchanged for Great Game currency at a reduced rate until the Winter Solstice. After that it becomes worthless. Electronic wealth is useless because all electronics are now no longer accessible. However, hard currency is still available through banks, vaults, and store registers. All of the precious metals and gems in the jewelry shops has no current own either. I should be able to hire groups of mercenaries that are high enough level to stomp through everything in this week where everyone is gone and the monsters are still low enough level. They will be my resource gathering group. I will offer them a flat fee and a percentage of what they recover with severe penalties if they try and steal. The Great Game will enforce the contract so there should be no shenanigans. First though I should start with guards and hired help for my castle and home base. I think that I will create my own postings for everything so I can control the circumstances, penalties and terms of service.
Wanted: Long Term Palace Guards 100 ¨C 250 people
Minimum Level 20, Mixed Genders, Races, and Bloodlines Welcome
Minimum Length of Contract 5 years with resettlement rights granted at the end of the initial contract.
Contract will be extended in five year increments until 20 years or until one party declines renewal.
Contracted guards must have rank and support mechanisms in place.
Contractor will provide room, board, salary and bonuses dependent on negotiations.
Family units and followers are acceptable but shall be taken care of by contractees.
Contracted Palace guards must submit to initial oaths of loyalty and secrecy enforceable by the Great Game.
Contracted Guards must submit to truth magic semi-annually to test for loyalty.
Reasonable outfitting and replacement of equipment will be provided by the contractor.
Those with vendettas or attitudes against specific Races or Bloodlines need not apply.
This will be my basic post that I will modify as needed for other positions. I think I will post one for 25 palace maids, 15 groundskeepers, 10 cooks, and 10 general help. I think that each Resource Ranger Team who will go out and retrieve cash and jewels will be 1 week contracts with a flat rate of 100 gold per person + 10% of the value of the currency brought back after it has been exchanged into Great Game currency. 25 people per team should be able to move quickly yet have enough people to deal with any situation that might occur. 10 teams and hire for speed as well as level.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. As my territory grows I will have to designate areas for people to meet and live while providing them basic supplies to start out with. I think that any city over 500,000 in population before the Great Game change over will be designated as a HUB CITY. Any city above 100,000 but below 500,000 will be designated a Satellite City. Finally, any city over 10,000 but less than 100,000 in population will be designated as a Town. Anything smaller than that is just a village. Each Hub City will start with basic housing for 250,000 people, granaries with enough food for a month, shops, walls, 1,000 to 1,500 guard force to start with, and a castle for the eventual sub ruler of the area. Each of my satellite cities in the kingdom are going to get basic housing for 100,000 people, granaries with enough food for a month, shops, and walls with a guard force of 500-1,000. Every town gets basic housing for 10,000, granaries with food for a month, shops, walls, and a guard force of 100-250 to start with. With a little math I get a figure of 10 million gold pieces per Hub City, around 4 million gold pieces per satellite city and close to 1 million gold pieces per town. This is just basic services. I saw an option for a teleportation network that started at 25 million gold with 5 destinations with a discounted price of 3 million more gold pieces per destination after the start up that I need. Without communication and transportation my kingdom will collapse in no time flat. I can purchase academies, upgrades, prebuilt adventure guilds, etc. The only limiting factor is money. I want to have a fully functioning kingdom set up to help ease the transition for as many people as I can by the end of the week when they return. I have a feeling that the numbers returning will not be as high as what the Great Game suggested. Our society has become out of touch with basic survival skills. That is not a bad thing in normal society, but in this situation can turn deadly. I think we will be lucky to have a 50% survival rate of all tutorial people. Many probably overestimated themselves and selected harder levels. Many might not be able to survive a day let alone a week, and I hate to even imagine what will happen to those with medical problems or that are already at an advanced age. The more I think about how much the Great Game is literally killing a significant portion of the population that our ethics and society have decided to help stay alive the angrier I get. Why is it fair that younger healthier people have a better chance at survival. We need people like Stephen Hawking and others to help us figure things out in the changed world. However, reality dictates that under the limitations that the Great Game set forth the chance of them surviving is almost nil. I need to stop this negative spiral of thoughts. I can¡¯t dwell on the individuals. I need to do what I can to look at the big picture. If I do not have a good system of support in place when people return I expect another 50% of survivors would die off in another month. We are so dependent on transportation and electricity for food and other basic items we need to survive that even when people return we could have wide spread famine and disease, along with monster attacks. I have to get things as prepared as I can. 30 - Money Troubles Chapter 30: Money Troubles Alright, I have posted all my want ads and will start interviewing or something tomorrow morning. I still don¡¯t know how that will work. However, I have consulted my road maps and have decided that I am going to have to have more Hub Cities than I first thought. The satellite city list is also growing. I need more money fast. I have not even started on my town list and I already need close to 200 million gold pieces just for basic set ups. If I include towns and teleportation networks the cost becomes staggering. I mean I have not even added basic sewers to the package, which would inflate each city price by at least 500,000 to 1 million gold pieces. It looks like I will need a minimum of 500 million gold pieces to set up just the basics or close to 1 billion gold pieces to do it right. I only have around the equivalent of 200 million gold pieces in all denominations and gems right now. I thought that would be plenty. I can either scale back my plans and leave thousands upon thousands of people to die, or I can get more cash quick. I may have been optimistic on my new plan to get wealth. The Great Game after fees and transferring requires about 2,000 U.S. dollars per gold piece. This means I need to collect 100 Billion dollars in U.S. currency or its equivalent in precious metals and gems in less than a week just to reach the basic level. I will need to double that amount to do it right and triple it to have some sort of treasury for emergencies. Most small town banks only keep between $10,000 and $20,000 dollars on hand. ATM¡¯s can have $3,000 dollars. The average mall size jewelry store has between $200,000 and 1 million dollars worth of inventory. Major retailers have between $10,000 and $20,000 cash in the store. So I need to rob, I mean liberate either 7 million ATM¡¯s, 2.5 million small town banks or stores, or 100,000 Jewelry Stores. That number is ridiculous. I do not know if there is even that much available. I did not get everything from the mints, or the bullion depositories so that should help out tremendously. The diamond exchange in New York and Philadelphia are supposed to have over 1 billion in jewels at any time. My main problem is time. If I had a year, I could dig out money from mines and everywhere else. But I will be down to five and ? days after interviews. My resource teams are going to have to be able to fly or teleport or something. I will have to advertise for transportation service short contracts now as well. Well there is nothing else I can do except loot everything I can locally while I wait to start interviewing and sending out the resource teams. I will travel to Asheville NC and see how much I can get by myself tonight if I work through the night. That should give me an estimate of how much each team should be able to find in similar sized towns. After 2 hours of traveling I arrive at my first bank in Asheville. I hit every bank in the small towns on the way and a couple of big box stores, supermarkets, and jewelry stores. Already I have realized a couple of problems I am going to run into. First how are people from other areas of the Great Game going to even recognize or know what buildings to go into. Next even if I teach them where to go they are sure to miss quite a bit. This means the efficiency by my teams are going to be very low. In just over 2 hours of smash and grab through smaller towns I was able to accumulate around 1 million dollars in inventory which translated into 500 gold pieces. This means each team should accumulate around 3,000 gold pieces in scavenging each day if they can scavenge for 12 hours. While this sounds impressive it means I would need 34,000 scavenging teams in order to hit my goal in time. That¡¯s not going to happen. I hope that a larger town will increase the efficiency of the looting. I already noticed that I need to set priorities. Jewelry stores first, banks second, and finally large stores. This will maximize what I can get. I need to keep brainstorming. There has to be a way to at least get close to my goal. The more safety spots I create the greater the survival rate. I feel like I am missing some large piece of the puzzle. I hope whatever it is occurs to me soon. As I work my way through Asheville I realize how the change over has influenced my thinking and priorities. I am the greatest thief of all time, no one will probably care, or at least they will think that it is a good thing because it could save lives. My morals seem more flexible. As long as the ends justify the means, and the ¡°greater good¡± is served, I do not seem to have a problem with many activities that I would never have tried before. Maybe I could implement a reimbursement plan for locals who can prove their ownership of anything I liberate.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. This is starting to get monotonous. Travel down road, look for stores, break into the stores safe, have money converted. I have been doing this for hours. Asheville has only a population of 80,000 but it is taking forever. If only there was a way to just teleport where I wanted to go. Wait, teleport, I was thinking about that earlier. What if my resource teams can teleport? I know that teleportation is a thing in the Great Game, I saw it as an option to add teleport stations to my cities I am going to build. I wonder if there is a way for me to learn teleportation quickly? Does it have to be to another portal? I need to stop and process this. I will finish up the next bank and check the Great Game. I quickly run towards the Bank of America sign down the road. I quickly perform what has become routine. I use the Warhammer to crack the teller drawers and just walk into the safe. Most of the safes in the banks have been left open because no one cared enough to close them before teleporting away. It has definitely made collecting the money easier. I have also randomly been opening up a few safety deposit boxes. I have not found much and to open them all in every bank would take forever, but it is kind of fun and lightens the monotony of what I am doing. I stack a couple of desks in front of the vault and sit down inside for a quick review of the Great Game store and help system. Help on. ¡°Help can anyone operate a teleportation portal or does it require specific magic knowledge?¡± ¡°To use a teleport portal an organism only needs to transfer mana and think of the destination portal.¡± ¡°Help, Is there a common method of teleportation without portal networks?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± OK, bad question. ¡°Help, what is the most common method of teleportation used without portals?¡± ¡°Scrolls of teleportation¡± I quickly search through the Great Game store. Yep, there they are. The description reads: Scroll of Teleportation: Comes in 100 mile (50 gold), 500 mile (250 gold), 1,000 mile (500 gold) and 10,000 mile (1,000 gold) versions. User must have a clear vision of destination for the magic to work. Discounts for bulk purchases. This seems like it is definitely a luxury item. I have more than enough gold to purchase what I need, but I need to make sure that the payoff is more than the expenditure. That shouldn¡¯t be too difficult. Even with what I took out of the mints, bullion depositories and mines from my earlier wealth redistribution trip there should be more than enough left to justify the expense of teleporting to those sites again to clean out the rest. I can even add a few more that were too high profile before. No one will ever know unless I tell them. I will still send out the scavenging teams, but I will have to hope that I can make some large scores quickly in order to come close to my goal. I first check on the bulk discount before buying. 25 scrolls at a time gets you 10% off. So if I buy a bundle of 1,000 mile scrolls and a bundle of 10,000 mile scrolls it will save me several thousand gold. I have several places I need to scavenge both inside the United States and around the world. This should be perfect. I can hit the U.S. sites today, interview or hire tomorrow morning, and start a world-wide blitzkrieg of areas that afternoon with a goal of returning and buying everything I need on the last day before the arrival of the tutorial people. I wonder if I can travel to a place I have never been if I have a good enough picture? I need to try that out first. It would really expand my search area. I quickly purchase a bulk set of 500 mile, 1,000 mile and 10,000 mile teleport scrolls. I then head to the local college to use the library. This would be a lot easier if the internet was still working. However, without it I will have to do some old school analog research about new gold deposits, gem areas, and hope that there are pictures and that I can teleport with them. I stop by the student store on the way to the Appalachian State University library and grab a couple of postcards of areas I have not been to for the picture experiment. Here we go, sliding rock and triple falls are well within the 500 mile teleport range. I have heard of them both but have not had the time to go and see them in person. I study the picture of sliding rock first. I concentrate as hard as I can on that picture while I rip the teleport scroll to activate the teleportation magic. I feel the uncomfortable pull of teleportation, it is working! I have arrived at sliding rock. I need to double check this just to be safe. Next I study and concentrate on the triple falls post card. It worked again. This means if I can find the pictures of where I need to go I can just teleport straight there saving a ton of time and be able to travel to more locations in the short amount of time I have. Last experiment, I concentrate on Disneyland in California and tear a 500 mile scroll. Nothing. Well I may have ruined a scroll, but at least I know that there is no backlash for trying to use a scroll to travel farther than its range. Come to think of it, that was pretty dumb. I am the only one here, what would I have done if there was a backlash? 31 - Making Hard Decisions Chapter 31: Making Hard Decisions I use one last 500 mile scroll to return to the University Campus library. Time for some quick research and yes I guess theft of some picture and travel books. I also grab a couple of world atlases and other maps to help plan my Great Game cities plan. After working on it all night I have had to make some hard decisions. I am going to try for 18 Hub cities, and 24 Satellite cities only. Nothing smaller will be built to start with. The grand total for these basic set ups will be 300 million gold pieces. With what I already have this should be a realistic amount to scavenge before the end of the week. I need 67 million gold pieces to set up the hub cities teleport network and another 72 million gold pieces to add in the satellite cities to the teleport network. It will be around 21 million gold pieces for a Great Game sewer system for all of the cities. I also realized that I will need an additional 10 million gold pieces worth of supplies in order to hold the population over until the first harvest. Prepared fields and seeds with equipment would be another 42 million gold pieces. So to set up everything right the first time I am looking at an initial outlay of 492 million gold pieces. Thank god that is only a one time expense. However, I have to keep enough in reserve to pay the hired help from the Great Game so I still come back to the 500 million gold pieces figure I originally had. I will probably have to compromise and not have somethings immediately, but it hurts to know that as much as I might try, this is one situation where I cannot fix everything. The Great Game changeover itself will cause a huge loss of life for people. I expect no matter how hard I try that another 25% of survivors will die due to lack of infrastructure in my kingdom and probably closer to 50% of survivors will die due to lack of food and facilities outside my kingdom. I have to think of the larger picture and what can help the most people long term. I did have one positive piece of news during the night. Around 3 a.m. I received the following notice from the Great Game. ¡°Your kingdom has grown large enough to be considered a tier 5 kingdom. As the first tier 5 kingdom on Earth you can select from the following kingdom perks.
  1. Universal Language
  2. Improved Housing
  3. Improved Fields for 1 year
Please make your selection now.¡± I chose the Universal Language perk. The Great Game help explained it as a common language that all Great Game participants would have implanted the moment they entered into my kingdom¡¯s claimed area. It would not replace any existing languages or skills but would rather be a bonus so that all intelligent species found within my kingdom¡¯s borders will be able to communicate with each other regardless of background.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. I hope that as I grow my kingdom, especially since I have a head start on the rest of the world, I will be able to secure some more kingdom freebies if I grow the kingdom into the next tiers before anyone else. I could not find out anything from the help section on what size or requirements a kingdom needed to reach each tier. So I will have to continue improving as fast as I can to get the bonuses that will keep my kingdom as the greatest. After a nights deliberation I have also decided that I need to go for quality of quantity in my hiring, even for the 1 week temporary positions. I hope to hire 20 resource teams of no more than 50 people each and teleport them to 20 different large cities throughout the United States. I thought about sending them world wide, but the time it would take to explain about different currencies, and how to recognize banks in other lands was not the best method. Instead I will target the 20 most populous cities in the U.S. according to the books I got out of the University Library. While these scavenging teams are working on the U.S. I will teleport across the world to various areas and clean out as much as I can where I can find it. I will revisit several sites I went to previously and finish the clean out of the precious metals and gems. I estimate I can still get about 50 million gold pieces worth of precious metals by the end of the week this way. If there is time I will also try and locate several other gold and gem reserves I had read about but either felt were too dangerous to get too or were too hard to find. With everyone gone for the tutorial all that is left is physical defenses an with my magic I can get through those quite easily. I have high hopes for the Russian gold and diamond reserves, the Swiss banks, the Netherlands gold reserves, and the Dubai gold reserves. If I can locate them quickly the estimate from my past and current research indicates a possibility of over 10,000 tons of precious metals which would transfer into 300-350 million gold pieces. That is without the diamond exchanges I hope to find. There are no specific maps to these places in foreign countries. So I will have to teleport to the city and search with my gold sense and just rob banks of their paper money also to get as much as possible. If I am lucky I might be able to hit every goal I have for money. However, even if I raise twice as much as I estimate I need, it will still never be enough to eliminate the pain and suffering that people are going to go through world wide. I just have to do the best that I can and pray that I can stay ahead of the curve in infrastructure, management, magic, and safety. The task seems impossible, but If I take it one step at a time I can make the new world a better place. I am really regretting the time I wasted preparing some of the magic items and vehicles before the changeover. I should have realized that an equivalent or better system (such as teleportation for travel) would exist in the new world. 32 - Hiring People Is Fun To Do Chapter 32: Hiring People Is Fun To Do I went to go and have a little breakfast and decided to check the response to my Great Game Ads. As I check in with the Great Game Store Screens I discover that I have over 1,000 responses to each of the ads. I do not have the time to go through all of these. Help ¡°Is there a way to search ad responders for certain characteristics or recommendations from past people who have heard them¡±
"Yes"
Stingy stupid screen. ¡°Please explain the way to narrow down a search and give appropriate examples.¡±
¡°User can input level requirements, monetary requirements, or quantity requirements as the most common ways of narrowing down a search for new hires. For example if the user specifies that only units that have 50 or more people in them should be displayed than the Great Game will immediately remove those that do not have that qualification.¡±
¡°Please display all responders to the scavenging team ad that have at least 5 people greater than level 10 and a total of at least 20 people in the group¡± Alright, that took my initial 1,143 responses down to 212. Since I have so many responses let¡¯s up the ante on the filter. ¡°Please display all responders to the scavenging team ad that have at least 10 people greater than level 15 and a total of at least 25 people in the group¡± Now there are only 51 responders. ¡°Remove any group that has had a negative review from a previous employer.¡± That only removed one group. ¡°Please message the remaining 50 groups the following terms. 10 gold per person guaranteed for 7 days work, for up to 50 people. Group will be scavenging resources on a newly admitted Great Game planet. All groups will be given a 10% bonus in Great Game currency of the amount they find at the end of the 7 day contract. All transportation fees to and from the new planet will be assumed by the hiring party up to 500 gold pieces. Any extra cost due to distance or other special circumstances will be assumed by the employees.¡± I do not think I will need to interview the scavenging teams. I just need to show them where to look for currency, what it looks like and provide the initial teleport to the area I want them to search. I hope that all 50 teams accept. Next is castle staff. ¡°Please display all responders to the castle staff ad that are in groups of 25 people or more and satisfy all conditions of the ad.¡± From a list of over 2,000 down to only 112. ¡°Please display all responders to the castle staff ad that are groups of 50 people or more and satisfy all conditions of the ad.¡± Now only 16 responders are left. ¡°Please remove any groups that have special needs that the planet Earth or Appalachia Kingdom would have difficulty providing over the period of the 5 year contract.¡± Hmmm, that only removed 2 groups. Please list the top 5 responders left that have the highest reviews or recommendation numbers. I am going to have to actually interview these 5 groups or at least the leaders of them. Before I interview the castle help I want to set up the castle protectors or Royal Guards for interviews also. That way I can knock them all out at once. ¡°Please display all responders to the Royal Guard ad that are groups of 200 or more and have at least 10 level 50 people.¡± OK, that took it from 343 responders down to only 6, that is a manageable number of leaders to interview. ¡°Please set up each Castle Staff interview group ? hour from each other starting at 10 a.m., also schedule the 6 remaining Castle Guard unit interviews for every 45 minutes starting at 1 p.m. All charges for teleportation of the leaders to the interview will be taken from my inventory. Up to 3 representatives from each group may attend the interview.¡± I quickly make sure that everything is in place in the ¡°Throne Room¡± I need to make a good impression right off the bat. These people will be working with and protecting me and mine for the next 5 years minimum, and hopefully everything will work out and they will stay and immigrate into the Appalachia Kingdom permanently. Even if they choose not to stay, I should have learned a lot by then and hopefully will have a few more home grown people in positions of power and security. I prepare a generic list of questions that need to be answered.
  1. What previous experience do you have in a similar position?
  2. Describe the strengths of your group and how they can help a newly starting kingdom.
  3. Why did you leave your previous employer?
  4. Are you willing to swear magically binding oaths of allegiance through the Great Game?
  5. What are your requested salaries per month or year?
  6. Do you feel that you have an adequate leadership structure in place at all levels?
  7. What is the largest problem you think that you or your groups might have to deal with when moving to a new kingdom and world?
  8. Are you able to start immediately if needed?
  9. How many dependents and others are you hoping to bring with you to the kingdom?
  10. Do you have any questions for me?
I think this covers everything I need to know. I realize that I should probably do a much more in depth interview and check previous references. However, I am in such a time crunch that I have to get this done now. I think I will put in a mutual 1 month adjustment clause. If either party decides that the employment would not be to their benefit over the next 5 years than they can cancel the contract with no penalties. Whoever cancels the contract is responsible for the teleportation fee back to their place of origin.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. One of the strangest things is the price of everything I need to have done quickly. Teleportation scrolls are expensive and a luxury on the same world. However, teleporting between planets of the Great Game is only 1 gold per person if answering a Great Game ad. The only reason I can come up with is that the Great Game is trying to prevent private competition in transportation from world to world. For the cost of one major 10,000 mile teleportation scroll I can bring in almost everyone that is going to be hired. The first couple of interviews with the castle help groups are okay, but not very impressive. However, the third interview was not what I was expecting. An impeccably dressed person of what I can only call the Dark Elf race, at least until I find out their name for their people, is the only representative that is teleported into the interview. ¡°Good morning King Anderson, my name is Alfonso and I am here to represent and negotiate on behalf of the Domestics guild.¡± I quickly identify him so as to have as much information as I can, I do not want to be at a disadvantage and he has obviously done his homework before coming in.
Name: Alfonso Darkmoon Race: Darkling Fae
Level 21 -14% Affinities: Earth 53% Dark - 71%
You know, I don¡¯t think I have ever appraised or identified another person before. How could I have missed this obvious helpful tool? I mean I identified several monsters, plants, and numerous items, but I have never actually used identify on another Great Game person or Great Game race. This could be extremely useful in both social and battle situations. I wonder if there is a way to hide information or to show more information. Just another thing to add to my list of things to try and remember to do. ¡°Good morning Alfonso, you seem to have me at a disadvantage. I am relatively new to the Great Game system and have not heard of the Domestics Guild.¡± ¡°That is quite alright sire. I shall give you a quick background into our guild if that is satisfactory and then we can mutually discuss the possibility of future employment.¡± ¡°That sounds extremely reasonable Alfonso, please continue.¡± Alfonso went on to explain that under the Great Game people of similar mentalities, jobs, or just those who wanted the protection a group offered could form and join guilds. The Domestics Guild is a large group of domestic servants from several different worlds that have banded together to have a more normalized and stable wage and negotiating stance. They have domestics registered in all areas with several always willing to travel and move to a new place for the experience or various other reasons. Each person in the Domestics Guild has their credentials inspected and tested in the areas they would be hired in. This allows an employer to know that they are getting a well-trained domestic servant proficient in the needed area. The guild has 10 levels of domestic servants:
  1. Apprentice 1 silver per week
  2. Novice 2 silver per week
  3. Beginner 5 silver per week
  4. Junior 10 silver per week
  5. Intermediate 15 silver per week
  6. Senior 20 silver per week
  7. Advanced 40 silver per week
  8. Higher 1 gold per week
  9. Master 5 gold per week
  10. Expert 10 gold per week
The guild can provide up to 100 people immediately of all levels 1-5 and more limited numbers of levels 6-10 domestics in each of the common areas needed, Stewards, Maids, Cooks, Grounds Keepers, and Animal Husbandry. With a lead time of 1 month the guild feels confident they could supply up to 500 domestics of any area from levels 1-8. Master and Expert level domestics are much more difficult to come by and usually do not leave their positions without a major change in their living situations or a major change in the country or area they are living in. I immediately tell the Great Game to cancel the remaining two interviews and ask Alfonso to stay longer and negotiate a contract with me. He seems delighted that I make such an immediate decision to go with his guild. They are so well organized I realize that I cannot do any better than the Domestics Guild. The final piece he tells me is intriguing. The Domestics Guild will give a 5% discount on the services of all its members if the ruler of the area they are hired allows the Guild to open up a division of their guild headquarters in the kingdom or area. The next hour is spent on me describing my needs and Alfonso recommending numbers and levels to fill positions. I am getting a little overwhelmed with all the information provided to me so I decide to just cut through all of the talking. ¡°Alfonso, here is what I propose. Your guild will provide me a Master or Expert level domestic in the areas of stewards, maids, and cooks. I would also like an advanced or higher expert in grounds keeping and animal husbandry. These people will be given free reign to hire from within your guild the number of domestics they think are needed. All domestics will be hired at twice the going rate and the head of Stewards, Maids, and Cooks will be given a budget of 1,500 gold coins a month each to pay their subordinates. The head of grounds keepers will be given a budget of 1,000 gold coins a month and finally animal husbandry will be given a budget of 500 gold coins a month to pay their subordinates. We just do not have many animals currently. This could change in the future.¡± Alfonso just kind of stared at me. He finally registered that he needed to respond to my offer. ¡°That sounds perfectly reasonable my lord, and when will you need these domestics?¡± ¡°I would like the heads of each area to be sent to me by tonight or tomorrow morning and the rest of the domestics to be hired within 3 days. By the way I will allow the Domestics Guild to set up a branch in my kingdom, but I do ask that they give me 3-6 months to stabilize my kingdom before contacting other areas on this planet. No discount is needed or required.¡± ¡°I will immediately notify the guild of our successful negotiations and send your new heads of area by this evening.¡± Alfonso, then handed me a green gem and said he would contact me on the communication crystal as soon as the heads were available. I thanked him and sent him off while trying not to give anything away in my expression. Communication crystals? Dang it I missed another obvious use of magic and products of the Great Game. I spent my lunch break researching the crystals and costs. It seemed that individual crystals come in a variety of levels just like teleportation scrolls. Local communication crystals are fairly cheap, but as the range increases so does the price. Strangely enough once again one-time communication crystals across planets are only 1 gold with a limit of 100 per organization or 10 per person each year. 33 - Guarding the Kingdom Chapter 33: Guarding the Kingdom Next up is my scheduled interviews for the castle guards. I hope that there is also a guild for this which would speed up the entire process. Wait, why hope. HELP.
"Yes"
¡°Is there a registered guild for guards or mercenaries and are they on my list of interviews for the afternoon?¡±
"Yes"
¡°Please tell me the name of the guild in question and schedule them first.¡±
¡°The Guardsman Guild is already scheduled first.¡±
It seems that my good karma is finally kicking in. I won¡¯t cancel the others until I make sure of what the Guardsman Guild can provide, but if they are as well organized and as large as the Domestics Guild than I should have an easier time filling the positions I need. I feel a little better prepared for this round of negotiations now that I know the basics of guilds and have had a few questions answered by Alfonso. Exactly at 1 p.m. the area in front of my throne shimmered and what I can only describe as a grizzled gray bearded dwarf with tattoos and scars enough to make a biker blush teleported in. Hmm, quick mental note, find something to block teleportation except by authorized people in government buildings or I may never get a moments peace. The gentleman in front of me was somewhere around 4 ? feet to 5 feet tall and other than the tattoos looked like what I imagined every stereotypical dwarf to be like since I started reading fantasy books when I was a kid. He was extremely well muscled and extremely wide and seemed rather menacing while looking wise at the same time. Identify.
Name: Stefan Rockfist Race: Dvari
Level 62 - 76% Affinities: Earth - 92%
Oh my goodness, this guy could give me a run for my money. He is the highest level I have ever identified, besides myself, and he is only the negotiator. As I was processing my new arrival and his abilities he spoke. ¡°Greetings your majesty, my name is Stefan Rockfist and I represent the Guardsman Guild.¡± ¡°Welcome to my kingdom Stefan, as I am rather new at this please excuse any social miscues I might have as my planet has only recently joined the Great Game.¡± ¡°Understood sire, thank you for your courtesy.¡± ¡°Stefan, I am just going to let you know what I need. Please inform me if your guild can meet the requirements and what you in turn would need to fulfill this contract.¡± ¡°That sounds wonderful sire, I personally dislike long negotiations.¡± I explain to Stefan that I have just created a new kingdom and immediately need a loyal guard force of sufficient level to secure and maintain the local area and would also like to negotiate for guard forces in the other cities of my kingdom. I tell him of my idea of a group of 100-250 guards of at least level 20 that can hold their own for at least a year against all threats as the planet is assimilated into the Great Game. I would want them to be able to continue to train and increase their skills and levels during the contract. A robust and sturdy chain of command should already be in place. The palace guards would need to be a notch above the rest of the guards hired just as a precaution. Although the guard force in the cities would be larger the palace guard should be elite. Stefan let me know that this should not be a problem. The Guardsman Guild was more of an administration unit for mercenary forces both small and large. It helped regulate prices and kept both employers and employees honest in their contracts. He mentioned that just like the Domestics Guild a discount is given for kingdoms who allow the guild to set up a branch office within the kingdom. ¡°Your majesty I see three primary methods to fulfill what I believe is your wants and needs.¡±
  1. You could hire a large army for your kingdom and have the units or divisions split between the various cities and palace.
  2. You could hire individual units from either disbanded armies or surviving units from armies that did not fare well in their last campaign
  3. You can hire 3-4 smaller armies and then assign them specific areas of responsibility.
Stefan tried to highlight the positives and negatives of each choice to allow me to make a more informed decision.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Option 1 would be the fastest, but perhaps the least loyal. He said that this did not mean that they would actively try to overthrow their employer, but rather that they would look out for their group first and often would only follow the exact letter of a contract and not the spirit of a contract. Option 2 allowed for more diversity and specialties in a kingdoms army, but had major issues with who was in charge and who could boss around who. This option would save me money but also take much longer to implement. Option 3 was more flexible and could be tailored more to specific situations, but rivalry could still rear its head and cause problems. ¡°Stefan, does your guild have rankings and specialists?¡± I asked this as an idea started to form inside my brain. ¡°Yes Sire we do, the rankings of individual soldiers are a matter for each unit or army but certain milestones must be met to be considered for a rank up as a group in the guild. We have five levels of units for hire.¡±
  1. WarTribe: This group is led by a competent leader but overall numbers do not exceed more than 150 people.
  2. WarBand: This group is led by a trained and verified leader tested by the guild and has numbers greater than 100 but less than 500 people.
  3. WarCore: This group is led by a trained and verified leader tested by the guild and has numbers greater than 500 but less than 5,000 people.
  4. WarForce: This group is led by a trained and verified leader tested by the guild and has numbers greater than 5,000 but less than 25,000 people.
  5. WarHost: This group is led by a trained and verified leader tested by the guild and has numbers greater than 25,000 but less than 100,000 people.
¡°What about just a leadership group?¡± Stefan looked at me with a questioning look in his eye. ¡°I mean a group of tried and true professionals, possibly recently retired that could be put together as a leadership core for a nation¡¯s army made from several WarCores or WarForces. This would be a group that is well respected in the guild that the leaders of the individual Warcores or Warforces would recognize and defer to so I could have a more cohesive army and a centralized command structure.¡± Stefan¡¯s eyes got big as he considered the implications. ¡°This could allow for a much easier time deploying disparate forces sire.¡± ¡°That was my intention Stefan.¡± He told me that he would have to contact his superiors and get their take on this newer concept. He asked if he could use a space and converse with his guild immediately. I showed him to one of the empty rooms in the castle and asked him to contact me immediately once he had a decision from the guild. I then proceeded back to the throne room and decided to keep interviewing until I found out if the guild could do what I wanted. The next two interviews went well and I added the question of why they were not part of the Guardsmen Guild. Both leaders were upfront and honest in replying that their units were relatively new and did not have enough of a history or time together to be considered for membership in the guild, but were hoping to join after fulfilling my contract. I thanked them both and told them I would contact them with my decision soon. I heard Stefan politely knock on the throne room doors as my most recent interviewee left by teleportation. ¡°Sire I have talked with my guild and we are intrigued by your idea. If you are willing to be a test case for this new concept we would give an additional 10% discount for the first year of the contract so that we might evaluate it for the future. This would be on top of the discount you would receive if you allow a branch of the Guardsmen Guild to be established in your kingdom.¡± ¡°Stefan, does this mean that the guild currently has a group that they would consider to be able to fulfill my requirements?¡± ¡°Yes sire we do, several armies have disbanded in the last 2-3 years and a few of the more notable officers have not taken as well to retirement as they thought they would. After being contacted by the guild they would be willing to be the core leadership group of this test case.¡± ¡°Here is my offer than, Stefan. I wish to hire 4 WarForces and 1 WarBand along with the leadership group. The WarBand needs to be elite specialists that will be directly reporting to the leadership group and will provide palace security. Each of the WarForces will be given a section of the kingdom to defend including all the cities and villages located within the borders of their assigned area. How they do that I will leave up to the individual WarForce commanders. However, each WarForce must provide an officer and small token force of 5-10 individuals to stay in the capital and communicate with the new leadership group that will be based here. In the event of large scale war or needed maneuvers the new leadership team will be in overall command of all forces in my kingdom with my approval. I will pay 5 million gold pieces per year along with reasonable upkeep, housing, and food for each WarForce, and 2.5 million gold pieces per year for the Elite WarBand and new leadership team with the same upkeep, housing and food provisions.¡± Stefan agreed that the Guardsman Guild could readily find 4 Warforces and an Elite WarBand that would fit my criteria and payment offer. He would have the guild send the leadership team to the kingdom tomorrow and the officers of the 4 WarForces and 1 WarBand would arrive the next day. The complete transfer of forces would occur within three days upon receipt of the first year¡¯s salary. 34 - Scavengers Go! Chapter 34: Scavengers Go! After I finished negotiations with Stefan he teleported back to wherever the headquarters of the Guardsman Guild was. It was now time to check on the responses to my scavenger team offers. Out of the 50 offers sent out 26 groups responded with an agreement to the terms, 12 messaged to negotiate for more, and 12 never responded. I think I will just take the 26 groups and call it done. I need to come up with areas that I can send them. Major metropolitan areas that would keep them occupied the entire week they are hired for and also maximize my return on investment. Let¡¯s see 26 areas to scavenge from, and I should keep them out of the Appalachia Kingdom. That way my own guard force and citizens can loot the local places and a greater area can be covered. Major metropolitan hubs are an obvious choice. I should probably start on the west coast and work my way back to the Mississippi river. So let¡¯s go with San Diego, Los Angeles (2 teams), San Francisco, Portland OR, Seattle, Phoenix, Las Vegas (2 teams one for the casinos and one for everything else), Albuquerque, Denver, El Paso (2 teams one for each side of the border), Denver, Salt Lake, St. Louis, Kansas City, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Chicago, Boston, New York (2 teams), Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia. To save on teleport scrolls I think I will take all the groups to Asheville NC to explain and demonstrate what I want and likely places to find money. I know I already covered most of the area, but there should be enough left that I can demonstrate and keep costs down by buying the cheaper 100 mile teleportation scroll for training. I will have to travel with the Las Vegas Group personally to show the casino group where and how they need to go. They probably do not speak English so I need to put together samples of all U.S. denominations and common words to match, like Jewelry, Gold, and Bank. Wait there is almost no possibility of them speaking English. How on Earth did I communicate with Alfonso and Stefan then? I know I took the Universal Language Perk so any person who comes within my kingdom should speak a common language, but they should have had no idea that my kingdom had that ability. Why where they so confident that they would be understood when they first greeted me then? Help.
"Yes"
Are there items or scrolls that allow for translation of other languages?
"Yes"
I knew it, if the Great Game can give my kingdom a perk than there should be equivalent or better items or magic scrolls. I quickly scan through the Great Game store filtering for translation devices and buy a universal translating torc for my upper arm. It is more expensive than some others, but this item was one of the few that used the words universal translator and not just translation device. I bet many of those cheaper versions only translate the most common languages which is probably sufficient for most day to day people and activities that might need them. After my quick purchase I have the great game schedule the leaders of each of the 26 teams to arrive in 2 hours. That should give me enough time to freshen up, eat and prepare some quick materials for teaching how and where to scavenge. I almost did not make it back into the throne room in time to meet the scavenger team leaders. Alfonso was quicker than I expected and I had to give a quick tour and explain to my new Head Steward Jacob where the rooms and basic facilities were before I left with the scavenger teams. He was very understanding and was already starting to organize things as I left him in the main hall. Jacob also reminded me he needed a way to contact me and I purchased several world wide communication crystals, twenty-six of the 5,000 mile communication crystals for the heads of the scavenger parties, and on Jacob¡¯s recommendation 100 of the 50 mile or less communication crystals that guards and local domestics could use to contact their supervisors if needed. Jacob is going to hand the leaders of the Guard forces their own world wide communication crystals as they arrive in the castle. As I sit on the throne I notice the ripple effect of incoming teleportation portals. I really have to remember to find some sort of blocker against teleportation. People being able to warp in whenever they want, even into secure areas, is a problem no one should have. That means someone in the Great Game has discovered a way to block teleportation and make profit off of it. As the leaders teleport in I see more examples of game races than I expected. For the first couple of minutes while everyone was waiting for the entire group to arrive I started to Identify at least one person from each new race.
Name: Matthias Brokenbrook Race: Light Fae
Level 42 - 11% Affinities: Light 51% Nature 34%
Name: Smash Treebark Race: Trollkin
Level 23 ¨C 21% Affinities: Nature 10%
Name: Bartholomew Grinder Race: Gnome
Level 30 ¨C 17% Affinities: Earth 57%
Name: Angelica Riverton Race: Beastkin
Level 51 ¨C 32% Affinities: Fire 71% Air 26%
Name: Samuel Panthera Race: Weretiger
Level 38 ¨C 77% Affinities: Water 33% Nature 18%
However, this soon became overwhelming and I just kept count of the various groups that teleported in. There we go, 26 groups have now teleported in. Some commanders are by themselves, some brought the two subordinates I allowed, and there were several who were in between. I rose from my throne to address the group.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Greetings, my name is Mark Anderson and I am the ruler of the Appalachia Kingdom you have contracted with for the next week. In a few minutes we will be teleporting to a nearby town so I can show you a few things that will help maximize both of our profits for the following week. Our planet is currently undergoing the immersion into the Great Game. All but a few citizens are on their week long trials so they should not initially be in your way. They should arrive back on the planet in 5 days. For the last 2 days of your employment you may run into various groups of beings who are inhabitants of the planet. Please try to understand the confusion that they must be going through. You may defend yourself, however if I get word of any atrocities or unnecessary violence towards my people I will find a way to punish you.¡± It looks like my little speech has caught some of the groups off guard but several seem to hold me in higher esteem than before. Most seem indifferent so I guess it is time to get a move on. I arrange the various leaders into a circle and use a greater teleportation scroll to move us to Asheville. ¡°Each group will be responsible for scavenging local currency, precious metals, and gems from buildings in the area I will transport you to. The more you find, the more you make. There may not be any other people currently, however remember that there are still the newly arrived Great Game monsters. Even if they are low level and pose little threat, don¡¯t forget that quantity is a quality all of its own. Please be careful.¡± After my little explanation I took them into the bank nearest us and showed them examples of U.S. currency. I quickly explained the denominations and what they should look for to help maximize their profits. The Great Game itself will allocate the kingdoms portion from inventories and give the ten percent promised to the scavengers so there should be no shenanigans. I also show them large stores and what safes and cash registers look like so they can break them open and claim the money inside. The last two stops were a pawn shop and a jewelry store so each group would have an easier time recognizing and finding them in the future. ¡°That is all I wanted to show you to help you out. I will now randomly assign you a number. All this is for is to establish the order you will be teleporting back with your troops. The first group will teleport back in one local hour and each number will teleport in precisely 5 minutes later. I will give each of you a communication crystal, a picture of your destination, and a teleport scroll. Please do not be late.¡± With that being said I teleported back to my throne room and started to prepare the materials I needed to give each group. As each group teleported in over the next couple of hours they were sent off to the various cities I had previously thought of. The next to last group was asked to stand to one side. I told them that I had a special task for them and the last group. The leader of this group happened to be the Beastkin I had identified earlier before I stopped examining the new comers. Her name was Angelica Riverton and she was the commanding officer of Angel¡¯s Army. The last group teleported in. This was someone I had not identified earlier. Identify.
Name: Elrondico Race: High Human
Level 45 ¨C 97% Affinities: Earth 100% Water 14%
Interesting. I do not know what makes someone a High Human and I do not have time to find out now. I addressed the two groups quickly. ¡°I have two special tasks for your groups. One group will be raiding a special type of building in a city called Las Vegas which should be guaranteed for a higher payoff than the other teams. The second group will be raiding a town that has different currency than the ones I demonstrated earlier, but has potential to be the richest of the scavenging areas if hidden stashes are located. The Las Vegas team needs to get past several thick metal doors and I believe that with Elrondico¡¯s Earth Magic it might be more appropriate for his group. However, I will let the two leaders decide between themselves.¡± Angelica and Elrondico looked at each other and just nodded. Angelica spoke, ¡°Sire we have actually worked together before. Most of the independent groups have. Your suggestion to use Elrondico¡¯s group for the Las Vegas place is fine with us.¡± ¡°Very well, I will transport with them first and show them the special areas they need to pay attention too. The Angel¡¯s Army will please stay here for another hour as I show Elrondico¡¯s group what to do then I will come back and give you your instructions.¡± After transporting Elrondico¡¯s group to Vegas I showed him a casino and explained about breaking open slot machines, checking the cages for money, the counting rooms, and finding the vaults in every casino. Some vaults would be underground, some would just be hard to get to, but each one should pay off much bigger than just banks. I told him that after he cleaned out the major casinos on the strip and elsewhere if he had extra time then he could go after the other targets I had showed all of the teams. I left him and his group as they started to wreak havoc on the machines in Caesar¡¯s Palace. I motioned Angelica over as soon as I teleported into my throne room. Gather round we are going to a place called Juarez first. As we teleported into Juarez I arranged my thoughts and began instructing Angelica¡¯s team. ¡°First the towns that you will have access to are from a country formerly known as Mexico. The monetary unit is the Peso.¡± I led them to a local store and broke open the cash register. I showed them the different denominations. ¡°Many times you can find both the American money and this new money together in these border towns so take both. They have banks or Banco¡¯s just like what I showed you before and also jewelry stores. However, there is one new thing I want you to look for, drug stashes. I do not want the drugs which are bad for people and very addictive, but criminals make a lot of money and usually have a lot more cash on hand than normal people. There are stories of drug dens and dealers having millions on hand versus the small amount usually kept in local banks. Any time you come across an area that has excessive security, like guard stations, high walls, reinforced gates or doors, and especially video cameras check that building for large amounts of hidden money.¡± Angelica said, ¡°Sire I understand everything except for the video camera.¡± I quickly showed her an example of what I was talking about. I handed her a set of photos of Tijuana, Mexicali, Matamoras, and Nogales. I also told her to teleport to a new town each day to increase the chances of finding a big score. After the 5 days in five towns she needed to teleport back to Ciudad Juarez and just look for the regular banks and jewelry stores only. I warned her that when people started arriving back in 5 days her group would be in a town notorious for human violence so to be extra careful on interacting with locals. With this I have all my scavenger teams out and looking. It is time to start on my own world-wide trip. 35 - Stealing the World (Again) Chapter 35: Robbing the World (Again) For my personal trip I will be visiting several sites that I had previously, and I will finish cleaning them out. However, with no people and my ability to now teleport using scrolls I should be able to hit several different places world-wide in a very short amount of time. I can also travel to areas that I thought would be too crowded or difficult for my last trip. I will loot all the treasuries and vaults I can in 5 days. After that I will come back to my castle and start the purchase of everything. I should be back in my castle for the return of my friends and family. I can add things to my chosen cities over the next couple of days as the scavenge teams continue working while I try and set up my council and governing royalty. I have instructed my new head steward Jacob to inform me if there are any problems. My leadership team for my new mercenary guard force should be present along with the palace guards soon. Jacob will message me with a communication crystal as soon as they arrive so I can make it back and give them instructions. The next 12 hours are a blur of teleport, break into a vault, and loot. I was able to clear out the rest of Fort Knox, the Federal Reserve, both mints, the London gold and silver vaults, Great Britain¡¯s Crown jewels, the Antwerp Diamond exchange, and I was in the middle of the Netherlands Bank vault when I got the message from Jacob to come back and deal with the new guards. I quickly teleported back into my throne room and saw that it was filled up with a variety of people. I raised my voice, ¡°Welcome to Appalachia Kingdom. I am King Mark Anderson. Would the Leadership team and the Leaders of the Royal Guards stay behind. Everyone else please follow Head Steward Jacob to the courtyard and we will organize and have you in your bunks and with assignments as quickly as possible.¡± I watched carefully as my new royal guard was sorted out by what I can only assume are sergeants or their equivalent ranks. My father who was in the military always told me that those were the people to watch to learn how to get things done. In a much shorter time than I expected the throne room was cleared and I was left with 7 individuals facing me. Rather than guess I just asked them to introduce themselves and the role that they will play in the new kingdom. ¡°I am Randolph my lord and I will be the overall military leader of your combined forces. With me are my four trusted associates William, Horace, Sleejak, and Annabelle who will liaison and be nominally in charge of each region along with the commanders of the forces you have hired for your kingdom. We will decide who will match with each group as we get to know the area and units you have hired.¡± ¡°My King, I am Leticia and I am the commander of the WarBand that will become your royal guard. Next to me is my husband and second in command Kneefer.¡± ¡°Excellent, I know I will have the opportunity to get to know you each individually in the future and hope our time working together is fruitful. Now before we begin anything else I need to ask a question. I am new to the Great Game. While I am thinking of it I need to know if there is a way to block teleportation in a specific area for everyone or something that will allow only specified people into the area?¡± Randolph chuckled and said, ¡°I wondered why everyone was coming into the throne room of the kingdom. Yes, my lord there are several ways to limit or ban teleportation and other methods of travel within a given area. We can hire a teleportation magus to engrave restrictions or a more expensive but stronger method is to buy Limitation Stones from the Great Game store and have them installed and then recharged on a regular basis.¡± ¡°Other than instantaneous completion what is the benefit of using the Great Game Limitation Stones?¡± ¡°The stones cannot be overpowered by any being weaker than the planetary leader.¡± ¡°Alright, that just makes me even more confused, who or what is the planetary leader?¡± Randolph look surprised. ¡°I believe that you are the planetary leader my lord. The planetary leader is highest leveled person on a Great Game planet or their designee. They are confirmed or chosen every three years to represent their planet in the Great Game competition.¡± I was getting more and more nervous the more I heard from Randolph. ¡°I have never even heard of the Great Game competition. Wouldn¡¯t I have been notified if I was this planetary leader?¡± Randolph paused and then a look of inspiration came across his face. ¡°I believe I understand my lord that you were a survivor of the Beta Trials correct?¡± ¡°That is correct, how did you know?¡± ¡°While extremely rare it is not unheard of for a being to pass the Great Game Beta Trial. They are usually the highest leveled being on a planet and have an advantage that is difficult for others to catch up to. Since you are here and not going through the tutorial I just naturally assumed you were one of these people.¡±This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Well you assumed correctly, how does this change what you said about the planetary leader?¡± ¡°It does not change anything sire, you will still be the planetary leader barring a miracle from someone during the tutorial. The Great Game has yet to notify you because the official integration of a planet is at the end of the tutorial. In fact, this explains a lot. The tutorial covers many aspects of Great Game life you seem to be struggling with.¡± The conversation continued on from there and covered a large amount details that ¡°everyone¡± in the Great Game just seems to know. I was personally left without this information due to my unusual circumstance of finishing the beta trial and not attending the tutorial. This planetary leader thing I am just going to put off until I have to deal with it. I have too much on my plate right now to even consider it. I am trying the best I can, but the horrible part is I know I am making mistakes. Resource allocation, leadership, time management, all of these areas need improvement. However, I can only catch so many things on my own. I want to get some reliable people in some key areas so I can shift a lot of the burden of ¡°ruling¡± onto them and try and focus on just one or two things myself. Trying to accomplish everything on my own is causing errors and mistakes in planning and execution. None of the mistakes are purposeful, but any mistake when dealing with a situation this important can lead to drastic and terrible consequences. I finally got my new military leadership squared away and bunked down for the night with several new rules and assignments they needed to do.
  1. Never assume that I know something, please bring it up and if I already know I can move us along.
  2. Make a list of everything you have seen, heard of, or know of that would make this kingdom better, safer, and a place you would want to live with your family or clan.
  3. Division of labor. The leadership of the 4 WarForces would be arriving tomorrow and would need assignments. The leadership team will study the maps and pictures that I have and use teleport scrolls I provide to survey the kingdoms area the best they can in the limited amount of time we have to place each division in the area they could do the most good.
  4. Communication, any time sensitive information needs to be brought to my attention. I will purchase the ¡°Great Game Cities¡± and amenities I can afford as each War Force is taken to their area. This will mean my scavenger teams will have a slightly longer time to accumulate wealth for the kingdom¡¯s treasury.
  5. I let my military leadership know that I was looking for more advisors to help out. Any recommendations would be welcome. Let¡¯s face it, they have met more people than me throughout their careers and have seen good and bad kingdoms and rulers. I will still approve major changes or new advisor roles, but they are experienced and hired for a reason.
I have to get back to resource gathering and quickly. I will teleport in to meet each new War force leader and find out where they are going and hear any quick suggestions on placement of new city walls, barracks, granaries and such for defensive purposes. I will then purchase the main base/city from the Great Game and have the local WarForces spread out and acquire resources like my scavenging teams. The final day before the return of the tutorial people will be a large meeting to decide the final allocation of cities and outposts and what amenities the treasury will allow. I realize that many of the people coming back from the tutorial are not going to want to be part of my kingdom or will refuse to recognize my right to rule. I am still trying to figure out what to do with them. I want to protect as many people as possible, but I cannot and will not have insurrection. That would jeopardize the safety and security of too many. Listen to me. I am sounding more and more like some sort of despotic ruler who will not allow any dissension. I need to be careful and not abuse my privilege of early entry and high level, I don¡¯t want to deal with the consequences and fall out. In fact, if I can just make it through the transition period I hope to rid myself completely of this whole thing. Let other people figure out the rules and regulations. I don¡¯t want the responsibility. Once safety has been guaranteed as much as possible I can start relaxing some rules and passing on some authority to others so I have less stress and worries. This whole situation keeps getting more complicated the more I learn. Three days have passed since my leadership team has arrived and it is now almost time to teleport back for the meeting. I have done extremely well on my resource gathering trip and my leadership team and hired royal army have done even better. I should have tried to hire professionals from the beginning. This collection of military people from across the Great Game have taken to the challenge of setting up my new kingdom amazingly well. Each evening I get a status report and a few brief questions. That¡¯s it, they take care of the rest. I even teleported into a couple of areas after two days for a surprise and covert look and was amazed at the efficiency and dedication these groups showed. I have exceeded my target goals thanks to the great jobs of the scavenging teams and the new Appalachia Army. I should be able to afford the sewer and teleportation upgrades to the survival ¡°cities¡± I am creating through the Great Game. I have also decided that any person who does not wish to stay inside my kingdom will be given 1 month to exit. They can leave on foot or with a free trip through the teleport array. To be able to accommodate them I will set up a teleport array in Washington D.C. even though I am not claiming the area. It is going to cost me extra money, but should pay for itself in peace of mind and hopefully future trade. I realize that there is going to be resistance and hard feelings from many areas. However, I cannot picture a single scenario where the existing government will be viable after returning. Over 80% of the current U.S. leadership is of an age that passing the Great Game trials is going to be problematic at the least. The succession for the President will probably be almost impossible to secure. First someone would have to find and locate everyone in the succession without the use of the technology that we have come to rely on. Next they would have to be able to convince others that this person was the new president and that they should follow orders. Finally, they would have to find some way to get this news out to everyone while trying to protect people and feed them without the weapons and transportation they are used too. Not going to happen. 36 - The Strangest Meeting (I screwed up) Chapter 36: The Strangest Meeting (I Screwed Up) I have had Jacob set up the banquet hall for the meeting. I have requested the entire leadership team, the heads of my stewards and domestics, Edward, and the head of each WarForce and two of their aides to attend. We were going to finalize the city list, Great Game amenities, and anything else needed for purchase. I feel really confident in what I have done so far. The original sum of gold was exceeded, I still have the scavengers for two more days, and for once I feel I might just slightly be ahead of the curve. As the meeting started I could tell that something was wrong. My advisors were pointedly looking at each other and seemed to be reluctant to talk to me. This had to stop. ¡°Alright everyone, something is obviously wrong. First off you need to know that you will never be punished for pointing out flaws or bringing up unwelcome news.¡± Randolph looked at everyone than looked at me. ¡°Sire you have been more than fair with us so far, so I will take a chance. The plan we are discussing needs to change drastically. It is just not feasible to protect and hold such a large area as you want with the resources we have to start with.¡± I was confused. I thought that with the extra money my scavenger teams had picked up my plan would be easier to accomplish. I must have missed something. ¡°Continue Randolph. What is troubling you about the plan.¡± ¡°We are just not able to effectively patrol and control the area with what we are starting with. Give us 2-3 years and we could possibly hold that much land. Realistically for the size of the kingdom we would need 5-10 years of stable growth.¡± ¡°Alright Randolph, can you be more specific. What exactly is the problem and is there any way to fix it quickly.¡± Randoph grimaced, ¡°We have been going over the maps you have provided and the plan for the major cities and satellite cities as you call them. We all think that this is a very noble and even possible framework for expansion for the future. However, the manpower is just not there. I think you severely underestimate the reaction of both your American people and the trouble we will have supporting the numbers you expect. Frankly the kingdom could go bankrupt just in feeding the numbers you are projecting. If you add in defense, development, and travel the situation becomes untenable.¡± I slumped back into my chair. They were right. I had gotten so caught up in being a ¡°savior¡± to the greatest amount of people possible I ignored the fact that it was going to be unsustainable in the long run. This means that the plans are going to have to change and quickly. I realized that my advisors must have at least a suggestion to fix this problem. ¡°OK, I realize that you are right. The plan as originally stated is not going to work. So what do you recommend and how do we get it accomplished in the least amount of time possible.¡± The relief on the faces of everyone present was amazing. They must have really been worried that I would react badly. ¡°Well sire, we believe that a modified version of your original plan is the easiest and best way to proceed. We would continue to follow your plan just with less cities to start with and will use it to expand as the kingdom has the resources and manpower.¡± As the meeting went on the ideas flew fast and furious. We ended up with a new framework.
  1. My capital would remain but be upgraded extensively.
  2. There would be Five major cities established North, South, East and West and Islands. If there was an appropriate city near a water source to support it that is where the new city would be established. No major city should be more than 250-300 miles from the capital except the islands group.
  3. We would only establish 15 satellite cities. They would be the larger cities between the capital and the major cities.
  4. Each city would be self-contained and able to survive a siege or provide help to those in need nearby. The major cities will be designed to hold 500,000 and the satellite cities 150,000.
  5. Hidden Valley Village will be brought into the capital when it is redone.
  6. I need to find or hire more advisors over a variety of topics within one week to keep progress moving.
  7. I need to hire another WarForce for the Islands Group specializing in sailing.
  8. The following guilds will be invited to set up in the kingdom as they provide both a short term and long term benefit. Stewards Guild, Domestics Guild, Guardsman¡¯s Guild, Adventurer¡¯s Guild, Apothecary Guild, Mages Guild, Merchant¡¯s Guild, Explorer¡¯s Guild, and Sailor¡¯s Guild.
This should let me concentrate more on the people in the kingdom. More people will be left out but this will allow me to spend the resources more wisely and give my new subjects a greater chance of survival. The islands group was included because my advisors stated that many exotic materials and resources would be found only on islands on the Great Game worlds.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. My original plan was for 42 Hub and Satellite cities. The new plan only has 20. With a reduction of half of the planned area I have designated Cuba and the islands for the Great Game to acquire using my mana next and have already seized enough land for the new plan in the United States. In the future the kingdom will grow in the most logical direction based on reports at that time. The WarForces I have seem relieved that they will have a reduced area to control and patrol. Each WarForce will be responsible for one hub city and 3 satellite cities. With the expanded resources I can have the teleportation network installed, along with greater housing and extended supplies and protected crop land. With the incoming guilds and support they will provide the Appalachia Kingdom should be in much better shape. Each city will be equipped with a teleportation portal 5 meters high and 5 meters wide. They can be dialed to a receiving platform that will be separate from the portal and will allow us to set up defensive measures surrounding the receiving platform. Each city will receive Great Game Teleportation blockers, with the receiving platform being the only place allowed for teleporting entry. Each Hub City will encompass 10 square miles and each satellite city shall be 5 square miles. My capital will be 15 square miles in the hopes that it will grow in the future. All of the changes and upgrades will still leave the kingdom with over 100 million gold pieces in the treasury for emergencies and other expenses that might come up. The rest of my evening was spent purchasing the decided upon cities in the locations scouted out. My Western Hub City will be based around Huntsville Alabama and will have satellite cities in Nashville, Chattanooga, and Birmingham. The Northern Hub City will be based around Charleston West Virginia and will have satellite cities in Knoxville, Huntington, and Roanoke. The Eastern Hub City will be based around Raleigh North Carolina and will have satellite cities in Winston-Salem, Charlotte, and Charleston SC. The Southern Hub City will be based around Savannah Georgia and will have satellite cities in Atlanta, Columbus, and Jacksonville. Finally the Island Hub City will be based around Havana Cuba and will have a satellite cities in Nassau, Kingston, and Camague. Spoiler: Spoiler The Red Stars are the Hub Cities and the Yellow circles are the Satellite cities. Each Green Circle represents the area that each WarForce is responsible for. The Purple Circle is the area the Capital is responsible for. The overlap is just that, where patrols or responsibilities can be shared. There was supposed to be two images here of the US cities selected and the Island Cities. I can not figure out the upload protocols yet. Please PM me if you know how to do this. I will insert them as soon as I figure it out. I also interviewed and hired a Sea Based WarForce based on the recommendations of my other commanders. They are a little more expensive but I am told well worth the price. They will be arriving over the next three days with their fleet. The teleportation costs for that was expensive but letting them have their own ships that they are used to should be an advantage in the long run. This group known as the Kraken Force will patrol the coasts of my kingdom in all areas until each area can raise or build their own sea going protection force. One more day until tutorial arrival. I am starting to get very nervous. I know that I have done what I can, but I also know that it is not perfect. Questions like what to do with people who do not accept my rule, or what to do with the hordes of children who were put in stasis who are going to arrive keep running through my mind. Wait, what was that last thought. The stasis kids. Crap, I forgot all about them. I quickly call Jacob and Randolph and have them meet me in my office. ¡°Jacob, Randolph, I just realized that we have forgotten to take into consideration the children that are in stasis.¡± They looked at each other, and then faced me. Jacob replied, ¡°What children my lord?¡± Oh no, I never mentioned the kids and neither of them have actually lived through a change over. They only have stories to go on. They did not realize what was going to happen. I explained about how all children under the age of 12 were put into stasis and the Great Game said that they would be returned to the closest surviving relative or the closest group of adults if there were no close relatives. My two advisors eyes got really big. ¡°Jacob, I need to know if I can temporarily hire some domestics to help take care of the influx of orphans. I imagine that the orphans will become wards of the kingdom and until I can figure out something better I am thinking large orphanages with temporary domestics to take care of them for about six months.¡± ¡°Sire there should be no problem finding enough people if it is only for six months.¡± ¡°I think that we should start stabilizing long before the six months and can start transitioning the orphans into some sort of training programs or something. Please contact your guild and get a price for 2,100 domestics for a temporary six month contract. We will place 100 domestics in each city. Randolph I need you to quickly identify the best place to add 10 barracks like structures in each city that will have maximum protection. Each barracks will hold 250-500 children dependent on age. I hope that this will be enough.¡± ¡°Yes my lord I will arrange this immediately.¡± Both of them left my office at a much faster pace than they entered. What else have I forgotten? There is just so much to remember and to try and do. I guess everything else will just have to be dealt with as it comes up. The tutorial group should arrive tomorrow. 37 - The Return Chapter 37: The Return This was it the day of the tutorial peoples return. My entire staff was on high alert throughout the kingdom. I have purchased everything I could think of to help and even managed to hire the domestics and build the orphanages at the last moment. Everyone has instructions on how to deal with the returnees. Be gentle and use words and explanations whenever possible, however do Not back down or put yourself into danger. Offer help and shelter when you can. This will only build trust and help people out. Collect stories and tales of what happened and forward any that seem pertinent. Flag anyone you think might work well for civilian leadership roles based on their classes and how they interact with others. Only time will tell the story of how much I have missed. I have been thinking hard about my role in the kingdom. Yes, I will be the figure head of the new kingdom. People need someone to both rally around and to blame. However, I am doubting more and more my daily role in the running of the kingdom. I am just not trained or cut out for this. The stress and worry are making me lose sleep and no matter what I do I feel like I should be doing more. I need to pass this off to professionals. I can still help out if needed, but ruling just does not seem to be my thing. I mean I have not even been able to take care of my new pets. With all that has been going on my new baby dragons have been stuck in stasis this entire time. I have been afraid for them and afraid that I might lose, mismanage, or just do something wrong with them. Even when I was raising my daughter I had lots of help from friends and family. My being in charge of this whole thing started out small. I just wanted to help my family and few friends. Somehow this whole thing has snowballed out of my control and I am supposed to be responsible for thousands if not millions of new citizens in a kingdom that did not even exist a month ago. As it got closer to noon, I got more and more nervous. Did my family survive? How did my friends and worker fare? Will they accept and help with what I am trying to accomplish? Will they panic and flee? Should I worry about assassins and somebody overthrowing my new government? I just keep getting more and more crazy as I wait. What is that? Finally I see the tell tale shimmer of incoming teleports. I was a little worried that people might be teleported outside the castle now that I have the teleport blocks up, but it seems that the Great Game is putting everyone back from the place they teleported from. I see my daughter, she survived! There is mom, my sister and her husband, my nephew and niece, but where is my brother and his wife? Where is my dad? I look around and realize that there are a lot of people missing. The courtyard was practically full when people first teleported to the tutorial. Now it looks like more than 75% of the people have not returned. This is horrible. I expected that several people would not make it and tried to harden my feelings and emotions against the losses there would be, but I never expected this many people to fail the tutorial. No more people are teleporting in and it seems that the reality of the missing persons is starting to settle in. Several people are starting to tear up and I am one of them. I need to meet the family. After a tearful reunion and some rushed tales of the happenings in the tutorial a Great Game screen appeared.
¡°Welcome back tutorial survivors. You have successfully completed the tutorial to participate in the Great Game. Your individual rewards and experience will now be calculated.¡±
I could see several people staring off into space. That must be what I look like when I am studying my status screen. While they were examining their status screens I received a new message from the Great Game.
¡°As the ruler of the new Appalachia Kingdom you need to designate your citizenship policy. You may select from the choices below or enter a custom choice.
  1. All current Great Game players within 50 miles of your territory are automatically granted citizenship.
  2. All current Great Game players within 50 miles of your territory are given the choice to become citizens, those that choose not to become citizens will be expelled from your territory after 24 hours.
  3. All current Great Game players within 50 miles of your territory must apply for citizenship within 1 week or be expelled from your territory.
Please note that this is a one time choice and hereafter all Great Game player beings that are born in your territory will automatically become citizens and those from outside your territory will have to apply for citizenship.¡± I think I will go with option 2. I do not want to force people to join my kingdom which is what option 1 seems to do and I would rather not give people 1 week to plot against me. Also I have no infrastructure in place to review or accept citizenship applications currently. I select option 2 and get another announcement from the Great Game.
¡°Great Game players if you are seeing this notice you are currently residing inside the newly established Appalachia Kingdom. King Mark Anderson has given you 24 hours to decide on whether you would like to remain and become a citizen of his kingdom or be transported elsewhere. You may contact the Great Game interface anytime during this 24 hours and select your choice.¡±
Before I can even register that this has just gone out to everyone within 50 miles of my new kingdom the Great Game adds on another notification.
¡°Each new planet is awarded a 1 year immunity from Great Game competition. After this time your Planetary Leader must participate in the Great Game competition. Your planetary leader ¡°Mark Anderson¡± may now select one world perk from the world list as a welcome gift from the Great Game. As the third highest level entrant ever to enter the Great Game system your planetary leader will be granted an additional 2 planetary perks and the right to bypass the first level of Great Game competition in his first year of representing your planet of Earth in the Great Game competition.¡±
The entire group in the courtyard slowly turned towards me. My daughter looked at me with accusing eyes and said, ¡°Daddy is the Great Game talking about you? Are you the king and this planetary leader, and why do you have horns?¡±Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. I had no choice but to answer. There would be no dodging these question. ¡°Yes honey, I am the king of the Appalachia Kingdom and the highest leveled person from Earth so I have been designated the Planetary Leader. As for my horns I had a race change through the Great Game to King of Elemental Dragons.¡± ¡°What does that mean exactly?¡± ¡°I am not sure exactly what it means sweetie, this is pretty new to me also.¡± ¡°Well what is your level and what happens if someone passes it before the competition?¡± ¡°My current level is 65 with several unique titles, and I think that if someone passes my level in the future they will earn the designation of Planetary Leader.¡± I could see jaws drop as I mentioned my level. I forgot that they would be much lower leveled than me and were probably mystified on how I could have possibly gotten to my current level. ¡°Listen I will explain everything as best I can in the future, but first we need to get everybody situated and taken care of.¡± My new staff was quickly introduced and I managed to deflect any more questions and get everybody into a room to rest and recuperate. I promised a meeting in the morning to update everyone as best I could. This has been a stressful day but I need to check in with my military leaders in the other cities. I contacted every city one by one through the communication crystals and asked them to bring the top three candidates they had for civilian positions to a meeting to be held tomorrow at lunch. Hopefully there would be some people I could recognize or test and I could alleviate some of my responsibilities and start building my council. Now I need to look at those world perks the Great Game mentioned. Please list the available Great Game World perks.
¡°As planetary leader you may select three perks from the following list.
  1. Universal Language (Single Use Only)
  2. One Year Increased Experience
  3. Increased Crafting Knowledge (Single Use Only)
  4. One Year Increased population fertility
  5. One year Increased food/fields fertility
  6. One year immunity from invasion tickets
  7. One world invasion ticket
  8. Tier 2 Level Cap (Single Use Only)
  9. Part 1 of 5 World Teleportation Network
  10. One year Increased Mana and Health regeneration for natives
  11. One year Increased resource regeneration
  12. Increased Magic Knowledge (Single Use Only)
  13. One world connection for World Teleportation Network
  14. One world Resurrection Point for World Natives
  15. One year protection from natural and monster related disasters
My night passed fitfully as I tried to plan in my mind for as many scenarios as possible that might occur tomorrow. I knew that it would be a rough day, but I was also optimistic that it could be the start of something new and better. Only time will tell. The next morning over breakfast, I spent the time catching up with my family and hearing about their experiences during the tutorial. I deflected most of the questions about me with the line that I only wanted to tell people once and soon we would have a meeting with everyone at the castle. I also brought out my new baby dragons and let them get used to the family. Around 10 a.m. I followed everyone into the largest courtyard where my guards had gathered everyone to hear me speak. ¡°Good morning everyone, I have a short speech to give then I will take some questions. Please remember that you need to make a decision about staying or leaving within the next 12-14 hours.¡± I regaled the people with my tale of the beta test and how I had luckily passed it. I mentioned how I tried to prepare a safe place for as many people as I could, but was restricted by the Great Game in what I could say before the change over. I let them know that since I found out that the Great Game did not seem to recognize group or democratic rule that I decided to found a kingdom to help keep my family and friends safe. I also let them know that I had built 21 cities and shelters to help as many people as possible. I had staffed them with guards who were experienced with the Great Game system and provided enough supplies to last people 6 months or more dependent on the population. I ended with this,¡± I realize that many of you are thinking about leaving and trying to find friends, family and others that you might help. However, I want you to think about this. The survival rate in just our group here in the castle was a little lower than 50% even though I was able to give you a quick warning and supplied some weapons that hopefully helped you out. The survival rate outside of the castle is probably lower. I may be the king of a new kingdom but I will be as hands off as possible and utilize a council of experts to help guide and make what is ours safe and secure for yourselves and your family. Please do not misunderstand me though, I will do whatever I feel is necessary to protect my family, my kingdom and my new subjects to the best of my ability. The world has changed and we must change with it. You and the people around you find yourselves in a unique and safe situation. I will force no one to stay in my kingdom, but know that if you leave now you risk yourself and may have a very hard time of ever making it back to the safety and security that you are now enjoying.¡± I then fielded several questions and gave the best answers I could. No, I would not disband the kingdom in the future, but I may hand control over to the Council that I hope to establish. Yes, I look different, I went through a race change via a bloodline dungeon where I became king of the elemental dragons and acquired my new friends. When my little dragons flew out I saw several eyes light up with admiration and a couple with greed. I would have to keep a close eye on my little ones until they are large enough to protect themselves. Yes, the Great Game did name me the Planetary Leader due to my high level. My current level is 65 with several unique titles. No, I do not know what is expected of the Planetary Leader or what the Great Game competition is about but I would inform people as I found out. There were several other questions but these were the big ones that kept being asked over and over in different ways. I excused myself after some time and told everyone to think carefully about their upcoming decision. I then retreated to my throne room and signaled for Rudolph, Edward, and Jacob to join me. ¡°Gentleman, soon we will have several incoming groups of people from the cities with hopefully some candidates that might be able to help with organizing the council and helping to fill in various positions in the government. I found a truth gem in the Great Game store and would like to ask if there is any way that people can get around the aura of truth the description said is emitted.¡± Jacob spoke up, ¡°As far as I know sire as long as a person is of a lower level than the one controlling the gem than you will know if they are speaking the truth.¡± Randolph added, ¡°Someone can still lie by omission or just not speak of something, I have also heard that higher levels in the rogue classification can also use an ability to confuse detectors such as the truth gem. However, in this situation with people of a much lower level and most probably classless there should be no problem.¡± 38 - The New Government Chapter 38: The New Government ¡°Wonderful gentleman, my next question involves the setup of my kingdom. Does my basic plan of ministers comprising a ruling council still seem workable to you?¡± ¡°Yes sire, however we do think that you should consider hiring a professional for the positions of Minister of Magic and Minister of Dungeons at least until your people start to understand more about the Great Game.¡± ¡°Very Well, if I understand correctly Edward is my Minister of Education, I should hire a professional Mage and Explorer for Ministers of Magic and Dungeons which leaves 4 positions open to natives. Defense, Law, Trade and Transportation, and Health and Wellness. This should allow people from Earth to feel that they are not being overwhelmed by new arrivals. Randolph, I envision the Minister of Defense as more of a position for a professional quartermaster. Someone who can allocate funds, plan logistics, and keep the behind the scenes working. They will not be in charge of tactics or division of troops, that will still be your realm of command. You just need to work with them for pay and appropriations. If they start trying to command or lord it over you, please speak with me directly and I will set them straight.¡± Randolph looked relieved. The rest of the impromptu meeting was putting together the following adverts for hiring a minister of magic and a minister of dungeons.
