“The power brokers of the real world were slow to adapt to the game that destabilized everything. The largest shakeup in international relations since the loss of global satellite coverage unfolded over a period of months. A new frontier had been opened, and it produced a global rush that outshined the age of exploration.”

  From “The Exodus Within”

  Year 1, Month 2, Day 6, 21:30

  Allestor’s forces tore into the rear of the Red Hat Raiders, leaving a trail of surprised players sent to respawn. The training unit under Markus became the anvil to Allestor’s hammer. The attack shattered the cohesion of the enemy forces, and they broke into disparate groups seeking to flee. Torgon sent arrows flying into the backs of players as they ran, reaping a deadly harvest.

  Ovarrix sent an update, “The other three farming groups have been attacked. I’ve diverted forces to support them. How’s your situation?”

  Torgon replied, “We’re mopping up. This doesn’t seem random.”

  “It isn’t,” Ovarrix concurred. “Scouts have spotted a large force of One Percenters marching on the Temple of Unclad Bone. It looks like they want to punch out the encampment and occupy the dungeon.”

  Torgon shook his head and sent back another message, “Let them. They can bang their head against the dungeon or whatever the hell they want to try with it. We’ll blow their defenses away in a mass assault in a few days when we’re ready to hit the hard mode.”

  Ovarrix laughed, “Sounds great Torg. What are the orders for right now?”

  “Evacuate the garrison at the Temple,” Torgon said. “Kill as many of the loose forces that attacked our farming groups. Once the farming groups are free, we’ll pull them back to operate closer to the Tomb of the Wight Lord.”

  Sharp but lopsided fights occurred with each of the farming groups. The coordination and support of the combat units allowed the farm teams to slaughter their opponents. As soon as the main body of the One Percenter forces arrived at the Temple, the groups from the raiders pulled back in their direction. Scouts from Risk of Injury reported that they began building field fortifications around the area with the intention to hold it.

  Torgon accompanied the training force back to the Tomb of the Wight Lord. They took a few minutes to rest and resupply then returned to farming the undead. The concentration of hostile forces around the Temple meant the rest of the Broken Hills zone was relatively free of player threats. Torgon stayed with the team until morning and then returned to the guild base while they continued training newer guild members.

  Torgon sat down in the meeting room with Hyperia and Ovarrix to go over reports and make plans. “Anything new from our scouts?”

  Hyperia winced, “Yes, there is. Another guild has joined the Red Hat Raiders and One Percenters. They’re calling themselves SPQR and they have some semi-competent leaders.”

  Ovarrix laughed loudly, “SPQR? Let me guess. They’re drilling their groups like the legions and they’re all male?”

  Hyperia nodded, “Yes, reenactors?”

  Ovarrix shook his head, “No. In fact, I don’t think anyone in that group has seriously studied history at any point in their lives. They just dig up random historical groups that they think support their worldview and run with it. They’ll be more disciplined than most of our opponents but less flexible.”

  Torgon raised an eyebrow, “Have you dealt with them before?”

  “Many times,” Ovarrix said. “They stick to their model, and it works against maybe 80 or 90% of the people they fight. They haven’t considered how terrible an idea the legion formations are when AoE attacks become the norm instead of a rarity. We’ll start teaching them that lesson when we move to retake the Temple.”

  “We’ll table that for now,” Torgon said. “The recipes for the potions we need will be done in another day or two. It won’t take more than a day to produce a stockpile for us to use in the dungeon. I think we’re at least two weeks away from being able to even find the raid though. We have to construct the fortresses first.”

  Hyperia considered the problems, “The base raid tomorrow should be easier than the last one. We’re stronger individually, and we have better siege engine coverage. Our consumable stockpiles continue to grow in both number and variety.”

  Torgon looked at the two, “Tomorrow night, we’ll throw a small celebration in the guild base and open up all the random rewards from the undead bone shards. It should let us plow the next batch through the Tomb of the Wight Lord hard mode and maybe even tackle the expert mode.”

  “I like it,” Hyperia added. “Plan an operation to have everyone hit the Temple of Unclad Flesh in another sixday. We’ll roll straight from that guild base raid into an assault on the location and plow teams through until we have at least 1,000 players ready for the raid.”

  Ovarrix stood up, “I’ll start planning the requirements and updating the enemy force profiles. I’m going to return to training players and farming undead until then.”

  Hyperia joined Ovarrix, “I’ll grab some of the potion recipes they’ve finished. The basic and level 5 versions of the frost and lightning resistance potions are done. I’m going to make a few and work on my alchemy. Who knows, maybe we can sell the lower-level versions for a solid profit.”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Torgon laughed, “Good plan. I’m going to go over my skills and then look at what I need to work on.” He returned to his quarters and stretched out on the bed. He said out loud, “I really need to work on making furniture at some point. I need to get the house to the advanced tier for more room.”

  He examined his character sheet, but no easy solutions came to him. His dodge skill was almost level 10, but that would only free up a combat slot. He had enough free experience to push exactly one skill to level 10 that would free up a universal slot. All the random ideas he had required at least two free slots to work. Torgon decided that it would be best to wait and see how the random skill draws turned out the next night.

  He grumpily left the comfort of his bed and moved to the crafting hall. Hundreds of players worked at all hours making items. People worked on what they wanted to work on, and the projects kept their interest. Torgon felt relieved that it hadn’t turned into a sweatshop. He moved to his room in the weapon’s crafting hall and started to work.

