Tribulations, p.13
Tribulations, page 13
“Have I mentioned that I hate all of this political maneuvering?” retorted Xeal as he looked at Princesses Bianca and Lorena who were quietly standing behind him. “And what are your thoughts on all this?”
“I would only ask that when my husband met an untimely demise after I bore a daughter from him, that you wouldn’t hold it against me,” replied Princess Bianca.
“It is the same for me. We are willing to do our duty, so long as once we are released from said duty, you will see us as just as much of a maiden as you do now after it.”
Xeal felt like he was seeing a rather scary side to both princesses, as they both replied without even looking disturbed in the slightest at the idea of the other killing their brother after bearing his child. Xeal wasn’t sure if they were actually serious, or if they were calling Enye’s bluff by using Xeal’s own sensibilities against her as he looked at her as he responded.
“Enye, I love you, but absolutely not. While I may force them to marry and bear a child by another, they will be the one who must choose who they marry. That way, should they kill him, I can hold it against them, else you create a situation where even the children they bear may not escape the cycle of hate that needs to end.”
“Then you do intend to marry them,” interjected Mari. “I am sorry Xeal, but as much as I love your naivety, what you want is beyond your ability to achieve. Your best chance is to have the next generation raised as close to equal as possible and for that, there is no other way besides fathering the heirs to both of their houses and your own. All three could inherit a station as a marquess and have ties to Nium’s royal family. Then it would be their task to ensure that whatever remained of the house they inherit is purged of those who would turn their blades at their brothers.”
“For now, let’s just see what the state of things are once the war ends, as even with the treaty that was signed, none but these two are assured to survive,” replied Xeal. “Alright, enough about them. I am here for all of you, not them after all…”
Like that Xeal shifted the focus of the conversation as he enjoyed his own breakfast, before spending the rest of the morning with all of them. This time gave way to the first of the many five-hour blocks of time that had been set aside during this visit, as Xeal and Enye slipped away from the rest. As they walked through the gardens of Xeal’s estate that were starting to take form as something that made the royal ones in Nium seem small, Xeal just sighed as Enye started to talk.
“It is terrifying, you know.”
“You mean knowing that you are about to face your greatest fears in a way that will likely trick you into believing that it is all real?”
“No, the moment I entrapped you I accepted that. I had already begun to kill the side of me that wanted to be loved by a man when I met you. I feared simply having hope, yet I couldn’t not have it when I looked at you, which I now know was due to what the thing you call the main system’s AI did to all of us, including Lorena and Bianca. What is terrifying is how easy knowing that allows me to sympathize with them and wonder just how many women are the same as us.”
Xeal couldn’t help but picture a horde of women chasing after him at Enye’s words, as a shudder ran down his back as he responded.
“Yes, it is. Were I to know what I know now- who am I kidding. I wouldn’t change a thing and risk not having all of you as my wives. Even with the added headaches that comes with it.”
“Oh, even if you reach the dreaded number of 20 wives?”
“I have a whole other world that I can escape to one out of every 16 days now, so let’s not push things, especially as that time increases further. Soon enough that may be one of every eight.”
“And then one in four, then every other day and someday you will never have to leave it. Xeal, do you really think Austru would let you hide from us there?”
“I just have to change my entry point,” quipped Xeal. “Though, I doubt I could stay away for long. Huh, I just wish that I had an easy way to avoid more like I do in reality.”
“What? Never leaving your house without one of them with you?”
“No, just rarely leaving my house to meet new people.”
“You really aren't far from acting as though this reality is the real reality for you.”
“No, I’m not. Now enough about serious things. I want to enjoy the little time we have.”
Enye just smiled as her dress shifted into more of a catsuit and Xeal just smiled at how fluid her control of her shadow elemental had become as she teased him.
“Just what did you have in mind?”
“Hmmm, we could always work up a good sweat doing some evasion training before cleaning up, just to get dirty again.”
“No, I am thinking more along the lines of seeing if I can actually hit you with any of my attacks as you only block.”
Before Xeal could even answer, Enye vanished and reappeared right behind Xeal in his own shadow, as he barely blocked the kick she aimed at him while he turned. Thus, the next few hours passed as Enye continued to use the abilities her shadow prowler class skill, shadow step, to launch one surprise attack after another at Xeal. For his own part, Xeal just smiled as he didn’t give her an inch as he brushed aside each and every attack while smiling the whole time. While he was countering them all, Xeal was only barely able to keep up with her and had he been a normal lower-level tier-7, he would have taken several hits by now. Still, he also knew that had it been a real fight, Enye would have suffered devastating counter attacks the whole time as well. This alone made Xeal frown as he didn’t want Enye to pick up bad habits, so around the two-hour mark he started to launch counter attacks.
“Hey, I thought we were waiting until after we got clean to get that kind of dirty!?” complained Enye, as she rubbed her rear after Xeal had given it a quick grab during her last attack.
“You were starting to fall into a bad habit, so I figured I would help make sure that you didn’t. Oh, and I will be trying to lay my hands on you every time you attack at this point, so treat me as some sort of perverted man that you have been hired to assassinate.”