Wanted: Long Term Minister of Magic Minimum Level 50, Any Gender, Race, or Bloodline Welcome Minimum Length of Contract 5 years with resettlement rights granted at the end of the initial contract. Contract will be extended in five year increments until 20 years or until one party declines renewal. Minister must be able to oversee all aspects of magic education, rules and enforcement for a new Great Game kingdom Salary and Terms Negotiable Based on Experience
Wanted: Long Term Minister of Dungeons Minimum Level 50, Any Gender, Race, or Bloodline Welcome Minimum Length of Contract 5 years with resettlement rights granted at the end of the initial contract. Contract will be extended in five year increments until 20 years or until one party declines renewal. Minister must be able to oversee all aspects of dungeon and adventurer development, rules and enforcement for a new Great Game kingdom Salary and Terms Negotiable Based on Experience
If I can fill these positions and the other minister positions in the next few days my kingdom should be in much better shape. I quickly send the adverts into the Great Game and will interview and hire soon. My lunch meeting with the leaders of each city guard and the possible candidates for the other minister positions should be here soon. I ask Jacob to get the smaller banquet hall prepped for the upcoming lunch meeting. 20 Hub and Satellite cities and their guard leadership plus 3 people each is almost enough to overwhelm the smaller banquet hall. As everyone finds their place I stand up and wait until everyone quiets down. ¡°Hello, many of you already know me and some I am meeting for the first time. My name is Mark Anderson and I am the king of Appalachia Kingdom. I know that this is something new to those who were previous residents of Earth. I was the sole survivor of the Great Game beta trials, however due to constraints placed upon me I was unable to prepare the general population for the change over. Instead I prepared myself and supplies to the best of my ability for those who would return from the tutorial. I understand that some of you question my leadership role as king as you have never experienced this type of government before. This meeting is to help alleviate some of your concerns as you have been noted by my guards as leaders in your local area. I will also be interviewing some of you for council positions that need to be filled in my new government. If you choose to be part of the new kingdom, then I encourage you to sign up to be interviewed for a government position in an area where you have experience to help out.¡± After my opening speech I fielded questions all throughout the working lunch meeting. Most dealt with standard things now such as what were the rules of the new kingdom, why I chose to be king, what gave me the right to be king, how big is the kingdom, what are you doing now and in the future to help people, and my favorite is there another option for government or what if the US government disagrees with what you have done? The final question I knew was coming and I was ready for it. ¡°I chose to create the Kingdom of Appalachia and become a king only after much thought and consideration. I have analyzed and used the help section of the Great Game for almost a year and realized a few important things. Number one, an existing government of elected people is not recognized by the Great Game as having any authority and ownership. This means that they cannot access some of the Great Game functions such as building and protection that I have as king. These functions are what allowed me to hire guards, build sanctuaries and provide shelter and food for you and your friends and family. I originally intended to just create a small kingdom that would only deal locally, but after much deliberation I decided to make it as large as feasible with my resources to help as many people as possible. Please understand that I could have built what essentially would be an impenetrable fortress kingdom and just ignored the rest of the world, but chose to help others instead. Finally, I considered the response of the US government and came to this conclusion. How will I know that the government agent or persons contacting me after such a world-wide upheaval will actually be the people they are saying they are. The majority of our elected leaders are elderly statesmen that have a very low probability of survival for the Great Game tutorial. I do not know if the president is alive, the vice-president, or any others in the line of succession. I do know that even if they are they would not have the resources to help out like I do. I do not agree with what the Great Game has done, but we have to live the consequences. The reality is the Great Game rewards and encourages centralized rule. I am trying to be fair by setting up a council of ministers and others that will run the day to day operations of a kingdom but ultimately I have to be in charge in order to get the perks that are necessary to help myself, my family, and my friends survive.¡± I could see that this speech alleviated some of the looks I had been getting from various people. After a long lunch I started interviewing those that wished to help out. By the end of the day I had my choices for the initial 4 Earth ministers for the kingdom. While interviewing for the positions I had the candidates under the influence of the gem of truth. With the huge level gap between us I was easily able to notice when there answers varied from the truth. This allowed me to dismiss several candidates that looked good for their mistruths in answering. In the end I hired on a 3 month temporary basis the following people to be on the Ministers council.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Fred Jones a former major in the National Guard would be my new Minister of Defense. He completed Level two of the tutorial and has had the necessary experience as a quartermaster in the military to work well with my new kingdoms guards. Alan Regrisso was an immigrant who used to live in Charleston SC who had put himself through law school and was a circuit court judge. He would be my new Minister of Law. I felt that with his history with both the US court system and the judicial system of his former country he might be more flexible in helping set up and implement new laws for a new world. Stephanie Landers was a unique individual. The best way I can describe here is as a former trucker and survivalist. She was intimately familiar with transportation and the area all over the East Coast from her trucking experience and with her survivalist tendencies would have a good grasp on what was necessary now. Luxuries could wait until survival was secured. She would be my Minister of Trade and Transportation. Finally, I chose my Minister of Health and Wellness from Havana Cuba, Lucinda Gutierrez. She was a practicing general doctor and had worked under some impressive restrictions. I felt she would have the flexibility to help design a new health care system in my new kingdom. Defense, Law, Trade and Transportation, and Health and Wellness, and Education Minister positions were now filled. Starting tomorrow I would interview for the positions of Minister of Magic and Minister of Dungeons. The initial reports out of the sanctuaries that I had built were peoples grief and acceptance of something outside of their control. No real challenges to authority were made and most cities cited large influxes of people from outside the sanctuary. Luckily there were only a few reports of human on human violence and even fewer reports of monster attacks, but there were some. The orphans that were in stasis were teleported in front of the headquarters of the guard units in every city. From what the care takers could gather from the children they remember nothing about being gone for a week and most just want their parents. This is one task I am selfishly glad I do not have to deal with personally. It must be heartrending to have to tell the children that their parents are not able to come back. I will make a personal visit later and try and boost morale, but I believe I would serve no good purpose at this time interrupting what must be a tough transition for these kids. 24 hours has passed and the guards report very few people not selecting to become citizens. Those that knew they were not going to stay vanished in a teleportation haze and I have no idea where they were transported. Now that citizenship and most of my council is in place I need to select my perks as Planetary Leader. Out of the 15 perks that were listed several have peaked my interest and the list as a whole has solidified some of my ideas about what the Great Game competition is actually about. From what I can tell the Great Game competition pits various Great Game worlds against each other in a bid to find the strongest or best competitor. Why it does this I have no idea. However, if my guess is correct worlds can invade and rule over others (the invasion and immunity perks). Since we get those for free this time I need to focus on other things that could only help us become stronger. The three perks I think will do Earth the most good in both the short term and long term are #1 Universal Language, #2 One Year Increased Experience, and #8 Tier 2 Level Cap. The universal language should break down any communication barriers for the entire world allowing us to hopefully in the future pull together and work as one people. The one year increased experience will benefit everyone on the Earth and allow them to reach a higher level more quickly allowing them to improve and provide for their own safety and well being. Last the Tier 2 level Cap. I must be getting pretty close to the level cap, which I bet is 100, and the ability to exceed that as a new Planetary Leader I think will be a great advantage in the next competition. I earned the perk of having no limits, but no one else has it so I need to get this perk to make sure the world can keep progressing smoothly. Some people will think that I am being selfish for not choosing the protection from natural and monster related disasters or the world resurrection point, but I have some pretty good reasons to avoid those at first. If we never experience monsters or other disasters how are we to grow and get the experience we need to survive in the future. I will admit the resurrection point for world natives was tempting, but a couple of things held me back from selecting it.
  1. It could cause carelessness.
  2. It could be camped by a group that would then dominate anyone who needed to resurrect.
  3. The other choices will help everyone improve better quicker.
I have the suspicion but no one can verify it that when I participate in the Great Game competition I will be competing for more World Level Perks. That is the only thing that makes sense as it has various things like part 1 of 5 for world teleportation grid. This implies that there is a way to earn world level perks in the future. Either by conquering other worlds (the invasion perks) or by getting it as a reward. This realization to me means that I need to quickly shift my focus from management of my kingdom to becoming as strong as possible as quick as possible. I need to be able to do well in the next Great Game competition in order to earn as many of these world level perks as I can. This should keep the Earth protected for longer and allow for our growth so the Earth can start protecting itself. I assume after reaching a certain point in level development that the attractiveness of invasion starts to fade for other worlds and societies. The next day flew by as I helped to end disputes and set up more infrastructure as needed. I also managed somehow to interview and select my final two ministers for the ruling council. After only 3 interviews I was able to easily select my Minister of Magic. A level 55 mage of the Vampire Noble heritage named Baron Grefantle. This was his actual name and not his noble rank. This name made me want to indulge my inner third grade child and instantly make him a baron in nobility. Then everyone would have to call him Baron Baron. I was able to resist but it is something to giggle about in the future. I did clear up many misconceptions that we had on Earth about Vampires without I hope being offensive. First they can exist in sunlight (no they do not sparkle) but they suffer a penalty to their strength. They are less focused and are about as strong as a level 1 human. At night they get a bonus to their strength and mental acuity. They are able to see in low light and can consume blood for a quick boost to abilities but it does not last long. They also have the racial ability to sense living things within a certain range. This range extends as they get older and stronger. My Minister of Dungeons was the first person of Draconian Heritage that I have seen since changing my bloodline. She looked ¡°normal¡± or at least what I would have considered normal before the Great Game except for a faint shimmer of green and white coloration on her bare arms. Her name was Anna Cloudkin and she identified as a mix between and Earth and Sky dragon. At level 60 she explained that she was still young for someone with draconic heritage and needed to find a place to set down roots to help her grow. I learned that as time and power levels increase the abilities we receive from our draconic heritage increase. Also the stronger a bloodline is the more features of the original creature/monster are displayed. For instance, the horns on my head indicated a very powerful bloodline for my lower level. Anna had a vast experience with dungeons and leveling through the Adventurer¡¯s guild and will make a great Minister of Dungeons. However, her knowledge on draconic bloodlines was what cinched her the spot for the Minister position. The most interesting thing I learned from the brief time of questioning her was that when I passed ¡°Level 100¡± and rose into the second tier I would gain a partial transformation ability and would be able to fly. This was something to look forward to and also explained the Tier 2 level cap. I am glad I selected this option as my growth would stagnate without it. 39 - Free At Last Chapter 39: Free at Last It took a month but the kingdom is finally starting to run itself without my personal interference or need to oversee minor things. In this last month we have had several refugees come in from the surrounding areas. This has actually helped stabilize the kingdom. After I granted them citizenship after a waiting period the stories they told of how hard it was to survive on their own really got rid of any dissension among the populace. There are still several of what I would call ¡°entitled¡± people who demand that I should be doing more. However, the number is not large. It seems like the Great Game tutorial weeded out most of what I would consider useless people. The children in the orphanages are starting to adjust. My family and friends are more accepting of the new reality and discovering and working in new areas to help out the kingdom. The Guard forces have even started recruiting. My military leadership group tells me that we should be able to expand the kingdom to help more people after about 6 more months. Each guard recruiting group needs about 3 months of training and with two classes of new guards we should have enough guards to add 2 new satellite cities to each of the Hub areas for a total of 12 new cities that could help people. The guards are training in dungeons and are also looting and delivering as much of the local areas money for conversion as possible before the winter solstice when that revenue stream will end. The Explorer¡¯s guild has discovered several mines that can be exploited in the kingdom. The kingdom either buys the location from the explorer or lets the person discovering the mine develop it. The Minister of Trade and Transportation intends to give those that develop the mines a tax cut for the first year to encourage development. If they discover and develop a mine on their own, then the developers retain ownership and only have to pay the tax. I hope this will develop into a solid revenue stream until we can start developing trade with either the Great Game or with other developed areas. We have heard reports of other enclaves outside of our kingdom. However, they sound more like bandit kingdom¡¯s where might makes right and there are no guaranteed freedoms. There were a few independent operators that tried to move in to the kingdom and establish a camp but they were either absorbed into the kingdom if they had good intentions or were dealt with severely if they were bandits. I am going to have to deal with these other ¡°kingdoms¡± soon and either install a leader that is at least half way decent or just absorb them into the kingdom. My forces are practically unbeatable at the moment. Their levels are higher than the average person of Earth and are very organized. So if we need to deal with places that are going to cause problems it needs to be before they are able to build up their own forces. However, the most important thing to happen after this month is that I have been ¡°given permission¡± by the council to take a week to explore and dungeon dive. There are no looming problems and I can work on my skills and level. I have been told to my relief that dungeons will never be more than twice the level cap of a planet except for bloodline dungeons. Speaking of which, many of my guards have gone through the local bloodline dungeon and picked up some useful but lower level bloodlines to help them out. Not many try for more exotic bloodlines like I did because of the high death rate. It seems that it is rare to have a bloodline dungeon and even rarer for people to be given access to it without an exorbitant fee. I have decided that as long as a person is employed by the kingdom there will be no fee to use dungeons, but there will be a tax on the goods they bring out. The bloodline dungeon itself will be reserved for the guards of the kingdom and those that have earned a special reward from me or the council. My own daughter is going to try for a bloodline once she hits level 25. Why does she get to try? It is good to be king, a little nepotism as long as it does no harm does not seem so bad. I have also decided to hold off on the royalty program until at least 6 months have passed. I want people to have contributed and know that they have earned a position of responsibility. I am keeping track with the help of the Ministers people of potential that I can slot into leadership roles in the future. Enough of this, I need to get out of here and try a few dungeons that have been discovered. My 1 week trip needs to be packed as full as I can make it to make full use of the time. Who knows when I will be able to have another break. The first day will be two level 25 dungeons to get back into the groove of things and also to help level up my baby dragons. Day two and three will be a Level 50 Goblin/Orc dungeon discovered near Atlanta, day four and five will be a level 50 dungeon discovered down in Cuba. The only thing known about that one is that it is water themed. And finally if enough time is available and I feel confident, I just received a report about a level 100 dungeon discovered down south near the Hub City of Jacksonville FL. I have not told anyone about my idea to do that one. My guards and Ministers tend to get a little nervous if I put myself in danger. Fun and adventure here I come. I use the new city teleport system to access the satellite city of Chattanooga TN and check in with the guard force. After the pleasantries are taken care of I get directions to the local Level 25 dungeon. I chose this dungeon because it is based on everyone¡¯s favorite monster the slime. Slimes are actually quite difficult to harm without magical damage. Luckily as a quadelementalist I have magic to spare. This is also to train and help level my lovely little dragons. They should easily be able to overwhelm slimes with their breath attacks even if the slimes are higher level. A quick 20 minute jog later I see the entrance right where the directions said I would. Let¡¯s be honest I am still thrilled that I can jog for 20 minutes after my body changes. Plus, my jog today is probably 2-3 times faster than an Olympic athletes pace, I love having these stats. The entrance to the dungeon looks like a natural cave and the dungeon should only have three levels in it. I wonder how fast I can clear this one. This is the first dungeon for my dragons so I should take it slow at first. If they do well we can try and clear it several times for more experience. The explorers report stated that there are some basic traps, mostly consisting of pit falls filled with slimes, and just a variety of slimes to deal with. I pull out a nice size 8 foot spear to use and have my 4 companions prepare. I will have little Elvira the Air Dragon on my left and Sir Bruce the Fire Dragon on my right, with Esmerelda the Earth dragon and Azure the Water dragon following behind us. We will rotate this formation as we run into different types of slimes and as my little guys and gals get tired. I decided to go with the spear because it will allow me tap ahead for traps and also allow me penetration into a slimes body without risk of getting close to their dissolving acids. The spear is made of high quality steel and has been reinforced with magic runes for durability and acid resistance.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. As my little party enters into the slime dungeon I use my elemental magic to create a small fireball above my head. Just enough to create a low level light. My eyesight and those of my dragons is powerful enough in low light conditions to see normally in this low light situation. I do not want a bright light that would attract more attention just in case something else has moved into the dungeon or in case something has changed. With as many strange things that have happened to me I am trying to be prepared in the best way possible. In the low light I can see the first target. It looks like a standard green slime. From the information I got green slimes are only acidic and have no special abilities of weaknesses. They are resistant to physical damage like most slimes and are weak to the element of fire. If you do not have magic than the ¡°approved¡± method of dealing with a green slime is to pierce it enough that it can no longer maintain its shape and then destroy the core or just destroy or damage the core directly. Hopefully, this should be an easy first kill. I signal to Bruce and try to demonstrate by pantomime what I want him to do. He peers at me with a look that resembled the exasperated look my daughter used to give me during her early teenage years. The one that somehow conveys exasperation and disbelief that you are related or with this person. Bruce walks up to the slime and exhales a wonderfully pinpoint flame right at the slime. In fact, it almost looks like a stream of fire from a military flamethrower more than the fantasy cone of fire I expected. The slime recoils and a very unpleasant smell starts to permeate the air. Wow cooked slime smells worse than burning hair, who knew? I tell Bruce to finish the job and rather than shoot it with another stream of fire Bruce jumps on the quivering slime and claws it open until he cracks a darker spot which must be the core. Once the core is cracked there is no more movement from the slime. I quickly check Bruce to make sure that the parts of the slime that did get on him when he clawed it were not going to eat through his scales. He appears to be fine. It looks like this level of slimes acid is not strong enough to eat through baby dragon scales. That is good news and provides a little more safety for my little crew of slime killers. I rotate Bruce to the back and move Azure up to the front. Next up will be Elvira for a single slime kill. I will kill anything greater than 1 until I have rotated the whole crew a couple of times just to be safe and make sure they will not get overwhelmed. This idea works out well and in the next 15-20 minutes we have killed a total of 9 more slimes. Everyone has had at least 2 personal kills. Esmerelda is up for her turn of single slime kill time when Bruce seems to lose his patience. There are three different slimes in front. I am about to attack two and separate them so Esmerelda can get her third individual kill when Bruce inhales deeply and breathes out what can only be described as a flame wall that bisects all three slimes. He and Esmerelda than jump at the three slimes and begin to tear them to shreds. Alright I can take a hint. Maybe I am being a little too cautious with this. I just wanted my new babies to be safe. I make the announcements that each dragon needs to pair up with a partner to be safe and as long as they stay in sound range they can explore on their own. However, I try and make it very clear that if they run into something unusual or different they are to come back and get me first. They can still try and kill what they find, but I want to be present on new monsters both for safety and so I can learn what everything does and looks like. For the next two hours all I did was follow the youngsters around and clean up after them. I picked up the coins and other loot that dropped and threw it in my inventory. I would distribute it to my little dragons when we got home and I arranged a better place to make into their lair. Currently they are still small enough that they have just been staying in large cushioned dog beds in my room at the castle. However, with possessions of their own and what I hope will be a large growth spurt during this trip that will no longer be a very good idea. After my little dragons two hour rampage we were outside what was supposed to be the final cavern in this dungeon. Inside was supposed to be a giant slime as the end boss of the dungeon. Dungeons and Dragons enthusiasts would probably classify it as a Gelatinous Cube. Thinking about this for a second, I wondered how did role playing games get so many of the creatures and monsters correct. They may be called by a different name or look slightly different, but there is an amazing correlation between what has happened with the change over and D & D. I wonder if it was some subtle Great Game thing to help prepare us as a planet. Although I have rarely if ever seen the Great Game do subtle. Oh well, enough wool gathering time to end this dungeon. I tell my dragons what to expect. I realize that they might not understand the exact words I am saying, but they seem to recognize my general thoughts and interpret my hand gestures just fine. If what I have learned about them is correct eventually they will level up enough that they will gain true sentience. Thus if I practice and teach them early then I should see better results with my little ones later. I decide that all of us should enter this last cave together and try and finish off the boss quickly. We can then decide to either leave and repeat the dungeon or to move on to the next. As we enter the cavern I can see a very large mass of shiny orange slime against the far wall. In between my group and the giant slime are a variety of smaller slimes that my dragons have already dealt with throughout the dungeon exploration. I signal to the dragon group that they should take care of the small slimes while I watch and hold off the large one until they are ready to deal with it together. With great abandon 4 different breath weapons start to shoot out. Azure¡¯s water jet is the most precise of the group, after which is Baron¡¯s flamethrower strike. Now I was not really impressed with Azure¡¯s water jet until I realized it was just like those videos I used to watch about how a strong jet of water can cut through steel. This jet of water is just like that. It rips through slimes and even leaves gouges in the rock when he is this small. I can hardly wait until he grows up to see how powerful it gets. The ladies of the group have equally powerful breath weapons, but they are more designed as area of effect weapons and are not as precise as my boys. Esmerelda the Earth dragon releases what looks like a sandstorm. In reality after I checked it carefully it is very small but sharp crystals that shred anything it touches. I imagine when she grows up either this breath weapon will get larger crystals or the crystals themselves will get stronger and faster. Either way it should be physically devastating to anything that might be in the path of it. Elvira my little air queen actually shoots out lightning bolts. Well actually it is a mass of what looks like static electricity at this point, but I assume it will become a full fledged lightning bolt eventually. All I do know is that it stuns and partially cooks whatever is inside of its range. As per their normal method of fighting each little dragon releases a single breath and then follows it up with physical attacks from their claws. I assume that if it was something that tasted or smelled better they would also bite, but with slimes I have not seen them bite once. As this is going on I am keeping an eye on the big slime, but for some reason it is staying put against the far wall. This is not the behavior I expected or that was reported. Something is definitely different, my weird luck seems to be kicking in. Whether it is good or bad luck I guess we will soon find out. 40 - Training Montage (My Dumb Luck) Chapter 40: Training Montage (My Dumb Luck) Soon all of the little slimes had been dealt with. My little ones came back to my side and we all stared at the giant slime. Why was it just staying in one place? I signal everyone to stay back as I take a pistol crossbow out of my inventory. I do not want them to get caught in the coming explosion. I load an explosive rune enchanted bolt into the pistol crossbow. Why a pistol crossbow and not something larger and more damaging? Mainly I was worried about the strange behavior, I am afraid that something unique and damaging might occur when this slime is finally attacked, so I want to use something smaller that still causes significant damage. Also a gun in this instance might ricochet unpredictably and injure one of us. I lined up my shot at the darker part of the slime. If I get enough penetration, I might actually one shot kill this and crack its core with the minor explosion this bolt should cause. I fired the pistol crossbow and the arrow sunk into the orange slime only about six inches before making a small explosion. Slime spread out from the impact area and left a rather large dimple in the mass of the giant slime. However, the slime other than jiggling from the mini explosion did not move. Hmmm, is it sick? I had everyone take another few steps back and put my pistol crossbow away. I took a full size hunting crossbow out and loaded it with the same type of explosion bolt, only this one should be 3 times stronger due to its larger size. I aimed for the same spot I hit earlier and fired the crossbow. This time the bolt embedded itself completely into the giant slime, probably about 2-3 feet and the resulting explosion was many times greater, but the exact same thing happened. A spray of slime and instead of a dimple on the surface there was a large crater that showed an exposed slime core. Now I was getting a little nervous. A giant slime who was not acting right, with an exposed slime core it was not trying to defend. What the heck was going on? I carefully loaded another bolt into the crossbow but did not immediately fire it. I increased the number of fire orbs above my head by four and sent them out to float around the room. I wanted to inspect this room carefully before I did something else that might trigger a bad event. After 5 minutes of patiently examining by eye and magic the entire room I finally turned my attention back to the giant slime which still had not moved. I had found nothing out of the ordinary, and that made me even more nervous. I had the little ones move out of the cavern of the giant slime and went back to the entrance myself. I was going to take as many precautions as I could and still be able to finish this dungeon. I raised a small stone wall with my Earth magic and knelt behind it and finally took aim at the same spot I had hit two times previously. With the giant slimes core basically exposed as long as I was close to it with this shot the resulting explosion from the crossbow bolt should destroy the core. I fired the crossbow and hit the giant slime right next to its core. As fast as I could I ducked down and waited. I heard the explosion and then nothing. I carefully raised my head above the barrier and looked at where the slime used to be. The entire slime had collapsed and spread out onto the floor. Ok that looked normal for a defeated slime. I then noticed that the giant slime had actually wedged itself into what looked like an alcove of the cave wall. The alcove was covered in shiny orange slime that suspiciously was not dripping at all. Something was screwy with that area. It should be dripping slime like everywhere else that was hit with the exploding goo, but it looked like the slime was actually frozen to the wall. Interesting, frozen to the wall, I picked up a rock and threw it at the mass of slime still attached to the alcove walls and watched it strike the slime and freeze into place. It must be a trap. The giant slime must have activated a magic trap and was stuck to the wall the entire time I was shooting at it. What was the trap guarding though? I called back my dragon crew and told them to avoid the area with the trap. I first cleaned up the area and collected the loot drops from the slimes. I opened a small chest on one of the walls and found a minor magically engraved dagger and some semiprecious gems. Pretty standard loot for a smaller dungeon. Then I contemplated the frozen slime wall. Obviously there is something behind this trapped wall, but what is it and do I want to mess with it? Of course I do, who am I kidding, this is just what I need to spice up the trip and relieve some tension. How am I going to do this though and not get caught by the same effect that doomed the slime? From my experimentation I know that if it is a magic symbol causing the trap effect all I had to do was disrupt or destroy the magic symbol to break the effect. So if I plant some magic explosion devices next to the affected area they should overpower the effect if they are strong enough and break the magic symbol. I use my earth magic to carve a line from five feet away on the wall until it starts to stop. That stopping point is where the effect starts. Now all I need to do is create a hole in the rock with my earth magic, place one of my explosion symbol spheres inside of it, charge it to the maximum, and now retreat. From behind the barrier I created earlier and with my dragons once again safely out of the way I go ahead and take the MA 12 rifle out of my inventory and carefully aim at the hole containing the magic grenade. I gently squeeze the trigger and the resulting explosion is much larger than I thought. The entire dungeon around me is shaking. I hear a noise above me and look up just in time to see a chunk of rock falling towards me and then blackness. Some time later I come too with all four dragons looking a little worried and licking my face. Man my head hurts. What is up with my luck? I find an amazing and undiscovered location in a dungeon and finally remember to take safety precautions and I still ended up unconscious. I just think that me and explosions are enemies. Oh well, time to see what I uncovered. After downing a quick restorative potion, I look into the cave chamber where the alcove was and saw a lot of rubble and what looked to be a hole in the wall that led further down. I may have overdone the explosion again, but better too much than not enough in a time of crisis. I approach the new hole in the wall with my dragons surrounding me and send a small fire orb down the hole so I can see what is there. The fire orb can travel about 25 meters from me until it sputters out and it goes the entire distance before fading. That is a much deeper hole than I was expecting. It is relatively steep but should pose no problem to me. I carefully start down the new passage with my group and after about 100 meters I could see a large metallic grate blocking the way with a sign of some sort next to it. I cautiously approach just close enough to read the sign in the dim light.
¡°Welcome Great Game Player!¡±
"You have discovered a limited instance dungeon. If you choose to enter please take note that all teleportation, communication, and other distance magic to contact or leave the dungeon will cease to function until the dungeon is complete.¡±
Interesting, Help.
¡°Yes.¡±
¡°Can you explain what a limited instance dungeon is?¡±
¡°Yes I can.¡±
Stupid literal game screens. ¡°Help, please explain what a limited instance dungeon is.¡±
¡°A limited instance dungeon is a mobile dungeon that is hidden within another dungeon. Only one group may enter and the dungeon will only remain in place until it is conquered and the one who beat it leaves. At that time it will move and attach itself to another dungeon somewhere in the world.¡±
¡°Help, how powerful is a limited instance dungeon and what level is recommended to conquer it?¡±Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
¡°Each dungeon is unique and the level needed would depend on several factors, however all instance dungeons range from 2-4 times the level of the dungeon they are attached to.¡±
Alright, that means since the slime dungeon was recorded as a level 25 dungeon, this instance dungeon should be level 50 ¨C 100. Since I was going to try a level 100 dungeon towards the end of my trip anyway I might as well start one early. I am going to be smart about this though. I will go back outside the slime dungeon and collect the achievements and rewards for both myself and my little dragons and have a good rest before reentering and attempting this instance dungeon. That sounds like a great plan. A good 12 hours later after a nice night of camping out I checked my little companions.
Name: Elvira Race: Elemental Air Dragon
Level: 21 14% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson
Name: Esmerelda Race: Elemental Earth Dragon
Level: 20 77% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson
Name: Azure Race: Elemental Water Dragon
Level: 20 83% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson
Name: Sir Bruce Shadow Flaming Ember of Doom Race: Elemental Fire Dragon
Level: 23 33% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson
As I expected. Each of my little ones has gained quite a bit from just a single dungeon run. They also appear to be about a meter longer this morning versus yesterday. I also notice that my impression of Bruce being a little bit of an experience hog is true. I noticed yesterday that he liked to jump in the other dragons fights which is why he probably out leveled his sisters and brother. I did not reach the next level myself but did pick up a chunk of experience towards the next level. Well, all of us should increase with the limited instance dungeon. I contacted Jacob and told him to let everyone know that I planned on staying at the slime dungeon for at least another day and then headed back inside to where we found the new dungeon. After clearing out the slimes on the way, I had forgotten that they would respawn, we came to the giant slimes cavern. I looked at my companions and told them to be careful because the giant slime would be mobile today and we needed to defeat it before we entered the new dungeon. As we entered we saw a similar situation as to what we experienced yesterday with the distinct difference of a bright orange, very large, bouncing slime. I quickly decided that until we knew what it could do it would be my opponent. I told the dragons to work on killing all of the surrounding small slimes while I attacked the large one. My four dragonlings each immediately jumped onto the nearest slime and started ripping it apart while preparing a breath weapon to use on other slimes that were closing in on them. The large slime started moving forward into attack range. I can¡¯t let that big bully hurt my little ones. Took out one shotgun from my inventory and checked quickly that it was loaded with the right ammunition. Slugs with fire enchantments. I then lined up a shot and pulled both triggers. With an underwhelming whoosh, air powered guns just don¡¯t sound right compared to old explosion/black powder weapons the two slugs lodged deep within the large orange slime and started to release their heat. This was basically trying to cook it from the inside. The slime stopped its movement forward and exuded an arm and then left it on the ground. It actually was smart enough to send the slugs outside of its body so it would not hurt as much. Well I definitely have its attention now. It is not even acknowledging that their might be other organisms in the room. It started rolling quite fast in my direction immediately crushing 2 out of the dozens of slimes already in place. I quickly reload the shotgun with electric damage buckshot for this round and let it have two more barrels almost at point blank range. That blew a large chunk of its body. That has got to hurt. The giant slime seems partially paralyzed now due to the electric charge on the buckshot. Time to get out the fire damage spear. I do not want to get to close to a large slime. It would be bad for my reputation and It could possibly just roll over me trapping me underneath its weight. While the large slime is distracted by pain I glance around and take stock of how my little dragons are doing. They are just ripping through everything. I guess I am the slow one in this family, time to step it up a notch. I jump forward and thrust towards the darker spot in the slime, aiming directly for the core. With my strength and magic the result was anticlimactic. I did not pierce the core, I still need to work on my aim a bit with the spear, but as soon as I pierced the slimes outer covering I channeled my mana through the spear and activated the fire rune in the spear. The giant slime was cooked completely destroying it and rendering it into ashes almost instantaneously. There is a reason for levels and the disparity between them is difficult to overcome for non-sentient monsters. Thinking about sentience, I redouble my determination to practice more with my hand to hand weapons. I have discovered that the majority of early success with my projectile weapons was based on surprise and non-sentience. The more sentient monsters and other people if they become enemies I have learned through my military council tend to have defenses against projectiles. The spell and magic rune to protect yourself from projectiles is ridiculously simple once you learn it. This means that projectile weapons are generally only good for distractions, surprise damage, and against non-sentient monsters. It seems that my success in the bloodlines dungeon was about 75% luck and the rest was a combination of surprise against the dragons and the use of multiple types of elemental damage which reduces their protections. Usually the monsters that I killed like the Lich, Witch Doctor, Dragons, and others have protections up once they know something is in the area. I got lucky in surprising them and damaging them before they activated their protections. I was a little bit humbled when I discovered this. It seems that my current level and situation is due more to dumb luck than skill. This does not mean that projectile weapons such as my air guns and bows are useless, just that they usually only do damage from surprise or after overwhelming a defense. My military commanders say that they are also essential as a distraction. If you are concentrating on protecting yourself from projectiles you are less likely to notice other things on the battlefield. When I first learned this it explained so much to me. I always wondered why if there was magic available people used what we on Earth would consider ¡°primitive¡± weapons. It turns out, that protecting from up close slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning damage is much more difficult than protection from projectiles. No one really understands why the difficulty exists and they usually just chalk it up to the Great Game wants it that way. Now that I know that I cannot rely on what I thought was my overwhelming advantage in firepower, but in reality was my surprise and trap making ability, I resolved to improve my skills. My little ones finished cleaning up the rest of the slimes and I took the time to loot and check the area. The chest was closed again and yielded a set of bracers of minor deflection and some more semi-precious gems. Now that the ¡°original¡± dungeon is complete it is time to start my adventure into the limited instance dungeon. As I enter the alcove that I discovered yesterday with my dragonlings I received a Great Game message.
¡°Welcome to the limited instance dungeon Arachnid Warrens. All teleportation and communication magic has been disabled until you conquer the dungeon. The Arachnid Warrens are a level 100 limited instance dungeon. Remember that you have committed to finishing this dungeon by entering and will not be able to leave until it is complete.¡±
Wait I did no such thing. I did not make that commitment. It was never mentioned in the help yesterday that I would not be able to leave until it was conquered. Not to mention Arachnid Warrens, I hate spiders, I have changed my mind. When I turn around to leave I notice that the exit is now non-existent and only a smooth wall remains. Yep, my luck is functioning quite well. I find something extraordinary, get a little greedy and then have to suffer for it. At least this time I am not alone and have my little guys with me. Although I will have to be careful on what they fight until they level up a bit more. The Great Game message did say that this was a level 100 limited instance dungeon. 41 - Spiders, Spiders, Everywhere Chapter 41: Spiders, Spiders, Everywhere Alright what can I do to help make this safer for both me and my dragons. First off I need to make sure I do not get swarmed. I have seen too many horror movies where the valiant defenders are overcome by numbers. So I need a place that we can defend against large wave attacks. I also need someplace safe to retreat too and actually sleep in case this takes more than a single day. Alright construction time it is. I use my earth magic to reshape the tunnel into a funnel about 25 meters in. At the entrance I create a room that will easily be able to be blocked off as a last retreat and a few 1 meter high walls at the narrow end of the funnel for us to hide behind and fight from behind them if necessary. My idea is to continue on alone and kite back a manageable number of monsters and have my little ones fight and level up until I feel they are at a level they can keep safe with me. My dragons do not have to be at an extremely high level because they can work together and that should act as a multiplier to both their damage and the level they need to stay safe. Now that construction is complete I talk to the dragons and get them to understand that they need to stay here and attack whatever comes running after me when I return. Or at least I think I got them to understand it. Off I go into the creepy, dark, spider infested caverns of doom. Get a grip Mark, you are strong enough to deal with anything. I once again make a fireball and have it float over my head. This time though I increase its output. It is more for my own morale than a light source, I also feel I am less likely to have creepy spiders jump at my head if there is a burning ball of fire above it. I really am not liking this dungeon and I have not even met the spiders yet. Up ahead I notice a glow from a light source that is a different color than my fire light. As much as I hate it I command my fireball to remain in place while I sneak forward to get a look. As I approach closer to the light source I realize that the tunnel is overlooking a cavern. In front of me I see an amazing sight. A veritable forest of mushrooms, many of which are glowing surrounded by insects and other animals. It is like a rainforest of mushrooms. The only thing from keeping this awesome sight as one of the top things I have ever seen in my life is the fact that the majority of moving things in sight are spiders. There are webs everywhere and it seems other than the insects of all sizes that I can see scurrying about, the rest of the ecosystem has been taken over by spiders. I see large ones that seem to be grazing in herds like deer, small ones that are acting like normal spiders catching insects, some that seem to be hunting in packs both the large spiders and other animals. It is if some twisted individual said I wonder what would happen if I created a world just for spiders? Would they evolve to fill every niche? In this case the answer was yes. As a former science teacher I can appreciate the beauty and grandeur of what I see before me. As a person with minor arachnophobia what my brain is screaming is burn them, burn them all. I am unnoticed at this point because I am in a tunnel that is overlooking this vast cave. The cave itself must be close to a kilometer long and several hundred meters wide. All around the edges I see tunnel entrances like the one I am looking down on it from. Great this is why it is named Arachnid Warrens. This must be a small underground world where spiders fulfill all possible roles in an ecosystem. And with all of the tunnel choices I bet it would be easy to get lost. There are only a few things keeping me from hurling as much fire magic as possible into the scene below me. First is the fact that I do not even know if mushrooms are flammable, it might be pointless to try and burn this place out. Second, is the fact that I might kill myself from smoke inhalation since I am in a closed underground area. Finally, I am not sure I could survive a swarm of spiders from a cavern this large if I pissed them all off at the same time. Ok, time to retreat a little and come up with a plan. As I move back into the tunnel from which I entered I felt a small sense of relief. It wasn¡¯t as overwhelming if I was not directly looking at it. I know that sounds silly, but it is true. Intellectually I knew that the cave full of spiders was still there, but without the visual I am able to calm down enough to start formulating a plan. The basic set up still has not changed. I need to draw some of the spiders into this tunnel and then eliminate them. The key here is to not draw to many. I can line the entire tunnel with traps so If I think I am about to get overwhelmed we can retreat to our hideout at the beginning of the tunnel. This sounds like the start of a workable plan. As I start back towards where I left my dragonlings I start breaking off pieces of the tunnel wall with my earth magic in about 30 cm in diameter sections. Each piece is about the size of a dinner plate. I then use magic to engrave them with explosion and pressure magic. I am basically creating the magic equivalent of landmines. The only difference is that I will place them on all surfaces as I expect that some spiders will not travel just on the ground but crawl on the walls and ceiling also. I am not trying to kill them with the explosion, as a boom that big might destabilize the tunnel. I have been blown up enough. Rather I am trying to get them to turn into shrapnel that will pierce whatever crosses them. I should wound at a minimum several at once with wounds adding up over time hopefully killing them. I reach my ¡°hideout¡± and signal the dragons to follow me. I gesture and explain to them that they need to avoid the circles that I have placed all over the tunnel. They seem to understand or at least they don¡¯t set any off. Whatever works. We reach the opening of the tunnel that leads into the large cavern and I use my Earth magic to create another set of defense bulwarks. Basically simple stone ridges to hide behind and protect us from distance attacks and being overwhelmed. Time to get this party started. Why do I always choose and say such lame lines out loud? Even my dragons are looking at me like I am weird. Oh well, it is too late to change things now.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I pull my ridiculously large sniper rifle out of my inventory and start to set up a shooters nest. I hope that I can take down a large portion of what comes at us before they even get to our tunnel. I also set up a mortar for more area damage to my right. All the different ammunition goes on my left. My first clip will be a mix of explosion, fire, ice, and lightning enchantments. I will carefully watch the results of the fire projectiles too make sure I am not going to start a giant mushroom forest fire which would smoke even us out. The mortar shells are just hardened rock with an explosion rune on top. This turns them into large scale grenades that go further than I can throw. Actually with my stats I can probably throw grenades just as far now and maybe with greater accuracy. I may have to try that in the future. With everything set up I give the area one more inspection. Preparation prevents piss poor performance as my pappy used to say. I give my dragonlings their instructions which basically boil down to stay put until they get within 10 feet than go nuts. Retreat on my signal, remember to watch out for the magic landmines I laid down. I look through the scope of my magic sniper rifle and pick one of the very large deer like spiders as the first target. I slowly squeeze the trigger. With a muffled whump, using air elemental spells to create this thing means I do not need a silencer, I send my first projectile down range. My favorite part about this magic weapon is that it runs on Magic. This means there is no exploding gunpowder or primer that give it a kick back. In fact, if there wasn¡¯t a muffled whump it would be hard to tell that it even fired. If I remember right this should be an exploding bullet. Yep there it is. I blew off a single leg from one of the larger spiders. It is clearly hurt and also seems to have no idea what attacked it. This is perfect, a couple more like that and I should be able to start whittling down the largest of the arachnids. Hold on something is happening around it. It looks like the surrounding spiders either smell the blood loss from the one I shot or somehow sense that something is wrong with it, because I see them starting to surround the wounded one and it does not look pretty. There it is, they actually turned cannibal and attacked one of their own when it was in a bad position. This could work to my advantage. Over the next hour I slowly whittle away at the two larger sized types of arachnids. No matter what happens, whenever one is wounded the other arachnids would turn it and finish it off. However, after an hour there are fewer and fewer targets and those that are present are slowing down. They must be full from the buffet I have given them. I think that the numbers are low enough at least with the larger arachnids that my team of dragons and I can attack a little more closely and speed things up. I signal for the dragonlings to stay here and get ready and I cautiously enter into the cavern. I make sure that I am ready, MA 12 rifle out, sniper rifle put away, shotgun slung, and hammer on hip. Ok, I can do this, I lift the rifle and start shooting at one of the last groups of larger arachnids while walking closer. After 3 more spiders go down I am finally spotted and assessed as either a threat or as food because they start moving in my direction. Mission accomplished, now I need to retreat safely and not wet myself from fear as I see very large spiders running towards me. I continue to pepper the oncoming horde with the MA 12 and walk backwards probably faster than I should. My nerves are starting to get to me. When the first spider gets within 25 meters of me, I say screw it and turn around and run back to the prepared defenses. As soon as I arrive I turn back around see that I have gained a few meters on them due to my stats, but they are still coming. I reload quickly and start shooting once again. Let the killing time begin. For about 5 minutes there is no change. Spiders run towards us, I shoot MA 12, dragons shoot breath weapons, spiders die, and life is good. After that initial few minutes I start to notice that although we are holding the spiders back they are getting closer and closer to our fixed positions. I need to call for a retreat soon. When the first spider gets within 10 meters of our position I yell for the dragons to retreat. There are no arguments and I can see them turn to leave in the corner of my eye. I quickly grab 2 magic fire grenades from my inventory and send them towards the oncoming arachnids. I then turn and sprint as fast as I can, dodging the many magic landmines I set, back to the hideout I created. I can hear the grenades cook off, then there is silence except for the horrible sound of skittering legs on stone, then random landmines that are triggered start to go off. The sound seems to be getting farther and farther behind me. Don¡¯t look Mark, just focus and keep running. I have seen too many horror movies, as soon as I look back something will be there and I will die. Stay strong and keep running. There it is, the hideout, just keep running and then dive behind the rock wall for protection. Ready set jump, dive, spin, look and nothing. Nothing? What is going on I know I heard them behind me? I realize that in the last 30 seconds I had NOT heard any explosions from the tunnel behind me. I had just kept running on instinct. I am going to wait another 5 minutes just to be on the safe side and then I am going to have to go and investigate. Man that was a long five minutes. We do not know what happened to the horde following me, but now we have to go and check. I signal my dragons to stay close and we step out carefully and explore. About 150 meters down the tunnel we run into the first of the bodies. It seems my magic landmines worked quite well. The corpse is full of holes and it looks like the spider bled out. Beyond the first corpse the tunnel gets progressively more and more filled with dead spiders. Did we kill them all? That seems a little unlikely. Maybe we just killed all that ran towards the tunnel. That sounds more plausible. My dragons and I advance cautiously and after several minutes of picking our way through the dead carcasses we reach the tunnel entrance to the cavern. I carefully peer down into the cavern and see that there are almost no large arachnids left. In fact, we could easily avoid those few spiders that are left and move on. Nothing says we have to kill every spider even though my instincts scream burn them all. 42 - How Big Can It Get Chapter 42: How Big Can It Get There is a reason this dungeon is called Arachnid Warrens besides the huge number of spiders. Over the next two days after I decided that not every creepy crawly spider on the planet needed to die we wandered around the various tunnels and repeated our basic tactic of build base, set landmines, use sniper rifle to make spiders attack each other and then retreat. It worked quite well and when we needed to rest I just sealed off a room made from stone with my Earth magic and we rested. The problem was that I did not start marking the tunnels we had visited until after I realized we had entered a cave we had already dealt with. I do not know how long it is going to take to finish this warren of tunnels. I am definitely glad for my unlimited inventory though. I had refilled it with everything I could think of before we left on our little expedition. I had enough resources to live for up to 6 months including food for the dragons before I would even need to consider living off the land. That is important, because even though I intellectually know I could probably eat and survive on spider flesh I really do not want too. The time it is going to take to clear this dungeon keeps rising in my estimation as we keep finding new caves. It has been two weeks now. I am overdue to be back in the kingdom by at least one week and I am not certain how much more of this I can take. Both myself and my dragons are going a little stir crazy. Every day we wake up eat some breakfast and start the exploration again. I have cleared several different large caverns completely of spiders, but each cave has at least ten tunnels leading from it and some of those tunnels have splits also. Every time we get to a new cavern it takes a solid 5-6 hours to prepare and execute our by now normal routine of killing a majority of the spiders. If I enter the same cavern three times I decided I should clear it out completely, because I would rather just take care of it once instead of having to move slow and pick my way to a new tunnel entrance. The dragonlings and I have completely cleared 12 caverns, partially cleared over 20 others and have explored on the order of 200 + tunnels. Each time becomes more and more monotonous. The good news is our method of clearing has become more streamlined and if we ever find the end of this dungeon the experience rewards should be amazing. Yesterday saw us returning to the very first cavern. My group bunked down and today we are exploring 1 of only 2 tunnels we have not been down yet. I hope we finally find the end boss so we can leave soon. I still haven¡¯t had much luck with the maze of tunnels and caverns in the Arachnid Warrens. It has been another week and a half and still no end in sight. I feel that we are at least making progress because I have not seen the first few caverns in over 3 days. I think we may have finally stumbled into the end area of the dungeon. Up ahead I see another opening with the tell tale glow of a large cavern. How many times have I seen this now, it is getting so repetitive. Suddenly Bruce growls and pulls on my pants leg. I was kind of wandering forward without paying attention. I need to be more careful, just because we have been doing fine so far is no reason to get complacent. Something is different. All of my dragonlings are growling and acting a little scared as we approach this new opening. They have not done this for any of the other dozens if not hundreds of tunnel entrances we have approached. Maybe they smell or hear something that I cannot. I better get refocused and make sure everything is prepared. I signal the kids to stay and I work my way forward with more caution than I have shown in weeks probably. As I quietly peer through the opening I see a cavern that is different from all the others. Glowing Mushrooms still present, check. Giant metal door at the other end of the cavern, that¡¯s new. Spider the size of Godzilla guarding the door, check. Wait, what? I think my brain just snapped. I slowly and as quiet as possible retreat from the entrance. I signal my dragons and we retreat down the tunnel. No wonder the little guys were acting different. A spider that size should never exist, ever, for any reason. Ok quick review, end of dungeon found, probably, giant horrible arachnid that could squish me just by walking, definitely, ideas on what to do, not a single one. I need to think about this and just being close to this thing is freaking me out. I decide that my little crew and I will retreat to the last cavern and finish clearing it out so we have a safe base from which to operate and figure out a plan to kill Spiderzilla. Another 4 hours of what is now mindless battle has calmed me down. If I can kill spiders the size of deer I can kill something larger. I just need a bigger weapon. Hmm, I wonder if I could create one. I quickly pull the stone up from the cavern floor into my overnight defensive walls and call in the dragonlings. I need to think about this idea and let it stew in my head overnight. I am already 2 + weeks overdue so another night is not going to make a difference. I would rather do this right and survive than rush and die. When I wake up in the morning and finish all of my needed business I decide that creating a bigger weapon maybe my only hope at this point. If I had a group of level 100 or better people, then we probably could overwhelm even that giant spider through teamwork. However, my levels and the levels of my dragons will not increase until the dungeon is cleared. This means if I was to fight this thing head on it could focus on me and that would lead to a quick and messy death. Alright, to be safe the new weapon needs to be a long distance one. Even if was able to create a godly sword of spider smiting I do not want to get close enough to that thing to use it. So that means some type of modified cannon or ballista. Or what if I combined the two. The problem with making larger cannons has always been that by the time the ammunition gets large enough to hold a bunch of magic inscriptions that would make it extremely deadly the size of the cannon ball and barrel becomes ridiculous. However, I only have to use this thing once (I hope) and if I am careful and quiet I could install it in the tunnel and line it up for a shot without Spiderzilla even knowing.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. So a giant air cannon/rail gun thing. I will call it the spiderzooka. I know the magic inscriptions for pierce, explosion, and all of the elements. If I make the ammunition a metallic ballista bolt of a size that I can barely lift than I would be able to fit an amazing amount of power up inscriptions on it. I could basically turn it into multiple weapons on one ballista arrow. The arrowhead will contain the pierce inscriptions at full power to make sure it penetrates into Spiderzilla and every foot after that will be dedicated to explosion and each of the four elements, that way when it enters the spiders body the spider will have to deal with simultaneous explosion, fire, ice, earth spike, and lightning damage. The overall length of the bolt would be just under six feet and made of the hardest metal I possess, an alloy of steel and titanium. To be on the safe side I should probably throw a strengthen inscription in between some of the damage ones to make sure it stays in one piece. The actual cannon to shoot it out of can be up to 10 meters long before I would have trouble moving it enough to hit such a giant target. I can carve air enchantments, repulsion, and attraction enchantments along the entire length allowing it to reach an unprecedented speed when it leaves the barrel of the cannon. I better make 3 bolts just in case one doesn¡¯t kill it or I miss. I can aim, fire, and then run back down the tunnel safely because the Spiderzilla is just too big to follow into the tunnel. Other than the time it will take this should be easier than I first thought. I spend the next 5 days in a frenzy of creation. I use my Earth magic to repurpose dozens of weapons and loose material in my inventory into the new spiderzooka. Finally I am finished with my creation. It may not be the prettiest weapon I have ever created, but it will definitely be the deadliest. Over the next 3 hours I slowly transport the pieces into the tunnel and align it to fire at Spiderzilla who is being super cooperative and staying in one place just in front of the giant metal doors. Since that unholy abomination is not moving I am able to line my shot up with its head. Whether I can kill it or not with one shot, I should at least be able to damage its vision and senses. I have the dragon kids retreat all the way back to the last cavern where I have been working the past five days just to be safe. I then charge my first ballista bolt with a 1,000 mana in each of the six sections, of runes plus another 1,000 mana into the strengthen inscriptions. 7,000 mana down the tubes in less than 30 seconds. I still have 3,500 left which should be more than enough to charge and fire the cannon. One last quick check, yep still lined up, I cross my fingers and dump 3,000 mana into the activation inscription on the cannon and sprint back down the tunnel without even looking. I would rather be safe than watch and have something go wrong. As I am running I hear an amazing range of sounds coming from behind me. I hear a roar, what sounds like rain, metal striking metal, explosions, the whoosh of fire, and the crackle of lightning and ice. When I reach the cavern where my dragonlings are I slow down and debate on how long I should wait to go and check out what happened. Before I even decide that I need to take a moment and congratulate myself for actually pulling off one of my ideas and staying conscious. My past history of blowing myself up during or just after one of my plans made me a little jumpy, but I finally finished one without injury to myself. Oh my goodness I hope I did not just call down a horrible jinx on myself. I better wait an entire hour now just to be safe. The hour has passed and I have not heard any sounds from the tunnel in over half an hour. The first half hour after the shot I heard several roaring sounds (who even knew that spiders could roar), same clumping sounds (maybe the spider walking), that weird dripping sound (no idea on this one), and even a mysterious sizzling sound that lasted about 5 minutes. I do admit that after the hearing the sizzle I got hungry for bacon and the dragonlings and I had an early lunch. However, since the hour has passed I need to get back to work. I gather up the kids and give them one of my famous dad speeches. ¡°Alright daddy has to go check on the unholy spawn of Satan in the form of a spider. If this is the last time I see you I want you to know you have been the best set of dragons a father could ask for. I need you all to stay here and wait for me to return. If I do not come back in an hour than I just want you to know that I love you and I hope you grow up to be big strong dragons that can eventually take revenge on Spiderzilla for my untimely death.¡± Appropriate speech delivered I turn towards the tunnel and start to work my way down to the end cave. As I approach the end of the tunnel I notice a few things of changed. First off is the smell, it smells extremely acrid almost like vinegar. Second I see rubble and holes in floor and ceiling. That was probably from the spider thrashing about. Finally, I see a large pit where my spiderzooka used to be that is full of an ominous bubbling sickly green colored liquid. My entire cannon is gone and in its place is that goo, just what the heck? Oh crap, I back up a couple of steps, that must be acid. That freaking ginormous spider not only has size but can spit acid. I call shenanigans. Unfortunately calling shenanigans does nothing and I am going to have to deal with the current situation. That sizzling sound I heard must have been the acid dissolving my cannon. I really hope the spider is almost dead because it ruined the masterpiece that I worked on for days. How rude is that. I skirt the acid pool and cautiously approach the exit. I have to be careful here there is a lot of rubble, almost as if something large and strong had clawed or stabbed the area in frustration. That brings my morale up a little bit. At the very least I frustrated it. When I reach the entrance I glance out and see the largest dull yellow eyeball I have ever seen. I won¡¯t lie, I peed myself in fear just a little. 43 - The End Of The Warrens Chapter 43: The End of the Warrens I almost fall into the pit of acid as I stumble backwards from the sight of a giant yellow orb. Silence, all I hear is silence and my thudding heartbeat. Maybe I saw something else? Maybe I was too close for it to see? I know that I am going to have to look again, but I need a moment. I back up carefully behind the acid pit, I don¡¯t want an accident to happen. Wait what if I don¡¯t have to look, what if I just need to get a reaction? I like that idea much better. I pick up two larger pieces of rubble and scoot back into the tunnel a bit farther. Here we go, I toss the first rock over the edge of the tunnel entrance and listen carefully. I hear a splooch and nothing else. What does that mean? I decide to continue with my little experiment, it keeps me safe and lets me feel like I am doing something useful. My second rock sails over the edge and also makes a splooch sound. Now what on earth makes a splooch? Is that even a word? It¡¯s the closest I can get to replicating the sound out loud. I decide to continue my splooch experiment until something different happens or at least I get my nerve back. Five rocks later the splooch becomes a thuddy tink. Once again I know thuddy tink is not a word, but you try and describe these sounds, it¡¯s not easy. One more time, this rock is also a thuddy tink, and with me concentrating I can hear a soft splooch at the end. Alright, I am sufficiently baffled enough that I will look over the edge again. I approach cautiously with my shotgun held in front of me as if could ward off evil. When I peer over the edge I try and take in the whole picture without giving into fear. The eye is still present but looks much less intimidating with several rocks covering it. Is it dead? I do not know of any animal that could get hit in the eye with rocks and not respond, but spiders are tricky creepy crawlies. I better make sure. I carefully wave my shotgun barrel around to see if it responds to movement. Nothing. Ok the ultimate test. I line up the shotgun with the eye and get prepared to run. I pull the trigger on the shotgun and a geyser of yellow and red goo gushes up and covers me. Gross, this smell is horrible and oh no some got in my mouth. After wiping my face off and rinsing my mouth out several times I realize that Spiderzilla must be dead for two reasons. Number one it did not respond to getting shot in an eye and two if it was alive it would have killed me when I dealt with the shower of gore that covered me and distracted me from what I should have been paying attention too. Alright, one giant spider monster killed. No explosions to knock me out, but I did get covered in some of the most disgusting fluid known to man. I will retreat to the cavern where my dragonlings are and wash off before we proceed. Once I get to my dragons they start to run up to me and stop almost immediately. Yep I was right, I must smell horrible. All four of them retreat to a safe smelling distance and look at me like I am crazy to be walking around like this. I take the time to hollow out a basin in the floor with my Earth Magic, fil it with water from my inventory, and then heat it with my Fire magic. Voila, instant hot bath. I scrub and clean repeatedly for the next half hour, having to create a new bath twice as I wash layers of filth off of me. I must be clean now because my little ones gather around me after the last round in the bath. Ok, time to move forward and finish this stupid dungeon. I set out with my dragonlings and as we approach the cavern with the dead giant spider I could see their noses twitch in disgust. It was so cute! I wish I could take a picture. Hmm, note to self when I get out of here check the Great Game store for image capturing devices and magic. Somebody has had to come up with it. We reach the edge and I cautiously look over one more time, who knows it could have turned into an undead giant spider. I still see most of a yellow orb and no movement from the rest of the body that I can now focus on when I am sure the thing is dead. We maneuver around the carcass and I look around trying to see and understand what happened. From the scarring on the floor, wall and the dent in the metal door, along with the rather large hole through a good portion of the dead spider I think I can put together a rough timeline. First off now that it is dead and I can look at it a little more subjectively I realize it is not quite as big as I made it out to be. Now don¡¯t get me wrong, it is still around 10 meters high and probably 20 meters wide with its legs which is gigantic, but it is not Godzilla size, it just seemed that way to me. It looks like the ballista bolt I shot penetrated right through Spiderzilla and hit the door it was guarding. That would explain the hole through the spider and the dent in the door. The back end of the spider is crispy and spattered with shrapnel, so it probably suffered secondary effects from the bolt after it hit the door. The spells worked but did not go off until it hit and broke on the door. I wanted them to go off inside the spider so it is a partial fail even though I managed to kill it. Speaking of which it seems that all the noise I heard was the spider¡¯s fury as it slowly bled out and died. Not the way I planned on killing it, but a dead spider is a good spider no matter how you look at it. I cut off and store some of the more interesting bits of the carcass and then approach the metal door. With a tremendous exertion of strength, I am able to open the door. Actually after pushing on it for about 15 seconds with no result I realize that there are rings on it and it was supposed to be pulled open. The side without the dent pulled open rather easily and the one with the dent did not move. I probably damaged something. Oh well the door is plenty big enough with just half of it open. I look into the room beyond the door and see treasure casually scattered about with several skeletons of animals and humanoids and what seems to be egg sacs. Wait, egg sacs?If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I have seen this movie and it does not end well. Bruce, you and I have work to do. Standing at the door and not getting close just to be sure Bruce and I use flame to purify the room of its infestation. After I am certain there are no more egg sacs or other surprises I start to explore with my group. I casually toss in whatever I find, weapons, gold and jewels, it is probably what most people would call a hoard but I have looted so much it was just more stuff to me. At the back of the room is a smaller alcove with a sign above it and a magic symbol on the ground. The sign read,
Congratulations on finishing the Arachnid Warrens. If you managed to enter this area without defeating the guardian, please be warned that you will be teleported in front of it. If you successfully eliminated the guardian you will be transported out of the dungeon when you step on the magic symbol.
Ok one last quick check around the room to make sure we did not miss anything and then I stepped on the symbol with my dragons. After a nauseating teleport, I wonder if there is a magic equivalent of teleport sickness pills, I realize I am outside the slime dungeon and in the middle of what looks to be a military camp. Why is there a military camp in front of the dungeon? Several soldiers have notice my arrival and have drawn weapons and one has run off, I suppose to get someone in charge. I decide to stay in place until I know what is going on. In the distance I see my daughter and Randolph the head of my military council running in my direction. Before I can even think about what is going on I receive the Great Game notice for clearing the dungeon.
¡°You have cleared the level 100 limited instance dungeon Arachnid Warrens. Calculating and applying rewards. You receive the title Lost and Found +1 for staying more than a week in a single dungeon. You receive the title Spider Bane +3 for killing more than 1,000 spider monsters of at least 3 related types. You receive the title Top 100 +1 for being one of the first 100 people to exceed the level 100 on your planet. As the first being to clear a limited instance dungeon on your planet you will be able to select one unique skill or item from the Great Game store.¡±
Alright, another unique skill those are always helpful. I mean when I used my first one I got from the Biltmore Estates dungeon earned me two titles and the infinite inventory. The second one from the bloodline dungeon I picked, ¡­.., I picked, ¡­¡­, did I forget to actually use my reward for a unique skill or item from the dungeon. Let¡¯s see, I came home, time was longer in the dungeon than I thought, I was prepping for the change over, got distracted by family leaving early, crap I did forget. This entire time I could have had another unique skill or item that could have helped me tremendously. I have got to use these things as soon as I get them or what is the point. Now at least I have two things I can select. I need to do that as soon as I check in with everyone and clean up. I close the Great Game screen just in time to catch my daughter who was jumping into my arms. Wait, is my daughter light blue and scaly? ¡°Daddy, we were so worried. No one knew what happened to you just that you were still alive!¡± Interesting, how did they know I was still alive if we could not contact each other? ¡°I am sorry sweetie, daddy got stuck in a dungeon and communication was not allowed. Now tell me why you are blue and scaly?¡± ¡°Dad that is not important, what happened to you?¡± Uh oh, my dad senses are tingling. She is hiding something important. ¡°Don¡¯t change the subject, what did you do to turn blue and scaly?¡± Nicole looked like she had turned back into the six year old I remembered that used to get in trouble all of the time. ¡°Ok Dad I¡¯ll tell you, but don¡¯t get mad.¡± I hate it when kids say that. I stay silent and just stare at her. ¡°Alright, remember before you left how some of the soldiers were taking me around to different dungeons?¡± ¡°Yes¡± ¡°Well when I came back from the last trip, you had already left for your trip so I was bored and went into your office to write you a letter saying I was going to go to another dungeon.¡± ¡°Still not seeing how this turned you blue.¡± ¡°Well when I was in your office I saw the map you have on your wall and I started studying it.¡± Oh man I know where this is going. ¡°Alright I get it you saw the bloodline dungeon marked, thought if dad did it I can, and then went to a DANGEROUS dungeon without your guards.¡± ¡°How did you know I did not take any guards?¡± ¡°Well sweet pea, your guards would not have let you go to such a dangerous dungeon without my approval.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°Just stay still.¡± Identify:
Name: Nicole Anderson Race: Storm Dragonkin
Level 36 41% Affinities: Air 100% Water 100%
¡°YOU WENT AND DID A DRAGON BLOODLINE!!!¡± ¡°Now dad don¡¯t freak out.¡± ¡°Too late for that. Guess who is grounded for a month if not more.¡± ¡°Dad you can¡¯t ground me, I am an adult.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t care I am king and you WILL listen to me on this.¡± I could see Randolph trying to hold back his laughter. I could fix that right quick. ¡°Randolph!¡± ¡°Yes Sire.¡± ¡°Thank you for volunteering to make sure Nicole follows my orders for the next month.¡± His smile disappeared. ¡°But sire my responsibilities.¡± I interrupted him. ¡°Now include watching my daughter like a hawk to make sure she doesn¡¯t do anything else stupid.¡± ¡°Yes Sire.¡± ¡°Now somebody please tell me a few things, first how did you know I was still alive, second why am I surrounded by the military, and finally what has been happening for the past month while I was gone.¡± 44 - Life Moves On Without Me Chapter 44: Life Moves On Without Me It turns out that since I have not designated an heir, everyone knew I was still alive because there was no notification of the kingdom dissolving. I have to take care of that soon and have a plan of succession. The military was because they knew this was the last place I had contacted them from so they set up a search and rescue effort to begin with, but when they saw the Limited Instance Dungeon and found out that it was occupied they realized that I was inside. So they kept one unit here as a precaution for when I came out and the rest I knew. My daughter was here because Randolph knew I would want to know about the bloodline first thing. Other than that nothing was wrong. The entire month that I was gone, everything went smoothly. More people came into the kingdom, efforts to expand protection and collect resources continued and everything else was running smooth. I was both relieved and a little bit insulted. I guess I was not as vital as I thought to the whole process. However, the good news is if they were able to smoothly run the kingdom without me then I picked the right people and I can continue my life of solitude and dungeon diving. All I need to do is check in occasionally. I told everyone an abbreviated version of events and let them know that staying out of contact was not planned, but was more me being unaware that dungeons could be that big. They all laughed and said things along the lines of father and daughter are so alike. I watched everyone pack up and then we headed back to the capital. After checking in with everyone at the castle I retreated back into my chambers to contemplate everything that had changed. First I need to check and assign my points and then select my rewards before I forget again. Status:
Name: Mark Anderson Master Tamer +2, Dragon Tamer +3, Dragon Master +4, Elemental Dragon King Bloodline +10, Evolver +2, Monster Slayer +1, Titan Slayer +3, Destroyer +5, Level Maniac +2, Survivor +1, No Limits +5, Undying +5, Transcendent +5, Top 100 +1 Titles: Quadelementalist +4, Lucky One +1 Master Thief +1, World Traveler +1, Wealthy +1, Dungeon Explorer +3, Unstoppable +2, Army of One +1, Arsonist +1, Manifest Destiny +3, Not Nailed Down +1, Army of One +1, Scourge of the Undead +1, Think Outside the Box +1, Beast Tamer +1, Lost & Found +1, Spider Bane +3
Level: 113 -36% Unspent Attribute Points: 480
Str: 155 HP: 1,550
Int: 255 +110% MP MP: 10,710
Wis: 255 +110% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 220% per 15 min.
Agi: 155 MP/Regen: 535% per 15 min.
Con: 155 +70% HP/Regen Luck: 155
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%¡±
Alright I should split my humongous amount of points up. This should work.
Name: Mark Anderson Master Tamer +2, Dragon Tamer +3, Dragon Master +4, Elemental Dragon King Bloodline +10, Evolver +2, Monster Slayer +1, Titan Slayer +3, Destroyer +5, Level Maniac +2, Survivor +1, No Limits +5, Undying +5, Transcendent +5, Top 100 +1 Titles: Quadelementalist +4, Lucky One +1 Master Thief +1, World Traveler +1, Wealthy +1, Dungeon Explorer +3, Unstoppable +2, Army of One +1, Arsonist +1, Manifest Destiny +3, Not Nailed Down +1, Army of One +1, Scourge of the Undead +1, Think Outside the Box +1, Beast Tamer +1, Lost & Found +1, Spider Bane +3Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Level: 113 -36% Unspent Attribute Points: 0
Str: 225 HP: 2,250
Int: 355 +170% MP MP: 19,170
Wis: 355 +170% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 335% per 15 min.
Agi: 225 MP/Regen: 603% per 15 min.
Con: 225 +110% HP/Regen Luck: 225
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%¡±
That should put me beyond anything on Earth right now and for the near future. However, I cannot slow down on my training as I am going to have to attend the Planetary Leader competition soon enough. However, first let¡¯s glance through the Great Game store and try and find 2 new unique skills. I do not need items and the last skill really has been useful. After looking through the Great Game store I have come up with four possibilities. This is going to be a hard choice. Each of them seem to be something that would be really helpful. Everything I looked through seems to be great but these four are the top.
  1. (Unique Skill) Shared Attributes: Your HP and MP are now one. Magic and Health come out of the same combined pool. Requires 200 points in Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Constitution.
  2. (Unique Skill) Blink: You gain the ability to teleport an unlimited number of times as long as your destination is in your line of sight. No MP used.
  3. (Unique Skill) Advanced Bloodline Growth: You gain all your bloodline abilities immediately without the need for higher level achievements.
  4. (Unique Skill) Magic Clone: In the event of permanent death you instead will respawn to a designated location with a 25% penalty to your MP and HP for 3 months. This ability can only be used twice in a 3 month period. No infinite respawns.
I think that I can eliminate number three. I will eventually receive all of my bloodline abilities and wasting a unique skill on getting them early seems a little wasteful. It would be a big surprise on the battlefield, but that surprise would only work once, and then any advantage would be gone forever as people talk and they could prepare countermeasures in the future. Ok I have made my selection. I am getting Blink and Magic Clone. While Shared attributes would give me a huge HP pool and keep me alive longer, the Magic Clone literally saves me from death. Blink is just great as a transportation tool, surprise tool, and a way to retreat if a situation calls for it. It is just too convenient. I mentally make my selections and close the Great Game notice telling me I now have those abilities. I need to get some sleep in my own bed and check on my dragons in the morning. I know that they have to sleep before the Great Game applies any and all upgrades to my pets/companions. Morning as usual comes to early. I blink away the sleep and look at my sleeping companions. Time to wake them up and check on their progress. I can already see a significant growth in size. I am glad I have such a large room. They probably doubled and maybe tripled their length. Luckily about 1/3 of that is tail otherwise we probably wouldn¡¯t fit in here anymore. I definitely have to set up a lair for them soon. I wonder what their levels have reached. Identify:
Name: Elvira Race: Elemental Air Dragon Level: 52 33% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson
Name: Esmerelda Race: Elemental Earth Dragon Level: 54 7% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson
Name: Azure Race: Elemental Water Dragon Level: 53 61% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson
Name: Sir Bruce Shadow Flaming Ember of Doom Race: Elemental Fire Dragon Level: 61 21% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson
They have improved a lot. They probably would have improved more if I had let them participate more in the dungeon. However, I probably claimed 75% of the experience given and they had to split the remaining 25% between the four of them. So their growth is very good. In the future I will be able to let them solo some dungeons to have them level up faster. Bruce once again was an experience hog and has reached a much higher level than his brother and sister. It even looks like he is bigger than them by about a meter in length. Huh, that is too convenient. If I am right, where is my measuring tape. It is true, every level is about 10 centimeters of growth for my dragons. Bruce is 6.1 meters long, Azure is 5.3 meters long, Esmerelda is 5.4 meters, and finally the small one Elvira is 5.2 meters. This is good information to know. In the future it will allow me estimate dragon levels from just their size. With me reaching level 100 myself I should be able to partially transform and fly now. I will have to experiment soon. Now that I have had some sleep and have had a chance to recharge, I think I can finally pull my mysterious king disappearing act. While I am gratified that everyone was worried about me the fact of the matter is other than me needing to rubber stamp some decisions, the entire place ran fine without me. This was my eventual goal and it looks like I reached it even sooner than I thought. Over the next week I will catch up on all the paperwork and double check that everything is running smooth. I will also build myself and my dragons a lair in a secluded valley somewhere in the mountains. I can commute from my new sanctuary whenever there is a pressing need for me to show my face or help out the kingdom in some way. If I remove myself now than they will rely on me less and less and eventually I will hopefully just be a figurehead that needs to show up once or twice a year. That sounds like a plan and I will start on it tomorrow. Today is a catch up and relax day. 45 - My New Lairs Chapter 45: My New Lairs My original plan has worked out perfectly. Although there were some weird twists and turns to get here. I let everyone know that I would be more of a figurehead from now on. After some protests and myself pointing out how everything worked just fine when I disappeared without warning for a month the arrangements were made. I have designated Randolph as my heir until the prince/princess positions are filled. Once they have been filled if the kingdom needs a new ruler the council will select by secret ballot the new ruler from the 4 great princes/princesses. In the event of a tie Randolph will cast the deciding vote. Now that the line of succession has been established I can finally create my own lair away from the daily grind. Originally I planned to just create a complex somewhere in my kingdom among the Appalachian Mountains, but I realized that I do not have to limit myself. I have access to the entire world and resources and I can establish a claim anywhere. My idea is not to kick someone out of their home but rather build lairs in remote, extremely hard to get to areas around the world. I can be contacted no matter where I am with communication crystals (except in certain dungeons as I recently found out) and I am only a single teleport away. My new plan is to establish 5 different lairs. One main one for myself, and one for each of my dragons. There will be enough room in each of them for all of us, but I will be able to have them around the world which will make exploring different areas for dungeons, resources, and treasure easier. The general areas I thought my dragons and I could explore for new homes would be the Andes mountains for my air dragon Elvira. An island for Azure my water dragon. A volcano or other hot area for Bruce my fire dragon. Esmerelda my earth dragon would be in a jungle setting somewhere. For myself I am having a hard time deciding between island fortress (I always dreamed of having one) or relocating to the continent of Antarctica. That sounds a little extreme, but I realize with magic now everywhere there are probably going to be several ice monsters and ice themed dungeons in Antarctica that I would have exclusive access to for at least several years until other people¡¯s levels and resistances get higher. I definitely would not have to worry about random guests or anyone else wandering by. You know what I think I talked myself into it. I will relocate to Antarctica. I will need to do some research in the libraries that have been recovered to figure out exactly where my new lair and my dragons new lairs will be. However, the overall plan is now in place. Over the next week I transition myself out of large responsibilities. I want to start with only one check in a month and hopefully in the future get it down to only one or two check ins per year. I can always visit more often if needed and personal visits to family and such I do not count as working. After extensive research over this week I have decided that I will make Elvira¡¯s Lair near either Cotopaxi (the world¡¯s highest volcano) or Machu Picchu. The first choice is to have environments that everyone might enjoy, and the second is because for some reason I just get the feeling that a ruin of a former glorious civilization is going to have a dungeon or something special associated with it. We will explore both and see which one has the best area for us. Sir Bruce, my little fire troublemaker is going to have a lair built somewhere on or near Mount Nyiragongo in what used to be the Democratic Republic of Congo. I picked this volcano because it is one of the most active in the world, it was in a national park so there should be few if any survivors to bother, and finally because it will give us a base to explore Africa for monsters and dungeons. Esmerelda has several choices for jungle lairs, but I think the best spot for her and our explorations in the future is in one the rainforests in Australia, probably Daintree. This gives us access to Australia where if history is any indication many unique creatures and monsters will appear and dungeons along with them. Azure is the hardest one to pick for. There are so many different islands that could potentially be useful to us for location and training. I think that a Japanese island would be the best. It will give us access to the pacific islands and is also close to the Asian mainland. Finally, for myself I have decided to build two different places. One mostly as a training and resupply base in the Faroe Islands which gives us access to Europe, Greenland, and western Russia. The other in Antarctica as my initial plan stated. I will find a mountain in the transantarctic mountain range and bury myself deep and make sure it is an underground tropical paradise with fire, water, earth, and air magic. I hate the cold, but with my changes I should be immune. However, immunity does not mean comfortable so I will create a warm underground paradise. The next two months leading up to Phase 3 of the Great Game integration is spent on travelling the world, establishing the basic lairs and exploring a few nearby dungeons. After exploring the area it was decided to establish Elvira on a peak near Machu Picchu. I was right in thinking that it had turned into a dungeon. In fact, it is the highest leveled dungeon we have found in the world barring the bloodline dungeon. I registered as a Level 125 dungeon when we entered. We only went in the entrance to register it and then left. No time to explore it further. We have finished several smaller dungeons that were close by just as a stress reliever. After clearing 10 low level dungeons I was only able to level once and the dragons managed an average of 3 levels each. The one good thing from this exploration is that we do know that quantity will make up for quality. In many stories low level monsters stop giving experience at all, but in the Great Game it seems that they still give off very low amounts so if you kill enough low levels eventually you will increase in level. Phase 3 is set to begin on the winter solstice in less than a week. I will spend this time back in the kingdom and a few days after taking care of any administrative duties and watching for any changes I need to personally see to in the Phase 3 change over. I better review what phase 3 entails. Help please explain the 3rd phase of Great Game integration.
Phase 3 will introduce class B through S monsters to the planet and expand quests, and upgrade dungeons.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Help why were dungeons above class C available during phase 2 if it was limited to class C?
This was a misinterpretation on your part. Level C monsters and below were introduced to the planet during phase 2. Nothing was said about limiting dungeons.
What are the dungeon classifications and give examples.
Dungeons are not given classification levels. Each dungeon is rated by what level a common group of 5 Great Game players would need to be to pass it. A level 25 dungeon would normally require 5 Great Game players all within 2 levels of this classification to complete the entire dungeon.
Help can monsters in dungeons escape the confinements of the dungeon? Why or why not?
Dungeons are separate existences located in a different reality than the Great Game planets. No dungeon monster can leave a dungeon unless captured or tamed by a player and removed.
Help how are monsters introduced into a game world?
Monsters are taken from other realities and placed in appropriate areas for their survival in new game worlds. Existing monsters in the game world are leveled up to fill any gaps when new phases are integrated. New monsters of types not previously introduced to a world may also be transported during each new phase.
