The sounds of hammering and shouting filled Rene, making their way through the heavy flaps of the dull brown command tent, in which Aegis stood. A round table lay before him, and around it sat various other figures of importance.
24 hours had passed since VGN’s attack on Kalmoore had taken place, and everyone who had fallen in defense of the lands was back online. In addition, thousands of new players had made their way to Kalmoore, many of them VGN prisoners who had deleted their characters and started over at level 1. The outskirts were not safe enough yet for low-level players, as the surrounding wolves and boars had mutated from level 1-2 monsters to level 5 and above. Instead, the low-level players earned experience within the city walls during the first few levels, aiding construction.
A few NPCs who’d survived from Rene and the City of the White Tree had skill qualifications to act as beginner trainers for several classes and crafting professions, and Tullan was working with Ruffily to fill in any of the blanks on the crafting side, while Sapphire was seeking out holy NPCs to act as representatives for the various deities of light, and making altars and shrines for them for the new players.
The most popular was Eirene, but there was a heavy demand for a new Aphrodite Temple for certain ‘RP’ players, and a lot of people looking to follow Mikael’s path with Zeus. Aegis had already assigned as many work projects as possible to lend his advanced skills to lower-level crafters, and under Ruffily's guidance, these infrastructure buildings were getting priority.
Leonard had taken the airships to Kordas, where Herilon and Mikael led ‘raiding’ parties into the ruins and gathered a plethora of crafting materials and resources, including the Night Hunter’s Eternal flame, which Tullan had already installed in the forge of Rene. It was the first structure to be fully restored, and it had sped up the work on other buildings significantly.
Most of the NPCs were not allowed out of the hive yet, though, and Savika and Yuki were tending to the Mosmir queen to regrow her swarm along her diminished supply of hatchers and drones. It’d be a while before they’d have the steady voidsilk production that existed before.
The walls were functionally restored, and Rakkan was training the NPC soldiers brought by the Aegis Coalition to level them up. For the time being, it was manned by players, overseen by Erikson and the White Flames; his tavern had been destroyed, though luckily, his son was among the surviving NPCs. It left him with not much to do until a new one was reconstructed, but he understood a tavern was not the highest of priorities.
All of this work had been set underway by Aegis, but he was strained. He felt obligated to fix all the damage caused by VGN, taking it on himself as his failure. Without rest, he’d been shouting orders and organizing everyone. In his mind, it was like playing an advanced, complicated strategy game, and he was in the base-building and resource-gathering phase. His mind was completely focused on his goal, with not more than a few seconds going by without him reminding himself of what VGN had just put him through.
The loss of his NPCs hurt the most. Clara, Celestion, Jael, Krael… all of them were gone; only Savika remained. After that, was that his parents were banned. David, he could live with. But his Mom? She didn’t do anything wrong. And then Nicholas, the director. Aegis barely met him, but he seemed nice and passionate about his project. Eli did his best to put himself in Nicholas’ shoes, to try and understand what it’d feel like to have something you created abused in the way that Mike and VGN were abusing it. Not specifically to be empathetic, but rather to use it as more fuel for his focus on taking them down.
His overactive strategizing is what led to this command tent being filled with the people he’d hand-selected to help rule over Rene, and effectively Kalmoore.
Across from him was the most obvious choice, Quinn. Aegis had already instructed Savika to hand over the rule back to her guild, but he’d also handed over ownership of Rene in its entirety. To Aegis’ left sat Mikael. His elbows were resting on the crude oak table, and his chin was propped up by his fists. He was glaring across the table at the fourth and final player sitting across from him, on Aegis’ right.
Finley was leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed, returning the glare Mikael gave him. Quinn nervously glanced between the two. Aegis cleared his throat to get him to stop.
“I’d like to designate the three of you as the leaders of the Abyssal Frontier city of Rene. I appreciate you all accepting the invitation. Together, I’d like it if we communicated often, shared information on what each other needs to achieve their respective goals, so that we can work together to keep this place safe and defeat our enemies,” Aegis said calmly.
“I get why you picked us,” Mikael motioned to himself and Quinn, his voice thick with his German accent, “But this guy is the Harbinger of Darkness. He literally signed up to be our enemy and destroy the gods of light. Heck, he already made a pass at Kalmoore. Why the hell should we trust him?”
Finley shook his head dismissively, then eyed Aegis’ livestreaming icon, still sitting at 13 million viewers. “Better question, how do you expect to have a private meeting when you’ve got that thing on?” Finley wagged his finger. Mikael surprisingly nodded in agreement, and all eyes turned to him.
“They’re right. We should be using anti-scrying spells,” Quinn suggested.
Aegis shook his head. “We’re beyond that now. They’ll see everything I, or we do, regardless of what we try to do to stop them. We’ll have that handicap as long as VGN are our enemies, don’t ask me to explain it in more detail than that.” Aegis paused, giving each of them a serious look before continuing. Only Finley nodded.
“As for him,” Aegis pointed at Finley, “He doesn’t take the role-playing side of this game seriously in the slightest. To him, the class is just a class with good skills. All he cares about is money. No offense,”
Finley shrugged. “None taken.”