“Oh, are you intending to send me after such a type of man one day?”
“No, but I would rather you not need to worry about it if you ever do.”
“How very specific.”
Just like that Enye renewed her attack as another hour passed, before they headed to the private baths as they got cleaned up and enjoyed an hour of intimacy after that point. When the five-hour date was up, Xeal just smiled as he kissed her and left for the quest world, as the night was already reserved for Austru after Xeal had to once more postpone her time. Upon arriving in the quest world, Xeal just smiled as he gave Austru a quick kiss before he headed off to expand his dominion using his lightning form. After which he exchanged the letters that had been addressed to her from the others and they enjoyed catching up on recent events. Finally, after a bit they enjoyed a quick meal that was served for them on a private balcony, before they retired for the night.
When morning came, Xeal had just finished another round of dominion expansion and was about to work to transfer the food that had gathered for Nium once more, when he received a summons from King Silas. Sighing at the delay, Xeal made his way to the usual room and frowned when he saw only Ellayina Walsh sitting there. Before he could even get two steps into the room, she was already talking as she stood up.
“I must apologize for not being at the last hearing and while I can’t give you many details, I can say that it was part of the price paid to secure you the quantum server.”
“So, Kevin is trying to counter me,” stated Xeal.
“You are an anomaly in our plans, one that I am grateful for, but you are inconvenient for him. He just prefers stability and predictability, and your guild is too far in front of everyone and he worries that you are hurting the long-term profitability and lifespan of Eternal Dominion.”
“Ha, right. Once everyone realizes that reaching tier-7 is something that only the best players are capable of and my guild starts to lose its numerical advantage, that will change.”
“Oh, you think it is too hard?” asked Ellayina.
“No, but tell me, what percentage of players do you expect to be able to reach it?”
“Around 75% are able to, while only 15% will if I had to bet off what I have seen from your guild.”
“That is far more optimistic than what I believe, though I am assuming that the 60% that you don’t think will make it are the casual players, or the want-to-be pro who refuses to go through the hassle of restarting.”
“More or less. So, what do you think the numbers will be?”
“Five percent of all players will reach tier-7, if my estimates of what most players and guilds have to invest in themselves will be,” stated Xeal matter-of-factly.
“You think that with each wave of players reaching level 199, that the success rate will continue to drop that much?”
“Yes, and the pass rate after failing once is abysmal. Not to mention the logistics of simply attempting it are such that those who can’t devote at least four days in reality to it, can’t even make an attempt. That isn’t even taking into account how unpleasant of an experience it is and how many dungeons that can be challenged while in tier-6. Heck, I expect that you will even see players losing levels on purpose, just to focus on farming certain dungeons that are profitable and fit their skill sets.”
“And you think all of those things and more, will keep the numbers that low? If so, then tier-8-”
“Will have hardly any players who reach it, which is fine. This world isn’t built for a million tier-8 entities. Even a few thousand would be an issue if enough of them decided that they should be a king, or queen.”
“Who is going to clear the lost court questlines then?” pondered Ellayina out loud.
“The what?”
“I know you know about it. You’ve been pulled into it once and I am rather sure Queen Lorafir told you about it as well. Basically, it is the final area of Eternal Dominion that is only suited for tier-8 players and is, well, I can’t say too much to you, else I might give you too much of a head start. However, I need at least 5,000 players to reach tier-8 if the final stage of Eternal Dominion is to be displayed.”
Xeal just shook his head as he changed his approach to get beneficial information as he responded.
“Sorry, but why is there even a final stage?”
“What?”
“This is an MMO. You don’t play them to beat the game, or even finish them. If there isn’t anything left to do, what’s the point?”
“Final stage, not final thing to do. Please, there will always be a new quest, or a dungeon that wasn’t there before, and new worlds to claim. The final stage is just where, well I can’t say as you don’t have a need to know and it would break a whole lot of the NDAs that I am under.”
“Right, so were you just here to apologize for not being there, while hinting at things that I can’t know, or did you have something else in mind?”
“Not even an inch,” complained Ellayina. “Here I was hoping that you would offer to help counter Kevin’s efforts.”
“Sorry, but even if he is plotting against me and aiding Abysses End, it will only make it sweeter when I ruin them,” retorted Xeal.
“Have it your way, though I am going to throw you a bone anyways. I mean, a nation losing 25% of its territory such a-”
“No, do not meddle in any wars, else players will expect it every time and sit on the sidelines until the event happens. If the Huáng empire falls, it falls. I am more than ready to accept defeat there.”
“Xeal, it is a five-on-one war, with the player ratios being closer to eight on one. If it wasn’t for the fact that the Huáng empire has as many soldiers as the other five combined and your guild supplying more tier-7 forces, it would have fallen already.”
“I know and so does any competent player that is paying attention to the situation. I have yet to truly play my hand as the battles are all too spread out right now. Once I do, I still believe that I can turn it around. Especially since they have been forced to bypass all cities since FAE has gotten involved.”