Alright, I think this means that we need to up patrols before and after each Great Game change over phase. This way we can compare an area before and after the change over to help see if new monsters have been transported to the area or if existing ones have leveled up. Thinking about the leveling up of monsters this means I need to make sure that regular subjugation requests are being funded to keep levels of monsters down around our survival areas. I should still be above the level of any monster that is transported in or upgraded during this solstice change over. I will have approximately 6 months after this winter solstice until the final phase is introduced to Earth. After which I will have to prepare for the Great Game competition. I am not sure how much I can level up between now and then, but the more levels I get the greater my chances are to protect the Earth from our own monsters and to do well in the Great Game competition. I wonder how many dungeons there are that can actually help me level up before I have to start going for quantity over quality? Maybe I can find out. Help can you explain the distribution and levels of dungeons throughout the Earth.
Dungeon placements are mostly random. If an area has a high cultural significance and was unoccupied the chances of it becoming a dungeon are increased. There will never be more than 10 X-level monster dungeons on any planet. General distribution of all level of monsters in dungeons are usually 10 more than the level above it. So SSS level monsters in 100 dungeons, SS level monsters in 1000 dungeons, etc¡­ This is not exact as dungeons can and do change levels dependent on tier of the planet and number of times conquered.
Please elaborate on your last statement.
Every time a planet reaches a higher tier or level then the monsters correspondingly get stronger. Generally, for every increase in tier monster dungeons get twice as hard. When a dungeon has been repeatedly conquered it is generally switched out for a new or different dungeon. The number of conquests varies based on time in between conquests and other variables.
Does this mean when I selected the higher tier for a world perk the difficulty increased in the dungeons.
That is incorrect. The current planet is still not 100% integrated, thus dungeon advancement will not occur until Phase 4 integration.
Man I screwed that up. I need to warn my group that the difficulties of the dungeons will double in about six months. I think I will skip telling them that it is my fault. They don¡¯t need to know that. Oh well back to the castle to find out what I have missed over the last two months. When I teleport into the throne room, Jacob appears almost instantly. How does he always know when I get back? Must be some butler instinct kind of thing. I make small talk and inquire about the general state of the kingdom and my family. My daughter has slowed down and become less reckless, but is still trying to catch up to me by visiting dungeons with a party composed of some of her friends and 2 guards from the palace. There are two recognized kingdoms by the Great Game that have appeared in the last month near us. The first is in the North East of the United States somewhere in New York or Pennsylvania and the second is North in Canada or Michigan. We do not really explore that far and have run into groups from those kingdoms exploring, but have not actually found the kingdoms themselves. I ask Jacob to alert the council to my return and ask for a meeting the following day after lunch. I spend the rest of the day rubberstamping paperwork and saying hi to the family. The following day after lunch I meet with my council. ¡°Hello Everyone, I am glad to hear that everything is going smoothly. I have two things to bring up and then I will disappear again. Please remember that you can contact me at any time for an emergency. I will remember to let Jacob or someone from the council know if I am going to enter another dungeon that might limit my responses.¡± This got a little chuckle out of them and I proceeded to tell everyone about the dungeon advancement in 6 months and that they needed to be prepared for it. I also reiterated the importance of patrols before and after the Phase 3 integration. Finally, I came to the only topic that I thought might be a little contentious. ¡°Are we at a point where we can absorb more land into our kingdom. Before you answer I would like you to consider several things. First do we have the manpower to protect and patrol it, second do we have the funds to set up new sanctuaries if needed, and finally how much and in which direction if the answer to the first two questions is yes.¡± The debate at the table went on for almost an hour before a consensus was reached. We would expand but carefully. They would like me to finish claiming land through all of Florida and a few more islands in the Caribbean. We would set up two new sanctuary cities in Tampa and in Miami. This would solidify our control over the local shipping and ocean and expand us in a direction that requires less worry about seasonal changes. In the future we would consider other directions. The discussion also led to reinforcement of the northern sanctuaries and border with the western and eastern areas maintaining and continuing to explore. 46 - Machu Picchu Chapter 46: Machu Picchu The next week went smoothly and I dedicated most of my mana for the next few days to the claiming of Florida as part of the Appalachia Kingdom. There was one group near Orlando that protested the change until we brought them to a sanctuary city and showed the benefits of signing up. Then they immediately wanted to turn over control to us. It seems that even semi-organized groups are starting to have trouble. The initial glut of resources from scavenging is starting to run out and a guaranteed source of food and protection is very attractive. After all of this I refilled my inventory with supplies and teleported to Machu Picchu. I wanted to try this level 125 dungeon out. Before I entered though I set aside 500 mana every 3 minutes to be continuously drained from my mana pool to claim land surrounding my lair in Antarctica. I decided since no one lives there I might as well own a continent. The 500 mana would never be missed by me and I can just check it occasionally to determine the progress on the land claiming. I designated the borders of Antarctica so when the claim is finished it should automatically stop drawing the mana from my total mana pool. I looked around the ruins of Machu Picchu before I entered the dungeon. I had always wanted to visit here before the world changed. Now that I am here I am glad that I have my dragons with me, because if I was alone I probably would get freaked out. The silence and stillness is amazing and the ruins just add a touch of eeriness. This is perfect dungeon exploring ambience. When I enter the dungeon a Great Game message appears.
Welcome to the Machu Picchu dungeon. Recommended level is 125. Enjoy your trip to the underworld.
Ok, that was not ominous or anything. This must be based on the Incan myths of the underworld. I wish I knew more about the local legends it might help prepare me. I signal my group of dragons to assume their now instinctual dungeon hunting positions. As we work our way down the first corridor, the stone surrounding us looks more and more natural. It seems that the dungeon is trying to make me think that people dug it out and then hit something they shouldn¡¯t resulting in the dungeon we have today. The question is what did they find in this little Great Game fictional story? Ahead of me the corridor begins to widen into a cavern. I signal my little ones to wait and I do my normal sneak and peek into the new chamber. Dancing around a fire located almost directly in the middle is a group of red skinned, pointy eared, and pointy teethed individuals. They have to be demons. No horns or tail as in western mythologies, but they definitely give off that ¡°demon¡± feeling. Identify.
Supay Demon Level 85
Interesting, the small fry which is what you are supposed to run into first in a dungeon is this high of a level. Let¡¯s see quick count gives me 6 dancing around the fire and no obvious signs of one being a leader or better than the others, I guess a quick area of effect spell followed by some individual spells to draw them in and then have the dragonling group attack from the sides once I have aggro. I quickly head back to my dragons and explain the plan. Each time they level up they seem to get smarter and smarter. I am hoping that when they finally break a level cap they will be able to talk or transform partially like I can do now. I really have not talked about or explained my flight ability since I got it after breaking past level 100. This is for two reasons, first I am not that good at it. There is an old saying based on a long ago cartoon that sums it up best. I am not really flying rather than falling with style. I can glide very well, but I do not have the magic or muscles figured out for lift off. I basically have to jump off things and I can glide pretty far. I rarely run into anything anymore either. The second reason is that I would like to keep such things hidden as much as possible in case I need to surprise people in the future. Mostly though it is because I am embarrassed about how bad I actually am at flying. I thought it would be level 100, open wings, instinct takes over, and I am soaring with my dragons and the birds. In actuality it was level 100, open wings, fall down cliff in an embarrassing manner, and then watch my precious children laugh at me. I am glad that my high stats just meant bruises to both myself and my ego and not actual real damage. Focus, must eliminate threat and clear dungeon. I decide to go with past game knowledge, because lets face it for some reason most of our games have been remarkably similar to what is actually happening after the Great Game change over. Standard game knowledge dictates that demons are strong against fire and weak against water and ice. So I will get to try out one of my new water element ¡°spells¡±. In actuality it is a cross between the element of water and air. I create a spiked ball of the hardest and most dense ice and leave a small pocket in the center which I fill up with compressed air almost to the breaking point. The next step is simple, I send it out with my air mana towards the target and as soon as it impacts something the compressed air is released turning the whole thing into a giant spiky ice grenade. This combination is rather new so I have not mastered it to the level I like, but if it works well I expect that I will have plenty of practice in this dungeon. I can maintain and shoot three of these at a time if I have around 10-15 seconds to prepare. Not that useful in an ongoing battle where everything happens quickly, but it should work great as an opening salvo. If I keep practicing I am sure I can get the number of spiky ice balls up and the casting/preparation time down. I approach the opening to the cavern once again with three prepared ice balls and my group of dragons. One quick peek to make sure nothing has changed and then the dramatic step out and launch of the ice spell. One of the ice balls actually hits a Supay demon, one hits the floor, and the last one hits the bonfire they are dancing around. Hmmm, I need to work on my aim with this spell. The demon hit by the spell is thrown back and is very bloodied. Quick fact Supay demons have blue blood. The other five look to be wounded but more mad than anything else. The bonfire is almost completely put out by the exploding ice ball that hit it leaving the cavern much darker and creepier than it originally was. Luckily with our low light sight as dragons and dragonkin this should not affect us in a bad way. My dragons each square off with one demon leaving me one to deal with myself at least until the one that got blasted off its feet gets back up. I decide to try melee combat against this first demon to check its skills and toughness. My dragons may be below the level of their opponents, but size wise they are much bigger. I hope they will be a good match up individually. I need to keep an eye out just in case one of them needs rescuing. After the first ten to fifteen seconds of the fight I crush the skull of my personal foe with my military pick. I have switched to this weapon recently because I think it has the best combination of damages to anything I encounter. I can cause blunt trauma with the hammer side and I get amazing penetration with the spike against foes who are resistant to slashing or blunt damage. I have a machete on my hip in case I run into something that needs to be slashed, say a giant that I need to cut a tendon on, (I know it is unlikely but I have seen a lot of anime and played a lot of games, better safe than sorry) but I think that this military pick give me the best advantage against the widest range of foes.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. With my opponent disposed of I quickly check on my dragons. They are getting hit a lot but seem to be winning. That means I can find the sixth and final opponent. Strange I am sure it was knocked back in this direction. Where did that guy go? I suddenly feel a horrible pain in my kidney region. What the heck? I roar in pain, I really roared it must be a trait from the bloodline, and reached back to see what was wrong. I felt what could only be a dagger hilt, somebody stabbed me. It must have been my missing demon. I have not felt such pain in a long time. I yank the dagger out, probably not my best move, but I am acting more on instinct here than anything else. I quickly scan the area and there he is smirking at me. I can feel a burning sensation from the stab wound. Was it poisoned? To be safe I quickly take out a recovery pill, the ones that are supposed to remove abnormal statuses, from my inventory and swallow it down. The entire time I am doing this I am keeping an eye on the little prick that stabbed me. He is dancing around and trying to find an opening to hurt me again. NO WAY MISTER. Like the old saying says, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. I will not lose situational awareness again. Once I downed the pill I exchanged my military pick for my shotgun and just unloaded both barrels at the demon. With his previous injuries this was enough to put him down for good. I admit I may be a little petty as I went over and kicked his corpse a few times and stomped on his head just to make sure. That dagger to the kidneys HURT. Each of my dragons was wrapping up their fight and all of them while injured were obviously going to win. I watched carefully just to make sure. I mean I already screwed up once, I do not want the kids to suffer if I make another mistake. Once they each finished off their opponents I made sure we were all recovering nicely and then patrolled the bodies for treasure and items. Nothing spectacular, just a little more currency than usual, probably due to the higher levels. Alright, I need to make sure that I have solid plans and backups in place like usual. I have been getting complacent and that dagger to the kidneys woke me up. I should be glad that it was something this simple that refocused me no matter how much it hurt instead of something that killed me or my little guys. I have to remember that lower level does not mean that I can ignore or assume they cannot hurt me or mine. The rest of the dungeon was nothing spectacular. A series of tunnels connected to caverns that held several types of demons. The basic Supay demon from the first cavern was joined by Bloodletter demons and Priests of Supay demons. The priests did cause me some trouble at first. Not only could they heal their fellow demons but they could cause them to go berserk and if they were about to die they could sacrifice them for a boost in abilities to the other demons. As you can guess I made eliminating the priests the number one priority. So while there were a few twists and new tricks there was not much variation. It was just approach quietly the new cavern and pick targets, engage, heal up, and repeat. Finally, I was in front of door made of bones that could only lead to the boss fight of the dungeon. This dungeon had taken us longer than usual. It had been about 12-13 hours since we started the Machu Picchu dungeon. I wanted to finish it without retreating or staying overnight in the dungeon. If I retreated it would reset and staying overnight when comfort is just a teleport away seemed ridiculous. However, I need to be careful. This dungeon has already surprised me a couple of times and I don¡¯t want to get sloppy right at the end. I carefully prepare myself and warn my dragons to stay sharp. When I open the bone doors I see a giant cavern with a path down the middle from the doors all the way to the altar at the other end of the room. It must be almost a 100 meters away. Next to the altar, which seemed to have something on it tied down, was a rather large demon that looked like the Priest of Supay demons I had been fighting just larger and more menacing. In between this large priest and me are what seems to be hundreds of the other demons. It looks like I interrupted some sort of ceremony. Not good. I quickly call to my dragons to execute plan R. Plan R is simply my version of the RUN AWAY or RETREAT plan. While my dragons reversed direction I threw out a wide variety of magic grenades to cover our strategic retreat. I am not even sure which ones I threw, I just grabbed a few and threw. I then turn myself and start advancing to the rear as quickly as possible. I soon catch up to my dragons and as soon as I do I cause a wall of stone to rise from the floor behind us to slow down the pursuers I hear. I don¡¯t want to stop them, rather I need to have a gap between us for the next part of the plan. As soon as we reach the previous cavern my dragons and I turn and run a few meters along the left wall and I quickly raise stone around and try to make it look like the rest of the caves walls. I can hear the demons coming. I make a very small peep hole so I can check if my little ruse is going to work or if we need to keep running or start to fight. As the first demon enters the cave it looks around and not seeing us howls and continues on towards the other exit. Yes, this might actually work. I watch about twenty demons go past our hiding position. I wait about sixty seconds and nothing comes out of the tunnel. Ok time to start the next phase. I lower the stone walls and we carefully start making our way back towards the altar room. However, this time I start laying down the landmine enchantments that worked so well in the Arachnid warrens behind us. After about 3 minutes of trap setting and moving we arrive back at the open doors. I quietly peer in to see the new situation. I can see the larger priest demon and only 5 other demons surrounding it. I knew that my original guess of hundreds had to be adrenaline speaking. I signal to my dragons that we were going to attack. I take out my heaviest crossbow and load it with a very large bolt of ice damage. Next I hang my little pistol crossbow on one hip loaded with a dart of silence to prevent the head priest from healing and my military pick is slung on the other hip. On the count of 3, 1¡­, 2¡­, 3¡­ I line up and fire the Ice Bolt at the head priest demon and then drop the crossbow and grab the little one to line up and fire the bolt of silence. I see the first one hit and knock the Head Priest demon backwards which causes my shot from the pistol crossbow to miss it and hit another demon instead. Well shoot, another one of my plans didn¡¯t work out the way I wanted. I yelled to my dragons to attack and then I charged ahead of them. I need to get to the Head Priest before he can do something I regret. I shove the first demon I come to out of the way and knock a second one back with my weapon. Leaving the path towards the Head Priest demon open. You know what let¡¯s just call him Phil. He kind of looks like a Phil, an evil large telemarketer who only brings misery to others and shame to his family. Stupid brain wandering again, I must be tired. It has been a while since that has happened to me. Phil is struggling to his feet when I take a giant swing at his head and with a flinch I miss and hit his shoulder knocking him back again. His roar of pain is satisfying to hear. It means I am doing damage. Unfortunately, before I can finish off Phil, I see him crush a talisman around his neck and he vanishes. What just happened? Did he go invisible? I continue to where I saw him last and take a giant swing around the area and hit nothing. Ok, probably not invisible I guess he teleported away then. No time to think about that I need to help out my dragons and I can find and kill Phil in a bit. I charge towards two of the other demons who have backed up Elvira into a corner because of the double team and crush the first one¡¯s head with my pick. The second one turns in surprise and that allows Elvira to jump on his back, knock him over, and lock her jaws onto the back of his neck. Ok she has this one under control. I look around quickly to see where else I am needed. Everyone else has their opponent under control. It was just the double team that was giving Elvira trouble. 47 - Something Familiar Chapter 47: Something Familiar Now where did Phil go? I scanned the room and did not see him. As I search I make sure to throw a small ice spell at each demon my dragons are finishing off so we can get this done and find Phil together. Once I finished searching the rest of the room I approached the altar. I had the dragons watch the door for when Phil returned. He must have teleported out of the room to get reinforcements. Tied to the altar was a smaller being who seemed to be made of gold, maybe another metal? He or it looked like a small statue that came to life. Whatever, any person captured in a dungeon of demons probably is not a bad person. When I cut the bonds holding it to the altar I received a Great Game message.
You have released the Incan Wak¡¯a of Machu Picchu. Will you accept its gratitude and take it as your familiar?
Hold up, aren¡¯t familiars in all the stories either animals or cute fairy girls or something? Why do I get a walking statue? Oh well, this is probably better for me anyway since I work with the Earth element so much. I accept the little Wak¡¯a as my familiar. As soon as I do I receive another Great Game message.
Forming a familiar contract with a spirit of the Earth and Air increases your affinities with each element to 100%. Due to the player already having affinities of 100% in both Earth and Air the reward will instead be chosen by the player from the following list.
1. Unique Skill 2. 1,000,000 gold pieces 3. Legendary Item from the Great Game Store 4. 5 levels of growth 5. Spirit Master Bloodline
Oooh, this is good, free stuff. Let¡¯s see I do not need equipment or gold at the moment so cross of numbers 2 and 3. I am quite happy with my current bloodline, in fact I do not even know if I can switch to another one so cross of number 5. That leaves number 1, Unique Skill, or number 4, 5 levels of growth. Unique Skill it is. I can always level on my own even if it gets slower at higher levels. MUST REMEMBER TO SELECT SKILL AFTER DUNGEON. I choose Unique Skill from the list and inspect my new friend.
Machu Picchu Wak¡¯a Familiar of Mark Anderson
Level 100 Affinities: Earth 100% Air 100%
Well that won¡¯t do. This little guy needs a name. Hmm, how about Walter? Yeah he kind of looks like a Walter. Ok, he is now Walter. ¡°I dub the Walter the Wak¡¯a¡± ¡°Thank you master for the name.¡± Holy moly did he just talk? ¡°Walter can you hear me?¡± ¡°Yes master I can.¡± He does talk. I love my little dragonlings, but I finally have someone I can talk to without having to go back and interact with others. This is awesome! ¡°Walter, first welcome to the family, the dragons around you are my companions Elvira, Esmerelda, Bruce, and Azure, second what exactly is a Wak¡¯a and what can you do as my familiar?¡± ¡°Well master I am what the locals call a guiding spirit. I was the spirit of Machu Picchu before it fell into ruin and I gradually faded away. Recently I was awoken again and was recently captured by the Supay demons while I was disoriented and weak from first reappearing. Normally they would never be able to capture me as I can fade into the earth and reappear anywhere within Machu Picchu. As for what I can do as your familiar I can help you with manipulating the earth and air surrounding you. I can also detect energy fluctuations and evil presences from quite far away. It seems that the distance is equal to my level and it is measured in a unit of measurement I do not know called a kilometer.¡± Fantastic I had a living, breathing, well living anyway, helper that can take some of the load off me and is also a dungeon and evil sensor. This is so cool. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Walter, the world has changed since you last were awake and I understand the unit of measurement. I am sure you can learn what you need as we travel together.¡± ¡°Thank you master, I look forward to working closely with you. Excuse me master but there is a large concentration of evil energy moving towards us at an alarming rate.¡± ¡°What, it must be the Head Supay demon priest that escaped. How long until they reach us?¡± ¡°It should be within the next 5 minutes master.¡± ¡°That means they are past the next cavern that we hid in. Hmmm, when he teleported he must have teleported near his reinforcements. We will have to deal with him and 20 others that is not good odds.¡± Wait, I littered the tunnel behind me with my landmine traps which should whittle down the numbers and slow it down. Oh this is going to be good. ¡°Alright troops, we are going to go with the nuclear winter option and need to prepare quickly. Walter I want you to make a solid dome of stone 3 feet thick near the altar which can fit all of us inside. Its purpose is protection from projectiles and cold. My little dears clear up the battlefield and then hide in the dome while daddy prepares a surprise.¡± I decide that I probably have 6-7 minutes left before whatever is left of the approaching demon group arrives. I am going to trap the entrance door with ice and explosion runes. I do not know how many I can make in that amount of time, but I do know that it will cause a LOT of damage and disorient any remaining demons. I close the entrance doors and write my runes to cover both sides of the door down the center. This way no matter which door they open they will break the rune which will release the mana and start the spells. I draw the runes as big and as fast as I can and manage 6 before I hear explosions going off in the tunnel we came from. Ok time to wrap this up, three ice runes and three explosion runes should be enough. I start filling each one with 1,000 mana. I know that this is probably overkill again, but I do not know how many demons there will be so bigger is better. Besides this time I have had Walter prepare a shelter for me so I should be safe. I quickly retreat and join my group inside our shelter. Now it is a waiting game. The wait was not very long. Not even a minute goes by when we hear the doors creak and then a giant explosion that deafens me. The shelter shakes but holds. I can see cracks in the 3 foot thick walls, I probably overdid it again. I yell the command to charge, but no one moves. They must have been deafened by the sound. I signal with my hands and lead the way. Once I get out of the shelter all I see is debris and carnage. Yep definitely went overboard again. Well at least this is a new record. Two plans in a row and I am still conscious. Admittedly I am deaf, but conscious. My healing factor and that of my dragons should kick in soon and clear this up. As for Walter I am not sure if he even has ears. Wait if he doesn¡¯t have ears how does he hear and why did he not charge when I yelled? I will figure it out later. I search through the debris for the Head Priest. I really need to make sure that it is dead this time. As we clear rubble and debris we deliver several Coup de Grace¡¯s on some barely alive demons. About 15 meters from the door into the next cavern I find the demon I am looking for. Identify.
Head Priest Supay Demon
Level 155 Affinities: 100% Fire Abnormal Status: Unconsious
I knocked him out. This is hilarious. He must have been standing in the back to keep himself safe after running into the traps I set back in the tunnel. However, he was close enough without protection that he was knocked out. Priceless. Because I am me I have the group gather round and I use an image capturing crystal to take pictures with the knocked out demon like it was a big game animal. What can I say I am dumb this way. Once the pictures were taken I had Walter finish off the guy with a large stone spike to the noggin. I figured it would give Walter closure and also include him in the experience sharing. When the head Priest finally died the Great Game put up the notice.
You have cleared Machu Picchu dungeon. Calculating Rewards. For being the first to defeat ten monsters over level 100 you have been granted the title The Bigger They Are +1. For clearing the entire dungeon with no survivors you have been granted the title Underworld Terror +1. For killing more than a thousand demons in one dungeon you have been granted the title of Demon Slayer +2. For clearing your first evil aligned dungeon you have been granted the title of Evils Bane +1. You have reached level 121.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Alright pull up the screen and place the points and the final result for me is, Status:
Name: Mark Anderson Master Tamer +2, Dragon Tamer +3, Dragon Master +4, Elemental Dragon King Bloodline +10, Evolver +2, Monster Slayer +1, Titan Slayer +3, Destroyer +5, Level Maniac +2, Survivor +1, No Limits +5, Undying +5, Transcendent +5, Top 100 +1, Demon Slayer +2, Underworld Terror +1 Titles: Quadelementalist +4, Lucky One +1 Master Thief +1, World Traveler +1, Wealthy +1, Dungeon Explorer +3, Unstoppable +2, Army of One +1, Arsonist +1, Manifest Destiny +3, Not Nailed Down +1, Army of One +1, Scourge of the Undead +1, Think Outside the Box +1, Beast Tamer +1, Lost & Found +1, Spider Bane +3, Evils Bane +1, Bigger They Are +1
Level: 121 -14% Unspent Attribute Points: 0
Str: 240 HP: 2,400
Int: 380 +190% MP MP: 22,040
Wis: 380 +190% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 528% per 15 min.
Agi: 240 MP/Regen: 722% per 15 min.
Con: 240 +120% HP/Regen Luck: 240
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%¡±
I wonder what my little ones and Walter made it to after the fight? Status:
Name: Elvira Race: Elemental Air Dragon Level: 65 - 33% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Esmerelda Race: Elemental Earth Dragon Level: 67 - 7% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Azure Race: Elemental Water Dragon Level: 66 - 61% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Sir Bruce Shadow Flaming Ember of Doom Race: Elemental Fire Dragon Level: 72 - 21% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Walter Race: Incan Wak¡¯a Spirit Level 104 - 31% Status: Familiar of Mark Anderson
It seems like my plan of including Walter in the group with the kill on the Head Priest worked. He leveled up 4 times just from the death blow. I wish I knew how experience was determined. Does everybody share equally? Do the people who deliver the deathblows get more? This is something I could research in the future, but I am not sure it is worth the time. It is time to leave the dungeon, have a rest at the closest lair and then keep on leveling. I place everyone in the group into my inventory, nice my little statue familiar goes in there as well, I use my unique skill blink to exit this dungeon as fast as I can. I need to remember that I have this skill. If I integrate it into my fighting style I am sure that I can up my level of damage and safety a bunch. Like anything else it is just going to take a lot of practice to make it work seamlessly into our fighting style. Once outside the dungeon I blink on over to Elvira¡¯s new lair and pull everyone out. I let them know that tomorrow is a rest day and a planning day and then I contact Rudolph with an update of the dungeon we were in. ¡°Randolph are you there?¡± ¡°Yes Sire.¡± ¡°My team and I just finished up the Machu Picchu dungeon. It is filled with Supay demons and is definitely built for groups of 5 or more at level 125 or greater. The important thing to note is that the head boss of the dungeon has a relic that allows it to teleport away from danger and come back with reinforcements.¡± ¡°I see my king, are you and your team alright?¡± ¡°Yes Randolph, we are fine. I even picked up a new companion. A familiar I named Walter.¡± ¡°Of course you did sire, nothing you do is normal.¡± ¡°What do you mean, Randolph?¡± ¡°Normal people do not go into dungeons and come out with villagers, dragon eggs, and familiars sire. Normal people just struggle to accomplish the dungeon and grow stronger. You on the other hand defy common sense, which is probably why you have leveled so fast and become the Planetary Leader as well as my king.¡± ¡°Oh, I did not realize that I was that different.¡± ¡°Sire let me give you an example. Do you remember my level?¡± ¡°I think it was in the 50¡¯s or 60¡¯s right?¡± ¡°Correct sire, and this is what I was able to obtain after a lifetime of work and struggle. Unlike other people you were able to get into dungeons and survive that were several levels ahead of what you should have and then completed them alone or only with your personal companions and no team to share experience with. Also you can travel to dungeons whenever you like and continue to level when others must work on a daily basis to earn a living. This is another advantage.¡± ¡°I did not realize that I was that far off from a normal person.¡± ¡°Sire, just your bloodline alone makes you unique and above several planets worth of people. Add in all of the other quirks and abilities you have and you are rather special. This is a good thing as it will benefit our kingdom and yourself.¡± ¡°Alright, Randolph. Hey remember now that you are in charge and there are no wars you can take some time off too and increase your level.¡± ¡°Thank you sire, many of the councilors will be rotating through on a schedule to help them level up and stay relevant.¡± ¡°Ok, Randolph before I go has there been any reports of new high level dungeons?¡± ¡°The only high level dungeons reported are probably beneath your level sire. We have had reports of two new level 100 dungeons. One in what you used to call Florida and another on the island of Cuba.¡± ¡°Alright, thanks Randolph. If I do not find one myself soon I will just go and run through those dungeons just to check them out. Signing off.¡± ¡°Good bye, my lord.¡± Once again I need to rethink my relationship to the real world. It is probably a good thing that I have removed myself from directly overseeing the kingdom as I obviously am more out of touch and not relatable to most people. Oh well, that¡¯s fine. Randolph said it was a good thing so I just need to keep looking for high level dungeons and keep leveling myself as much as I can before I have to attend the Great Game competition. I decide to make a list of areas to inspect for dungeons tomorrow. I was tired and I needed to decompress and get a good night¡¯s sleep. My dragons should also have their customary growth spurt during tonight¡¯s rest. I wonder if Walter grows bigger? I guess I will find out in the morning. OH MAN, I almost forgot to pick my Unique Skill again. Quickly I scan through the Great Game store. I try and make a new list different than the last one. There are so many options that I might find or notice something different each time I look through this thing. After 2 hours of searching I have narrowed it down to three choices.
  1. (Unique Skill) Shared Attributes: Your HP and MP are now one. Magic and Health come out of the same combined pool. Requires 200 points in Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Constitution.
  2. (Unique Skill) Lesser Teleportation: You may teleport an unlimited number of times anywhere within 1,000 miles of your current location. Cool Down 60 seconds.
  3. (Unique Skill) Burning Bright: You can Triple all of your attributes for 120 seconds and then receive a 72 hour penalty of 25% of all your attributes when the timer is up.
Once again while Shared attributes is tempting, I think with my attributes it would be silly not to take one of the others. I Like Burning Bright, but the gain time for the penalty time does not seem like a great trade off. I think my choice is going to be Lesser teleportation. I honestly believe that this is an upgrade of Blink. I did not see it last time and I cannot find Greater Teleportation. This leads me to believe that the skill Blink was necessary to access this skill. Which means if I receive another Unique skill choice in the future I might be able to upgrade it to Greater Teleportation. I make my selection and then hit the hay. Morning as usual seems to come earlier than I want. I have never been a morning person and even now when I have all of the stats that make me superhuman I still don¡¯t like getting up. I glance over at my crew as I wake up. As expected my dragons have increased in size, but Walter is the same size. I guess he does not get larger. That¡¯ ok, I already have four companions that are going to be gigantic when they finally get to their adult size. Ok today is a relax and planning day. I need to think of several different places that could spawn dungeons. Help said that those areas of great cultural significance have a greater chance of forming into dungeons. So I need to brainstorm some of the most recognized cultural icons across the globe. Let¡¯s see how about the Great Pyramids, Angkor Wat, Eiffel Tower, Mt. Everest, Amazon Rainforest, Big Ben, Great Wall of China, Taj Mahal, and the North Pole. I figure I can teleport into the general area based on photographs and for those areas that cover a large area just use my blink skill and blink around until I get the black dot on my map that says there is a dungeon that is a higher level than I am. I spend the rest of the day playing with my dragons and then make a quick stop back at the castle to look up pictures of each area and buy a few long distance teleportation scrolls. Luckily I do not need the shorter teleportation scrolls any more. I may have to take a 60 second break between each shorter jump, but that beats throwing away gold every time I need to teleport. I will only need to use Greater Teleportation scrolls to cross the oceans and to return for time sensitive emergencies. I decided to explore each of my ideas completely before deciding on the order of dungeon diving. After two days of teleporting all over the world my new list looks like this.
  1. Great Pyramids Lvl 200 Undead
  2. Angkor Wat Lvl 125 Golems
  3. Eiffel Tower Nothing, however the Paris catacombs were marked as a Lvl 100
  4. Everest Lvl 150 Yeti¡¯s???
  5. Amazon Rainforest Lvl 200 Field Dungeon ???
  6. Big Ben Lvl 100 Golems
  7. Great Wall of China Nothing, Forbidden City Lvl. 175 Restless Dead???
  8. Taj Mahal Lvl 100 Animals
  9. North Pole Lvl 150 Ice Demon Krampus
Some of the dungeons were very explicit on their descriptions when entered. Others were more ambiguous and I guessed on the primary dungeon denizen. I even found two that were not on my original list as I was teleporting around. It looks like I have found two of the highest ranked dungeons on Earth in the Great Pyramids and the Amazon Rainforest. The Amazon Rainforest required me to check back in with Randolph to figure out what a field dungeon actually was. It seems that a field dungeon is just an area set aside over a very large area that traps ¡°normal¡± monsters and animals inside of it and does not let them leave unless they are under a certain level. This means that there are layers to this dungeon. The outside layer could be Lvl.50 and extend for 5 miles then it would become Lvl. 75 for the next five miles. Any monster under the level of 75 could freely wander between the two areas, but if they leveled up to 75 or beyond they would be stuck in the Lvl 75 layer and would not be able to move back down into the Lvl 50 layer. The more layers in the higher the levels get. Each layer could be taken over by specific monsters or it could be a mish mash. It read as a level 200 dungeon because the center of the dungeon will have at LEAST one Lvl 200 monster in it. This sounds like the perfect kind of dungeon to level up elites in. After talking to Randolph and the council we decided that after I explore it we will set up an outpost about 10 miles outside of the edge and link it into the teleport network. Then anyone over the level of 50 will be able to enter as far as they want. As they level up they can explore farther and farther in. This means we have a repeatable ever changing dungeon and do not have to worry about sending people all over the place to find the right type of dungeon once they hit level 50. With the levels and training of my troops, this may only be occasionally used, but a large group of a lower level going through an open area where they can support each other will also work. They can practice their formations and strategies and receive real world experience for it. I have decided that my group will conquer the dungeons in this order.
  1. Taj Mahal ¨C to level up the dragons
  2. Big Ben ¨C to level the dragons but also to get experience with golems.
  3. Angkor Wat
  4. Everest ¨C I already did demons so I think I will skip the North Pole for now.
  5. Amazon Rainforest ¨C to explore and level up
  6. Great Pyramids ¨C only after I feel confident fighting against high level undead.
I expect to spend about a week conquering and recovering from each dungeon. If we finish one quickly we can repeat it or move on. However, I need to spend several weeks in the Rainforest in order to explore and map out areas so my elite guards can come in and level when ready. I have just over 5 months until the Summer Solstice and the final integration of the Great Game. I will take an extended break at that time and catch up with the kingdom and everything else I need to do. 48 - My Plans Never Work Chapter 48: My Plans Never Work It has been 3 months. 3 months and I still have not made it to the Amazon rainforest. Not every dungeon is created equal and some of them are definitely harder than others. I forgot that the Lvl indicator is just a recommendation and not a hard and fast rule. Everything started out roses and sunshine. The Taj Mahal dungeon was oversized ¡°normal¡± animals like 10 foot tall tigers, but other than size nothing really special. The end boss was a winged tiger but with 4 dragons and my blink ability his being able to fly did not help him at all. The golem dungeons however were brutal. I guess I just assumed that since I did so well against the golems way back in the beta test that these would be a piece of cake. I was wrong. A true golem that does not die conveniently from a riddle being solved and is much harder to deal with. Each type of golem has a specific type of magic that hurts them the most and sometimes they are impervious or very close to it when it comes to magic. Then you have to destroy them physically. With my stats it should have been easy, but since this was the first time I encountered many of these golems I had to figure out their weaknesses while myself and my team was getting thrashed. It was a painful learning experience. I gained 4 levels, Walter gained 6 levels and the kids are all in the 90¡¯s now. I have high hopes that the Mount Everest dungeon will put them over the level 100 threshold. I think that they might gain the ability to transform or talk. Either one would be excellent and help out. I am starting to run into a problem with the kids. They are all over 9 meters long and 2-3 meters tall when on all fours. They are starting to have a hard time fitting into many of the dungeons. Most of the dungeons we have gone into are underground or at least enclosed in buildings. With their size there have been a couple times where I had to store them in my inventory and bring them back out in larger caverns. This has slowed their progress down immensely the last couple of weeks as they only get experience when they are out and present with me. Come to think of it, when I checked the Himalayan dungeon it was a combination of outside on the mountain and inside ice caves dungeon. I think I will just skip to the Amazon to get the experience until they get past level 100 and find out if they will gain size control. I will come back and try the Mount Everest Dungeon in the future. It is definitely not going anywhere and it will be a while before anyone else hits a level or has the ability to reach it so I should still get the first clear bonuses even if I put it off for a while. I teleport to the area selected for the forward Amazon Field Dungeon base. I will spend today and tomorrow with Walter¡¯s help to create some basic fortifications, walls and buildings using Earth magic. The kids can hunt around the area while we work. When the work is done we can have, one good night¡¯s rest and then start on the large Amazon dungeon. Before I enter into the dungeon I better check up on everything. I am going to use the communication crystal to contact Jacob and check in. I decided not to bother Randolph this time for two reasons. I always seem to default to him and I would like another viewpoint and I would like Jacob to prepare a celebration for the final Great Game integration. It seems like a funny thing to celebrate, but the celebration might help with morale and help some people realize that things are never going to be the same. ¡°Jacob.¡± ¡°Yes my king¡± ¡°Is there anything pressing I need to know before I give you my update?¡± ¡°No sire, everything is running smoothly. There is a possibility that the council might want to contact you soon about trying to send out a delegation to talk to and negotiate with the two northern groups.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine, they know how to get a hold of me. I am about to start my exploration of the Amazon Field Dungeon. I will be building a rough staging area with Earth magic. Please let the council know that they should avoid sending anyone until I give the all clear.¡± ¡°Very well my lord, is there anything else?¡± ¡°Actually yes, I want you to prepare or arrange a festival to acknowledge the final change over on the Summer Solstice. We will finally be fully integrated into the Great Game and I want people to have a positive memory associated with it instead of being depressed and remembering the hard transition we have had so far. I want there to be a memorial to those who have fallen. Hire someone to create a statue to memorialize those that did not make it. I want it tasteful not gaudy. I will cover the expenses up to 100,000 gold pieces for basic needs for the festival and a separate 10,000 gold coins for the statue.¡± ¡°Excellent, my lord I will get on that right away.¡± ¡°Fantastic Jacob, please remind my daughter to message me when she gets done with each dungeon, I would like to keep up with her progress.¡± ¡°I will remind Nicole when she returns sire.¡± ¡°Thanks Jacob, I will talk to you soon, signing off.¡± After two days of work the outpost I thought looked pretty good.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Walter, what do you think? Do we need to add anything else?¡± ¡°No master, this is much better than what I was imagining.¡± We had cleared an area of about 200 meters square in the jungle and then raised stone walls 25 meters high and 5 meters thick around the entire thing. There is only one entrance through the wall. We placed a meter thick section of stone in the middle of this entrance that any Earth mage can remove when they are ready to build an actual gate. It is just there right now to keep animals and smaller monsters out. There were several 3 floor square buildings also constructed from stone scattered around the walls as housing areas. Finally, with Walter¡¯s help I was able to construct a 75 meter tall tower in the center. It is nothing fancy with just a ramp continually spiraling up the middle and a few break alcoves on the way up. It is just meant as a watch tower and is between 5 and 10 meters taller than even the tallest surrounding trees to allow long distance viewing. With this all completed we can finally start on the Amazon Field Dungeon in the morning. In the morning surrounded by the dragons and with Walter trundling behind me I cross the threshold of the Amazon field dungeon and see this message.
Welcome to the Amazon Field Dungeon. The core section is rated at Level 200. Experience and rewards will only be calculated after 12 hours of non-combat once you have left the Field Dungeon. Please enjoy your stay!
Finally, a message that seemed to convey all of the information I needed. Short, sweet, and to the point. I wish more of the Great Game messages were like that. My party and I walked further into the rainforest and tried to watch all directions at once. One thing I had underestimated was how hard it was to keep an eye in every direction including up, because the canopy could support some seriously deadly monsters. Luckily I felt I could trust my group implicitly so we divided up responsibilities. I scanned forward, Bruce had the right side, Elvira had the left side, Azure watched the canopy and Walter watched the rear. Esmerelda would rotate in when somebody needed a break. This seemed like a good division of labor and should be easily able to sustain for a long time. We proceeded into the forest listening to the sounds and trying to identify any threats. After ? an hour I called a quick break. As we circled up for the break I realized an important fact that I had forgotten to take into consideration. We were lost. As I looked at our back trail I saw that the trail we had blazed through the jungle was visibly growing back. It looks like we will have to find a better way to navigate. I can always teleport us out of the dungeon when we want, but ordinary adventurers and guards may not have that option. Maybe if we put up stone markers? Would they be overgrown? Would the dungeon even allow them to remain once I left the area or dungeon? There are too many questions and not enough answers. Well I can test some of them right now. I tell everyone that our break is going to be longer than I first thought. I explain my thinking. ¡°Ok team listen up this is what we are going to do. Dragons you are in charge of knocking down and clearing an area about 20 meters across. Walter, you and I are going to use Earth Magic to raise a hollow tube of stone above the canopy. Let¡¯s make the walls about one meter thick and just have a simple stone ladder built into the hollow middle. This will allow lost people to climb up and check on any towers we will set up.¡± ¡°Yes Master I can help you with that.¡± ¡°Excellent, Walter do you think we can color it?¡± ¡°What do you mean master?¡± ¡°Is there a way we can use the Earth magic to color the towers differently so people will know that they are in the blue section, red section, or green section for example?¡± ¡°Well master we can extract certain minerals from the soil and stone and make sure that they are on the surface which should provide the colors you want. I do not know what is available in this area we will have to bring up the stone to find out.¡± ¡°Ok Walter let¡¯s get to it. Dragons start clearing the area please.¡± The next two hours are spent setting up the tower like I imagined. Walter and I decided on making this section of towers blue. We used the mineral azurite to tint the surface. This should stand out among the green of the jungle. When we finish I ask Walter a question. ¡°Walter do you know why we have seen very little in the way of monsters? After this much time and travel we are usually swamped by something.¡± ¡°Yes master, this is a field dungeon. Since monsters can move freely from layer to layer they do not attack travelers except when commanded by higher level monsters or when they feel they have a good chance of winning. In regular dungeons, everything is programmed to attack no matter what.¡± ¡°Wow you sure know a lot about dungeons.¡± ¡°Remember master I am a spirit of an area that was made into a dungeon. I was given this information when I was reformed by the Great Game. I know a lot of general information about dungeons, but nothing specific.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fantastic, if you notice me making a mistake that would be bad for us in a dungeon due to your knowledge please speak up and let me know.¡± ¡°Yes master, your safety is my primary concern.¡± ¡°Alright, everyone we have a new strategy and purpose for a while. We are going to continue wandering around and setting up towers in the lower leveled are first. I want about 5 towers in each level. I think we can easily do two a day and one every third day with a ? day rest, before moving into a higher zone.¡± The next few days are spent doing just that. We set up 5 blue towers of azurite in the entry zone. When we moved into the next zone, we finally started getting attacked on a semi-regular basis. We set up 5 yellow towers with the mineral wulfenite on the outside of them in the next zone. The third zone we went with five orange towers with a surface covered in crocoite. In this zone we started seeing level 100-125 monsters and were attacked almost constantly. It took us 1 day per tower in this zone. Either the group would protect me and I would raise the tower or we would protect Walter while he raised it. I made an executive decision after the last tower was raised to leave the area and teleport back to the staging area we had created. After we had a full day¡¯s rest, received our rewards and resupplied we would continue onto the next zone. I was not sure if there would be just one more zone in the middle to high 100 levels followed by the boss or if it would split it up. As always I would just have to find out. 49 - Family Bonding Time Chapter 49: Family Bonding Time The next day was nice. I teleported back to the staging area and had the group settle in for a 24 hour stay. We set up camp and I contacted my daughter Nicole. ¡°Hi Nicole, how is the training going? Are you being smart and staying safe?¡± ¡°Yes dad, everything is fine. Hey dad remember when I said that I wanted a pet?¡± ¡°I vaguely remember this conversation, I told you then that we did not have the space or funds. Our situation is different now. If you want a pet you can get one. Heck I have four dragons.¡± ¡°Well the thing is dad I already kind of got a couple.¡± ¡°That is great honey, it will teach you responsibility. What kind of pet did you get?¡± ¡°Well remember dad how I used to always want a dog of my own?¡± ¡°Yes sweetie I do. Did you get a dog? What kind did you get?¡± ¡°Well I got two pets. They are companions like you have.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great what type of companions do you have?¡± ¡°I got two fluffy puppies from the last dungeon dive I went on. Their momma was killed and I just had to adopt them dad, they were so cute. The problem is that they are growing really fast.¡± ¡°Well it should be OK, we have plenty of money to feed them and tons of space for them to run around in. What are their names?¡± ¡°Well my little guy is named Alfred Fluffykins. I call him Alfie. My new girl, Alfie¡¯s sister, is Lady Knight Norasta Deadly Snugglewumpus Fluffykins I call her Nora for short.¡± ¡°I love the names sweet pea, you definitely have your dad¡¯s good naming sense.¡± ¡°Thanks dad.¡± ¡°Alright I have to go and get ready to finish up this dungeon tomorrow. Tell Randolph I said hi and to contact me if you or the kingdom is in trouble OK? ¡°Alright dad see you soon.¡± That¡¯s nice she has some companions now to help keep her company as I am out here trying to get ready for the competition. Two nice dogs, wait she never did tell me what type of dog they were. She also said they came from a dungeon. That little sneak. She is getting better at redirecting the conversation. I used to be able to catch that. There has to be something different about her pets for her not to tell me directly. It looks like I need to take a trip home after finishing up this dungeon to get to the bottom of this. It can¡¯t be too bad or one of her minders would have contacted me. The next morning I was awoken by the sound of my kids rushing into my room. ¡°Dad, dad can you hear us?¡± ¡°Of course I can hear you, daddy needs some more sleep go back to bed.¡± ¡°Dad get up you have to see this.¡± My foggy morning brain finally started to wake up. Who the heck was talking to me? The only person who talked around me was Walter and he did not call me dad. I reluctantly turned over and looked at who had disturbed my slumber. In front of my bed were four teenage half-dragons. Each of them a different color so knowing which one was which was fairly easy. It looks like they did level past 100 over the last few days and gain both a transform ability and speech. Identify.
Name: Elvira Race: Elemental Air Dragon Level: 103 - 41% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Esmerelda Race: Elemental Earth Dragon Level: 106 - 27% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Azure Race: Elemental Water Dragon Level: 105 - 34% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Sir Bruce Shadow Flaming Ember of Doom Race: Elemental Fire Dragon Level: 108 - 11% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson
My little ones are starting to grow up. I wonder what level I managed to get to? Status.
Name: Mark Anderson Master Tamer +2, Dragon Tamer +3, Dragon Master +4, Elemental Dragon King Bloodline +10, Evolver +2, Monster Slayer +1, Titan Slayer +3, Destroyer +5, Level Maniac +2, Survivor +1, No Limits +5, Undying +5, Transcendent +5, Top 100 +1, Demon Slayer +2, Underworld Terror +1 Titles: Quadelementalist +4, Lucky One +1 Master Thief +1, World Traveler +1, Wealthy +1, Dungeon Explorer +3, Unstoppable +2, Army of One +1, Arsonist +1, Manifest Destiny +3, Not Nailed Down +1, Army of One +1, Scourge of the Undead +1, Think Outside the Box +1, Beast Tamer +1, Lost & Found +1, Spider Bane +3, Evils Bane +1, Bigger They Are +1
Level: 143 -67% Unspent Attribute Points: 220
Str: 240 HP: 2,400
Int: 380 +190% MP MP: 22,040
Wis: 380 +190% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 528% per 15 min.
Agi: 240 MP/Regen: 722% per 15 min.
Con: 240 +120% HP/Regen Luck: 240
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Wow I crossed level 140. We must have been attacked by more monsters than I thought over the last few days. Then again with near constant attacks of monsters close to level 125 I am kind of surprised the kids did not go higher. Hmm, I wonder if their growth slows down after level 100? Maybe they have to reach a certain age to speed it back up. That would make some sense. As sentient beings it would be ridiculous to have them gain overwhelming power without the life experiences to back it up. I am sure they will keep leveling, just at a slower pace. I wonder if that means that Walter and I will level faster now that the majority of the group experience should just be going to us? Easy enough to check I guess. ¡°Walter come here please.¡± ¡°Yes Master.¡± Identify.
Name: Walter Race: Incan Wak¡¯a Spirit Level 142 - 12% Status: Familiar of Mark Anderson
How did he catch up to me? I mean I know he should be higher leveled than the kids, but with my head start and everybody experiencing the same thing he should be a lot lower leveled than me. Something weird is going on. ¡°Walter do you know why your level is so high?¡± ¡°No master, but isn¡¯t this good now I can serve you better.¡± ¡°Yes this is good Walter, don¡¯t feel bad. I am just curious and I do not like mysteries that I cannot solve.¡± ¡°OK master.¡± Who would be able to help me, right Anna minister of dungeons or Baron minister of magic. I think I will contact Baron first. Familiars seem to be more of a magician thing in the stories so he might know. Let¡¯s see where is his, there is his communication crystal. I have got to see if I can get some sort of master crystal that acts more like a cell phone instead of having to switch these out for each person. ¡°Baron are you available for a quick consultation?¡± ¡°Yes my king, how may I help you?¡± ¡°My familiar Walter just leveled up and is only a level behind me. Do you know why he would level up so fast? I figured I would keep my initial lead on him for a while.¡± ¡°That is an easy answer my lord. Familiars are an extension of you as a contracted spirit. The majority of experience would be going to Walter until he reaches the level behind you. Now that he has caught up to you he will never equal or pass your level since he is tied to you as a servant. This is how the Great Game arranges things so any familiar can quickly become useful to its contracted master. If they had to level normally it may take a low level familiar years if not decades to catch up. You were quite lucky in finding a powerful familiar who was close to you in level. The catch up time was quite short. Is there anything else you need to know my lord?¡± ¡°Nope, thanks for the explanation Baron. It was just bugging me not knowing.¡± ¡°Very well my lord, have a good day. Signing off.¡± I let Walter know the situation. With Walter and myself sharing the majority of the experience for a while I might be able to level up even quicker through the end of this dungeon. I may have to spend some time in the next zone just power leveling before we try and move on the final boss. Yep that sounds like the best and safest plan. Before we head back in though I will place my unused points and see if the kids can teach me how to fly better in the hybrid form. Status.
Name: Mark Anderson Master Tamer +2, Dragon Tamer +3, Dragon Master +4, Elemental Dragon King Bloodline +10, Evolver +2, Monster Slayer +1, Titan Slayer +3, Destroyer +5, Level Maniac +2, Survivor +1, No Limits +5, Undying +5, Transcendent +5, Top 100 +1, Demon Slayer +2, Underworld Terror +1 Titles: Quadelementalist +4, Lucky One +1 Master Thief +1, World Traveler +1, Wealthy +1, Dungeon Explorer +3, Unstoppable +2, Army of One +1, Arsonist +1, Manifest Destiny +3, Not Nailed Down +1, Army of One +1, Scourge of the Undead +1, Think Outside the Box +1, Beast Tamer +1, Lost & Found +1, Spider Bane +3, Evils Bane +1, Bigger They Are +1
Level: 143 -67% Unspent Attribute Points: 0
Str: 260 HP: 2,600
Int: 450 +220% MP MP: 29,700
Wis: 450 +220% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 598% per 15 min.
Agi: 260 MP/Regen: 990% per 15 min.
Con: 260 +130% HP/Regen Luck: 260
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Once again a fantastic rise in my abilities. However, I have no comparison on Earth. Am I average for a Planetary leader, or below average? I really need to be at the best I can be for my first Great Game competition. I need to intimidate or wow the others so they will want to trade with Earth and not conquer it. I have a feeling that the first competition will be the easiest one as no one will have seen me and there will be no record of my fighting styles or strategies. I have to make the best of this. With my kiddos growing up and achieving a Draconian form and speech I decided to take another day off and invited my daughter to the area so I could check on her and spend the day with my family. The kids could also train me better in how to use my draconian form which I admittedly was horrible at. Nicole teleported in with a pair of guards which I was glad to see. ¡°Daddy, It is great to see you!¡± ¡°Hi pumpkin, no more putting it off let me see the new additions to the family.¡± ¡°Ok dad here are my fluffy puppies.¡± What appeared next to my daughter were NOT puppies. They were 6 foot tall Cerberuses, Cerberii, what the heck is the plural for Cerberus? Focus Mark, be positive for your daughter and then grill her. ¡°Darling they look lovely, but I am not sure I would call them puppies.¡± ¡°But Daddy they are my little fluffy angels. Besides I was told that they are going to get bigger, so they are technically still puppies.¡± These things are going to get bigger? Identify.
Name: Alfred Fluffykins Race: Giant Cerberus Level 22 - 11% Status: Pet/Companion of Nicole Anderson Name: Lady Knight Norasta Deadly Snugglewumpus Fluffykins Race: Giant Cerberus Level 23 - 8% Status: Pet/Companion of Nicole Anderson
¡°Hold that thought sweetie.¡± I search through the communication crystals and there it is. ¡°Anna, can you spare a couple of minutes.¡± ¡°Yes my king, how can I help you.¡± ¡°I just met Nicole¡¯s puppies. How big does a Giant Cerberus grow?¡± The giggling that came through the line before here answer let me know that my council had already probably discussed my reaction to this revelation and were going to tease me about it later. I need to remain cool and positive so I do not give them any ammunition to use. ¡°Well sire, the largest Giant Cerberus I know of was over level 100 and was only 15 feet tall at the shoulder. However, I have heard stories of them reaching a height of 20 feet or more.¡± ¡°That is bigger than the dragons I fought.¡± ¡°Yes sire, they may be bigger than the dragons, but dragons are still on top of the food chain due to their flight ability and scaly armor. With similar level monsters I would bet on the dragon every time.¡± ¡°Is there anything else I should know about them, Anna?¡± ¡°Just that as they get older they tend to take on the elemental affinities if any of their pack leaders or owners.¡± ¡°So what your saying is that eventually my daughter is going to have two loyal guard cerberus that will be able to use water and air elemental magic.¡± ¡°Yes Sire.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fantastic.¡± I could almost feel her confusion through the link. I bet they thought I would freak out about this. However, any way you look at this, extremely loyal and deadly protectors are just what you want for your children in this new world of ours. ¡°That¡¯s all I need Anna, thanks. Signing off.¡± ¡°Well Nicole, I found out your puppies are going to get bigger as they level and soon they might be able to pick up your elemental affinities. So make sure to train them well and use magic in front of them constantly.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not mad daddy.¡± ¡°Nope I think this is a great addition to our family. Speaking of which I do not know if you noticed but there has been a little change in ours.¡± I could see Nicole look around and when she spotted the four dragonkin her eyes went wide. My little darlings shyly waved their hands at her. How cute, they were acting so shy in front of their big sister. ¡°Hello Nicole.¡±, my little ones chanted in unison. ¡°This is awesome! I always wanted brothers and sisters when I was little and now I have four.¡± This is going as good as I hoped. Nicole quickly ran over and gave each of the dragons a big hug and welcomed them into the family. The rest of the day was just entertainment for everyone else and training for me. I would climb the tower in the center of the outpost change into my dragonkin form and then jump off. Wherever I ¡°landed¡± the family would come and find me after they finished laughing and give me advice on what to do differently. Flying is much more complicated than one thinks. Angle of wings, amount of flapping, posture, among other things were very important. Since I started out as human the instincts that my kids were born with I had to learn the hard way. By the end of the day my gliding was vastly improved, my flight was better but not good. I could probably escape into the air in an emergency situation, but it would not be pretty. Finally, my new extended family had completely bonded. Sadly, this day had to come to an end. I promised Nicole that as soon as she reached certain milestones that I would personally take her through some dungeons. One dungeon at level 50, two dungeons at level 60, three dungeons at level 75, and five dungeons of her choice at level 100. She now had goals to reach and promised she would be safe and use her guards and new fluffykins. I actually believed her this time, because I knew she would not want anything to happen to her new companions. 50 - I Wish I Had A Green Thumb Chapter 50: I Wish I Had a Green Thumb Walter, the Dragons four and I teleported back to the last tower the next morning ready for anything. After making sure nothing would jump out at as immediately I checked the status of the tower. Everything seemed to be the same. I guess that means in a field dungeon that structures you make are permanent unless destroyed by others or monsters. The vegetation had grown right up to the 5 meter clearance zone of rock that Walter and I had placed around the tower though. The jungle itself was more of a threat than the monsters to our buildings. We oved carefully over the next hour fighting off monsters and steady intervals until I saw a marked increase in their level. We must have entered into the next zone. We will travel another ? hour before setting up the first tower. After half an hour I was starting to rethink this plan. The attacks we were fighting off were serious enough that I was not sure that five of us would be able to protect the sixth adequately while the tower was built. After consulting with the group, we decided that we would try it out with a slight modification to our normal plan. We would all help clear the land first and then sit in the middle and fight off the monsters for the next 2 hours to see if they were consistently attacking or if we were thinning out what came at us over time. We implemented the new strategy immediately and it only took an hour for us to realize that this was working. It seemed that each wave of monsters was having to come from farther and farther away. This means the boss monster probably knew we were coming and was sending everything it could at us. It took some time for the further away monsters to arrive where we were thus the ever increasing time in between the monster attacks. I would identify each lead monster as they came in during the waves and the levels peaked out at 160. As long as there were not too many of them between the six of us we can easily take down those at that level. I decided to go ahead and start raising the tower. With the kids being able to speak I felt confident that anyone of us could call for help and whoever was raising would be able to stop and help them out. I had Walter work on the tower first, just in case. It took some extra time, but the first tower for this zone is complete. We colored the outside of these towers red with the mineral cinnabar. I liked the progression of colors. Almost every person around the planet should recognize that after the first blue zone the color of the towers showed the increase in level. Yellow, to Orange, to Red for danger on the highest zone. We spent the next week setting up the other four towers in this zone. We finished one each day for the first couple of days, then the attack groups started to get larger, although the overall average level dipped down to 130. I bet the over boss of the dungeon is calling monsters in from the last zone also. Probably trying to overwhelm us with quantity instead of quality. Strangely enough the organized attacks have only been during the day. The attacks we have at night are random and easily dealt with by one or two of us. It is hard to ignore this and I have decided that we will actually rest a little now that the last tower is built and advance at night to the final boss. It seems that the final boss does not do well at night, or it is tricking us. As soon as it got dark the organized attacks once again ceased. The group cautiously traveled towards the center of the dungeon over the next 4 hours. We were able to travel much easier than we did during the day. All we had to worry about was individual higher level monsters ambushing us. It was relatively easy to spot those around us, but a couple monsters had caused some serious damage by coming down from the canopy until I had a brainstorm. I had Elvira the air elemental dragon form a layer of compressed air above us just under the canopy. Now whenever something disturbed that layer of air, such as a monster jumping down to ambush us we had just enough warning to move and cause it to miss the crucial first strike. Once it was down on the ground whatever it was would be easily dealt with by the six of us. After four hours the attacks stopped. This made me crank up my awareness to a whole new level. The only reason I could see for the stopping of the ambush attacks was that we were near the final boss who probably forbade others from entering his/hers/its territory. Up ahead I can see what looks like a clearing in the forest. There definitely seems to be moonlight shining through. We all stop at the edge of the clearing for two reasons. First it is the smart thing to do to check out the clearing first and secondly in front of us in the middle of a clearing at least a kilometer across is the largest freaking tree I have ever seen in my life. How have we not seen this thing from any of the towers we have built. I mean this thing should be visible from space. The trunk itself is easily 150-200 meters across and the height must rival the tallest of skyscrapers if not exceed them. It practically screams final boss location. We probably could not see it before due to Great Game dungeon logic or some other weird thing. Now that we are able to see it I have to take a picture before we continue. A quick selfie later with one of my memory storage crystals I decide that we have to advance. As we get closer to the tree I try and identify it.
World Tree Giver of Life (Corrupted)
Good to know. Probably unique to the Earth so try not to destroy large tree. However, the corrupted part leads me to believe that we will have to battle whatever corrupted the world tree. Now what could corrupt a tree that size. It would take something of immense power or something of lesser power a long time. I wonder which one it is. We carefully keep scanning the area for threats as we approach. Esmerelda is the first to spot something wrong. ¡°Dad what are those things?¡± Esmerelda was pointing to a cluster of what looked like giant seeds off to the left. Identify.
Corrupted Seedlings of the World Tree. Purification possible.
Obviously I do want to purify them but I do not know how. Help. ¡°What is the simplest method to purify corrupted substances in the Great Game.¡±
To purify a substance without preparation the simplest method is to overwhelm the corruption with uncorrupted mana.
Ok my crazy high mana pool is going to pay off big in this dungeon. I approach the seeds carefully incase anything is protecting them or hiding near them. Once I reach the first seed I place my hand on it and think about transferring mana to it. A Great Game notice appears.
This seedling will take 1,000 mana to purify. Do you wish to continue?
I mentally select yes and feel the mana leaving my body. The seed starts to glow and I receive a new notification.
Purified Seed of World Tree. The Guardian will be summoned after 29 more seeds are purified.
I get it these seeds are probably considered traps by most people because they would have depleted their mana pools to fix the corruption and be less ready to fight a guardian with low levels of mana. However, with my mana pool and regen rate this should be a piece of cake. I whisper the plan to my group. ¡°Listen up, after I purify 29 more of these seeds the ¡°Guardian¡± will be summoned. I do not know what the guardian is, but we can prepare for it anyway. Spread out quietly and find more of these seeds and then meet back here in 15 minutes.¡± I get acknowledgements from all of them and watch them scatter to start locating seeds. While they are doing that I will finish purifying the four remaining seeds in this group. Once I am done purifying the seeds I sit down and rest my back against one of the glowing seeds. After about 10 minutes the group starts to filter back in. They each reported new clusters they discovered. It seems that there are several more seeds than are needed to summon the guardian. I wonder if there is a bonus for purifying more than is needed? I guess we will find out. There are 7 other clusters that my group located in that short amount of time. The seeds in them vary in number.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
  1. 3 seeds
  2. 5 seeds
  3. 5 seeds
  4. 5 seedss
  5. 7 seeds
  6. 9 seeds
  7. 12 seeds
Ok, lets figure this out. ¡°Walter, how much mana do you have available and how fast does it regenerate?¡± ¡°Master I have a mana pool of 1,550. And I regenerate at a rate of 70% every 15 minutes.¡± Wow, I should have asked this before. I kind of now understand why people seem to think I am a broken character when I let slip some of what I can do. Walter is only one level behind me, but his mana and regeneration is world¡¯s behind what I have. I do not know if this is because I am awesome or if it is a limitation on familiars. Whatever, my plan should still work. ¡°I will purify groups 2, 3, and 4. I will also purify 2 of the seeds in group 1. Before we purify the final seed I want to set up traps for this Guardian that will arrive. We are going to set up traps in a path towards group number 6 the nine seedlings. We will set up a second set of traps between that group and the final group of 12. Walter will purify the last seedling in his group summoning the Guardian. Walter you will then escape the 12 seedling group.¡± ¡°Yes Master, I can do that.¡± ¡°I will be at the 9 seedling group and will start purifying them as quick as I can after I see Walter purify the seed to summon the Guardian. This should draw the Guardian towards me. If I can finish the purification before it arrives I will then run to the group of 12 seeds and join everyone there. We will build some quick fortifications and set up some long range weapons around the group of 12 seeds. Dragons you will aim and fire the weapons I leave there to slow down the Guardian while I try and purify the 12 seeds. If the Guardian gets close I want you to switch back to your large forms for fighting and Walter and I will join in on the attack. Does everyone understand?¡± ¡°Yes dad.¡± ¡°Yes Master.¡± ¡°Alright, Evira and Bruce, protect Walter as he sets up the fortifications. Esmerelda and Azure your with me as I purify and set traps.¡± About an hour later I joined back up with Walter at the group of 12 seeds and reviewed his preparations. Everything looked good. I took out 5 large crossbows and loaded each one with the most powerful combination bolts I had. I also took out my sniper rifle and set it up for myself with a mix of explosion and fire bullets. I figured the Guardian of a giant tree would be the weakest against these two. I sent Walter off to the last seed in the group of three to purify it and teleported over to the group of nine. Everything was set and ready to go. I shot a small fireball into the air to let Walter know that I was ready. I soon saw the glow of another purified seed. I also saw the tell tale shimmer of a teleportation portal. I quickly started purifying the seeds around me. By the time I got to the fifth one a giant animated tree had arrived I paused quickly and identified it.
Name: Demigod Harusta Race: Hamadryad Level: 263
Well dang it, that guy is much stronger than I anticipated and what is with the Demigod title. Focus back to purifying. As soon as I purified the next seed the Demigod turned in my direction and started walking towards me much faster than I would like. I quickly moved to seed seven and saw Harusta hit the first of my landmine traps. It actually stopped him and caused him to look around. I use the distraction to finish purifying the last seeds in this group. Harusta started walking in my direction again but much more carefully. Dang it, can he see the traps? I take out my MA 12 air rifle and start firing it at Harusta. I do not expect to do much damage, but if I can get him to concentrate on me instead of where he is walking then he will hit more of the traps and more damage will be done. As the bullets hit him, Harusta just looks annoyed and starts moving more quickly in my direction. He is only setting off about 1 in 7 or 8 of the traps I laid down. Not nearly enough to make me confident in bringing him down. After another minute or two Harusta is getting much much closer to me and looking much much bigger also. I decide that discretion is the better part of valor and teleport to the last group of seeds. Or at least I try to. Instead of teleporting I see this instead.
All teleport functions have been restricted in the presence of the Guardian.
Well shoot, that is not good. Wait is blink considered a teleport? I try blinking into the distance closer to the last cluster of seeds. YES it worked. I found a loophole that I can exploit. I blink over to the last group of seeds and hear the Guardian turn to follow me. Now that I am here I grab my waiting Sniper Rifle and Start channeling mana into the bullets. I am going for max mana in each shot, even if that means fewer shots. I need to break its defense down so the others have a target to shoot for and also a target for melee combat. I yell at my group to hold their fire until my command. I manage to get 5 shots off. The first is at its head and does little to no damage. The second is on the chest, where I manage to crack open and shatter several branches that make up its skin. That is one weak point. Finally, I send the remaining three shots into its left leg. I want to slow the thing down if possible. Each bullet to the leg does significant damage. Almost half of the leg has been destroyed. Harusta is still moving, but his mobility and speed is definitely affected. I yell for the group to aim at the damage I made on his chest and fire when ready. My mana has almost recovered to full and I start purifying seeds as fast as I can. As I reach the last seed I hear one of the kids yell at me to be careful. I look up and see a fist descending towards me. I use the seed as a shield. Right before it hit the seed the fist stops. I knew it. It wants to stop me but also does not want to damage the seedlings. I quickly scream out my discovery and tell everyone to attack and then retreat behind the seeds. I place my hand on the final seed and dump my mana into as quick as I can to purify the thing. Done, now to take care of Harusta. Harusta is looking rather bedraggled, but still seems capable of a good fight. His chest is torn up and looks vulnerable, but more importantly his leg looks ready to collapse. I decide that I need to eliminate the leg first. I blink behind his injured leg where he cannot see me and charge up a 200 mana fireball and release it. I see it travel hit and explode. The damage is okay, but the fire just is not taking hold like it should. I decide that a constant stream of fire would be more effective. I yell to my dragons to change form and target his chest with their breath weapons. I blink one more time and grab a hold of the back of Harusta¡¯s leg. I channel my mana into a fire stream and keep pumping mana in to keep it burning. Think of a longer hotter blowtorch. After about 20 seconds of this Harusta screams in rage, his leg starts to buckle and he begins to fall backward. I quickly blink back to the seed cluster and watch as Harusta topples backwards straight onto a growing stone spike. ¡°Walter, that¡¯s brilliant. Keep it up. Ok, I will try and blind him while you continue to work the chest area. Go!¡± I pull an eight foot flame spear out of my inventory and shift into my draconian form. I then blink to a spot about 20 feet above the fallen Harusta¡¯s head. As I fall I glide until I am lined up with his eye and then pull in my wings. The force of gravity should add to the damage I am about to do. I sink the spear at least 2 feet into this tree things eye. I then released the flame mana that was built up inside it and watched the eye start to burn. However, I was a little too distracted and was knocked a glancing blow from one of Harusta¡¯s hands as he raised them to his face. I may have high stats, a draconian body, and even an abnormally large HP value, but none of that removes the pain you feel. That hit hurt and it feels like it may have broken some bones. When I get done tumbling along the ground I shift back into my human form and stand up woozily to check on the situation. Harusta seems to be barely moving. I can see Bruce still attacking and Elvira resting on the side. I don¡¯t see the other two or Walter. I need to finish this. I quickly down a high grade health pill and feel my bones start knitting together. This is going to hurt even more. I blink above Harusta¡¯s head once again but have to take the fall on my legs as I am pretty sure my wings are broken still. I catch my breath for just a second and run towards his mouth. As soon as I get close I just start tossing random magic grenades in for three seconds (I managed to get six in) and then turned around and ran back towards his eye that I stabbed. This time I was paying very close attention to where his hands were. He was feebly swatting at Bruce. Good job Bruce way to keep him occupied. Just as I reached my spear, which was still lodged in the eye of Harusta, the grenades I threw into his mouth started cooking off. I could feel the shaking and damage from where I was and decided it was time to end this. I took out my largest Warhammer and jumped up extra high. I was going to pile drive that spear in as deep as I could before I overcharged it and let it explode. One hit, find my balance, again. Two hits, more than half way there, one more time. Three hits and then I kneel down and place my hand on the butt of the spear and send mana into it until it starts to shake and vibrate. This is the first time I have done this on purpose. I found out the hard way that each magic weapon can only hold so much mana before it explodes in a spectacular manner. Luckily it starts to vibrate and shake before this explosion happens which allowed me to throw away the experimental dagger and only take a few pieces of shrapnel in damage when I first discovered it. Since I have reached the shake and vibrate stage I blink away from Harusta¡¯s head and turn to watch the result. ¡°Everyone clear the area!¡± I probably should have said that a lot sooner as I could see Bruce get knocked out of the sky by the explosion. He was far enough away that he might take some damage, but should come through the whole thing just fine.
You have defeated demigod Harusta. Calculating rewards. For being the first to defeat a demigod you are granted the title of Demigod Slayer +3, For being the first to kill a monster above level 250 you are awarded the title X-Class Killer +2, For completing 50 or more dungeons in less than 1 year you are awarded the title Dungeon Maniac +2, For destroying the highest level monster currently on the planet you are awarded the title Monster Master +1, For being the first to destroy a legendary plant type monster you are granted the title Plant Killer +1, For purifying all seeds of the World tree you are granted the title Purifier +3 and have the exclusive right to plant one seed in a place of your choosing. For saving all of the World tree¡¯s seeds you are granted the title Guardian of the Trees +3. All other experience and rewards will be administered after twelve hours of non-combat outside of the field dungeon.
This is awesome. I have not gotten that many title in a long time. Let¡¯s see added all up that is 15 more bonus points in every stat plus whatever experience we are going to get. I gather up the group and after collecting my World Tree seed I teleport us back to the staging base we set up. 51 - Unexpected Training Opportunity Chapter 51: Unexpected Training Opportunity It is definitely time to rest up and return home to check on things. I also need to plant this seed and see what it does. After a small break I should still have enough time to get through the Great Pyramids dungeon before the solstice and add some more levels. As soon as the group gets up in the morning I check on everyone¡¯s status and growth. Identify.
Name: Elvira Race: Elemental Air Dragon Level: 110 - 40% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Esmerelda Race: Elemental Earth Dragon Level: 112 - 77% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Azure Race: Elemental Water Dragon Level: 111 - 4% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Sir Bruce Shadow Flaming Ember of Doom Race: Elemental Fire Dragon Level: 114 - 21% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Walter Race: Incan Wak¡¯a Spirit Level 175 - 32% Status: Familiar of Mark Anderson
Ok, it seems that I was right in that most of the experience is going to Walter and myself. The dragons for all that we did barely moved up in levels. However, if Walter is level 175 then I have to be a level higher. Time to check. My status screen is starting to get unwieldy though with all of the titles. Help, can I get my status updates without titles listed please until further notice?
Yes
Status.
Name: Mark Anderson
Level: 176 -5% Unspent Attribute Points: 230
Str: 275 HP: 2,750
Int: 465 +230% MP MP: 30,690
Wis: 465 +230% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 632% per 15 min.
Agi: 275 MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Con: 275 +130% HP/Regen Luck: 275
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
It looks like my MP/Regen has hit a limit. I should be above 1,000% but it seems like it is stuck there. Oh well live and learn I guess Wisdom will stay at 465 but I want to up my Intelligence to 600 for more mana and then distribute the rest of the points evenly.
Error, you cannot raise an attribute above 500 points until reaching tier 3. Player is still 15 levels shy of tier 3. Please redistribute your attribute points.
That¡¯s a new message. So I cannot exceed 500 points until level 201 which is tier 3. I have limit break so I can continue leveling but the Earth is only at tier 2. However, since I had to spend a world perk on that tier upgrade it means that we can level faster than most people think. I bet there are very few new planets that get that perk and then use it efficiently before the Great Game competition. So if I can get past 500 in the future I should still raise my Wisdom attribute and keep it parallel with Intelligence. Hmm, I think this should be a good distribution of the points I have then. Status.
Name: Mark Anderson
Level: 176 -5% Unspent Attribute Points: 0
Str: 315 HP: 3,150
Int: 500 +250% MP MP: 35,000
Wis: 500 +250% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 787% per 15 min.
