《Gamemaster's Adventures in another world》 Prologue ¡°Ugh¡­ How in the world do people even hack in a VRMMORPG? I mean seriously! The coding within virtual reality games are way different than computer codes!¡± ¡°Leave those issues with the Development Team, our job is to report our findings and remove abusive players. That¡¯s it.¡± Somewhere in the future where virtual reality games are real, blah blah blah. I¡¯m certain you heard of this before, let¡¯s just skip to my introduction. My name is Verden Kyler, a Game Master in this virtual reality world. Oh, and do not mention about my appearance. I haven¡¯t change one bit since I was eleven years old for some reason. No, doctors did not try to find out for the reason behind my ¡®eternal youth¡¯, leave it alone. Anyway, in this world call Avant-Garde¡¯s Mirror Sky; the first virtual reality game and a role-playing game to the boot. Everything is as realistic as possible, the NPCs, the mobs, the weather, temperature, etc. It¡¯s very high quality, and surprisingly not an expensive game in this day of age. Avant-Garde¡¯s Mirror Sky boast around six million people playing. Yeah¡­ With a fan base that large, one would be surprise how many jerks and hackers are in it. Did I mention that this is for the US and European servers in total? Yeah¡­ So, to counter all these problems the creators and stockholders hire us Game Masters/Moderators to patrol the game and help fix some bugs (We mostly fix the bugs¡­ Boring stuff). Thing is about Game Masters is that we have a strict rule of no interference unless it¡¯s an event, dealing with abusive players, or otherwise stated. The bright side is that we have reality warping powers, which we barely used unless it¡¯s a GM Event. ¡°Remind me again what macroing is?¡± My co-worker Curtis Hester is a decent guy. A bit complaintive but he gets the job done very well. I pulled out my Rulebook and told him what macroing is. ¡°Macroing is a third party program that allows individuals to perform tasks automatically without the player itself. It¡¯s a bit more complicated than that¡­¡± ¡°Got it. My question is why? Virtual Reality was made for people to enjoy it like they do in real life! What¡¯s the point of letting some program do everything for you?¡± ¡°I get your point¡­ But it doesn¡¯t matter right now. I locked onto the IP Account.¡± The individual who was using the macroing program already fled, but I got his/her Account Number. We can leave it to the Development Team to determine if its account is tainted by third party programs that has provided players unfair advantages. If we had gotten there and visual saw them hacking, then we could pass judgement on them. ¡°So we¡¯re done?¡± ¡°Yup¡­¡± ¡°So¡­ How¡¯s your romantic life?¡± ¡°I should make that a taboo subject, if a lady try dating me¡­ Let¡¯s not imagine how wrong it would look. I look like I am eleven, in game and real life.¡± ¡°Then why not make an avatar that makes you look older?¡± ¡°I hate people who try to create an avatar that doesn¡¯t represent them¡­ Especially those guys who pick a female avatar.¡± Seriously, you can use the Auto Avatar Creation to create an avatar that looks just like you. Of course, some people won¡¯t do that for several of reasons. I won¡¯t hold it against them, but to create an avatar of an opposite gender is perverted. ¡°Hmm, good point I guess. By the way the GM Event will begin tomorrow. We can finally unleash our power upon these puny players!¡± ¡°Curtis, I¡¯m still task with patrolling the game.¡± ¡°Oh right. Wait didn¡¯t you volunteer to patrol?¡± ¡°I get paid extra by doing so. Not that I need it, but somebody got to keep the game safe.¡± ¡°Alright, good luck then.¡± Curtis took out some shades from his white uniform and put them on his eyes. ¡°Doesn¡¯t this make me cool?¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± Game Masters have special uniforms that varies depending on their tasks and server affiliation. When new players start, they are given a Guide Book on who is a real Game Master and which ones are fake. Curtis wears something like a white and black school uniform with our Game Master emblem attach to the shoulders and right chest. Dark blue gloves and neon outlined black boots. As for me¡­ I wear a black hoodie with the Game Master Emblem, black pants and black boots (wearing all black). My size makes me stand out, so I don a black and white mask to cover my face. Okay, so the reason why I have this kind of uniform is because after that incident in the GM Event with people treating me like a kid. I asked for another type of uniform that could conceal my appearance and the executives happily agreed since my rage is legendary. Keep in mind that we Game Master are invisible to the player¡¯s eye for obvious reason (catching hackers, duh).If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Our shift is almost over.¡± ¡°Yours is almost over¡­ I still have to track down those Item Dupers¡­ Annoying brats, duplicating items just to make profit¡­¡± ¡°Yeesh. Well see you later Verden, logging out!¡± ¡°See you later.¡± Curtis¡¯s avatar envelope in a bright light and vanish, logging out of the system. Tracking down the Item Dupers, I teleported to the Community Market where players can sell their items and other sorts of virtual stuff. No one saw me since I am in Stealth Mode. ¡°Now then¡­ Item inflation rate for the Draconic Aural Blade is up by 65%... Market Stall #127¡­¡± I pulled out my holographic clipboard (its call a Stat-Checker) that display statistics of the game. There are countless of things I could get from my Stat-Checker, but right now I am focus on locating the player who is selling duplicated items. A notification popped up on my Stat-Checker. It¡¯s the same notification for all the staff who patrol the Avant-Garde¡¯s Mirror Sky world¡­ It caused an uproar a few years ago. Just to simplified things, players can get a simple headset that can transfer their minds into the virtual world. But there is another way if you¡¯re fancy and rich, a capsule that can preserve your body while you¡¯re in the virtual world. Apparently, after an earthquake that hit his home. The missing player name Richard Anderson vanish from his capsule along with his Account file. The guy is from some sort of famous company and let me tell you; they raised an uproar. They thought that we were behind the ¡®kidnapping¡¯, but after considering how absurd the claim is¡­ Well they went quiet and went on a manhunt for the CEO¡¯s son. Anti-climactic. Of course, the company that hired us. Avant-Grande Inc., issue every staff members who patrol the game to be on the lookout for Richard, also known by his player name: Tsrif. Honestly speaking, I don¡¯t know what happened. I¡¯m not even sure if we are able to locate the guy. Could be a hoax after all. I ignored the notification since I didn¡¯t detect any abnormalities in the game. Teleporting to Market Stall #127, I did a scan on the items unnoticed by the Merchant Bot. There¡¯s about three ways you can sell your items in this world. One is by trading, the other is by standing at the stall to sell things yourself, and lastly hiring a Merchant Bot to stand in your place. It¡¯s very simple, the seller lists a price and the buyer (if they have enough cash) buys it. Five Draconic Aural Blades, we have a system that allows us to determine if these items are counterfeit or not. Some sort of genuine code created from the game itself. Duplicating the items also duplicates the complicated code. In a sense every item is one of a kind. And all five of these high level weapons have the same code. I pressed on my ear where my Communicator is to chat with the Security Team Operator. ¡°Verden here. I found five duplicated items that is currently being sold at the Community Market. I am transmitting the player¡¯s file code.¡± ¡°I got the files code. Five Draconic Aural Blades, am I correct?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Good work, we¡¯ll deal with the offender. Many thanks Verden; hopefully we can update our security system on time. Sorry about this.¡± ¡°No problem, keep up the good work.¡± The Anti-Duplicating System is part of the security system that detects items being duplicated and identifies the offender to the Security Team. Because the system is in the Alpha stage, Game Masters and Moderators have to personally check the items that are being duplicated when the system is being updated. The Market Stall along with the Merchant Bot disappeared into thin air leaving several pair of eyes staring at the empty spot. My break has arrived. ¡°Accept.¡± Stretching, I decided to go to the Caf¨¦ in Refallel City. It¡¯s a city where most people started out, so you will see a lot of newbies and veterans there for hangout. Did I mention you can drink and eat in this world? The flavors and such is realistic, but you won¡¯t be actually full just be eating virtual food. Still, the food here is great. I wonder how people are able to program taste buds¡­ Teleporting¡­ Or warping¡­ Whatever people call it these days. ¡­ Refallel Caf¨¦ is an extremely large caf¨¦ that could be mistaken for some sort of large fancy mansion. Many chairs and tables of different sizes due to the variety of species like those common elves and human sorts. The NPCs that work in the caf¨¦ are often the guards, servers, bartenders and musicians. I¡¯m here for the warm air and somewhat peaceful mood. I don¡¯t need to order anything since I can conjure up my own meal and even influence NPCs to do my things, which we barely use actually¡­ I really don¡¯t want to draw attention to myself, so I went outside of the caf¨¦ where the soft green grass were and lay down. To ensure that I really don¡¯t draw attention to myself, I am still in Stealth Mode. I just want to lay down and enjoy the ray of sunshine, it¡¯s a lot better than the real world since we don¡¯t have annoying tiny insects crawling around the grass. That also includes those annoying flies, so¡­ Virtual World for the win? ¡°What a scrub, you actually focus on perfecting your escape and healing over damage? Really?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been extremely hostile towards me for no reason. Did your healer abandoned you?¡± There seems to be some sort of argument between two people, one burly man and a well-built teen. The burly man is the one who called that kid a scrub; whatever that means¡­ Kids these days¡­ Anyway, I got their account names. The burly guy is called Hercluses similar to Hercules from Greek (?) mythology. The teenager is called Veoter. According to my Report List (shown by my Stat-Checker), the burly guy, Hercluses is a douche-bag. Having been reported by 16 people for verbal abusive and harassment to the extreme. The other guy has nothing on him. I may be off duty, but I can still perform my task to a smaller extent. Especially abusive players who love to harass others just for fun. At least I think they do it just for fun. We can do a minor suspension, but I feel like I would let this guy off a bit since I am in a relaxed mood. I decided to simply drop a thunderbolt on him. Yup, we¡¯re the big guys upstairs. Don¡¯t mess with us. Part of the clear blue sky went dark purple followed by a thunderous roar. A single purple lightning bolt (or is it thunderbolt still? I have no idea...) struck Hercluses causing him to spaz and stiffen immediately. ¡°Uh¡­ I¡¯ll¡­ Go grind some¡­ Golems? Golems?¡± The burly man staggered away while everyone near him moved out of the way. The expressions on everyone¡¯s face is priceless. Here¡¯s a fact: that thunderbolt can in fact do damage, but because I felt ¡®harmless¡¯ today I let it deal no damage. The catch? It causes a status effect called . That guy is wandering the opposite direction of where we wanted to go. Don¡¯t worry though, it¡¯s only for ten seconds. Well, time to sleep and hope nobody stands on me. They¡¯ll go through me actually but that¡¯s still somewhat unpleasant¡­ One hour nap is all I need in this fine and nostalgic area¡­ ¡­ Chapter 1: To the Info Center! ¡°Huh?! Whoa what¡¯s going¡­?¡± My Communicator keeps shouting error until I answered the freakin¡¯ thing. ¡°Ugh¡­ I hope I didn¡¯t overslept¡­¡± I pulled out my Stat-Checker. The time is 6:21 pm¡­ ¡°¡­ Did I sleep for three hours?!¡± I press on my Communicator and call my manager. ¡°A bug? Man¡­ I can still logout at¡­¡± No logout button. Blank slate, nothing there. It was there!! I logout many times before damn it! ¡°¡­ Don¡¯t panic¡­ The players are playing normally right?¡± ¡°Unknown NPCs?¡± I looked around, there are many people here¡­ Something doesn¡¯t look right with them¡­ I been working as a Game Master for five years. I basically can tell an NPC by glance without having to look at their indicator! Everyone here is an NPC! ¡°Did some major hacking group attack the game? Or an update?¡± ¡°¡­ The hell is going on?!¡± So these so called NPCs are players or not? No¡­ Even players have some sort of coding to them. I glance around, everything seems to be in order¡­ All I can notice is that there are considerably less people (NPC?!) here¡­ Normally, you¡¯ll have a lot of new and old players here mixing in with the NPCs¡­ I don¡¯t see that many ¡®player¡¯ like people who often have weapons with them. ¡°Are you suggesting that I kill everybody?¡± Oh, the <[TEXT]> thing is what you call an AI. Artificial Intelligence for those of you who don¡¯t know what it stands for. Well not entirely an AI anyway¡­ We just call it AI. The AI is linked to the entire database of guidelines, rules, troubleshooting, and etc. program into it. If we somehow encounter something unusual like the situation is right now, the AI would provide us with a suggestion. Rarely does it that since we often report abnormalities to our managers. ¡°As much as I am capable of destroying entire servers, I rather not get my hands bloody if these guys haven¡¯t actually done anything wrong.¡± ¡°I was thinking more that these guys are actually human than NPCs¡­¡± ¡°¡­ Not so sure about that yet¡­ Ugh¡­ Now what do I do?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think patch notes is going to help us¡­ Maybe I¡¯ll¡­ Collect information? Whoa! Wait do I still have my powers?!¡± I check my GM Skill Screen. ¡°Wait¡­ All of my power restrictions are lifted?¡± ¡°¡­ That means I¡¯m literally a god in this world¡­¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ No wait¡­ If I do that, then what¡¯s the point in experiencing the world?¡± With my power restrictions lifted, I can literally do almost anything. Downside is that I¡¯m one of those guys that hate being lazy. I¡¯m a pure being. Not really¡­ Anyway, if I relied on my powers too much, then I will most likely become lazy¡­ Once it¡¯s gone¡­ Then I¡¯ll have a hard time adjusting. ¡°If I keep this up, I¡¯ll become anti-social¡­ The King of all anti-social tactics/skills (I ran out of ideas, okay?)