“Rene has just become open to the entire world. We’re welcoming in thousands, and soon hundreds of thousands of new and rerolling players, as well as refugees who, as I’ve heard reports, are sailing to our location from the VGN islands on a plethora of airships. Kalmoore was already an open, peaceful, and welcoming land that allowed all players the freedom to do what they wanted, with the laws of the land respected and enforced. However, thanks to Finley, I think I learned a valuable lesson.” Aegis looked to her, and she nodded along.
“Running a kingdom like that leaves you more vulnerable to certain forms of attacks, one of infiltration and sabotage, of which neither I, nor Quinn, nor you, Mikael, are equipped to manage. VGN will no doubt try to sneak people into our lands, put them in positions of power, or otherwise bribe our allies to turn against us on the fly, and we cannot afford to let them do that anymore.” Aegis turned and gave Finley a stern look.
“No spies. No infiltrations. Any bribes taken, any suspicious trades, or unusual gatherings. All of it, I want Finley to report on it, and shut it down. VGN does nothing inside our walls, and you and your companions will be compensated for keeping Rene safe. There’s no one I know who’d be able to spot an infiltrator better.”
“Takes one to know one.” Finley smiled.
“As for Quinn,” Aegis turned to her, and so did the others, “I can’t think of anyone to rule over a Kingdom better than you. I wouldn’t be as strong as I am today if it weren’t for your leadership over these lands. You kept settlements safe, reduced crime rates, and allowed players of all levels to thrive and flourish. It may not be exciting, but I want you to get Rene up and running as the new capital of Kalmoore. Keep Bihi safe, handle her quests, and establish areas for low-level players to progress through the surrounding lands despite the abyss. We lost a lot, and for people to thrive, we’ll need every form of infrastructure so they can advance their classes and crafting skills.”
Quinn let out a playful sigh. “Oh, is that all?”
The others chuckled. Aegis turned to Mikael, the last member of the council.
“Mikael, you are our sword. Our offense. Lead the coalition, train them, level them up, and explore the abyss. We need a powerful force to stand up to VGN. I may have been able to pull a fast one on them, but we had a homefield advantage, and I used every trick in the book. It won’t work again, and our next encounter with them will either be in the abyss or on their turf. I also need you to locate the last four Avatars, as Finley doesn't even know their locations. Your first goal will be to help establish a frontier outpost with Trexon, so we can set up a portal altar at the border between the edge of Kalmoore and the abyssal lands. Work with Leonard and the airships, and make use of Bihi’s light leaves to navigate the abyss,” Aegis explained.
Mikael nodded along obediently, with a twinge of excitement in his eyes.
“What will you be doing?” Finley asked.
“Getting stronger, seeking out the avatars, and pursuing any leads towards tier 4 crafting materials. I’ll be taking my original three party members with me, so we’ll have Rakkan for ancient runes, but I need to recruit a member before we set out. If there’s anyone from the coalition interested in filling the spot, or a Night Hunter, have them meet me at the base of Bihi within an hour. We’re looking for a magic user to balance out our group.” Aegis said.
Quinn and Mikael exchanged nervous glances while Finley let out a loud laugh, pointing at Aegis’ livestreaming icon again.
“The top streamer in the game just announced publicly that he’s recruiting a 5th party member. You’re about to have a real heck of a fun time. Hope you got some tests planned,” Finley continued laughing.
Aegis raised his eyebrow skeptically. “There can’t be that many people who would want to join us, is there?”
To this, Quinn and Mikael joined in laughing as well. Aegis sighed and shook his head.
“Well, whatever. Guys,” he cleared his throat to get their focus back. “I trust each of you with the tasks you’ve been given. What we’re up against is bigger than just us or this game, so please, work together and share everything. If one of us needs something the others can provide, we provide it. We’re in this together. Any questions?”
Silence.
“Good,” Aegis held his hand out over the table, palm facing down. The others looked at it funny. “What? Darkshot said this is a good team-building thing. Hands in. For Kalmoore and the Shattered World,” Aegis motioned them with his head to copy him.
Quinn put her hand on his, followed by Mikael, and last, Finley.
“For the Shattered World!” They shouted in unison, though Finley did it with no enthusiasm.
They set out from the command tent after bidding farewells. Outside, Darkshot and Lina were already waiting for him, having seen the whole thing on his livestream; Rakkan had as well and was already in their party, but he was busy training guards across Rene.
“We’re really recruiting a 5th member?” Darkshot asked with skepticism.
Aegis nodded.
“Okay, fine. But I get to pick, alright? I’m good at reading people,” Darkshot rubbed his hands together excitedly.
“It might be a bit hard…” Lina sounded apprehensive. The three walked side by side around the rubble of Rene, stepping over several large, glowing roots of Bihi protruding from the ground until they came into line of sight of the base of her trunk, on the most open-ended side, with the most space.
It’d been less than 10 minutes since Aegis had made the declaration that he was recruiting, and a massive crowd of players had already formed, all staring in his direction as he approached with Lina and Darkshot.
The sea of players was made up of smiling, eager faces, eyes shimmering. He immediately regretted everything.