Agi: 315 MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Con: 315 +150% HP/Regen Luck: 315
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100%Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
I can¡¯t believe that I broke the Great Game and forced an error message. This fills me with confidence. If I can get an error message about my attributes being too high and I still have a chance to level up more I should be nigh on unstoppable in my first Great Game competition. Calm down Mark, let¡¯s not get overconfident. However, this does suggest some excellent possibilities. It seems obvious now that the Great Game is run by some Artificial Intelligence and not actual living beings. If there was a living person behind it the error probably would have been kicked up to it so they could fix it before it was presented to me. That means if I can gain enough power or access to the Great Game I can possibly change some of the parameters so Earth is safe and no change over tragedy of the magnitude that hit Earth occurs to another planet in the future. That may be a lofty goal, but it is one that I should definitely work towards. I also need to keep an eye out for other bugs that I can exploit in the future. Time to get back to the castle and check on everything before heading out one more time. When I arrive back at the castle, Jacob as usual is waiting for me in the throne room. How on earth does that guy always know when I am going to arrive. This is crossing the line of competent and starting to border on creepy. In fact it might even be in the realm of dangerous. If someone else can track my movements that could end very badly if they set a trap. I better figure this out. ¡°Jacob, I have a few questions for you if you do not mind.¡± ¡°Yes sire, I am here to serve.¡± ¡°First how are you always here when I teleport in? Can someone else track me? Should I be worried about ambushes?¡± Jacob starts to laugh. ¡°Relax my king and I will explain. I have purchased an enchantment that notifies me and automatically teleports me to the throne room whenever someone is teleporting in. Since there is a very limited amount of people that have permission to teleport into the throne room I will always be present when they arrive. Although slight there is a small difference in time for teleporting into a protected building such as the castle and just teleporting around. This difference in time allows my teleport to arrive before you do, thus you see me waiting as I should be. This is my job to be ready to serve you whenever needed.¡± ¡°So if I teleported in at say 3:30 in the morning for no reason, you would appear in pajamas in front of me?¡± ¡°Please try and avoid that unless it is an emergency my lord, but yes I would unless I am awake enough to switch out my outfit through the Great Game before you can notice.¡± ¡°Alright Jacob I will try to avoid such embarrassing situations in the future. I was more worried about traps and ambushes.¡± ¡°The best way to avoid those my lord is to always teleport into what you know is a safe area or vary your teleport sites. Many monarchs have several teleport sites set up and each time they teleport randomly to one of their choice.¡± ¡°That is not a bad idea. I will consider it and make a decision soon. Is there anything going on that I need to know about?¡± ¡°Nothing that comes to mind sire. There is a delegation from the two kingdoms to the north that is supposed to arrive within the next week we were going to contact you about, but we do not know the exact time of their arrival.¡± ¡°Very well, I will deal with it as it comes up.¡± I spent the rest of the day catching up with my daughter and extended family. Playing with several children and being an Uncle and father always puts me in a good mood. I actually like children in small doses when I do not have to teach them anything and can give them back. My extended family has adopted several children who were orphaned as a result of the Great Game change over and with my resources it was easy to cement myself as the favorite uncle. It is great goofing around with kids who have no idea that I am king or at least who have no idea what that means and they just treat me like any other adult. I think my 4 little ones were a bigger hit than me though. It is hard to compete with a talking dragon that can fly you around. Innocent times like this will probably be few and far between in the future. I need to remember that this is why I am doing everything I am. I want to keep my family and friends safe. I may not be the best king or even the most popular person since I took away many rights that people enjoyed. However, I can say that I am protecting a large portion of people in the new world. That fact alone helps me deal with some of the harder choices I have had to make. I hope in the future I can restore some sort of normalcy to the world and to the people. Well enough wool gathering. ¡°Jacob.¡± ¡°Yes sire.¡± ¡°Please schedule a meeting with the entire council tomorrow say around 11 o¡¯clock. We will be having a working lunch. I want to make sure everything goes well with the new kingdoms diplomats that are going to be arriving and we also need to discuss the Great Game Competition.¡± ¡°Very well sire, I will set it up.¡± ¡°Thank You¡± Before I head to bed I decide to plant the World Tree seed in the center of the largest courtyard in the castle. As soon as I my Earth Magic and place the seed in the ground I see a Great Game message.
Would you like to germinate the World Tree seed for 5,000 mana?
I select yes and feel mana leave my body.
World Tree has been germinated. A world tree will grow between 1 meter and 5 meters per year based on care. For each meter of growth 10 square kilometers surrounding the World Tree will get a bonus of 2 times normal productivity.
That is fantastic. 2 times growth will really help the kingdom out in a few years as the area grows. More crops are always a good thing. I quickly let Jacob know to have the gardening group take special care of my new tree and tell Randolph to set up protection around it. I do not want some idiot digging up my bonus tree. The next morning, I resupplied from the castle stores and then headed to the banquet room for the meeting. ¡°Welcome everyone. I have a few questions, then we will discuss the upcoming diplomats and have a general review of the kingdom.¡± ¡°First, does anyone have a better grasp on this whole Great Game competition and what I need to prepare for.¡± Randolph is the first to speak up. ¡°Well sire, we know that there are three tournaments you can compete in this first year and two of them are mandatory.¡± ¡°You obviously know much more than me continue.¡± ¡°The first year all new entrants have a new comer¡¯s, one vs. one tournament to establish their position. There are always ten new planets inducted each competition year. So you will face nine others in single combat.¡± ¡°Sounds easy enough. Anything else I should know?¡± ¡°After the new comer¡¯s tournament there will be the general singles tournament. From my understanding the first round is a general melee where everyone fights everyone for 524 spots. The top 500 people from the year before automatically get seeded. It is also single elimination.¡± ¡°When I was made Planetary Leader I was given an announcement that I would be exempt from the first round. I assume that means the general melee. Is this common?¡± ¡°No sire, I have never heard of that.¡± ¡°Interesting, please continue.¡± ¡°The final optional tournament is a team tournament. You can enter with any size team up to 10 people. Once again the top ten groups from the previous year are automatically seeded. The rest compete for 22 other spots in a king of the castle tournament.¡± ¡°Well that is very interesting. Next question, how do you know so much?¡± ¡°Well sire the Great Game allows you to purchase a viewing crystal. It is relatively cheap and many people watch and bet on the results of the tournament. It is the biggest gambling occasion I know of. I have even heard that the participants in the tournament bet with each other.¡± ¡°What are the prizes and stakes of this tournament?¡± ¡°Planetary Perks my lord. How many I do not know, but I do believe that several can be earned. These allow the upgrades to planets and give immunity from invasion and can also allow you to invade other planets.¡± ¡°I see, is there anything else I should know?¡± ¡°Not that I can think of my lord. I have never actually talked to a participant before. This knowledge that I have given you is considered common among planets that have been part of the Great Game for a while.¡± ¡°Alright then lets move on. The next item is on the agenda is the visiting diplomats. I want them to feel welcome. Trade is always good. However, I will not have the core principles of this kingdom compromised. If they allow slavery, we will not trade. We do not have to be openly hostile, but let them know we do not condone slavery. Also anyone who enters our kingdom must abide by our rules. If they disagree, send them on their way. Any questions?¡± Several people started to speak up, but I waved them to silence because I had just received a Great Game notice.
As a new participant in the Great Game you will be transported to a training facility to ensure that you are prepared for your first tournament. You have 60 minutes to prepare.
¡°Ok gentleman and ladies a new twist. I just got a message from the Great Game that I will transported to a training facility in an hour to make sure I am ready for the tournament. I trust you to keep everything running smoothly. I must go now and prepare.¡± I left the room at a run. I have to gather everyone up from my team and make sure I have restocked everything. I am glad that I resupplied this morning it should simplify matters. A little less than an hour later I was saying goodbye to my family and getting well wishes from the staff and councilors. ¡°Do not worry sire we will take care of everything in your absence and we will be watching you in the tournament.¡± ¡°Yes Daddy, have a good time, be strong and win as much as you can.¡±
You will be transported to the training facility in 3..2..1..
Here we go again. 52 -I Abuse The Great Game System (Powerup) Chapter 52: I Abuse The Great Game System (POWER UP) I arrive in a room with a bed, a table full of food, and what looks to be a workbench or station for repairing or creating items, and four doors along one wall. Another message pops up.
Welcome to The Great Game Competition training area. You will have two weeks to train up your skills, abilities and levels. Please note that while you cannot die during training you will experience pain and only be given the rewards if you finish the training cycle. Choose carefully.
This must be the rest and refit area. I look closer at the four doors and read the signs posted above each.
Challenge of Fire: This challenge will increase your affinity with the fire element and provide experience based upon your selected challenge level. Easy ¨C 10% Affinity Increase ¨C No Experience Bonus Recommended Level 75 50% Survival Average ¨C 15% Affinity Increase ¨C 2 times Experience Bonus Recommended Level 100 25% Survival Hard ¨C 20% Affinity Increase ¨C 3 times Experience Bonus Recommended Level 125 10% Survival Extreme ¨C 25% Affinity Increase - 4 times Experience Bonus Recommended Level 150 1% Survival
Challenge of Water: This challenge will increase your affinity with the water element and provide experience based upon your selected challenge level. Easy ¨C 10% Affinity Increase ¨C No Experience Bonus Recommended Level 75 50% Survival Average ¨C 15% Affinity Increase ¨C 2 times Experience Bonus Recommended Level 100 25% Survival Hard ¨C 20% Affinity Increase ¨C 3 times Experience Bonus Recommended Level 125 10% Survival Extreme ¨C 25% Affinity Increase - 4 times Experience Bonus Recommended Level 150 1% Survival
Challenge of Air: This challenge will increase your affinity with the element of air and provide experience based upon your selected challenge level. Easy ¨C 10% Affinity Increase ¨C No Experience Bonus Recommended Level 75 50% Survival Average ¨C 15% Affinity Increase ¨C 2 times Experience Bonus Recommended Level 100 25% Survival Hard ¨C 20% Affinity Increase ¨C 3 times Experience Bonus Recommended Level 125 10% Survival Extreme ¨C 25% Affinity Increase - 4 times Experience Bonus Recommended Level 150 1% Survival
Challenge of Earth: This challenge will increase your affinity with the earth element and provide experience based upon your selected challenge level. Easy ¨C 10% Affinity Increase ¨C No Experience Bonus Recommended Level 75 50% Survival Average ¨C 15% Affinity Increase ¨C 2 times Experience Bonus Recommended Level 100 25% Survival Hard ¨C 20% Affinity Increase ¨C 3 times Experience Bonus Recommended Level 125 10% Survival Extreme ¨C 25% Affinity Increase - 4 times Experience Bonus Recommended Level 150 1% Survival
Alright it is official. Even by Great Game standards I am an OP/Broken character. I mean these are the levels they expect from first time Planetary Leaders. I am already level 176 with so many titles that I could probably fight with a level 225 person easily. I also already have 100% in all of my affinities. This is just ridiculous. Ooh and with what I am thinking it will become even worse. When I earned an increase in my affinities before, the Great Game instead gave me Unique Skills because I already had 100% affinities. This means that I can earn 4 times normal experience and receive a Unique Skill each time I complete the Extreme Challenge. I wonder how many times I can do each one? Help, how many times can a participant complete each Challenge?
There is no limit placed on the number of times you can try or complete each challenge.
This is fantastic. I am so going to abuse the heck out of this loophole. I can just cycle through each of the challenges and go as many times as I can in two weeks. If I can do one a day that is 14 Unique Skills! Who knows how much experience at 4 times the regular amount in a level 150 challenge. This stupid system and game is not going to know what hit it when I am done. I better check one more thing. Help, are companions and familiars allowed to participate?
Companions and Familiars are NOT allowed during challenges, but may be used during the competition.
Oh well even if they can¡¯t level up like me, they are already each at a level equivalent to an Average Planetary Leader or more. Well sooner started sooner done. I walk to the first door, the Challenge of the Fire awaits. As soon as I enter a Great Game message appears.
Please select your level of difficulty for the Challenge of Fire 1. Easy 2. Average 3. Hard 4. Extreme
I select extreme with a grin and enter to see just what the Great Game think will be extreme for a new Planetary Leader. The terrain around me shimmers and then turns into a lava field. There is a volcano in the distance and craters, lava streams, and not much else scattered around reaching up to it. No good places to really hide so I do my normal and use Earth magic to start burrowing into the ground. As I start making my shelter another notice arrives.
You must either survive for 24 hours or defeat all 100 level 150 lava lizards in order to pass the Challenge of Fire
Ok, probably most people would start moving and try to hide and survive the 24 hours. I am going in the other direction. I will finish this shelter as a fall back position, but then I am going hunting. I mean if I can finish it early then that means I can take the challenge more times and maximize the rewards. As soon as the shelter is ready I move about 50 meters away and start constructing a tower. I figure one of my 50 meter towers will allow me to scan the surrounding and then glide to wherever I need to be. After about 20 minutes and using a lot of my mana I stop and climb the tower. I find it strange that I have not been attacked yet, but on the other hand I do not know what a Lava Lizard is or looks like so they could have surrounded right now. As I scan the surrounding territory from the top of the tower I easily spot a large animal in the distance. It does not look like a lizard though. More like a large red cow. As it gets near one of the lava streams I see ripples in the lava. Dang it I know what happens next. I have watched too many nature documentaries not to recognize this set up. Yep, there it is. A large crocodile creature leaps out of the lava stream and ambushes the red cow thing. Ok, it looks like the Lava Lizards are actually reptiles that live in the lava and ambush prey. This means that at some point to make this difficult the Great Game will have them exit the lava and search for prey, which is supposed to be me. Let¡¯s change things up from the usual and go hunting. As I change forms and glide down I aim to land near a lava river close by. As soon as I hit the ground I see ripples form in the lava. They must be attracted by vibration in the ground.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. A large crocodilian lunges out of the lava river and aims straight at me. I blink above the lunging reptile and pull out a large ice enchanted military spike and slam it into the back of its head. The force knocks it down and cracks it scales. I do not let up and keep slamming its head as it is dazed. In less than 5 seconds it stops moving at all. Well that was easier than I thought. 99 Lava lizards to go. 5 hours later I am starting to get a little ticked off. The hunting was going great until I hit number 88. That was about an hour ago. Since I killed number 88 I haven¡¯t been able to find a single lizard. I want to finish this thing as quick as possible. I have no way of really checking inside the lava, I mean I guess I could just throw big stones in and see if I hit something, but there are so many lava streams that would take forever. I might as well just wait out the 24 hours. What else could I do. They have obviously smartened up and won¡¯t come out until the Great Game forces them too. If only I could get rid of the lava. Wait a second, I don¡¯t have to get rid of the lava I just need to move it. I have Earth magic, I will just redirect the flow. I head close to the volcano where the major streams of lava are coming out and then dig a massive trench off to the side. Now I connect the trench to the lava flow and voila, the lava starts to flow in the new direction. I switch to draconian mode and fly up clumsily. No need for gracefulness right now. I watch the lava streams as they start lessen. There, a cluster of ripples in a pool of lava that is getting lower and lower. I glide over and shoot an ice blast at the protruding backs of the Lava Lizards. Wow, that ticked them off. They hate the cold even more than me. Six Lava Lizards come barreling out of the lava pool and start to attack. With blink it is not even a challenge. They have no where to hide anymore and I just blink from head to head and smashy smash them to bits. The only trouble I had was when I was attacked from behind. While I had been focused on the six I had originally lured out, the other missing six showed up behind me and almost bit me in half. They did manage to connect with a tail swipe, but compared to that stupid giant tree I had fought a few days ago it was just a love tap. One quick heal pill and a continuation of smashing heads and I was done. 100 Lava Lizards.
Congratulations on finishing the Extreme Fire Challenge. Rewards are being calculated. You receive an increase of 25% to your fire affinity. Since you already have 100% fire affinity your reward has been changed to 1 Unique skill. Experience will be rewarded after a 12 hour continuous rest period. Due to setting a new speed record the Great Game awards 5% fire resistance.
Alright, that took me about 8 hours. However, now that I know what to do I can probably get it done in 4-5 hours. However, I was awarded fire resistance. I should not be able to get resistance stats myself until after level 200. I wonder if I can abuse that also? If I do each run just a few minutes faster can I keep getting the 5% resistance for each new record? Only one way to find out. First I need to get back and do some quick math in the rest and recuperation room. I exit the door and start crunching numbers. Ok, 50% resistance would mean I need 10 runs through each challenge, each one faster than the last. I f the others are similar to the Fire Challenge than I can get the first one in less than 10 hours and just go a little quicker each time. Let¡¯s say 30 minutes faster each time to leave some wiggle room. That means I will have to spend about 60 hours total in each dungeon for a total of 240 hours. 2 weeks is 336 hours total. That means if work 15 hours and then rest 8 hours so I don¡¯t trip the experience gain I can finish in 360 hours and have 26 hours for rest and recuperation at the end. Alright, that is the new plan time to get started. 13 days of almost continuous dungeon diving. I am so mentally exhausted. I feel fine physically, my stats and 8 hour breaks saw to that but I am so tired of doing the same thing over and over. I finished fire in high spirits, the Earth challenge was even easier. I mean giant worms attracted to sound, come on I have seen every tremors movie at least twice. It was a cinch to attract with noise get them to swallow explosive, blow up and repeat just like in the movies. I finished that one relatively quickly which made me think that I would finish everything earlier. The Water challenge was giant frogs with gross slimy sticky tongues. I have dissected dozens of frogs if not hundreds over my years as a science teacher. This was the first time I had to dissect one from the inside though. It started as a mistake on my part. I wasn¡¯t paying enough attention and got wrapped in a tongue and swallowed. I cut my way out from the inside and figured out I was able to kill the dumb thing twice as fast cutting on the soft inner parts. So that became the new hunting method. Get swallowed, then cut my way out. I think I might have started losing my mind a little after about the 1,000 time I went down a giant frog¡¯s throat. It was mentally draining and disgusting and took just a little longer than the Fire challenge. However, the Air challenge almost ruined my plans. I HAVE TO LEARN HOW TO FLY BETTER. I have never felt so disgusted and humiliated about myself as I do after the Air challenge. On the surface this should have been the easiest challenge for me. When I first entered the Air challenge I received the what was now standard message of survive for 24 hours or kill 100 level 150 monsters. The terrain around me was extremely mountainous. Cliffs, valleys, and very few if any flat resting spots. I set a quick camp as usual and started looking for the monsters. It did not take long for me to spot my new foe. It was Giant Eagles. Scattered all over the cliffs were very large nests. I obviously made the connection that these must hold the monsters I was looking for. So I switched to draconian form and clumsily started flapping my way towards the first nest. This is where I ran into my first problem. As soon as I was more than about ten meters up I was either spotted by a sentry or the Great Game was mad at me or something. Every eagle within about a kilometer started leaving their nests and diving at me. If I had been on the ground, I could have done so many things to make these guys regret their decision, however I was not on the ground and I am a bad flyer. I freely admit that I panicked. Looking back at the situation there are several things I could have done. I could have blinked or teleported out of the way. I could have dived myself and met them on the ground. Heck I could have even taken out a gun and started shooting, but what I did was perhaps the worst choice of all. I decided I needed to have protection from the birds that were rapidly closing on me and pulled a tower shield out of my inventory. Please remember that I am already bad at flying. As soon as I pulled the shield out my poor flying skills became more of falling skills. I was trying to fly, position a shield, and keep track of my opponents all at the same time. It did not work. I am pretty sure my high luck is the only thing that kept me alive in the first round of the air challenge. I somehow managed to get the shield between the closest eagle and my currently falling/gliding self and it absorbed a great deal of the damage. If it had not been for that I probably would have failed on my first try. Because that eagle did not slow down at all. The stupid thing pulled a kamikaze on me. It hit me for about 1,000 damage even with my shield absorbing a lot of the blow. This was a thirty foot wingspan probably 7-8 foot tall giant eagle that never slowed down. So I got my first kill by just letting it crash into me. Of course physics took over at that point and a heavily damaged me started heading to the ground very rapidly. If I had been even a slightly better flyer I would have died. Since I was not very good, I was closer to the ground than I could have been. When I hit it wiped another 1500 or so damage from me. 80% of my health was gone in less than 10 seconds. I instinctively turtled up and started using Earth magic to create a hole to hide in and a dome to protect me. That is all that saved my life. Two other eagles were close enough they went into the kamikaze dive and the others returned to their nests. I had just enough time build enough of a shelter that when those two eagles hit it caused me some minor damage from some of the rocks of my hastily built shelter falling on me, but the dome barely held. If one more eagle had dived or if I had not practiced with my Earth magic to build almost instinctively I would have failed that first time in the challenge. As it was I popped a health pill and just laid there recovering. This was just another reminder that I needed to be careful and not get to full of myself. Even though I regenerate quickly and my health is full, psychologically I was not ready to continue yet. After another 30 minutes of rest and contemplation I crawled out of my protective dome. I needed to come up with a better strategy. Next plan is to climb up to the nests carefully making hand holds as I go. This seemed to work well until I hit that 10 meter point again. As soon as I reached that level I could no longer manipulate the stone of the mountain. It was resisting my efforts. There must be a restriction on it placed by the Great Game. This was the first time that Earth magic had ever failed me. I quickly climbed back down as I did not want to meet these things hanging onto the cliff while I came up with plan C. If I can get these things to attack when I am on the ground, all I would have to do is blink out of the way and they would kamikaze themselves to death. How can I get them to come to me? Suddenly it dawned on me. I was making this so much harder than it had to be. I had become so used to physically fighting the other monsters I just assumed I needed to do the same thing here. How dumb can I be? Nests are made of flammable material. All I needed to do was light the stupid things on fire and the eagles would be forced out of them. They would most likely be mad and seek revenge and then I would just need to wait and blink out of the way. It was a great plan, a wonderful plan, but I had forgotten one thing. I sent a fireball towards the nearest nest and sure enough two eagles came out of it and proceeded to look very angry and head in my direction. Wait for it, wait for it, there it is the kamikaze run now blink away. I said blink away. Oh crap run away. I had forgotten to test blink and teleport. I should have realized that if the Great Game had placed a restriction on the stone then there might be other restrictions in place also. Luckily my stats were high enough that I could dodge and run far enough away from the eagle¡¯s impact point that I was only hit with debris. It still hurt and did damage, but nothing like a full impact would have caused. I settled in for another round of planning. What was I on, Plan D? It doesn¡¯t matter. Ok the basics of the last plan are solid, I just need a better way of escaping. Got it, create a shelter next to me and dive into it before the eagles hit. That was what I proceeded to do. I had finally hit upon a plan that worked. Once I finished my 10 rounds of the Air challenge I collapsed onto the bed in the rest and recovery room. I did it I finished my goal and completed 10 rounds of each extreme challenge. I have around 30 hours left until the challenge and training phase is over. Time for some real rest and I can pick my rewards tomorrow. 53 - OP Thy Name Is Mark Chapter 53 ¨C OP Thy Name Is Mark When I woke up in the morning I realized I had slept about 10 hours. A couple of more and the Great Game would calculate the experience and allow me to pick my new skills. Let¡¯s see where I am at right now. Status.
Name: Mark Anderson
Level: 176 -5% Unspent Attribute Points: 0
Str: 315 HP: 3,150
Int: 500 +250% MP MP: 35,000
Wis: 500 +250% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 787% per 15 min.
Agi: 315 MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Con: 315 +150% HP/Regen Luck: 315
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Resistances: Earth - 50% Water - 50% Fire ¨C 50% Air ¨C 50%
Looking good. I managed to reach my goal and I have a 50% resistance to each element. I always wondered why I never got a resistance factor when I earned my affinities or bloodline and a random conversation with Randolph late one night explained it. Affinities were granted at the beginning so everyone could use magic at low levels. Every tier reached unlocked new abilities. When I reached tier 2 (over level 100) I did not get anything because I had already claimed a high level bloodline. Tier 2 usually gave a few bonus points and strengthened a minor bloodline ability if you had one. Since I had a unique bloodline and already had maxed out my affinities I had nothing for the Great Game to award me. Resistances to magic however were granted at tier 3. I have managed to get those resistances before tier 3 which I hope means a great bonus or another bug I can exploit from the Great Game. I will find out in a couple of hours. Tier 4 Randolph was not as sure of as those that reach that level are much fewer. Stories suggest either a new ability to use or perhaps extended life span. To me it sounded like stuff I already have so I do not know what will happen when I get to that level. I decided to have breakfast and wait for the messages I knew were coming.
Calculating rewards from Challenges. Experience has been awarded. User has earned the title Mr. Extreme +5 for completing all four challenges at the extreme level. User has reached tier 3 and is granted 10% resistance in each earned affinity. User is granted the title Level Maniac +5 for reaching tier 3 in a record amount of time. User has an elemental bloodline that grants 50% resistance in each earned affinity. Error, resistances have exceeded 100%. Alternate award being reviewed. User may select from the following list as an alternate award for the excessive resistance earned. 1. 1,000,000 mithril coins for each extra 1% 2. 1 level of experience for each extra 2% 3. 1 Unique Bloodline challenge of your choice with the difficulty reduced by 1% for each extra 1%
Another error message. I probably should not feel as good as I do each time I see one. However, knowing that I have got one over on the system that caused so many problems is gratifying. I already have a unique bloodline and while that much money would be nice, I think extra experience is the way to go. Extra levels right before the Great Game competition is kind of a no brainer. It will only make me harder to take down. I mentally select option 2, which should give me 20 more levels on top of whatever I earned from 4 times experience in the Challenges. I know that from the message my level should have risen above 200 before I just tacked on another 20 levels. Here it goes, let¡¯s see what I am at. Status.
Name: Mark Anderson
Level: 232 -25% Unspent Attribute Points: 560
Str: 325 HP: 3,250
Int: 510 +250% MP MP: 35,700
Wis: 510 +250% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 845% per 15 min.
Agi: 325 MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Con: 325 +160% HP/Regen Luck: 325
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Resistances: Earth - 100% Water - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! I wipe a little tear from my eye. That is just awesome! There is no way that anyone in the Great Game competition will expect a new comer to have such stats or such a high level. If I hold back and look like I am struggling in the new comer¡¯s tournament I can probably surprise some opponents in the main singles tournament and get farther and earn more rewards for the Earth. I distribute my unspent stat points. Time to select some of my new Unique Skills. I have decided to select these in blocks of five until I run out. The main reason for this is so I can find any more of the upgradable skills like Blink. Please list all Great Game Unique Skills I can choose from please. I stare and look through the list for over an hour before I narrow it down to my first five choices.
  1. (Unique Skill) Greater Teleportation: You may teleport without penalty anywhere on a planet with a 60 second cool down timer.
  2. (Unique Skill) False Status: You can hide your information completely or display a false level to those who have the identify skill. (Please note that this does not work against Fountain of Knowledge)
  3. (Unique Skill) Fountain of Knowledge: A greater level of information is given when identifying objects, monsters, and users of the Great Game. You will be able to see through all false information.
  4. (Unique Skill) Hide in Shadows: You have a 50% chance of hiding your presence from users and monsters 10 levels or more below you, a 25% chance of hiding your presence from users and monsters within 10 levels of you, and a 1% chance of hiding your presence from users and monsters more than 10 levels above you.
  5. (Unique Skill) Master of Flight: You instinctively know the best way to fly using any method in the Great Game.
Upgraded teleportation, hiding my level for a bigger surprise in the tournament, upgraded identify skill, hiding myself, and finally a skill so I am not such a total moron at flying. This should be a good first set of Unique Skills. I choose the five and then double check to see if there are any more upgrades on the ones I have selected.
  1. (Unique Skill) Teleportation Master: You may teleport without penalty anywhere within the Great Game that is not protected by a Great Game barrier, this includes other planets. This skill has a 60 second cool down timer.
  2. (Unique Skill) Hide in Shadows II: You have a 75% chance of hiding your presence from users and monsters 10 levels or more below you, a 50% chance of hiding your presence from users and monsters within 10 levels of you, and a 10% chance of hiding your presence from users and monsters more than 10 levels above you.
  3. (Unique Skill) Lesser Duplication: You can duplicate any item or weapon in the Great Game that has been identified by you for the cost of materials. You do NOT have to have the requisite materials.
  4. (Unique Skill) Master of Elements: You can now channel any of your affinities into a melee attack without the need for enchantments.
  5. (Unique Skill) Green Thumb: By channeling 1 mana for 1 acre you can speed up the growth of any plant by one day. Increasing mana increases either the number of acres or the number of days sped up not both.
Teleportation and Hide in Shadows both had an upgrade. I will get these five for the next selection.
  1. (Unique Skill) Hide in Shadows III: You have a 100% chance of hiding your presence from users and monsters 10 levels or more below you, a 75% chance of hiding your presence from users and monsters within 10 levels of you, and a 25% chance of hiding your presence from users and monsters more than 10 levels above you.
  2. (Unique Skill) Greater Duplication: You can duplicate any item or weapon in the Great Game that has been identified by you for ? the cost of materials. You do NOT have to have the requisite materials.
  3. (Unique Skill) Imposing Aura: Monsters outside of dungeons will not initiate an attack on you unless their level is within 10 of yours. Multiple monsters add their levels together. (A pack of 10 level 20 wolves counts as a level 200 creature.)
  4. (Unique Skill) Language Mastery: You can speak and understand all non-monster languages in the Great Game.
  5. (Unique Skill) Advanced Bloodline Growth: You gain all your bloodline abilities immediately without the need for higher level achievements.
Ok, 15 out of 40 down. If I keep upgrading skills, I should be able to roll through this tournament and earn more World Perks than anyone expects. I need to show that the Earth is no pushover and earn immunity from invasion and hopefully other perks to advance us quickly in the Great Game. The next five will be:
  1. (Unique Skill) Master of Shadows: You have a 100% chance of hiding your presence from users and monsters 10 levels or more below you, a 100% chance of hiding your presence from users and monsters within 10 levels of you, and a 50% chance of hiding your presence from users and monsters more than 10 levels above you.
  2. (Unique Skill) Duplication Master: You can duplicate any item or weapon in the Great Game that has been identified by you for ? the cost of materials. You do NOT have to have the requisite materials.
  3. (Unique Skill) Bloodthirsty Aura: Monsters outside of dungeons will not initiate an attack on you unless their level is 25 levels higher than yours. Multiple monsters add their levels together at ? value. (A pack of 10 level 20 wolves counts as a level 100 creature.)
  4. (Unique Skill) Monster Researcher: You can speak and understand all sentient monster languages in the Great Game.
  5. (Unique Skill) Lesser Copycat: You can copy any skill you see at 25% efficiency.
Error, user has exceeded limit value of 20 Unique Skills. Alternate award being reviewed. User will automatically be awarded the upgraded version of all currently held skills. (Unique Skill) War God¡¯s Aura: Monsters outside of dungeons will not initiate an attack on you unless their level is 50 levels higher than yours. Multiple monsters add their levels together at ? value. (A pack of 10 level 20 wolves counts as a level 50 creature.) (Unique Skill) Master Copycat: You can copy any skill you see at 100% efficiency. User may select from the following list as an alternate award for the remaining 16 Unique Skills earned. 1. 1,000,000 mithril coins for each Unique Skill. 2. 2 levels of experience for each Unique Skill. 3. 1 Unique Bloodline challenge of your choice with the difficulty reduced by 3% for each Unique Skill.
Again, I got another error message again. Sooner or later if there is a guiding intelligence behind this Great Game they are going to have to deal with me directly if I keep causing these errors. I already have generated 3 which has got to be a record in itself. I hope they communicate with me soon. I look carefully at the choices. A unique bloodline again is worthless to me. The money option however is much more attractive as I now have a duplication skill that depends on it. I think a split between the money and the extra experience is the way to go this time. I mentally select six of option 1 for a new personal wealth of 6,000,000 mithril coins and 10 of option 2 which should give me 20 more levels. Status.
Name: Mark Anderson
Level: 252 -25% Unspent Attribute Points: 200
Str: 445 HP: 4,450
Int: 550 +250% MP MP: 38,500
Wis: 550 +250% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 445 MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Con: 445 +250% HP/Regen Luck: 445
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Resistances: Earth - 100% Water - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Redistribute the unspent points one more time and then a final check before I prepare for the start of the tournament. Stats.
Name: Mark Anderson
Level: 252 -25% Unspent Attribute Points: 0
Str: 470 HP: 4,700
Int: 600 +250% MP MP: 42,000
Wis: 600 +250% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 470 MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Con: 470 +250% HP/Regen Luck: 470
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Resistances: Earth - 100% Water - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Alright, now that my stats are taken care of it is time to use some of my new skills and then practice with my others. First I need to use False Status to create what looks like a powerful newcomer, but not powerful enough to warn older participants in the tournament. Hmm, set my display level to 132 that should be around normal for a strong new comer who just got a level increase from the extra experience challenges. No one should question my winning the new comer¡¯s tournament with that level, but it should not be too high to cause extra caution in the normal singles tournament. Now let¡¯s see, I¡¯ll set my race to dragonkin, and keep all 4 affinities to impress people but let¡¯s take them down to 25% each. This way I can use all the elements in the tournament without having people suspect that they are actually high enough to causes much more serious damage. All that is left now is to enter the challenge one more time to practice all of my other skills. I have about 18 hours left until the start of the tournament. I can easily finish a challenge in 6 hours now while practicing all my new skills, like hide presence. My biggest hope is that the Master of Flight skill will allow me to fly normally. Especially now that I took the Advanced Bloodline Growth. With that skill I should now have access to my full dragon form and breath weapons. This is going to be so much fun! 6 hours of training then out to rest and recuperate. 54 - I Trick The Idiots Chapter 54 ¨C I Trick The Idiots My six hours of training turned into almost 10 hours due to a single thing. That one little reason is that FLYING IS FANTASTIC. Holy cow, now that I can actually fly with skill it is one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. I tried everything I could think of barrel rolls, loop de loops, dives, swerving, stalling and hovering, even just gliding properly now is fun and easy when you know what to do. What is even better is I can do it in either my Dragonkin form or as a full dragon. In my full dragon form I am about 25 meters in length and have two large rear facing horns on top of my head. My scales are a deep indigo purple. Almost black on the edges. I assume the color is different from the other elemental dragons to depict royalty. My underbelly is a lighter shade of purple almost violet in color. The final notable feature is the membranes of my wings are speckled with the four elemental dragon colors green, black, blue and white in several different shades of those colors. To me it gives of a feel of a splatter paint picture or possibly a starry sky vibe. After my great time playing around, I mean training, I set a wind up alarm clock to get me up an hour before my 2 week training period was over. I did not want to be asleep and transported somewhere new. That would be a little embarrassing. After a good rest I woke up took care of my business and waited a little impatiently to be teleported to the start of the Great Game competition. I was ready to go physically and mentally when the message came.
Your training period time is over. You will now be transported to the waiting room for participants in the Great Competition in 3..2..1..
The by now familiar shimmering of an impending teleport took over and I arrived in a large room with couches, tables and chairs, and sign boards all over the walls. I scan the room and see several people already present and several more spots of shimmering indicating that new people are being teleported in. The signs on the wall actually seem to be similar to betting statistics. They name the participants, planet of origin, and have a column for odds for winning each style of tournament. I quickly locate the New Comer¡¯s tournament board and look for my name.
Name Planet New Comers Singles Team
Mark Anderson Earth ??? ??? ???
Henrik Terrinso Algora ??? ??? ???
Ignis Farrow Terris ??? ??? ???
Alan Barker Niavis ??? ??? ???
Eloise Renaud Sayter ??? ??? ???
Hammerfist Spyke ??? ??? ???
Lady Death Thoria ??? ??? ???
Jewel Titus Weobis ??? ??? ???
Nathon Gillmore Duiter ??? ??? ???
Fred the Champion Bepreon ??? ??? ???
Not much information other than name and planet. I guess that makes sense. No one knows us except for the Great Game. So no one can rate our chances yet. I scan the Singles Tournament and see that there are two boards. One is labeled General Melee and the Other is labeled top 1024. I see my name at the 501st position. This must be what the Great Game meant when it said that I would skip the first round of the competition. This seems to be causing a stir among people looking at the board. I guess they are trying to figure out how an unknown got onto the board. The team tournament board is also split into two sections. The top 32 and the King of the Castle general melee. Only the top 10 spots are taken on the top 32 board. I guess I might as well go signup for the team competition and just use my companions as team mates. If I do not win no big deal, but if I even place it means more rewards. As I walk across the room towards the team boards I see several people stare at me and then eyes go wide or mouths drop open. They must be identifying me. I am glad I got the false status skill, because even with me setting my level down low it looks like I am drawing much more attention than I thought. Maybe I should have set my level even lower? No changing it now. As I approach the team board I see a line queuing up next to it leading into an alcove. I glance around and ask the friendliest looking guy I see the obvious question. ¡°Excuse me sir, but what are those people doing?¡± ¡°Ah lad, you must be new.¡± ¡°Yes sir, this is my first time competing.¡± ¡°That I where you go to sign up for the team competition.¡± ¡°Thank you for helping me sir. May I ask you some more questions?¡± ¡°Sure go ahead.¡± ¡°I heard there was gambling available?¡± ¡°Oh so you are one of those are you. Yes, you can gamble but be careful, there are only 3 things accepted as bets during the competition between the participants. Those are World Perks, Levels, and Lots of Mithral Coins boy.¡± ¡°I do not understand. How can you bet World Perks and Levels?¡± ¡°The Great Game will hold stakes for bets on how you personally will do in the tournaments or you can bet directly with other contestants. Many of us bet on our own prowess. However, I would recommend against personal bets with other contestants especially your first year.¡± ¡°Thank you for the information, can you point out the betting booth?¡± ¡°Tis on the other side of the room lad. Good Luck.¡± After thanking the gentleman profusely, I get in line for the team tournament sign up. Soon it is my turn to enter the little alcove. When I enter I get a Great Game message.
Welcome to the Team Tournament Sign Up. Please enter the names of your team mates.
I carefully type in the information requested about my companions and familiar.
Your team consists only of pets and familiars and no other competition participants. Thus you are considered a team of one. Your rewards will thus be doubled if you place in the tournament. Is this acceptable?You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
I mentally select yes and step out of the booth. Well that is good. If I can actually place in the team tournament I will get extra stuff. I guess that only makes sense as many pets are probably either lower level or of lower intelligence. There cannot be many dragons walking around as companions. I start walking over to the betting booth when I am stopped by a very large and seemingly very angry man. ¡°Little man how are you a higher level than the great Hammerfist.¡± ¡°Excuse me, but do I know you?¡± ¡°I am Hammerfist the greatest warrior that the planet of Spyke has ever known. My enemies tremble before me.¡± Several people were starting to gather round now. Many of them had the look of holding back laughter. ¡°Well Hammerfist, I am glad to meet you. My name is Mark and I represent the planet Earth.¡± ¡°Puny man I can see that I want to know what trick you used to be a higher level than Hammerfist.¡± ¡°Just hard work, now if you will excuse me I want to go place a couple bets.¡± ¡°Hammerfist is not done with you.¡± ¡°¡¯Well I am done with Hammerfist. Unless you wish to follow me to the betting booth and we can see how determined you really are.¡± ¡°I fear no one, I will take your puny bet and collect the winnings from your corpse.¡± ¡°Whatever, just follow me.¡± I started walking towards the betting booth once again with my new friend Hammerfist close behind me. Several people seemed to start following us. Probably want to know if me and old Hammerfist are actually going to get in a fight before the actual competition. ¡°Well Mr. Hammerfist, what would you like to bet? Mithril, World Perks, or Levels?¡± ¡°Money holds no meaning for true warriors, but it is an insult that you are a higher level than Hammer fist so we will bet levels. Thus when you fall I will rise and all will know the glory of Hammerfist.¡± ¡°Excellent.¡± Identify.
Name: Hammerfist (William Fields) Race: Giantkin (Frost) Level: 103
Affinities: Water - 30% Earth - 20%
Unique Skills: None
Wow, first time I have used the new skill Fountain of Knowledge on another user. I am getting much more data than I used to. Well I better pretend to only know his basic information. ¡°Level 103 Mr. Hammerfist. Not Bad. Are you sure you want to bet against me? I am almost 30 levels above you.¡± ¡°Levels are just a number I will defeat you quite easily.¡± ¡°Alrighty then, how about we bet twenty levels then. If you beat me I will lose twenty levels of experience and drop down to level 112 and you will rise to level 123 more than 10 levels above me.¡± ¡°Enough talk let us bet. Twenty levels is fine.¡± I walk up to the betting booth and look up at four different boards. 1 alcove is labeled Mithril, one is labeled Levels, one is labeled, World Perks, and one is labeled Personal Bets. Seems straight forward, I walk over to the alcove labeled personal bets and see a new message arrive.
Please state the nature of the bet, the participants, the stakes, and the tournament.
One versus one, Mark Anderson and Hammerfist, 20 levels of experience, New comer¡¯s Tournament.
Bet has been verified with your opponent. You will face Hammerfist in the first round to determine the outcome.
So because we placed a personal bet it arranged for us to meet so we could settle it? I need to be careful then who I bet with in the future. I know that I can beat any new comer but if I am going to bet against others I need to keep that in mind. I just had a wicked idea though. I wonder if the rules permit it? Only one way to find out, I make a general announcement to the room. ¡°Is there anyone else that would like to bet against me? Perhaps in regards to the singles tournament?¡± Several people looked offended at that. A lot of muttering about fresh meat is going on and I heard something about stupid new kids. ¡°I will make it easy for you. I will bet one World Perk . 1,000,000 mithral coins, or up to 50 levels against anyone who does not believe I can make it to the first round after the general melee. ¡° Instantly I saw several people¡¯s eyes light up with greed and a few cover their mouths to hold back laughter. Those must be the smart ones who have already looked at the singles tournament board and saw the anomaly where I was the 501st person to be accepted. Basically if anyone was stupid enough to take this bet I would win instantly. A voice called out from the crowd. ¡°How do we know you are good for it?¡± Perfect Mark, the hook is set, now reel these little fishes in. In my most condescending voice I replied. ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid. The Great Game won¡¯t let me bet what I do not have. I will bet against as many of you as come up until I run out of things to bet. That¡¯s how confident I am in my ability. However, I do only have so much so first come first serve. The first people that initiate the bet will get more than those that lag behind.¡± I need them to be a little angry, just enough to lose their sense for a moment and step up and make a bet. Several beings started to head towards the Personal Bets alcove. I start getting Great Game messages almost immediately. I scan them each as quickly and as carefully as I can to make sure no one is actually reverse trolling me. The ones I accept come in three varieties.
Clear the General Melee Round, Mark Anderson and Dumb Guy, 10 levels of experience, Single¡¯sTournament Clear the General Melee Round, Mark Anderson and Dumb Guy, 1,000,000 Mithral Coins, Single¡¯sTournament
Clear the General Melee Round, Mark Anderson and Dumb Guy, 1 World Perk, Single¡¯sTournament
The only difference is the name of the dumb guy that took the bet and the amount of levels and coins. I did get a notice that I was not allowed to bet more than 3 World Perks on a single round. After about five minutes someone could not handle it anymore and started laughing out loud. Several people started looking at them like they were crazy. One finally had the courage to ask. ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡± ¡°You idiots already lost the bet.¡± ¡°What do you mean? The singles tournament does not even start until tomorrow after the New Comer¡¯s tournament finishes.¡± ¡°You moron, look at the singles board. I do not know how but this kid Mark Anderson already has secured a place after the general melee. He is number 501.¡± Heads swivel and stare at the single¡¯s tournament board. ¡°That¡¯s Cheating!¡± ¡°No you idiot, you were the one that made the bet thinking you would fleece some new comer. He did nothing wrong. In fact you strengthened him by giving him more levels you moron. I predict he will go far in his first tournament. I haven¡¯t seen this type of planning and cunning ever in my 37 Great Game Competitions. I think he might even have a chance of beating Silverwing¡¯s Record.¡± At the mention of Silverwing several people had sharp intakes of breath. Who the heck is Silverwing? He must be someone important. Well I can find out in a bit. First though I need to place some bets on myself. First though I need a question answered. I think quietly Help.
Yes
Why have I not been awarded my winnings? I have already passed the general melee round.
All bets about surpassing a round or defeating an opponent will not be awarded until after the round is complete or the opponent is defeated.
Ok that makes sense. I should get a big boost in power after the general melee though. I will place my bets and then go find a quiet corner to do the math. Never stick around longer than you have to when gambling. Someone will always try something stupid even if it is against the rules. I walk over to the Mithral alcove.
Please state the nature of the bet, the stakes, and the tournament.
I wish to bet 6,000,000 mithral coins on Mark Anderson winning the New Comer¡¯s tournament.
Bet Accepted for 6,000,000 Mithral Coins
This is another indication that a person is not in charge of the system or at least is not watching at all times. With my level this is a sucker bet. A real bookie would never let me make it if he knew about my skills and levels, which the Great Game does. This just reinforces to me that some sort of computer is managing at least aspects of the Great Game. Well I will keep taking everything I can until I am stopped or until I meet the ¡°creators¡± of this system. Next stop is the World Perks alcove.
Please state the nature of the bet, the stakes, and the tournament.
I wish to bet the maximum number of World Perks allowed on Mark Anderson winning the New Comer¡¯s tournament.
Bet Accepted for 3 World Perks
Next I walk over to the last alcove Levels.
Please state the nature of the bet, the stakes, and the tournament.
I wish to bet the maximum number of levels allowed on Mark Anderson winning the New Comer¡¯s tournament.
Bet Accepted for 50 levels.
This is going to be epic. I wander around a while to make sure no one is trying to target me. I don¡¯t see anyone so the Great Game must enforce a no fighting rule outside of the tournament. That is the only thing that makes sense. Normally if you were to sucker that many people in and take them for a ride it would cause a response fairly quickly. They may be buying their time but I doubt it. It looks like I am free and clear on those free goodies. I sit down and start scrolling through my past messages to add up everything I earned from those sucker bets. That is a big number. This calls for some investigation. Help.
Yes
Why do I have bets totaling 25 million mithral coins? I do not have enough money to cover the bet.
Due to the nature of your automatic wins the Great Game let you bid to the maximum amount allowed.
To understand this correctly at the end of the General Melee in the Single¡¯s Tournament I will automatically be awarded 25 million mithral coins, 50 levels worth of experience, and 3 additional World Perks.
Yes
This is great. So the grand total would be 70 levels of experience after the New Comer¡¯s tournament plus another 50 levels for betting on the General Melee in the Single¡¯s Tournament, 31,000,000 more mithral Coins, and 6 Additional World Perks. That is on top of whatever the reward is for winning the New Comer¡¯s tournament. I wonder what the reward actually is? I don¡¯t think that I ever checked on that. I mean I know you can win World Perks, but how many and is there anything else. Help.
Yes
Can you tell me the rewards for the tournaments I am registered for?
Yes
Literal piece of junk, it is times like this that I think that there may be an actual person just messing with me. Reality says the easiest answer is probably true so it is most likely a literal computer system, but still this gets old quick. Help, please explain the rewards for the three tournaments I am registered for and the rounds need to earn them.
New Comer¡¯s Tournament Champion: 3 World Perks +10 Levels Title: New Comer¡¯s Champion +10
New Comer¡¯s Tournament 2nd Place: 2 World Perks +5 Levels
New Comer¡¯s Tournament 3rd Place: 1 World Perk +3 Levels
Single¡¯s Tournament Champion: 5 World Perks +10 Levels Title: Single¡¯s Champion +10
Single¡¯s Tournament 2nd Place: 4 World Perks +8 Levels
Single¡¯s Tournament 3rd Place: 3 World Perks +6 Levels
Single¡¯s Tournament 4th Place: 2 World Perks +4 Levels
Single¡¯s Tournament 5th ¨C 8th Place: 1 World Perk +3 Levels
Single¡¯s Tournament 9th-16th Place: 1 World Perk +2 Levels
Single¡¯s Tournament 17th-32nd Place: 1 World Perk +1 Level
Single¡¯s Tournament 33rd-64th Place: 1 World Perk
Team Tournament Champions: 5 World Perks + 10 Levels Title: Team Champion +5
Team Tournament 2nd Place: 4 World Perks + 7 Levels
Team Tournament 3rd Place: 3 World Perks + 5 Levels
Team Tournament 4th Place: 2 World Perks + 3 Levels
Team Tournament 5th Place: 1 World Perk +1 Level
All champions are awarded 1 year¡¯s access to Dungeon World.
Possession of all three champion titles earns permanent access Dungeon World.
Alright my goal is in sight. I do not know if it is attainable this year, but it should be easy enough to get in the future. As long as you are the winner of the New Comer¡¯s tournament you can take your time earning the other titles if necessary. I decide that to kill the final amount of time I will look for the gentleman that answered my questions earlier and see if I can ask about that Silverwing character. After that I will just sit in the corner and Identify opponents and try to identify the top 5 contenders from last year to see how far I have to go. 55 - New Comer鈥檚 Tournament Domination Chapter 55: New Comer¡¯s Tournament Domination After mingling a bit more I see the gentleman I asked questions from earlier. I approach him and smile. ¡°Excuse me sir, I did not catch your name earlier.¡± ¡°My name is Yonder Strongfist son and you be the new boy Mark Anderson that is causing such an uproar. ¡± ¡°Yes Sir, how did you know?¡± ¡°I identified you kid, you do know how to identify someone right?¡± ¡°Yes I do Yonder, but I did not know if it was considered polite. Since you helped me earlier I refrained.¡± ¡°That is a sight more manners than most people have youngster. However, there is no room for such politeness at the tournament. You need to know as much about your foes as possible. Go ahead and identify me I don¡¯t mind.¡± Identify.
Name: Yonder Strongfist Race: Dwarf (Giant) Level: 374
Affinities: Water - 50% Earth - 85% Fire ¨C 50%
Unique Skills: (Stubborn as a Rock), (Shared Attributes), (Amplify)
Resistances: Earth 45% Fire ¨C 10%
¡°I see Yonder. You are quite strong. How long have you been attending the Great Game Competition if you don¡¯t mind me asking?¡± ¡°This is my 17th one. Our previous Planetary Leader overestimated his abilities or underestimated his foes. We don¡¯t know which as we never found a trace of him. I just woke up to the message that I was the new Planetary Leader one day.¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t mind I have many questions and you seem to have the answers. Is there something I can do for you to get you to help me figure some things out?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to give me anything boy. That piece of entertainment earlier was enough payment. Ask away.¡± Over the next hour I peppered Yonder with question after question. Some of the highlights I learned included the information that a planet can only be part of the New Comer¡¯s tournament once. I was wondering why some high level replacement for a previous leader did not just dominate the lower level new comers. I also discovered a few other important tidbits. There is a 24 hour rest period after each round in the tournament except for the New Comer¡¯s tournament. In the New Comer¡¯s tournament the rest period was only an hour. The 24 hour rest period came after the entire New Comer¡¯s tournament finished. That made sense as our tournament was so small. It was basically a warm up for the rest of the competition and a chance for the new guys to show off, because usually they had no chance of performing well in the Single¡¯s Tournament. I also found out that the reason people were so astonished when someone compared me to Silverwing was because of the Tri-Champion legend. Many years ago, enough that people forgot exactly how many as with any good legend a new comer named Silverwing appeared. His strength and magic were tremendous, his abilities depending on who was telling the tale varied, but all story tellers agree that he was the only person in competition history to win two titles in one competition. He easily won the New Comer¡¯s Tournament and through strategy was able to prevail in the Single¡¯s Tournament. Legend has it that he almost managed the mythical three championships and a prize that is untold. However, those that opposed him, gathered the strongest competitors together at the last minute and created a team to oppose him in the Team Tournament meaning he failed to get the three titles in one go. Several years later he managed to put together a team that won the Team Tournament allowing him permanent access to the Dungeon World and was never heard from again. I also found out that the current champion was only level 496. There seemed to be a restriction put in place by the Great Game. Anyone who achieved tier 6 (Level 500 or higher) was only allowed to participate in one final tournament and then had to pass the mantle of leadership on to someone below level 500 from their planet. This was the main reason that one planet did not keep growing stronger and stronger throughout the years and dominate everything. There was a forced change in the ranks every few years. This meant that there was an actual possibility of me managing to earn the three championships this year. If I bet well I could raise my level above the current champion and win the Single¡¯s Tournament. However I would then run into the same problem Silverwing did and have to deal with probably several teams gunning to stop me from reaching the mythical three titles. I only had six people on my team, if I wanted to have a chance at winning I needed to fill the other spots I would need to fill my team with others that were strong and loyal. However I only had a limited amount of time to pull this off. I have an idea. This will only work if I read Yonder¡¯s personality correctly. ¡°Yonder, do you have a team for the Team Tournament?¡± ¡°No son I only participate in the Single¡¯s Tournament. I will probably not join a team until after I reach tier 5.¡± ¡°If I could guarantee your ascension to tier 5 before the Team Tournament would you be willing to join my team and endorse me as the leader to others?¡± I could see him narrow his eyes. ¡°How can you guarantee my rise to tier 5 lad?¡± ¡°Is there somewhere private where we will not be overheard or seen?¡± ¡°Aye, there are several private rooms for teams to get together or individuals to plan strategies and establish trade deals.¡± ¡°If you join me in one I think I can convince you in under 60 seconds once we are alone.¡± Yonder nods and then leads me over to a hallway I had overlooked when walking around earlier. He entered the hall and I followed close on his heels. He led me past several doors on either side of the hall that glowed red until we reached one that glowed green. ¡°Green means unoccupied, once we enter lad you better be convincing.¡± I just nodded and followed him into the room. As soon as I entered the room I accessed my skill False Status and reverted everything back to my real race and level. ¡°Please identify me again Yonder.¡± Yonder looked at me and mumbled Identify under his breath and then I saw his eyes start to get big. ¡°What did you do lad?¡± ¡°I have a Unique Skill called False Status. I only show what I want to be shown when others identify me unless they have the upgraded skill Fountain of Knowledge.¡± ¡°Let me understand this correctly. You are actually a level 252, Elemental Dragon King, who possesses a Unique Skill and you are a New Comer to the tournament.¡± ¡°Not exactly, I actually possess 20 Unique Skills. Yonder, hello, are you okay?¡± Yonder shakes his head as if to clear it. ¡°This is impossible lad no one has 20 Unique Skills. Plus your level is outrageous for a newbie. Tell me the truth.¡± ¡°I am speaking the truth Yonder. Your actual race is Dwarven Giant, you have three Unique Skills yourself, and you have resistances in both Earth ¨C 45% and Fire ¨C 10%¡± ¡°There is no way you can possibly know that.¡± ¡°It is another of my Unique Skills, fountain of knowledge. It allows me to see through any deception an gives me a better identify skill.¡± ¡°Your serious aren¡¯t you.¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°You have convinced me lad. What is your plan and how can I help?¡± I explained to Yonder my situation about how with all the bets I would soon possibly out level him. What I needed was a team that could take me through the Team Tournament so I would not end up like SIlverwing in the story. He told me that he only knew about 4 or 5 others over level 300 that he would consider trustworthy. ¡°We only need 3 more participants besides you. My four Level 100 plus elemental dragons and my Earth Spirit familiar who is level 175 will be joining us on our team. Speaking of which do you know if you can bet pet/companion and familiar levels like your own?¡± Poor Yonder I think I broke him with that last reveal. ¡°You also have 4, not one or two or three, but 4 elemental dragon companions and an Earth spirit who is almost tier 3?¡±Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Yeah did I forget to mention them?¡± ¡°You did lad. Well this changes everything. I can easily fill the rest of the team then.¡± ¡°Very well, you need to contact them before the start of the New Comer¡¯s Tournament and have them bet the maximum of everything on my winning. Will they take your word on that or do I need to show them my secret like I showed you?¡± ¡°No lad I will explain in a secure room. You go and prepare for the tournament. I will have your team ready by the time you are finished. As for the other thing I do not know if you can bet companion or familiars levels. I don¡¯t have any and have never heard of anyone trying.¡± ¡°Thanks Yonder, I¡¯ll be seeing you soon.¡± Before I left I made sure to reset my False Status. I then left the room and headed back towards the betting booths. I figured I might as well try to use my companion¡¯s levels as betting stakes. The worst that could happen is the Great Game refused. When I reached the betting booths I stepped into the line for the Level booth and waited patiently, I do not want to cause another scene, once is enough. When it was my turn I mentally ask the Great Game if it is possible to have my companions and familiars bet their levels just like I did.
Yes it is possible, both the owner and the companion and/or familiar has to agree.
I see, how do we get their consent if they are in storage, I do not wish to take them out at this time.
If you initiate the bet I can contact them and check for their consent.
Very well, please bet the maximum levels allowed on Mark Anderson winning the New Comer¡¯s Tournament for each of my companions and my familiar.
Authorization from all parties has been given. The bet is for 25 levels and your companions and familiar may not exceed your level if you win the bet.
Well that won¡¯t be a problem. After placing this last bet I went and found a seat waiting for the firsts round to begin. After just a short wait I see a message pop up in front of me.
All contestants in the New Comer¡¯s Tournament will be transported to the arena. You may use anything you have to fight your opponent, however you may only have on pet or familiar help you at a time. All losing opponents will respawn with a single level penalty subtracted from their total. Transport will begin in 3..2..1..
Well, there were two rules I did not know about. A single pet or familiar and a penalty if you lose. It should not affect me either way. I do not plan on showcasing my companions and I am not going to lose so I can just ignore it for now. I fade out and shimmer back into existence inside a large, maybe 500 meters in circumference. On the opposite side of the arena is my old friend Mr. Hammerfist. ¡°Hello Hammerfist. Are you ready?¡± He does not even have the common courtesy to answer me and charges straight at me. If I remember right he was a frosts giantkin and that should be weak against fire. I pull a fire enchanted Warhammer out of my inventory and charge right back at him. I can see him start to grin. He must think I am falling into his trap and his kind of fight, he really is an idiot. When I am about 100 meters from him I start channeling mana into a fireball. I compress it and keep it small but the damage it should cause will not be. When he sees the fireball start forming over my head his expression turns from happy to worried. Too late now buddy you are screwed. I release the fireball and make sure it tracks his dodging attempts so it will definitely hit. 2 seconds later the impact is tremendous along with the explosion. In almost comic book fashion I can see his body flying backwards from the explosion. I speed up just a little so I will reach the area where he is going to land just as he hits the ground. I do not want to waste any more time on this guy so I just put my full strength into a mighty swing at his head. One crushed cranium later and both his body and I start to shimmer out of existence into a teleport. I wonder if they will put us back in the general population or separate those fighting from the others? I reappear in a different room than where I started along with 4 other Great Game users. Identify.
Name: Lady Death (Gertrude Wilkins) Race: Human (High) Level: 94
Affinities: Earth - 60%
Unique Skills: None
Name: Ignis Farrow Race: Dragonkin (Red) Level: 91
Affinities: Fire - 50% Air ¨C 10%
Unique Skills: None
Name: Alan Barker Race: Beastkin (Wolf) Level: 89
Affinities: Air - 30%
Unique Skills: None
Name: Jewel Titus Race: Elf (Shadow) Level: 101
Affinities: Water - 25% Earth - 25%
Unique Skills: Hide in Shadows
Wow that idiot I fought was actually was higher leveled than the other newbies. Speaking of which I should have 20 more levels now. I need to assign the points and then change the False Status to reflect it. Too many people heard about the bet for twenty levels. Status.
Name: Mark Anderson
Level: 272 -30% Unspent Attribute Points: 200
Str: 470 HP: 4,700
Int: 600 +250% MP MP: 42,000
Wis: 600 +250% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 470 MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Con: 470 +250% HP/Regen Luck: 470
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Resistances: Earth - 100% Water - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
First set my False status to level 152, and keep the rest of it as it is. Ok for my real stats let¡¯s bring everything up to 500 and split the rest between INT and WIS. Yep that should work. When I mentally ok the changes I get another message.
Congratulations you have managed to bring all of your stats to 500 or above you are now walking the path of the Gods. You are granted the title Demi-God +10.
Well that was unexpected. Let¡¯s see the final status with the new title then. Status.
Name: Mark Anderson
Level: 272 -30% Unspent Attribute Points: 200
Str: 510 HP: 5,100
Int: 650 +250% MP MP: 45,500
Wis: 650 +250% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 510 MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Con: 510 +250% HP/Regen Luck: 510
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Resistances: Earth - 100% Water - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
I finally pay attention to my surroundings. I notice the others are staring at me. What do I have blood on my shirt? Oh right, it is probably the level thing. Before I can say anything we get yet another message with instructions.
You have one hour to rest and recuperate. After which you will each battle every remaining contestant once. The person with the most wins will be declared champion.
Well that seems simple enough. Time to make some new friends. ¡°Well hello everyone. My name is Mark Anderson and it is my first time here at the competition just like you. I hope the even though we are opponents we can act civilly towards each other.¡± The other four look at each other and seem to come to a consensus. ¡°Hello my name is Ignis.¡± ¡°I am called Lady Death.¡± ¡°My name is Alan good to meet you.¡± ¡°You may address me as Jewel.¡± After that there was a little bit of awkward silence until finally Alan broke the ice again. ¡°Mark do you mind telling us how you came to be so high leveled when you are a new comer to the Great Game.¡± ¡°I was wondering if you were going to ask. I do not mind telling you at all. It was mostly luck, but the last 20 levels came from tricking an idiot named Hammerstrike in the first round.¡± ¡°I do not understand.¡± ¡°Well you see, everyone experienced the beta test right?¡± I see heads nod. ¡°I through sheer luck and no skill whatsoever that I managed to survive my planet¡¯s beta test. This meant that I was part of the Great Game for just over a year before everyone else joined. This gave me a large advantage in leveling.¡± ¡°Ok that makes sense I guess, what about the guy Hammerfist though. How did you trick him if you do not mind me asking?¡± ¡°Well you do know that you can bet on the tournament right?¡± Once again heads nodded. ¡°He was being kind of a pain and was challenging me for being higher leveled than him. I asked if he was sure he could beat me. He said yes. I knew that he did not stand a chance, but got him to bet 20 levels of experience. So when I finished the first round and beat him I was awarded twenty levels from the Great Game.¡± ¡°Mark, it seems like you had some great luck. I do not even think we can compete with someone that is 50 levels above us.¡± Oh if you only knew the truth Alan. ¡°I am sorry about that. I do ask that you try your best against everyone. There is always a chance and at the very least we all may learn something new from fighting each other.¡± ¡°That makes sense. Please do not hold back so we can see what it is like to fight a level 150 powerhouse.¡± ¡°Do you all agree with Alan? Or would you like to forfeit some matches?¡± The group came to a consensus to fight. If they were going to take an experience penalty anyway they might as well try to learn something. We chatted about inconsequential things for the next few minutes, but one by one people drifted off to mentally prepare for the next round. Soon enough it was time. I once again was transported into the either the same arena or at least its duplicate. Across from me was Ignis. Time to get this party started. Ignis was a Red Dragonkin, which meant that ice spells should work well against him. I decided the best thing for me was to use a similar strategy on each fight and just overwhelm them with strength. This might cause those Single¡¯s Tournament participants to think that I only could do one thing and underestimate me. I attacked Ignis with an ice explosion spell and beat him down with an ice enchanted hammer. The next three went similar to Ignis. The only variation was that Jewel tried using her Unique Skill Hide in Shadows, the same skill I had, but it failed due to my high level. I wonder if anyone else has figured out that the skills that are supposed to be so unique are duplicated on every planet. There could be thousands of people with your skill, they just have to be born somewhere else in the Great Game. Heck I even had a skill that could copy other skills, so in theory if I saw it I could copy any Unique Skill making them just rarer skills and not necessarily unique. 56 - The Start Of The Singles Tournament Chapter 56: The Start Of The Singles Tournament When my fourth and final fight ended against Alan I was transported back to the original competition area and was greeted with the following screen.
Congratulations on winning the New Comer¡¯s Tournament. You have been awarded the title New Comer¡¯s champion +10, you have been awarded 10 levels, you have been awarded 3 World Perks.
You have placed winning bets on the outcome of this tournament. You have been awarded 6,000,000 mithral coins, you have been awarded 50 levels of experience, you have been awarded 3 World Perks.
Your companions have placed winning bets on the outcome of this tournament. Your companions are each awarded 25 levels of experience.
Ok, that is a lot to take in. I need to sit down and assign points and then go bet again on myself to win the entire singles tournament. If I win it will be another fantastic boost to my strength and if I lose then no big deal. I will just have to get the title another year. I open up my status and am amazed at the points I have to distribute. 600 points is a lot and my level is now tier 4. Place some there and there and let¡¯s check the total increase in power. Status.
Name: Mark Anderson
Level: 332 -45% Unspent Attribute Points: 0
Str: 595 HP: 5,950
Int: 810 +250% MP MP: 56,700
Wis: 810 +250% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 595 MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Con: 595 +250% HP/Regen Luck: 595
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Resistances: Earth - 100% Water - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Ok Mark, first go place bets, then find Yonder and see if the team is put together, then strategize and rest and recuperate. I head over to the betting area and see Yonder surrounded by 3 other people waiting for me. He must have realized what I needed to do and was waiting for me. ¡°Hi Yonder, let me make my bets and then I can join you and your friends for a quick talk.¡± ¡°Sounds good son, remember to place bets on each round and the final outcome. You get more stuff that way.¡± Why that sneaky guy. I am glad I said something out loud. I would have just bet on the final outcome again. I wonder how much more I can actually get? Help, what is the maximum amount I can bet on myself to make it to each round of the Single¡¯s Tournament?
You can bet 1 World Perk, 10,000,000 mithral coins, and 10 levels of experience per round.
What is the limit on betting on the overall winner?
You can bet 3 World Perks, 25,000,000 mithral coins, and 50 levels of experience on the outcome of the entire tournament.
Are companions and familiars still allowed to bet up to half of their Master¡¯s bet?
Yes.
Some quick calculations, that means that I can get another 12 World Perks, 115,000,000 mithral coins, and an extra 140 levels on top of what I already have. My companions can earn another 70 levels each. Oh be still my heart. I quickly make my way around the various betting booths and place the maximum bets for both myself and my companions. Grinning I head over to Yonder. ¡°Yonder, please lead the way to a secure room and then you can introduce me to your friends. Perhaps I might also ask a question or two also?¡± ¡°Follow me lad.¡± We headed back towards the hallway we had gone down before, but had to travel a lot further to find an open room. A lot of people must be in discussions right now. As we entered the secure room Yonder signaled everyone to have a seat. I quickly used my upgraded identify on everyone.
Name: Yonder Strongfist Race: Dwarf (Giant) Level: 424
Affinities: Water - 50% Earth - 85% Fire ¨C 50%
Unique Skills: (Stubborn as a Rock), (Shared Attributes), (Amplify)
Resistances: Earth 45% Fire ¨C 10%
Name: Hannah Cloudrunner Race: Dragonkin (Air) Level: 411
Affinities: Water - 50% Air - 100%
Unique Skills: (Truth Seer), (Immaterial)
Resistances: Air 50%
Name: Rydel Farjor Race: Elf (Forest) Level: 398
Affinities: Water - 75% Earth - 75%
Unique Skills: (Green Thumb), (Leave No Trace)
Resistances: Earth 50% Water ¨C 25%
Name: Melarue Glynnis Race: Sprite (Winter Court) Level: 422
Affinities: Air - 100% Fire ¨C 50%
Unique Skills: (Lesser Teleportation), (Projectile Weapon Master)
Resistances: Air - 75% Fire ¨C 20%
¡°It looks like you took my advice and bet on my winning the New Comer¡¯s tournament Yonder. Please introduce me to your friends.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Aye lad, once you showed me what you had hidden I knew it was easy money. I bet the maximum on everything and cleaned up. My friends took my advice and did the same. We have all reached tier 5 except that skinny elf, but he is close. I have the pleasure to introduce you to Hannah a dragonkin, Rydel is the skinny elf, and Lady Glynnis of the sprite nation.¡± ¡°Hello everyone, my name is Mark Anderson and as Yonder probably told you I have a proposition for you. I think it is possible for myself to earn the three championships title during this competition. However, the one I am least confident on is the team competition. I have a total of 3 spots left since Yonder will be taking one of them and I would like to know if you would be willing to join the team and listen to my instructions. If it makes you feel more confident you can have Miss Hannah use her Unique Skill Truth Seer on me while you ask questions.¡± The three new people¡¯s jaw dropped and Yonder started laughing. ¡°I told you he had skills didn¡¯t I. I think he is telling the truth about being able to complete what even Silverwing was unable to do. Hear him out.¡± I proceeded to outline my plan and told them that soon I would probably out level them with all of my bets coming in. Speaking of which. ¡°Hey Yonder, in the top twenty-five are there any people I can trick out of levels like I did Hammerfist. Maybe if I take a different approach¡± ¡°I know of two of them that bet frequently.¡± Lady Glynnis chimed in. ¡°I know what buttons to push to get another to bet against you.¡± Hannah spoke up. ¡°You can probably get any of the shadow dragonkin to bet against you as long as they think they are 50 levels or higher than you.¡± ¡°Ok, please point them out and let me know the best way to approach them. If I can pick up a few more levels through personal betting I think I can top 600 before the team tournament.¡± Everyone¡¯s eyes got big again. ¡°You can what?¡± ¡°Well I did the math and currently I am level 332. I get another 50 levels for the sucker bets I made on the General Melee which takes me to 382. I bet the maximum possible on every level of the tournament which when I win will be another 140 levels taking me to 522. If I can get each of these people you know to bet 20-25 levels that would push me over level 600.¡± ¡°He is right.¡± ¡°Lad are you sure you are confident enough to bet everything on this?¡± ¡°Yonder let me ask you a question first. What is your highest stat and your lowest stat. I don¡¯t need what it is in, just the number.¡± Yonder looked at me like I had grown another head. He couldn¡¯t see where this was going. ¡°I don¡¯t mind telling you lad. My strength is my pride and I have 550 points in it. My luck is lowest at 242. Why?¡± ¡°Hannah please verify my statement. My lowest stat has 595 points in it.¡± ¡°Truth.¡± Oh, the dumbfounded look I am getting from my team mates is starting to get old. ¡°I¡¯ll just say it is a combination of me earning my bloodline very early and more titles than you can even imagine. I probably have the stats of someone who is already level 450-500 and I am only at level 332. When I add the levels I expect to get soon, how confident do you think I am. Oh and I have bet the maximum number of levels possible for my companions as well so the elemental dragons should be level 200 or more and my familiar around level 250 for the team tournament.¡± They just looked at each other and finally Rydel spoke. ¡°I have to go and increase my bets.¡± ¡°Well before you go and do that can you go and find those people you thought of I could bet against and explain what you think would make them bet against me.¡± ¡°Right of course.¡± Everyone discussed their ideas and suggestions about how I could get people to bet with me. We decided that a staged argument with one of them would probably be the best. I would loudly declare that I already had earned 30 levels and was getting another 50 from the general melee. I would then talk about how much that would power me up. I then had to say how I knew that I could probably not win the tournament but with such a boost in power it was not unlikely for me to make the top 256. Since my false status would show that I was only level 152. With most everyone knowing that I was expecting another 50 levels, they would most likely come to the conclusion that I expected that when I reached the next tier and ¡°level 202¡± that I thought I could play with the big boys. I then was supposed to finish up the argument saying something about how even if I placed that high it was pointless because I would not be able to earn any of the rewards. That is why I wanted to find some people to bet my new levels against. I would argue out loud that even if I lost it was no big deal because I had earned these levels for free and could always get them back in the future. My friend would give up at that point and just say fine. This is a lesson you are going to have to learn on your own. Just make sure you do not bet more than 50 levels total or you will be sorry. I have tried to stop you that is all I can do. Hopefully the various parties would then approach me and initiate the bet. We would stage the argument without the people they thought of first to try and get anyone else to bet first and then they would go and conveniently talk about what they just heard a rookie say around the people they thought would bet against me. I was warned to never go above 25 levels in my bets. No one does that and it would set off some flags in people¡¯s minds. Once the plan was in place we all dispersed and left. Since several people had probably seen me talking to Yonder twice earlier it was decided that it would be more believable if he was the one to have the staged argument with me. We both headed over to the area near the betting booth and started our staged argument. After a couple of minutes I could see some people were looking interested and several others looked concerned. Soon enough someone spoke up. ¡°Mark, I couldn¡¯t help overhearing. You should listen to your new friend. Even after a boost of 50 more levels you will only be at the start of tier 3. Most of your opponents will be in tier 4 or higher in the Single¡¯s Tournament.¡± ¡°Thank you for your concern sir, but I am determined to do this. The Great Game already placed me at number 501 and that was before I earned all of these new levels. I have some titles and a skill that also give me confidence in my ability.¡± ¡°Whatever kid, I was just trying to help.¡± ¡°Leave the kid alone. If he wants to make a bet let him, this is how rookies learn hard lessons.¡± Perfect, that sounded like someone who could become my first betting scam victim. I just need to reel him in and convince others that I would be good to bet against. ¡°I may be a rookie, but I know how strong I am. Do you think you could beat me just because you have been here longer? Even if you are higher leveled I think I have a chance. Are you willing to back up your statement with some levels?¡± ¡°Fine kid if you want to give me your levels, I will take them from you. Let¡¯s head over and make the bet now.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t call me kid. That goes for all you old timers. Have some respect for others. I know I can¡¯t win, but that does not mean I can¡¯t do well. I believe that I can reach the top 256 and obviously the Great Game does also since it placed me at 501. I am willing to back up my talk with levels, but most of you have been here so long that you are scared of change and just mumble in the background and pretend to be wise. I am going to head over to the betting booth and I will accept all bets about me reaching the top 256. Not only am I confident in my ability, but I think it will serve as motivation that many of you don¡¯t have. I am not the idiot many of you think I am. I will only accept bets until I will reach the level I came into the competition with. I may be wrong but I am not going to be a push over.¡± I stalked over to the personal betting area with anger. Several people followed me over and the confirmation of bets started coming in. I accepted every bet that came my way that stated what I had said earlier as quick as I could. I needed to get as many levels as possible, but if I stood here to long it would probably set off warning bells about me betting more than I should. I decided 60 seconds was about right and I mentally approved 15 bets in that time. I took a step back and said out loud. ¡°That¡¯s my limit. You may think that I am crazy, but I do know enough not to bet past my original competition level.¡± That was a good way to end this little charade. I moved away from the betting area and headed to a quiet corner so I could count up and review how many levels it actually was. I signaled Yonder to follow me. I reviewed my messages and did some quick math. Most of the fifteen bets I made were for 10-15 levels but three were for 25. So 75 plus 80 plus 60 is 215. 215 levels, I really did not think I would be able to get that many to bet against me. 215 levels is a raise of two tiers. Let¡¯s see add everything together, my level is 332 plus 50 for General Melee plus 215 for personal bets, plus 140 for Great Game bets and my new level if I win the Singles Tournament would be 737. Can that be right? It seems like that is too high. I might even be able to bet a few more times. How has no one else figured this out in the past? I mean with betting you could instantly become untouchable and wipe everybody out. I must be missing something. I need to talk to Yonder really quick. Yonder had been waiting patiently for me to say something. ¡°Can we get another room really quick I have a question before we move on.¡± Back down the hallways and into another room I immediately began speaking. ¡°Yonder I did the math and this just seems too easy. I am afraid that I am missing something. The level I expect to be after the Singles Tournament is quite frankly ridiculous and scary. Has no one tried this before? Is there a rule that I am breaking?¡± Yonder just shook his head no. He could see that I was nervous. ¡°Lad you are doing nothing wrong. Other people have tried in the past, but you are a unique existence. I have never heard of anyone ever coming in with your high levels and stats, which means that although they may have been confident in themselves, all they had to do was look around and see hundreds of people that were stronger than them. No one has been brave enough to bet more than about ten levels in a go in a long long time. If you mess up and lose 10 levels past tier 3 it can take you up to a year or more to gain them back. That is a huge loss in time. With that level of commitment many people do not bet at all or at least only bet between 1-5 levels just to spice things up. With you being a rookie and having that false status many of the greedier gambling folks see what they think is a sure bet and are able to finally let their inner demons loose and bet against you.¡± ¡°Thank you for your explanation Yonder I was starting to get worried I had violated some rule I did not know about.¡± ¡°Out of curiosity how high a level do you expect to be if everything works out like planned?¡± ¡°Promise not to stare at me.¡± ¡°Sure lad.¡± ¡°Over 750.¡± Dang it he even promised this time. Wide eyes, open hanging mouth, yep I broke him again. ¡°Snap out of it Yonder.¡± ¡°Sorry lad, it is just a lot to take in.¡± ¡°Just focus on how much you are gaining. You jumped 50 levels on me winning the New Comer¡¯s Tournament and you will get another 50 for betting on the Single¡¯s. That means you will have increased an entire tier in strength in less than 2 weeks.¡± ¡°You are right son, that is amazing in itself. I was so focused on how strong you were getting I completely forgot about my own gains. This is all because of you. Please accept my gratitude and I hope that we personally can stay friends in the future and maybe our planets as well.¡± ¡°I hope so Yonder. Now where can I get some sleep and can you contact the others to see if they think we could pull a couple of the big fish they had thought of tomorrow after I get my ¡°big¡± increase in levels from the General Melee.¡± ¡°Aye lad, the hallway on the other side is rooms for sleeping. Just like this side if it is green it is free. I will talk to the others. You rest and contact me with this communication crystal in the morning and we will meet up and talk again.¡± ¡°Thanks, Yonder.¡± I travelled to the other side of the staging area and grabbed a room. I had a pleasant surprise when I entered my room.