¡­ It¡¯s best if I blend in with the crowd and¡± shivers ¡°ask for information?¡± <¡­> Looks like the AI doesn¡¯t have any comments on my social tactics. Oh well. My Stealth Mode is still on¡­ ¡°I need a secluded place to decloak myself¡­¡± ¡­ I manage to find an alleyway with some barrels to decloak behind, it took a while since I had to adjust my radar to find a suitable place without any distraction. After finding one I teleported and deactivated Stealth Mode. ¡°Where do I go now? Oh yeah! The Info Center!¡± The Info Center is a building often used by new players to find out more about certain features, abilities, laws and other sorts of questions one might asked. Like a FAQ in game. They also provide the patch notes if you want to read them in game. Not that it¡¯s going to help us¡­ Anyway, I could teleport there¡­ But that would just be me being lazy. I rather enjoy what people call ¡®life¡¯ and ¡®effort¡¯ since I am technically a god here¡­ Maybe that doesn¡¯t make any sense¡­ Just think of me as being a down to earth guy okay? Besides the scenery is nice¡­ The stone floor has gotten a bit dirtier, but everything is bound to wear down eventually. The sky is clear of clouds and the sun is shining down, wonderful weather we¡¯re having¡­ Everything seems fine, only¡­ Everybody is staring at me¡­ From their perspective, it is odd for a kid to be wearing a featureless masquerade mask. Wait¡­ I just notice that my clothing is different than everyone¡­ It¡¯s like I¡¯m a time traveler sent back into the semi-medieval age (plus fantasy magic fix with slight sci-fi) wandering like an idiot. ¡°I should have gone to the Info Center under stealth before uncloaking¡­¡± Too late for that now, no choice but to run to the Info Center if I want to escape from these gaze. ¡°Sir, that kid looks very suspicious sir.¡± ¡°Ah, he ran away.¡± The oddly dressed boy sped away with an unmatched speed. ¡°He¡¯s a fast one.¡± ¡°Shall we report this?¡± ¡°¡­ I think its best¡­¡± ¡­ Finally I reached the Info Center so sad that it¡¯s full of people! The place seems more crowded than I could remember. No wait, they¡¯re putting up stalls in the damn area! No wonder! What is with all these goddamn market stalls?! Go to the freakin¡¯ Community Market! I am fully tempted to cause a tornado at the center of the crowd. So. Tempted. Half of it is because people are blocking my damn way, the second half is that you cannot setup stalls in this area. There is a restriction on market stalls in certain areas! This is one of them! Players cannot setup market stalls in restricted areas. The stall kit wouldn¡¯t budge. These people are NPCs (harsh words) so they are the loopholes in this rule. I begin to feel heat emitting from my eyes causing my eye to glow red. You ever wonder why in film or animations where a character wears a mask, but the audience can¡¯t see the damn eyes within those eye holes? It¡¯s all shadowy and stuff? Well mine is similar, it¡¯s actually a sunglasses like feature. What¡¯s with my glowing red eyes? They input that into my avatar so they know my mood. When I¡¯m angry, my eyes start to glow red to indicate my building rage. When I say that my rage is legendary, I really mean my rage is world ending. I cleaned out the entire server somehow three times. The only thing closest to that is a shutting down the server. (And I wasn¡¯t fired or yelled at for that.) People who saw my eye glowing red utter a small sound and took a step back. Judging by their reaction, they never seen a human eye glowing red like a star. They¡¯re all normal people, though I think normal is overrated I understand if people want to not become a trouble magnet.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Please let me through.¡± I said in the kindest voice I can muster. I¡¯m not that angry, yet¡­ Everybody made way for me like how a positive and positive magnet repulse each other. ¡°Many thanks.¡± I walked pass the stalls and gave them a glare for violating our rulebook. I¡¯m like a Templar knight when it comes to our rules. I decided to let them off actually, they¡¯re all vendors that probably makes a living like this. The Info Center is a large building like most of the public buildings. Its entrance door is permanently open unless an emergency comes up like an Invasion Event. I walked pass the entrance and into the noisy building. First thing I notice is that there is another counter that was not there before. ¡°¡­ An Item Shop? They built an Item Shop here?¡± First things first about the Info Center. This place is for information like news channel and such. The second is for beginners to obtain beginner¡¯s potion and equipment from the Info Center free of charge. They do not however, sell navigational items like Teleportation Scrolls; the reason for doing so is because we want to give the beginner players a chance to navigate and experience realistic travel. ¡°Ah whatever¡­¡± Who am I to judge? Everyone. I¡¯m the Game Master, I pass judgement. But that¡¯s not important, the first thing is to acquire information like a normal down to earth person. I like doing things the hard way sometimes. The people in here aren¡¯t crowding the area allowing me to make my way through the building and to the News counter. Along the way people gave me odd looks, which is starting to irk me. Standing behind the News counter are three people. Two males and one female, I do not recognized all three of them. You may be saying that is because they are NPC I forgotten, but I been around since the beta version of the game and I know most of the NPCs by name and their background. Especially the ones in the Info Center, the staff (Game Masters and such) make contact with the NPC in the Info Center more than any other NPCs. I know all of them personally, not these guys. ¡°Can I help you?¡± One of the male staff wearing glasses nodded in my direction. ¡°Do you know anyone name Brad Wingman?¡± The glasses guy frowned. ¡°You know the Head of the Info Center?¡± The glasses guy is name Victor Stover. Victor noticed the oddly dressed child and felt that this boy isn¡¯t someone ordinary by seeing his emblem on his uniform. He¡¯s even wearing a high quality mask for god sake. ¡°I know him well enough. Do you know where he is?¡± The boy is obviously irritated. ¡°Yes I do, but I¡¯m afraid that he is busy.¡± ¡°Please call him out, tell him that Verden Kyler is asking for him.¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t do that.¡± ¡°May I ask why?¡± ¡°If you are familiar with him then you would know that he is constantly in a trance like state. He is a Wiseman that strives for knowledge, he should not be disturbed.¡± ¡°He will awake from his meditation when someone mention my name. Please.¡± ¡°I cannot.¡± ¡°Is there a problem?¡± Another employee walk up from behind and glance at the masked boy. ¡°Yes, this young boy, Verden Kyler wants to meet Master Brad Wingman. He said that he knows who Master Brad is and wants to meet with him immediately.¡± ¡°Verden Kyler is it? Howdy boy, my name is Jack Krieger. I¡¯m the manager of this place.¡± ¡°I am twenty three years old. For future reference, please do not refer to me as a child.¡± ¡°Twenty three?¡± Both Victor and Jack looked at me skeptically, I know it¡¯s understandable. I do sound young, surprising I sound a lot older than an eleven years old, but that doesn¡¯t stop me from getting angry. I knew I should have done this the easy way¡­ ¡°Uh¡­ Are you an elf or something?¡± ¡°No, I am something else.¡± ¡°Right¡­ Kid.¡± My eyes started glowing red. Victor and Jack stiffen at that; Jack started sweating while Victor grew paled and held his breathe. This glowing red eye is convenient. ¡°I apologized! But, but¡­ Master Brad cannot ¨C¡° ¡°Oh? Game Master Verden? Is that you?¡± An elderly voice came from upstairs behind the counter. All three of us looked up; the two employees looked shock while I frowned. Standing on the stairs is an elderly man with a long gray hair and shaved face. The elderly man is wearing a faded light blue robe and a crystal pendent. That pendent¡­ I check the elderly man¡¯s indicator:
  • Brad Wingman - NPC
Brad Wingman? Wait¡­ But Brad Wingman is a man in his forties, he doesn¡¯t look anything like an elderly man! ¡°It¡¯s me alright¡­ But¡­ Are you really Brad Wingman?¡± ¡°Of course! In case you didn¡¯t notice, we humans actually age.¡± ¡°I know that. I¡¯m asking¡­ This is awkward¡­¡± ¡°This is awkward for me too. It¡¯s been exactly thirty years since I saw any Game Masters, I was worried!¡± Thirty years?! ¡°Did you just say that it¡¯s been thirty years?¡± ¡°Yes. What happened?¡± ¡°¡­ I have no idea¡­¡± Jack, who has been silently listening to our conversation interrupted with a polite bow to Brad. ¡°Master Brad, it is an honor to see you. Um, may I ask what is going on here?¡± ¡°Quite simple my boy, I awoke from my meditation and came out to meet with Verden here.¡± ¡°Your blunt sarcasm earned you the nickname Captain Obvious, Brad¡­ Still the same as always, well¡­ That¡¯s good I guess.¡± My comment made Brad howled with laughter. ¡°Captain Obvious Brad Wingman! Oh how I long to hear that nickname again! Hai. I haven¡¯t changed much except for my appearance. Let¡¯s head towards the meeting rooms, we can discuss in private.¡± I looked around and notice that everyone is giving us the stares, all of them directed at Brad. Is he famous or something? ¡°Nothing to see here folks, please continue!¡± With those words said from Jack, everyone resume what they were doing. ¡°I will unlock the doors to let you in Master Verden.¡± ¡°No need Victor, Verden can easily pass without our permission anyway.¡± (Brad) ¡°Yeah, it¡¯ll be a pain to walk or jump over this counter.¡± I teleported a few yards to get past the counter and walked up the stairs ignoring Victor and Jack¡¯s expression. ¡­ Meeting room; it¡¯s just a medium sized room with a large round table and twenty chairs. It¡¯s as the name says; a room for meetings. I sat on one of the chairs while Brad sat two chairs away from me. ¡°What to say? It¡¯s a good thing you finish your nap and came looking for me. I would had to do things the easy way if you didn¡¯t show up.¡± ¡°I detected your presence, that¡¯s why I woke up from my meditation.¡± We Game Masters can influence NPCs¡¯ decisions, but we don¡¯t often do so. Anyway all NPCs are supposed to be respectful towards Game Masters, they will acknowledge us (unless we are in stealth mode). Those two NPCs didn¡¯t recognized me; one of the reasons why the AI will deem them an Unknown NPC Entity. ¡°Let me repeat what you said¡­ It¡¯s been thirty years here? In the Avant-Garde¡¯s Mirror Sky world?¡± ¡°Correct, though the people here call the entire world Grandia.¡± ¡°Impossible¡­¡± We have anniversaries and stuff but I do not remember the Development Team implicating a passing time feature. Look, what I am trying to say is that every single thing in this world is supposed to be timeless unless the developers change it! ¡°What is impossible?¡± ¡°Time isn¡¯t supposed to actually exist in this world¡­¡± Brad snorted. ¡°Now it does. Ever since you Game Masters disappear, the world order began to restore itself. Where have you been?¡± ¡°¡­ I took a nap for three hours and woke up finding myself isolated from contact.¡± ¡°Well the spirits didn¡¯t tell me anything about you. Then again, you Game Masters are the gods that disobeys the laws of the universe.¡± ¡°Thirty years¡­¡± ¡°I was forty-seven years old when I last met you, now I am seventy-seven years old this year. Proof that it has been thirty years. You obviously know that.¡± ¡°... Well¡­ Now what do I do?¡± I have no idea how to get back to reality (or back to my world) even with all of my GM abilities¡­ ¡°I don¡¯t know, build a temple for yourself and proclaim yourself as a god.¡± ¡°What a meaningless thing to do.¡± ¡°Why not? I know you can do many things that even the deities of this world can¡¯t do. Hell, I know you guys can even reverse time¡­ Oh¡­¡± ¡­ Light bulb¡­ ¡°Oh yeah, I forgot I could do that.¡± I don¡¯t know how to call this situation, but the restoration files should still be there¡­ Yup it is! If I can restore everything back to the¡­ Update Patch or something I can maybe find out about what lead up to this situation. How convenient that my powers are unrestricted, normally and obviously, I can¡¯t do these kind of things. ¡°Verden, please don¡¯t.¡± ¡°Rule Zero Braddy, the GM is always right. So¡­ Uh¡­ Nothing¡­¡± ¡°Nothing?¡± Brad look pitifully at the little figure slowly curling up in the chair. ¡°The restoration files¡­ There¡¯s nothing in it¡­ It¡¯s like everything is gone¡­¡± I am truly done for¡­ What am I to do in this world? Well¡­ On the bright side, I don¡¯t have to indulge in worldly laws¡­ Yeah¡­ No more work¡­ File those annoying IRS Tax¡­ I can do whatever I want in this world¡­ I brighten up a bit. Sure I may be anxious isolated from reality, but at least I am capable of fending for myself in this world. ¡°Okay, being all alone without my co-workers in this world isn¡¯t that bad. I still have my powers.¡± I uncurled and stood up from my chair and stretch. ¡°Question is what do I do now?¡± ¡°Well, for one you shouldn¡¯t destroy this world like you did many years ago.¡± ¡°Three times actually. Some brat called me a brat.¡± ¡°Are you a chil- Uh¡­ Forget what I was about to say. I¡¯m just glad that I was able to meet you again. Everyone else¡­¡± Brad Wingman is actually the first NPC ever created. The developers designed Brad to be someone who is knowledgeable on the game mechanics for new players and sometimes even veteran players. I might not have mention this, but the NPCs and mobs in this world are actually perfect AIs. They can feel, think, react and even adept to the situation without the developers interfering with their programming. Because Brad is life like and being the first NPC, the developers and staff have a friendly relationship with him and converse with him. Eventually Brad knows most of the staff¡¯s personality and even their families. ¡°You miss them. Don¡¯t you?¡± Brad nodded. ¡°I am close to death. Maybe I can live longer than an average human, but I will eventually die. When my creators disappeared, I felt like the world died, alone¡­ Like how a child would feel if their parents died. But the world grew, new generations rise and the world recovered its color. Know what I am saying?¡± ¡°Yes. I must ask you one thing. What about the players?¡± ¡°The players¡­ They disappeared as well. They were here, next they vanish into thin air. In fact, I¡¯m not so certain about what happen¡­ But around the world, civilizations made them into divine beings. Idolized them.¡± ¡°Idolized them?