“Fine, I won’t increase the drop rates on all monsters inside the Huáng empire’s borders for the next 90 days in ED.”
Xeal just smiled as he shook his head as he laughed at Ellayina’s idea. In practice it wasn’t a bad idea as it would cause players to flood in, but in reality it would only hurt the plan he had in mind.
“I thank you for caring, but please, don’t add any more chaos to the situation over there. What I have planned will already create far too much of it.”
“Sure, sure. Well, I will just be going then. Good luck to you.”
“Right, take care as well and try to convince Kevin that Abysses End is a sinking ship, and don’t let them take Eternal Dominion Inc. with them. I would really hate to see such a wonderful world end before I die of old age in reality.”
With that Ellayina looked back at him and smiled, before she vanished mid-stride and he returned to taking care of transporting the goods. As he was taking them to Cielo city, it was left to others to take them from his estate there to Anelqua, where they would be redistributed. With that complete, Xeal found himself starting day 245 in the main ED world with a breakfast date with Mari. As such, Xeal found himself sitting on a balcony as they just talked while working through their meal. Finally, as their meal was coming to a close, Xeal shifted the topic away from the idle chatter that they had been enjoying.
“So, Mari, what would you like to do today, or are you looking for some last-minute time to train against me as well?”
“No, I am more in the mood to simply be held and to hold you. I know that I will not die during my tribulation, but it matters not as I am sure of what I will face and am ready.”
“Oh, and what is it that you will face?”
“What is any mother’s greatest fear?” asked Mari as if it was obvious.
“Losing your child,” replied Xeal solemnly.
“Yes, I expect that will be a major component of it. Then I expect my own inadequacy issues to rear their head as I deal with that and any other scenarios that the world decides that I need to overcome.”
“So, you want to have a strong, happy and recent memory to counter that before you go,” asked Xeal mischievously.
“Several of them, if possible,” replied Mari with a smile.
“Your wish is my command.”
With that Xeal finished the last bite of his breakfast and carried Mari princess style back to the bedroom, as they spent the rest of their time split between there and the adjoined bathing room. When it was finally time for lunch, Xeal smiled as he kissed Mari farewell as he headed for his second of three dates that day, as he found Dyllis awaiting him. She just smiled as Xeal took a seat next to her on the bench, as she cuddled into him and started to talk as servants started to bring out their meal.
“I take it that Mari is doing well?”
“I would hope so, else my wives are keeping things from me and I need to know about any issues so I can address them.”
“Oh, well, we are all a bit high strung right now with everything going on,” replied Dyllis with a sigh. “Honestly, I fear just what I will face as I intend to face down the Demonic mode like you did.”
“Dyllis, why would you do such a thing!” all but shouted Xeal in a mix of fear and surprise.
“Because I love you and all I need do is visit the room where my mother lived all those years to meet the requirements. All of us are intending to do so actually. The royal palace contains many such moments for Enye as while she may hide it well, the duties of royalty are not all pleasant and they are taught from a young age. I shouldn’t even need to mention the demons in Lingxin’s past and Mari, well, her house has seen more than its fair share of plotting and killing and she has one in particular that haunts her.”
“There are times that I forget that this world doesn’t spare its children from the traumas of its dark side.”
“No, we learn to either live with it, or be destroyed by it,” stated Dyllis with a mournful look. “Even the sheltered existence that you have created for ours will soon be shattered, as they begin to understand why their daddy is always gone. It’s why I am determined to succeed and ensure that my voice is heard like no bard before me, as I try to make sure that the light is far greater than the darkness for all of them.”
At that the food was set and Xeal grabbed one of the sandwiches and took a bite, as Dyllis did the same before he sighed and responded.
“The four of you aren’t planning to stay up here, are you.”
“We will live here,” stated Dyllis confidently. “But we are just as safe as you are when you head off on a mission as while our party is smaller, all of us who can die are marked by you.”
“What happened to wanting to have two more children while you were here?” asked Xeal in an attempt to dissuade her.
“The war spread farther than just here in Nium and came far sooner than it should have.”
Xeal just paused as he looked at Dyllis and measured her resolve. Finally he sighed as he thought of a compromise.
“Fine, you can go to war, but not on the surface. I will have Narfu and Ceclie’s party join you, as well as some dwarves and my guild members, to clear the kobold mines and establish a base in the subterranean realm. I have already talked with Taya and Kate, and we think it is the best option for the four of you.”
“Oh, and how will that help your war efforts?” countered Dyllis.
“You will be looking for any captured dwarves, as I believe that there is an adamantium-ranked smith down there,” supplied Xeal. “Had the war not come, it would have been what I would be doing right now.”
“I will need to speak to the others about it, but I think that might work.”
“Nora is going to be pissed that you all are leaving. She really hates that she is the only one that seems to be unable to fight.”
“Yes, well, we will leave our children here and ensure that we return as often as we can. Though we can’t ask Cielo city to accommodate us doing so all the time.”