You have entered an area where companions and familiars can be summoned.
Finally I can update and check on everyone. I called everyone out and explained the situation to them. It was good to interact with family, and no matter how different they looked these guys and girls were family. I was relieved to hear that everything was fine with them. They never even noticed the passage of time usually, but were excited when the Great Game contacted them. They immediately accepted and when I asked why they all just said because it¡¯s you. It feels good to be that trusted. I need to make sure I am worthy of it. Tomorrows another day and I need to be ready for it. 57 - Becoming Singles Tournament Champion 57 - Becoming Single¡¯s Tournament Champion I woke up the next morning and after saying goodbye I moved everyone back into storage. I then contacted Yonder through the communication crystal. ¡°Good Morning Yonder, Where should I meet you?¡± ¡°Good Morning Lad, I want you to just hang out near the Single¡¯s Tournament Board. I need you to look like you might have made a mistake yesterday, study the board intently. I will bring over two new marks for you to bet with. You can still talk to me like you know me, but when I warn against you betting you need to take over.¡± ¡°Sure thing Yonder, I will see you soon.¡± About twenty minutes later I was reclining on a couch staring up at the Single¡¯s Tournament Board. I guess I could see why people usually don¡¯t bet as much as I was. There were so many names that had already made the top 500. If you think about the General Melee, people could team up to take down stronger opponents it would be chaos. There was no real way for most people to guarantee a win. I saw Yonder approaching me followed by two others. Identify.
Name: Duchess Winter (Elana Winter) Race: Vampire (Noble) Level: 460
Affinities: Fire- 100%
Unique Skills: (Hide In Shadows II), (Seduction)
Resistances: Fire - 75% Air ¨C 50%
Name: Loki Kitsune Race: Beastkin (Fox) Level: 375 (442)
Affinities: Earth - 75% Fire ¨C 100%
Unique Skills: (False Status), (Overwrite)
Resistances: Earth - 50% Fire ¨C 80%
First person I have seen with False Status besides myself. This should be interesting. ¡°Good Morning Yonder.¡± ¡°Good Morning Lad, I brought two of my acquaintances along for you to meet.¡± ¡°Oh, well hello then, my name is Mark Anderson.¡± ¡°Greetings Mark you can call me Duchess Winter.¡± ¡°Hello kid, my name is Loki.¡± ¡°How can I help you today?¡± ¡°Well lad, remember our discussion yesterday about the upper levels of the tournament and you were talking about setting goals. We got off on a tangent and you made some bets that you probably shouldn¡¯t have. I wanted you to meet two of the strongest people I know to help you realize your limitations. I am not ashamed to admit that I have lost to both of these people in the past and even with my recent level gains, I am not sure that I could beat either one again this year.¡± ¡°Well Yonder, I thank you for what you are trying to do, but I will not back out of my responsibilities. I cannot cancel the bets anyway. I am glad to meet your friends though.¡± ¡°Lad I understand, what I was trying to accomplish today is that you should pick your battles more wisely. Betting is part of the game, but I do not know how much you have bet. My companions today are long time competitors and will treat you right if you feel you need to bet against someone to give yourself a goal to reach.¡± ¡°Well thank you all. I do want to set goals and having something on the line always makes me bring out my best, but I have already bet the 50 levels that I am going to gain today. I won 30 more levels in the New Comer¡¯s Tournament, but I do want to leave here with some gains no matter what.¡± Duchess Winter took this chance to start talking. It looked like she was worried they would lose an easy mark. ¡°We respect such a wise position from someone so young. How about this then Loki and I will make a joint bet with you for only twenty levels, that way you have a realistic goal and you will leave with a guaranteed 10 extra levels plus any you might earn from your other bets.¡± I frowned and made it look like I was contemplating it. I wonder what there game was? ¡°I guess that does make sense, but I do not understand joint bets I have never heard of them.¡± Duchess Winter smiled and then answered. ¡°I had forgotten that you were new, with you having such a high level and worldly experience. A joint bet can be made between any group of people and a single person or another group of people at the competition. While it is usually reserved for the Team Tournament to allow teams to bet a joint amount of experience shared between them, there is nothing saying we cannot do the same now.¡± She had turned on the charm hard. She must be trying to use her seduction skill on me. I am glad that I have gained immunity from mental attacks, because I am having a hard time concentrating enough right now. She is a very attractive lady. If I had to deal with mind manipulation I probably would bark like a dog if she asked. ¡°Ok, that seems reasonable. This should be my last bet then. I want to be able to keep some of my hard earned gains.¡± We walked over to the personal betting area and I received a very interesting Great Game message.
Reach the top 256 in the Single¡¯s Tournament (Win the Single¡¯s Tournament), Mark Anderson and Duchess Winter + Loki Kitsune, 20 Levels (150 levels), Single¡¯s Tournament
I mentally accepted it and then turned and spoke. ¡°Thank You for helping me set my goal. I am confident I will make the top 256 in the Single¡¯s Tournament so I would like to apologize in advance for taking your levels.¡± ¡°Do not worry, if you make it to the top 256 you deserve those extra levels. Loki and I have plenty and it is always good to help out the younger generations.¡± Man she was good. I am pretty sure that Loki¡¯s skill is why I had such a weird message. Luckily my Fountain of Knowledge skill seems to have overwritten it though. I will investigate in just a minute. ¡°Thank You Yonder, for helping me out. I am going to go and get a room to watch the General Melee in peace and quiet. You have helped me so much would you like to join me?¡± ¡°Sure lad, let me say my goodbyes and we can go.¡± 5 minutes later we were inside one of the secure rooms and I held up a hand to forestall Yonder from speaking. Help, please show me the description of the Unique Skill Overwrite.
(Unique Skill) Overwrite: This skill allows the user to change any Great Game message to read what they would like as long as it would not directly harm the intended recipient. Skill cannot overcome Fountain of Knowledge or Truth Seer.
So that is their game. The duchess distracts, Loki rewrites and they probably clean up against one person each year. I doubt that they do more than that just because people would become suspicious. They probably saw a chance to clean me out and took it. I do not think they normally would try for as many levels as they did with me. ¡°Ok Yonder say your piece.¡± ¡°I thought they would be good for more levels lad. They gamble every year, no more than two bets, but always seem to win. I figured it would be good to teach them a lesson.¡± ¡°Oh they bet way more than you think and yes I will win the bet against them causing them to fall drastically in the rankings next tournament.¡± ¡°What do you mean lad?¡± ¡°Loki has a Unique Skill called Overwrite. It allows you to change what someone else sees on the Great Game messages. Instead of a bet for me making the top 256 and for 20 levels, he bet me 150 levels and that I had to win the tournament. They probably thought that no one would believe a new kid and saw a chance for a big score.¡± ¡°Why those dirty cheating¡­.¡± ¡°Stop right there Yonder, there is no need to worry. I accepted the bet knowing the changes. I am going to win the tournament and you and them just gave me another 150 levels. However, I do think that I should stop betting now.¡± ¡°That seems smart lad. I will let the others know and then they can join us and we can watch the Great Melee and then we will need to break up our group and get ready for our own fights.¡± ¡°Sounds good Yonder.¡± The other three joined us soon and after some small talk we settled in to watch the Great Melee. The Great Melee was utter chaos. As I watched I realized how lucky I was that I got to skip this round due to my achievements. No matter what your level it seems there would be no guarantee that you could pass the Great Melee. In fact the more you stood out as a dominating individual the more likely those around you would gang up or sneak attack you causing you to be unable to continue on. I guess Yonder and the others could see the bewildered look on my face because he started explaining. ¡°It is said it did not always be this violent and chaotic lad. Around 20-25 competitions ago before I started attending. The Great Melee was mostly a hide and attack fest. However the Great Game decided that the event was taking too long. So the rules were changed to encourage more fighting. Now you are forced to fight at least one contestant each hour or you will be forcibly removed. This led to nobody being able to hide for very long and the chaotic mess you are watching now.¡± Soon enough the Great Melee was over. The sheer carnage and amount of magic thrown was impressive if a little too random for my tastes. As soon as the champion of the Great Melee was declared I received my betting message from the Great Game.
You have placed winning bets on the outcome of the Great Melee. You have been awarded 25,000,000 mithral coins, you have been awarded 50 levels of experience, you have been awarded 3 World Perks.
I open up my status and distribute the 500 free points I just received. Try to keep things even and that should do it.
Error, you cannot raise an attribute above 1,000 points until reaching tier 5. Player is still 18 levels shy of tier 5. Please redistribute your attribute points.
Another one of those messages, ok how about this then. Status.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
Name: Mark Anderson
Level: 382 -45% Unspent Attribute Points: 0
Str: 675 HP: 6,750
Int: 1,000 +250% MP MP: 70,000
Wis: 1,000 +250% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 675 MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Con: 675 +250% HP/Regen Luck: 675
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Resistances: Earth - 100% Water - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
I decide to mess with my new friends minds once again, for a very important reason. I was bored. ¡°Hey Yonder, I just got those levels from the bets. When I tried to place my stat points I got and error message from the Great Game.¡± Everyones heads turned to look at me. This is perfect. ¡°Did you know that you are not allowed to raise a stat past 1,000 until you reach tier 5?¡± There it is, my old friend, bugged out eyes and wide hanging open mouths. ¡°Lad are you trying to say you have one of your stats at 1,000 points?¡± ¡°No Yonder, I have two of them at 1,000 and the rest have now passed 600.¡± The other just look numbed. I hear several mumbles about this is not fair, what am I doing wrong, glad he is on my side. I spoke up. ¡°Anyway I thought I would head back to the resting rooms and grab one quick and prepare for the rest of the rounds. We all have each other¡¯s communication crystals so we can stay in touch.¡± I make sure to reset my false status. I think level 240 would be about right. That should take care of my confidence and let people think they know how much I bet on the Great Melee. I walked out of the viewing room and started to head back to the other side so I could grab a private room and call out my companions when I was stopped my group of what can be only described as thugs or bullies. ¡°Stop right there. I heard how you were saying how you could easily beat others. I think you are all talk and are hoping to get a low level opponent in the first round to move up. If you really think you are hot stuff how about a personal bet against me in the first round so we can fight each other.¡± Identify.
Name: Crusher (Elmer Rockhead) Race: Giantkin (Stone) Level: 291
Affinities: Earth - 25% Water ¨C 20%
Unique Skills: None
Resistances: Earth - 50% Fire ¨C 80%
Oh I get it. They are probably walking around looking for those on the board with lower levels and challenging them to make sure they make it past the first round. Mildly clever but it will backfire on Crusher today. ¡°Fine what¡¯s the bet.¡± ¡°Ten levels that I will beat you in the first round.¡± ¡°Ten, you must be scared of me. I will bet 50 levels that I can beat you.¡± I could see his eyes get large. He definitely did not want to, but he was surrounded by his friends. He looked around at them, and yep peer pressure got to him. ¡°Fine fifty levels it is.¡± We headed over to the betting booth and pretty soon.
Please state the nature of the bet, the participants, the stakes, and the tournament.
One versus one, Mark Anderson and Crusher, 50 levels of experience, first round Single¡¯s Tournament.
Bet has been verified with your opponent. You will face Crusher in the first round to determine the outcome.
That is probably the end of my free levels in the Single¡¯s Tournament. I assume that people will smarten up when they see me win in the first round or at least stop bothering me when they see the increase in my levels as I go on. I finally reach my private room and call out my companions. I need some friend therapy. After playing around and catching up with everybody we go to sleep. 24 hours seems like a long time in between each round but I know in a couple of days it won¡¯t seem that long at all. The next day I waited around for the inevitable game screen warning and was teleported into an arena identical to the one I was in for the New Comer¡¯s Tournament. I had at first thought I might pretend to struggle for a while in the early rounds, but I have gotten tired of that. I am just going to dominate this thing. I will keep my real levels hidden still but I am tired of playing around. I see ¡°Crusher¡± start to run towards me and I just sigh and start pumping mana into my version of the old D & D spell of Meteor Swarm. I could see Crusher start to smile as he got closer, the idiot probably thought I was scared stiff. I just pointed up and saw him skid to a stop as he saw 5 very large rocks, moving very fast towards him. 10 seconds later and all that was left of poor ¡°Crusher¡± was a crushed mess on the floor. I was teleported back to the staging area. Where I immediately raised my False Status level to 290 and I started back to my personal room. I noticed that it was much quieter on the way back. So many people had been teleported away as they lost. This staging area was starting to get a little creepy as it got emptier. There are only 512 people left in the Single¡¯s Tournament and those others that are going to participate in the Team Tournament. Compared to two days ago we have probably had about ? of the competitors teleported out. When I reached my room I made the adjustments to my status and then checked everything out. Status.
Name: Mark Anderson
Level: 442 -86% Unspent Attribute Points: 0
Str: 775 HP: 7,750
Int: 1,100 +250% MP MP: 77,000
Wis: 1,100 +250% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 775 MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Con: 775 +250% HP/Regen Luck: 775
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Resistances: Earth - 100% Water - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
This is getting repetitive. What can I do to spice it up. I know I will try and beat each round faster than the last. I think I should get all of my stats above 1,000 to see if there is another bonus like when I reached all stats above 500 also. I checked in with Yonder and the others and found out they had all passed the first round easily. The new levels and higher stats had helped. I signed off and then just vegged out on the bed. I needed some alone time. I had been around people a lot more recently than I had in the past year and it was taking a toll on me. I was getting great benefits, but I could feel myself falling into one of my funks. I just need to keep it together until after the tournament and then I can go hide somewhere for a month or so and decompress. For the round of 256 I decided that the fastest I could possibly destroy someone else was to just blink behind them and smash them into the ground with my strength and magic weapons. So that is exactly what I did. As soon as my opponent died I was teleported to the staging area and a surprise message.
Attention Great Game Competition competitors. Mark Anderson has set a new speed record in defeating an opponent. He was able to beat Alex Hegred in only 7 seconds.
As a new record holder you are granted the title Speedster +5
Your levels have now exceed the Great Game Competition limit. You must designate an heir within 12 months.
I head back to my room and assign my points. I am now above 1,000 in everything.
Congratulations you have managed to bring all of your stats to 1,000 or above you have walked further on the path of the Gods. You are granted the title Low God +15.
Well that means that I could reach a High God status after some point right.
Name: Mark Anderson
Level: 664 - 4% Unspent Attribute Points: 0
Str: 1,145 HP: 11,450
Int: 1,525 +250% MP MP: 106,750
Wis: 1,525 +250% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 1,145 MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Con: 1,145 +250% HP/Regen Luck: 1,145
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Resistances: Earth - 100% Water - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
The next several rounds proceed relatively the same. I was never able to surpass the 7 second kill record I set, but none of my matches lasted longer than 30 seconds. Hannah got knocked out in 128 along with Rydel. Melarue lost in 64 and Yonder made it to 32. He was extremely happy with that result as he had never made it past the 128 round before this. Soon enough I was about to go into the finals. One more round and I could be done with the Single¡¯s Tournament. I better check where I am at before the last fight. I had picked up several levels through the Great Game bets after each round. Status.
Name: Mark Anderson
Level: 704 - 33% Unspent Attribute Points: 0
Str: 1,245 HP: 12,450
Int: 1,625 +250% MP MP: 113,750
Wis: 1,625 +250% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 1,245 MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Con: 1,245 +250% HP/Regen Luck: 1,245
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Resistances: Earth - 100% Water - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
I need to focus on this last fight. Unless there is something very different about the next guy I don¡¯t think I will have a problem, but I don¡¯t want to screw up right at the end. When I teleported into the arena for the final time I was about to identify my opponent when I realized I recognized him. That was Loki. Identify.
Name: Loki Kitsune Race: Beastkin (Fox) Level: 475 (563)
Affinities: Earth - 75% Fire ¨C 100%
Unique Skills: (False Status), (Overwrite)
Resistances: Earth - 50% Fire ¨C 80%
Wow, he had gotten a big boost in power. He must have found several other people to sucker bet with. I wonder how his partner the Duchess made out? Oh well he is about to get a big surprise. I was showing my level to be 463 so he probably thought he had this in the bag. I yelled across the arena just to tweak him a little. ¡°Hey Loki you still owe me some levels. Why don¡¯t I have them yet? Do I have to beat you?¡± ¡°Mark I never thought you would make it this far. You surprise me, but soon you will fall more than you think.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand. Are you talking about how you tried to trick me and bet 150 levels?¡± The look on Loki¡¯s face was priceless. ¡°How did you..¡± I cut him off. ¡°You are not the only one with Unique Skills, and if you think your measly 563 levels are enough to beat me you are about to get the surprise of your life.¡± Poor guy, it was one reveal after another. I could see the perplexed look on his face. Let¡¯s make this final fight flashy. I start channeling mana into each of my four primary elemental spells. I am going to hit him with four elements at once. Each one is going to have an absurd amount of mana in it and the resulting explosion should be awesome. When Loki saw spells starting to form above me He started to panic and run towards me. I need more time. Walter come out. ¡°Yes Master, how can I help you?¡± ¡°Slow him down and create a shelter behind us. There is going to be a big boom.¡± ¡°Yes Master.¡± Walter proceeded to make walls rise, some stone hands grabbed on to Loki, and the ground turned into mud. He was going all out. Well so was I, I now had a 5,000 mana Fireball, Iceball, Lightning Ball, and Giant Earth Spike rotating around my head. I was about to set them loose when I had a weird thought. In cartoons they could always combine elements for a bigger bang. I wonder if I could do that also? Let¡¯s find out. With my concentration at its fullest I imagined the four separate spells combining into one massive spell. Forcing them would not work. I needed them to blend together. Almost like they were woven from the same cloth, that¡¯s it. With the new image in my mind I wove the four spells together so they complimented each other and kept each other in check. This was going to work. I launched my new creation at Loki and then stepped back into the shelter Walter had prepared us. There really was no way to prepare for what happened next. Luckily Walter had been with me long enough to know that I tend to overdo things and so he had picked up the habit also. When I stepped back into the shelter I actually fell into a deep hole that had been reinforced with stone pillars. Walter jumped down after me. The explosion and shaking that occurred next was epic. Both Walter and I had to continuously reinforce the shelter he made due to the fact that the shock wave and earthquakes my explosion set off kept knocking pieces down on top of us. Man I hope someone I know recorded this. I can¡¯t see anything. After about 30 seconds of feeling like the world was about to collapse I was teleported to the staging area and met with several Great Game messages.
Congratulations on winning the Single¡¯s Tournament. You have been awarded the title Single¡¯s Champion +10, you have been awarded 10 levels, you have been awarded 3 World Perks.
You have placed winning bets on the outcome of this tournament. You have been awarded 25,000,000 mithral coins, you have been awarded 200 levels of experience, you have been awarded 3 World Perks.
Your companions have placed winning bets on the outcome of this tournament. Your companions are each awarded 25 levels of experience.
You have successfully merged all four elements and have unlocked the Primal Element Affinity. For being the first to unlock the Primal Element from Earth you are awarded the title Primal Progenitor +20. For being the first to unlock the Primal Element in the last 10,000 years you are granted full affinity with the Primal Element.
58 - Team Tournament Time 58: Team Tournament Time I immediately head towards the meeting rooms and contact Yonder on the communication crystal. ¡°Yonder, I am back I am heading towards the meeting rooms, please have someone stand outside so I know which one. I need to get out of sight.¡± ¡°Aye Lad, Rydel will be in the hallway and congratulations on the win.¡± I waved at Rydel when I saw him and then ducked into the meeting room. ¡°If you all will just give me a moment I need to process all of my winnings and Great Game messages and then we can talk about the Team Tournament.¡± First place the points, and then I can think about that weird message about the Primal Element, and done.
Congratulations you have managed to bring all of your stats to 1,500 or above you have walked further on the path of the Gods. You are granted the title Mid God +20.
Ok I was a little off earlier. It seems that if you raise every stat by 500 points you get another ¡°God Title¡±. That mean High God must be at 2,000 stat points. Status.
Name: Mark Anderson
Level: 914 - 41% Unspent Attribute Points: 0
Str: 1,645 HP: 16,450
Int: 2,025 +250% MP MP: 141,750
Wis: 2,025 +250% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 1,645 MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Con: 1,645 +250% HP/Regen Luck: 1,645
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Primal ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Resistances: Earth - 100% Water - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Please show me the status of my Companions.
Name: Elvira Race: Elemental Air Dragon Level: 240 - 40% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Esmerelda Race: Elemental Earth Dragon Level: 242 - 77% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Azure Race: Elemental Water Dragon Level: 241 - 4% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Sir Bruce Shadow Flaming Ember of Doom Race: Elemental Fire Dragon Level: 244 - 21% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Walter Race: Incan Wak¡¯a Spirit Level 306 - 11% Status: Familiar of Mark Anderson
¡°Alright I think I am ready now, but first has anyone ever heard of the Path of the Gods or the Primal Element.?¡± Hannah spoke up. ¡°I have never heard of the Primal Element, but there are legends on my planet about walking the Path of the Gods.¡± ¡°Can you tell me a brief description of the legend Hannah.¡± ¡°Sure, the basic premise of the Path of the Gods legend is that if you are able to reach a certain level of power you will be able to walk on the Path of the Gods. This is the route to be able to meet those who created everything.¡± Melarue interjected next. ¡°I have not heard of that, but I do know that the Primal Element is a theoretical element that all other elements come from. It is postulated that if we could control it we would be able to control the energy that created the universes.¡± Yonder asked. ¡°Why do you need to know these things lad?¡± ¡°Well according to the Great Game notices I have started walking the Path of the Gods. You can too, it only takes 500 stat points in every stat. I also combined all four elements into the blast that won the championship. That unlocked the Primal element. However, to do that you need 100% in all affinities and a high enough level to combine them.¡± ¡°You never stop surprising me lad. Dare I ask where you are actually at strength wise now.¡± ¡°Are you sure you want to know? Last time I told you just stared at me like a dead fish with your mouth open.¡± ¡°Yes lad, I truly want to know. It gives me confidence in what we are doing and a goal to shoot for.¡± ¡°Well then my companions have leveled up also. My dragons are around level 240 and my familiar Walter is just over level 300. As for myself, I picked up a couple of extra bets I do not think you were aware of and I just reached level 914 and have over 1,500 points in each stat.¡± Yonder turned away from me and I could hear him muttering under his breath, I will not stare, I will not stare. After a few seconds he turned back around and addressed me. ¡°Lad do you even need our help anymore?¡± ¡°Honestly, I have no idea. I have never even seen a team tournament and do not know what is expected. However, each one of you has helped me and I would be honored for you to be on the team no matter what.¡± ¡°Thank you lad. We can help you plan for the tournament and give some ideas for strategy. You also cannot be in two places at once so we can either help with defense or offense, whichever you think is more appropriate.¡± Yonder and the others then started to educate me on the tournament format. First all teams that were not ranked would go through a King of the Castle round to determine the final competitors. This was basically a larger version of the final rounds. Each team was assigned a tower. The towers were indestructible but the two entrances were not. There was a ground entrance and a roof entrance. The idea was the more towers you owned the better your chances were of making it into the final rounds. So you had to defend each tower you had while trying to take over other team¡¯s towers. The round would end when only 22 teams were left filling up the remaining spots. Most felt if you could get more than 4 towers you were almost guaranteed to advance. Although this also depended on the number of teams that enter each year. I quickly came up with a plan. It was simple and to the point. I would take one person with me and steamroll through the nearest towers to our own. While everyone else defended our original tower. When we conquered the first tower the person with me would stay and defend it. I would then teleport back and grab another person and go conquer another tower. That person would stay and defend the new tower once it was conquered. We would continue this pattern until we held nine towers. Then I would continue on and just start wiping out other teams by myself until the round ended. If anyone was having trouble defending they just had to contact me and I could come back and either evacuate them or support them.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Before I left I asked them all to follow me back to my room so they could meet my companions before the first round. They all trooped behind me and just before we got to the hallway of rooms we were blocked by Loki and several others. ¡°I do not know how you pulled that off Mark, but there is no way anyone will let you win all three rounds.¡± ¡°It was easy to beat you Loki, I am just that much better than you. Speaking of which are you feeling a little inadequate right now as you lost so many levels after you tried to trick me?¡± ¡°You will never succeed in what you are trying. Too many people want to stop you.¡± ¡°Your sounding very clich¨¦ Loki. Now if you do not have anything else to say, please get out of the way.¡± ¡°I challenge you and your team.¡± ¡°Really now. This did not work out well for you last time. Are you sure?¡± ¡°Yes I am sure.¡± ¡°Alright, is this going to be a team bet or an individual bet and would you like me to write it or would you like to try and cheat me again with your Overwrite skill.¡± ¡°I have no idea what you are talking about, but I will let you send it to me if you doubt me.¡± ¡°Fine, play innocent, what are the stakes?¡± ¡°We will bet the maximum allowed that you will not win the team tournament.¡± ¡°So you are not even confident enough in your team to bet directly against us. Well whatever, we agree and would like to state for the record that we will accept all bets of the same nature with anyone else until the Great Game limits us.¡± We marched over to the betting area in a large group and I sent over the bet to Loki.
Please state the nature of the bet, the participants, the stakes, and the tournament.
Mark Anderson¡¯s team will win the Team Tournament, Mark Anderson¡¯s team and Loki¡¯s team, Maximum allowed levels of experience, Team Tournament.
Bet has been verified with your opponent for 500 levels.
Wow 500 levels. Wait that is only 50 levels each when split. Alright that seems better. ¡°Any other takers?¡± Another group came forward. ¡°We will bet against you also. There is no way you will be a three time champion in the same year. Especially your rookie year. No one will allow it.¡± I sent over another bet to the new guy.
You have reached the betting limit for the Team Tournament.
¡°Sorry everyone that is it. The Great Game said we have reached the betting limit for the Team Tournament.¡± While I was here I went over and placed the maximum bets for each round for both myself and my companions for the team tournament. After all of us had finished placing our individual bets we kept moving to the personal rooms. I grabbed the first green lighted one and invited everyone in. Everyone have a seat and I will bring out the team mates you have not met yet. Once everyone was settled in I called out Walter and the Kids. I introduced everybody around and let them talk to each other. Elvira was especially taken with Hannah. With one being an Air Elemental Dragonkin and one being the actual Air Elemental Dragon they got on famously. In fact, it seemed that each of my kids kind of latched on to one of the new group and kind of treated them like an aunt or uncle. Bruce paired up with Yonder. They both had a I am strong bash this leader kind of connection happening. Rydel paired up with Azure and the last topic I heard them talking about was sneaking around and playing pranks. I am going to have to keep an eye on that duo. Finally, Melarue paired up with Esmerelda. My little Earth dragon seemed to be fascinated that Melarue was a Projectile Weapons master. All in all, it was a good little bonding session and allowed everyone to get to know everyone else. It was also decided that the order of attack would be Yonder, Bruce, Melarue, Esmerelda, Rydel, Azure, Hannah, and finally Elvira. Walter would stay at the original base and protect it. Everyone exchanged communication crystals and soon enough it was time to break this little party up. After the good byes I sent everyone to bed and then started contemplating the future. I was not really worried about winning the tournament. I believed in my team mates and my overwhelming level advantage. What I was really worried about was what happened after the tournament. I was going to be a high enough level that I could reasonably stand up to anyone or anything. I should have enough World Perks after betting and winning the three tournaments that I could upgrade the Earth into an almost impenetrable fortress for at least the near future. I even had made some good friends and contacts for trade with other worlds. No what I was worried about was who was going to take over as Planetary Leader and what they might do in the future and also what was going to happen on this Dungeon World. Everything seemed to be indicating that this Dungeon World was intricately connected to the creators or administrators of the Great Game. Soon enough I might meet them and I had no idea how I would react to them or how they might react to me. From the stories most people who went to the Dungeon World did not come back. I do not know if this is because of low levels and danger or is it just the whim of the Great Game creators. I did know that I was going to have to go and find out. Morning came soon enough. I recalled my companions into storage and waited to be transferred into the King of the Castle round. As the teleport shimmer faded out I found myself surrounded by my four new friends in a large stone circular room. This must be the central part of the tower we have to defend. I quickly call out my companions and just as I do there was a general message from the Great Game.
Welcome to the King of the Castle elimination round. You have a maximum of 24 hours to reduce the 211 teams down to 22 teams. At the end of 24 hours the 22 teams with the most towers under their control will be awarded spots in the Team Tournament. Please remember that a tower will only be considered ¡°conquered¡± after a team member has spent 30 continuous minutes inside of it.
Fantastic. I started barking orders. ¡°Walter, please start upgrading the defenses of the tower by setting our standard traps and putting layers of stone in front of the ground entrance. We will enter and leave each tower from the top entrances. If you cannot fly someone who can will move you if we need reinforcements. Yonder you are with me, everyone else sit tight and wait your turn.¡± I climbed to the top of the tower with Yonder and looked around surveying the terrain. It looks like rolling hills mixed with plains. There seems to be towers scattered fairly evenly throughout the area. Each one is no closer than 500 meters from the next and no farther than 1 kilometer. We seemed to luck out and be very close to an edge of the playing field. There were only 2 towers to the West of us. ¡°Yonder I think that we should take the towers to the west first and then a couple North and then two South. Finally, we take two to the East that are leading into the center. After that we can regroup and see which direction seems the best to continue conquering. I know we have 24 hours, but I bet we can knock enough teams out of the competition that we should be done much sooner than that. What do you think?¡± ¡°That sounds like a good strategy lad. Shall we begin?¡± ¡°I would like to wait just a couple of minutes so we can see which direction each of the other teams are heading in if any. If we can catch some of them in the open, I can strafe them with my spells and breath weapon and eliminate a few groups whole sale. By the way, do you think I should continue to show a false status or should I let people quake in fear as they read my true level.¡± ¡°I would probably keep it hidden throughout this round and then change it when we enter the true tournament to worry the other teams.¡± ¡°Sounds good. Let¡¯s give the other teams five more minutes to move and then we are going to attack something no matter what.¡± Over the next five minutes I saw many teams start to send people out to try and conquer other towers. I never saw more than five in a group. Several towers did not send anyone out. They must have decided to turtle up and just defend for now. It does not matter it will not help them. It seemed the closer you were to the center the more likely it was for you to leave to conquers. As you came to the edge more and more groups were playing defensive. Right before I was about to leave with Yonder I saw one of our two picked targets send out the largest party I had seen yet. They must be trying for a blitzkrieg. It seemed very similar to my idea. Too bad it was going to back fire on them. A team of 7 had left one of our picked targets and was headed to the other of our picked targets. Well this would help simplify things a bit. ¡°Ok Yonder, can you jump down this 50 meters or do I need to carry you?¡± ¡°Jumping down is easy lad. It is the climbing back up part that is harder.¡± ¡°Well then jump down and run towards the tower that is being attacked, but do not get too close to the impact zone of the blast that is coming.¡± Without another word I leaped off our tower and started to fly towards the attacking group. I gathered my mana and fused it into the primal blast that I did before. This time however I kept the mana down to 500 for each part of the spell instead of 5,000. I launched the blast and saw several of the seven attackers dodge. Or at least they thought they were dodging. The resulting blast was awe inspiring. It caught every one of the attackers inside it and created my favorite shape, a mushroom cloud. If the 500 mana version of that spell was that cool I really need to watch a recording of what happened when I used 5,000 mana it must have been epic. All seven of the attackers survived the explosion, but they did not look good. Next up was a standard lightning breath attack. After watching them twitch for a second I landed next to Yonder who had caught up. We proceeded to put the remaining couple living beings out of their misery. Step one was complete. I grabbed Yonder by the arms and with a surprised squeak, which I am totally going to tease him about later, I flew us up to the top of the tower that was about to be attacked. I wanted to strike a full strength tower first to gauge how hard this was going to be. We landed on top and noticed that the entrance was closed. ¡°They must be hiding inside after seeing what you did lad. We are going to have to pry them out.¡± ¡°Easy enough to do Yonder. Here is my idea. You pound on that door until it collapses. As soon as it collapses you jump off the tower to safety.¡± ¡°What do I need to be safe from lad?¡± ¡°Well why you are pounding on the door, I am going to be pumping mana into an extremely large fireball which I will launch into the opening as soon as the trap door collapses. The results should be spectacular.¡± ¡°Fine son, let¡¯s see what happens.¡± We proceeded to follow my plan. Yonder pounding on the door slowly weakening it and I slowly poured mana into a very large fireball. I need to make it large enough to sweep through the whole tower. It should deal enough damage to stun if not kill everyone inside it. I think I will try 10,000 mana. It is larger than the big explosion I made in the singles tournament, but should not be as strong because I am only using the fire element. As soon as the trap door collapsed Yonder, who seemed to be getting a little nervous about the size of the fireball jumped of the tower. Several arrows and bolts just missing him as they rose upward from inside the tower. I compressed the fireball enough that it should fit through the door and then let it fly. I jumped and glided away gracefully until the resulting shockwave knocked me out of the sky. Well that was not my intended soft landing. I turned around to see what looked to be a giant 50 meter tall blowtorch shooting fire into the sky. That just looks so cool. I may have overdone it a bit, but you know what? I am conscious and no one on my team got hurt. I started walking over to Yonder. ¡°How much mana did you put into that thing boy?¡± ¡°Around 10,000 mana why?¡± ¡°Well I have never seen an explosion quite that big. You are definitely entertaining to have as a friend. I also forgot how ridiculously large your mana pool must be. I have never shot anything with a fireball larger than about 750 mana.¡± ¡°It does look great doesn¡¯t it. I may have overdone it a little, but I would rather be safe than sorry. I do have to say thought that this is the largest one I have remained conscious to see.¡± Yonder looked at me a little strange after that statement, but eventually just shook his head chalking it up to Mark being Mark. When the flames died down I flew Yonder back up to the top of the tower and entered carefully. There was no need. Everything inside the tower was gone. ¡°Yonder, do I need to help you repair the defenses?¡± ¡°Nay lad, after ? an hour the Great Game will recognize this tower as conquered and replace everything including the doors and defenses.¡± ¡°Well that is convenient. I guess I will head back and get Bruce and take on the next tower.¡± ¡°Ok lad, call me if you need help.¡± ¡°Sure thing Yonder, see you soon.¡± I proceeded to make my way back to our original tower to get Bruce for the next attack. Bruce ran out onto the roof and looked very excited. ¡°Dad that was awesome! Can we do it again?¡± ¡°That is the plan my boy, but I thought you might want to practice and strafe a couple of groups with your breath weapon first.¡± ¡°Oh dad that would be fun. Are you going to join in?¡± ¡°Nope this is all you son. Dad will just watch and protect you from ambushes.¡± ¡°Cool let¡¯s go then.¡± 59 - Wrapping Up The Team Tournament 59: Wrapping Up The Team Tournament After Bruce had his fun attacking people in the open, we flew over to the second tower in the West. I had him repeat the same plan I did with Yonder. If it¡¯s not broke don¡¯t fix it. After the tower turned into a giant flaming candle I installed Bruce into the tower. One by one I continued. With each of my kids I let them express themselves and attack a group or two that might be out in the open. It did not take long and it was something fun we could do together. Each attack took about 10 minutes. So right after I installed Melarue in the third tower I received a notice that I assumed everyone on the team got also.
You team has captured a second tower. All of your controlled towers will now glow green in your sight and enemy controlled towers will glow red.
That is convenient. Thank you Great Game. That will simplify things as I spread my reign of terror amongst the other teams. Eventually all eight of my team, excluding Walter who was in charge of defense at the original tower, were holding down their own towers. That makes nine towers in just over an hour and a half. The last tower took a little longer, because the las team had started to try and come up with a strategy to stop my giant fireball attack. They set a few traps on the roof which screwed me up momentarily and took me out of my groove. They actually knocked Esmerelda and I off the top of the tower we were attacking. When we hit the ground the group charged out the front door and tried to overwhelm us. I was a little upset at this point because they could have hurt one of my little girls and I may have kind of tore them limb from limb. I mean that in the literal sense. My strength was over 1,500 and being as mad as I was I literally ripped some appendages off people in the attacking group. When I calmed down, the other team was defeated and Esmerelda was just repeating, I am ok daddy. I am glad I did not shift into my dragon form. I am saving that one for a big surprise when needed. I decided to wait another 15 to 20 minutes and take a quick break while waiting for all of our towers to be officially recognized as being ¡°owned¡± by our team. I told everyone my plan and retreated back to the central tower and checked in with Walter. ¡°Hi Walter, how is everything going?¡± ¡°Everything is good master. No one has counterattacked and the defenses are untouched.¡± ¡°Very good Walter, when we are done with this small break I am going to take you, Yonder, Bruce, and one person from each of the other directions and start going on a clearance rampage.¡± ¡°Very Well master, I look forward to working with you again soon.¡± I think that I have intimidated the surrounding groups because while I was watching from the top of the tower I could see groups continually attacking and expanding, but always in a direction away from us. Well time is up. Time to gather up some of the others and start reducing the number of teams even more. I stop by each of the towers and either gather the person into the group or tell them to keep watch from the top of their tower. The West is a dead end so I take both Bruce and Yonder, and I decide to leave the kids at their towers for this round and take Rydel, Melarue, Hannah, and of course Walter. However, which way should we go? We talk it over and decide to go either North or South keep the directions of counterattack down by traveling along the border. After flipping a coin, it is decided to go North. An hour later I have cleared the sixth tower to the North and have to stop for a break to allow for the ? hour recognition period to acknowledge my latest conquest. This will make a total of 15 towers. No one is attacking us back and the conquests have been getting easier. In fact, two of the towers here in the North were empty. We saw everyone in the tower evacuate and go to attack someone to the East when they saw us approaching. I guess watching an approaching team make each tower up to yours into a giant flaming candle of doom inspires you to move and try somewhere else. I have to respect their decision, so I will travel south next and leave them alone. I gathered up my four kids and Walter and did a repeat of what had just happened in the North on the South side of our conquered towers. That is a total of 20 towers. I know that this should be more than enough. I decide to wait at least an hour and see if there are any new developments. After an hour of waiting I was bored. We did not need to control any more towers, but since no one even tried to counterattack I did not want to just sit here for up to another 20 hours just waiting. I decided to go east from our original tower more towards the center to see if we could stir up some trouble. I decided for this one to take all four of the friends and Walter and leave the kids behind just in case. With them being able to fly it would allow them to cover more distance if they are needed to defend a tower. I set Bruce in the middle tower, Elvira to the North, and Esmerelda to the South. Azure was going to take the first new tower to the East and the rest of us would keep attacking. We were in the middle of our attack on the 3rd tower to the east when we were teleported back to the common area and greeted with a message.
Congratulations, you have managed to be hold on and have qualified for one of the spots in the Team Tournament. You and your companions set a record for the greatest number of towers ever held by one team in the King of the Castle tournament. You are each granted the title Tower Master +5.
¡°Well that was easy.¡± ¡°It is usually more of a challenge lad, but you kind of skew things in our favor.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t it have taken longer though. I mean we had 23 or 24 towers when the Great Game booted us out. That means the other teams must have had an average of 8-10 towers each. I thought you said that teams usually could get to the next round with only 4 or 5 towers?¡± ¡°Once again lad, that is due to you. They each probably only had 4-5 towers. Remember no one counterattacked us. If a team is wiped out and no one occupies their tower it just becomes neutral until someone spends ? an hour in it. More than likely the correct number of teams was wiped out and the number of towers per team did not change. It was just us that others did not want to tick off.¡± ¡°Of that makes sense.¡± ¡°Well me and the kids are off to rest.¡± ¡°See you in the morning lad. Remember the next rounds are all one versus one with a twist.¡± ¡°What kind of twist Yonder?¡± ¡°You first have to conquer the tower in the center of the arena and then withstand monster waves for 30 minutes before being declared the winner. If you cannot last the 30 minutes than the game is reset and you try again until someone conquers both the tower and resists the waves of monsters.¡± ¡°How high are the levels of the monsters?¡± ¡°My understanding is they will never be more than 50 levels above the lowest leveled member on the team. This is why many teams will try and get nine strong individuals and one weaker newbie to keep the levels of monsters down.¡± ¡°That means with the dragons at around level 240 we can expect that the monsters will be no higher than level 290. That is easy enough to handle.¡± ¡°Only for you lad, only for you.¡± After some goodbyes I made my way to an empty room and went to sleep. Just like Christmas, the earlier I go to bed the earlier tomorrow will come. The next morning I woke up and talked to my companions about what to expect. We came up with a few ideas between us. Walter as always would be on defenses and traps. Each of the kids would have a direction where they would be in charge of long distance attacks with their breath weapons as needed. Each of them would be paired with their new ¡°uncle¡± or ¡°aunt¡± who would be in charge of close in defense. I would get to wander around and just cause general mayhem and destruction. At the beginning of each round Azure and Elvira as the fastest would fly straight to the tower to claim it before the other group could get there. Bruce and Esmerelda would scout and slow down the opposing team until the rest of us arrived to deal with them. If they ran into a problem, they were to retreat immediately. We only had to get through 4 more rounds to get to the final. If possible I wanted to save my Elemental Dragon King Form and true level until the finals. This would shock everyone watching and force them to reconsider any rash moves they may try to make against the earth for how well we did this year.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Everything for once proceeded just like we had planned. Azure and Elvira took control of the towers in each of the next four rounds and Bruce and Esmerelda harassed the other team until we arrived and smashed them. After the second round we all earned another title.
You have set a new speed record for the Team Tournament. Your team is granted the title Team Speed +5
Soon enough it was time for the finals. We convened our final meeting inside my room. Before anything else I distributed my points for the individual round bets I had won. Status.
Name: Mark Anderson
Level: 954 - 91% Unspent Attribute Points: 0
Str: 1,755 HP: 17,550
Int: 2,035 +250% MP MP: 142,450
Wis: 2,035 +250% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 1,755 MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Con: 1,755 +250% HP/Regen Luck: 1,755
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Primal ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Resistances: Earth - 100% Water - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Please show me the status of my Companions.
Name: Elvira Race: Elemental Air Dragon Level: 262 - 20% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Esmerelda Race: Elemental Earth Dragon Level: 264 - 57% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Azure Race: Elemental Water Dragon Level: 263 - 84% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Sir Bruce Shadow Flaming Ember of Doom Race: Elemental Fire Dragon Level: 266 - 1% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Walter Race: Incan Wak¡¯a Spirit Level 346 - 31% Status: Familiar of Mark Anderson
It looks like Walter is eating up most of my personal experience from kills until he catches back up to me. He gained an extra 12 levels past his bets and I only moved 50% of one level after my bets. If things go well he will catch up sometime in the next year dependent on how much dungeon diving we do. ¡°Alright, welcome to our final meeting everyone. We have been able to dominate the competition throughout the tournament and I have no doubt we will win again. If you do not mind though I would like to propose a change in how we do things for the final round.¡± Hannah spoke up. ¡°Well everything else you have come up with has worked well for us Mark so please continue.¡± ¡°I am most concerned with what happens after the tournament. You have well established planets and can probably easily deal with any challenges. However, my planet is new to the Great Game system. Even though I have earned enough World Perks to grant us immunity for over a decade and let us develop and grow stronger I am worried that it might not be enough. My personal strength is quite high, but I cannot be everywhere at once. Since I am no longer able to represent the Earth at the competition it may be a while before my replacement is strong enough to earn more World Perks.¡± ¡°That makes sense lad. Do you have a plan to overcome this problem?¡± ¡°Yes Yonder I do. I want to scare them so bad that by the time they even think they could deal with my planet we will have been ready to fight off any invasion for several years. For this final round I will show my true level and Elemental Dragon King form and devastate the other team single handedly. I would still like you all to help with the monster waves as it is hard to focus on all directions at once, but I will take care of everything else.¡± Rydel said, ¡°That sounds fair Mark. You have done so much for us personally this is the least that we can do for you.¡± ¡°Thank you everyone for your help and guidance through this competition. Without you, things would have been much more difficult and I may not have been able to obtain my goals. You may contact me at any time for help and here is contact information for you to be able to reach my kingdom for trade and alliance information after the competition.¡± I handed out the communication crystals and names of my ministers so they could know who to contact for a variety of things. It was time to end this competition and set a record that no one else had managed. They should talk about this competition forever after this. Here we go. As soon as I shimmered into the final arena for the Team Tournament I turned off my false status so everyone could see my real level and then transformed into my Elemental Dragon King Form. With my level as high as it was I was close to 100 meters long and looked intimidating beyond belief. I took to the air to find my victims, I mean opponents. I soon spotted them rushing towards the center tower. As I was about to swoop down and spray them with fire I had a thought. I was able to combine all four types of elements and received the Primal Element as a reward. Since I can use all four types of breath weapons in my dragon form can I combine them to get a Primal Breath Weapon? As soon as I had this thought I knew I had to try it. I went into my breath weapon dive and concentrated on trying to combine all four elements together. I could feel a terrible pressure start to build in my gut. Focus Mark, remember what worked before. Do not force them together rather weave them together to compliment each other. I felt a little pop inside my mind and a snap inside my body and released what I can only describe as Purple, Flaming, Lightning Breath of doom. Several messages started to flash past me and I concentrated on landing safely so I could review them. The rest of the group had caught up to me and I growled out in a gravelly dragon voice to please wait before claiming the tower. I have some Great Game stuff I need to deal with first. I willed the messages to reappear now that I was on the ground and safe.
You have successfully merged all four elements and have unlocked Primal Dragon Breath. For being the first to unlock the Primal Dragon Breath in the last 10,000 plus having 100% affinity with the element you have the choice to upgrade your race to Primal Elemental Dragon King. If you choose this upgrade you will receive a one time boost of 100 points in each of your attributes. If you decline the boost will be upgraded to 250 points in each attribute.
Well that was unexpected. I signal the team to move on to take over the tower. As soon as we enter we get a slightly different version of the message we had received for the last 4 rounds.
Congratulations on making the final round. If you are able to survive longer than 30 minutes you will be awarded greater prizes. Maximum time allowed in simulation is 24 hours.
The next 24 hours were long, but wave after wave of enemies broke against us. We would not give up and we would prevail. Finally, the time and the tournament was over.
Congratulations on winning the Team Tournament. You have been awarded the title Team Champion +10, you have been awarded 10 levels, you have been awarded 3 World Perks.
You have placed winning bets on the outcome of this tournament. You have been awarded 75,000,000 mithral coins, you have been awarded 150 levels of experience, you have been awarded 3 World Perks.
Your companions have placed winning bets on the outcome of this tournament. Your companions are each awarded 125 levels of experience.
You have earned all three champion titles, you have been awarded an additional title of Tri-Tournament champion +30
You have earned all three championship titles in your rookie year, you are granted the title of Supreme Rookie +10
For surviving the entire 24 hours in the final round of the Team Tournament you are granted the title Survivalist + 10
I must distribute points.
Congratulations you have managed to bring all of your stats to 2,000 or above you have walked further on the path of the Gods. You are granted the title High God +30.
Status.
Name: Mark Anderson Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King
Level: 1115 - 31% Unspent Attribute Points: 0
Str: 2,245 HP: 22,450
Int: 2,425 +250% MP MP: 169,750
Wis: 2,425 +250% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 2,245 MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Con: 2,245 +250% HP/Regen Luck: 2,245
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Primal ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Resistances: Earth - 100% Water - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Please show me the status of my Companions.
Name: Elvira Race: Elemental Air Dragon Level: 414 - 71% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Esmerelda Race: Elemental Earth Dragon Level: 416 - 24% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Azure Race: Elemental Water Dragon Level: 415 - 66% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Sir Bruce Shadow Flaming Ember of Doom Race: Elemental Fire Dragon Level: 418 - 81% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Walter Race: Incan Wak¡¯a Spirit Level 530 - 67% Status: Familiar of Mark Anderson
Unfreaking believable. I have no words at this point. I say a quick goodbye to my new friends after being transported back into the competition waiting room. Which was filled with people staring at me, mainly because I had not switched back into my dragonkin or more human form. As I felt the teleport starting to grab hold of me I knew that after I answered some questions and took care of things back home. I was going to have to start finding some answers for myself. 60 - Moving On 60: Moving On I teleported into the main courtyard of the castle back in North Carolina. This was a good thing, because I had forgotten to switch forms. The Great Game must have just teleported me to the closest open area that would fit my full dragon form. I quickly transformed back into my more human looking form and apologized to the various people who I had scared. It must have been pretty startling to see a giant dragon just teleport into existence near you. ¡°Jacob, Where are you?¡± I jumped almost 3 feet in the air when he replied, ¡°Right behind you my lord.¡± ¡°I swear Jacob you do that on purpose. How on earth do you sneak up on me without me noticing all of the time? Are you part ninja?¡± ¡°Not that I know of sire. I will try and make myself more known in the future.¡± I don¡¯t really believe him as I can see the corners of his mouth turning up in the barest hint of a grin. He enjoys this. I guess it is pretty funny, but one day I will figure out how he does it. ¡°Ok Jacob, please set up a nice dinner with the family tonight and let the ministers know that there will be a meeting to update everyone on everything that is happening tomorrow at 9 a.m. and please make sure to have lunch ready for us. We are going to work until we finish addressing several problems and situations that have arisen.¡± ¡°Certainly sire, I will set it up right away.¡± I retreated to my room immediately following the conversation. I needed to make some decisions immediately regarding World Perks and how I was going to choose a successor. Some of the World Perks would be saved so the council could help e make some decisions based on their knowledge, but there were several things I needed to make sure were done immediately. Help, how many World Perks do I actually have?
You have a total of 41 World Perks.
My gambling really paid off. Only thirteen of those were from winning the championships. The rest were all gambling profits. Please show me a list of available World Perks.
As planetary leader you may select perks from the following list.
1. Base Stat Increase (3 Uses Only) 2. One Year Increased Experience 3. Increased Crafting Knowledge (Single Use Only) 4. One Year Increased population fertility 5. One year Increased food/fields fertility 6. One year immunity from invasion tickets 7. One world invasion ticket 8. Tier 3 Level Cap (Single Use Only) 9. Part 1 of 5 World Teleportation Network 10. One year Increased Mana and Health regeneration for natives 11. One year Increased resource regeneration 12. Increased Magic Knowledge (Single Use Only) 13. One world connection for World Teleportation Network 14. One world Resurrection Point for World Natives 15. One year protection from natural and monster related disasters
I feel confident in selecting 10 years worth of immunity from invasion tickets, Increased Crafting Knowledge, Increased Magic Knowledge, and all 5 World teleportation network upgrades. That is 17 of my World Perks spent. With a Great Game competition every three years this will give my replacement 3 competitions to prepare and get ready. The one time boost to crafting and magic seems extremely useful, especially since we have transitioned to the Great Game recently. Finally, since everyone cannot afford teleportation scrolls or have the skills I do I think it is a great idea to have a world wide teleportation network for both trade and to let people visit family. I mentally select my choices from the list and see a Great Game message.
This is a planet wide notification. Your current planetary leader, Mark Anderson, has purchased 10 years of immunity from invasion for Planet Earth. He has also increased crafting and magical knowledge, all research will be 5% easier, each crafter now has a 1% chance to increase the level of their product. Spells now cost 10% less mana to use on Planet Earth. Finally he has established a World Wide Teleportation Network of the highest level. Level 1 establishes 1 free main teleport area on each continent. Level 2 establishes 3 free secondary teleport areas on each continent. Level 3 establishes 5 free tertiary teleport areas on each continent. Level 4 establishes free teleport areas in each city of 50,000 or more Great Game users. Level 5 establishes free teleport areas next to five randomly selected dungeons of levels 25, 50, 100, and 200. Every time the tier of the planet increases 5 new randomly selected top tier dungeons will have teleport areas established next to them.
Well there is no turning back from that. I hope people understand and I will discuss the other choices with my council tomorrow. That night I caught up with my daughter and the rest of the family. Nicole had watched the tournament and said it was very exciting. She was also looking forward to the moment she leveled up enough she could get her own hybrid and full dragon forms. I found out that Nicole seemed to be holding a little infatuation with one of her guards. For a brief moment I considered sending him to guard something far far away, but realized she was a grown adult and I needed to be more mature. So instead I messaged Randolph and had him perform a thorough background check on the boy. He will report to me tomorrow before the meeting.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Sleep time came soon enough and I sent everyone off to their respective rooms and areas. In the morning I met with my ministers after a late breakfast. ¡°Welcome gentleman and ladies. There are several things I need to update you on and some things I need your advice on. However, first I would like to hear an update on the visiting dignitaries that were supposed to come before I was teleported away for the competition.¡± My minister of Trade and Transportation Stephanie Landers replied. ¡°The negotiations went well. We agreed not to expand into their existing territories in exchange for concessions on trade items, immigration, and the guarantee that they will follow some basic rules in their kingdom such as no slavery that you were adamant about. Mostly they are just groups of folks like us trying to make it in a bad situation. I would like to say after hearing the stories of these delegates we made them available to speak to the regular population. After hearing how much worse it is in some areas there is much less grumbling in the kingdom.¡± ¡°Excellent. Now I need to update everyone on several things. First off I will no longer be the planetary leader soon. I have exceeded the limit on levels that the Great Game set and I am required to select a successor. I want you to know how I am going to do this. First I will pay for a world-wide announcement that I will host a tournament to select the next planetary leader. This will happen in one week. Along with that announcement will be a set of rules that all participants must agree too before competing. The winner will be taken by me and I will power level them for one month to make sure that they are the highest level on the planet before handing over the title of planetary leader.¡± Several people started to talk and ask questions. ¡°Quiet! There are still several things I need to get through and then we can discuss. Next, I now have enough resources that we can hire and build just about anything we need to in regards to the kingdom. I will deposit 100 million mithral coins into the treasury later today for the kingdom to use over the next 10 years. I plan on expanding our territory to the limit within the next 6 months so you need to figure a few things out. I can claim 600,000 acres of land an hour now. This means we could have a kingdom the size of the Former United States in less than 4 months with everything we already claim. You need to decide on what, where, and how much we are going to claim within the next few days. After 6 months my mana may or may not be available for land claiming. We will NOT invade other kingdoms or areas unless they are demonstrably using slavery or causing some terrible situation. Live and let live.¡± This set off another round of people trying to be heard. I growled in my dragon¡¯s voice to shut them up one more time. ¡°My familiar Walter, my four dragons and myself will be talking our soldiers and leaders on week long power leveling trips over the next five months. I want to make sure that the kingdom can defend itself from anything without my help. I soon have to travel to another world. I hope that I will be able to come back whenever I like, but I want to prepare for emergencies. Finally, I have 24 World Perks left and while I have some ideas on how I want to spend them I would like your input and opinions just to help me make a final decision. Now you can talk, argue and ask questions.¡± The next 3 hours before lunch was horrible for me. I had to answer question after question. I knew it was necessary but I hated it. I was so happy when Jacob interrupted the meeting to announce that lunch was ready. We had made great progress on the situations. First off it was decided to use natural barriers as much as possible for borders. However, to not infringe on the existing kingdoms to the North we would concentrate on West and South. I would try and claim everything west of the Mississippi river that was the old United States and then start claiming Mexico through Central America into South America as far south as the Amazon river and Ecuador on the West Coast of South America. Included in this would be the entire Caribbean, and I would also try for Hawaii and a few Pacific island groups. I also personally decided to claim at least 50 square miles around each of my dragon¡¯s lairs so if someone started moving into the area we would get notified. If we ran into any existing kingdoms or other claimed areas we would offer them the choice of remaining independent and establishing trade or absorbing them into the kingdom if they so chose. It was decided to keep the 4 existing armies and 1 sea based force and to just expand them. However, the areas they were going to be in charge of would change. We would divide the kingdom into the following five regions:
  1. East of the Mississippi
  2. West of the Mississippi
  3. Mexico and the Pacific Islands
  4. Central America and Ecuador, Venezuela and Colombia
  5. Caribbean and the rest of South America above the Amazon River
Our plan was to continue what was working. We would identify areas of need and create Large bases with housing and then satellite cities as needed. With the coins available we could tie everything into a teleport network throughout the kingdom. After eating lunch I told my ministers that they could finish the rest up on their own. I was going to start working on the planetary leader tournament. Please keep me informed, but I had things to do. Don¡¯t forget to schedule a week¡¯s worth of time to level up with the help of my companions or me. I retreated from the meeting as quickly as I could and started to compose the message I wanted to go out to the world. I ended up with this.
Attention Citizens of Earth, this is your Planetary Leader Mark Anderson. I have exceeded the level allowed by the Great Game to represent Earth in the Great Game competitions so I must designate an heir. I will be holding a tournament to determine who will be the next Planetary Leader after me. All participants must understand that they have to follow several rules during and after the tournament. 1. The tournament will only proceed until the top four contestants are decided. Level does not matter, effectiveness does. I will level the final choice myself. 2. Only one pet or familiar is allowed to compete with you. 3. The final winner will be decided by one on one interviews with Mark Anderson. 4. You may not use your position to force yourself sexually on anyone. 5. You may not participate in or tolerate any form of slavery. 6. You will honor all established agreements with other worlds unless the other party violates the agreement or cancels it. 7. The safety of the Earth and maintaining it is your first priority. I reserve the right to come back and punish you or remove you permanently if you violate any of these rules.
I had also gotten some great advice and decided on my final World Perk selections.
This is a planet wide notification. Your current planetary leader, Mark Anderson, has purchased 2 years of protection from natural and monster related disasters for Planet Earth.
This is a planet wide notification. Your current planetary leader, Mark Anderson, has purchased 5 years of increased experience for Planet Earth.
This is a planet wide notification. Your current planetary leader, Mark Anderson, has purchased improvements of 30 points in all base stats for all residents of Planet Earth.
This is a planet wide notification. Your current planetary leader, Mark Anderson, has increased Planet Earth to Tier 5.
This is a planet wide notification. Your current planetary leader, Mark Anderson, has connected Planet Earth to the Planets Estrore, Wagliv, Snerore, and Testra. All citizens may teleport to these planets through any Great Game teleportation circle for a nominal fee.
This is a planet wide notification. Your current planetary leader, Mark Anderson, has purchased 7 Respawn Points for the Planet Earth. Which will be placed next to the main teleport areas on each continent. Each citizen on Earth will receive one free respawn each year to the nearest respawn point. A second respawn will cost the citizen 10 levels of experience. A third will cost 25 levels of experience. There is no 4th respawn. Those that die from old age will not respawn. If you do not have enough levels to be respawn then a 3rd party may donate levels within 24 hours to have you respawn. Respawning will only work on Earth for Earth citizens. Please remember there are special dungeons that do not allow for respawn, be careful.
The only thing left now is to host the tournament and start leveling everybody up as soon as possible. Once my responsibilities are done here I can travel to the Dungeon World and experience it for myself. I hope that it will give me the answers I need. 61 - Selecting A New Planetary Leader 61: Selecting A New Planetary Leader I have a week to put together a tournament that will select the best person to be the next Planetary Leader of Earth. No pressure or anything. I think the smartest way to start will be to check their ability to solo a dungeon. Nothing hard, let¡¯s say a level 25 dungeon or so. I know we can use the Biltmore dungeon. It is an instance dungeon so I can send in contestants one right after another and they will each have their own instance dungeon to complete. The criteria to make the next round will obviously be survival and I can add a time component, let¡¯s say 48 hours minimum. Next will be a general melee just like the Great Game competition. This format will get the participants used to the competition and also showcase their strategies to survive this type of round. The top 32 will then progress on to the next rounds which will be one vs. one. I will have double elimination unlike the competition¡¯s single elimination format. This will give someone who has a bad matchup the chance to still make it into the top 4. The top 4 contestants after the one on one rounds will have a special session with me. I will test their skills and interview them with a truth crystal. I have to make sure that they are willing to dedicate themselves to the protection of the whole world and are not going to abuse the power they are going to have. In fact if all four pass the interview I can level all of them so there are backups. The five of us could team up for 1 week in a dungeon and earn experience. The fourth place contestant would leave after one week, allowing the next three to split more experience for a second week. The Third place person than drops out and numbers one and two spend a week with me leveling. Finally, only the champion would be left for a single week of leveling. At the end of his or her power leveling session I will take them to the bloodline dungeon and we can select one that they find useful. With a rough plan in place I start using my connections, a.k.a. tell Jacob, and start to set up everything needed for the tournament. I will have to house and feed the contestants, make an arena for them to fight in, and then transport them to the dungeon. I need to hire someone to register everyone and keep track of records and monetary spending. Walter can be in charge of building a basic arena. Let¡¯s say with a center field of 400 meters in diameter. With simple benches or stands surrounding it for those who wish to watch in person. I should also see if anyone knows how to broadcast it using magic. The next week has many different people from around the world teleporting into the capital. I have Jacob put them up in some of the barracks at my expense, but I make sure that it is only for a basic room and board. Anything else they have to pay for themselves. With the Universal Language perk everyone can talk to one another and it seems that this will turn out to be one of my better Perks. There is a distinct lack of racism and elitism. After surviving the change over, little things like skin color are hard to care about. Divisions between people are also reduced when everyone speaks the same language. It was soon enough time for everything to begin. I had made a few changes over the last week but the general format was staying the same. Once everyone that was participating was gathered into the new arena I had Walter create a large platform and raise about 10 feet above the arena floor. I wanted them to focus on me and I needed to be dramatic to instill the right tone to this set of trials. As soon as the platform stopped raising in height I switched into my Primal Elemental Dragon form. I could see that I had everyone¡¯s attention now. Seeing a VERY large indigo dragon appear in front of you probably does focus the mind rather quickly. In my nice gravelly dragon voice I started my speech. ¡°Welcome to the tournament to choose my successor as Planetary Leader. First I am going to explain a few expectations and rules to you. I expect you to follow them or suffer a permanent removal from the tournament by me personally. A Planetary Leader needs to put ALL of the Earth¡¯s inhabitants in front of everything else. This does not mean you cannot have power, wealth, or fame. I have all three. However, when the need arises you must be the person at the forefront defending everyone else. If you feel that this responsibility is to great, then please leave now without penalty and no regrets.¡± I paused and waited to see if anyone would leave. There were a few mutterers and some shuffling of feet but no one left. ¡°Next you need to know that contact outside of the competition that affects the results will be punished by the instigator. This includes hiring others. In the competition I do not care what you do or use to win. Everything is acceptable to me in the defense of the planet. Use tricks, poisons, etc¡­ without fear of reprisal. However, remember this is only inside of the competition. If your fights leave the arena or other designated area then you will at the least be kicked out and at the worst permanently dealt with. Your first task is simple. You have 24 hours to get to the Biltmore Estates dungeon on your own. I do not care how. As soon as you arrive you will check in with my tournament staff and then start the Level 25 instance dungeon on a speed run. You need to complete the entire dungeon in less than 48 hours. The 32 fastest times will be moving on to the next part of the tournament. There are directions and pictures of the dungeon on the boards at the two entrances to the arena. There will be no interfering with another participant in this first part of the challenges. Now go!¡± With that final admonition I took flight from the platform and used my Unique Skill Master of Shadows to hid my presence from everyone. I watched from the air as they digested the information I had just presented them and then several started running toward the boards that had been covered when they entered but were now showing information that they needed to continue. Every one of the contestants started to scatter. It looked like the majority were going to go on foot, several had some type of mount, or some even started to shimmer out with teleportation. The game was on. I wanted to test as many aspects as I could in a short amount of time. Level was not everything. Luck, skill in a variety of different tasks, and even weapon choice might influence how someone could survive an encounter. So just getting there and then completing a lower level dungeon was to weed out the slow and uncreative. I teleported to Biltmore to watch the proceedings as they occurred. I switched back to my humanoid form after landing and went to talk to the person Jacob had hired and put in charge. ¡°Alan talk to me about what we have so far.¡± ¡°Yes sire, we have had 14 participants teleport and go in before you arrived and 7 more are being processed in. We expect 90% of the 426 people who signed up to be able to pass this portion of the test. We can have the results delivered to you as soon as the 72 hours are up.¡± ¡°That sounds fine. I will watch for a bit then go back and prepare for the next stages.¡± ¡°Yes Sire.¡± I saw several people arrive over the next hour and enter into the dungeon. After 4 hours it was starting to get monotonous. I thought at least one standout would have come out by now. Maybe I was really a broken and strange individual when it came to the Great Game. I mean I set the speed record for the dungeon back in the day. I was not even high leveled, I just thought outside the box. It only took me a little over 3 hours. I guess my record is not going to be broken anytime soon. I went and told Alan that he should contact me as soon as they had the top 32 figured out. I was going to head back. Instead of heading back to the castle I teleported directly to my Antarctic Lair. I needed at least 24 hours of solitude before dealing with sheer amount of people necessary to make this tournament work. I quickly took out two communication crystals. ¡°Jacob, I have decided to spend the day away from the kingdom.¡± He sighed before he spoke. ¡°Certainly sire, I will contact you if there is an emergency and let the relevant people know you are unavailable for the next 24 hours.¡± ¡°Good man, and thank you.¡± ¡°Have a good rest sire.¡± Next was my daughter Nicole. ¡°Hey kiddo what are you doing?¡± ¡°I am working on helping with the tournament you set up daddy since you won¡¯t let me join in and participate.¡± ¡°I am sorry pumpkin, but I do not think that this would be a good fit for you or your companions. I just wanted to let you know that I am out of contact for the next 24 hours.¡± I could hear her giggle. ¡°Dad are you hiding from everybody in your room like a little kid?¡± ¡°Now see hear young lady, I am not hiding, I am just taking a well deserved break from the masses of people who want to annoy me, and no I am not in my room.¡± ¡°Whatever dad, just don¡¯t do anything to fun without me.¡± ¡°Alright Nicole, I love you and will see you soon.¡± ¡°Bye Dad.¡± With my fatherly and kingly duties taken care of or at least passed on to others I could hide with a clear conscious. I mean rest. I called out Walter and together we started putting some polishing touches on my hidden sanctuary. I was using this opportunity to not only wind down but to train some fine control on my magic, especially with my new element Primal Magic. It seems primal magic is what everything else comes from. This means it was all the properties of each of the other elements. I had used it briefly in the tournament, but only as a destructive force that basically burned and exploded like the fire element but much stronger.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. After thinking on it awhile I decided to see if it could do other things and I was correct. I was able to make it move freely like air and water, I could sculpt it like stone, and most importantly it would take on any aspect of the elements that I concentrated on when using it. So if I needed a bigger badder version of lightning I could use primal lightning or say for some reason I needed a very intimidating ice spell I could use primal ice. The only drawback was that it took more concentration than I was used to and it cost an amazing amount of mana to use. Luckily with practice the control and concentration was becoming easier and I had mana to spare. In fact I was probably one of the only people in the Great Game that could use it without consequence. If the normal spell took 500 mana Primal could take between two or three times that amount to accomplish the same thing. You had to increase the amount of mana past that to increase the damage. Most users of the Great Game even around level 500 only had 2000 or 3000 mana at the most. I am sure there were some that were much higher than that but you can see why it would be a problem. I currently had a mana pool of over 160,000. A few extra mana did not bother me. Speaking of extra mana several months ago before I went into the Machu Picchu dungeon I set aside 500 mana every fifteen minutes to claim Antarctica. I had forgotten completely about it until a couple days ago when I received a Great Game notice.
The designated area has been claimed. Mana will no longer be drained from your mana pool.