¡± ¡°Do you know Kritical and his assembly?¡± ¡°Of course I do.¡± Kritical is a player who is the first one, along with his party to defeat all Seventy-two Malefic. The 72 Malefic are powerful bosses that holds unique abilities individually. Not only are they difficult to fight, but they were all were design to counter certain line ups, classes, and battle tactics. ¡°They turn Kritical and his ¡®hero¡¯ group into a legend. Do you want to hear the tale?¡± ¡°Oh? My first time hearing it, sounds interesting. Go on.¡± ¡°Ahem. You can find a storybook to read the full thing, I¡¯ll just give you a brief summary. The legend talks about 72 demons who broke free of their realm and wreak havoc on Grandia. A lonely warrior rose from the countless ranks of mercenaries to stop the demonic threat, he traveled the world to find powerful allies and befriend them. Satisfied with his friends¡¯ ability, they set out to fight against the 72 demons; each battle they fought was just as fierce as the next, eventually they manage to kill the last demon. Kritical¡¯s Band of Heroes return home triumphantly, the end.¡± ¡°Sounds like it¡¯s going to be an Epic poem.¡± ¡°There is a variant of that.¡± ¡°Oh, well I see what you mean. In the common people¡¯s eyes, they are obviously godlike.¡± ¡°Sigh, not just the common people¡­¡± ¡°This is no longer the world I knew¡­ Looks like everything is ancient history or even a folklore. Everything changed.¡± ¡°What are you brooding about?¡± ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t know. What do I do? Where do I live? What¡¯s my function now?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t you just create a living space for yourself? Didn¡¯t your friend Curtis made another dimension as an event? With all sorts of strange monsters in it?¡± ¡°Yeah I can, but I¡­ I don¡¯t really know what I want.¡± Brad rubbed his chin. ¡°Sucks being a god that can do almost everything huh?¡± ¡°Game Master, but yeah.¡± ¡°I heard from Game Manager Zhan that you¡¯re into reenactments. Mostly battle reenactments.¡± ¡°Zhan Damnit! I¡¯ll¡­! Ugh, yeah. I couldn¡¯t play in most of it because of my appearance. People won¡¯t take you seriously when you look like an eleven years old.¡± ¡°Aw, poor little ¨C ¡° ¡°Don¡¯t push it.¡± ¡°I feel really bad for you. You did get a chance to be in a reenactment once right?¡± ¡°Not in any battle scene. I was neglected to a navigator.¡± ¡°Now I want to cry for you. Rest in pieces your dream.¡± Normally I would destroy anybody (mostly NPCs and players) who makes a mockery of me, but I begin to felt depressed because it¡¯s true. Then again¡­ I can warp reality in this world¡­ ¡°¡­ Verden I didn¡¯t mean it. I do however want to write a letter regarding about your condition to the King and Queen of Refallelia. They ¨C ¡° ¡°Oh whoa whoa¡­ King of Refallelia? There is no king in Refallelia, only a queen¡­ No wait, dammit it¡¯s been thirty years. Never mind. I know the queen if she¡¯s still the same queen thirty years ago, but not the king.¡± ¡°King Richard, Richard Regalia. A warrior king with a friendly personality, doesn¡¯t seem to suit a warrior though.¡± ¡°Richard¡­ Where did I hear the name before?¡± ¡°Hmm? There are many people named Richard.¡± ¡°No not that¡­ Wait¡­ Brad, did you receive a notice about a missing player called Tsrif?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a bit fuzzy... But I did, why?¡± ¡°The king married the queen taking up the family name Regalia, what was his original family name?¡± ¡°Err¡­ He called himself Richard Anderson I believe... Answer my question already, why?¡± Chapter 2: Lets meet the Royalty! ¡°Richard Anderson¡­ Anderson! The son of that CEO! He¡¯s here in this world? Of course he is! This kind of situation obviously deems at least someone in the same boat as I am!¡± ¡°Oh boy, here we go. Care to tell me what¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°Oh yeah. You might not know this, but Tsrif¡¯s real name is Richard Anderson. He¡¯s the kid that¡¯s been missing three years ago.¡± ¡°By your world¡¯s time? It¡¯s been thirty years here.¡± ¡°Okay, maybe thirty three years ago in Grandia time.¡± So Richard was here in this virtual world that somehow become real fantasy. That would explain why he disappeared in a non-logical sense, but it would logically explain where he is right now. If that¡¯s the case, then I better have a little chat with King Richard. ¡°I¡¯m going to Refallelia Capital, see you later Brad.¡± ¡°Wait! I ¨C Gah! Forget it.¡± Brad Wingman could only watch as the Calamity God disappeared. ¡­ I teleported to the Refallelia Capital; more specifically the front gates of Refallelia Castle. In Stealth Mode of course. ¡°Locked on! And shut up, I¡¯m trying to think of something!¡± My head is spinning, or screwy. How do one react in this type of situation? Simple, make a dramatic entrance¡­ Dramatic entrance my ass! What am I thinking?! I¡¯m just going to walk in and appear in front of him like Jacob Marley¡¯s ghost warning Scrooge! According to my radar, Richard is in the throne room along with the Queen of Refallelia: Tanya Regalia. I walked pass the iron gates under Stealth Mode and stroll through the castle hallways. The hallways were buzzing with life from domestic servants to Imperial Guards, not to mention that the hallways themselves are decorated with banners. Looks like this place hasn¡¯t change much. Fast forward¡­ I saw a portrait of Richard and Tanya in the gallery room. In the portrait, both Richard and Tanya looked around in their mid-twenties. Speaking of age, they should be around¡­ In their forties? I¡¯ll just walk through this wall and ignore the six other rooms before reaching the Imperial Throne Room. The Imperial Throne Room in the center of the castle and heavily guarded by elite soldiers (or knights). They¡¯re called Sentinel Monde, all high leveled guards that even most high leveled players would have a hard time soloing. That is, if you encourage their wrath. Not to mention they¡¯re jack of all trades, expert of all. Trust me, they know healing magic and other sorts of supposedly useless abilities and spells. Of course I walked right past them. Nothing to see here. ¡°¨C we discover remains of Count Van¡¯s personal army. I¡¯m sorry your majesties¡­ I¡¯m afraid that Count Van is among the casualties.¡± Oh? Did I reach something interesting? There are thirty people in the throne room. Fourteen noble looking people, six officials, the king and queen, and eight Sentinel Monde. The one who was speaking was one of the fourteen nobles (they look like nobles okay?). ¡°Count Van¡­ Duke Krimly, mobilized an army of 20,000 conscript soldiers, make sure the soldiers had fulfilled their training and at least stayed on reserved for two months before selecting them into combat! We cannot allow any more casualties!¡± Spoken like a true queen; sitting on the right side of the throne is a slightly wrinkled woman. Long dark brown hair and sharp green eyes, dressed in an elegant purplish gown. Queen Tanya of Refallelia. In this country, neither the king nor the queen is the absolute authority like ancient civilizations where the king is always ranked above the queen. Here in Refallelia, it only matters if the monarch is actually born into the royal family. Those who married into the royal family is consider below the queen/king. I believe the term is consort. The gruff man who was bowing to the throne is named Krimly. Don¡¯t forget his title as Duke. ¡°Yes your majesty!¡± ¡°As for all of you, stay alert. The Sincrests will not deter us!¡± ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°Dismiss.¡± The Sincrests huh¡­? The country of Sincrest is a kingdom that specializes in infantry warfare. Note that this Sincrest Kingdomis a human country, but they¡¯re great friends with the demi-human populations. I wonder what''s up... The throne room was emptied out while the Sentinel Monde stayed behind. I really wonder how I¡¯m going to make my appearance, Richard Anderson, the missing person for the last three years is right in front of me. Slightly aged and wrinkled, short dirty blond hair and friendly looking eyes that are colored hazel. I can tell there is a breastplate armor underneath those fancy robes. ¡°¡­ I need a break. I want to go to the library to read that novel.¡± Queen Tanya groaned while rubbing her head, Richard grinned and patted her shoulders. ¡°Well, I need a bath. Just hearing those economic garble made me sweat.¡± ¡°You always hated economics.¡± I will admit, those two look like they suit each other. Still questioning when to make my appearance¡­ Those eight Sentinel Monde will obviously make a fuss if I just appeared in front of them.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°I might as well take a bath as well. The perfume from nearly every single nobles is irritating my skin. This is why we take bathes daily.¡± Oh whoa! I am not revealing myself in one of their most private meetings! Now is the time to make my appearance! ¡­ But I really can¡¯t stand an uproar if I just appeared out of nowhere¡­ In the throne room too, it¡¯s one of the highly guarded area in the castle! I forgot I could do that¡­ SRR Activating¡­ Coding¡­ Omitting¡­ Transferring all properties¡­ Completed. Success! They didn¡¯t know that I just moved them into the SRR, those guards outside aren¡¯t there anymore since this is a different space. As for those eight guards¡­ I need to put them in Stasis since they would be a pain to deal with¡­ ¡°We shall escort your majesties to the indoor bathing area. Hmm?!¡± All of the Sentinel Monde brought their weapons up and swiftly made a formation. Activating their Imperial Protection Barrier Array, the small bubble surrounding both the King and Queen brighten up with a purple glow. They¡¯re fast to react¡­ Elite guards at their finest. ¡°What¡¯s happening?!¡± (Richard) Richard and Tanya both drew their daggers. ¡°We lost contact with the sentinel outside! We¡¯re isolated!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll activate a teleportation circle to get us to the safe room! Hang on, augh!¡± All eight of the Sentinel Monde froze under an aqua green aura. ¡°Shit!¡± The two royal badass drew their dagger closer and began chanting a spell. ¡°Whoa hold up you two! It¡¯s me, Game Master Verden Kyler.¡± ¡°Verden?!¡± Tanya stared at the tiny figure dressed in all black. Even if the GM logo isn¡¯t displayed, any original NPC would recognized the aura and name of a Game Master. ¡°Verden? It is you! What gives? Where the hell have you been?! Wait! Lenya don¡¯t attack him!¡± Swoosh! I felt the wind from the blade that was aimed at my spine. Yeesh, I don¡¯t know if I am immortal like I was back when this world is just a game, but I am not going to try it. ¡°Where did you come from?¡± I grabbed the Sentinel Monde¡¯s with the captain uniform, a browned hair tomboy. Her name is Lenya Regalia, I guess she¡¯s a princess then. A kick shot out that was supposed to collide with my chest. I dodged it nonchalantly, I got this clairvoyance inputted into my avatar. I placed magnetic cuffs on her arms and legs. She won¡¯t be able to move them. Lenya glared at me and spit. ¡°Watch it you brat.¡± Females are scary¡­ ¡°Lenya! Behave yourself! Game Master Verden, I¡¯m terribly sorry.¡± (Tanya) ¡°I¡¯m at fault as well, but I needed a way to converse with you guys.¡± ¡°You¡¯re a Game Master?! Is that true? Please tell ¨C¡° ¡°Calm down, I¡¯m actually in the same boat as you Richard.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± Now Richard looks dejected. Lenya on the other hand struggle with the magnetic cuffs. ¡°What¡¯s your goal?¡± (Lenya) ¡°Goal? I actually don¡¯t know. I simply want to know what¡¯s going on.¡± ¡°Game Master Verden¡­ What about my parents?¡± With pleading eyes, Richard stared intensely into my eyes. Again, creepy. ¡°Your parents are searching high and low for you. A massive manhunt with the latest surveillance technology has been used to search for you.¡± ¡°Latest¡­ Oh¡­¡± Tanya patted Richard¡¯s shoulder with a pity expression mixed with empathy. Tanya turned towards me. ¡°Lord Verden, I apologizes for my daughter¡¯s behavior once again. Um, could you please release her? That is, if she could refrain herself from attacking you.¡± Tanya gave Lenya cold stare causing Lenya to look confused and pouty. Lenya then nodded hesitantly. ¡°Sure thing.¡± I snapped my fingers to disable the magnetic cuffs. Lenya pulled herself up with a resentful expression and walked towards her parent. ¡°So¡­ Richard. I¡¯m assuming you tried to get back to our world, yes?¡± ¡°Yeah. Aside from dimensional transfer to other dimensions within Grandia, there is nothing about transferring to our world.¡± ¡°Huh, looks like you tried everything. If I can¡¯t do it, then it¡¯s very unlikely anyone can find a way.¡± Richard straighten himself and rubbed Lenya head. ¡°Well, even if we do find a way¡­ I¡¯m too old. I wonder¡­ Say, it¡¯s been thirty years here, but what are the years in our world?¡± ¡°Three years.¡± ¡°Ten years in Grandia per year in our world¡­¡± ¡°Dad. Who is this brat?¡± (HOLY SHIIIIIT!!!) My mask started to crackle. Did this pile of code, that hasn¡¯t been born in my time seriously call me a brat?! Meanwhile Tanya and Richard paled greatly. Tanya forced Lenya to bow before me. ¡°Hey!¡± ¡°Lenya! You¡¯re the Captain of the Sentinel Monde! Behave like one!¡± (Tanya) ¡°But¡­ He¡­¡± ¡°No buts! Lord Verden is one of the Old Gods!¡± ¡°Hah?!¡± I manage to suppress my temper, but old scars are reopening. No matter how old or young a person is, they will always assume I am a child. ¡°Err, teenagers?¡± (Richard) ¡°¡­ Good point.¡± (Me) Everybody let out a sigh of relief, except for me. Taking off my mask, I tossed it in the air and catch it repeatedly. The little brat named Lenya stared at me with a somewhat doubtful gaze, while I gave her the evil eye. ¡°Daughter huh? Is she your only child?¡± ¡°No, we have five others. Six in total.¡± (Tanya) ¡°I see. Well¡­ This was not a huge waste of my time. I actually don¡¯t know what I was going to do when I get here.¡± ¡°Why is that?¡± (Richard) ¡°See this room? It¡¯s another dimension I created without you guys noticing that quickly. Of course¡­ I forgot about those eight Sentinel Monde¡­¡± All four of us glance around looking at the frozen guards. ¡°I guess I should remove them from Stasis¡­ I hope, they don¡¯t prove much of a nuisance.¡± My remark caused Lenya to glare at me. ¡°You intrude upon my parents¡¯ domain and even kidnap them! Of course we¡¯ll do everything we can to protect them!¡± ¡°I know. But it doesn¡¯t change the fact that they can become very annoying. Like you right now.¡± I removed the Stasis spell from the eight guards. The moment I did so, they were about to do a counterattack before Tanya shouted them to stop. ¡°Lord Verden here does not mean us any harm. You may lower your guard, for now.