  He alternated between making swords and bows for the next several hours. A knock on the wall caused him to raise his head and see Hyperia waiting for him. She said, “Torg, we have a meeting with the Midnight Maiden and her boss in the town. I think we need to take this and see what they want to discuss.”

  Torgon stood up and brushed himself off, “He wants our writs.”

  Hyperia nodded, “He does, but I want to hear what they actually have to offer us.”

  Torgon snorted, “An overly inflated ego? Let’s go. I want to find out too.”

  The pair took the teleporter into Miller’s Crossing and traveled through the bustling streets towards the city’s best restaurant. Inside the restaurant, the Midnight Maiden and Thomas Cook, the owner of Cook Industries, waited. No guards were present and a small private room had been set aside for their us. Torgon and Hyperia joined the other two at the table and the negotiations began.

  Hyperia spoke first, “To what do we owe the pleasure?”

  Thomas answered, “I’ll cut right to the chase. I have a business proposition for your guild, and I would like you to hear me out.”

  Torgon and Hyperia glanced at each other then they both nodded.

  Thomas continued, “The popularity of this game continues to grow without any sign of stopping. I know that your guild is in possession of several writs that would allow my company to create a space that operates with time dilation. I want to acquire those writs, and I am willing to offer you quite a substantial windfall for them.”

  Torgon answered him, “I’m afraid that our current contracts do not allow us to sell any in game items for anything outside the game. Our guild is in a rather unique position. We’re part of a research program being run by the Singularity Corporation itself.” Torgon watched Thomas’s eyes widen at the revelation.

  “Due to our position, anything that is primarily useful to out of game interests, like the writs, goes up for auction or for deals reflecting in game resources only. Typical corporate maneuvering involving threats of slowed business or loss of employment for our members, not that I think you would ever consider such, would be frowned upon by Singularity to an extent that it would backfire in a precipitous manner.” Torgon kept his internal grin off his face as he witnessed Thomas Cook’s consternation.

  He continued, “I’ll ask you this Mr. Cook. You hired the Midnight Maiden to advise your son on his in-game adventure, and you even had the force of will to put her in charge when he was struggling. Did she advise you to threaten us or to try and work with us?”

  Mr. Cook spoke slowly, “She advised that threatening you would be counterproductive and that only way forward was to find an accommodation with your guild.” The Midnight Maiden inclined her head to acknowledge his words.

  Torgon spoke again, “Our guilds got off on the wrong foot, but that isn’t something that’s important. The non-aggression pact has been holding and relations have been cordial. While we could come to some agreement over the writs, I have some free information and then a counterproposal for you.”

  Thomas Cook steepled his fingers and leaned forward over the table, “I’m listening.”

  Torgon gestured all around the room, “This world is more important than you and your peers realize. A person using a helmet, if they spend the maximum amount of time inside the game, will spend 3 days in the game for every 12 hours outside the game. Even if someone only plays while they sleep, they’ll spend 48 hours in game to 16 hours outside the game.”

  “I’ll let you in on a little-known fact. There are long term immersion pods being tested by Singularity Corporation that allow a person to stay inside the game full time. They are not publicly available yet. A businessman such as yourself can surely see where that might lead.”

  Thomas’s brow furrowed in concentration then he spoke, slowly at first but with increasing speed. “If there’s a way to spend the time completely in game then people who can will. The ratio of real world to in game time implies that in game is more important than out of game for most people.” He looked at Torgon sharply, “Your writs are only valuable to people who don’t play, and they’ll forever be on the outside looking in.”

  Torgon agreed, “That’s right Mr. Cook. Focusing on development in the game is going to be more important for your industries long term. You should start spending more of your time here and take control of your guild. Develop it seriously instead of as a lark.”

  “Aren’t you worried about the competition,” Thomas asked.

  Torgon looked him squarely in the eye, “No. Everyone in the world is scrambling to get experts to help develop their guilds and frankly, we’re better positioned than anyone outside the S-tier guilds.” Thomas looked at his companion, and she indicated her agreement with Torgon’s statement.

  Thomas’s next question surprised everyone, “What about merging our guild into yours?”

  Torgon considered the question, “I don’t know. I’m not sure that it would be allowed and I’m not sure that you and your membership would align overall with our goals. I’m not dismissing it out of hand, but I would have to have a conversation with representatives from the Singularity Corporation first.”

  “Please do,” Thomas said. “You’ve given me a lot to think about. I haven’t given this world the attention it deserves and to be frank, I think you’re right about where it’s going. I want to be in the front of that innovation.”

  Torgon and Hyperia stood, shaking the hands of Thomas and the Maiden. Hyperia said, “We’ll discuss this with Singularity and let you know. Thank you for the dinner and hopefully we can cooperate with each other more going forward.”

  The two of them left and Thomas turned to the Midnight Maiden and asked, “What do you think?”

  Grudgingly she spoke, “Torgon and I might not get along, but he’s damn good at what he does. They have talent that not even you can afford. I can run a solid guild for you, but it would be a vanity guild at best. It would never matter to this world. Their guild will.”

  Thomas nodded, “No point in worrying about it until we get a response from them. If it is possible to merge, I’ll have a decision to make. Do I want control of my own small pond, or do I want to help shape the world.” His eyes were sharp as he watched the door, contemplating his future.