Neat I owned an entire continent, mostly due to no one else living there and of course me forgetting that I had even started claiming it. Still it was something to maybe bring up at parties. Who am I kidding I am never invited to parties and probably would not go even if I was. It was fun to get some random feats knowing that I would not have to worry about anything on Earth. I mean with my level there would have to be a serious flaw in the Great Game to kill me at this point until the levels of the world and monsters increase. However, I had been thinking lately that I needed to be careful. The Great Game told me I was walking the Path of the Gods. It promoted me from Demi God, to Low God, to Mid God, and finally I am sitting at the title of High God right now. The only requirement was stat point. This implies that other in the past may have also stepped onto the Path of the Gods. If they have then they would need similar stats to myself. There levels might be different, but the actual stats would have to cross a certain threshold to be promoted to the next tier of Godhood in the game. I was having Walter create intricate and beautiful detailed stone sculptures and pictures in stone throughout my entire Antarctic lair. I was following behind him and practicing with my primal element by having it outline and flow along his artwork and emit the primal indigo light without destroying anything. It was actually much harder than it sounds. I had to follow all of the ridges and shade the different areas by adding more or less mana and then tie a permanence enchantment into it without letting go of my concentration. At the beginning let¡¯s say that I ruined several pieces of art, but now I was doing fairly well and only ruined one occasionally when my mind started to wander. We finally reached the time limit for training I had set for myself and then I bid Walter goodbye and sent him back to the castle. I wanted to be totally alone. As I slipped into a welcoming sleep I started to dream about a different world. One that was tremendously larger than Earth that was set up as a spiral. Seen from above it was quite beautiful. I was flying along in my dragon form covering great distances and always trying to get to the center. As I got closer and closer suddenly a communication crystal buzzed and woke me up. ¡°My king, this is Alan. I know that there is still over 24 hours left in the deadline, but I am fairly confident that we have identified the top 32. We will continue to wait just to make sure, but you said to contact you as soon as we had the list.¡± Still a little groggy, I tried my best to answer in a kingly manner. ¡°Thank you for your hard work Alan. Please have the list delivered to Jacob at the castle and I will pick it up from him soon. If there are any last minute changes please let me know.¡± ¡°Yes Sire, signing off.¡± Wow that was an intense dream and I must have been more drained and tired than I thought. I slept for over twelve hours. I wonder if that is a dragon thing? In the stories dragons always seem to have brief periods of activity followed by long periods in sleep or solitude as they grow older. Nah, that is probably just wishful thinking on my part, an excuse to be lazy because of my bloodline. Even if it was true, no one who knew me from before or even recently would buy that excuse. Oh well, back to civilization and responsibilities. When I teleported back into the throne room, Jacob as usual was waiting for me. ¡°Sire I have the list that Alan sent over.¡± ¡°Just give me a range of their levels, Jacob so I know what I am dealing with.¡± ¡°Yes sire, the lowest level is 45 and the highest is 62.¡± ¡°Thank you for the summary Jacob, hold onto the list for me and Alan will send an update if needed. Now can you tell me where I can find Randolph?¡± ¡°Yes sire, he is at his estate.¡± ¡°Randolph has an estate?¡± ¡°Sire, he is one of the most important people in your kingdom. The leader of your armies and also your designated heir for the time being, he might also be the second most powerful individual on the planet. Of course he has an estate.¡± ¡°Sorry Jacbo, I know dealing with some of my more shall we say unusual behaviors and short comings must be trying at times.¡± ¡°Sire as strange as you are at times, you are the best person I have ever had the pleasure of working for.¡± ¡°Really Jacob, do you mind telling me why?¡± ¡°Of course not my king, you allow those with more knowledge than you in any area to be responsible and in charge and use their hard won talents. You do not micromanage, and perhaps best of all you disappear for long periods of time which as your head domestic makes my life difficult at times, but usually means less work for everyone as we are not expected to be on call 100% of the time. Oh and you pay extremely well.¡± ¡°Well I am glad I am not a horrible person to work for and keep up the good work. Wait can you have someone show me the way to Randolph¡¯s estate?¡± ¡°A page outside the throne room can lead you my lord.¡± ¡°Thanks Jacob.¡± As I left the throne room a young boy of about 13 or 14 stepped forward. ¡°I will be your guide to General Randolph¡¯s estate my king. My name is Henry.¡± ¡°Very well lead the way Henry.¡± It was a pleasant walk of about 15 minutes from the throne room to an area just inside the front gates where we approached a cluster of teleport circles on the ground. Henry led me to one colored blue and after we had both stepped on it he very carefully filled it with his mana to activate it. It may have taken longer, but letting him do it without help from me just felt right. Soon enough we arrived inside another gate with two guards facing us. As soon as they saw who they were pointing their weapons at they immediately put them away and started stuttering apologies. I waved them off and commended them on following orders and being alert. I bid goodbye to Henry and told him I would find my own way back as I did not know how long I would be here. He smiled and nodded and teleported back to the castle. While I was taking care of that one of the guards had left, I assume to let Randolph or someone else know that I had arrived. I started walking to the front door of the large house. It was no quite a mansion, but it was rather nice. Before I could reach it Randolph came running out. ¡°My lord, if I knew you needed me I would have come to you.¡± ¡°I am sorry if I inconvenienced you Randolph. It dawned on me when I needed to talk to you that I did not even know where the general of my armies even lived. Come to think of it we teleported here so I still do not know. One second please.¡± I quickly shifted to my dragonkin form and flew straight up to get a birds eye view. Spin around and locate the castle, there. Okay, now I should be able to find this place if needed. I landed quickly and Randolph seemed a little flustered. ¡°Calm down Randolph I just needed to ask you a couple of quick questions. You are probably one of my few subordinates that I can count as a friend also so just relax.¡± Randolph visibly took a big breath and settled himself. ¡°How can I help you my king?¡± ¡°Well the preliminary results are in from the Planetary Leader first round. The contestants look to be between levels 45 and 62. What I need to know is if that is below average, average, or above average for a planet after one year. ¡° ¡°Well sire for this planet I think it is average. For any other planet it would be above average.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand what you mean Randolph. Why is this planet different?¡± ¡°I think it was because you raised the tier so quickly sire and also purchased extra experience, which increased the levels of monsters and citizens rather quickly. Remember I was in my 60¡¯s for levels when I came here. I came from a planet that was young but well established. We had participated in 33 Great Game competitions. That is 99 years of living in the Great Game. I was a third generation user of the Great Game, but after 50 years of my life dedicated to war I was only able to get my level to the 60¡¯s. I was not top tier on my planet, but I was probably in the top 1,000.¡± ¡°I am starting to understand Randolph. You mean that after 3 generations the average level was what about 40 for an adult?¡± ¡°Probably closer to 30 my lord, remember not everyone has a job that allows them to fight and level quickly.¡± ¡°So why is Earth so different? Is it just those perks I bought?¡± ¡°I think it is about 50% the early perks that gave boosts to levels and about 50% attitude. I have never seen a group of people world-wide that work so hard to get to earn enough to be able to be lazy. It is very strange.¡± ¡°Huh, I never really thought of it that way, but I guess you are right. Most of us do work hard so we can be lazy later, myself included.¡± ¡°I realized this early on my king and have adapted. The perks that you have gotten this world are unheard of also. My own planet has only had one perk earned in 3 generations. You had 3 perks before you even left for the first competition. Your choices were very helpful in leveling up the rest of us also. With the most recent round of perks you selected I feel like a new man. I have gained 10 levels and an extra 30 points in each of my stats in one year working for you my lord. That means in one year I earned more than I did in over half of my life on my own planet.¡± ¡°Well your welcome I guess?¡± ¡°Thank You my lord, I do not think you understand how loyal each and everyone of the people you hired from other planets are. We have a quality of life, a level of pay, and bonuses that no one would believe from our old lives.¡± ¡°Alright, calm down Randolph. By the way, be thinking about what bloodline you want, I think I will take you and Jacob with the champion of the tournament. That will make it easier on all three of you. Be prepared to make your argument to sway the other two to your way of thinking. I will inform them of the same thing. Together we will choose what would be best for all three of you to have. I expect you to protect my family, I expect Jacob to take care of my family, and whoever gets picked will be protecting the world. I want to make sure that you have the best chance possible to do that.¡± I teleported out before Randolph could say anything. It looked like he was about to cry with joy and I do not do well with sentiment and crying or hugging or anything of the nature. 62 - The Top 4 Candidates Chapter 62: The Top 4 Candidates I gave Jacob the news that he would be able to select a bloodline soon and ran away from him also. I holed up in my chambers until just a couple of hours before the first round of the tournament time limit was up. Alan had not contacted me with any updates so I assumed the list he gave Jacob was the final one. I finally emerged from my rooms and went and grabbed the list from Jacob and quickly teleported about a mile up above the new arena where people were starting to gather. I switched to my dragonkin form and used Master of Shadows to hide my presence. I was going to make another big entrance. I wanted to make sure that those that did not make the top 32 positions would not argue and cause problems. I circled above the arena for another hour until the time had officially ended. I then switched to dragon form and stopped hiding my presence. On the way down I roared and let out a blast of Primal Dragon Fire into the air to impress those below. Right before I landed I switched to my humanoid form and called out all of my companions. I had set up this little show with them while I was hiding in my room earlier. Walter quickly raised an intricate throne made from stone. I covered it in Indigo colored primal light causing it to glow eerily but majestically and my 4 dragons curled up around me and my throne. If this was not a good enough show of power to stop stupid people I do not know what would be. Now that I was sitting on top of the throne I pulled out the list of participants. I did the whole announcement thing and read the top 32 names from the list. I admonished everyone to continue to work hard in the future to protect themselves, their loved ones, and the Earth. ¡°Now that there are only 32 candidates left we will begin the double elimination single¡¯s tournament. You have 1 hour to prepare then you must be back in the arena. Once the tournament starts, it will not stop until the final four have been selected. SO make sure that you get everything you need now." Slowly the 32 candidates left the arena. I had to sit on this throne for the entire time waiting for them to return. I should have had someone bring a cushion. Soon enough the tournament started. I kept myself amused while watching by creating my own internal announcers voice and narrating stupid things along with the fights. Here comes Sally Slipperytail, she is a strong competitor from Nowheresville that is competing to finally find out who her mysterious father is. Little does she know that the gentleman she is facing in this round is her actual father Bobby BigNutz. Bobby and Sally¡¯s mom hooked up 20 years ago after a drunken barn dance for a quick affair behind the local Piggly Wiggly. Nine months later Sally shows up and Bobby is nowhere in sight. This should be an interesting fight. The next several hours went this way with me keeping myself amused. Finally, though the final four had been selected. Identify.
Name: Deathwind (Edward Watkins) Race: Human Level: 70
Affinities: Air - 100%
Unique Skills: None
Name: Billy Barber Race: Human Level: 63
Affinities: Fire - 20% Air ¨C 20%
Unique Skills: None
Name: Svetlana Harkinson Race: Beastkin (Wolf) Level: 58
Affinities: Air - 30%
Unique Skills: None
Name: Mistress of the Sword (Akira Tanaka) Race: Elf (Grassland) Level: 50
Affinities: Water - 25% Earth - 25% Air ¨C 25%
Unique Skills: Slice
This is an interesting group. Akira (Mistress of the Sword) and Edward (Deathwind) were undefeated and Billy and Svetlana each had one loss. I was surprised by how well Akira did until I realized it was probably a combination of all her affinities, her unique skill, and her race change that helped her finish even with her lower level. The group overall had great potential. ¡°The final four have been selected. Deathwind, Billy Barber, Svetlana Harkinson, and Mistress of Sword approach my throne.¡± As they got closer I secretly took a short range teleportation scroll out of my inventory. I was using a scroll instead of my own abilities in order to make sure it would target everyone I needed to teleport. The worst thing that could happen now was a mistake that made the whole set of theatrics I went through worthless. Once they got close enough I simply said. ¡°You will come with me.¡± I tore the teleport scroll and had my companions reenter storage so it would just be me and the four competitors that appeared in the throne room of the castle. As soon as we arrived I announced. "Jacob these are the four candidates. Let them refresh themselves for 15 minutes and then I will start the one on one interviews. The rest can wait in the parlor. If they pass the interview please find them a room to pass the night and take care of any equipment needs they have. I will start out bright and early tomorrow with those who remain." ¡°Yes sire, it will be as you command.¡± With this last part done. Jacob led the four bewildered people out of the throne room and I prepared for the next step. ¡°Randolph where are you hiding?¡± ¡°I am right here sire, I kept out of sight like you asked.¡± ¡°Wonderful, well what do you think?¡± ¡°I do not know them enough yet my lord to make an educated guess.¡± ¡°I realize that, but just from their levels, what do you think? I know you identified them.¡±Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°Well lord, I am intrigued by the Mistress of the Sword. She is 20 levels lower than the leading contestant yet is also undefeated. There must be a reason that I am not seeing. Other than that, I am just amazed that this many people are this high leveled after just a year in the Great Game.¡± ¡°I know what you mean Randolph, this is getting interesting. By the way the Mistress of the Swords name is Akira and she is the only one with a Unique Skill, so that probably has something to do with it.¡± ¡°That would explain much my Lord.¡± I double checked that I still had the truth gem as part of the throne and that it was still functional. With the huge level gap there was no way that these candidates could lie and get away with it. The questions were very simple.
  1. Where are you from?
  2. Why do you want to be Planetary Leader?
  3. Have you ever had dealings with slavers or kidnapping people other than being a victim yourself?
  4. Would you abuse the power of the position?
  5. Do you accept that fact that you must put the planet¡¯s well-being in front of your own?
These 5 simple questions and how they answered them would establish their rankings in my mind. I can power level whoever I needed to so that was a non-factor as far as I was concerned. I was more worried about their moral character. That seems a little strange coming from me. I have made some questionable decisions morally in the past. However, any decision I made was what I thought was the best answer at the time with the knowledge that I had. Circumstances later sometimes showed me that I could have done things differently, but I cannot honestly say that at the time I would have made a different decision. ¡°Jacob, send in Deathwind. Randolph stand next to me.¡± Edward, a.k.a. Deathwind walked in confidently. ¡°Alright candidate Deathwind, answer each of the following questions truthfully and to the best of your ability.¡± ¡°I will Planetary Leader.¡± ¡°First where are you from?¡± ¡°I am from the Miami area of Florida sir, you claimed the area not long ago for your kingdom.¡± That rang true through the stone. So this was what could be considered a local boy huh. ¡°Next, why do you want to be planetary leader?¡± Deathwind, kept going on and on about duty, responsibility, and probably any other buzzword he thought I would like. The problem was the truth gem kept reading parts of his speech as false. Something was not right. ¡°Third Question, Have you ever had dealings with slavers or kidnapping people other than being a victim yourself?¡± ¡°Never Mr. Anderson, I think the practice is horrible and should be punished severely. The gem was telling me this punk was lying through his teeth. ¡°So you think that those involved with slavery should be punished to the full severity of the law?¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± ¡°Well that is convenient. Did I mention that you are covered in a truth aura and I know when you are lying?¡± Deathwind¡¯s eyes got big, and he turned to run. I blinked in front of him and grabbed him by the neck. ¡°This is why I wanted you here Randolph. Take this scum and find out details so we can fix the situation. I am disgusted that it was someone from my own kingdom. Bruce you accompany Randolph in case Edward here tried anything.¡± Bruce and Randolph marched the soon to be not very happy Edward out of the throne room. I calmed myself down and asked Jacob to send in the next one. As the only other undefeated participant Akira came in next. ¡°Mistress of the Sword, answer each of the following questions truthfully and to the best of your ability.¡± ¡°Yes Sir.¡± ¡°First where are you from?¡± ¡°I am from a small village outside of Tokyo sir.¡± That rang true through the stone. She had really travelled far, this showed dedication. ¡°Next. Why do you want to be planetary leader?¡± ¡°I lost my family in the change over sir. My parents did not come back from the tutorial and my sister did not survive an Oni attack a couple of weeks later. Since then I have dedicated myself to getting stronger so I can protect those that cannot protect themselves.¡± The truth stone showed that she meant every word. This was fantastic. Not the part where she lost her family, I mean the dedication she was showing. This was what I was hoping to find in the tournament. ¡°Have you ever had dealings with slavers or kidnapping people other than being a victim yourself?¡± ¡°No sir, I protect people not harm them.¡± Truth again. ¡°I am sorry I have to ask these questions. I am not accusing you of anything young lady. Would you abuse the power of the position?¡± ¡°I would never intentionally abuse the power sir. However, I will be honest with you. I have made some decisions that others might not agree with. I made them to protect others and I feel confident that I made the right ones. Some people might interpret it differently.¡± Truth once more. One more question and its home free. ¡°That is fine I have done the same and will probably do so again in the future. Now, do you accept the fact that you must put the planet¡¯s well-being in front of your own?¡± ¡°I always place the needs of the many in front of mine.¡± Truth for the final time. I think we have a winner. I hope that the other interviews go this well. However, now that she passed I can ask questions to satisfy my curiosity. ¡°Mistress of the Sword, you have answered my questions honestly and well. I have no others that pertain to the position of Planetary Leader. However, I am curious about a few things. You do not have to answer if you do not want too.¡± ¡°Thank you sir, ask away and I will decide.¡± ¡°Very well, first why did you change your name Akira, second how did you pick up the Grassland Elf race, and finally what exactly does the Unique Skill Slice do?¡± I could see that I had overwhelmed her with my questions. I quickly tried to ease her feelings. ¡°I can see much more than most when I look at other people. Your information will not spread without your permission. I am just curious is all.¡± I could see her pull herself together. ¡°That is fine sir. I chose a new name when I decided to become a protector. I received the bloodline from a dungeon where I chose to save as many trapped elves as possible. My skill slice allows me to ignore 100% of the armor or magic shield of someone within 25 levels of me or lower and 50% of someone higher level than that.¡± ¡°So basically with slice you can always at least hit someone for ? damage no matter their personal strength or shielding?¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± ¡°That is an awesome skill. I wonder why I did not see it in the list. Oh well maybe you had already picked it at that time.¡± ¡°You also have a Unique Skill sir?¡± ¡°Well I have 20 of them, it¡¯s a long story. I will tell you all about it when we are out leveling.¡± I could see her eyes go big when I mentioned 20 Unique Skills. It takes someone that has one to appreciate how difficult it must be to collect 20 of them. If I had not found the bug in the system, I never would have come close to that many. I interviewed the next two candidates Billy and Svetlana one after another. Both were fine, but not outstanding. Billy who was from South Africa would be my second choice. Svetlana, who was actually from Oregon in the United States, her parents were immigrants, did not give the feeling of being that dedicated to the proposed job. She did not give any false answers, but she just did not seem to care that much about being the Planetary Leader. She seemed to be more interested in becoming strong so no one else would bother her. While I could appreciate that fact as it was a driving force behind myself, I was looking for a responsible person to take on the mantle of planetary leader. The plan had changed with the arrest and soon to be not part of the living Deathwind the Slaver. I would take all three remaining out to level in different dungeons. I would get Svetlana above level 75, but not to level 100. My goal for Billy is right around level 125. Finally, Akira would spend 4 weeks with me. I think that I could easily get her to level 200. This means that when she first appears in 3 years at the tournament she should easily be able to win the New Comer¡¯s Tournament. This will give the Earth more world perks and if she bets like I will recommend then she should have extra just like I did. Billy as the back-up, should probably be close to level 135 ¨C 150 around the same time. This should be high enough that if something should happen to Akira he would have a very high chance of also winning the New Comer¡¯s Tournament. Finally, Svetlana will probably be around level 100 and be a normal candidate if it should somehow all go wrong and she ends up the planetary leader. With the new respawn points I just do not see that situation happening. Everything went well during the first part of my plan to level up the candidates. Svetlana had reached level 80 after a good run through a level 150 dungeon with the others. Billy by the time we were done actually made it to Level 132. Using this opportunity, I was starting to figure out or at least come to a closer approximation of some of the mechanics behind the Great Game. I was using only Walter in the dungeon so he would level up quicker. That gave us a party of five. The experience earned seemed to be a function of combined levels and then the percentage of your level partitioned out to you. For example, if a level 100 and Level 50 person were to team up, their combined levels would be 150. The level 100 person would take 2/3 of the experience because they owned 2/3 of the combined levels and the level 50 person would get 1/3 of the experience. Not a bad division. This meant that smaller parties for leveling would be rewarded more. 63 - Finishing Up My Earthly Duties Chapter 63 Finishing Up My Earthly Duties Our situation was different. The sheer level difference between me, Walter, and the candidates meant that they were only getting about 5% of the experience. However, this went up each time one of them left. Walter was a special case because according to what I had been told he would eat up most of my experience until he caught up to my level. So my guess from the leveling was that he was getting about 75% of the experience while I was only receiving about 10%. This 10% was negligible to me at my level. While the candidates may only be getting 5%, it was 5% of experience totals they would normally not be able to have for many years. I was speed running them through level 100 ¨C 150 dungeons. Each run gave them a level or more at the beginning. It started to slow down after about 5 days. However, Svetlana left after a week. Which upped the percentage the remaining two got to 7.5% which allowed them to level quickly once again for a few days. Soon enough Billy reached his goal and we bid him goodbye. That left just Akira, A.K.A. the Mistress of the Sword. I had gotten her to agree that I could call her Akira in private as her title was very long. Akira since she was starting at a lower level had only made it to level 108. This was still phenomenal growth seeing as how she was only level 50 to start with. However, it was time for something a little different. First I needed to check in with Randolph and make sure that everything was set up. ¡°Randolph, have the scouts reported back yet?¡± ¡°Yes sire, they teleported in with their findings this morning. We have a location and names and numbers.¡± ¡°Excellent, The Mistress of the Sword and I will be arriving soon. Please have a briefing ready for us. We will take care of the majority of operation. Make sure that your crack squad is ready to retrieve and help those that we find.¡± ¡°Yes sire, we will be ready.¡± Unfortunately, there was no truth serum or it¡¯s like in the Great Game system to buy. This meant it took nearly a week to get the information out of our little friend Edward about the slavery operation he was a part of. We did not want to use physical torture so we used something called dream manipulation. There was a race in the Great Game that was called Phantoms. They were not true phantoms that were ghostlike, but rather people that had mental powers to a limited degree. They were excellent illusion makers and could actually influence your thoughts and dreams given enough time and the proper situation. This group was often hired to get information from subjects and also to help with mental healing of victims. We consequently needed them for both reasons. I put a quick ad in the Great Game hiring section for a team of 20 phantoms for interrogation and healing work for two months. I offered them what Randolph said was a ridiculous salary, but I had money to spare at this point. They were to get the information I needed from Edward and then help any victims we find in the operation to shut down the slavery ring. As soon as we had the information from Edward I sent out a force to scout the area and the slavery option. I knew I could not wait too long as that meant more people would get hurt, but I needed concrete information to act on. The more information we had the better the operation would proceed. I was also going to use this as the last and most important test for Akira. I knew she was dedicated to protecting the Earth from monsters, but I needed her to be able to fight people as well. ¡°Akira, we are about to teleport back to my castle where we will get information on a slavery ring that has been operating in my kingdom. I need to know that you can protect the Earth not just from external threats and monsters, but from internal threats also.¡± ¡°Yes sir, I understand. Slavery is horrible and I will do what is necessary to stop it. However, how will you stop it completely won¡¯t they just revive at the spawn point.¡± ¡°Good thinking girl, you are right, but I already thought of that contingency. I have a squad that will detain all those that respawn at the point during our mission. After we have rescued and shut down the operation we will go and identify those that we know were part of the slavery ring and let the rest go.¡± ¡°What will the punishment be for those that we capture at the respawn point?¡± ¡°For slavery they will be respawned three times for maximum loss of level and then imprisoned for 10 years of hard labor. Those that the victims identify as both slavers and sexual predators will not be allowed to live. They will be killed until there is no respawn. Finally, anyone who at least made life better or tried to help according to the victims will be given leniency with only two respawns and 5 years of hard labor.¡± ¡°That sounds much more humane than I would have guessed you would be sir.¡± ¡°I would be harsher if I had not discovered magic suppressing manacles in the Great Game store. They can reduce your affinities by 25% which should be more than enough for most people to lose magic and not try and escape. This means I can incarcerate people and be reasonably assured that they will remain under lock and key for their sentence.¡± We teleported back and got all of the information needed from Randolph. It seems that the group was working out of the ruins of Miami and was actually spreading their influence into the rest of the world now that the teleport network was up. I was going to have to crack down hard and make an example of this group so no others would spring up while I was away. We made our assault that afternoon. I was pleased to note that Akira did not hesitate to kill those who were obviously part of the slavery ring. If there was any doubt she called for surrender first and if they laid down their weapons they were spared so we could figure it out later. If not they were given the same treatment as the slavers. We dealt with about 50 different people in the organization and freed close to 300 slaves. Luckily most of them were not abused, just detained and sold as cheap labor. We travelled to the respawn point and identified those that we had killed as slavers and pronounced judgement upon them and then sent them for respawn until we finally locked them up. I set them to mining stone and creating tunnels in various parts of the kingdom. It was pointless work that could easily be done with magic but it kept them busy and was a punishment so it all worked out. I continued to work with Akira for another week until I had raised her level up to 183. It was time for the final step. ¡°Akira, I will now give you a choice that I want you to think on carefully. Tonight no matter what I will designate you as my heir and you will become Planetary Leader. You are almost 50 levels in front of your next closest competitor so that should not be a worry. However, I think that we can do one more thing to make you stronger. We can improve or change your bloodline.¡± ¡°What do you mean sir. I am already an elf and that gives me a boost to my dexterity each level which is higher than most people will ever reach.¡± ¡°I understand that, but I have access to a bloodline dungeon where you can select any possible bloodline. Many of which are stronger than Grassland Elf. I have bought a bloodlines guide from the Great Game and want you to look over it and see if any of them spark your interest. If after looking you want to stay with your current bloodline I understand. ¡°If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°OK sir, I trust you I will study it tonight and give you my decision in the morning.¡± I have had Jacob and Randolph looking over the same guide that last couple of weeks and they have leveled up with my kids while I was taking care of Akira and Walter. ¡°Walter, in the morning you will travel back and take a group to level up just like we have been doing with Akira. I will take Akira, Randolph, and Jacob to the bloodline dungeon and let them make their choices.¡± ¡°Yes Master, I understand.¡± The morning came soon enough and Akira looked like she had made her decision. ¡°Sir it is my understanding that the more powerful a bloodline is the harder the trial and more likely someone would fail. Is that correct?¡± ¡°Yes Akira, with great risk comes great reward. I took a very big risk and earned a Unique Bloodline and have benefited tremendously from it.¡± ¡°I will try for a new version of the elf bloodline. I like the elven look and bonuses to agility, but there are some things that could improve. I will try for the legendary bloodline Titan Elf.¡± ¡°Very good Akira. You do realize that you will have to do this on your own and I will be unable to accompany you.¡± ¡°Yes Sir, I am ready.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go then. Just remember to be creative. Even impossible tasks can be overcome with ingenuity.¡± We teleported to the Bloodline Dungeon where Randolph and Jacob were waiting for us along with several guards. ¡°Good morning all. Randolph and Jacob have you made your choices?¡± Randolph replied, ¡°I have chosen the Epic Bloodline Human Warmaster.¡± Jacob said, ¡°I am not as confident and I am going for the Rare Bloodline Moon Blessed.¡± ¡°I want to make sure that you are confident in your choices. I cannot help you inside the bloodline dungeons and death is permanent inside this challenge.¡± Randolph answered for both, ¡°We are both sure my lord. I am going to take my two prot¨¦g¨¦s in for the same bloodline and Jacob has a group of 5 guards who are also interested in the Moon Blessed bloodline to help him.¡± ¡°I will give you the same advice that I have already given the Mistress of the Sword. Remember to be creative, sometimes impossible tasks become possible when you look at them with an open mind.¡± I sent in Jacob first with his party and watched them shimmer out of existence as they were teleported to their bloodline dungeon challenge. The next to go was Randolph with his two. Finally, it was Akira¡¯s turn. ¡°Be careful Akira, I will wait here for 2 weeks. After that I will have someone waiting for another month. If you take longer than that, you will have to make your way back on your own.¡± ¡°Yes sir, I will make you proud.¡± Akira shimmered out of existence and I started what I hoped would be a short wait and the return of the two people I now thought of as friends and my successor to the Planetary Leader title. If Akira returns I will make it official through the Great Game option and I will then be able to finish wrapping up my business here on Earth in preparation for travel to the Dungeon World. I want to be prepared for a long absence even if it sounds like I can return whenever I want. I know the Great Game sometimes has unknown conditions and my luck usually triggers them. Jacob was the first to arrive back, however the danger was made apparent as he only returned with four of the five guards he left with. ¡°What happened Jacob?¡± ¡°Well sire, the Moon Blessed bloodline challenge was to survive 72 hours of Moon Monster based attacks. Harold the guard who did not make it was killed on the last night by some type of ambush predator while on watch. No one heard it and no one saw it. The rest of us have been given the Moon Blessed bloodline and will now earn 1 free attribute point for each level and have another attribute point placed in agility each level. At night we can raise our attributes by 50% for 1 minute in an emergency also.¡± ¡°I am saddened by our loss of Guardsmen Harold. In any other dungeon he would have respawned. Please arrange a funeral with honors when you return. I am glad to see that the rest of you returned safely. You four gentlemen will get a bonus and a promotion for your good job.¡± ¡°THANK YOU SIRE!¡± ¡°Now head back and take a day off all of you while I remain and wait for the rest to emerge.¡± The now group of 4 guards and Jacob used teleportation scrolls to return to the castle. The wait had begun for me once again. I tried not to waste the time and was enchanting various magic grenades and experimenting with new ideas for spells and traps, but the boredom of doing the same thing over and over was starting to get to me. Another 4 days passed before all three of the Human Warmaster group returned. At least we had not lost one in this try. ¡°Report Randolph. ¡°Yes my king. My two companions and I have received the Human Warmaster Bloodline. In order to obtain this bloodline we had to successfully lead a group of 100 level 50 warriors against a group of 1,000 level 50 warriors with leaders the same level as us on the battlefield. We use the terrain and some of the tricks and traps you described to me to finish them off with very few casualties. As a result we got a bonus. Each of us received a companion animal to raise and use as a mount in the future. The mount selection was random. I received a War Lion, one of my group received a Battle Stallion, and the final lad received a Dire Wolf.¡± ¡°I see congratulations. What are the benefits of the bloodline?¡± ¡°We will each receive one free attribute point to distribute each level that we did not have before and we will also automatically have one point placed free in strength and constitution.¡± ¡°Excellent, I am proud of how well all three of you did. Return to the castle and take a day off. I have one more person to wait on.¡± ¡°Yes my king.¡± It took five more days before Akira returned. I admit I was starting to get worried. She came back looking exhausted, but proud of herself. ¡°I see you made it Akira.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± ¡°Then before you tell me your story let¡¯s make this official.¡± ¡°Great Game I designate Akira Tanaka, the Mistress of the Sword as my replacement for Planetary Leader.¡±
World Wide Announcement. Mistress of the Sword has been designated as the new Planetary Leader of Earth. Any challenger to this position must first be within ten levels or of a higher level than the current Planetary Leader.
Huh, so that¡¯s how it works. I never did figure out how someone else would become Planetary leader normally. ¡°Now that we have taken care of the formalities please tell me about your experience and what the bloodline gives you.¡± ¡°Yes sir, the challenge to receive the Titan Elf bloodline was to defeat a tribe of 12 Titans without direct use of magic. I decided to use a combination of what you taught me and my smaller size against the foe. I created basic pit fall traps with spikes at the bottom. I lured several of the tribe away and when they crossed the thin stone lid that easily held my weight it collapsed underneath them. I then proceeded to use Slice to immediately attack their weak points while they were dazed. I was able to eliminate 4 of the titans this way. The last eight were much harder. I had to use stealth at night and was able to get rid of two more as they slept. Finally, I remembered your story of how you dealt with the goblin tribe when you were a lower level. Two nights ago I snuck in and poisoned the food of the remaining 6 titans. Five of them ate it in the morning and succumbed to the poison rather quickly. The last one saw them got sick and I had to find another way to deal with it. Knowing that there were no reinforcements that could surprise me I decided to test myself and fight it directly. It was very difficult but my high agility score paid off and I was able to dodge its blows while slowly whittling down its health.¡± ¡°I am very proud of you Akira. You used your head and were able to complete a bloodline most would fail. What were your gains from this?¡± ¡°The Great Game said that I will receive an extra three attribute points each level and one point free in Strength, Constitution, and Agility every level. This is five more points per level than I used to get. I also received several titles which improved my overall stats.¡± ¡°Let me guess, Titan Slayer and such right?¡± ¡°Yes Sir, do you have them also?¡± ¡°Yes I do.¡± ¡°You have learned everything I can teach you and are a high enough level that you can continue to travel and level on your own without much fear of anything. Be smart but never get overconfident. Every time I became too full of myself I have been knocked down somehow. You are a permanent guest of my kingdom and know how to contact me if needed. I have left 1,000,000 gold pieces for you to use as you need to. This is so you do not have to worry about making a living and can just level and improve. If you need anything ask Jacob to help you out. I look forward to hearing good things about you in the future.¡± ¡°I will do my best to live up to your expectations sir.¡± We teleported back to the castle and I had Akira take a few day¡¯s rest to recover. During these days I would be saying my goodbyes and preparing for my first trip to dungeon world. The time had come to start searching for some answers. 64 - Newbie Again? Chapter 64: Newbie Again? I spent the next week saying my farewells and making sure everything was set up to run smoothly. I cut my mana that was claiming land on the last day and reminded the council to govern well. I told my daughter that I loved her and asked her not to cry. ¡°Nicole you have to be safe while I am gone. I cannot worry about you when I am out and about.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry dad I will be good. Stay safe yourself. You guys have to take care of dad since I can¡¯t go with you ok.¡± My dragons all swore that they would take good care of me. Both Nicole and I were trying to stay strong for each other. Before I had always known that no matter what I was close by, even if it was a teleport away. When at the competition I knew what to expect and that even if I lost I would be safe. However, I was truly heading off into the unknown this time. I could not take anymore, it was time to leave. ¡°I will contact you all as soon as I can. Try not to worry. Remember I bought the life stone from the Great Game store, so as long as it glows I am alive and you do not need to worry even if you cannot contact me. Walter, Elvira, Esmerelda, Bruce and Azure please return to storage so we can go.¡± One last round of tearful goodbyes and I stood on the Great Game main teleportation platform. ¡°Please send me to Dungeon World.¡± I watched my friends and family shimmer out as I teleported to what would be my next big adventure. Dungeon World ready or not here I come. When I shimmered back into existence it was on a platform that was placed in the middle of a town square. There were very few people around, and everyone that was in sight stopped and stared at me before continuing on their way. I heard a couple muttering about is it that time already and another newbie that will get in the way. Before I could really look around I got one of the now infamous Great Game messages, and not one I liked.
Welcome to Dungeon World. Progress through the areas of Dungeon World to prove yourself worthy to inherit the true power of the Great Game. Participants must stay for at least one year before leaving Dungeon World. You are currently in the Safe Area of Zone 1 recommended level 500.
Participant is over level 1,000 and has all three tournament titles. Master Level access granted. Please report to the center of Dungeon World to initiate transfer of power.
What the heck? Ok quickly set my level to 550 with False Status. Now Master Level access, transfer of power, those sound like if I make it to the center than I will be in charge of either the Great Game or Dungeon World. Either one would be a good thing, but before I can plot my eventual take over I need information. This looks like any other starting town if it were a video game. The only issue is the low number of people. Let¡¯s see where do I go for information. I scan the area and only see three open businesses in sight. I can go to the Dungeon World Emporium, Hank¡¯s Metal Works, or the Last Chance Bar. I am going to avoid the clich¨¦s for now and try what I assume is a general store. As I enter a little chime rings and an older man who still looks to be in great shape smiles at me from behind the counter. ¡°You must be the new comer. I can¡¯t believe it has already been three years. Welcome to my store the Dungeon World Emporium, as I like to say if you can¡¯t find it here you can¡¯t find it anywhere.¡± ¡°Um, hello. Is it that obvious that I am new here?¡± ¡°Well son, we only get new people every three years, so it is relatively easy to spot a new face.¡± ¡°That makes sense. My name is Mark and you are?¡± ¡°I am sorry, where are my manners. You can call me Shopkeeper Tim if your selling or just Tim if your buying something.¡± ¡°Well I am definitely interested in buying some things, please let me know if you have them. First is a map of the area and second is information.¡± ¡°Maps I have and information too. Each is priced differently depending on the level of quality you want.¡± ¡°Float me the price for the finest of each that you have.¡± It was as if I could see little dollar signs start to shine in his eyes. His smile somehow managed to get even bigger. ¡°Well Zone 1¡¯s map is 100 mithral coins, each area after that doubles in price. Zone 2 is 200 mithral, zone 3 is 800 mithral, etc.. I have the first six zones for sale here at the store. After that you will have to find another source. As for information for 1,000 mithral coins an hour I will answer anything and everything including my deepest darkest personal secrets.¡± ¡°That seems fair. Here is 10,000 mithral. I want all of the maps and I expect you to answer questions until I run out of credit.¡± ¡°Yes Sir, Mr. Mark Sir.¡± The next couple hours were very informative. I don¡¯t think that Tim ever thought somebody would pay his information fee and was trying his hardest to either impress me or to prove he knew what he was talking about. I found out that every winner of the competition since the Great Game began as far as people know has come to the Dungeon World. There were a total of 10 different zones. Each one had hundreds or thousands of dungeons and thousands if not millions of square kilometers to explore. In every zone there was one safe area with several buildings set up.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Zone 1 had dungeons and free roaming monsters from levels 400 ¨C 600, zone 2 had dungeons and free roaming monsters from levels 500 ¨C 700, and zone 3 had dungeons and free roaming monsters from levels 600 ¨C 800. Now this is where things got interesting. In order to reach zone 4, you had to qualify and have at least copper level access. Copper level access was granted by the Great Game if you made it to level 600 or had spent at least 25 years in the Dungeon World. Zone 4 had dungeons and free roaming monsters from levels 700 ¨C 900, zone 5 had dungeons and free roaming monsters from levels 800 ¨C 1,000, and zone 6 had dungeons and free roaming monsters from levels 900 ¨C 1,100. In order to reach zone 7, you had to qualify and have at least silver level access. Silver level access was granted by the Great Game if you made it to level 900 or had spent at least 100 years in the Dungeon World. Zone 7 had dungeons and free roaming monsters from levels 1,000 ¨C 1,200, zone 8 had dungeons and free roaming monsters from levels 1,100 ¨C 1,300, and zone 9 had dungeons and free roaming monsters from levels 1,200 ¨C 1,400. In order to reach zone 10, you had to qualify and have at least gold level access. Gold level access was granted by the Great Game if you made it to level 1,200 or had spent at least 250 years in the Dungeon World. There was no mention of what was inside zone 10. No one who had qualified and traveled into it had ever come back to report on it. It was said that if you had two championship titles you gained copper level access and if you gained all three championship titles the Great Game gave you silver access without the level restrictions or time limits. It was considered pretty useless because you would die pretty quickly if you entered those areas as only a level 400-500 person which was the common level for new comers. Master level access like I was granted was never mentioned and I was not going to give away that I had something that unique. After your free year was up you could travel back or you could stay at the cost of one level every six months as a payment to the Great Game. That was why people were grumbling at me in the town square. A new person usually needed help leveling up and that slowed people down from leveling themselves. If you did not gain more experience than you had to give up each year, I can see why people would be upset. You could not skip an area either. The teleportation station I arrived at could reach all of the other safe areas. However, the Great Game would not let you teleport to another area until you had at least conquered one dungeon in the zone you were coming from. So even if someone had copper access they could not teleport to safe area 4 and get better equipment or materials from the stores there. Everyone had to stay in their zones until they proved they were ready to move up. Through some weird manipulation of physics, no matter where you were in a zone if you continued North for 250 miles you would enter the next zone. There would be an invisible barrier that would not let you pass unless you had earned the proper access and had conquered at least one dungeon. The final piece of vital information that Tim gave me was on respawns. You were entitled to three respawns on Dungeon World. The first was free. It did not cost any levels, but you were transported down a zone if you were above zone 1. The second respawn cost 100 levels. It took you all the way back to zone 1 and cost you one level of access if you had it. For example, Silver access dropped back down to copper access and you had to re-earn those access permissions. The third and final respawn cost 250 levels, took you back to zone 1 and revoked all access privileges. If this happened to a person, they usually chose to leave the Dungeon World. Since I had an access level that was not even mentioned I needed to do this without respawning. I was afraid that even the ¡°free¡± respawn might take away the Master level access that I was granted. With my high level at starting I had years to accomplish my task if needed. Slow and methodical was probably going to be the best way to make sure I did not screw up. My plan after talking to Tim was to make my way to zone 4 and start to level there. Once I reached level 1,100 I would move to the next zone. I would set my levels to be about 50 above what was needed at each zone and avoid contact as much as possible to make sure my unusual status was not as noticeable. Depending on leveling speed I might move up a zone or two. I should be in a better position than most as I have four high level companions and a familiar. I do not need to team up for dungeons and I can hold anything I need to survive in my inventory. I wanted to start at zone 4 more to level up my dragons and let Walter catch up to me than to progress myself. I might end up being here for years so I decided before anything else to contact my daughter and let her know the situation. This would be my only contact for a while. The Great Game has imposed some strange restrictions on this world and one was communication. You can use a normal communication crystal once and that is it. After that you had to use a specific Dungeon World communication crystal to upgrade your existing ones. Those crystals were drops from boss monsters of dungeons of zones 4 and higher. Another reason for me to travel to zone 4. The Great Game seemed to doing everything it could to encourage people to keep progressing as fast as possible through this world. I thanked Tim for all his help and I decided it was time for me to start my trip. They say the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. That was literally true for me. I would be traveling 1,000 miles north to reach zone 4. In each zone I would stop by a couple of the higher level dungeons marked on the map to earn access to the next zone. These stops would also let me experience the dungeons and see if they were similar or different than the ones on Earth before I got to higher level ones that might surprise me. My first destination was an insect hive dungeon rated at level 600. It was supposed to be about fifty miles north east of the safe area in zone 1. My next stop after that was another level 600 dungeons supposedly populated by Kobolds. If there are no problems with my first two stops, I will continue to travel north until I reach zone 2. I figure travelling on foot will help me avoid many of the questions people might have about me reaching certain areas and zones to fast. I only plan to access another safe area in zone 4. I have plenty of supplies and anything I collect can just sit in my inventory. It seems there is not as much traffic between access levels as there is between zones. This means once I reach zone 4 and set my False Status to something appropriate I should not be questioned. I will just be another person who has finally leveled up enough or spent enough time in Dungeon World to reach a new zone. However, before I do anything else I need to contact home and let them know that I am stuck here for at least a year. In all likelihood unless they needed me for an emergency I would probably be living here full time until this whole get to the center thing was over. ¡°Nicole, are you there?¡± ¡°Yes daddy, how is dungeon world.¡± ¡°Well everything is going fine for now, but I need you to listen carefully and pass on some messages. This place has some severe restrictions and this will be the last time I can talk to you for a while.¡± ¡°Alright dad, whatever you need.¡± ¡°Thanks sweet pea and remember daddy loves you.¡± I tell Nicole all about the communication restriction and how I was going to be here at least a year and probably a lot longer. Once I had secured a zone 4 I told her she would be the first one I contacted. That could be anywhere from a month to a year so please do not worry too much. After I made sure she would deliver messages to everyone else that needed to know I reluctantly signed off. This might be more difficult than I thought. I always wanted to be alone, but now that I am cut off without a choice I am not liking the feeling. I guess what I enjoyed most about being alone before was the power and ability to decide when I had enough and that I got to choose when to rejoin and reconnect with everyone else. Oh well nothing to do but keep going. 65 - The Long Road Ahead Chapter 65 The Long Road Ahead Here I was outside of my first Dungeon World dungeon. Time to see what if anything is different. I should be far enough away that my secrets and advantages should stay secret. ¡°Walter, kids come on out.¡± ¡°Hello Master.¡± ¡°Hi Dad.¡± ¡°Ok first off, sorry it took so long to get you back out. I know you don¡¯t experience any time while stored away, but it makes me feel bad.¡± ¡°It¡¯s ok dad. ¡°Whatever Master chooses is fine.¡± ¡°Anyway, here is the situation. We have reached Dungeon World and I am going to have to hide you guys every time I head into a safe area. I want you to be my trump cards that no one knows about. Lucky for all of us I should only have to travel into the safe areas to replenish supplies and get information. In other words, not very often.¡± I continued to give them all of the information that Time had passed onto me and let them know that we might be here for years if not more earning our way up. We had an advantage that others did not, but I was not sure how well it would work here with such high levels. I knew we were already sped up beyond belief compared to most people, but I did not have a good handle on how powerful we were. There should be several people scattered throughout this world that actually out level me by quite a bit. It also stands to reason that there would be several that outshine me in the stats department as well. The last thing I need to do is make an enemy out of someone I cannot deal with. ¡°Ok guys, we are heading in to this level 600 insect dungeon. Standard formation. Walter you¡¯re on defense to start with until we know exactly what we are dealing with. Watch out for ambushes on the ceiling and from digging insects that might get behind us.¡± We entered into our first dungeon extremely alert and ready for anything. Scouting carefully, we made our way into what basically looked like a giant ant or termite mound. After about 50 feet the tunnel took a left and we saw a larger chamber with several Giant Ants. Identify.
Giant Ant Worker Level 503
Giant Ant Worker Level 501
Giant Ant Worker Level 507
Giant Ant Worker Level 506
Giant Ant Worker Level 515
That is interesting they are not all the same level. The largest one seems to be directing the other four in their appointed task. Alright, if there are giant ant workers, there must be giant ant soldiers, and a giant ant queen. Logic states that destroying the ant queen should give victory over the dungeon. Time to see if Earth logic applies to other world dungeons. ¡°Attack Plan B.¡± Suddenly my dragons start to inhale until they have gathered up a large portion of the air in the room. Attack plan B means everyone that has it uses their breath weapon except me, I use a fireball as a signal, and Walter is on containment and backup. I release a smaller fireball which is the signal for all 4 of my dragon children to release their built up breath weapons. Those poor ants did not stand a chance. My fire disoriented them. The four breath weapons just made it worse and finally Walter created stone spikes to surround them to prevent escape. We quickly fall back into our dungeon diving rhythm. Nothing seems to be significantly different than what you would find in an Earth dungeon. We had started to run into a mix of worker and warrior ants after a few chambers. Then it was pure warrior ants who were between levels 550 and 575. There were a lot of branching chambers, but it was no real maze. Everything eventually hooked back up to the main tunnel or was a dead end. We cleared out every side chamber on the way to the boss. This was not only for the extra experience, but because we had discovered over time that a favorite boss monster tactic was to call for reinforcements. However, if we killed and cleared out everything on the way to the end then there would be no reinforcements which made the eventual boss fight much easier. As we came around the last bend in the tunnel we could see a large chamber behind several warrior ants who were lined up to block out entry. Just past these warriors you could make out the giant queen ant with her egg sac and several worker ants that were taking care of her and her eggs. The large chamber was filled with eggs. ¡°Fall back 50 feet.¡± I turned around and quickly moved back with my companions all around me. I checked behind us but none of the warrior ants guarding the birthing chamber followed us. They must have orders to stay in place and defend. That¡¯s good. ¡°Dad, why did we retreat? We could have easily beat them, complained Azure.¡± ¡°It is simple son there is a tactic for this specific situation and I realized I had not trained any of you in it. I want us all to be safe and do things right so I am going to explain it and then we will go back around the corner and try it out.¡± ¡°Ok Dad that makes sense now.¡± ¡°Alright your dad has watched too many Aliens movies, horror movies in general, and read way too many stories to think that this last room is simple. I could be wrong, but I would rather be safe than sorry. Usually in this situation the heroes, that us by the way, charge in, destroy the guards, and start battling the end boss. However, the eggs get ignored and something always comes out of the eggs that is bad for the heroes.¡± ¡°Master this is real life not a movie.¡± ¡°I realize that Walter, but would you rather be safe and deal with the small possibility of me being right or charge in and have one of the family get hurt or killed.¡± ¡°Walter would never want that to happen. Walter will protect the family.¡± ¡°Very good Walter. Now here is what we are going to do. I will create the largest compressed Primal fireball I can that I believe I can shoot over the heads of the guards. We then charge take out the guards and then keeping a safe distance destroy the eggs. It should take a few seconds for the queen to separate from the egg sac so we will use this time to set that room on fire. Azure, Walter and Esmerelda you are tasked with keeping the workers of the chamber from putting out the fire. I will use fireballs, Bruce and Elvira use your breath weapons. Elvira if your lightning does not set them on fire or pop the egg sacs then join in with the others to protect Bruce and I. When the queen finally starts for us, I want to retreat back into the tunnel where her size will be to her disadvantage. Does everyone understand the plan?¡± After a quick chorus of yes dad¡¯s and yes master I was ready to start. ¡°Oh by the way, let¡¯s call this one the Fried Egg Gambit.¡± ¡°Geez dad you come up with the weirdest names, said Elvira.¡± I started pumping mana into a nice 1 meter across Primal flames fireball. I did not want to go more than 1500 mana as I did not know how stable the tunnels were. When I reached the desired amount I ran back around the corner and launched it above the heads of the waiting warrior ants. I wish I could say I saw the fear or surprise on their faces as my plan became evident to them but that would be a lie. They were ants, even if they were giant, and I had no idea how to interpret their response. When they saw the incoming flaming sphere of purple lit doom they scattered. This would normally be an excellent tactic as it spreads them out ensuring that some of them would probably survive or take less damage. In this case though I was not even aiming at them. My fireball continued on past them, it was at this point I realized that I could understand some giant ant body language as I saw them freeze in place. This was either surprise at my miss, or they realized that crap we really screwed up and giant ant queen is going to be mad. Either way it was too late. They were out of their defensive position and we were upon them.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. My kids and Walter started devastating the guarding warriors. I tried to join them, but because I was so intent on watching my fireball after I launched it two things happened. First I got to see it explode spectacularly on a cluster of eggs, which seemed to make giant mommy ant very mad. Second I realized I should pay more attention to what¡¯s in front of me as I tripped over something in the tunnel and proceeded to fall and then roll forward into the cavern. My dragons later told me it looked like I was in a cartoon. With my high stats I had built up quite a bit of speed in a short amount of time, so the resulting crash was wonderful from their point of view. My point of view was different. First I was embarrassed, then angry, and then finally I was a little bit frightened. Why so many feeling so quick together? The first two feelings were easy to explain. No one likes to be clumsy and have other people watch hence the embarrassment. When you are embarrassed it is really easy to find something to lash out at as a release and I decided to be mad at the ground. Stupid I know, but sometimes you just get angry for no good reason. Finally, I was a little bit frightened because I ended up in the cavern surrounded by egg sacs precisely where I did not want to be. Like I said before I have watched way too many movies and read too many stories where this type of situation is bad news for the hero. Since I considered myself the hero of my own story I freely admit that I might have panicked, just a little. After dozens of dungeons and several times where it has saved my life I now have a bad habit of throwing grenades when I feel that I am in danger and need to retreat. That is not necessarily a bad thing. However, I usually do not take the miniscule amount of time needed to select the type of grenade and just throw everything that comes to my hands. When you normally use your inventory you think about specifically what you want. If I want a copper pan I think copper pan and concentrate on an image in my mind. The less specific you are the more creative or lazy the Great Game gets. If you just say pan, any type of pan may come to your hand. I do not know if it is the closest one or just the Great Game messing with you, but the chances of it being the one you want is tiny. It does not take very much effort or time to be specific, but when you are in panic mode you tend to forget details. I screamed grenades in my mind and started throwing whatever the Great Game put in my hand while running back to the entrance to the cavern and my companions. Once again with my stats and panic mode I may have overdone the number of grenades I tossed out. As I was running towards my kids and Walter I could hear Esmerelda yelling. ¡°Dad did it again, retreat!¡± My kids turned and ran even faster than me. It is amazing how fast you can move when you have over 1,000 points in strength and agility. However, that same speed also means that an absurd amount of anything can be taken out and thrown from your inventory in the 3-5 seconds it normally took for a magic grenade to cook off. I caught up to the family just as the first explosion started behind me. Walter thinking ahead and in charge of defense and protecting the family had used with earth manipulation to give us a hole in the floor, bunker type thing to hide in. We all dived in and Walter sealed it behind us. Azure was the first to complain, ¡°Dad I just don¡¯t understand. How can someone with your high agility and other stats be so clumsy?¡± Before I could answer Bruce chimed in, ¡°Yeah dad and why do you always throw grenades when you panic?¡± ¡°Well kids, your dad may have high stats, but I did not grow up with them. So sometimes I am a little uncomfortable in my own body and I make mistakes. As for throwing grenades, that¡¯s easy. I throw grenades because it works and I have not died or blown myself up or others completely yet.¡± Esmerelda said, ¡°I really do not like how you put a yet on the end of the sentence.¡± ¡°What a bunch of whiners. Don¡¯t worry dad won¡¯t do anything to¡­.¡± That was the last thing I remember until I woke up and found Walter staring at me. ¡°Was I knocked unconscious in the middle of my statement?¡± ¡°Yes master.¡± ¡°Well I guess that is instant karma. Are the kids safe?¡± ¡°Yes master, they are just cleaning up and checking for any surviving ant people and eggs.¡± ¡°Nobody but me got hurt?¡± ¡°No Master.¡± Stupid luck. I have a value of over 1,000 shouldn¡¯t that entitle me to some good luck? Oh, I just had a horrible thought. What if that was my good luck? What if I was originally supposed to be crushed or infected with some horrible ant egg alien hybrid? Yep going to keep my mouth shut now about my bad luck. ¡°Well Walter lets go see if they need any help?¡± ¡°Yes Master.¡± As we made our way back towards the ant queen cavern I got the notice for clearing the dungeon.
You have finished the Insect Hive Dungeon. This was your first Dungeon World dungeon and it was at the maximum allowed level for your zone and 100% of all monsters were destroyed. You are awarded the title of Nothing¡¯s Too Hard +5 and Completionist +5. For finishing the dungeon solo you are granted the title Solo Master +5. You have been granted access to zone 2.
Extra stats are always nice. Kind of unnecessary at this point, but I won¡¯t turn them away. It is also beneficial that the Great Game does not consider the kids and Walter as separate entities. I think that it is a little sad actually and I would never treat them as slaves or just summoned beings. However, it was beneficial for the bonuses it did give me. When we reached the main cavern I called the kids over and after some good natured fun at my expense we all packed up and left the dungeon. I decided to put a few miles between us and the dungeon on the off chance someone else came by to conquer it. After about 10 miles we set up camp and Walter not needing sleep stood watch while we rested. The next morning was taken up traveling. Since I was still a higher level than the zone we were currently in we walked in confidence knowing that my Unique Skill Bloodthirst Aura would prevent any of the roaming monsters from approaching us. We managed to reach the next dungeon in the afternoon. 100 miles seems like a lot on foot until you realize that if we wanted to we could fly or sprint at a ridiculous speed with our strength stats. All we did was jog at a sedate 10 -15 miles an hour. It was basically a family hike for us. I decided to rest the rest of the day before going in. I wanted everyone to be fresh for this dungeon. We had no real trouble with the last one other than my clumsiness, but there was a good reason I chose to complete two different dungeons in each zone. The first dungeon was always going to be a straight monster animal dungeon. This was to check and see if the Great Game was upping intelligence or other tricks along with size and strength of monsters. The next one would always be against a semi-sentient or sentient monster dungeon. I always worried that as dungeons got harder eventually the intelligence of the monsters we faced would increase dramatically up to a point where we were the ones being led into traps. This had not happened yet, but I worried none the less. Finally, I wanted to check how two dungeons affected the levels of my companions and I at each zone. This was to help me estimate how fast I could level all of us in different areas. Some of which are definitely safer than others. In the morning it was time to test the Kobold Dungeon. We entered in and immediately assumed our regular dungeon diving formation. We had an immediate problem. The stench of this dungeon was unreal. All of my kids and I immediately wrinkled our noses and snouts up. I guess we never realized how much we were relying on this sense until it was assaulted like this. I quickly took out some cloth and cut it into strips and doused it with vinegar. When wrapped around our heads we still smelled the stench, now mixed with vinegar, but at least the vinegar smell was cleaner. I was about to head in deeper when Elvira spoke up, ¡°Dad I have an idea. Can we go back out and discuss it?¡± ¡°Sure thing darling, everyone back out into the fresh air.¡± We all retreated to where we could breathe normally. Everyone had a relieved look on their face being outside the stinky dungeon except Walter. I guess spirits really don¡¯t have a traditional nose or sense of smell as we know it. ¡°OK Elvira what is your idea?¡± Elvira explained that with Walter¡¯s Earth Magic and my Earth Magic we could build basically two large pipes and place them into the dungeon. One would pump in fresh air and one would pump out the disgusting stuff. All it would take is a few simple air enchantments and some time for the air to exchange. I just kind of stared at her for a second. ¡°Elvira that is brilliant!¡± ¡°Thanks Dad.¡±¡¯ ¡°Ok Walter you heard the little lady, we are going to follow her directions on this project. She is in charge.¡± ¡°Yes master.¡± The next hour was spent making 2 feet wide and 10 feet long stone pipes and laying air enchantments on them. We then took turns carrying them in and laying them down for the first 100 feet of tunnel. Elvira said this would be a good distance to check out how her theory was working. If it worked, we could always place several more sections in my inventory and apply them as we were travelling. I charged the whole thing with mana and then we sat down to wait. We decided a picnic lunch would be nice and I took out a bar-b-q grill and started it up away from the entrance to the dungeon, we did not want to smell the stench that would be coming out if the idea worked. After a fun little lunch, it had been about 90 minutes since the air circulation had been turned on. As soon as we got close to the entrance we could tell at least one aspect was working. The stench outside was not unbearable but definitely related to what we smelled earlier. This was a good sign. It meant that it was at least circulating some of the air from the dungeon. We entered back into the dungeon and while it still smelled it was not bringing tears to our eyes. I will count this as a win. I give Elvira a quick high five and we continue down the path deeper into the dungeon. Once the smell was bearable the rest of the dungeon became rather easy. It seems that while the sentient monsters may be more powerful, they did not seem smarter. We still had to deal with a couple of healers and mages in the Kobold ranks that we destroyed, but it was not as hard as I feared. We were still able to kite the monsters into traps and overwhelming situations and everything proceeded smoothly. As always we cleared out the dungeon as we went. I did not want to leave anything to chance. The boss turned out to be a Kobold shaman that had a wicked area of attack spell, but it had a cool down of at least 2 minutes between uses. With this much of a delay it was not hard to end its life. Another notification and another dungeon done. 66 - Dwarven Rescue Chapter 66: Dwarven Rescue I felt confident enough after our first two dungeons to immediately proceed into zone 2. Here we conquered two more dungeons, level 700 this time and earned our access to zone 3. Zone 3 was just a rinse and repeat with dungeon levels at 800 instead. This earned us access to a new region. Zones 4-6. Before entering zone 4 I decided to check on our progress. Companion Status:
Name: Elvira Race: Elemental Air Dragon Level: 424 - 33% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Esmerelda Race: Elemental Earth Dragon Level: 426 - 34% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Azure Race: Elemental Water Dragon Level: 425 - 46% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Sir Bruce Shadow Flaming Ember of Doom Race: Elemental Fire Dragon Level: 428 - 21% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Walter Race: Incan Wak¡¯a Spirit Level 550 - 47% Status: Familiar of Mark Anderson
Status:
Name: Mark Anderson Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King
Level: 1116 - 11% Unspent Attribute Points: 10
Str: 2,260 HP: 22,600
Int: 2,440 +250% MP MP: 170,800
Wis:2,440 +250% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 2,260 MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Con: 2,260 +250% HP/Regen Luck: 2,260
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Primal ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Resistances: Earth - 100% Water - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Well this was going to take longer than I thought. I went up a level, but in actuality after 6 dungeons it was only 80% of one level. Walter managed 20 levels, he is pulling most of the experience, and the kids went up 10 each. This is with them doing dungeons 400 levels above their experience levels. This is an extremely low leveling rate. We may be in Dungeon World longer than I thought. It took us just over a week to finish up the three easiest zones. Soon we will be reaching zones of a level where even I should be challenged. If we get a horde or rushed with even a few more monsters than our group, we could be in trouble. The original plan to stay and level in a higher zone does not sound as safe. While it may take longer I think we will stay in zone 4 until I bring up the kids and Walter¡¯s level. While my personal level may move up slowly if I can get 2 levels per dungeon for the kids and Walter that is not a bad rate. Once they are above 700 we can move on to zone 5, let¡¯s say 850 for zone 6, and level 1,000 to move up to zone 7. Once we try a couple of dungeons in zone 7 we can reevaluate. After a little math I realize if we do one dungeon a day in zone 4 that would take us about 25-30 days to move up to zone 5. I assume at this point the leveling would slow down sow lets double to time needed for each zone. That means we should reach zone 6 in a little over 3 months, and finally reach zone 7 after 8-9 months. These numbers may even be optimistic. I have to remember that zone 6 has dungeons that are rated for parties at level 1,100. The lower ones are for parties that are level 900. In reality it may take me years to get to zone 7. I truly hope not, but I need to prepare for the long haul just in case. I would rather not head back to Earth unless it is an emergency or ten years passes. At ten years I need to go back just to be on the safe side because that is when the protection period I purchased is up. Oh well, back to the old grind. We travel to our first zone 4 dungeon, where I receive a different welcome message than usual.
Welcome to the Dwarven Caverns dungeon. You have a choice of helping the defenders or the attackers. No party is allowed to leave until one side is victorious. Currently Gobbos control 64% of the caverns and Deep Dwarves control 30%. 6% of the cave is currently embroiled in battle or has been the site of a battle within the last 24 hours. Which faction will you choose? 1. Gobbos 2. Deep Dwarves
I have always been a sucker for the underdog. We select option 2.
For joining a faction that has a disadvantage of more than 2 to 1 your experience and rewards will double if you manage to turn the situation around and win. Good Luck!
I quickly explain the situation to the group. ¡°This dungeon is different. We have joined a battle in progress between Deep Dwarves and Gobbos. I have elected to put us on the side of the Deep Dwarves. This means we will be outnumbered and probably have to fight our way to our allies, but I am sure we can do it. Move out.¡± As we advance into the maze of caverns I make sure to listen for distant sounds of battle so we do not run into a major conflict without preparation. I have Walter on defense and rear watch as usual, Elvira has top, Esmerelda has floor traps, Bruce has the left, and Azure has the right While I focus on directly ahead. Knowing that you can count on the people around you really frees you up to use all of your senses. This means traps and anything unusual are easily spotted. Elvira chimes in first, ¡±Dad there is something wrong with the ceiling.¡± We all immediately back up in case it is a trap. I search the ceiling to try and find what caused Elvira to warn us. There looks to be a depressed area, kind of like a dimple on the ceiling about 5 feet across. ¡°Is the recessed area that looks like a dimple what you saw Elvira?¡± ¡°Yes Dad.¡± ¡°I see why you stopped us. Everyone back up another few feet.¡± When I saw that they had complied with my wishes I took a ten-foot pole out of my inventory. Yes, I have a ten-foot pole. I also have rope, a lantern, grappling hooks, and every other clich¨¦ thing I learned in my gaming career of Dungeons and Dragons. If I did not need them, who cares, the space and weight do not exist for me in the inventory. However, if I needed them I would look pretty sill not having basic supplies or getting stuck because I did not use common sense. I use the pole to prod and pry at the dimple on the ceiling. Nothing happened at first but after a few seconds I felt the pole sink in a bit and we all heard the click.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Now I had talked about reflexes earlier. Walter was pretty good with his. As soon as the click was heard he raised a wall of stone to cover the tunnel in front of us. Too many times we have had darts, arrows, spells and once even a rolling boulder trap like in the Indiana Jones movie. So whoever is quickest raises a wall between us and whatever clicks and then we retreat a few feet and listen. Nothing is heard. I cautiously approach the wall and create a space to see through. Nothing is different in the tunnel, or at least that is true until I look up. The dimple in the ceiling is now a hole. It looks like it was a secret tunnel. ¡°False alarm everyone. It was not a trap it was a secret tunnel. Walter take down the wall and good reflexes.¡± ¡°Thank You Master.¡± Once we were clear I looked up at the now obvious new tunnel. Who was I kidding, I can¡¯t even debate with myself about this decision. ¡°Everybody up in the secret tunnel.¡± They all just smiled. They probably knew what I was going to say before I did. I love secret stuff. Hidden tunnels and walkways, trick bookcases like in the movies, I loved it all. I had even remodeled several pieces of the castle complex back home with them just to have fun and sneak around. We traveled down the new tunnel less alert, but quieter. It was obvious this was an alternate route and was supposed to be used for ambushes on unsuspecting peoples below. Every 100 meters or so there was a lever and a peephole. Very classic set up. You could peer through the peephole when uncovered and then pull the lever to drop down and assault someone if needed. We had covered almost 400 meters before we spotted anything. Identify.