¡± (Tanya) All eight did so without a word. Silence¡­ ¡°That¡¯s right Verden. Uh. I can call you Verden? Something along with a title?¡± (Richard) ¡°GM Verden, Lord Verden, Game Master Verden, Destroyer Verden, and Verden. Pick one I guess¡­¡± ¡°Lord Verden, how did you get here?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I wanted to know.¡± ¡°You weren¡¯t kidding when you said we¡¯re on the same boat. Hmm.¡± ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°Last question.¡± ¡°Kay.¡± ¡°Can I enter your Citadel and get a Pseudo Weapon?¡± ¡°Hah? Are you serious?¡± This guy¡­ Okay, so I have my own world (which I had forgotten about until now) where I reside and manage my affairs from. Similar to Curtis¡¯s Dimensional Gateway World. During GM Events such as GM Invasion and GM Raid; players can actually enter our places and try to gain unique loots from treasure chests and monsters. As for my place, it¡¯s famous for the mimicry monsters that I personally created. P.S.E.U.D.Os; Precise Synthetic Evasive Unobtrusive Droid Operator. Also known as Pseudos, Pseudoganger, Doppelganger, Pseudo Guard, etc. Terrible acronym, I know. A mixture of sci-fi and magic created these droids. They have the abilities to mimic and copy stats, spells (certain ones), weapons, appearance, and so on. They¡¯re not perfect, but they¡¯re really good at fighting and blending in. Oddly enough, they are mostly biological than robotic. Liquid metal mix with splicing cells or something. This is a game, or was a game you know¡­ Anyway, my ¡®dungeon¡¯ is by far the hardest and most rewarding; the Pseudo Sets. You may already guessed it by now, but I¡¯ll just tell you anyway. Pseudo Weapons/Armors allow users to mimic any weapons including their stats and some unique abilities associated with said weapon. Sounds good yeah? Downside is that the weapon can only mimic one weapon at a time (for players, not Pseudos) and have a -25% stat decreased of the said weapon. So let¡¯s say it mimics a Draconic Aural Blade. The Pseudocode Weapon will mimic all stats and even copy the aura ability, but the copied weapon is inferior to the Draconic Aural Blade by 25%. Things like damage and extra stat boost will be reduce by 25%. It isn¡¯t called Pseudo for nothing. Anyway, the great thing about it is that the Pseudocode Weapon can allow wielders to take hold of powerful weapons that they normally can¡¯t get due difficultly of obtaining it or they are a few level/stats short of equipping said weapons. Another restriction is that the wielders cannot mimic a gear that is ten levels above them Same thing with the Pseudo Armor Sets. That said, it¡¯s often called a Poor Man¡¯s Weapon/Armor since the real version of the copied ones are superior. ¡°Always been my dream to get at least the Pseudo Weapon.¡± ¡°I think you''ve been through enough crap¡­ Here.¡± I produced the Pseudo Weapon and tossed it towards Richard. The Pseudo Weapon is something like a gray bracelet with black linings. The expression on Richard¡¯s face was somewhat amusing. ¡°A-are you serious?¡± ¡°Yes, thirty years of whatever you been doing. I think you deserve some sort of reward.¡± ¡°Thank you Verden!¡± ¡°Uh huh¡­ Now what am I going to do? Oh right¡­ I need to return this room back to its dimension¡­¡± ¡°Deactivate.¡± The moment I deactivate the RSS, the huge door that lead to the throne room was busted down and an army of Sentinel Monde charged in. ¡°Stand down! Honestly Lord Verden, don¡¯t you think you could do something less obvious? I¡¯m certain that the entire kingdom is in an uproar right now...¡± Chapter 3: Intruders in the Citadel The aftermath was cleaned up quite nicely. The elite guards were repositioned and Lenya was send to her room. I think... Anyway, the Prime Minister arrived to see what''s all the racket. I''m surprised the old guy is still alive. He was in his fifties and is now around his eighties. The Prime Minister stormed in with his staff, took one good look at me, bowed, turned around. Then comes the best part. He clutched his heart and fell. Luckily his staff caught him and they called the medical staff in. They transported him away while he was babbling about a calamity god. Queen Tanya sat down and tapped her forehead with one finger. "Calamity God certainly suits you, Lord Verden." "Is that what they called me?" Richard chimed in. "Actually, it''s what everybody calls you. Even back then." I actually did not know that. Hm, wonder what tales they told about me. "That''s nice to hear, I think..." "Lord Verden, let us move onto our private communication room. Where we can announce your presence to other factions. Particularly to those who hold powers over said factions. If we let your presence be known to the mass... Well, there will be a massive panic." "Panic? Why?" "For one... The Game Masters are seen as tyrants. True, absolute tyrants. The ability to do anythinggives a bad story, especially since you Game Masters have been responsible for those invasions." Seriously? "But those were events,you guyswere even given god modes for the sake of it." "Terrifying events in the eyes of the old and young. Imagine abominations that can rival the powers of the gods we worship? Now imagine that there is a single individual that can create an army of those effortlessly. Now imagine that individual being one of many who is capable of such a thing? Lord Verden, every single being in this world still fears you and your kind." Hey, this is making us sound like admin abusers... We barely have any fun, just reading reports. Only during GM events do we go all out. "Makes us sound like those lovecraftian gods." "Oh yeah, it kinda does." (Richard) "I''m not well aware of such... Gods." (Tanya)If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. "I''ll explain it to you, but first we need to alert the others so that they do not get in your way, Lord Verden." (Richard) I see, so it''s mostly for turning a blind eye to my doing. Smart. "Indeed, if you please Lord Verden. Follow us." "Oh? Hang on, someone entered my place..." That''s weird, I don''t remember granting passage to my place. Queen Tanya frowned. "Did you leave the portal open?" "I doubt it, but since things have been confusing for me, I might have?" Well, I better go ''home'' and see what''s up before my creations kills them. I waved good bye to queen and king. Richard pointed to his newly obtained Pseudo Weapon grinning and Tanya patted his shoulder and rolled her eyes. I teleported to the Citadel, my Citadel. The entire place shiny clean with the walls and floors being very pale light blue. I sat down on my throne and opened up my surveillance window. If anyone died, I could always resurrect them. At least, I think it works on them. Anyway, here''s what I see. I see two men wearing decent armor and wielding a magic shield blocking all attacks from my Pseudo Guards. You know, I never called them Pseudos or PseudoGuards. It sounds weird. Their realin game nameis Quasi Denizen, the only reason why they are called Pseudo is because it''s a nickname. Most player hate fighting themoftenrefer to them asknock-offs, or Poor Man''s Player. How hateful. So let''s call my wonderful creation, Quasi Denizens. Or Quasi, or QD, or Denizens. Pick one. Oh? What''s this? "Boost! Strength of the War God!" One of the mages cast a very powerful enhancement on a buffedwarrior who stoodbehind the two shield holders. "War God gave me strength! Maddening Boar Charge!" The two shield holders stood out of the way as the warrior rushed past them with his trident. Mana condenses and formed a red projection of a giant boar. The entire floor shaked with each step as the warrior charged forward towards the crowd of Denizens. The Denizens tried to switch armors and shield, but some were too slow and were violently thrashed aside. "Follow up!" A girl who appeared to be some sort of civil servant wearing glasses shouted. A group behind her did as they were told, firing arrows and spells onto the broken line of Denizens. They all appear to be high leveled, well not that high leveled since there really isn''t a level cap in this game... Or world. Even if they are high leveled, there''s a reason why my Citadel is considered the one of thetoughest area in the entire game. One Denizens stood at the back of the line switched from archer mode to mage mode. The mage robe replaced the archer uniform and the bow that it was wielding morphed into a staff. I believe that staff is a high tier mage equipment that expandsarea of effect spells. The now mage Denizen swung the staff. [Tsunami] "?! Is that Ts-" A large blue wave swept towards the still charging warrior crashing onto the red boar projection. The boar began to dissipate and the warrior took a face full of mana made water pushing him back. The entire group also met the same fate being swept away and colliding into the walls. The girl with glasses sputtered out water and quickly chanted a quick spell. "Holy Shield! Bestow upon us a field for the ill!" It seems like she''s in the priest class. More Denizens arrived at the hallway, lining up on the balcony above and switched into archer mode. A handful of Denizens that were unharmed from that brave charged switched their armor from warrior to healer type. [Resurrection] Bright light engulfed the fallen Denizens. The Denizens corpses levitated before they found their footing and brushed off the light particles that surrounded them. "We''re done..." Tsunami is a high leveled spell, Resurrection is a legendary spell. From the start, they were hopelessly outmatched. The Denizens marched forward silently, making the scene look like some sort of dramatic movie. Guess it''s time for me to stop them. "Hold!" Chapter 4: Reparations. "Hold!" My words echoed throughout the hallway like a god from above commanding... Eh, forget it. I won''t get into politics. My Quasi Denizens halt their advance and withdrew their weapon. The group splattered on the wall looked around dumbfounded as they try to find the source of the voice. "You guys really put up a fight. A bit downplayed compared to what I am used to, but you guys fought well." I teleported myself in front of the group and took off my mask. "Who are you?" Surprisingly, it wasa mage next to the glasses girl who spoke first. "Call me Verden, Verden Kyler. You''re in my domain, please to meet ya." "This... Is your... Home?" "You could call it that, your name kid?" I address the mage, he appears to be sixteen. "Kid? Me?" He better not... "Yes, you. Kid." My eye narrowed andmy Denizens behind me tensed. Glasses girl elbow the mage and introducted herself first. "Pardon us Verden Kyler, my name is Naida and this rude one here is Arthur. We are from the Exploration Guild sent to investigate a tear the dimension. I believe the tear, or more accurately, portal lead us directly to here."This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. That checks out, no one can enter here without a portal. "And where did you find this portal?" "In the meadow outfields of Dundi." I''ve already closed the portal, it appears to be theonly one and it is tied to Dundi. So that checks out. Now that I think about it... I was tinkering about with the system when I first started out here, so it isn''t that far off for me to overlook a portal. "I see, now then. Allow me to provide you some reparations." "?!" "We''re... Healed? When?" I fully restored their health and whatever stats they use. I don''t need some flashy light magic to restore anything, just a simple I command it and poof! Done. "Just now, and... Let us chat a bit more." I cleared the room of my Denizens and materialize a long table you might see at a banquet along with chairs. The explorers appeared to be crossed eye at what I just did. Still they complied. "Food? Drink?" Everyone shake their heads. "Very well, now tell me Naida. Since you''ve been tasked with exploring these ruins... What do you typically gain from doing such a thing?" Naida frowned and readjust her glasses. "Well... Looting..." That was to be expected. "I see. I would feel bad to send you back without any gains. However, as much as this is my fault... Tt is also yours for trying to intrude on my domain, I''ll show you a place where you can obtain wealth and power." "Huh?" They looked even more crossed eye. "But! You''ll have to obtain those yourself. I won''t make it rain loot for you. Do you accept?" One of the warriors, the burly guy with that boar charging thing place two hands on the table. "What''s the catch?" "Good question, the place is well known for it''s high rewards, but high risk. I believe it is best if you see it yourself." "How do we know it is not a trap?" "I will not let you die, even if you were to die. Aside from that, I won''t be interfering with your enjoyment. So... Do you accept?" The burly warrior looked at Naida with an eyebrow raised. Arthur simply shrugged. "... Anybody object to sir Verden''s offer?" The entire group appears to be lost, but seeing my abilities I think they believe in me. Somewhat. Naida pushed the chair up and stands up. "Very well, we accept your offer." I smiled. "Excellent, to the Hollowed Chapel." Chapter 5: The Hollowed Chapel "We''re here." I teleported all 23 explorers to the Hollowed Chapel. Also known as Lootland or LL by players. The sky is purplish teeming with blue stars, the area is established with chapels and other holy related buildings. In other word, this place by lore is a place for worship. "The Hollowed Chapel..." Naida stared at one of the churches, it was a white building with golden roof, but it was in disrepair and purple crystals danced around the spires. Pieces of fractured pillars floated around, some with golden chains attached. "I believe I heard this from my grandmother... Arthur, can you see if there is any historic records?" "Eh? Yeah." Arthur produced a large book and started flipping the pages. "... Those purple crystals, I don''t like the energy they give off." "Same. Sir Verden, it appears that there is a sharp contrast between some of the ground surrounding each buildings." Naida pointed at the grayish grass that surrounded one of the purple crystal infested buildings. Comparing it to other buildings surrounded by blue crystals, the grass surrounding those have small greenorbs emitting out of the grass. "Glad you notice it, if you guys stand on the glowing grass you will replenish your health, mana, and stamina. Enemies will also be weaken." "Understood, I... Enemies?" Everybody look around. The place was empty. "I don''t see anybody." "And I see no loot either." Said a thief, he took a step forward and walked towards one of the purple crystals. "Unless these crystals are worth something..." "Hi! Have you seen my dog?" Everybody turned toward the voice. Above the thief was a piece of broken off pillar floating in the sky, a golden chain was attached to it and to another smaller piece ofstone. The thief snapped his head up just in time to see the broken pillar crashing down on him. "Flash Step!" The thief teleported a few distance away. The broken pillar smashed down then quickly floated up. "Hi! Have you seen my dog?" The large piece of stone began to crack makingtwoholes for eyes and a crack for a mouth. Purple energy burst forth and the pillar grinned like a Jack O'' Lantern. The smaller stone snarled and growled forming a large jaw with sharp teeth, but not eyes.