Race: Orc (Slaver) Level: 832 Faction: Gobbo
Race: Goblin (Beast Master) Level: 744 Faction: Gobbo
Race: Giant Rat X 3 Level: 712 Faction: Gobbo
These are obviously some of the creatures from the opposing group. I want to deal with them but I do not want there to be any evidence. I got it. I quickly whisper the plan and switch to my draconian form. ¡°Ready Azure?¡± ¡°Yes Dad.¡± Walter pulls the lever and Azure and I unleash a full ice breath attack on the unsuspecting fools below. Just for giggles I had everyone else drop an iced grenade down to help add to the confusion. The giant rats are instakilled, the Orc is in pretty bad shape with two large icicles stuck in his body, but the Goblin was relatively unharmed. He had been next to one of the giant rats and had used it for cover. Azure jumped down towards the Orc so I went after the Goblin. I wanted the least amount of blood possible so I grabbed the goblin from behind and just applied my full strength to choking him. That was a bad decision. In retrospect I guess I had never actually applied my entire strength to a task since I had gained so many stat points. Instead of choking the goblin to death I actually ripped its head off. This coated me the floor and anything else within three or four feet in blood. Well that tears it, the whole plan is ruined now. ¡°Everyone come down, I messed up again, but we can still try and clean the scene to the best of our ability.¡± The whole plan had depended on as little blood as possible so there would be very little scent. The ice attacks while they pierced and caused them to bleed, were relatively clean because the cold made the blood flow sluggishly. I thought we could finish them off quick enough that if I threw the corpses into my inventory very little blood would escape. The ice remains from the attack we could get rid of with small amounts of fire. Now that I hulked out we would have to go with plan B. ¡°Alright everyone come on down we need to go with plan B.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t actually have a plan B do you dad.¡± ¡°Of course I do. Instead of hiding everything and making them think they just disappeared we are going to go in the opposite direction and make it bloody and horrible so it looks like some horrible monster came into the tunnels and is attacking. Claw them up, spread the blood, and make it look like an animal attack.¡± ¡°Should we pretend that it is a terrible blood covered fiend of a monster dad?¡± ¡°Exactly, get into the proper mindset.¡± They all started laughing at this point. ¡°Just what is so funny?¡± ¡°Dad you look like a terrible blood covered fiend.¡± Oh right, the goblin¡¯s blood was still all over me. I ¡°Well I had to dress the part. Getting into character is essential for a true professional.¡± ¡°Whatever dad.¡± We doctored up the scene of the crime and then I quickly used water magic when we were back up in the secret tunnel to rid myself of the worst of the mess on me. ¡°Ok let¡¯s head out, same as before.¡± We continued our trek down the secret tunnel and about every 250 meters there was another small cavern or intersection that held small patrols of the Gobbo forces. We would surprise attack them then fake a scene of animal violence and then continue on. I continued the ruse for two main reasons. First every time we ran across a patrol they were at a strategic point. Eventually someone was going to notice them missing or a patrol from one of the side caverns or tunnels would run across the bloody scenes and sound an alert. I personally think that an unknown threat is much scarier than one you know about, so our little staged scenes should cause many of the Gobbo forces to think twice about going on patrol. Anything that upset or changed the other sides plans was going to be good for us. After several more surprise attacks something changed. I could hear fighting up ahead of us. If I could hear fighting that might mean that we could finally find some deep dwarves and make contact with our allies so we could find out more about the situation. When the next peephole and lever came into view it was just about the end of the secret tunnel also. I could see that it ended in another 20 or so meters. I looked through the peephole and saw a full blown skirmish happening between about 30 or 40 dwarves and almost twice that number of the Gobbo forces in a much larger cavern than any we had passed before. The dwarves were holding their own but having to slowly retreat towards an entrance on the west wall. ¡°Ok gang, time to make a good impression on our new allies. Maximum destruction while keeping in mind that we are underground and we do not want a tunnel collapse. Everybody ready?¡± ¡°Yes dad.¡± ¡°Yes Master.¡± ¡°Walter you are on my back until we reach the ground. On three then, 1..2..3 Go.¡± I pulled the lever and 5 half dragons and one Incan spirit unleased attacks on the unsuspecting group of Gobbos below us. It was spectacular. They had no defenses up against magic and were not expecting an attack from above. We must have killed 15 in just the first wave of magic and breath attacks and injured many more. The dwarves were just as surprised as our victims but they recovered quickly and redoubled their efforts and attacked with renewed strength against the confused enemy. My little group lit into the ranks of the enemy like a buzz saw. Magic and claws for my kids and Walter and magic and my giant war hammer for me. It only took about 2 minutes for us to devastate the Gobbo forces. Around ten of them tried to break off and retreat into a tunnel on the east side of the cavern. Nope, not going to have that happen. I yelled stand back and created a large primal ball of explosive energy and let it loose. Walter realized that the dwarves did not know to protect themselves and conveniently raised a stone barrier between them and the destruction. Mission accomplished. No one escaped to tell about the dwarves new allies and we definitely made a strong impression on our new allies. ¡°Hello, my name is Mark Anderson and these are my companions. We have been tasked by the Great Game to help you out in your battle for the caverns.¡± A grizzled dwarf stepped forward and replied. ¡°Thank you for your help Sir Anderson. My name is Gondor Granitebones. If you would follow us back to our base I will escort you to our commander.¡± ¡°Sure thing Mr. Granitebones.¡± The deep dwarves quickly went around and stabbed and slit throats on the fallen Gobbos to make sure none were just pretending to be dead. Soon enough the dwarves finished their task and led us down the tunnel they had been retreating towards. We passed several outposts that seemed similar to the Gobbo ones we took down, the only difference was they were manned by the dwarves. After about 1 kilometer of travel reached a very large cavern that looked to house an entire village with defensive formations, walls, and siege weapons. This wasn¡¯t a base this was a functional town. Gondor¡¯s patrol checked in with the gate guards and left to go back to the barracks. Gondor himself led us through the town to the commander¡¯s headquarters. There were women, children and merchants in the town, each of which gave us some strange looks as we passed. They probably did not get many visitors here in the dungeon and so we were curiosities. We were led to a building that was more than a house but just shy of what someone would call a mansion. Gondor talked to the guards out front and we went inside to meet the commander. He led us to a larger room that had a nice sized rectangular table covered in maps that seemed to be the focal point of the room. There are several older dwarves that are discussing tactics while sitting around the table with one at the head of the table listening to their ideas. I pegged that person as the leader. Gondor cleared his throat and the attention of everyone in the room switched to us. ¡°Thane Stoneheart, these people have been tasked by the Great Game to help us in our struggle. They have already turned the tide of battle against a Gobbo ambush of my patrol and saved several lives. May I introduce to you the leader of the group Mark Anderson.¡± ¡°Greetings, Thane Stoneheart. My companions and I have been tasked with helping you and your kin to defeat the Gobbo menace and claim the caverns as your own. I realize that trust has to be built slowly, so as long as you are not throwing away our lives we will place ourselves at your disposal for what needs to be done.¡± ¡°It is a pleasure to meet you Sir Anderson. I am glad to hear that you do not expect to be in charge or have preferential treatment. We have had others in the past who claimed to be from the Great Game who did not understand this and proceeded to alienate the town and those in it. To begin with I would like to hear of your abilities, what you have accomplished so far, and how you think you can help us going forward.¡± ¡°That is a reasonable request Thane Stoneheart. Please understand that I must keep somethings as a trump card to protect myself and my companions, but I will tell you what I can.¡± ¡°Your honesty is refreshing and I would be worried if you actually told me everything or pretended too.¡± I proceeded to outline our travels since we entered the caverns. The Thane and his counselors were very interested in our discovery of the secret tunnel. They had not thought to look for any and would now search diligently in the surrounding tunnels for them. They wanted to know if there were any so as to prevent surprise attacks and to perhaps arrange surprise attacks of their own. It was decided that we would join Gondor¡¯s patrols for the near future until the counsel and the Thane had a better grasp as to how we could help. After this discussion, Gondor led us to a barracks area where we could stay and rest. We would be patrolling six out of seven days and had two more days to go in this cycle. We needed to report to the gate promptly at 6 a.m. The kids, Walter and I settled down into the barracks and discussed what we could do to help out the dwarves. We decided that Walter would continue his role of defense and watching our backs while the kids would intermingle with the dwarven formation and make the best of any opportunities presented to use their area of attack breath weapons. I was going to be in the center using magic until melee and then just let loose. The next two weeks were never boring, but were not that different. Get up patrol, if you see or run into Gobbos, attack and drive them back. I did notice that each day we went a little further than the day before. It seemed that we were making progress. I also learned over these two weeks why the dwarves were in the dungeon in the first place. It seems that once there is a large enough contingent of people of the same or similar races that the Great Game will give them the opportunity to emigrate to the Dungeon World and receive a large boost in levels and abilities. One of which is a guarantee of another 250 years of longevity if they survive. 67 - Cementing New Alliances Chapter 67: Cementing New Alliances It was similar to what happened with Edward and the Hidden Valley village back on Earth when I rescued them from the Biltmore Estates dungeon. The twist here was that the majority of the citizens here had not met each other and were drawn from the high levels of the dwarven race across a large multitude of planets. Their task was to survive and win 10 rounds against the Gobbos in the caverns. At the end of each round everyone would respawn. If they did not manage 10 wins before the Gobbos they would be tied eternally to the cave system and would not be able to leave. If they did win they would become a new safe area in the zone. The caverns would change each round so maps were useless from round to round. So far the Dwarves had won eight of the needed ten rounds but the Gobbos had won seven rounds. They were always outnumbered and depending on their starting point they could have less resources to draw upon. Two of their wins had been with help from players outside of the dungeon, but three of their losses had been from players outside of their dungeon also. The two forces were very well matched. They had some of their rounds go on for over twenty years. Every time someone from outside joined in though it changed the balance of power. This usually meant that things were sped up and that victory or defeat would happen within 6 months. The reason they had welcomed us so easily is that they were on the downhill slope of this round. It was almost impossible to win after the other group gained more than 70% of the caverns and resources that they generated. They had been at 30% when we arrived and had since extended their reach back to 45% of the caverns. We had reversed what was going to be a loss for them bringing them closer to freedom. I found this all fascinating. It seems that they had been battling for over 150 years now. I realized that there may be other places outside of the main safe areas that I had been told about. Or at least areas that were struggling to become safe areas. If I was able to help the dwarves win not only this round but stuck around and helped them for the final round it would pretty much guarantee me the goodwill of the entire town. This would mean that I would have a safe place to retreat too if I ever ended up in trouble in the later zones. I let my companions know that we were going to stay not only for this round but the next one and help our new allies out. We would see if we could not only win, but help them win in a much shorter amount of time. However, if it took years, I honestly think that the benefits outweighed the drawbacks at this point. I would rather be safe and level up and have a place to retreat than just speed through and potentially make mistakes and endanger myself and the others. With my extended lifespan I needed to get used to looking at the extended picture. Now that the Earth was relatively safe I did not have to rush around. I was functionally immortal as long as I did not get killed to many times. Ten years helping out a group who could be long term friends did not seem that long when you viewed it over the potentially hundreds if not thousands of years of goodwill and friendship that it could inspire. I asked Gondor if I could speak to Thane Stoneheart. He told me that after our patrols this week we could schedule some time to talk to him on our day off. Now that my group had a short term goal, the patrols became more important and less monotonous. We were not just doing this for ourselves, but to help out those people we had started to get to know. The rest of the week flew by and soon enough it was time to meet with Thane Stoneheart. ¡°Greetings Thane Stoneheart. I have a proposal I would like you and the council to consider. I think it might benefit both of us greatly.¡± ¡°You have been very helpful these last few weeks and have turned the tide of battle. Please speak up and let us know your proposal.¡± ¡°First of all I would like to say we should continue on as we are. If it is working, there is no need to fix a winning strategy. Second, I would like to propose a trade. It is my understanding that at the end of this battle your fallen will respawn and your town will randomly be placed into another section of the caverns and you will have to start another and hopefully final battle against the Gobbos. Is this correct?¡± ¡°That is correct Sir Anderson.¡± ¡°Well then I propose that when you reach around 90% to 95% of completion on this round you start to defend only. The reason for this will be the gathering of resources. I understand that you cannot bring resources from one round to the other, however there is no restriction on me bringing you resources.¡± I could see Thane Stoneheart¡¯s eyes light up. ¡°That is true, we have traded with others in the past.¡± ¡°Well then what I propose is that I will trade for a majority of whatever supplies you most desperately need at the beginning of each round. Once you have built up enough of whatever it is and I have stored it in my inventory we finish this round and then I exit and re-enter. I drop off the supplies and we perform a blitzkrieg on the Gobbos and destroy them in record time, because you will not need to wait and build up those resources.¡± ¡°How can we give such trust to an individual Sir Anderson?¡± ¡°That is the beauty of this arrangement Thane. I do not want personal items. Just basic stuff that would help you like supplies of bolts for crossbows, armor, food supplies, etc.. All of this would disappear anyway at the end of the round so there is no loss for you. However, when I return to you, and I will return, you will have a distinct advantage on the Gobbos and will be able to blitzkrieg and smash them in record time. This will help me by setting a dungeon record and earning your good will and a place I can rest and recuperate. The benefits to you are obvious. Too sweeten the deal I will even tell you about one of my trump cards that I will use when I come back and how I earned it.¡± ¡°If you can do what you say Sir Anderson I will grant you the title friend of the dwarves and you will have a permanent place in our town. We will build and set aside a house for you and yours and give you preferential pricing and treatment.¡± ¡°Then Thane Stoneheart it shall be done. I will continue with Gondor¡¯s patrols until such time as we go on the defense. Then I will store and return any items or supplies that you give me. By the way I will also pay a premium for the communication crystal that drops from the Gobbo boss. I would like to be able to contact my family and let them know that I will be staying longer than I had originally planned.¡± I left the meeting with high hopes. If this works out it will mean that I have a secure base with backup on a world where everyone else has to fight and take care of themselves. Just having a safe place to teleport back to whenever I needed would be a huge advantage for me. Walter and the dragons were excited to know that we would have a safe place to rest. Knowing that in the future that we would have a place where we would not need to set a strict watch was a great thing. We of course would still set a few alarms and such but just having a place to relax will allow us to recharge and progress faster and smoother than would otherwise be possible. Even in a safe area you still have to watch out for player on player violence. With an entire town protecting us though, the odds of any Great Game participant messing with us while we are in town is negligible. The next month was a continuation of what had happened before. We steadily increased the distance the patrols went out gaining back more and more of the caverns. The surprise came at the end of the month. We had reached the 60% tipping point in favor of the dwarves. Instead of being joyous the dwarves looked grim. ¡°Gondor, what seems to be the problem. I thought that once you owned 60% it was almost given that you would win the round. Why is everyone looking so resolute?¡± ¡°Ah we forgot to tell you lad. Yes, it is almost guaranteed as a win at this point, but when the Gobbos reach this low they go into a frenzy and send out several of their larger cousins the trolls and ogres. 95% of the time we beat them back, but they always manage to inflict large casualties while we do it. We know that we are going to win the round, but it is never pleasant to see friends or family die even if you know that they will respawn.¡±If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Maybe we can do something about this. Does the frenzied attack always follow a straight line from their base to yours?¡± ¡°Aye it does, what are you thinking?¡± ¡°Well is there a cavern along that path that the town is willing to lose permanently this round. One that we could still get around by another path?¡± ¡°Aye, I can think of a couple.¡± ¡°Well I have several magic traps in my inventory that will do a number on these Gobbos. I have not used them because of the potential and almost certainty of collapsing tunnels or caverns from the explosions. However, if this is a one-time frenzy and we can trap them then is giving up that cavern worth it to you?¡± ¡°It is to me, but I must check with the Thane. I will be back quickly, prepare what you need so we can leave immediately if he gives the ok.¡± I have never seen a dwarf move that fast. Must keep straight face, do not giggle at the sight of small legs moving so fast it looks like a cartoon. Luckily Gondor was soon out of sight and the temptation to laugh which surely would have hurt some feelings passed. I waited patiently for the answer to come back. I was pretty sure we would go with my plan just to limit casualties. Soon enough we heard Gondor yelling. ¡°Alpha patrol form up we have a special mission!¡± This must be it. ¡°Mark, Thane Stoneheart has given permission for you to sacrifice one cavern to your traps. He said that if we are going to lose a cavern then he wants to feel the ground shake from where he is.¡± I just smiled. ¡°One ground shaking time is coming up. How much time do I have to set the traps?¡± ¡°The Gobbos usually take between 24 and 48 hours before they rush out in their frenzy. So you have at least 12 hours and maybe more than a day.¡± ¡°Oh that is plenty of time. Come friend, let me show you what a quadelementalist with too much time on his hands can do.¡± Over the next 24 hours I created a death trap that was like no other. I daisy chained all the traps together. The first to go off would be about ? of the way into the cavern in order to make sure the maximum amount of Gobbos had entered. That would be the lightning landmines and they would set off sets of lightning runes and traps all over the cavern. I even covered the ceiling. Once the lightning went off they would set the ice spike traps off after a 2 second delay. Then a two second delay for fire traps, and finally a two second delay for stone spike traps. I had over 500 traps each filled with 1,000 mana ready to recreate the landscape. While I was doing this I had Walter reinforce the tunnel we would be in as much as possible and create a 5 foot thick stone bunker for the entire patrol to hide in. Gondor actually started laughing and asking if I was maybe overestimating what would happen. He got quiet when my entire group just looked at him and said that no, if anything we might want to move further back and watch for falling debris. He still did not look completely convinced, but did not make any more jokes. Soon enough, I was done and it was just a matter of waiting. This was the part I hated. Gondor asked. ¡°Do I need to send a scout out?¡± ¡°Do you want them to die? They will not be able to run away fast enough to get into shelter.¡± I could see Gondor finally start to realize the seriousness of what was about to happen. After about a four hour wait we could hear Gobbos chanting and coming our way in rush. The sound alone let us know they were getting close. I looked over at Gondor and whispered. ¡°A scout to know when they were close huh?¡± Gondor had the good grace to look a little sheepish. Suddenly the air felt ionized and the crackling of lightning and the screams of Gobbos in pain filled the air. Next was a wave of cold that seeped into your bones, giant explosions and heat were next, finally filled with crashes of rock and then silence. The entire shelter had been shaking throughout the traps going off. I being the smart person I am, and having learned from past mistakes through many hits to the old noggin, had a large shield over my head. My kids and Walter were all looking at me with amusement and Gondor just looked confused. Walter took pity on Gondor and explained. ¡°Master has a tendency to go overboard when creating traps. He usually ends up in the explosion or being knocked unconscious no matter how many precautions he takes. This was why he has the shield.¡± ¡°Nonsense Walter, I never go overboard, I am just enthusiastic in my work and a shield is a very reasonable safety measure.¡±, I retorted as my cheeks grew warm. My kids and Walter just laughed. ¡°Enough let¡¯s go see what my traps accomplished.¡± Gondor quickly had everyone in formation and we approached the area where a cavern used to be. Instead all we could see were large amounts of debris and some Gobbo blood and flesh chunks spread around. ¡°Sir Anderson, I am sorry I doubted your traps, they look to have finished the job quite efficiently.¡± ¡°That they do Gondor, but we better go check the alternate routes just to be safe.¡± The patrol backtracked and took a side tunnel to get around the blockage I had created on the main path. In every tunnel we traversed through there was a few rocks that were scattered across the floor from the explosions. Gondor gave me a sideways glance and I just shrugged. I mean what can you say, it worked didn¡¯t it? After several hours of careful inspection and exploration we headed back to the dwarven town to report the success. The Thane was extremely pleased that the frenzy was conquered without any casualties. He sent us to rest while warning us that we would continue the offensive in the morning. It took another 2 months to gain control of 95% of the caverns, but there were no surprises. Two weeks later Thane Stoneheart had me store an amazing amount of material in my inventory. It seems that he had hoped for the best and started producing the extra supplies as soon as I had proposed the idea. With everything covered we headed to the final cavern the Gobbos owned to finish the war. This time all 5 of the 25 person patrols were marching to end the war at the Gobbos home base. Thane Stoneheart was leading the group and everyone¡¯s spirits were high. We stopped about 400 meters from the entrance to the main Gobbo Cavern. From this distance it was easy to see that the remaining Gobbos had set up crude defenses. We would have to break through them in order to finish the round. Before Thane Stoneheart could start what I assumed would be an inspiring speech, I signaled that I would like to talk to him. He frowned a little but waved me forward. ¡°Forgive me for wanting to speak to you right now Thane Stoneheart. Since I believe my group and yours have become allies, I am willing to show you another of my trump cards. I believe that my companions and I can take down the defenses quite easily without the need for a sacrifice on the part of your warriors.¡± ¡°You have peaked my interest Sir Anderson, what exactly are you proposing?¡± ¡°Well my kids and I each have an alternate form besides half dragon. My children each transform into elemental dragons, and I myself transform into a Primal Elemental Dragon King. I propose that you allow us to demonstrate our power on behalf of your town. Let us take care of the defenses and follow us into the cavern in say 5 minutes to help with the cleanup.¡± ¡°I have never heard of a Primal Elemental Dragon King, but I have learned to accept the unexpected from you Sir Anderson. Is there any precautions we need to take?¡± ¡°No Thane you can just sit back and enjoy the show. Don¡¯t forget to join in though. After the initial fear, many creatures tend to swarm and that can make things difficult.¡± ¡°Do not worry Sir Anderson we will watch your performance and protect your flanks.¡± ¡°Very good. Alright kids, I¡¯ll go first, right down the middle, Bruce and Elvira take the left side, Azure and Esmerelda take the right side. Walter you are on defense and help out whoever needs it as usual. Let¡¯s go.¡± We moved down the tunnel about 100 meters and then I transformed and charged forward. When I was about 50 meters away from the makeshift barricades I inhaled and then let out my longest and greatest primal fire breath weapon yet. I baked the barricade moving my head back and forth making sure that everything was covered. After about two minutes, wow my breathing had really improved, I charged forward once again and crashed through what was left behind. It was not much of an impediment to me and I crashed through quite easily. Once I had made it through the barricade I just let my inner dragon rampage. I was later told it was either inspiring or quite frightening to watch, depending on the viewpoint of the person telling me about it. With the dwarven back up the cavern was cleared in under an hour. As soon as the battle was complete I received a Great Game notice.
Dwarven Caverns Dungeon has been completed. Rewards and experience will be calculated and distributed after 12 hours of non-combat outside of the dungeon.
It was a fairly standard dungeon completion message. I informed Thane Stoneheart of the completion message and checked once again if there was anything that they wanted me to hold until the dungeon reset. With the thanks of the dwarves ringing around us, I teleported my group to the entrance of the dungeon. We quickly set up camp so we could return after 12 hours and our rewards. In the morning I checked everyone¡¯s growth and was pleased with what I saw. The double experience for joining in on the underdog¡¯s side, dwarves, paid off. We made some respectable gains. It was time to re-enter and solidify our treaty and safe area with the dwarves. 68 - Forward Base Secured Chapter 68: Forward Base Secured When we re-entered the dungeon we received the same prompt as when we first entered.
Welcome to the Dwarven Caverns dungeon. You have a choice of helping the defenders or the attackers. No party is allowed to leave until one side is victorious. Currently Gobbos control 50% of the caverns and Deep Dwarves control 50%. 0% of the cave is currently embroiled in battle or has been the site of a battle within the last 24 hours. Which faction will you choose? 1. Gobbos 2. Deep Dwarves
The only difference was the amount of territory each group currently held. It truly was reset and everything was equal. I quickly selected option 2 Deep Dwarves and my group and I entered the caverns once again to find the Dwarves and end this dungeon permanently. The plan was to just barrel our way forward as fast as we could before either faction really had a chance to set up. If we located the dwarves first, we would give them the resources they had us store and then set out immediately to harass the Gobbos. If the Gobbos were the ones we found first then we would play it by ear. After around a ? hour travel Bruce who was in the lead, stopped and signaled that something was up ahead. We approached cautiously and saw a standard patrol of Gobbos at the entrance to the cavern we were about to enter. Alright, time to start this thing. I signaled for the attack and the whole group just overwhelmed the patrol. No injuries and the whole patrol decimated in less than 60 seconds. Our previous experience against them is paying off. As we entered the cavern I looked for any sign of which way the Gobbos came from. No such luck, time to let my intuition guide me. I chose to take one of the two tunnels on the right out of the cavern. We traveled along it for only about ten minutes before we ran into another Gobbo patrol. My group and I took care of them as quickly as we did the last one. However, now I have a problem, am I heading towards the Gobbo base or was I just unlucky coming across another patrol? I decide to continue the way we were going and over the next hour we traveled through 3 different caverns and destroyed four more patrols. I obviously chose wrong, and I should be getting closer to the main camp of the Gobbos. The problem is that I am turned around now. I can easily retrace my steps, but I do not know if that will get me closer to the Dwarves or not. I kept guessing and switching sides to go through at each cavern. I discuss with the group and the consensus is to back up to the last cavern we went through and set up a defensive site in the middle of it and just wait for a while to see who comes out of what tunnels. Retreating to the last cavern I had Walter set up a small tower so we could see every entrance and then it was decided to keep watch in order of age. Walter as the oldest would go first. I love having an ancient Incan Spirit as a familiar. It means that no matter what I will always seem young compared to him. Then I would take second watch and then down through the hatching order of my dragons. Everyone¡¯s first watch went without a hitch which was surprising. Over the firsts two to three hours we came across 5 patrols and now over six hours have passed and nothing. I was starting to wonder if we had wiped out the entire Gobbo exploring group when Walter called down. ¡°Master there is movement in the North tunnel.¡± I had everyone quickly get ready and then we watched as a patrol of Gobbos came out of the tunnel and stopped and stared at our little tower in the middle of the cavern. ¡°Attack!¡± My group descended on that poor patrol like a group of hungry locusts. I guess everyone else must have been as bored as I was. As soon as we finished off the new group Elvira spoke up. ¡°Dad, my orc was already wounded. I think this group must have run into some dwarves.¡± ¡°Fantastic, everyone gather the loot and we will head down this tunnel and hopefully meet up with our allies soon.¡± We finished clearing up the battlefield and started down the northern tunnel. It took less than half an hour to run into the dwarven patrol that must have wounded the Gobbos we fought earlier. ¡°Greetings friends, we have returned as promised. Can you please escort us to the dwarven headquarters.¡± ¡°Welcome back Sir Anderson. I can give you some basic directions, but I must continue on we were chasing a patrol of Gobbos that discovered our cavern and do not want them to escape. We managed to force them to retreat into a different tunnel and now we are hunting them down.¡± ¡°have no worries, sir dwarf, my companions and I took care of that patrol and several others already.¡± After several questions to make sure that we were indeed talking about the same group the dwarf let us know that the main dwarven cavern was less than two hours travel from here. He gave us directions and decided to go set up an outpost at the tower we left behind before the Gobbos used it. He asked us to pass along the message of what was going on to Thane Stoneheart. I readily agreed and my group and I once again started off through the maze of tunnels and caverns. At least now we had directions on where we needed to go. Three more dwarven patrols and just over an hour of traveling, we finally entered into the dwarven main cavern. The town looked the same even if the cavern had changed. It seemed we traveled at about twice the normal rate of the dwarven patrols, something to remember. As we approached several dwarves who we had met and worked with over the last few months we were greeted warmly and welcomed back. Soon enough we were inside the town walls and approaching Thane Stoneheart who was coming out to see what all the commotion was. ¡°Greetings Thane Stoneheart, it is good to see you again.¡± ¡°Welcome back, Sir Anderson. It is good to find someone who holds to their agreements and has the honor of a dwarf. I name the Dwarf Friend and all shall welcome you in our settlement.¡±
You have earned the title Dwarf Friend +1 to all stats.
I did not know that you could earn stats from things like this. Maybe I should try to be friendlier to people in the future? ¡°Thank you for your trust Thane Stoneheart. Where should I place everything?¡± ¡°Walk with me to the warehouses and we can discuss the situation on the way to where you can place everything.¡± ¡°Very good, Thane Stoneheart.¡± We talked about the patrols I had run into and my plans for the future. I held nothing back. We soon would be staying here on a semi-permanent basis. Instead of camping out in the cold, we soon would be able to teleport back after each dungeon and spend time in our own dwelling here in the Dwarven Caverns. This was a luxury that many did not have. We would have access to high level smiths, shops, and great prices. Everyone else would be dealing with whatever managed to make it into the safe areas. When we reached the warehouse district I took everything out that the Thane had asked me to store with a great flourish. ¡°Thank you again Sir Anderson, with these supplies we should have no trouble winning this final round, especially with your help.¡± ¡°Your welcome, Thane Stoneheart anything to help out a friend and ally.¡± ¡°Are you comfortable with continuing with Gondor¡¯s patrol until this is finished?¡± ¡°That would be great.¡± ¡°Before I forget, Sir Anderson you forgot to claim your prize of a communication stone from the final fight last time.¡±This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°I am so glad you reminded me Thane, if I forget to communicate with my daughter I will be in big trouble.¡± ¡°I see that such things transcend races and power levels don¡¯t they.¡± ¡°You bet, she is my little angel and troublemaker all rolled up into one, but as any other father, I would never change a thing about her.¡± ¡°I hope I get a chance to meet her someday.¡± ¡°I hope so too Thane Stoneheart. She has quite a few levels to go until she becomes strong enough to travel into the area around us. However, you are more than welcome to travel to our planet and visit if the Great Game allows.¡± ¡°When we are finished here we can discuss it some more. Now off you go, I see Gondor waiting in the wings to make sure no one else steals you for their patrol.¡± I said my goodbyes to the Thane and my hello¡¯s to Gondor and our regular patrol. After contacting my daughter and letting her know that I would once again be staying longer than I thought, but at least she could now contact me when needed we started the long grind of patrolling, mapping, and eliminating the Gobbos. Four months passed rather quickly. It had been decided not to rock the boat and proceed smoothly and cautiously as this was the last win the dwarves needed. They did not want to be reckless and discover some twist that caused them to lose because they were not cautious. I can respect this mentality and acquiesced to their wishes. After four months we had reached the Frenzy point of the Gobbos once again. Since the dwarves did not know if the caverns would shift again after the win or stay the same they asked me to use only ice and lightning traps and forgo the explosions that might cause collapse in the tunnels. This may have caused a few more casualties among the dwarves, but once again I could see their point. Soon enough the entire campaign was over and the finish message of the dungeon was given. The dwarves could now leave the caverns and explore and settle the surrounding area along with their already conquered territory in the caverns. My team and I had once again progressed and reached higher levels, but I could feel that in the future the levels would not be as easy. We would have to progress to a section of dungeon world either more appropriate to our level or we would have to speed run dungeons to earn more experience than we would lose on a yearly basis. Time to see where we are and where we need to get to and finalize the level up plan. Companion Status:
Name: Elvira Race: Elemental Air Dragon Level: 504 - 67% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Esmerelda Race: Elemental Earth Dragon Level: 506 - 98% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Azure Race: Elemental Water Dragon Level: 505 - 22% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Sir Bruce Shadow Flaming Ember of Doom Race: Elemental Fire Dragon Level: 508 - 13% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Walter Race: Incan Wak¡¯a Spirit Level 650 - 4% Status: Familiar of Mark Anderson
Status:
Name: Mark Anderson Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King
Level: 1126 - 54% Unspent Attribute Points: 110
Str: 2,261 HP: 22,600
Int: 2,441 +250% MP MP: 170,800
Wis:2,441 +250% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 2,261 MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Con: 2,261 +250% HP/Regen Luck: 2,261
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Primal ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Resistances: Earth - 100% Water - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Not bad but a lot of this growth was because of the double experience from being on the underdog dwarven team on the first dungeon dive. While this rate may still seem fast to others, this was the slowest I had leveled ever. Only 10-12 levels in approximately a year, and the rate would get slower as all of our levels went up. I could do this safe and slow, or I could utilize the longevity that my race gives me and work at it steadily to make sure nothing goes wrong. Slow and steady it is. I just hope I do not go crazy from the wait. It has taken 50 years, but I finally leveled up enough that I feel confident and safe enough to move up to zone 7. 50 years is a just a blink of time in the lifespan of a dragon, but I had not started out as a dragon. I was starting to get really aggravated at the slow pace. I had only raised an average of 5 levels a year after paying the experience penalty to stay in Dungeon World. 50 years to earn 250 levels. Walter had finally caught back up to me and the kids were all in the 900¡¯s now so I felt moving into zone 7 was finally appropriate. A lot of things had changed over the last 50 years. Earth had solidified it¡¯s position as a planet not to be messed with. Our new planetary champion had won the New Comer¡¯s tournament her first year, and had placed in the top 200 for individuals and the top 20 for team tournaments the last 10 cycles of tournament. Interplanetary trade was at an all time high. My kingdom was now one of 4 large empires. My kingdom covered all of North America, South America, Antarctica and a few strategic pacific islands. The Eastern Empire had been established throughout most of Asia. The Northern Empire comprised the majority of Europe and parts of Russia. The last Empire was still called a kingdom just like my own. It was the Kingdom of Botswana and covered Africa and parts of the Middle East. of the I had picked up a couple of random titles over the years and had watched my daughter start a family and settle down. Those that did not want to live under the rule of one of the 4 great kingdoms made their way to Australia. Somehow that country had become the defacto place for independents. Don¡¯t get me wrong, it was not lawless, it was just filled with people who wanted to do their own thing. The four bigger kingdoms and empires kept watch over it together to make sure there were no large scale infractions of common laws or organized banditry. The Earth had basically reached a status quo. My daughter had finally settled down in the last twenty years, and was raising two kids of her own along with more fluffy puppies than you could shake a stick at. I built her and my grandkids several different homes throughout my kingdom and they had the run of the place. Randolph was still my official successor and was doing great. The council was working smoothly and I only had to step in once in fifty years, and that was just to intimidate and help set out the current world wide rules and policies each kingdom followed. Everyone had their own rules of course but I made sure some basic freedoms were guaranteed and the slavery was at least officially banned across the planet. I was starting to drift farther and farther away from the planet though. I came back quite frequently at the beginning, but over the years I just sort of lost touch with everyone. I came back of course to see my grandkids their first few years, but even now they are in their teens and don¡¯t want to hang out with grandpa. I still talk to several people over communication crystal, but it is more just to catch up than to really be a part of each other¡¯s lives. I reckon that soon I will stop coming back all together and just focus on Dungeon world. Let¡¯s have one final check before I move into zone 7. Companion Status:
Name: Elvira Race: Elemental Air Dragon Level: 934 - 67% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Esmerelda Race: Elemental Earth Dragon Level: 926 - 98% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Azure Race: Elemental Water Dragon Level: 935 - 22% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Sir Bruce Shadow Flaming Ember of Doom Race: Elemental Fire Dragon Level: 938 - 13% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Walter Race: Incan Wak¡¯a Spirit Level 1370 - 76% Status: Familiar of Mark Anderson
Status:
Name: Mark Anderson Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King
Level: 1375 - 24% Unspent Attribute Points: 0
Str: 2,671 HP: 26,710
Int: 2,951 +250% MP MP: 206,570
Wis:2,951 +250% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 2,671 MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Con: 2,671 +250% HP/Regen Luck: 2,671
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Primal ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Resistances: Earth - 100% Water - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Everything looks good. Time to enter Zone 7. It took 50 years, but I am finally entering the last set of zones before 10. My time to figure out what is happening is getting closer. I hope everything continues to go well. With my group I cross the boundary into Zone 7 and see the following message.
Welcome to Zone 7. You need 100 points to cross into Zone 8. 1,000 points to cross into Zone 9, and 10,000 to cross into Zone 10. Conquering a dungeon in Zone 7 is worth 1 point. Conquering a dungeon in Zone 8 is worth 3 points. Conquering a dungeon in Zone 9 is worth 5 points. You may only leave these zones by spending 10 points to exit. You can only re-enter after 100 years has passed or if you spend another 10 points. Communication crystals cost 1 point for each use.
The rules have changed on me once again. I am going to have to conquer a dungeon as quick as I can so I can then spend that point and explain the situation to my daughter. I have a feeling I am going to be stuck in these zones for a while. 69 - Time Holds No Meaning Chapter 69 Time Holds No Meaning It took my group 6 months to finish the first dungeon safely. Six months to finish a basic dungeon in Zone 7. After I called my daughter and told her to explain the situation to everyone else I sat down and did some math. If one point took me six months, in Zone 7 it would take me 5,000 years to be able to make it into Zone 10 if I played it safe. I think I now know the reason there is very little if almost no contact with anyone who makes it into the final zones. I am going to be here for a very long time, enough that generations outside will have passed and most likely forget my existence. Some very rare long lived races might remember me or my exploits but that is not likely. Written human history only covered about 3,000 years, and I could potentially be here much longer than that. I do not even know if the first dungeon I went through is typical. What if that was considered an easy dungeon? I may be spending years in each dungeon which will slow everything down even more. Speaking of which I do not even remotely have that many supplies in my inventory. I mean I have more than any sane person probably does. If I take out everything I could survive for ten years plus easy. However, that is not enough to even make it through this zone. I need to head to the safe area of the zone and try and figure out resupply issues and see if there is anyone I can talk to for more information. Over the next 2 weeks I traveled with Walter and the kids through throughout the zone. Each afternoon I would fly straight up for about 500 meters and take a quick look around. It had to be a quick look and nothing else, because there were several very high level flying monsters that would leave you alone if you stayed on the ground, but got extremely territorial if you were flying in their area. One or two of them I would not even worry about, but when a flock of level 800 Hell Crows is coming at you it is a good idea to be somewhere else. So each afternoon it was a quick pop up and I would make a mental note of the area and terrain and then we would hike it while being careful the next day. Nothing individually or even in small groups could really stand up to us, so we traveled fairly quickly and confidently. Finally, after almost 2 weeks I was able to see signs of intelligently made structures. We approached cautiously just in case it was something other than a Great Game safe area but were relieved to get the following notice.
Welcome to the Zone 7 safe area. All accommodations are free. A strict no fighting policy is enforced. To buy or sell supplies please visit the kiosk in the center of the area.
Everyone visibly relaxed and we headed in to find out what we could. The first noticeable thing was that there was nobody here. We were heading towards the center of the village and had not seen anyone at all. As we had reached each zone the number of people started becoming less and less, but we had always seen at least a few in the safe area if we visited. Even the last zone had at least a dozen people wandering about. That was not very many but it was not empty like this one. I guess it sort of made sense though. This zone did not have stores run by participants or anything else. The only reason you would be in town would be to resupply or rest up. There really did not seem to be a reason other than that to congregate in one area. The actual number of people might be low also. If you took into account the experience penalty if you died, and then the chance you would survive if you had already died once, I bet the actual number of people in this zone is less than 100 people. You have to conquer 10 dungeons just to be able to leave. 20 dungeons in order to come back or that 100 year waiting period. Depending on how expensive supplies were several people may be waiting around zone 6 to accumulate experience and supplies before returning. We reached the center of town without seeing another soul and walked up to the Great Game kiosk. It looked like an interactive ATM from back on Earth. Time to see what the damage was going to be.
Welcome to the Great Game Kiosk. Please select from the options below. A. Purchase Supplies with money B. Purchase Supplies with points C. Sell Dungeon Materials for money D. Sell Dungeon Materials for points
Well it seems that there are a few options here I did not expect. I did not think you could trade dungeon materials for points. I wonder what the rate is? I guess I need to go through each option one by one so I can come up with an overall strategy. I select option A.
1 years supplies for one person ¨C 250,000 mithral coins 5 years supplies for one person ¨C 1,000,000 mithral coins 10 years supplies for one person ¨C 1,500,000 mithral coins
This was absurd pricing. I guess this was how the Great Game got its money back from high level players. Luckily I could afford it for a while. After leaving the majority of my cash with the kingdom for development I still had kept back just over 10,000,000 mithral coins. Since Walter exists on mana, I would need supplies for 5 people. I could easily purchase 10 year¡¯s worth of supplies with what I currently had. At the worst that would allow me to earn enough points to exit this area and rethink my strategy at a lower zone. That combined with my close to ten years of supplies I already have could see me through 20 years here if I try to live of the land as best I can also. Let¡¯s see 20 years at 2 dungeons a year gives me 40 points. More than enough to exit and re-enter if needed. Ok, I am feeling a little better than before. Let¡¯s see what the other options are before I make a decision, I select option B this time.
1 years supplies for one person ¨C 1 point 5 years supplies for one person ¨C 3 points 10 years supplies for one person ¨C 5 points
Still very steep on the prices but acceptable for emergencies. I think that the mithral coins are a better option though. I need to save points to keep getting through this. Let¡¯s try option C.
1 dungeon¡¯s worth of materials¨C 200,000 mithral coins
So one dungeon is worth slightly less money than one year¡¯s supplies. Option D.
5 dungeon¡¯s worth of materials ¨C 2 pointsUnauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
If I just save everything I get from each dungeon then I can earn 2 year¡¯s worth of supplies every two dungeons from drops. Since the exchange rate is better as I trade more I could save them up if needed. I would rather have the points though. This is going to be a balancing act. I think I will explore and try the lower level dungeons first and use the supplies I already have. I need to see how fast I can get through a dungeon once I learn it. If I can do better than 1 dungeon every 6 months this may take a while but will be doable without me leaving. However, if I need to leave then I will have to save up for probably several hundred years on the outside to make sure I have enough coin to continue. I would not want to come back until I had the resources to finish all the zones. I bet as you increase the zone the trading rate gets worse. Wait a minute, does it only count dungeons in this zone? Since I am already in option D I select the trade option. If this works I will have found a work around.
Scanning participants inventory. You have materials from 173 complete dungeons. You may trade them all or just a set amount. How much would you like to trade?
Another bug. The option was just for complete dungeon materials. So any dungeon I have completed and never traded a portion of materials from is counted. This is fantastic. If needed I can exit and farm lower level dungeons and then come back and trade for the points. Trade all.
170 dungeons worth of materials traded for 68 points.
Excellent, I already made 68 points. I might as well stick around for the time I have supplies for and see if I can find a dungeon that can be farmed quicker. When I get down to about 6 months of supplies I will exit and then move back down to zone 4 and farm dungeons for materials and points. I can travel back to Earth once to see everyone and pick up enough supplies to last my group for decades if not longer. Nothing goes bad in my inventory so as long as it is available I can store tons of meat, grains, vegetables, and anything else I want. Heck I could even have ready to made meals made and I could just bring them out and warm them over a fire. I now have a plan and a mission to complete. Time to start looking around this zone and to find the best dungeon to farm for the next few years. It¡¯s been three years and I need to make a decision. Time to consult the group. ¡°Ok everyone we just finished the Undead Fields in a new record time of 4 months. What do you think about staying here and farming it for the next 7 or 8 years?¡± ¡°Master, we have only seen 7 dungeons should we make this decision so soon?¡± Bruce chimed in, ¡°Yeah dad, there are probably dozens more out there. One could be really easy.¡± ¡°I understand that guys what I am worried about is that we hit a bunch of 6 to 8 month long dungeons before we find one. That would mean that any advantage we would have gained would be lost by the time it took to find it.¡± Esmerelda spoke up, ¡°Dad that is only true about this time in zone 7. If I remember right you wanted to exit to get supplies and then run several quick dungeons in zone 4 for a lot of dungeon materials. We would then have to come back to zone 7 and keep grinding our levels until we feel confident about moving on.¡± ¡°That sounds about right sweetie.¡± ¡°Well if we are coming back to grind levels, any time wasted now would be made up if we found a quicker dungeon. So we should keep switching dungeons all the way up until it is time to leave. Even if we find one that is easy. There always could be an easier one that we might hit later. Also if we just do one dungeon over and over for almost ten years I think I would go crazy.¡± ¡°Those are all great points Esmerelda. Is everyone else in agreement then. Do we continue to check out different dungeons until we exit zone 7?¡± Everyone agreed that this would be for the best. I did some quick mental math. If we kept the same pace as we have these past three years we would average 2 dungeons a year for 14 more points. We already have 74 points that would take us to 88 points. That is more than enough to exit and get back in quickly if we need to. However, we will probably spend the 100 years outside of zone 7 penalty to save 10 points and grind dungeons. The levels we earn will probably just be enough to pay the fee to stay in dungeon world, but the exchange for points in zone 7 should make up for that. Another 7 years passed by quickly. Time flies when each dungeon is different. We had found what would be our three grinding dungeons when we returned to zone 7. The first dungeon was discovered in the 5th year here. It is another insect hive dungeon that is just built perfectly for kiting and my trademark trap explosions techniques. We can clear that dungeon in 2 months easy and possibly faster with practice. The second dungeon was a survival wave dungeon. You had to defend a tower against waves of different monsters. This dungeon was turned into a giant tower defense game on Azure¡¯s suggestion. Azure did not actually know what a tower defense game was, but that is the only way I can describe it. He figured out that as long as there is an unobstructed path the hordes of monsters would follow it and ignore anything that attacked them unless they had a distance attack. They would not try to go over walls that were taller than them, they would just follow the path. When we tried to make it a maze, they knew the exact path to take so that was a wasted round of experimenting. We were given as much time by the Great Game as we wanted to set up defenses between each round. By the final round we just created a 15 meter wide spiral that eventually led to the tower in the middle. We made the walls 20 meters high and put basic towers along the path every 100 meters. Then we started the round. The final round only took us 3 hours to clear. We just kept hopping from tower to tower letting loose breath weapons on the hordes below as they slowly spiraled to the center. This must be another bug, because there was no intelligence behind the monster horde until they started fighting in melee combat. If they reached melee range they would fight intelligently and use tactics, but as long as you were out of melee range they just continued on towards the tower. We ran this dungeon a second time after figuring out the tower defense tactic and were able to clear the wave dungeon in only 42 days or about a month and a half. If we wanted to forgo some sleep we could probably get it down to only 30 days, but breaks are essential so no mistakes are made. The final dungeon we are going to use was the undead fields dungeon. After Azure figured out that you can exploit some dungeons and the monster¡¯s intelligence I wanted to try something out. We headed back to the Undead Fields and I implemented my new tactic. I called it the giant hole of doom or G-HOD. No really that is what it was, I was declaring a G-HOD on the undead. (I thought it was a great pun, my kids refused to speak to me for a whole day afterwards, and Walter just shook his head and said why Master?) Walter and I dug a giant pit about 500 meters around, about 10 meters deep, while the kids protected us. We then sloped ramps down on four sides and set up a solid block of stone 10 meters high and 20 meters in circumference in the center. Next came my brilliant idea. I figured if the Great Game limited the intelligence of some or all the monsters until they were within melee distance in one dungeon it might apply to every dungeon. I sent each child out in one direction and gave them simple instructions. Use your breath weapon over the largest area you can in 2 minutes and return to the block of stone in the center. I was staying on the center block, with Walter, to watch out if any one of them needed help or ran into trouble. After two minutes they all flew back and met us in the middle. Soon enough my guess was proven right. The undead ran, walked, crawled, oozed, limped, and jumped into the pit trying to get at us in the center. The kids had drawn their aggro. Now we just had to eliminate them. If we started to get overwhelmed I had Walter remove a ramp or two. The undead would not just fall into the hole but would walk along the outside staring at us until a route was available to reach us. This allowed us to control numbers and drag enemies in from across the dungeon. When we killed enough, the Boss called the Undead King would spawn with his retinue. The great thing was he had the same behavior as the basic undead and would just try to reach us or stay at the edge raising more undead until we built a ramp for him to come down into the pit. Instead of 4 months we were able to kite and destroy the field dungeon in 30 days. So with our explorations we could now complete a zone 7 dungeon every two months at the longest or one month at the shortest. We decided that we would do the undead dungeon until we got tired of it and then switch to the monster wave dungeon and then back. We would only do the insect dungeon when we could no longer stand either one of the two fastest ones. If we had too we could take a break and try others just to keep our sanity, but at least we had each other to talk too and entertain each other. If I was by myself I would probably lose it. After 9 years we had completed 37 dungeons on top of the 68 points I earned for the dungeon drops for a total of 95 points. It was finally time to leave zone 7 and go and prepare for the next 100 years. We exited zone 7 and I immediately received a message updating the points.
You have left zone 7. 10 points have been deducted from your total leaving you 85 points. You may re-enter zone 7 for another 10 points at any time or wait 100 years and receive free entry.
70 - New Planets? Chapter 70 New Planets? First stop was our house in zone 4. As soon as we reached our manor the kids split off to their rooms and I contacted my daughter for an update. After 2 hours of details I probably didn¡¯t need, but did regret not being there for, I was able to break off the conversation with my daughter and go talk to Thane Stoneheart. ¡°Thane Stoneheart, I have not been able to return to the Dwarven Caverns for almost a decade. How is everything going?¡± ¡°Sir Anderson, it is always good to see you. We have expanded and claim all the caverns now and have started an outpost on the surface. We now trade with the others in zone 4.¡± ¡°I am glad to hear everything is going so well. Please let me know if there is any way I can help out. My group and I will be clearing out dungeons throughout zone 4 over the next hundred years so we should be more available if needed then in the recent past.¡± ¡°That is a good thing to hear, Sir Anderson. If you like we have established trading with zones 1 through 3 also and would be willing to take any materials off your hands.¡± ¡°That sounds wonderful, but I will tell you one problem with that. I need complete sets of dungeon materials from dungeons to trade for points in zone 7 and beyond. This is the main reason we returned. We can farm dungeons at lower zones much quicker than in the higher zones.¡± ¡°I see. That would pose a problem for trade. Do you have to clear the dungeon and get the materials or can you trade for them?¡± ¡°Honestly I do not know, but that is an intriguing idea. I am willing to risk every tenth dungeon on such a concept though, exactly what are you proposing?¡± ¡°I was thinking that the materials from higher level dungeons are worth more so if you clear a zone 4 dungeon we could trade you two complete zone 2 dungeon materials or 3 complete zone 1 dungeon materials or any combination with coin to make up the difference.¡± ¡°That sounds like a great deal. I will dedicate every tenth dungeon to the trade to start with. Depending on our dungeon clearing speed I may be willing to increase that in the future. Would that be acceptable?¡± ¡°That sounds fantastic, Sir Anderson. I will have our traders start stockpiling some lower dungeons materials immediately.¡± ¡°Please hold off for about a year Thane Stoneheart. I have not travelled home in a while and I need to go back and say what will most likely be permanent goodbyes to many people. I will be back in no later than a year.¡± ¡°That is understandable and commendable Sir Anderson. Family is very important. Go and I will see you again soon enough.¡± ¡°Goodbye Thane.¡± I returned to our manor in town and settled in for a rest. The next morning, I told everyone that we were travelling back to Earth. I explained that this might be the last time we were there for hundreds of years or ever so we needed to say some goodbyes and take care of anything we wanted to do over the next year. They all understood and we soon gathered up what we wanted to take with us and we traveled to the safe area of zone 4 to use the teleporter. When we arrived on earth we were greeted by several people in a uniform I did not recognize who were pointing weapons at us. This was new. One of them spoke up. ¡°Excuse me sir, we were not expecting an off planet teleportation today. There were none on the schedule. Can you please identify yourself and state your purpose for visiting?¡± While he was polite, I was not amused. ¡°That is not a problem, however I would like to know why you think you are in control of MY teleportation network. I am Mark Anderson, and if you do not lower your weapons soon I will show you why I am and will always be the strongest on the planet.¡± The last part I literally growled out in what I assumed was a very deep and intimidating manner as the guard who spoke turned white and signaled for the others to lower their weapons. ¡°I am sorry King Anderson. We are a newly formed unit in cooperation between the four great powers. We were established to be a neutral party that would ensure the safety and smooth running of the teleport network.¡± ¡°That does explain your presence. Now I would like to know WHY you are necessary.¡± ¡°I realize you have been gone for a while my lord. Over the last few years there have been some attacks by individuals on people coming out of teleport networks. Basically bandits that were waiting around the teleporters because they knew that someone would come through eventually. We were formed after the level of attacks threatened trade and stability throughout the four great powers.¡± ¡°Very good soldier, now how are you funded and are you managing to contain the problem?¡± ¡°Yes sir, we have stopped the attacks and we charge a very small fee for each teleport based on distance. A few coppers if in the same kingdom, a few silver between kingdoms, and a few gold for off planet travel. We rely on volume to generate the income we need.¡± ¡°Alright, where would I find your commander?¡± ¡°Our headquarters is in Antarctica sire. The Kingdom of Appalachia granted us land there since no one was using it.¡± ¡°Oh really? NO one uses it huh? I need to talk to the council.¡± I quickly teleported to my throne room and without even looking just yelled out for Jacob to assemble the council. ¡°Yes my king, they will be assembled immediately.¡± ¡°Good man Jacob.¡± I realized that I was acting a little out of sorts. I mean I had been gone for over 3 decades. If the council needed to grant land for this group Antarctica did make perfect sense, seeing as how I was the only one with a residence. I just did not like the idea of sharing. I wondered how much of that was my original personality and if part of it might be from my dragon heritage. I did not want people near my lair. It did not matter if I used it or not, it was mine. All right, that was definitely not normal behavior. Oh well, if I was becoming more dragon like everyone else would have to just deal with it. An hour later I was sitting at the head of a table looking at my council. ¡°Hi there everyone, I¡¯ll get the basics out of the way. Yes, I am back, no it is not for long, only about a year after which I may be gone for hundreds of years or more. I am glad to hear everything is going smoothly with the kingdom. I do not want to rock the boat, but I do have one tiny little issue I would like to address. What made you think giving land away next to the most powerful dragon¡¯s lair in the world was a good idea? I know it sounds unreasonable, but you need to understand, bloodlines come with instincts. My instincts shout out to me to protect my lair at all costs, no matter what. So please explain.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. I could see several of the councilors from off world pale a little as they got the implication. My more homegrown councilors did not seem to understand the problem. Randolph spoke up. ¡°Sire, we completely over looked that aspect of the situation. Will you believe me when I say we will start discussing this and find a solution as quick as possible.¡± ¡°Very well Randolph, I will give you the benefit of doubt and give you until the end of the week to present me with options. Until then I will be touring the Earth and resupplying for a very extended stay away. Call me when you have a solution.¡± I stormed out of the meeting and tried to calm down. This whole thing was affecting me way out of proportion. However, I knew that I was right. I could feel it in my dragon bones. I gathered my crew and set out to tour the Earth and place large orders in each kingdom for supplies. With my infinite inventory I figured I should be able to get supplies for 500 years for 5 people if I spread the orders around the globe. If it was too much I could also teleport over to our allies planets and place orders there. Once the orders were placed I would spend some time with the family and set up things to run in my very extended absence. The next week went by quickly. I will not need to travel to anywhere else. The industry of Earth has picked back up and I will be taking deliveries of supplies every month until I leave. I should achieve my goal of supplies for 5 people for 500 years easily, maybe with some to spare. It is also only going to cost me around 100,000 mithral coins. I knew that the prices on Dungeon World were inflated but wow this is a huge savings. At the end of the week I was called back to meet with my council and representatives of the other big powers. ¡°Well what have you come up with?¡± Randolph once again was the spokesman, ¡°Sire I would like to apologize for our oversight, it was unintentional, but I think we have come up with several things that will solve the problem.¡± ¡°Just hearing that has calmed me down a bit Randolph, please continue.¡± ¡°Yes my lord, first we will make the teleport guards into your personal guards with just the added responsibility of protecting the teleport network. Their primary responsibility will be guard you and your children¡¯s lairs around the world. In addition, any excess profit will be split 50% to you and 50% divided amongst the four big powers.¡± ¡°This alone absolves the mistake. I am not greedy. I just need to have my dragon bloodline appeased. I will split the profits if any evenly with all the powers. 20% to me and 20% to each of the big powers.¡± ¡°That is very gracious of you lord. Next we have a proposal that might interest you.¡± ¡°Since the problem has been solved, please continue.¡± ¡°Yes sire. Each of the big powers currently holds more land than they are using, but this will not always be the case. Many of our citizens have earned bloodlines or have at least extended their lifespans far beyond what was normal for Earth in the past. However, the birth rate has not gone down. If anything people are having more children now as there are more resources and large families working together have an advantage in the Great Game.¡± ¡°Ok I understand the situation.¡± ¡°What we would like to do is purchase a monster world for each big power and tie it into our planets teleport network for future expansion.¡± ¡°Ok, now you have lost me. What exactly is a monster world?¡± ¡°A monster world sire is a world that was brought into the Great Game but the local inhabitants did not survive the transition. Natural Disasters, wars, monster waves, and other things removed the dominant intelligent species from the planet. This means that only monsters and dungeons are left. The Great Game has several that available for purchase for a large amount of money.¡± ¡°How much money Randolph?¡± ¡°Each world costs between 5,000,000 and 7,500,000 mithral coins.¡± ¡°That does not seem too bad for an entire world. Do you need a loan?¡± ¡°No sire, you already left us enough resources to purchase our own planet and tie it into the network. The problem is that we have to establish our claim within one year by having secured a town site and building a village with a population of at least 1,000 individuals for the 5,000,000 price or defeating the top 5 dungeons.¡± ¡°I still do not see the problem.¡± ¡°Sire the monster worlds have monsters and dungeons much higher leveled than us currently. We are approaching the level needed to colonize, but it will take another 50-100 years for the Earth as a whole to be at the necessary level. You will be indisposed at that time and will not be able to help us out.¡± ¡°I am starting to understand. You want me to what hold an area while you build a fort or would you prefer me to clear the top 5 dungeons? By the way what level are these worlds at?¡± ¡°The Great Game advertisement will only say they are between the levels of 300 and 500 for the strongest monsters with a world average of 200. Since many of Earth¡¯s warriors have been leveling up over the last few decades the average level of our soldiers is around 150 with some stand outs. We believe that we will be able to hold onto our fort and grow it if you can help us establish a foothold.¡± ¡°I see and what do I get out of this?¡± ¡°We were thinking that each power could chip in 10% of the cost for you to get your own world. That way you will have a truly secure place that no one will bother you at.¡± ¡°Randolph if I remember right there is an option in the Great Game store for a teleport block for anyone lower than my own level correct?¡± I could see him smiling. ¡°Yes Sire.¡± ¡°Excellent I only have one more concern before we move forward. Could these new worlds be used as beach heads to assault Earth?¡± ¡°We were worried about that also sire. Our research through the Great Game shows that all territories claimed by a planet are covered under planetary perks. You do not have to buy them individually for each planet. The Mistress of the Sword has kept two perks back from her winnings just for such an emergency. If we start to be invaded on any world she can use them for two year¡¯s immunity which should be long enough for us to build up our forces and contact our allies for help in repelling any attacks.¡± ¡°Well then all of my questions have been answered. I agree with all your proposals and will start on my own planet immediately while you gather your forces and resources for each of the planets you want.¡± ¡°Of course sire, we hope to see you soon.¡± I teleported out of the meeting room and gathered up my companions. It was time to find this option under the Great Game. There it was, hidden under a tab labeled additional territories. No wonder I didn¡¯t find it before. This should be perfect. It will satisfy my inner dragon and will assure me a place of my own no matter how long it takes me to finish up Dungeon World. I could even make it a sanctuary for my new dragon race and descendants. I scroll through the various descriptions of planets until I run into one that captures my attention under higher level worlds.
Planet Tivon: Due to the extremely high level of monsters on the planet it is discounted to 4,000,000 mithral coins. Average Monster Level: 400 Maximum Boss Level: 550 Surface area is 32% Land and 68% Water 2 major continents in the tropical zone with the rest of the land scattered throughout the world oceans as islands in size ranging from less than 2 square kilometers up to 5 major islands of over 1.5 million square kilometers.
Perfect. Right mix of water and land and tons of places to explore. It could keep me busy for hundreds if not thousands of years just with exploration. I select purchase from the menu and receive a Great Game message.
You have one year to either conquer all five dungeons marked on your complimentary Tivon planetary map or to establish a colony of over 1,000 adults for 6 or more continuous months without replacements.
I message Jacob to have the supplies I ordered warehoused until I come back to pick them up. This is just in case I take longer than I suspect in a dungeon. There is nothing else left but to teleport to the main terminal of the network and select my new Planet of Tivon as my destination. I arrived in a clearing that was beautiful but different. The plants surrounding me were green but with a distinct bluish tinge. The sky was definitely different and was a pale purple shade instead of blue. This is different. Every other planet I have been too has looked similar to Earth. I wonder why this one is different. Oh well I can ponder that after I establish my claim. I open my map and see that I was transported conveniently near the first dungeon blinking on it. Ok time to see what this place is like. 71 - 100 Years Of Preperation Chapter 71 100 Years of Preparation I had the kids transform into dragons for safety and then did so myself. I watched as Walter climbed up on the back of Elvira for this flight. It was always fun to see who he would pick as his transportation. The kids called him Uncle Walter and often competed for his attention. As far as I could tell he tried to be random but equal in his attention and selection of transporter. I knew that the kids loved me and I gave them what attention I could, but my very nature meant that sometimes I was more distant than I probably should be. We really did not have anyone else except for Walter for them to interact with. I wonder if companions can have familiars or pets themselves? What if they wanted to have families one day? I mean they were my companions and they travelled with me, so could I release them, or would the family have to travel with me also? Why am I suddenly so concerned about personal and family issues? Is this a side effect of me satisfying my inner dragons instincts? Does it want to raise little dragons now? This is starting to get strange. I feel like there is some external force influencing me. I do not know when or how it started but something is not right. I have never entertained such thought in my now over 100 years of life, so why should I suddenly in the span of less than 3 months start worrying about such things unless there is something else going on. I am not having this issue with my actual flesh and blood daughter, only with my group. Is it mating season? Do dragons have a mating season? I need to focus and make sure that it does not negatively influence my decisions. While I had been pondering all this we had traveled the few miles in the air until the dungeon. Nothing had bothered us on the flight. My Unique Perk Bloodthirst Aura should keep anything from attacking and it seems to be working. I try not to expect it to work 100% of the time. I have a feeling that there are always exceptions to the rules, or bugs, or just plain loopholes that the Great Game has. Whatever, the entrance to the dungeon looks to be similar to a tunnel in the side of the hill. Nothing unusual even if the planet is a little different. I have everyone transform back and we enter into the dungeon.
Welcome to the Tivon Terrors Mines. Suggested level is 600 with a party of 5.
Interesting. It is slightly higher than the advertised level the Great Game gave me. Which means that the boss should be around level 650 to 700. I guess that the levels provided only are for the free roaming monsters of the planet. My group easily transitioned into our normal dungeon diving formation and we started in. We spotted our first ¡°Tivon Terror¡± after only about 50 meters. Identify.
Race: Tivon Terror Worker Level: 500
It looked something like an orange praying mantis. But something was subtly different besides just the color and size. I got it, there is an extra pair of legs. Instead of the six legs I expect on an insect monster this thing has eight like an arachnid. Oh well, new planet, new bugs I guess. Bruce take care of it. Bruce let it have a stream of fire and it went down quick enough. ¡°Alright everyone, it looks like even though they look different they are still easy enough to kill. We are all close to double their levels or more, so let¡¯s try and speed run this thing. I want you to be safe though so if you see something different or unusual that you think the group should know please speak up.¡± ¡°Yes Dad.¡± ¡°Very Well Master.¡± The next 6 hours were nothing new. We ran through this dungeon just like we would anywhere else. Other than the subtle body differences on the monsters there was nothing different. After 6 hours we reached the queen or whatever the Tivon Terrors had and defeated it rather easily. This was not really a surprise considering our level differences. I had wondered if the different appearance of the planet and the monsters would translate into a higher difficulty. It seems that intelligence is intelligence though no matter what type of form it is in. The attacks, behaviors, and strategies were predictable and with our high levels we conquered one of the highest level dungeons on the planet in an afternoon. This was going to be less interesting than I thought. I am sure I will have fun exploring the planet, but I would rather just finish up the dungeon cleanup first and save the exploration for later in life. So that is exactly what we did. Over the next week we travelled from one dungeon to the next by flight and then conquered them all in 6 hours or less. The only reason it took a week was that the distance between some of the dungeons was huge and since I did not know the area, I could not teleport to them. However, now that I have flown all over my new world I at least have 5 solid references for teleporting around when I start to explore. As soon as we exited the 5th and final dungeon I was greeted with a Great Game screen and some options I did not expect.
Congratulations on conquering planet Tivon. Mark Anderson is now granted title to the entire planet Tivon. Would you like to connect planet Tivon to another planet through the Great Game teleportation network for 250,000 mithral coins?
Those little buggers. Even after I paid for the planet and conquered it they wanted me to pay more to be able to get back and forth to it. I needed to warn the big powers about the extra charge. I selected yes and chose Earth as the location of the portal. Another message popped up.
Planet Tivon will continue to be classified as a monster world and kept out of the regular teleport network until the population reaches 100,000 beings. No other planet may invade until this planet is no longer classified as a monster world. Please choose your immigration and teleportation restrictions. 1. No restrictions, beings from all planets may immigrate at any level. 2. Level restriction, beings from any planet may immigrate once they reach the level selected. 3. Bloodline restriction, beings from any planet may immigrate if they have the selected bloodline. 4. Planet restriction, beings from only the selected planet or planets may immigrate at any level. 5. Owner restriction, only beings personally approved by Mark Anderson may immigrate. 6. Combination, you may choose a combination of restrictions.
I just had an idea. I do not know what has been influencing my decisions lately but I think I can satisfy it and my own tendencies. I will make this planet my own and only allow those I approve into it. However, I have enough resources to purchase a second planet, especially if I can find another one at a discount, and make it into a dragon world. That should shut up the instincts about family. Yep that is going to be the plan. I quickly select Option 5 and use the new teleporter to return to Earth. ¡°Jacob.¡± ¡°Yes Sire.¡± ¡°Please inform the council that there is a hidden charge to connect a new planet back to Earth. It costs an extra 250,000 mithral coins. They need to make sure that whoever goes across has the authority to use funds to reconnect it to the teleport network.¡± ¡°Yes Sire.¡± ¡°Next, I am going to leave a ton of random monster drops and material I have collected over the years that I want you to dispose of. Get me the best price possible. You can have 10% of whatever you negotiate.¡± ¡°That is not necessary my lord.¡± ¡°I know, but I want to do it so don¡¯t argue.¡± ¡°Very well sire.¡± ¡°Fantastic, last thing tell each power that I will sit with their group on each planet for 1 month only. In this amount of time they need to have their fortifications built and ready to defend. Each month I am going to switch to another of the big powers. I will start with the Appalachia Kingdom and expect to be paid 500,000 mithral coins at the end of the month that I am babysitting them. I will start with that chore in two weeks so warn the council to be ready. That means you have just over 4 months to sell all the material I am going to give you. You might have to contact off planet to find enough funds.¡±This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°Exactly how much are we talking about here sire.¡± ¡°Somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 tons.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t even know how many pieces you just keep track by weight?¡± ¡°Well I used to keep track, but after a while it just all blends together. I collect it more out of habit than anything else. I haven¡¯t used a dungeon material or reward other than money since I hit level 1,100.¡± ¡°Level 1,100 sire.¡± ¡°Yep that was a while back so now I just throw it into the old inventory. I just want to clear it out to make room for the tons of supplies I am ordering and the new drops I will get over the next 100 years.¡± ¡°Ok, sire I will take care of it. Where will you put it all so I can have it sorted and sold?¡± ¡°Good question, I know I will have Walter make a giant stone box warehouse in back of the palace and I will just dump everything in it. Have a couple of guards assigned to it. The material is of a higher level than you can get around here so it is probably valuable.¡± With that I told Walter what he needed to do and he trundled off to the back of the palace. I teleported to where my daughter and her family was staying across the capital and let her know my plans for the immediate future. After telling everyone what was needed I sat down and started going through the Planets for sale section of the Great Game store once again. I wanted to find a planet that I could start for just dragon bloodlines so I would stop getting these instincts and urges. After browsing for 30 minutes I found one that I thought might work.
Planet Segmentia: Due to the giant size of the flora and fauna planet Segmentia has been discounted to 4,500,000 mithral coins. Average Monster Level: 250 Maximum Boss Level: 350 Surface area is 71% Land and 29% Water Segmentia has no true ocean but is one continuous continent split up by vast river systems and large relatively shallow inland fresh and salt water seas all across the planet.
I do not know why, but this one just seems to resonate with me. It would have large unclaimed tracts of land and large animals and monsters to provide adequate food for dragons. It was a little lower level which should be good. From what I remember of the kids parents they were all in the 20-30 meter size range which would put them in the 200-300 level range. That means most adult dragon bloodlines should fit in nicely. My kids and I are abnormal and have reached a much higher level and size than normal dragons. With our size there should be no arguments about who is boss. I came back to Earth with just over 10,000,000 mithral coins. I have spent around 4.5 million of that on supplies and the last planets teleportation hookup. That leaves me just under 6 million left. Yep that should be enough. I quickly purchase the planet Segmentia.
You have one year to either conquer all five dungeons marked on your complimentary Segmentia planetary map or to establish a colony of over 1,000 adults for 6 or more continuous months without replacements.
Next I teleport back to the palace, head out back to find Walter and dump everything unnecessary from my inventory into the warehouse he built so it can be sold. I message the kids to meet us at the main teleportation pad and Walter and I head there ourselves. It only took us about a week for the last planet so this one should be the same or faster as it is lower leveled. As soon as everyone arrived I selected my new planet of Segmentia as the destination and we teleported away from Earth. We arrived in a dense forest. Huge trees surrounded us with giant ferns everywhere. It was not quite tropical, but it was quite warm. I recalled Walter and signaled the kids to stay in their draconian forms. We flew up above the canopy of the trees. The trees were gigantic. At least 50 meters tall and quite thick. As soon as we rose above the tops of the trees I heard a roar from my left and I quickly spun in that direction. In the distance I saw a scene straight out of Jurassic Park. Giant reptile creatures grazing around a lake. I had bought a freaking dinosaur planet! This was awesome. No wonder the description read Giant Flora and Fauna. Even if you were an equivalent level unless you had size you would be at a disadvantage. This should be perfect for dragon bloodlines though. We may be smaller than some of the giant herbivores, but we should be at least the same size as all the predators. Larger prey meant an easier time hunting also. I bet some of those dinos would even make my 100 meter plus dragon body look small. I quickly check my map and we start heading to the nearest of the five dungeons. I want to lock this planet down as soon as possible. As we approach the area where the first dungeon is located I see a shimmering portal in a field. It must be an instance dungeon. I thought instance dungeons were mostly low level. This might be interesting. When we landed I called Walter back out and everyone prepared to go dungeon diving once again. Oh I just had a thought, what if the dinosaurs had magic? Or what if they were aligned with an element? How freaking cool would a fire raptor be? Ok calm down Mark. You do not even know if this is going to be a dinosaur dungeon. Breathe in, breathe out, go to your happy place. My happy place is now filled with dinosaurs! ¡°Alright everyone, this is like dad¡¯s ultimate fan boy planet experience. I love dinosaurs. You guys might not understand, but if I start acting a little weird I just wanted you to understand the reason why.¡± Esmerelda spoke up, ¡°Dad what do you mean IF you start acting weird. You have been weird our entire lives.¡± Everyone else chimed in and agreed. I pretended to look hurt. ¡°Walter even you?¡± ¡°Sorry master, you are a bit special.¡± ¡°Well then change that to if I start to act even more weird, or dread the thought normal.¡± ¡°Normal will never happen dad, but we will watch out for you just the same.¡± ¡°Thanks kids. Ok let¡¯s speed run these things and become owners of Dino Planet.¡± We entered into the dungeon¡¯s shimmering portal.
Welcome to Segmentia Fields. Suggested level is 300 with a party of 5. 1. Retrieve Three Segmented Raptor Eggs 2. Defeat the Megasaur Pack 3. Find and destroy 5 Chameleonadons
Ok the Great Game must be trolling me. There is just enough difference in names that they could be considered different, but really how could Earth get so close? I remember then that those of us from Earth also knew about the fantasy peoples and monsters. There must be only so many types available in the Great Game database. I bet the knowledge just kind of bleeds over occasionally. It only took the kids and I 10 hours to finish up the dungeon. It would have been faster, but those stupid Chameleonadons were hard to find. I mean that is obvious in hind sight since the name resembles chameleons. I was having so much trouble locating them that I just finally set part of the forest on fire and killed anything that ran out. That was probably more destruction than necessary, but it worked. The rest of the conquering phase of the planet was rather boring. This planet was only ? of my level and 1/3 of my kids. There really was nothing that could challenge us. It was fun watching all the different types of dinosaurs. I definitely am coming back here to explore later. Eventually we finished up the last dungeon after 8 days and saw a similar screen to the one after defeating all of the dungeons on planet Tivon.
Congratulations on conquering planet Segmentia. Mark Anderson is now granted title to the entire planet Segmentia. Would you like to connect planet Segmentia to another planet through the Great Game teleportation network for 250,000 mithral coins?
I selected yes and chose Tivon as the location of the portal. No one could get to this planet without first going through my own personal one. Another message popped up.
Planet Segmentia will continue to be classified as a monster world and kept out of the regular teleport network until the population reaches 100,000 beings. No other planet may invade until this planet is no longer classified as a monster world. Please choose your immigration and teleportation restrictions. 1. No restrictions, beings from all planets may immigrate at any level. 2. Level restriction, beings from any planet may immigrate once they reach the level selected. 3. Bloodline restriction, beings from any planet may immigrate if they have the selected bloodline. 4. Planet restriction, beings from only the selected planet or planets may immigrate at any level. 5. Owner restriction, only beings personally approved by Mark Anderson may immigrate. 6. Combination, you may choose a combination of restrictions.
This was what I was waiting for. I chose option 6 combination and used the bloodline restriction and level restriction. I set it so anyone or anything with the Dragon Kin Bloodlines and a level of 250 could immigrate. That should let them survive but still be challenged and will create a dragon and dino planet. That is going to be amazing in the future. I finally felt my inner dragon settle down. I have provided everything it needed. A home, future companionship, and of course offspring already in my kids. It was time to finish my obligations to Earth and head back to the Dungeon Planet. This time it would probably be for good. Over the next few months I fulfilled my obligations and traveled to the other four planets the powers of Earth wanted. It was not hard to protect them, in fact it was a vacation for me. Due to my high level and Bloodthirst Aura, monsters outside of dungeons never even came close to me. If I wanted a snack I had to hunt the things down. So I basically lazed around for four months and then collected a paycheck. I spent another two weeks reconnecting and then saying goodbye to my daughter and my grandkids. It was hard to say goodbye, but we both held on to the hope to see each other again in the future on Segmentia. Nicole said that she would work harder now that the kids were grown up to level up to meet the restrictions. Once she did with her bloodline, she would be able to immigrate. After teleporting back to Dungeon World my group quickly settled into a routine. We would run twenty dungeons on each zone 1-4 for variety and then start the whole thing over again. Two weeks every year we would head over to zone 6 to run some higher level dungeons. This was to be able to make sure that we would not lose any levels. We still had to pay 1 experience level per year to stay in Dungeon world. This was going to be a routine that we kept up for 99 more years. I did not want to waste a single point when we entered back into zone 7-9. I had purchased enough supplies for at least 500 years and probably closer to a millennium. The production through magic was amazing and we easily stored warehouses worth of stuff in my infinite inventory. The money made on miscellaneous materials I dropped off with Jacob totaled over 50,000,000 mithral coins due to their high levels. So I was covered in every way possible when I return. We just had to finish out the 100 year waiting period. 72 - Points Yes, Level No Chapter 72 Points Yes, Level No It had been almost 100 years since we started this dungeon farming escapade. Over the years we had collected on average 30 dungeons worth of material each year. In the beginning the number was much higher, but as time wore on it was hard to keep motivated. We slowed down our dungeon clearing speed and focused more on some higher zones and tactics for a few years, and then spent several years just exploring and doing random dungeons. I am beginning to understand why longer lived beings in stories often had hibernation periods. It is hard to continually do the same thing over and over without a significant break. I bet after a 25-50 year nap as a dragon things would at least feel fresh. The subtle changes over that period of time would probably revive and restore a person¡¯s will to continue. As it was I was dragging and so were my companions. I am so glad we were on the last leg of this ordeal. It was time. I gathered the group and told them that we would stay in zone 6 for an extra 6 months just to rest and refresh ourselves. I also wanted to be absolutely sure that we passed the 100 year time limit and did not get charged the 10 points to re-enter after we had waited this long to avoid it. I decided to see if I could actually nap like a dragon for a long time. Walter and I dug a cavern into the side of a mountain in zone 6 and I had him seal it up except for some air holes. My kids and I then switched to dragon form and laid down for a 5 month nap. Walter had instructions to wake us up for emergencies or unexpected surprises. I am so glad that spirits do not sleep and he was fine being lookout. It seemed like no time at all until I woke up to someone poking my side. It was Walter with a giant spear of stone. ¡°Master, it is time to wake up.¡± ¡°How long has it been Walter?¡± ¡°5 months just like you said master.¡± ¡°Wow I could have just kept on sleeping, I feel refreshed, but I do not doubt I could sleep more many more months or years. Wake up the kids Walter it is time we got back to work.¡± ¡°Yes, Master.¡± A few hours later everyone was up and ready to move on. We exited our temporary lair and headed towards zone 7. It was time.
Welcome back to Zone 7. You need 100 points to cross into Zone 8. 1,000 points to cross into Zone 9, and 10,000 to cross into Zone 10. You have re-entered after a 100 year absence. No point penalty will be applied. You currently have a total of 85 points.
Everything seemed to be the same. We ran a couple of dungeons on the way to the safe area just to make sure the Great Game had not shuffled dungeon positions or anything and everything checked out. Soon enough we came upon the safe area for zone 7 and the Great Game kiosk.
Welcome to the Great Game Kiosk. Please select from the options below. A. Purchase Supplies with money B. Purchase Supplies with points C. Sell Dungeon Materials for money D. Sell Dungeon Materials for points
Option D please.
Scanning participants inventory. You have materials from 2941 complete dungeons. You may trade them all or just a set amount. How much would you like to trade?
All please.
2940 dungeons worth of materials traded for 1176 points.
All right the 1176 points plus my 85 points gives me 1,261 points. That is enough to get me into zone 9 but not anywhere near enough to reach my final goal of zone 10. This is perfect. I am not ready to face the end boss or whatever else is coming in Zone 10. I am not even sure I am of a high enough level to survive the top dungeons in zone 9. The fact of the matter is I will probably be stuck here in zones 7 and 8 working on my level for decades if not more. Through the time working on my level I should be able to earn enough points to move on. Each dungeon in zone 8 is worth 3 points each instead of 1 point and I can still trade in dungeon materials and money for points if needed. One final check before I start this grind. Status.
Name: Mark Anderson Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King
Level: 1390 - 62% Unspent Attribute Points: 150
Str: 2,671 HP: 26,710
Int: 2,951 +250% MP MP: 206,570
Wis:2,951 +250% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 2,671 MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Con: 2,671 +250% HP/Regen Luck: 2,671
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Primal ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Resistances: Earth - 100% Water - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
So after 100 years of grinding dungeon materials, but losing a level each year to stay in Dungeon World I have only gained 15 levels total. I guess that is about right. I am much to overpowered for the dungeons I was farming so the experience would be low in the first place and that is not counting me still having to split it with my group. I only went into zone 6 when I did not think I was going to make a level for the Great Game to take away. I guess in reality over the last 100 years I was actually able to gain 115 levels.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. That sounds even better. The Great Game did not take any of my experience the last time I did the dungeon grind in zone 7. It just charges the new points for everything. I think that with some dedication it won¡¯t take long to get to the level I feel is safe. I want to be level 1450 at least before I attempt zone 8. I somehow feel that 1750 would be the mark to hit before zone 9 and I want to break 2,000 before zone 10 if at all possible. With the higher level zones, I should be able to maintain at least 2 levels of progress a year if not more to start with. It will definitely slow down the closer I get to each of my goals. I do not want to be constantly watching it as that would drive me bonkers quick. All I have is time now. I have enough supplies for hundreds of years and I can supplement that through hunting and the Great Game kiosk if needed. Worst case scenario, I leave and take another 100 year vacation and resupply grinding trip in the lower levels. I need to set some concrete goals. The levels I already have. I will not check statuses until 25 years have passed. That seems like a good progress time. At that time I will also check zone points and supplies and decide whether to continue in the zone I am at or move up. Sooner started sooner done as they say. Time to grind. The next 50 years pass relatively quickly. I checked my status after the first 25 years and was very close to my benchmark, but I just did not feel ready yet. I decided another 25 years here in zone 7 could not hurt and started up dungeon diving once again. Over these 50 years I have explored the entire area and mapped it out for future people. In that 50 years I saw one being that might have been a player but he hid immediately. I did not want to force things, so I just ignored what I saw and kept vigilant for the next couple of months but saw no other signs. I and my companion may be the only Great Game players here. Whatever, 50 years had gone by it is time to check out how I have progressed before I decide whether or not to move up to zone 8. Companion Status:
Name: Elvira Race: Elemental Air Dragon Level: 1,154 - 12% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Esmerelda Race: Elemental Earth Dragon Level: 1146 - 13% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Azure Race: Elemental Water Dragon Level: 1155 - 31% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Sir Bruce Shadow Flaming Ember of Doom Race: Elemental Fire Dragon Level: 1158 - 81% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Walter Race: Incan Wak¡¯a Spirit Level 1473 - 96% Status: Familiar of Mark Anderson
Status:
Name: Mark Anderson Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King
Level: 1475 - 44% Unspent Attribute Points: 0
Str: 2,821 HP: 28,210
Int: 3,151 +250% MP MP: 219,570
Wis:3,151 +250% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 2,821 MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Con: 2,821 +250% HP/Regen Luck: 2,821
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Primal ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Resistances: Earth - 100% Water - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Alright, everyone is comfortably over level 1,000 and both Walter and I are several levels above my level 1,450 goal to enter into zone 8. With the dungeon conquering points and the materials trade in, I have also earned another 210 points which puts my total at 1,471 points. I definitely need to move up to zone 8. I am going to stagnate here soon on the experience gains, and only getting one point per dungeon means it would be around 1,900 more years before I could earn enough to move on to zone 10. Yep that is too long, definitely time to move up to zone 8. ¡°Everyone pack up, we are finally moving into the next zone.¡± ¡°That is great dad, we all need to try something new.¡± ¡°I know, but you all need to realize that we could be in the next zone for hundreds of years.¡± ¡°We know dad, it is just that variety is something everyone desires after awhile.¡± ¡°Yes, Master even I was starting to get bored.¡± ¡°Wow, Walter I did not even know you could get bored.¡± ¡°I am learning and expanding my feelings from our family master.¡± ¡°Excellent Walter, keep up the good work Walter. In a few hundred years you might understand enough to laugh at my great jokes.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry Walter that would take thousands of years.¡± ¡°Yeah, maybe even infinity, dad¡¯s jokes are not always the best.¡± ¡°Hush you traitors. Now family, on to bigger and better zones.¡± With a now familiar family playful argument we were off to zone 8.
Welcome to zone 8. Each dungeon in this zone will earn you 3 points.
Time to see what all the fuss is about. We follow the beacon in my map to the closest dungeon and enter in immediately to see what if anything is different.
Welcome to the Minotaur¡¯s Maze. Recommended level is 1,000 with a party of 5. Due to being a labyrinth maze all rewards will be doubled if you clear the dungeon in a record time. Current Record is ^%$#*&.