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Huh, that thing reminds me of Pac-something... The impact that the pillar caused left a crater filled with glowing purple crack. "What is that?!" Naida pointed at the strange monster while looking at me with wide eyes. "That''s called aHollow Revenant." Also called pinata by players. The mob here mostly take on the form of their surroundings. You kill them, they break apart and drop great loots. Arthur glanced up from his book, pale. "Naida... The Hollowed Chapel... It said that a powerful magic backfired hereand warped every single residents into these... Revenants..." This place is somewhat disturbing actually. The lore behind the Hollowed Chapel is that there was a powerful mage who wanted to make contact with the gods that they worshipped. However, the magic put too much and exploded wiping everyone out from existance and splattering their souls and conscious into whatever they were nearby. Like how when I star exploded and creates a black hole, the same happened here. The purple crystals used to house holy magic now turned purple and is corrupted. The corrupted energy influences the former residents to act violently to intruders. I know I know, I suck at lore telling, but let me tell you. This place is a bit unsettling. "Shoot that thing down!" The burly warrior shouted. "Since a Revenant is considered an undead... Holy Arrow!" One of the archers fired an arrow and struck the big Revenant in the eye. "Hi... Hi..." The Revenant spins away and slowed to a complete stopped. "What''s it doing?" The purple crystals nearby began to glow. Purple orbs quickly condensed and shoot towards the Revenant. "Oh shit! It''s powering itself up!" The smaller Revenant howled asit swallowedthe corrupted energy. The two attached Revenant cracked and expanded, growing larger and more powerful. The smaller Revenant, now the size of a car roared sending shockwaves throughout the entire area. "Ah yes, I forgot to mention. By defeating the Hollow Revenants, you''ll get loots based on how strong they are. High ranking potions, armor, weapons, recipes for higher tierstuff, so on." "Are you trying to kill us?!" "I can revive you, chill. Just fight from the holy ground or near the blue crystals." "Agh! Fine!Durad, stand aside. Arthur, give me your hand!" "Eh?! S-sure..." Naida took off her glasses and pulled out a wand from her green vest. Gripping Arthur hand, Naida step out of the holy zone. Arthur followed suit, but was stopped. "Stand there, the grass and those blue crystals is rejuvenating us. Give me all your strength." "Yes!" The child like Revenant and its dog(?) locked on Naida and charged. "I can''t watch." Said someone from the crowd. "Holy Shield!" Pang! The Revenants collided hard onto the bright yellow shield that surrounded Naida. The dog like Revenant yelped and collapsed while the child like Revenant let out a gasp and tired to hover back. "No effect? Even with that kind of sudden stop?!" Yeah that did looked like it would do some damage. It''s like a car crashed into a solid steel wall. Oh? Naida pointed her wand at child like Revenant. "Sunder under the divine might!" A blinding light erupted from the tip the wand and devoured the two Revenants. When everybody regain their sight, all that was left was a small pile of rocks and metal scraps. On those pile of rocks and scraps wereseveral glorified elixirs, andhandful of fancy armors and weapons. Arthur stumbled a bit before being caught by Naida. She turned her head towards the thief who had an close encounter with the Revenants and nodded. "I got it!" The thief blurred and snatched all the loot. He placed them at the center of the group and they began to marvel. "Hey! These potions... I heard they full restore your health and mana while boosting your strength and defense!" "I saw those on the auctions! They costed over 67 million pure gold!" "Syaus, take alook at this cloak!" "I have never seen anything with this much magic resistance..." Looks like everybody is too distracted, even Naida. "Hey, not to ruin your parade but you just alerted a bunch of these Hollow Revenant with your blinding light." Across the whole chapel. The group heard numerous voices coming towards them. Chapter 6: Wrap it up! [IMPORTANT VOTING POLL INCLUDED] Well... Things gotten boring very quickly. After killing the first Hollow Revenants and obtaining the loots from it, all 23 explorers doubled their efforts and started going all out. What followed, is the group basically using their best spells andabilitieson the strongest Revenant, let the thieves snatch the loots, disperse the equipments, then used those newly obtained equipments in fighting the Revenants. I honestly thought it would be more interesting... Also, no one died yet. Because they took turns resting on the holy areas marked by glowing grass and blue crystals. Whoa, don''t get me wrong. I don''t want them to die, but the fighting they are doing is medicore at best. I forgot that these guys levels is over 150, but under 210. If you really want to see something interesting, try fighting the Hollow Revenants if you''re over level 350. That is, you got to let the Revenants charged up to your level. They can''t go over your level that much, like... Around 15 levels above only. Anyway, things are getting a bit interesting. The only thing left is a level 285 Hollow Revenant, a special one. It''s a Sword Carving Revenant. The thing is basically a giant floating rock with a typical sword carved into the stone. Black steel chain wrapped around the giant stone and two lose end of the chain dragging on the floor. "It''s using Holy Judgement again!" The Revenant lifted both of its chain off the ground and brought them overhead while a gigantic yellowish sword materializes. "Jump!" The giant sword impaled the ground sending powerful shockwaves throughout the whole area. Everyone (except me) was blasted away from the by the inital shockwave. The giant sword then exploded into tiny swords that shot outwards, but majority disapated as everyone was out of range.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Durad, the burly warrior charged forth with his new spear that he obtained recently. "Devastation!" Durad jumped leaving a crater and dived towards the final Revenant. The Revenant crossed both of its chain forming an X, energy flow and stacked around the chains forming a squared energy shield. "Gotcha!" Durad change his thrusting stance and flipped his spear smashing the Revenant downward. The giant stone carving fell into the holy area, the energy around it started to weaken. Durad took a nosedive spear pointed downward at the fallen Revenant. "Pin those chains!" A paladin smash his mace on the disorientated chains embedding the chains into the earth while a thief pinned the other one with numerous daggers. "Aooooooooooo!" Durad consumed all of his mana and channeled it into his spear as it made contact with the Revenant. BOOM! The Revenant exploded in a bright light forcing everyone to cover their eyes. What remained was a giant crater and a shining sword. "Oh? You guys are lucky, that''s The Radiant. One of the best swords for those around in the 300 levels or above." "Uh..." Everyone was looking somewhat conflicted mixed with dullness. At this point, everybody gotten new gears and had a surplus of loots. Truth be told, I think they overstayed their visit here. Most players would be banished in order to prevent large accumulation of wealth. "... I can''t use that." "Same." Of course they can''t. The gear is for level 300 and above, almost a hundred more to go for these guys. Naida turned towards me. "Sir Verden, since you had beenoverwhelmingly beneficial to us. Please, allow us to give you this sword." She pointed towards The Radiant. "That''s nice of you, but I have no use for it." "..." She looks troubled. Hm... I think I may have an idea... "Say, who is the guild master for you guys?" "Our guild master? Luilan Avli." Luilan Avli, that elf boy!Either the old guild master for the Exploration Guild retired or kicked the bucket. "What happened to the old guild master? Eh, just give the Radiant to Luilan. He''s an Elven Warrior, and I''m pretty certain he''s over level 300." "Eh... Ah, yes!" After some preparation, Nadia and her group were ready to leave. "I really hope we don''t inflate the economy with this much stuff and gold..." "That''s why Naida told us to report to the guild master before we spend anything." Economy, huh? I forgotten about that... But Iwas neverreally good with that stuff. I waved Nadia and her group good bye and return them to where they came from. Yawning, I return to my Citadel and sat on my throne. "... I''m bored! Damn it!" Chapter 7: Followers! I chew on my thumbnail and swipe my screen over and over trying to find something interesting. Some of the terrans were altered with settlement occupying them, but that''s understable with the population boom. Other areas like the Evil Forest and the Deep Maw Sea were avoided for obvious reasons. Not even Exploration Guilds get that many requests to explore those areas. Honestly speaking, it seems that majority of the people here are very weak. Which is understandableconsidering thatplayers no longer occupy the world. That said, it seems that the lack of players has allowed mobs (a.k.a enemies) from expanding onto some of the residental areas. The Evil Forest has now expanded and consumed an entire beastman town nearby. The sea is mostly infested with powerful deep sea monsters and I just had an idea... Speaking of the Evil Forest, there is a handful of powerful spirits there that functions as bosses. Keep in mind that I am a Game Master, not a player. So! Mobs will ignore me even without stealth. I think... I don''t really know if mobs these days even follow those rule sets. Bosses on the otherhand have this ''immortality'' passive ability call respawn. They suffer a horrible fate in dying to players and resurrecting after a given time, or until another player summons them. That said, some bosses are basically NPCs. Only they''rehostile, which can technically be considered an NPC still... NPC Mobs? Elaborating on my lightbulb... Actually the idea was based off ofBrad''s suggestion, which was to make make a temple or something and proclaim myself god. I always wanted to try building kingdom, or at least civilization creation. My favorite games were those civilization games, sometimes a few real time strategy games mixed in. MaybeI can gain a following cult from mobs... And the closest civilization is miles away since the Evil Forest expanded. I might as well make a shrine or residental area there. That said... There is a sub stage aptly named Evil Mountain. Later... First I have to find some followers.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. I teleported myself deep inside the Evil Forest, a dreary place. I seem to have an afflication with these kind of places. Maybe it has something to do with my uniform... All black,talk about a phase. The forest is dull and dark with miasma asorbing the light. The forest seems peaceful, but dreary. However, if you pay close attention to the trees, you can see slits of mouth and eyes that follows the player. But since I am not a player, it appears that they don''t see me. Even without my stealth. "Really now?" I see a handful of evil spirits floating around, but I can''t really differentiate them since most of the time they die. I honestly don''t know much about the workings behind the monsters. Do they respawn too? Or does another copy replace it? I know the bosses are the same ones, since they retain their memories even after death. Life must really suck for them. Anyway, I need to find the highest leveled evil spirit here. The Evil Spirit Idol, Aer. Notice the word ''Idol'' on his title. His creation is somewhat an inspriation from eastern singer idols, but not really. Evil spirits flock to him and tether themselves to him. Aer''s very presence boosts all parameters of the monsters here. He can sing though... Weakens everyone but his allies. Boring, but very annoying according to most players. "Just teleport me there." This place is depressing. We arrived in front of a miniture tomb. The ground around it is made out of white marble and decorated with elaborate fences. There was a four point star above the doorthat was suppose to seal Aer, it appeared to be cracked. "Aer, where are you?" "I am here... Game Master Verden..." Black mist trickle out of the the doorway and began to form a humanoid figure. A paleyoung man with a dark uniform and black cloak took form, with a few black mist emitting out from hisclothes, skin, and eyes. "Hm, you look the same as always." "I should say the same to you... How long has it been? I had not have a guest for a while... For once... It was peaceful." His smooth voice echoed throughout the area drawing spirits near him. They seem to bow and touch their idol. Aer gently brush them aside and slick back his black hair. "Apparently its been 30 years." "30 years?" "Yup, a lot has changed... Somewhat." "So it goes... And you...?" Bosses and sometimes mobs can be as civil as any NPCs. Sometimes they are move civil than players if you ask me... Well, they''re only civil to non-players with some exception. "I''m actually thinking of recruiting you." "Recruiting me...? For what...?" "My cult, of course." Chapter 8: Establishment "... Your cult?" Aer looked disturbed by that. "Well it''s not reallya cult. More like a organization of sorts." "I see... Can''t you create your own followers? Why rely on the likes of us?" Good point actually. I can actually create copies of Aer... "Yes, why didn''t I think of that? But really, do you want a handful copies of you floating around?" "... That would be... No... There would be... Rivalry amoung us..." An idol, especially an Evil Spirit Idol loves the attention it gets from other spirits. So any other sort of spotlight hoggers would be Aer''s number one target priority. "I will also make use of this large forest. These acres of trees would be removed and I will build a stronghold here. Normally I can''t do that, but my restriction has been lifted. You''ll get your own stage and such." "I will always... Be in service to the Game Masters. I shall do your bidding, my lord..." Aer prostrate before me. The other evil spirits followed suit. "Excellent, now then. Shall I remodel your residence you called a prison?" "You may, my lord." I pulled up my screen and selected a template for the stronghold. "That reminds me, what sort of interior design do you want, Aer?" "I''m glad you asked... Dark, but with some colorful lighting to it." I nodded and made some tweaks while clearing the forest at the same time. The trees simply disappear, like poof! Gone. Actually it''s more like fading out of existence. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. "Proceeding with establishment. Creating Game Master''s Edict." I doubt I can be fired for this. I''m pretty certain that I am no longer in my world... Still it would be best for me to create an Game Master''s Edict for the new stronghold just in case something happens to it. RUMBLE! The surrounding areas shook as the strongholdstarted to rise from the ground. Within seconds, the large castle was created and the area around it transformed into a moat. The castle stands roughly 10 storey high and... Eh, forget about engineering and architecture (no offense). Let''s just say that the stronghold is beautiful. "So... This is the power of the Game Masters... It is my first time seeing such a feat." "I''ve done better. Anyway, what shall you call your new home now?" "... Aer Castle..." "I was excepting that... No offense, but your name is very sort and almost nonexistance." "The Game Masters are the ones who gave me such a name..." Aer looked dejected. "Actually, that was the developers... But technically, yeah. Nonetheless, I will put your name into my Edict so that this place cannot go down. Even if some infinity sword wielding hero decided to trash the place." I patted Aer''s on the shoulder and lead him into the stronghold. The interior was as Aer requested, mostly black with tints of grey, and some colorful lighting from crystals that remind me of those techno light show. Oh yeah, I also added decorations such as banners and furnitures. A lot really... And fives times the quality than any fancy palace. Near the outside of the stronghold holds material for what many would see in movies where the defenders have to fight against the sieging enemies. Like that magic cannon over there. Okay, so the magic cannon looks like a giant shiny sword with runes on them. I had them modify so that the spirits can use them. Speaking of spirits, they''ve already made themselves home. Already I see around 17 spirits huddling in a dark corner giggling. That''s creepy. "Game Master Verden, my lord... This stronghold is wondrous, but what do you want from me?" "In a few days I''m going to announce my presence over the beastman''s town. Well, not exactly as myself. I will be in disguised as some sort of menacing figure. I will state that they have fours days to prepare themselves before I call upon you to attack." I would like to state that no one, and I mean no one! Would dare challenge a Game Master. It''s the most dangerous thing to do in this world. I can''t let the older NPCs know who I am. Otherwise they would ruin the fun. "... And what would you gain from this?" "Nothing really, especially since I would revive both side after the battle. I''m actually hoping someone interesting would come along. I mean 30 years is enough for at least a hero like figure is born. Like Sigurd." At least, that is what I am assuming. The developers added some NPCs that can par with powerful players, but they often are nothing compare to the higher end players. Remember that this game doesn''t actually have a level cap. The stats gained decreases greatly like old age the further you go. "... Something tells me that you are bored, my lord..." Chapter 9: Declaration and Fast Forward I float above the beastmen''s town called New Forden, while tinkering with my screen. I pulled up the Avatar Creation tab. We often used this to catch scammers and other sorts of people that likes to ruin the gaming experience. I decided to go with the jester like outfit.Actually, it''s a demonic jester outfit. The robe is like that of a church robe, but black with sigils on it. The Fool''s hat (it''s really a hood blended with the hat) has two points that slicks back with bells attached to the end. As for the mask, it''s a smooth white mask with a smiling face drawn on it. "Hm... This makes me look like a mage..." I really want to blend in with this whole evil spirit ringleader... Oh, I can just cut the robe at the torso and make it ragged. Now I''m just a floating torso with a head and arms. Tada! "Looks good." I am proud of my innovations. I saved the custom outfit as Demonic Jester and press equip. My naming sense... Really... My entire uniform was replaced with my new outfit. I set my stats to God Mode, because I don''t want to be shut up half way through my announcement. The day has turned into dusk, so I guess it would be best for me to act now. [Contain] The entire town was bubbled up in a purplish barrier. I''ve already heard surprised cries of the town guards near the edge of the towns. Alrighty... Let''s do this. [Stealth Mode Off] "Do I have your attention yet?" My voice was amplified by the shoutout device. Looks like I got everyone''s attention. "The names Farce, and I have an announcement to make! In four days, I will besiege this town with my armies. You have four days to seek help, and if you manage to win this of impress me... I shall undo all the deaths and destruction that has been wasted upon you. That is all! Good night!" After finishing my short speech, I teleported back to Aer Castle and remove the barrier from the town. "Aaah... That was embarrassing..." ... Back at the beastmen''s town, the residents had panic and began to evacuate. The mayor send messengers towards nearby cities and towns asking for assistance.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Sitting at a large desk, a man in his mid fifties with tiger ears slammed his fist on the table. "Dammit! Why is there such a powerful figure taking notice at this sort of town?!" New Forden is well known for its mercenary headquarters, but it''s only above averagecompare to other places. A powerful figure who can seal off the entire town will have no problem dealing with their armed forces. "Mayor, sir. We''ve just received a message from the Sincrest Assembly." Another beastmen with cat ears enter the mayor''s office. He was dressed in a butler''s uniform. "Oh?! What did they say?!" "They are sending their champion here, to defend us." "Lady Camilla? The War Goddess?" "Yes sir." The mayor''s entire body relaxed as he breathe out a sigh of relief. "If that''s the case... Then we have nothing to worry about." Camilla, the War Goddess. Sincrest''s number one general and her unit is consisted of thoseabove level 400. "Indeed, many more have answer our call. The Holy Institution has answered along with several large Adventurers Guild. They too will send people here." "Good! Looks like that Farce bit off more than he can chew. Gahaha!" ... Hm... I can''t believe that it has yet been a full day. First I met Brad and found out that it''s been 30 years here. Met Richard, then encounter those Explorers, now I''m here. All in one fourth of a day. "I shouldn''t had set it four days. I''ll be dead from boredom." "..." Aer stood there silently next to me. He''s giving my the impression of a butler awaiting their master''s order. "Ugh, if only I can... Wait. I can!" I can fast forward time here! Maybe I can rewind time back to my time period? Do you remember when I said that we don''t have that passing time feature? Well, what I meant say was that we don''t have a feature where NPCs age from time. I pulled out my screen. "My lord... What are you doing...?" "Time travelling. Fingers crossed." "...? Is that possible?" I hit the Year tab... Blank... I really can''t go back... The sliders only allows a few hours back. Back to where I first woke up in this new world. I sighed. "Well, fingers crossing doesn''t help..." "Such gestures won''t commit, my lord..." "Yeah yeah. But I can fast forward four days later." Okay, so you may be wondering why we can control time. Well you see, sometimes glitches happen at a certain part of the day. Like around the afternoon, a random tree decided to stretch itself. We don''t always catch that, but that can be detected. So we either reverse time for the entire server, or make a separate space around the tree and alter time there. A quick note is that NPCs are affected by the time thing. This is a virtual world, so everything is supposed to be realistic to a certain degree. Let''s say you can get a quest at a NPC guard that randomly patrols the area. You can''t find him at night or during certain hours since he''ll either be asleep (no quest given) or he''ll be having lunch at the dining hall. I think you''ll get the picture. Anyway, the only time we actually time change the entire server is during daylight savings. I''m not going to wait around for 4 days. So... I inputted roughly four days into the Time/Date Control Screen. "I wonder how time travel feels for NPCs... Aer?" "... We spirits perceive time differently... We can only roughly grasp time base on our surroundings..." "In that case, here we go." I pressed Yes. I took a glance at my surroundings. I see spirits zooming here and there. It''s like one of those time lapse shots of people walking. "There we go. Aer?" "I am here..." "Were you there the whole time?" "Yes..." "Isn''t that... Boring?" "I''m a spirit, my lord... Things are dull when you are dead..." "I guess that''s a fair point. Anyway, gather every single evil spirit. We''re heading towards New Forden!" Chapter 10: Battle starts! Aer covered his face at the sight before him. He was level 112, the highest leveled creature in the Evil Forest. His enemies before him were all above level 130 with the highest being level 673. All the town guard and mercenaries, who were at acceptable levels, had fled. Replacing them was a combined forces of foreign fighters. "Ooooh. I think I might had provoke them into sending a army this powerful." I began to saw my error in what I did during my announcement. The impression of a demonic mage like creature who is capable of sealing an entire town is bound to get a large crusade like this. "I am incapable of fighting a force this powerful... My lord..." "Oh yeah, very much so. But... I could level all of you up." Leveling up a mob is something any Game Master can do even with restriction. It''s just a basic input into their level and boom! Increase in stats and everything. Well... Not all mobs have stat gains actually... But these guys do. "... My lord... My forces are unwilling to participate in this attack. Even with their level boost, the HolyInstitution is the bane of our existence... We were made to fear them..." He''s right. The Holy Institution in lore and in-game was the most feared for both mobs and playerswho specializes in sinister abilities. The Holy Institution also serves as a career advacement for players who often play Paladin, Monk, Priest, etc. Players who reach level 300 can join the Holy Institution and get a huge boost to their abilities. "Ugh, I can make you guys fearless... But that''s not really my style." Controlling mobs is like controlling units in those real time strategy games. Still, I''m not that tyrannical... "Well this sucks... I guess we have to call off the invasion." "Thank you, my lord..." So much for my kingdom building. For now... "But it''s such a waste. These guys travelled over miles of terrain just to fight against us." "What do you suggest, my lord...?" "You guys return to your stronghold, I''ll greet them as Farce. It''s been a while since I actually play in this world."The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Why didn''t I think about it? I could had just made an avatar and have fun. Oh wait... People always make fun of my child like appearence... Now I remembered why I don''t really play during my free time. I refuse to make an avatar that does not represent me. It''ll only hurt. "Yes, my lord..." Aer and his forces drifted away. I''m standing here thinking about I will start off the battle. Option 1: Crash into the center of the town and act like those raid bosses. Option 2: Summon my Quasi Denizens and do what I wanted to do with Aer''s forces. "Hm..." I think it would be best if I act like this was a GM Invasion event... Players vs GM and their mobs. That''s like, option 1 and 2 combined? "Alrighty, let''s do this. Just like old times." I aimed myself towards the center of the town and dived towards it. BOOM! I landed creating a crater at the town''s main square. Immediately a magic formation surrounded me and exploded. No damage. Whoops. I''ll turn off God mode and set it to high health. "We''re under attack!" I flick my body dispersing the smoke from the explosion and summoned my Quasi Denizens. Ten Denizens rose from the ground and immediately morph their equipment to high level. "Incoming!" One of my Denizens charged towards the wall of spear with a hammer. It smashed the ground emitting shockwave towards the opposing group. "Guah!" People scattered everywhere. The shattered formation quickly retreated while dragging a few of their comrades out of the fray. The hammer wielding Denizen expanded the hammer into a giant axe and spun itself towards the retreating group. Literally a whirling death. A handful of soldiers got caught in the whirl and was bloodily sliced apart. I hope you guys know that this game was rated R. This isn''t some cutesy MMORPG. It was marketed towards young adults. Three flaming arrows shot at the spinning Denizen. Bounced off the chest plate while the last one shattered the knee plate causing the Denizen to fall. Suddenly a powerful bolt of light struck the Denizen. It shattered the armor and send the Denizen spinning into a wall. First casualty on my side. Don''t worry, I''ll bring everyone back to life later. I''m still holding that end of the deal. A young man riding a brown horse burst out of the crowd of retreating solders. He wore blue armor and wield a staff. Look''s like a hero has appeared. Level 583. That''s very impressive for an NPC that didn''t exist 30 years ago. No offense, but all NPCs had their power given to them by developers. They don''t grind mobs you know. Several other riders appeared behind him. They all looked at me and stood their ground. "Are you Farce?" The young man asked me. My Denizens stopped what they were doing and converge towards me. "I am. And you must be Rian DeSilla." I read his stats. Call it an invasion of privacy, but this is what all Game Masters can do to NPC and sometimes players. The young man didn''t look surprised. I guess he must be well known, or he just didn''t show it. A bowman from Rian''s group fired three flaming arrows at me. One of my Denizen alter it''s weapon into a whip and slashed the arrows out of the air. Around us, I heard powerful wings flapping and thunderous hooves shaking the ground. A legion of soldiers block one of the town''s square roadway. All of them above level 400. "Graaaaaaaaaah!!" I looked up. A dragon descended from the sky and postioned itself in front of the legion of elite soldiers. I see a armored individual sitting on the dragon. A female voice spoke to me. "So you''re Farce? I believe you picked quite the fight. I am Lady Camilla, you''re surrounded. Surrender yourself and all this nonsense can end." Chapter 11: That was dangerous The only time I had ever done acting or roleplaying was during Elementary and Middle school. After that, it was all work and stress. Well, most of the people were very nice to me. Something to do with maternal instinct. Especially during high school. There is some points in eternal youth I suppose. Anyway, I had become the mask of my avatar. This is really embarrassing. "Surrender you say? Nonsense! Let''s have some fun!" I summoned more Quasi Denizens and blocked a spell from behind. The caster was Rian, and he''s charging towards me while chanting some sort of spell. A Denizen stabbed forward with a electric spear. The tip connected with the horse Rian was riding, but a loud pop echoed as the spear exploded and send the Denizen flying back. So his horse is protected by a damage return spell. Rian seemed to complete whatever he was chanting. He raised his staff upward and the entire area around me crackled with yellow energy. CRACK! A blinding light erupted from the ground and I could feel myself being burned. "Gah! Hot hot hot!" My entire avatar was burning. Holy smokes! It hurts! Not as much as a normal burn would, but still! "You''re finished." Rian pointed his staff at me. "Inferno Lance!" I flew up into the air the avoid the fiery blast. "Celestial Destr- Gah!" I got cut off mid sentence as Camilla appeared behind with her dragon. Her lance impaled my back. "This one is mine!"You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. [Teleport] "Eh? Where did he go?" I appeared behind Camilla''s troop. A few behind the lines turned around, but it was too late. [Moonstorm Winds] The entire legion was sent flying out of the square with a few pieces of armor and weapons dropping from the sky. All of my Quasi Denizens had been finished off by Rian and his group. Some mercenaries and soldiers also remained. They''re all decent leveled, so I have to take them seriously since I''m near half of my health. "How dare you!" Camilla and her dragon crashed down at my position. Luckily I was able to fly out of that. The dragon raised its head at me and spewed out blue flames. [Flame Guard] I casted a bright shield that caught the blue flames. Something''s not right... I turned around and saw Rian and his horse on a roof. "Gethdol!" Bright red strings wrapped around me cutting off my power. Damn it! I should had gone thief! "Chew him up, Mayria!" Camilla''s dragon opened its mouth and chomped down on me. *@%$#! Is this how bosses really feel? Getting bashed left and right? I had it, this dragon has got to go! [Mana Burst] My entire body charged up with power before unleashing it. "Graaaaaaah!" The dragon called Mayria spit me out. Camilla cried out: "You okay?!" "Graaah!" "Rian! You useless cuck! Silence him already!" Flew high into the air and flicked my hand at the dragon. [Fourth Chapter, End Tier: Polymorph] Let''s see how her dragon can handle this! Kom! "Eh?" Mayria turned into a weird frog looking thing with wings on it''s back. No scratch that, it''s almost like a alligator with its body squashed. Camilla and the transformed Mayria fell down. PLOP! Mayria fell down relatively unharmed, but it looked very confused. Camilla on the other hand fell hard on her back. "Oof!" I glance to where Rian was. He fired another Gethdol at me followed by several Inferno Lance. I pointed a finger at him and fired. [Zest Burst] A powerful beam shot down towards Rian while destroying all of his spells directed at me. "Whoa!" Rian''s horse cried out and galloped off the roof. The energy beam shattered the entire building followed by an explosion. BOOM! Both Rian and the horse were knocked back by the blast and skittered into a building. That''s gotta hurt. "Mayria?! Is that you?" I turned back and saw Camilla looking at the weird winged frog/alligator thing with a dumbfound expression. Theformer dragon nodded its head with a bewildered expression. They both looked so stupid that I couldn''t start laughing. "Ahahahah! Look at your faces! Ah! If I can get a snapshot of this, it can be a meme." Camilla snapped her head at me. I saw a flash in her eye. WHEW! I think I saw her lance flew past me. Hey... That was dangerous... Camilla had stood up and the ground around her started to crack. "You...!" I don''t think I had ever seen a level 603 this dangerous before... Chapter 12: Farces Finale BOOM! CRACK! Camilla landed onto the stone road shattering it in the process. She''s tearing up the entire town! "FAAAARCE!!!" Imbuingher voice with mana, sheroared at me. The soundwave hit me like a firemen''s firehose at full pressure. "Guah!" My mask cracked and my robes were shredded. I struggled to regain my vision from her warcry, but I nearly blacked out from her next punch. I was sent flying into the sky by her punch. Damn it! 24% of my health is left! "Guh!" Camilla appeared above me and landed a heavy kick on my back. The ground came up to my face very quickly. BOOM! "Uhhhh... My back..." It''s a good thing I took endurance training from Jessica... I don''t think I could had survive that (in my current conditions) with my small physique. I was embedded into the stone road. I can hardly move and my HP is down to 8%! I should had made the avatar''s level higher! I pulled myself out of the ground. [Mana Shield] PA! I blocked Camilla''s next attack. That was close... I really need to heal up. I''m not giving up yet. I see a lot of people surrounding where I was. The Holy Institution and those from other armed groups are pitting their support to Camilla. "Divine Field Dome!" Shit! They''re setting up that bullshit formation! I need to get out of this area! "Damn it!"A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. I summoned a lot of Quasi Denizens to buy me time. They materialize in the sky and dropped down on their enemies. "What the?!" Death rains from above! The Denizens crashed down on the already disorganized group and started maiming left to right. "Useless!" Camilla roared and punched my shield hard. The mana shield shattered and Camilla lunged for me. "Shit!" [Mana Burst] I unleashed a burst of mana at Camilla. The arcane energy collided heavily and send her flying back a few feets. "Augh! You''re dead!" "Stop her!" Four Quasi Denizens stopped focusing on nearby enemies and started targeting Camilla. All their equipment is high tier, so I''m counting on them to halt her for a bit while I recover. "Don''t get in my way!" Bluish aura surrounded her and she lashed out at her opponents. Luckily, my Denizens blocked the attack with ease. "See ya!" I flew into the air and summoned more Quasi Denizens onto the roof. This time I manually equip them with healing oriented robes. "Heal me!" They raised their hands started flowing restortation energy at me. The fatigue I was having started to fade and I could feel myself re-energized. BWACK! An arrow hit one of my healers in the headand it went down. I see a figure climbing onto the rooftop. "Don''t let them heal him!" Soon, numerous people climbed onto the roof and started attacking the healers. I see Rian among them. "Get back!" I shouted at my Denizens to get back and took aim at the opposition. "Celestial Destruction!" My voice echoed throughout the entire town and the star shivered from it. They faded, then shined repeatedly. Several mage looking people seemed to notice this and cried out in panic by the influx of mana in the sky. Already,a handful of them jumped down from the roof. "Mages! Support my barrier!" Rian raised his staff in the air and a yellowish barrier surrounded the everybody around him. Others contributed to the shield and also direct their mana into Rian''s barrier. "I think not." [Draida Barrage] I fired a series of spell fire spells at the shield. It''s not cracking, but I know it''s weakening. They can''t take the full blunt of Celestial Destruction. Pillars of light began to rain from the sky causing areas where the light contact to erupt into bright explosions. I need to retreat since I can cause self harm with the spell. Eh? I saw Rian outside of his barrier. "Gethdol!" Glowing red strings wrapped around me. FUCK! I''m rendered defenseless! Rian teleported back into the barrier and smirked. I''ll remember your face! The intensity of light falling from the sky increased. I tried to call my Denizens to help me, but they were engulfed by the spell. Damn it! I''ll summon some...!! I temporarily ceased to exist when a pillar of light hit me. The next thing I saw was Camilla and Rian standing over me, looking down on me. "Quite a finale you put up." Camilla said disdainfully. She raised a burnt lance and impaled my head, shattering my jester mask. My avatar evaporated leaving nothing behind. I''m back in my normal form. The lance went through my head, but since I am in Stealth mode, the lance passed through harmlessly. I''m basically a ghost. "That wasn''t fun..." I muttered to myself I floated to my feet. It feels good discarding that avatar. I no longer feel tired and in pain. Now then... Chapter 13: Friendship? "Yes, restore." The whole town started to glitch out and glow. This caused a lot of panic, which is understandable. "What''s going on?!" "Hey! Look!" There was an unfortunate soldier that was splattered against a wall. A bluish sheen scanned over the wreck and the body started to reform. Arms, legs, torso, and heads connected. Ew... A blue flash engulfed the soldier and he dropped to the floor. "Wha... Huh? What was...?" The crater in the wall also started to reform. The whole town started to restore itself, not to what it once was, but to its prime. Rian stared wordlessly, he had never seen or heard this kind of magic before. He started to feel an odd sensation and noticed that his armor was magically being repaired. "What the hell?!" He could also feel the bruise he sustained from the battle fading away. "Ah, my arm. It''s not broken!" "I''m feeling re-entergize..." "Tord! You''re alive!" Another person from the disorderly crowd cried out and ran towards the soldier recently resurrected. "Ah? Didn''t I get crushed by that hammer wielding thing?" He was helped to his feet before a individual from the Holy Institution blocked their way. Some sort of priest.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. He raised his hands at the soldier, but was stopped by person in white robes. She had an cowl over her head and wore a monocle. She shook her head at the priest. "No, I am not detecting nercomancy. It is something else..." "Oh, Mayria! You''re back to normal!" A towering dragon landed at a clearing and purred. Camilla hugged the dragon at the forehead. "Aw, poor little girl. Don''t worry, once I gather all my troops, we will go to the Saradara Isles. I hope my soldiers are okay." "All the fallen soldiers and mercenaries are being resurrected. I am unable to detect any sort of magic involve with this..." "Oh? Then what is going on around here?" The lady in white rubbed her chin and frowned. "Didn''t Farce say that he will ''undo all deaths and destruction''?" "?! They did include that in the transcript, but that''s... Impossible." "If what Farce said was true, then that means there is a possibilities that Farce is still alive." Everyone went silent. Many believed that this was an attack by a rogue, powerful demon or spirit. But even a powerful being would had some sort of limitation. "... There was tales of people before us that could bring the dead back to life. Spells like [Resurrection] were casted like any other low leveled spell." "Are you saying that those legendary figures are behind this attack?" "Not entirely, there were monsters that could rival them. But I heard that they all went dormant after they disappeared. It''s possible that one had woken." "..." The crowd had dispersed with a few straggers trying to make sense of what had happen. Rian, Camilla, the lady in white, and their party remained at the area. "I think it''s best if we contact all of the guild masters and the royal families. We should leave the aftermath to them." "No need, I think I already know who this ''Farce'' is." "?!" Oh boy... It''s Luilan Avli, the elf boy. If I can remember, Naida said that he is now the Exploration Guild Master. The graceful elven warrior floated down from the sky with his silver hair tied into a ponytail. Hm... He looks a bit older than I remember.Elves age slower than human, but I believe Luilan is around 300 years and older. "Eh? Guild Master Luilan?! When did you get here?" The elf boy had a displeased expression, "Just now. And I think I can unmask this ''Farce''." A murderous expression appeared on Camilla''s face. "Who?! If he isn''t dead, I will make sure he''ll regret being alive!" Rian scoffed, "I doubt you could stand a chance against him. He had you tied up with his... Whatever those things were." "Quasi Denizens. Those humanoid things that can alter they weapons and armors are called Quasi Denizens, and there is only one person in existence that created them. Verden! Show yourself!" Time to go. "I know you''re there Verden! Queen Tanya called me!" Where should I go next? What to do? "You''re a shota!" "You son of a...!!" Stealth mode off! I lunged at Luilan throat. "I knew it!" His left hand caught my right hand and vise versa. "You. Promised!" I pushed him back. "I missed... You... Too!" Meanwhile, everyone that was witnessing this had dumbfounded expressions. Chapter 14: Crisis "So... This one is Farce?" Everybody was studying the small, angry figure with black clothes and a mask. His black uniform bore some sort of emblem, but it was one that no one was familiar with. Currently, the boy was roughhousing with theExploration Guild Master,Luilan Avli. "Say that one more time! I''ll put ten million volts up your ass! Friend or no friend!" "You''re sensitive about it as always! Maybe if you act more mature, people wouldn''t mistake you for a child!" "You''re in the same spot as I am!" "At least I am respected by everyone and not just my co-workers!" Damn! Why does he always