Well I did not expect to see that. Is that a bug, or does it just mean that no one has cleared it yet? Should I take this slow in case it has never been cleared? If I do that then I can just get faster each time I run it and get double rewards and thus double points with minimal extra effort. I need to be careful in my first dungeon in this zone any way so let¡¯s go with slow and steady wins the race. If I need to speed up in the future, we can just change our pace. The good news is that we are above the recommended number of people and level so we should be relatively safe, but I think caution is in order just in case. I pull out some chalk and start labeling tunnels. I still remember the time we got lost in the Arachnid Warrens. Ever since then I have kept tons of chalk in my inventory so I can label tunnels and figure out maze dungeons easier. We came up with a simple code so if we are dealing with intelligent dungeon dwellers we do not give ourselves away. Blue line means tunnel we just went down, green + sign means tunnel is safe and explored, yellow circle means unexplored, red square means explored and unsafe, black triangle means dead end. Now to start the exploration. Two weeks in has led us to a brand new large cavern that has more of an arena feel to it. So far the dungeon has been rather unoriginal. We have met up with several different types of minotaur, warrior who uses a large axe or hammer, spell caster who focuses on fire and poison spells, and ranged who throws smaller axes and has two bolas it can throw. Nothing really special, just random groups patrolling the Minotaur¡¯s maze. The only change is the composition of the groups. The patrol size is always between 3 and 5 different minotaur¡¯s of levels 900 to 1100. In the middle of the new cavern is a very large and obviously very in charge minotaur. Identify.
Minotaur Chieftain Level 1250
I am rather disappointed. This zone is just higher level with nothing different. Oh well. ¡°Alright everyone, standard formation. Bruce you lead off with fire, then Elvira with lightning. If those elements do not work or are resisted, then we will go for ice and stone. If none of the above works I will try primal. Any questions?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± We ran towards the end boss and Bruce let out a stream of fire which was promptly dodged. Hmm, this guy is fast. Most things cannot get out of the way quick enough. Elvira though was just a step behind and caught the boss with a blast of lightning when she saw which way it was dodging Bruce¡¯s fire. As soon as the minotaur got hit it turned around and ran. We all just kind of came to a stop and looked at each other confused. We have never had a boss run from us before. ¡°Ok after it, be quick but careful in case it is leading us into a trap.¡± What happened next was a twist that I have never experienced before. The only thing I could come up with is that it was supposed to be a strategy to lose us in the maze and have us weaken over time by fighting more regular minotaur¡¯s while the boss recuperated. This may have worked against other parties, but not ours. I guess there would be several types of people that are not fast enough to keep up that would slow a group down. However, with our group it was kind of pointless. Walter was slow, but all I had to do was recall him and run and when we caught up to the chieftain I would let him out again to help. Every time we did a certain amount of damage the Minotaur Chieftain would try to run again. Finally, we reached a spot I thought we could do something about it. ¡°Kids try and dodge without hitting it. Walter, close off the two exits besides this one. Once they are closed off, hit it with everything you got so we can finish this stupid dungeon.¡± Walter did an excellent job and raised solid stone and added spikes while the kids and I dodged the swings of the Minotaur Chieftain. ¡°Master, it is done.¡± ¡°Alright kids, breath weapons in 3..2..1..¡± The cavern we were in lit up in a variety of colors and the poor minotaur went down in a hail of ice, fire, and lightning. I knew it was already pretty low on hit points and this just finished it off.
You have beaten the Minotaur¡¯s Maze in a record time. All rewards will be doubled. The new record to beat is 342 hours 13 minutes.
So we did set a record. It was in a time that was significantly less than some of the dungeons in zone 7 also. Since we did not have trouble with the minotaur running away that probably cut down significantly on the time. With this record and the ease of which we cleared it, I think we will be grinding this dungeon until we can no longer set a speed record. If we can only improve by 15-30 minutes each time that would give us another 150 ¨C 300 runs. With double rewards, 6 points for each try, we could potentially earn as much or more points in one decade than we did for the entire 150 years before this. I have some time crystals from the Great Game store so we should be fairly accurate in our time keeping. This makes the last 150 years seem a little wasteful. Free points here we come. 73 - The LOOONG Grind Chapter 73 The LOOONG Grind 353 time records. We managed to set 353 time records in eleven and a half years. Around year 3 Walter noticed that the caverns were on a 7 cycle repeat. No one probably ever expected someone to go through this dungeon enough times to ever notice it. After seven dungeon dives, the dungeon resets the path to the first dive. Once the pattern was recognized and memorized our times became much easier to obtain. In fact, except for the last year, we actually had quite a bit of down time waiting for right time to go and conquer the final boss. 353 double rewards equals 2,118 points. In the 150 years before this I had only earned 1,471 points. The 3 point minimum for zone 8 and the double rewards really added up. I now have a grand total of 3,589 points and I have not even tried to trade in the sets of materials that will earn me a few more points. In fact, come to think of it we have not even looked for the safe area yet. We probably ought to do that next. Over the next month my team and I leisurely travelled around zone 8 scoping out positions of dungeons and looking for the safe area. When we finally arrived we saw something we had not seen in decades, other people! Now why would zone 8¡¯s safe area have more players than zone 7? In zone 7 I only saw what I thought was one person and they disappeared. Now here in zone 8 I see what looks to be dozens of Great Game players. Something weird is going on. I quickly recalled my kids and Walter into storage. I did not want to give away any of my trump cards if I did not have too. I approached the safe area cautiously but boldly. I did not want anyone to think I was an easy mark. Several of the people glanced at me and then ignored me. It seems that no one really cares about me or what I do, that makes me feel a little safer. As I head to the center area to find the Great Game kiosk I looked for anyone that I felt seemed approachable. I had questions and I wanted them answered. I walked up to an elf like person who was leaning against a building in the main square. ¡°Excuse me, I am rather new to the area. Can you tell me why there are so many people here in the safe area when I saw no one in zone 7?¡± ¡°A newbie huh. Well you will find out easy enough so I might as well tell you, the reset is coming and people gather here every time to talk and exchange information.¡± ¡°Well thank you for the information, but that just leads to the next question, what is the reset?¡± ¡°You really are new then aren¡¯t you? The reset happens every 250 years in zones 7, 8 and 9. Basically every dungeon is reset and switched around for something new. If you are not in a safe area when it happens then you lose all of your accumulated points. No one wants to lose all of their hard earned points so they make sure to arrive early just in case. Most of the time you never see another person in any of the zones, they are just too big and people do not trust each other.¡± ¡°So exactly when is this reset scheduled for?¡± ¡°Sometime this month. It gets hard to keep track of the exact day or week after a while you know.¡± ¡°Thanks for the information.¡± I wandered off towards the central kiosk to sell off my dungeon spoils. I had really lucked out this time. If I had stayed any longer I could have lost all of the points I have gathered. I would have made them back eventually, but it would have set me back decades. I walk up to the kiosk.
Welcome to the Great Game Kiosk. Please select from the options below. A. Purchase Supplies with money B. Purchase Supplies with points C. Sell Dungeon Materials for money D. Sell Dungeon Materials for points
I select D and surprisingly the message has changed.
Zone 7 dungeon materials exchange rate: 5 dungeons for 2 points Zone 8 dungeon materials exchange rate: 3 dungeons for 2 points
Well I did not expect that. It seems that the higher level dungeons are worth more points. That will help speed up the time spent earning points. Trade all.
Scanning, 353 zone 8 dungeon sets traded for 234 points.
234 points plus my 3,589 takes me to 3,823 points. I need 10,000 to get into zone 9 and a high enough level to stay safe. I was going to grind here for a long time, but with the difference in materials prices from zone 7 to zone 8 I have to assume that zone 9 will give me even better prices. That means I need to move up as soon as I feel safe enough even if it is earlier than the original plan. I probably will still check every 25 years. That will also let me figure out the timing of these resets better so I do not accidentally lose my points. I spent the next 3 weeks wandering around town and talking and finding out any information I could from those who were friendly enough to chat. It seems I was right about zone 9 paying out better, but most people hunted in zone 8 for safety reasons. After spending the 3 weeks in the safe area, the world seemed to flicker. I can¡¯t describe it any other way. It went on for about 30 seconds. When it was finished I could see all the people in the safe area start to exit immediately. That must be the reset. It sure seemed like a glitch in the programming of a machine to me. I really want to get into zone 10 to see if I can get some answers. Well it was time to start grinding once again. Off we go. Year 25 after the reset and I only have found regular dungeons. Nothing to exploit like at the beginning. That means I am going to be here a long time. 256 dungeons cleared. Year 50 after the reset and still no exploitable dungeons. I only managed 243 dungeons in this block of time. Must stay focused on goal. Year 75 after reset, nothing new, 262 dungeons cleared. Year 100 after reset, same old thing, 234 dungeons cleared. Year 125 after reset, 277 dungeons cleared. Year 150 after reset, finally found a dungeon that can be semi exploited, or at least I can finish it in a very short amount of time, 312 dungeons cleared. Year 200 after reset, I have spent the last 25 years clearing the quick dungeon and I have to move on for my own sanity. I was able to clear it 536 times. Time to go trade in materials and take a break. I think after I trade everything in I am going to take a dragon nap and see if that helps me refocus. I will have Walter keep track of the time so I do not accidentally sleep all the way to the reset. After trading in everything at the Great Game kiosk I have earned 3,534 new points bringing my total up to 7,357 points. I should check my level and the level of my companions also.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Companion Status:
Name: Elvira Race: Elemental Air Dragon Level: 1,675- 41% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Esmerelda Race: Elemental Earth Dragon Level: 1,667 - 3% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Azure Race: Elemental Water Dragon Level: 1,676 - 30% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Sir Bruce Shadow Flaming Ember of Doom Race: Elemental Fire Dragon Level: 1,679 - 16% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Walter Race: Incan Wak¡¯a Spirit Level 1,787 - 54% Status: Familiar of Mark Anderson
Status:
Name: Mark Anderson Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King
Level: 1,789 - 8% Unspent Attribute Points: 3,140
Str: 2,821 HP: 28,210
Int: 3,151 +250% MP MP: 219,570
Wis:3,151 +250% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 2,821 MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.
Con: 2,821 +250% HP/Regen Luck: 2,821
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Primal ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Resistances: Earth - 100% Water - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Huh, I got enough points that I can cross the 3,000 point threshold with every stat. It has been a long time since I crossed over the 2,000 point range and got the title of High god. I did not get anything for 2,500 points though. I wonder if there is something for 3,000. Well let¡¯s find out. I place my points and get this message.
For reaching 3,000 points in every stat you have been elevated to the status of True God. All bonuses will be doubled for your stats.
For reaching true God status before level 2,500 your HP and MP have been doubled.
Granted the title True God + 50 to all stats.
Well that last part about the title seemed a little pointless. Status:
Name: Mark Anderson Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King (True God)
Level: 1,789 - 8% Unspent Attribute Points: 0
Str: 3,391 HP: 33,910 (X2) 67,820
Int: 3,741 +500% MP MP: 448,920 (X2) 897,840
Wis:3,741 +500% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 2,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 3,391 MP/Regen: 2,000% per 15 min.
Con: 3,391 +500% HP/Regen Luck: 3,391
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Primal ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Resistances: Earth - 100% Water - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Well would you look at that. So if I am understanding this right, my stats are equal to or higher than a normal or above normal level 2,500 Great Game player. It seems like I can just enter into zone 9 or even zone 10 and survive especially with the boost in HP. The regeneration rate and MP boost seems a little unnecessary at this level. No matter your level you should have these rates and MP with those stats, so unless there is something special coming up I do not know what purpose they serve. No matter how great I look on paper I am going to continue with my plan. I want not only myself, but my family to be safe when I travel into the end zones. The curious thing is the Great Game seems to have been set up and at least theoretically set for people to reach a level such as 2,500. I wonder where I will be strength wise when I finally reach that point. I was going to take a quick dragon nap, but I think I will do another 45 years on my quick dungeon and then sleep for 4 years and the last year I will spend in the safe area. This is to make sure that I will be able to reach 10,000 points after the next reset. I set off back to my personal quick dungeon for another 45 years of leveling and point earning. I should be able to earn twice as much if I work at it. After 45 years we finish another run through this dungeon. With my levels and power boost from the last time we have been able to cut our time by about 25% on each run through this means that in 45 years we have cleared this dungeon 1204 times. I managed to reach my goal and I can honestly say no matter what the situation I am never going through the Night Hunters Dungeon ever again. In fact, if I never see, smell, hear or have anything to do with Stealth Cats it will be fine with me. They served their purpose and I have to move on. Back to the safe area. After trading in the materials I have earned another 4, 414 points. With the 7,357 I previously I had I now have a grand total of 11,771 points enough to move into zone 9. With a moderate boost in levels over the last 45 years I think I am going to move up. For my sanity mostly. I need to try a zone 9 dungeon. If I can hack it than the speed of my earning points will sky rocket. Even with the extremely fast pace I have going here in zone 8 it will take another 2,000 years to earn the rest of the points I need to reach 100,000 and make it into zone 10. I was originally going to create a cave and sleep away a few years waiting for the reset. The rest period is the same, I am just going to do it inside the safe area. I decided to occupy one of the buildings in the safe area. According to the rules, I will be safe here and I won¡¯t screw up and be somewhere else when the reset happens. Everyone is going to stay out and take a shift so we can all get some rest. Elvira is going to watch the first year then wake Azure, who will watch and then wake Bruce, who will finally watch and then wake Esmerelda. Esmerelda will watch the fourth year and then wake me. I will call out Walter at that time and together we will watch the remaining time until the reset. After the reset Walter and I will make our way to zone 9. When we reach zone 9 I will call the kids back out and we can try one dungeon. If there is no problem, we will start the long grind again for levels and points. Everything has gone as planned. I have taught Walter how to play several different board games over the last few months and have caught up on some reading. After about a month of watching and talking to Walter I started to get bored as usual and began to organize my inventory. That took me another 2 months. I have stored a lot of random stuff in my infinite inventory over the years. However, I also rediscovered my book section. When I first earned my infinite inventory, I was so stoked to have space for everything that I kind of went crazy. For two whole days I cleaned out the remnants of libraries and bookstores so I would always have something to read and learn. It only took over 300 years for me to find it again and start to use it. I need to make sure that I make it available to everyone else the next time we take a break. I have also created a new destructive spell. I took the old meteor swarm spell and upgraded it to Primal energy and then compressed it. So far I can control 12 different primal energy meteors. It is an area of effect spell that is frankly on the order of nuclear weapons. Every time I tried it I left the safe area and flew about 50 miles out, set it in motion and then ran like heck. I have it ¡°programmed¡± for a 60 second delay which at top speed means I am at least 5 kilometers away from ground zero running and about ten kilometers away flying. I teleported away the first time back to the safe area just to be careful and watched an amazing plume of ash, smoke and mushroom cloud awesomeness. After that I switched to running and flying to make sure that if I ever had to use it in an emergency or in a situation where teleporting was banned, been there done that, I would still be able to survive. It works beautifully, and shall we say it is a good thing everything is going to reset in a few weeks because everything within forty to fifty miles is a barren crater covered wasteland. What can I say, once you figure out a spell like that it is fun to just let loose once in a while. Other players have been arriving this week and I overhear many gossiping about the strange wasteland surrounding the safe area. It makes me grin on the inside that I caused something that everyone is talking about, even if it is not necessarily a good thing. Just a few days later the shimmer that accompanied the reset occurred. After it was done I was one of the first to exit so I could see the change in landscape. Everything surrounding the safe area was pristine again. It really works. 74 - The Pirate Isles Chapter 74 The Pirate Isles I recall Walter and start travelling to the border of zone 8. I want to get into zone 9 and try a dungeon as quick as possible. That way we can judge whether or not it would be a good idea to stay and grind here or move back down to zone 8 for another reset period. When I cross the border the welcome message arrives.
Welcome to zone 9. Each dungeon in this zone will earn you 5 points.
I call the kids and Walter out of storage and we start exploring the area for a dungeon. As soon as I spot one on the map I rush over with everyone, I do not want anyone else to claim this dungeon. We enter and I see this message.
You have entered the strategy dungeon Pirate Isles. Winning conditions are set to the following. 1. Conquer more than 50% of the island group 2. Eliminate 2 other island nations 3. Destroy 3 or more pirate groups and their bases while suffering no more than 10% losses to your forces. Please choose your forces. 1. Merpeople (Bonus to Sea Defense and Attack, Penalty to Land Defense and Attack) 2. Catkin (Bonus to Land Defense and Attack, Penalty to Sea Defense and Attack) 3. Dwarves (Bonus to Land Defense and Attack, Penalty to Sea Defense and Attack) 4. Human (No Penalties or Bonus) 5. Insectoids (Bonuses dependent on sub-race selected)
Dang it, a special dungeon right off. Once we finish this one we will have to conquer another dungeon just to see if this is normal for zone 9 or if this is an anomaly. ¡°Who do you guys want to work with?¡± ¡°Master, the dwarves have worked with us before.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true Walter, but dad I think we should try something new.¡± ¡°Okay, we have already helped out dwarves, most of us do not do well in water, sorry Azure, so we can eliminate merpeople also.¡± ¡°Dad, how about we try insectoids. We can then further choose which sub race we want so we can tailor it to our playing style instead of trying to fit in with the other styles that are listed.¡± ¡°That is a great point Elvira. Everybody ok with that?¡± After getting a round of affirmatives I selected the insectoid option.
Please select from the following list. 1. Ants (Bonus on land) 2. Wasps (Flight Possible) 3. Beetles (Defense bonus in all terrain) 4. Striders (Bonus on water) 5. Assassin Bugs (Offense bonus in all terrain)
After another round of discussions, we decide to go with Wasps. It was decided that flight would compliment our own ability to fly and let us finish faster. Instead of trying to conquer we could just hunt pirates from the air. I select wasps from the menu and we find ourselves teleported into a war room that has 5 individuals from the wasp insectoid race surrounding a table top map of the island group I suppose we are currently in. One of the wasp people speaks up. ¡°Welcome your majesty. As you can see we have been discussing what we can do to expand our kingdom. Our territories are in green, those that are neutral to us are in black, and those that are hostile to us are in red. Known pirate areas are shaded orange.¡± That was a rather precise info dump. I do not think that these are actual thinking beings but rather intelligent A.I.¡¯s used by the game for this dungeon. I will just roll with the situation. ¡°Thank you for the summary. Give me a second to refresh myself with the map and I will give you your instructions.¡± As I move forward and look at the map I see that my ¡°kingdom¡± currently holds 3 of what looks like about 200 islands. There are ten areas shaded black or red. Seven of them are neutral and three are colored as hostile to my new kingdom. There are four areas that are shaded orange. Each orange area has 2-3 islands in it and every other kingdom has at least 3 and most have 6 to 10 islands in their grouping. I assume the other islands are unaligned at this points and ripe for conquest. Time to get some more information. ¡°What exactly is needed for us to control another island?¡± ¡°My lord we just need to eliminate the 3 highest leveled monsters on the island and build a defensive structure.¡± ¡°What is the average level of the monsters on the unclaimed islands?¡± ¡°Level 1700-1800.¡± ¡°What is the average level of our troops and the other nations and pirates?¡± ¡°All of us are about equal with troops ranging from levels 1,100 to 1,250.¡± ¡°How long would it take to build a defensive structure and how many could we build at once?¡± I could see a little pause, this must be an unusual question. ¡°I predict that we could build a defensive structure in 48 hours and we have enough troops to simultaneously build 10 at once and then man them.¡± ¡°How long before new troops are available?¡± ¡°Each conquered island doubles its troops every 72 hours.¡± Let¡¯s see that means I will have 13 islands in 48 hours, and enough troops for 13 more in five days, so by the end of the week I could have 26 islands. Three days after that I would have enough troops for another 26 islands bringing my total to 52 islands. One more round of waiting and then conquering would bring me up to 104 islands which should be enough to trigger the winning condition of owning 50% of the islands or more. So I should be able to win with the expansion route in just over 2 weeks, say 15 or 16 days. I expect that with the level of the general troops each island conquest should take the other groups about 1 week if they started immediately. They could at most probably get three islands a week at the beginning. I can just fly around with my high level group and wipe out the three highest monsters on each island and have my troops follow me to build defensive structures. I should not lose any troops. Everyone else even if they take an island will lose troops and have to replace them, whereas my replacement troops will just add to the number of islands I can conquer every round. Common wisdom dictates that an invading army would need three times as many troops to defeat the defenders so my previous conquests should be safe with the single group that stays there. I am going to try this route of conquest for the dungeon. It is fast, almost faster than anything I found in zone 7 or zone 8. For a bonus this win will give me 5 points, so even if it is slightly slower, my overall points earning time will go down. ¡°Here are my instructions. First you will treat my companions as your superiors, they shall speak with my authority in all things. Second you will assemble the troops and follow my companions and myself as we go and conquer islands. When we are finished destroying the three highest monsters or the defensive structure on the island you will immediately start construction of our defenses. Every cycle after that the entire new group of soldiers will assemble and we will repeat the cycle. For your information my companions and I will be transforming into dragons to speed up the conquest.¡± ¡°Very well my king. Assemble the troops.¡± For once we did not hit any snags in my plans. The first round went splendidly. The second round went ok, we did have to sink a couple of pirate ships that were sneaking around our islands during the build phase, but nothing serious. The third round to get to 52 islands was about the same as the first two, a few more pirate ships but not much different. The last and final phase involved attacking some of the other kingdoms as there was not enough unclaimed islands left at this point for us to reach my goal of 104 islands. It was rather easy, since we only had to get rid of a single structure instead of hunting three separate monsters I just powered up my new Primal Meteor Swarm and let it rip. A few minutes later, my troops would then start constructing a new defensive structure on the sight of what used to be the old one. Forty-eight hours after the last round of conquests I received the expected Great Game message with a little twist.
Congratulations on beating the strategy dungeon Pirate Isles. You may choose to exit at this time or to continue and double your rewards if you fulfill another one of the winning conditions.
Well, would you look at that. I already own 50% of the map and now I can get double rewards if I either conquer two other kingdoms or destroy 3 pirate groups. Of course I am going to continue. I let my group know what was going on that we would conquer two kingdoms next. Luckily I had only attacked the islands of the hostile nations this last round. That meant that the other countries were still neutral to me and probably would not attack next round and that my enemies were down a few islands. When I check the map in the strategy room I can see one kingdom has 12 islands left and the other one has 15 islands. That means I can double my points in just one more round. I only need to defeat 27 more islands worth of enemies. I suppose that the Great Game never expected such a large area of effect spell as my Primal Meteor Swarm and thus did not realize how easy this was ending up being. With double rewards we were going to farm this dungeon for centuries. It had a variety of creatures you could work with also so the boredom would be handled better than if we had to repeat the exact same thing each time. We can change up things whenever we get bored. ¡°Alright generals, here is what I want. 54 groups of troops will follow me and my family next cycle. We are going to conquer the two countries that are hostile to us. Everyone one of the other new troops will reinforce the borders against the other countries just in case.¡± ¡°Yes my king.¡± We invaded the other kingdoms as soon as the reinforcement cycle was finished. Several more Primal Meteor Swarms with a little clean up and then we had to wait another 48 hours for the structures to be built. Once again as soon as the wait period for claiming was done I received another Great Game Message.
Congratulations on beating the strategy dungeon Pirate Isles part 2. You may choose to exit at this time or to continue and double your rewards if you fulfill the last of the winning conditions.
I can do it again? I wonder if that means it doubles from last time or is it just 3 times the original? Oh well, it does not really matter, this is going to be the dungeon that we will stay with throughout this entire reset cycle. At the least we will get 15 points after about a month¡¯s worth of work plus dungeon materials, at the best 20 points. I once again let my group know that there would be a slight change in plans. ¡°Alright generals, next we are going to take care of the pesky pirate problem. If we have not returned by the end of the cycle, then just reinforce the borders against the other countries. My family and I are going pirate hunting.¡± ¡°Yes my king, do you wish for anyone to accompany you?¡± ¡°Nope we will go and do this ourselves.¡± Walter climbed up on the back of Azure and the five of us dragons took off and started searching the areas on the maps that had been orange. These were the suspected hideouts of the pirates. Over the next 3 days we wiped out four pirate armadas and two pirate towns. As soon as we sank the last ship in the fourth armada I received the notice I was waiting for.
Congratulations on beating the strategy dungeon Pirate Isles. Your rewards will be calculated and given out after 12 hours outside of the dungeon.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
Alright that means we need to exit and let this thing reset. After leaving the dungeon and taking a brief rest I checked on our rewards. It was a double of a double. We received 20 points, 4 sets of dungeon materials, and 4 times the experience. I did not think the doubling rewards would cover the experience also. This is fantastic. Normally my next step would be heading to the safe area, but I cannot risk someone else claiming this dungeon to farm. We are going to stay here for another 248 years and then go to the safe area to wait out the reset. This should significantly decrease the amount of time we need to collect our points and level up. It only took 3 or 4 more tries to optimize our strategies and speed the whole dungeon dive up. Because we occasionally changed the races we used for varieties sake our clearing times were not exact but they remained fairly close. We averaged one clear every 3 weeks for a grand total of 4,290 dungeon clears. This netted us a total of 85,800 points and I still have to turn in our dungeon materials. We have 17,160 sets of complete materials to trade in because of the doubling rewards. Once we reach the safe area and trade them in we should have enough points to travel into zone 10 if we want too. I have not checked my level this entire time, but I will as soon as the material trades are done. We found the safe zone in only 8 days. We were moving quick because we did not want to risk losing the fantastic bounty we had earned these last 250 years. I needed to be in the safe area so I could stop worrying. As soon as we saw the safe area I once again recalled the kids and Walter. Surprises against others could save my life someday. Once I entered the safe area I headed straight to the Great Game kiosk in the center. I selected the sell dungeon materials for points option and saw a new part to the message.
Zone 7 dungeon materials exchange rate: 5 dungeons for 2 points Zone 8 dungeon materials exchange rate: 3 dungeons for 2 points Zone 9 dungeon materials exchange rate: 1 dungeon for 1 point
I was kind of expecting this based on what I saw in zone 8. Just like before higher level dungeons are worth more points. Trade all.
Scanning, 17,160 zone 9 dungeon sets traded for 17,160 points.
I now have a grand total of 114, 731 points. If my level has hit high enough, and I think I will be safe, it will finally be time for me to cross into zone 10 and try to figure out what this whole thing is about. I move into a building that faces the center of the safe area and recall all of my group. ¡°Keep watch while I check our progress and then we have some decisions to make.¡± ¡°Yes Dad.¡± ¡°Yes Master.¡± Status.
Name: Mark Anderson Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King (True God)
Level: 2,439 - 38% Unspent Attribute Points: 6500
Str: 3,391 HP: 33,910 (X2) 67,820
Int: 3,741 +500% MP MP: 448,920 (X2) 897,840
Wis:3,741 +500% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 2,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 3,391 MP/Regen: 2,000% per 15 min.
Con: 3,391 +500% HP/Regen Luck: 3,391
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Primal ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Resistances: Earth - 100% Water - 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
650 levels in 248 years. I was getting 6X the experience in that dungeon which has really helped. I did not think that I would hit this point for at least another 250 years and maybe not until the reset cycle after that. I distribute the points.
For reaching 4,000 points in every stat you have been elevated to the status of Primal Being.
For reaching Primal Being status before level 3,500 your HP and MP have been tripled.
Granted the title Primal Being + 100 to all stats.
For reaching Primal Being status before level 3,500 you are granted 100% resistance to the primal element.
Once again the title and stats seem a little unnecessary at this level, but I guess free stuff is free stuff so I can¡¯t complain too much. Especially the Primal element resistance. With my history of self-inflicted wounds, resistance to my strongest element is a great addition. Status.
Name: Mark Anderson Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King (Primal Being)
Level: 2,439 - 38% Unspent Attribute Points: 0
Str: 4,571 HP: 45,710 (X3) 137,130
Int: 4,931 +500% MP MP: 591,720 (X3) 1,775,160
Wis:4,931 +500% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 2,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 4,571 MP/Regen: 2,000% per 15 min.
Con: 4,571 +500% HP/Regen Luck: 4,571
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Primal ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Resistances: Earth - 100% Water - 100% Primal ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
After all that I wonder what my companions reached. Companion Status:
Name: Elvira Race: Elemental Air Dragon Level: 2,375- 41% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Esmerelda Race: Elemental Earth Dragon Level: 2,367 - 3% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Azure Race: Elemental Water Dragon Level: 2,376 - 30% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Sir Bruce Shadow Flaming Ember of Doom Race: Elemental Fire Dragon Level: 2,379 - 16% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Walter Race: Incan Wak¡¯a Spirit Level 2,435 - 31% Status: Familiar of Mark Anderson
Fantastic. Everyone has basically caught up to me. A hundred levels difference at where we are is almost negligible. I am more than likely still stronger because of my stats and titles bonus, but I do not have to worry about level differences when entering dungeons anymore. We are close enough I won¡¯t have to do all the mental math to make sure the kids are safe. ¡°Alright crew here is the deal. We have enough points to cross into zone 10. Dad has been upgraded to a Primal Being, whatever that means. What we need to decide is if we play it safe and stay here for another cycle to cross our level 2,500 goal or if we go ahead and move forward.¡± ¡°Well dad, as much as we want to finish this you have taught us that we need to be safe. I vote for another reset cycle.¡± ¡°Master, I agree with Esmerelda. I want you all to be safe.¡± ¡°Does everyone agree?¡± ¡°Yes dad¡± ¡°Yes master.¡± ¡°Alright then we will wait for the reset, then go out and wander around zone 9 doing random dungeons. There is no pressure to finish a certain amount or earn points. We will explore and reevaluate our progress after the next reset just to be safe.¡± This is precisely what we did. We waited the next couple of years out in the safe area so we would not be reset. After the reset we wandered fairly carefree and completed dungeons as we wanted too. I think that this break from grinding and trying to earn as much as possible is actually doing us some good. Everyone experimented with their powers or breath weapons, we refined tactics, and just enjoyed ourselves for another 248 years. Once again as time got close for a reset we headed towards the safe area to update and trade things in. There was no need to hide my companions this time and we all walked in together. ¡°Hey dad.¡± ¡°Yes Bruce.¡± ¡°Since we do not need any more points are you going to trade for something else?¡± ¡°I never even considered it. What do you suggest?¡± ¡°Well how much supplies do we have?¡± ¡°We probably have another 250 years worth or more.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t we trade half of our dungeon materials for coins and save the other half in case they prove useful in zone 10. Then we can teleport down to zone 4 and Get supplies from the Dwarves and re-enter and go to zone 10. We have enough points already to do that and more.¡± ¡°I like that plan Bruce. Does anyone have any objections.¡± There were none so I went to the Great Game kiosk in the center of the safe area and for the first time read the messages carefully again to make sure all the other options had not changed.
Welcome to the Great Game Kiosk. Please select from the options below. A. Purchase Supplies with money B. Purchase Supplies with points C. Sell Dungeon Materials for money D. Sell Dungeon Materials for points
I chose C this time and was pleasantly surprised at the next announcement.
Zone 7 dungeon materials are worth 200,000 mithral coins Zone 8 dungeon materials are worth 500,000 mithral coins Zone 9 dungeon materials are worth 1,000,000 mithral coins
It makes sense I guess. The point values for the dungeons went up so the worth of the material trade ins went up also. Over this last time period we finished 650 dungeons. So our total points went to 117,981. We definitely do not need to trade these materials for their point value. Trade 325 zone 9 complete dungeon materials for coins please.
Scanning complete. You have sufficient materials for trade. Exchanging 325 dungeon materials for 325 million mithral coins.
¡°Well everyone we are rich.¡± Everybody just laughed. ¡°Ok, standard bit guys, lets pick a building and claim it and I will check our current statuses and then we can wait out the reset and finish off our resupply per Bruce¡¯s plan.¡± Once everyone was settled in I checked up on how we were doing. Companion Status:
Name: Elvira Race: Elemental Air Dragon Level: 2,605- 41% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Esmerelda Race: Elemental Earth Dragon Level: 2,612 - 3% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Azure Race: Elemental Water Dragon Level: 2,606 - 30% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Sir Bruce Shadow Flaming Ember of Doom Race: Elemental Fire Dragon Level: 2,609 - 16% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Walter Race: Incan Wak¡¯a Spirit Level 2,648 - 31% Status: Familiar of Mark Anderson
They all went up about 230 levels. That is a little less than 1 a year. Not bad for no experience boost and us taking it easy. Status.
Name: Mark Anderson Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King (Primal Being)
Level: 2,650 - 89% Unspent Attribute Points: 2110
Str: 4,571 HP: 45,710 (X3) 137,130
Int: 4,931 +500% MP MP: 591,720 (X3) 1,775,160
Wis:4,931 +500% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 2,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 4,571 MP/Regen: 2,000% per 15 min.
Con: 4,571 +500% HP/Regen Luck: 4,571
Affinities: Earth - 100% Water ¨C 100% Primal ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Resistances: Earth - 100% Water - 100% Primal ¨C 100% Fire ¨C 100% Air ¨C 100%
Excellent. I have gotten past the level 2,500 goal and I should have enough to break 5,000 points in every stat. I distribute the points.
For reaching 5,000 points in every stat you have been elevated to the status of Cosmic Entity.
For reaching Cosmic Entity status before the level 5,000 cap all current stat bonuses have been doubled.
Granted the title Cosmic Entity + 500 to all stats.
For reaching Cosmic Entity status before level 3,000 your affinities and resistances are tripled.
Alright breathe Mark. A lot just happened there. New title and huge bonus check. Information on a hard level cap for the Great Game check. Ability to still get stronger and dominate anyone else that has reached this level check. Status.
Name: Mark Anderson Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King (Cosmic Entity)
Level: 2,650 - 89% Unspent Attribute Points: 0
Str: 5,521 HP: 55,210 (X6) 331,260
Int: 5,591 +1000% MP MP: 1,230,020 (X6) 7,380,120
Wis: 5,591 +1000% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 4,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 5,521 MP/Regen: 4,000% per 15 min.
Con: 5,521 +1000% HP/Regen Luck: 5,521
Affinities: Earth - 300% Water ¨C 300% Primal ¨C 300% Fire ¨C 300% Air ¨C 300%
Resistances: Earth - 300% Water - 300% Primal ¨C 300% Fire ¨C 300% Air ¨C 300%
Ok this is insane. First off I am sure no one associated with the great game ever expected anyone to actually get these bonuses. In fact, I picture a meeting of geeky people sitting around the table just arguing. ¡°Well what if someone can do it faster.¡± ¡°No one can do it that fast.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know that what if they can.¡± ¡°Fine if they can reach that power level that fast then we will double everything.¡± ¡°That sounds fair.¡± ¡°What about affinities and resistances?¡± ¡°We will triple those.¡± The random meeting of imaginary geek people sitting at the table start nodding their heads. My family finally notices that I am spacing out and probably drooling at this point. ¡°Master what is wrong?¡± ¡°I think I broke everything.¡± They all just stared at each other and me. ¡°Can you explain what that means daddy?¡± I shake my head to clear it. ¡°Give me one second and then I will answer your questions.¡± Help are you there?
Yes.
If someone theoretically had a greater affinity than another person¡¯s resistance would their spells do damage equal to the amount above their resistance.
Yes.
If someone theoretically again had a resistance greater than 100% what would happen? Please give an example if you can.
If person X had a 100% affinity in fire and shot person Y who had a 150% resistance to fire with a fireball. Person Y would be healed instead of hurt for the damage amount times the difference in resistance and affinity in decimal form.
Help off. So basically If someone shoots me with a magic fireball I now get healed for 2 times the amount of damage it would normally do. I can even shoot myself with spells to heal my health. This has been one of my biggest gripes with the Great Game system. There are healing pills, potions and salves, which do not work very well at the higher levels by the way, but no direct healing magic. Now I have a loophole. I can cast my most powerful spell and now have it do triple damage to my enemies while it simultaneously heals me for double the damage amount. I don¡¯t know whether to laugh or cry. I can¡¯t decide if the Great Game is helping me or setting me up for something horrible to happen in the future. 75 - Resupply And A Final Goodbye Chapter 75 Resupply And A Final Goodbye I tell everyone that I need get down to zone 4 and really think about what just happened to check for any loopholes or problems. Once I have my thinking time I will bring them into the loop and they can help me with any ideas. We made sure the reset was done and then teleported down to zone 4 outside of the Dwarven Caverns. It had been more than 500 years since we had been here last, I hope nothing has changed to badly. I approach the entrance to the caverns and notice that the town around the entrance has grown significantly since I was last here. When I approach the gate I was challenged by the guards. ¡°Name and business please.¡± ¡°Mark Anderson, resupply and visiting anyone still alive that I know.¡± ¡°You are claiming to be THE Mark Anderson. The one who helped liberate the caverns over a 1,000 years ago.¡± ¡°Yep that¡¯s me.¡± ¡°Excuse me sir but if I can have you wait right here I need to pass this up the line.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± After waiting for just under ? an hour I could see several dwarves in full regalia hurrying towards the gate. As they approached they slowed down and finally addressed me. ¡°Sir Anderson, I am sorry to have to do this to you but can you change form to verify your identity. It has been so long since you visited the only dwarves left that remember how you look personally are not strong enough in health to come to the gates to verify your identity.¡± ¡°I understand, it has been a while since I came back.¡± I shifted into my dragon form and saw the eyes of everyone who was watching get big. It looked like they were hoping it was me, but until I proved it they were not believers. I shifted back into a draconian form. ¡°Will that be enough to verify my identity?¡± ¡°Yes Sir Anderson, and once again I apologize for having you do this.¡± ¡°Calm down, I do understand the necessity. Now can I ask is Thane Stoneheart or Gondor still around?¡± ¡°Thane Stoneheart the 1st passed on nearly 250 years ago Sir Anderson. His heir Thane Stoneheart the 2nd is now the ruler. Gondor has also passed on.¡± ¡°I see, time passes more quickly for some than others. Thane Stoneheart the 2nd, you mean little Jasper Stoneheart?¡± ¡°Umm, Sir Anderson you are perhaps the only one that could get away with calling him that. Thane Jasper Stoneheart is now close to 1,000 years old and will soon be passing the mantle of Thane to his own son.¡± ¡°Well I better go and meet the new one I guess. Is my house still there?¡± ¡°Yes Sir Anderson, it actually has been turned into a museum, but as soon as we heard you could be back we had several dwarves head over to make it livable once again.¡± ¡°I appreciate that. After being away for so long it will be good to have something familiar. I also need to stock up on supplies, can you recommend someone who can fill a very large list of needed items and is trustworthy.¡± ¡°Yes Sir Anderson, Marblefist Trading Emporium is an expansive trading establishment with stores in zones 1-6. They should be able to take care of any of your needs.¡± After teleporting to my dwarven cavern house I started to fill in the group with what I knew. ¡°Alright sorry I spaced out there for a while. The Great Game has either helped me and by extension all of you a lot, or has set us up for some kind of epic battled. I cannot figure out which one. I can now heal myself through receiving elemental and primal damage. My resistances have gone up to 300%.¡± ¡°How is that even possible dad?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know Bruce and that is what worries me. It also gave me the title of Cosmic Entity whatever that means and let out that there is a hard limit of 5,000 for levels.¡± ¡°Master that is far from where we are. That means we can still get stronger.¡± ¡°Yes Walter it does, but the question is should we? With the bonuses that the Great Game has given me it has implied that I am no as powerful if not more powerful than a level 5,000 being. I have over 5,000 points in all my stats and have bonuses to my HP and MP that quite frankly ridiculous.¡± ¡°What do you mean by that dad?¡± ¡°I have over 300,000 HP and over 7 million MP and basically I cannot think of a way to spend my MP faster than they can recover. As for my HP I basically could let some of those level 1,000 bosses in zone 7 beat on me all day long and I would recover more HP than they could take away. I am not invincible, but I am pretty close to it and that scares me.¡±This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Why does it scare you Master.¡± ¡°I keep feeling that there is more to the Great Game than we know. I may look and feel invincible now, but what about in the future? Is there some crazy end boss we need to take care of in zone 10? No one who has entered zone 10 has come back. There has to be a reason for that.¡± I see where we would need to be cautious dad, but eventually we are going to have to go in.¡± ¡°I realize that Elvira, but it is the eventually that keeps me feeling dread. I do not want to go in too early so we are not prepared, but on the other hand I do not want to wait so long we lose our edge and feelings of wanting to help people out.¡± ¡°Well can we just set a goal of reaching a certain level before we go in?¡± ¡°I think that is a good idea Esmerelda the problem is deciding which level. Remember that we are now over-leveled for the highest dungeon in zone 9. That means earning experience is going to slow way down and leveling will be extremely slow. We averaged almost a level a year this last reset and will probably go down to 1 level every two or three years, next reset unless we find another dungeon that will multiply experience for us.¡± ¡°Well I think we should at least get you to level 3,000 dad just to be safe. We all rely on you, if something goes wrong you can recall and store all of us and just escape, so we need you to be strong enough to protect all of us.¡± ¡°3,000 it is then. Once we reach that we will cross over.¡± The next couple of weeks were both restful and awkward. There were very few dwarves that were still around that I knew personally. Those that were had aged quite significantly. This was the first time I had run into this problem. I knew theoretically that my lineage and infinite life span would cause these problems someday, but theoretically being prepared for something is different than experiencing it in real life. I renewed my friendship with the dwarves, spent a lot of mithral coins and picked up 500 years of supplies from them. My staying here served no more purpose and I decided to visit Earth one more time before my final plunge into zone 10. To tell the truth I was a little nervous. I had not contacted anyone on Earth for over 500 years. I did not know the situation and even worse I did not know how my own family was doing. My daughter had secured a dragon bloodline so in theory she could be still alive, but I just did not know. Enough putting it off. It won¡¯t get any easier. I teleported back to Earth and was greeted by the familiar sight of people pointing weapons at me. ¡°¡¯Name and purpose.¡± ¡°Mark Anderson, resupply and visiting my home planet.¡± ¡°Thank you sir for allowing us to do our job. We all recognized you as soon as you teleported in. It is an honor to meet you in person.¡± Now I was a little curious. ¡°How did you recognize me.¡± ¡°Your picture and memorization of it and your companions is required material at the teleportation academy sir.¡± ¡°I did not know there was an academy.¡± ¡°Yes sir, it was founded around 700 years ago to help fill the need of training and recruitment of the teleport network guards as each of the 4 great powers were starting to expand seriously into their new planets.¡± ¡°That makes sense I guess, well tell whoever needs to know that I am back, but I would prefer not to be contacted for at least a week as I settle back in.¡± ¡°I will pass along the message sir.¡± With that taken care of I teleported directly into my Antarctic Lair and started to look around to make sure nothing had changed. Other than some dust it looks like they left everything alone like I asked. Sitting on the table was an envelope was a letter with just Dad written on it. I opened it carefully and read through the contents. It was hard not to cry just a little as I was reading. My daughter Nicole wrote about how she had watched her kids grow up and how she had become a grandmother. None of her kids, grandkids or husband had particularly long lived bloodlines and over the years she could see them aging while she remained the same with her dragon bloodline. Finally, her husband passed away from old age. There were no regrets, but she said she could not stay and watch that happen to the rest of the family. She wrote that she understood why I spent so much time away now knowing that she would still be alive hundreds if not thousands of years past her kids and grandkids. After her husband died Nicole decided to immigrate to Segmentia, the world I set up for those with dragon bloodlines. She told me not to worry about her and that she would see me in the future as we were both going to live a long time and she just knew that I would not be able to resist a dinosaur planet. I won¡¯t lie, I cried while I read that letter as it might be the last contact I had with my biological daughter. Suddenly staying on Earth for a while did not seem very appealing. I decided that after I we made some plans and resupplied again that I would officially break off ties for being in charge on Earth. I mean I really had not done anything other than boss people around and that was over 1,000 years ago. Earth would always be my first home and I would want to maintain my lair here, but I was more and more called to other worlds and exploration. I longed for the day when my group and I could just wander around exploring. I figured it would take 500 to 1,000 years to explore any world thoroughly and I owned two. I had enough funds to buy 50 more right now, and I still had things I could cash in. So I was set to feed my wandering soul and sense of exploration as soon as I finished what I thought had become my personal quest. I wanted to be able to visit back just to see how things had changed after a significant amount of time also. I was hoping that someday I would go from curriculum into being a legend or folk tale. How cool would that be. I met with the current council and officially made them the rulers of Appalachia Kingdom. I had the rules rewritten that during any military emergency that the head of the military would be the sole leader to cut through red tape, but such a situation could not be for more than 5 years without a re-approval from the council. I finished my orders of 500 more years of supplies. Along with what I got from the dwarves I should have slightly more than 1200 years worth of supplies if needed and I could supplement them with what I find. Once that was done I left my teleport guard force 10 million mithral coins and told them to buy a planet of their own and then I transferred back to zone 9. I had 245 or so years left in this reset cycle that I could use to level up still. The first reset was as bad as I feared for leveling. In 245 years we only managed 122 levels and that was after we found a double experience dungeon around year 112. We spent the reset in the safe zone and went back out once again. This cycle was a little better and we managed 143 levels. One more cycle should get us to the goal of level 3,000. The final cycle we found a dungeon early that doubled experience and we managed to get another 120 levels. This puts us right where we wanted to be. 76 - Zone 10 Chapter 76 ZONE 10 We were finally going to do it. It was time to place my last points and then check my final status. Even out my points a little and that should do it. Status.
Name: Mark Anderson Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King (Cosmic Entity)
Level: 3,035 - 33% Unspent Attribute Points: 22
Str: 6,000 HP: 60,000 (X6) 360,000
Int: 6,050 +1000% MP MP: 1,331,000 (X6) 7,986,000
Wis: 6,050 +1000% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 4,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 6,000 MP/Regen: 4,000% per 15 min.
Con: 6,000 +1000% HP/Regen Luck: 6,000
Affinities: Earth - 300% Water ¨C 300% Primal ¨C 300% Fire ¨C 300% Air ¨C 300%
Resistances: Earth - 300% Water - 300% Primal ¨C 300% Fire ¨C 300% Air ¨C 300%
I may have some undistributed points, but if those 22 points mean the difference between life and death at this point I am screwed. I just kind of wanted a nice even looking display for once. Enough dilly dallying it is time to cross into zone 10. As soon as I cross I see a series of messages.
Welcome to Zone 10. Scanning. You have Master Level access. You have reached Cosmic Entity status. Please choose an option: 1. Copper Level + Cosmic Entity: You are qualified to ascend to a higher plane of existence. If you choose to ascend you and your home planet and one other planet of your choice will ascend to a higher plane of existence where lifespan of all beings is infinite, but death can still occur. All levels and stats will be reduced by 90% on entry. 2. Silver Level + Cosmic Entity: You are qualified to ascend to a higher plane of existence. If you choose to ascend you and your home planet and three other planets of your choice will ascend to a higher plane of existence where lifespan of all beings is infinite, but death can still occur. All levels and stats will be reduced by 75% on entry. 3. Gold Level + Cosmic Entity: You are qualified to ascend to a higher plane of existence. If you choose to ascend you and your home planet and five other planets of your choice will ascend to a higher plane of existence where lifespan of all beings is infinite, but death can still occur. All levels and stats will be reduced by 50% on entry. 4. Master Level + Cosmic Entity: You are qualified to ascend to a higher plane of existence. If you choose to ascend you and your home planet and ten other planets of your choice will ascend to a higher plane of existence where lifespan of all beings is infinite, but death can still occur. All levels and stats will be reduced by 25% on entry. 5. Challenge Level: You may choose to challenge the Great Game administrator to battle in order to claim a prize on top of the choices mentioned. Each challenge will be progressively harder. You must win at least one challenge to respawn. Failure to win the first challenge will result in permanent death. 1 win = 5% reduction in power loss of transferred beings to higher dimension. 2 wins = 10% reduction in power loss of transferred beings to higher dimension. 3 wins = 15% reduction in power loss of transferred beings to higher dimension. 4 wins = 20% reduction in power loss of transferred beings to higher dimension. 5 wins = 25% reduction in power loss of transferred beings to higher dimension. 7 wins = 25% reduction in power loss of transferred beings to higher dimension. History of Great Game knowledge, right to change one rule in Great Game Programming, and immunity to invasion in higher dimension for 10 years. 10 wins = 25% reduction in power loss of transferred beings to higher dimension. History of Great Game knowledge, right to change three rules in Great Game Programming, and immunity to invasion in higher dimension for 50 years. 15 wins = 25% reduction in power loss of transferred beings to higher dimension. History of Great Game knowledge, right to change five rules in Great Game Programming, and immunity to invasion in higher dimension for 100 years. 6. Exit: Master Level + Cosmic Entity: You are qualified to exit once and return. You must return to Zone 10 within 1,000 years or forfeit all rights to ascend.
I think it is rather obvious what I need to do, even though I do not want to. I select option 6 and my group reappears in zone 9. ¡°Dad, what happened? Why are we back in zone 9?¡± ¡°Well there were several options I could choose according to the Great Game and the best one was a challenge mode. I also had the option of exiting and returning within 1,000 years. So as you can see I chose that and we are going to grind like there is no tomorrow.¡± I further explained my thinking to my group. With the Master Level access and Cosmic Entity bonus we could have just ascended and moved on with our lives, but I want to know what is behind the Great Game. The chance to earn knowledge and even perhaps change it for the better could not be passed up. I have confidence that I could pass several challenge levels as I am, but it never hurt to have more power so I decided to come out and grind for 900+ years take my gains and re-enter for the challenge level. The closer I got to the maximum level of 5000 I felt the greater my chance of reaching higher in the challenge. My group and I got down to some serious grinding for levels. We would spend up to 50 years wandering and testing different dungeons for bonuses. If we did not find one then we took the one we could finish the quickest at the highest level and just repeated it until reset. Hide in safe area during reset and repeat. The first cycle we managed only 85 levels in 248 years. Experience was going down. Second reset cycle we lucked out with a speed dungeon and were able to farm it for extra experience for about two decades and that brought us another 112 levels. Third reset we dropped even further and only managed 76 levels. The final reset we would only be grinding for 200 years just to be safe and then we would challenge Zone 10 again. These last 200 years netted another 52 levels. So with another almost 100 years of grinding I managed to up my level by 325. It did not seem like much compared to what we had done in the past, but every bit helped. I placed all of my new stats and then took a final look at my status and my companions before entering zone 10. Status.
Name: Mark Anderson Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King (Cosmic Entity)
Level: 3,360 - 71% Unspent Attribute Points: 2
Str: 6,545 HP: 65,450 (X6) 392,700
Int: 6,595 +1000% MP MP: 1,450,900 (X6) 8,705,400
Wis: 6,595 +1000% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 4,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 6,545 MP/Regen: 4,000% per 15 min.
Con: 6,545 +1000% HP/Regen Luck: 6,545
Affinities: Earth - 300%The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Water ¨C 300% Primal ¨C 300% Fire ¨C 300% Air ¨C 300%
Resistances: Earth - 300% Water - 300% Primal ¨C 300% Fire ¨C 300% Air ¨C 300%
Companion Status:
Name: Elvira Race: Elemental Air Dragon Level: 3,305- 64% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Esmerelda Race: Elemental Earth Dragon Level: 3,312 - 82% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Azure Race: Elemental Water Dragon Level: 3,306 - 11% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Sir Bruce Shadow Flaming Ember of Doom Race: Elemental Fire Dragon Level: 3,309 - 75% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson Name: Walter Race: Incan Wak¡¯a Spirit Level 3,358 - 23% Status: Familiar of Mark Anderson
I had 10 years until my time was up to re-enter. I decided I needed to do one more thing. I used the teleporters to get to my personal planet Tivon and then accessed the Great Game store. I remembered that the Great Game message said I could take up to 10 planets with me. If I took Earth, the 4 planets the great powers bought, the planet that the teleport guards bought, my planet Tivon and Segmentia the Dino planet I could still take two more with me. So I needed to buy two more planets. I scanned the list and picked two planets with what I thought were good descriptions and went and conquered their high level dungeons. It only took me 3 weeks to finish that up and tie them to my personal planet. Soon I was back at the boundary to zone 10. Alright, no more putting it off. Time to go and finish this thing. I enter Zone 10 once again with my group and select option 5 Challenge Level from the list.
You have chosen the Challenge Level. You can challenge solo or with companions. If you choose to use companions be warned that the difficulty will double. 1. Solo 2. Companions
Let¡¯s see by myself or with 5 companions that are almost my level and the difficulty only doubles. I choose option 2.
You have chosen the Companion Challenge. The number of opponents you will face will be double the original amount in each challenge level. Fight well.
We were teleported to a vast arena. If I had to guess it was more than 10 kilometers long and probably 5 kilometers wide. It was just a vast plain with some boulders and a giant wall surrounding it. Ok so hiding and sniping tactics are probably out. I will just have to see what the first challenge is and formulate my strategy on the fly.
The challenge will begin in 3..2..1..
In the distance I could see two large figures. Identify.
Mountain Ogre X2 Level 1,000
Is this a joke? I haven¡¯t fought anything this weak in centuries. I send Bruce and Azure out to deal with the Ogres while the rest of us are on high alert looking for a trap. In less than 30 seconds I see.
Congratulations on passing round 1 of the challenge. Each level will get progressively harder.
Really that was it. I guess for a normal person that only had copper access that might have been a challenge. I don¡¯t know anymore. Let¡¯s just keep going. Round 2
Mountain Troll X2 Level 1,250
Round 3
Mountain Giant X2 Level 1,500
Round 4
Mountain King X2 Level 1,750
Round 5
Elemental Ogre X2 Level 2,000
Round 6
Elemental Troll X2 Level 2,500
I am starting to see a pattern here. Also the level jumps have just become more significant. I guess that many people who have reached Zone 10 would consider this to be a huge challenge, but this is just pathetic for my group. First off there are 5 of us each over level 3,000. I probably have the stats of a normal level 5,000 plus figure. I hope they all stay this way. Round 7
Elemental Giant X2 Level 3,000
Round 8
Elemental King X2 Level 3,500
¡°Stand back everyone. I want to try these two by myself. I need to see where I am at with my bonuses. If it looks like I am having trouble feel free to jump in.¡± ¡°All right dad, take them down.¡± ¡°Good Luck, Master.¡± I decided to try my human form first and went straight for a punch at the Elemental king on the right to test my strength. I jumped up to be equal with its chest and let fly full power. When the fist connected the Elemental King flew back almost 100 meters and coughed out a rainbow substance that I can only assume was it¡¯s blood. Test 1 and 2 were complete, I still had much higher stats than a standard level 3,500 monster which was equivalent to my own level. I was fast enough to hit it without it defending itself and the knockback was great. I was actually kind of impressed by the distance I got as the Elemental king was about 20 feet tall. The difference in size alone made me think at best I would knock it over. Test 3 would be magic. I assumed being an Elemental King meant that it had a significant elemental resistance. So most people would have to fight it physically where they might be overpowered. However, with my absurd 300% affinity I should still be able to deal damage. Let¡¯s try quick 500 mana shots of different elements. Stone spike to left leg, ice spike to right leg to slow it down, wind bullet and fireball to the chest. It was definitely hurt by the magic which proves that my affinities are higher than its resistance. 500 mana slowed it down, but did not seem to do a ton of damage. Well why it is recovering let¡¯s try a primal blast to the old noggin. Charge it up to 1,000 mana and let it go. Alright note to self, elemental beings unless they say primal probably are not resistant to it. That sort of made everything from the neck up just disappear. I wonder if it was the primal magic, the high affinity or that the head is the most vulnerable spot. I know I check it out on the guy I punched. I put together a primal blast of about 500 mana this time. The same amount that just wounded the other one and let it fly at the one I punched chest as he charged back at me. Definitely the primal magic and affinities as there is now a hole through that one¡¯s chest. I walk up and punch it in the head to put it out of its misery. ¡°Ok everyone, my test are over and I don¡¯t think we are going to have a problem. Be careful and watch each others back just in case. Round 9
Low God X2 Level 4,000
Round 10
Mid God X2 Level 4,500
Round 11
High God X2 Level 5,000
Round 12
Primal Being X2 Level 5,500
Hey now I thought that level 5,000 was a hard cap. I guess that only applies to Great Game players and not the Great Game itself. ¡°Alright everyone be careful these guys should have stats equal to or higher than you. Use our numbers against them.¡± Round 13
Cosmic Entity X2 Level 6,000
¡°Same plan everyone. Pair up and one attacks as the other defends. Strike and move, strike and move.¡± Round 14
Cosmic Entity X4 Level 6,000
¡°Alright this is going to be harder, but we still outnumber them. Use the entire field and call out if you need help.¡± This battle took us almost an hour to finish. Compared to what had come before this was no joke. I had to watch carefully to make sure no one took significant damage and that we were doing enough. We eventually had to concentrate all our damage on a single target to overcome the healing factor these guys had. It was just about as absurd as mine. If we did not do enough damage in a short enough amount of time they just healed right back up. Once we had this group down to just a single remaining member I called out. ¡°Take you time and relax a bit. There is no worries about defeating this one, although since the number doubled from last round I am worried about the final round. So do not kill this guy immediately. Keep him busy kids while Walter and I set up for the last group.¡± ¡°Walter, we are going back to basics.¡± ¡°Yes Master you mean blow everything up and hope you do not kill us all.¡± ¡°Yes Walter exactly, it has always worked in the past. So it should work just fine now. I want you to use everything you have learned over the years to build us a shelter on the edge of the arena. I am going to power up the mother of all primal meteor swarms and take on the last group myself. When the explosion is over you and the kids come out and finish off anything that is left.¡± ¡°What about you Master?¡± ¡°Remember I just got those new resistances. I won¡¯t feel a thing, in fact it should heal me.¡± ¡°But Master what about the¡± I cut Walter off, ¡°Don¡¯t worry Walter, just prepare the shelter.¡± Walter gave me a strange look and then did as I asked. After dropping him off at the edge of the arena I joined up with my kids and explained the plan. ¡°Are you sure about this dad?¡± ¡°You guys worry too much. I will be fine. Just start dealing more damage and when I feel that I am close to what I can control I will tell you to finish this guy off and then you run for the shelter that Walter built Ok?¡± ¡°Sure dad if that is what you want.¡± I flew back a bit from the ongoing fight with the last Cosmic Entity and started concentrating on building and fueling the most massive primal meteor swarm of my life. The largest I had ever done before this was 20,000 mana and that sucker was spectacular. Since I was figuring on their being eight of these overpowered guys in the final round I figured that I should at least double that amount, maybe even a little more. After about 15 minutes I had managed to pump close to 40,000 mana in the spell and it was getting much harder to keep it together and concentrate. ¡°Alright kids, finish that one off and retreat to the shelter.¡± Quicker than I realized the kids killed the final Cosmic Entity from round 14 and started flying towards Walter¡¯s now rather large shelter. Round 15
Cosmic Entity X8 Level 6,000
There they are about 5 kilometers away and advancing slowly. Let¡¯s see do I wait and add more mana or do I put a timer on it and send it on its way? I better play it safe and just let it go. I felt that I had managed to channel a little over 55,000 mana into the spell and I set it for a 20 second delay. I would retreat for 15 second and then turn around and watch the show. I gauged their speed and set the coordinates for ground zero. Now run, 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi, when I hit 15 Mississippi, I turned around and saw giant purple flaming balls of death forming above the Cosmic Entities heads. They must have felt the build up of mana because they glance up and then I saw what could only be panic on their mostly expressionless faces. They started to run, too late suckers, here comes the pain. I could see 12 beautiful destructive orbs hit all around the approaching group of Cosmic Entities. This was going to be great. I saw the mushroom cloud start to form and then I noticed a large wall of primal element coming towards me. Ok here is the real test of my resistances. When the wall of primal fire hit me it knocked me flying backwards and I had just enough time to think to myself that this was what Walter was trying to warn me about. I was resistant to the magic damage but not the damage from the concussive force of the blasts. The next thing I remember is my family and Walter gathered around me staring down at me while a blue Great Game message box floated in front of me waiting to be acknowledged. As I regained more and more of my faculties I could hear them talking. ¡°I can¡¯t believe that he managed to knock himself out again.¡± ¡°I know, why does he never listen to us?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just the way dad is, at least he didn¡¯t kill himself.¡± ¡°Yah but if we had not been here to take care of the other guys who knows who would have regained consciousness first. He really could have died.¡± ¡°I take it from the conversations that we won?¡± I managed to grunt out. ¡°Dad your finally awake, you have to stop doing this.¡± ¡°What do you mean Elvira, it has been over 2,000 years since the last time I blew myself up.¡± ¡°Everyone just kind of laughed at that.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°Master, when the earth stopped moving we came out and found you unconscious against the wall. We made sure you were still alive and then went to check on the foes. Two of the eight had dies, four were about to die, and two somehow managed to only be wounded, but were also unconscious. We finished them off quickly and then came back to wait for you to wake up.¡± ¡°Ok let me take care of this Great Game message floating in front of me and then we can figure out what is next.¡±
Congratulations on passing all 15 levels of the challenge you are granted 100 levels as a bonus reward. For being the first to pass all 15 levels you are granted double the normal rewards. For being the fastest to beat all the levels you are granted double the normal rewards. For beating all 15 levels while still under level 5,000 you are granted double the normal rewards. For beating all 15 levels while still under level 4,000 you are granted triple the normal rewards. Calculating rewards, you have gained 1,000 levels and the right to access the History of the Great Game. Would you like to access the history now? Yes/No
I needed some time to rest and reflect. I mentally selected no and the group and I were teleported to what looked like a lounge. It reminded me of the lounge from the Great Game planetary leader challenge just smaller. ¡°Let Dad get his head together and then we can move forward ok guys?¡± 77 - Changing The Game Chapter 77 Changing The Game I might as well place my new points while I rested. Once again I was levels ahead of my companions, but I felt that with new adventures coming up in the higher dimension that might soon fix itself. Let¡¯s see average out some of the points and there. Status.
Name: Mark Anderson Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King (Cosmic Entity)
Level: 4,360 - 71% Unspent Attribute Points: 2
Str: 8,210 HP: 82,100 (X6) 492,600
Int: 8,270 +1000% MP MP: 1,819,400 (X6) 10,916,400
Wis: 8,270 +1000% MP/Regen HP/Regen: 4,000% per 15 min.
Agi: 8,210 MP/Regen: 4,000% per 15 min.
Con: 8,210 +1000% HP/Regen Luck: 8,210
Affinities: Earth - 300% Water ¨C 300% Primal ¨C 300% Fire ¨C 300% Air ¨C 300%
Resistances: Earth - 300% Water - 300% Primal ¨C 300% Fire ¨C 300% Air ¨C 300%
Well I hope those ridiculous numbers are useful in the future. It is time to figure out this Great Game and see if there is something I can do to fix it or make it better. ¡°I would like to know the history of the Great Game now please.¡±
The Progenitors were a race entirely dedicated to personal and racial improvement. 37.42 million years ago the Progenitors had reached the pinnacle of what they could achieve and do in this dimension. Having discovered that there were other dimensions and multiple universes many years before that they decided to find a way to access these new dimensions and continue to improve themselves and their race. Their search for a means to ascend took another 12 million years to bear fruit. Several probes were sent across the dimensional barrier to validate that the new dimensions would support them as they currently existed. The probes reported conditions acceptable to life, but also recorded an unknown energy signature. The Progenitors were excited. They envisioned that this energy would be what could be used to improve themselves once again. They dubbed this energy source mana. Finally, it was time for the first of the explorers to enter the new dimension. This is where the Progenitors made their first mistake. Probes were not alive and thus reacted differently to the new energy source of mana than living things. Being arrogant instead of testing on living creatures they sent one of their own across. His death was broadcast live to the entire race who thought they would be watching the triumphant first steps of a brave explorer. This caused a deep psychological scar within the race of the progenitors. Instead of teaching them humility it caused them to desire to master this deadly energy for themselves before it could wipe out their race. They completely ignored the fact that they would be safe as long as they stayed in their own dimension. Testing resumed with animals and plants from this dimension. It was eventually discovered that prolonged exposure at small doses to the new energy mana allowed living organisms to assimilate and even use the energy in ways that were not expected to the researchers. These original tests are where many of the monster species and mutated animals that you know of first came from. Seeing success in their experiments allowed the Progenitors enough confidence to establish an exploratory team. They were sent across the dimensional barrier in pods that isolated them from the new energy mana and then slowly exposed over the course of several months. This procedure worked. Not only was the exploratory team still alive some had mutated in various ways or had gained new internal powers such as the ability to manipulate elements. Being more cautious, but still determined to improve the race small teams were sent over to establish outposts in the new dimension and to explore it over the next thousand years. More and more of the progenitor race clamored to their leaders to be allowed to experience this new dimension. It was during this time that the second significant death due to mana was recorded. However, this death was not because of too much mana but rather the lack of mana. One of the original explorers was brought back to discuss in person his experience. He slowly became sick and died in his original dimension. By the time the scientists of the Progenitor race figured out that it was due to his body being starved of the new energy mana it was too late to fix. Thus it was discovered that those that ascended to the new dimension could not return. During exploration of the new dimension the Progenitors had discovered many new races and organisms. Some of which they got along with and many of which did not welcome their presence. When it was finally decided to switch over the entire race to the new dimension it was these new enemies that caused the Great Game to be developed. The Progenitors decided to send their race across in batches of 10%. This would allow for easier expansion and also keep a safe population in case of some disaster. Having extended their lifespan into the tens of thousands of years it was decided to send one set of people every hundred years for a thousand years until all had migrated. It was during the third set of transfers that their enemies struck. When the mass transfer occurred the Progenitors enemies not wanting them to keep getting stronger forced a permanent connection to our dimension. Their plan was to poison the remaining Progenitors with mana sickness and thus destroying the majority of the race. If they could not bring over greater numbers than the Progenitors that had already crossed would be doomed to a second class status in the new dimension. Luckily the Progenitors stopped the ritual that created the permanent connection before it could fully establish, thus saving this dimension from perishing instantly. However, they could not stop it completely. The death would be slower but mana poisoning was going to happen unless they could do something. Using advanced technology they isolated the affected areas and were able to contain the mana to a specific region. This was thought to be enough to solve the problem. They were wrong. They continued their program of transfer and after 2 more cycles they discovered a problem with the containment area. It had become saturated to a point that their technology could no longer hold in the mana. They then realized that the mana would escape eventually and poison their home dimension. While they were transferring their entire race to the new dimension they did not want to be responsible the eventual death of their home dimension.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. With half of their population already transferred they could only put a stop gap measure in place. They created a vast artificial intelligence that would expand the area of mana ¡°infection¡± at a non-lethal rate. Because their dimension was littered with life that had not achieved sentience yet but had the potential, the program was to shuffle these proto-sentients around until they were ready to deal with such a great change. When the artificial intelligence deemed them ready to adapt to the new circumstances they would be slowly exposed to increasing mana levels until they were able finally be integrated into the expanded mana zone. To help the new peoples adapt, the concept of making it a game was employed. With advanced technology they could easily flash clone and ¡°restart¡± most intelligences allowing for respawns and other game like elements. Feeling that they had done the best that they could the Progenitors then continued their migration to the new dimension while leaving a method for new sentient species to join them in the future. Every ten thousand years the Progenitors would send probes through to update the artificial intelligence on their discoveries and update the Great Game they had employed to manage the conversion of their dimension into a mana dimension. This continued on for over 2 million years. Without warning the updates stopped and all contact was lost with the Progenitor race. After another 5 million years, emergency protocols were instituted by the artificial intelligence. This cause some changes in the Great Game. Integration was sped up in hopes of developing this dimensions races to a point where they would progress to a point where they could re-establish contact with the Progenitors. Due to the possibility that a hostile threat had occurred that prevented the Progenitors from contacting the artificial intelligence, emergency protocols instituted several strengthening games and devices to inflate the capability of this dimension¡¯s people. It was determined that due to possible hostility that before any being was allowed to cross they needed to reach a certain level of combat ability. Once a being has reached a certain level of capability they are deemed advanced enough to modify certain parameters of the Great Game under emergency protocols until contact with the Progenitors is re-established. Some modification in the past made by other beings from this dimension are the ability to bring other planet and populations through with them to the new dimension. The total number was determined based upon their strength as measured by the Great Game. Very little else has been changed in the Great Game procedures.
Great Game if I ask questions will you answer them?
To the best of my ability. Your access is high enough that I can talk to you directly now.
Great. How much of our dimension has been converted currently?
Currently 31% of this dimension has been converted to accept mana.
What is the approximate time needed to finish the conversion of this dimension?
With the current rate of expansion it is estimated that another 162.34 million years will suffice to convert this dimension.
Is there a way to speed this process up without negatively impacting indigenous species?
There is no current way to speed up the conversion. It is hypothesized that after 50% of the dimension is converted there may be enough mana energy to speed up the conversion, but that is just a projection at this point in time.
Is there anything that I can do to improve the survivability rate of future integrated intelligences to prevent such a significant die off as such that occurred on Earth?
I can hypothesize several methods. I cannot implement them with current parameters.
Can you please list the top three methods that could improve survivability of newly integrated people.
1. Longer exposure to mana before conversion. This would result in less mana shock and more acceptance. However, this would extend the conversion time of the dimension by 51.76 million years. 2. Multiple ¡°lives¡± granted to participants in the tutorial. This would increase survivability, but would negatively affect integration into the Great Game as a whole as many undesirables that are normally weeded out would now survive. 3. Advanced notification of the event. Dependent on the civilization this could lead to an increase of up to 50% survivability. However, it is estimated that many civilization may react negatively to the news and cause more damage to themselves if given more time to prepare.
For my first change I authorize you to implement option 1. Even if the eventual conversion of this dimension will take longer it would be better to have a greater survivability of indigenous people on a planet being introduced to the Great Game. Next, is there a reason for the level 5,000 limit for this dimension?
Yes, the concentration of mana will not allow large numbers of high level users as they concentrate and use more of the available mana. The level limits increase as the conversion of dimension continues. Individuals or anomalies such as yourself while using more mana are sustainable due to small numbers.
Can I use one of my changes to increase the level and stats of myself and my companions?
This would be acceptable as you will be transferred to the new dimension within the year if not immediately following these questions. No disruption to the overall mana concentration will happen during that time.
Before I do that what is the estimated levels and abilities of creatures and other beings in the higher dimension.
From data sent back by the Progenitors over the years it seems as if the higher dimension does not quantify your progress as levels, but progresses more like the cultivation novels from your Earth. However, I do know that the beginning monsters and lower leveled animals would be the equivalent of levels 1,000 to 2,000.
If you had to separate the levels of creatures in the new dimensions into five tiers could you give a reasonable estimate of what that would be level wise for what I know?
My best estimate would be as follows. Tier 1 = 1,000 -1,500 Tier 2 = 1,500 -3,000 Tier 3 = 3,000 ¨C 6,000 Tier 4 = 6,000 ¨C 12,000 Tier 5 = 12,000 and above
So my strength is equivalent to a higher tier 2 or lower tier 3. I am at the pinnacle of this dimension and could barely be considered a lower level mid-range person in the dimension I was going to enter. I mean it was a better start than what I had here, but I did not realize that it would have such a huge difference. How am I going to keep myself and others safe? In fact, how did the Progenitors keep themselves safe? Great Game why were the native inhabitants of the higher dimension so worried about the Progenitors if they were such a low level compared to their powerhouses?
Crossing dimensions apparently strengthens the foundation of energy absorption in the new dimension in some way. While the Progenitor race may have transferred themselves and started out weak they soon started showing signs of being able to obtain the peak of power in large numbers. Out of 1 billion individuals the chances of a single person reaching tier 5 or higher are still less than 1%. However, the strengthened foundations of the Progenitors allowed them to easily break through tiers in large numbers. According to the information sent back large groups or sects maintain power in the next dimension and most are only led by high tier 3¡¯s or a single powerful tier 4 individual. The Progenitors were close to becoming tier 3 as a group with the possibility of a high number of them reaching tier 4 and tier 5. This would vastly upset the power structure that currently resides in the next dimension. I hypothesize that some of the larger powerhouses banded together to wipe out or enslave the Progenitor race which is why I have not heard from them in millions of years.
So it was not that the Progenitors were necessarily strong, but that they represented a potential future problem. How strong could I make all of the residents of Earth and the planets I am going to take with me before transferring to the next dimension.
With six months preparation I can concentrate enough incoming mana from the higher dimension to elevate the entire citizenry of ten planets to an average level of 400 to 500. Some would be higher based on their current levels and some would be lower, but no citizen would transfer with less than 350 levels. I would have to take away two more of your Great Game change privileges in order to do this.
Let¡¯s see level up myself and my companions, 1 change. The change from earlier plus these two new ones would put me at 4 out of my 5 changes being used. Since I literally cannot stop the Great Game or make any large changes without putting the entire dimension in danger that is not bad. I do not want to leave one change unused though. What could I do with it? I got it! Great Game, is it possible for you to design and implement a system that would travel with me to the new dimension and assist me in learning, remembering, identifying, and progressing faster in the new dimension. Ooh, there is a big pause right now. I wonder if that is good or bad?
Using technology and programming knowledge from the Progenitors I could fuse a limited A.I. into your very genetic code so it would be able to travel with you. I cannot guarantee how helpful it would be, but I believe it would accomplish what you are asking for. It should be able to evolve with you as you progress in the next dimension.
Sweet I am going to have an A.I. companion that can help me become as overpowered in the new dimension as here if everything goes right. I want to use my last four changes to implement what we have discussed.
Very well your companions and yourself will be transferred into the new dimension as soon as your requested upgrades are complete. Your planets will follow at the six month period after I have upgraded their status. The next you awake you will be in a new dimension. Thank you for playing the Great Game. Goodbye Mark Anderson.
My consciousness started to fade out. It was time to move on to bigger and better things. No one can know what the future holds, but I think I have lived a life that was both fulfilling and rewarding while helping out others. I hope I can continue my adventures soon. THE END FOR NOW.