say things irrefutable? I shifted my lower body and swung Luilan into a building. The elven boy hit the building with his legs, crouched, and pushed off into the sidewalk. Luilan landed gracefully on the stone floor and bowed to the Camilla, the white robed lady, and Rian. "Show off." Luilan ignored what I said and appeared behind me while putting a hand on my shoulder. Ugh... He''s grown taller than me! I though elves age slowly! "May I present to you, the Calamity God. Also known as Verden Kyler or the Eternal Youth Prick." "That''s Game Master Verden Kyler to you." "Oh yeah!" Luilan produced The Radiant, "Thanks for this, it would go great with Silver Moon." Meanwhile, the trio and their entourage were somewhat glancing back and forth. One was at me, the other was at the ''legendary sword'' that Luilan was holding. Even though Luilan is over level 900, it''s very hard to get equipment at those levels. So most go for the highest, most convenience equipment they can get their hands on. Roughly around the 500 mark. Anything above is rare or difficult. "This is Farce?" Rian gave me a dubious look. That look... He''s looking down on me. Maybe literally. I waved my hand and two Quasi Denizens appeared side by side. Everybody, but Luilan tensed up. I simply made a mocking shrug at Rian and the Quasi Denizens disappeared. Rian made somewhat of a crossed eye face and backed down. Camilla also had some sort of reluctant look on her face. "Yes, this is Farce. Or should I say that Farce is simply an alter egoof someone with no sense of maturity created to simply upset the world order and laugh as everyone panics just so that he can feel superior with nothing more than, for the sake of being an asshole." I think my snarky personality is fully integrated into him. That would make sense since Luilan is the only NPC I can relate to, and I hang out with him during my free times. "Great, you found me. I am Farce. Yay. Now what?" The white robe lady had trouble trying to finding words. What can she do? Someone with this much power is impossible to keep in check. It appears that Luilan and the boy named Verden are close. "Normally, the offender would be imprisoned with various procedures implemented to prevent the offender from causing another incident again. But it appears that this is out of our league."The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Luilan cutted in, "No worries, I got this. The residents can return to their homes already. There shouldn''t be any more ''events'' as of today and from here on out." "I hope so." Said everyone. Luilan whispered into my ears, "Verden, I really need your help..." "What is it?" "Teleport us back to the Exploration Guild." ... I teleported Luilan to the Exploration Guild, Guild Master''s Office. The place was unchanged, the red carpet and purplish walls still hold their colors. There was multiple stacks of paper and scrolls on the large wooden table. Still the same as always. "So, you''re the Guild Master now?" "Yeah, Terry passed away roughly 15 years ago and no one wanted the position." "Not even Dael wanted the position?" "He said it would be too much work, so I decided to take the position. It''s been rough lately..." "How so?" "For starters, the position forVice Master of Exploration Recovery is still vacant..." Okay, so here''s a background on the Exploration Guild. The guild focuses on exploration (no duh), mapping, and guiding. They become very active when new map/area contents are added, since we wanted people to do the exploration and mapping. Their progress is recorded so that other players can recieve the information as well. When there isn''t much to do, they help out on raids and such. The Exploration Guild is run by a Guild Master and two Vice Masters. Luilan used to be the Vice Master for Exploration Recovery. He oversees the rescue operations when NPCs and players get stuck or lost in an area. It''s a cool feature: players (andparties)can sign up and they''ll be put on the list where they''ll instantly teleport to the location of the distressed NPCs or players. Now normally players have items that can teleport them back to towns and such, but those are costly.Requesting help from players isn''tthat expensive. The rescuers getexperience and other sort of perks. There are severalplayer guilds that make a profit offoftheExploration Recovery system. The other Vice Master, which I believe Dael is still holding handles the quests. Basically internal affairs and some financial stuff. Now the Guild Masterbasicallyhandles the whole damn system that theVice Masters do. Just to make sure that they areworking properly and such. In other words, Luilan is overworking himself just bythe vacant of the secondVice Master. "Are there not enough qualify people? Or did we not make an application process for that? No wait, this was back then whenNPCs didn''t have those kind of things... No offense." "None taken. Guild Master... Well, former Guild Master Terry made an application for positions. In fact, after the Game Masters disappearance along with the players. All guilds made job applications for the future that is to come. Nice job leaving us alone." "Hey, I don''t even... Nah, nevermind. Well? You didn''t answer my question. Were there not enough qualified people that applied?" Luilan sighed. "All potiential applicants got drafted into war, and that''s what I am about to get to. Follow me." Luilan opened the large door and walked down the hallway towards a heavily secured door. I believe this is the supply room. "This is the supply room, right? The one where you guys give items and equipments to newcomers?" "Yes." Luilan with a deadpan expression unlocked the door. The supply room is a very large place. It takes up roughly half of the main Exploration Guild building. "... Where is everything?!" I remember the development of the rooms during its beta. It''s supposed to be full of stuff! All I see now is a very small fraction of the items that the Exploration Guild used to provide! What''s left is roughly 100 basic spears, 60 leather armors, and other sorts such as healing potions. "The army took it." Luilan clicked his tounge with anger, "The bastards didn''t even pay for it, and most of the members in the Exploration Guild, my guild, got recruited." "They can''t do that, can they?" "All Guilds that had combative capabilities had the same issues. At least in some countries. We''re lacking supplies for our members, and we also can''t contribute in helping the newcomers that are too young to be drafted into the war. Childrens are looking for work here, trying to support their families while their fathers and uncles are drafted into war. It''s a huge mess!" "What''s this war about?" I don''t like the sound of this already. Give people free will and they will tear apart everything in sight, though I guess this could be our fault since we made countries hostile to each other... "It''s complicated. Without you Game Masters controlling every single politics in the world, everybody thought it would be best to grab territories, bring up ancient feuds, or go attack a kingdom because they yield better crops. What''s keeping us from tearing each other apart is gone, Verden. We''re all on our own, and despite the peaceful mood that settles in this town, it can all go into pieces when the battle reaches here." Chapter 15: Resupply (Hiatus) Since most of the breadwinner has been drafted to war, children and teenagers around the ages of 8 and 17 has been looking for jobs to support their family. Most of them aim for things such as herb picking, crafting, and in some cases, mining. There are some that head towards the Exploration Guild to make a more profitable income, but they often die in the process. The Exploration Recovery Team is in a semi-state of limbo right now. You have several parties that still help explorers, but it''s not ona fixed schedule. There are days where the rescue team is unable to work, and in some days they are overhwhelm and have to focus on one rescue at a time. The supply that the Exploration Guild stores is mostly for their own guild members to cut down costs for them. This includes things such as armor, weapons, medical equipments, clothing, food kits, etc. The Exploration Guild is also one of the guilds that provides reliefaids tonearby villages, towns, and cities with those supplies. And the military just went in and took 99% of everything. The main Exploration Guild is located at the heart of the kingdom called Tersua. They''re currently at war with another neightboring kingdom called Mordera. The two kingdoms used to be one kingdom, but split due to political reasons. The Kingdom of Mordera favors elitism, while the Kingdom of Tersua favor the people. I find it somewhat ironic that the Kingdom of Tersua is now doing a force draft and taking things from organizations without proper compensation. According to Luilan, the kingdom did offer huge war bonds to organization that had their stuff taken to be used in war, but they are currently struggling to stay stable until those war bonds kicks in. "You got a list of the supplies you guys used to have, right?" "Yeah, hold on..." Luilan handed me a wrinkled sheet of paper that listed out a very basic summary of everything they had. "350,000 Bronze swords, 540,000 flint spears, 38,000 flint arrowheads, 25,000 wooden bows..." The list goes on from weapons to food kits. "Yeah, they took almost everything. I swear that major was looking down on me simply because I was a young elf. Like, boy! I may be 15 in elven years, but I outlived your ancestors!" "Now you know how I feel." "In all honestly, I think your personality is that of a prick when it comes down to your soreness." "Name three times I was a prick, aside from the Farce thing." "You destroyed the entire world when an idiot mocked you." "He did say some questionable things to me, let me remind you that." "You aggro every single monsters in the Trudan Mountains towards the guild called SwagBoyz simply because they made fun of you." "They were punks. Their guild name even speaks for itself." "Lastly, you set everybody on fire during that event just because you didn''t like the way they danced. How. They. Danced!" "That... I don''t really have an excuse for that one. The others are justified."This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it "My point is, Verden, is that you''re not acting mature. That''s what makes people look down on you. You''re acting spoiled." "I was doted on, not spoiled. Which may sound no different, but my family was strict with me partially because I wasn''t normal compare to everyone else. There tends to be some sort of medical issue with those that don''t age properly, but I''m perfectly healthy. It''s just that I tend to get locked out of activities with people my age due to my childish appearance. It was bearable because everyone was nice to me, except those on the internet and virtual realities. Those guys are mainly stupid." "I have no idea what you mean on that last line, but you''re acting spoiled everytime someone insults you about your appearance. You do realize that people would kill to be unaging?" "Okay, so maybe I am a bit spoiled... Let''s talk about this later, I can restock your supplies." "Thank you Verden!" "I''ll even make them superior than last time." "Eh? That isn''t necessary..." "I insist. Let''s get started with steel swords." I waved my hand at my sceen and glide over towards the property input of the sword shelves that used to hold bronze swords. Silver lights lined the shelves and the steel swords began to materialize, the newly formed blade hover before a brown leather sheath materialize and covered over the shiny blades. As the steel swords were being process, Luilan took one off the shelf and unsheathed it. "... I kinda miss the brownish glow that the bronze swords gave, but a steel sword is superior than a bronze sword and is more durable and reliable. It''ll save our members money fora while since they don''t have to repair or buy a better weapon for a while." "You don''t mind me keeping the same quality for the arrowheads? They are expendable." "It would be better if we can keep the quality of those the same." "Alright." ... Luilan could hardly contain his excitement as he jumped around shelf to shelf. After years of emptiness, the storage room was fully restocked within minutes. "I haven''t seen these food kits in a long time!" He grabbed a brown packaging and unwrapped the contents. Luilan popped a dark red meat strip into his mouth and chewed with a nostalgic expression. "It''s still good!" I replenished the missing food kit that Luilan took and also grabbed a piece. "Hm, now that I think about it. I haven''t eaten for a while." The meat tasted like cheese with lambchop, which means it''s really good. I wasn''t hungry, so I let Luilan finish the whole kit. He burned the wrappings with blue flames leaving nothing behind. "Okay! Now it''s time to put these things to good use." Luilan dragged me out of the room and locked it as we went downstairs towards the staff room. The door burst open, startling everyone inside the room. Luilan with a cheerful expression said, "Good news everyone! We manage to restock out supplies! Vice Master Dael!" "Eh? Ah! Yeah?" A buff middle aged man with grey hair stood up. Luilan handed him three pages. "I want 20,000 food packages, 40,000 water containers, and 74,000 clothings shipped off to the west village outskirt of Tersua. Serdice! We have steel spears in our inventory now. Send those to the village''s militia, here''s the order request. Where''s Nadia and her group?" Within hours, all the staff members were running all over the place. Staffs and guild members started taking the supplies I restocked towards wagons to ship them towards villages. Newcomers were being called in to receive their equipments, and the guild is now hiring more people to help out on the shipment. By the time it was night time, everyone was going home. Even the delivery teams (they used golem horses, so those are really fast). Luilan layed on a purplish couch and was reading two offical papers. I sat on the rolly chair that he had and was reading a mercenary catalog. They sell things that you would expect, such as weapons and armors. It''s interesting that there are more exotic weapons added to this. Like that two end bladed spear that the Elite Elven Guards used. "Verden, check this out." Luilan handed me one of those offical looking papers. It''s a court order, the military wants in on the newly aquired supplies. "Is that quick?" "Oh yeah, very much so. Normally, they takes days for a decision to be made by any court. Either they''re hoarding, or they''re desperate." "Anything I can do?" "Stick with me tomorrow, if it''s that major again... Zap his ass."