Notoriety, p.3
Notoriety, page 3
This included being the focus of the martial arts programs that he was developing, with half of their time in ED being spent on sparring to ensure that they were fully in sync at every level before moving on. Many of them had complained about the monotony of the process after the first week but, with Takeshi at the helm none of them caused any major issues. This was due to just how far past the average expert Takeshi was at this point, as he had taken to all the tips and tricks to hone oneself that Xeal had shared and was easily FAE’s top expert at this point. That didn’t mean that he would win in a fight against any of the players who had been marked as the stat boosts were overpowered, but if stats were equal, he would win 99 out of 100 times. With Takeshi and the other experts doing a single fight against shadow warriors each day simply to allow the players to observe and learn, none of them doubted the skills of their instructors at this point. Alex just wished that he could allocate more than one mirror shard per ten of them as it only allowed them to face off against their own clone once every ten days. Still, the results from these fights were eye opening to them all, especially now that they were exploring the tier-2 classes.
While it had been rare for players to shift base classes after selecting one at tier-2, it was actually rather simple to do so as your path wasn’t truly locked until you reached tier-3. Add to the mix that they had King Victor’s, Chief Xuk’s, Queen Aila Lorafir’s, and the beast-man tribes’ support and only a few classes and races were missing from their options. When the first group of dwarves arrived in a bit over a month in ED time, these options would increase once more and only the hidden and other race-specific classes would be unavailable to them. Though most of the hidden ones were the type of class that were like the one Ava’s and Mia’s characters had, where it was more of an enhancement to another class that could be added at any point. The problem was that these were very rare and often times only available after receiving a rare one-time quest that Alex didn’t have much information on.
“Alex, hello, are you in there?” pestered Sam.
“Sorry, spaced out for a second. What do you need?”
“I was wondering what happens if they aren’t ready in time,” responded Nicole.
“Oh, well we work with what we have and deal with what we have to. Honestly, we should still be fine on our continent, but we will see higher losses to the NPCs on our side and it will limit our ability to hold a few key points on other continents.”
“I thought we only cared about Nium?” inquired Sam.
“When it comes to countries we do, but there are cities, or places that I want to ensure survive as the wars will completely reshape the land in places. A perfect example would be the capital of the Huáng empire as if the city is razed, it could be disadvantageous to us as it could expose Bīng. While I doubt I can save the Huáng empire, nor do I intend on trying to, keeping that city from being a battlefield is in our interest.”
“You better have some really good cards to play when that time comes,” commented Kate. “Everything I have read about the state of that continent screams that the other countries will not be satisfied until that city has been dismantled completely and erased from the history books.”
“Hold on, what the hell did they do to warrant that?” commented Sam.
“Sam, they have been the dominant force on that continent for the past 1,000 years in ED and have been vicious in their treatment of the conquered who resist them,” answered Alex. “They have also concentrated all the plundered wealth in their capital, making it kind of a monument of their conquests. Not to mention the number of their heroes who were displayed from those walls after being defeated.”
“That is just wrong,” responded Mia.
“Yeah, Lingxin is great, but how the hell can her family have done that?” asked Ava.
“You two should read some of the things that have happened in the last 1,000 years in our world. You will find just how common such things are in our own history. Religion, ethnicity, wealth and even simple paranoia have led to millions of innocent lives being lost in even just the last 500 years. Even today, being born in the wrong place can lead to having to fear a tyrant deciding that your life is worthless for any made-up reason they want. It is just less common as it’s harder to hide.”
“Control. When you’re talking about a nation carrying out such acts, that is what it is always about,” interjected Kate. “Those in power wish to maintain it and so when they see a group that disagrees with them, they use them as an example for others to why they should stay in line and be obedient.”
“Alright, enough with the dark side of the world,” responded Mia.
“We get it, ED is still in the prephotographic stage of their history,” added Ava.
“Though we are changing that quickly.”
“Yeah, by the time the wars start they will have learned that we don’t like that kind of thing.”
“You’re being naïve, but we should move to less gruesome and depressing topics,” commented Kate.
“Alright, so Anna is going to be around much more in the near future,” commented Nicole.
“Looks like it,” responded Alex. “Though…”
The rest of the time that they had before it was time to log in was spent talking about Anna moving in permanently, to include Lauren and Jessica joining her. There was a bit of a back and forth surrounding Jessica, but in the end none of the five women were worried about her finding her way into Alex’s bed. Their main concerns were around what to do when she had a breakdown from being shut out completely from even having any chance to be near Alex.
When Xeal awoke in ED on day 86 in ED, he smiled as he just took in the warmth of being in the center of his six wives, all dressed in nightgowns. As he looked at Enye’s belly, he smiled as she was already showing slightly while the other three of his NPC wives had yet to do so. This moment didn’t last as with Aalin and Gale logging in as well, the movement they caused created its normal reaction as Mari snuggled up to Aalin, pressing her closer to Xeal. Aalin was about to escape like she always did when Xeal surprised her with a kiss that caused her to linger for a few extra seconds, as Gale was pushed closer by Lingxin as Enye and Dyllis started to snuggle in closer as well.
“See, Aalin, it doesn’t feel off to feel both Xeal and the others now does it?” commented Gale with a smile.
“I suppose as long as I have him like this I can put up with it, though I am still a hard no if it is between two of you and I am not next to him.”
“That’s fine. I have just been missing the bit of snuggling that we used to do after every session in reality,” mentioned Xeal.
“Agreed, the VR pods are great, but they definitely lose out there,” concurred Gale.
“That they do,” added Aalin. “So, what is on the docket for today?”
“It is time to head out to Hardt Burgh and see how the progress on the teleportation hall is coming. They should be almost ready to add the void heart and I need to check in on everything there anyways.”
“We should all come with you,” stated Gale. “To include the clerics of Eileithyia. After all, it is getting close to the point that noble women are told to not travel unless absolutely necessary.”
“That it is,” interjected Enye, who had woken up while they had been talking. “And I must say that it is nice to awake like this. Now though as much as I would like to stay here, it is time to start our day.”
With that she shook Mari awake, who yawned as she noticed that Aalin was between her and Xeal and just smiled as she got out of bed as Aalin and Gale followed, waking up Lingxin and Dyllis in the process. Xeal just smiled as he retreated to the other room as his wives got ready for the day and came to the dining room where the high elf Alea, wood elf Rina, orc seer Bula and white tiger woman Eira all waited for him. The four of them all looked like they were bored and ready to go on an adventure as they had grown tired of having the time off as Xeal smiled as he spoke.
“You all look like you are over this break that you are on.”
“Ha, I can’t believe I am saying this, but I would take training under that abomination Ceclie over the nothing that we have been doing,” commented Alea.
“Yeah, Xeal, when are we going to start clearing the mines?” asked Eira with Midnight on her lap. “All of this sitting around has me feeling like you have forgotten about us.”
“Believe me I haven’t forgotten about you. No, right now I am just focused on things that take me out of Nium and I can’t bring any of you along due to the issues in doing so. That said, we will start getting to work before the first group of dwarves arrive. After all, we need to make sure that they have a good place to call home when they get here.”
“Are we really going to clear that mine on our own?” asked Rina.
“No, we will just be the forward party who is tasked with thinning out the numbers drastically on our way down while we map it out. The other FAE members who will follow behind us will take care of methodically clearing out each floor and keeping any kobolds from getting by them…”
Xeal went on to explain what the plan was for the Vault of Ucnuc as well, though that required the four dragonoid women to be ready to join them as Ceclie continued to guard the choke points at each well. Though Xeal had to laugh at the fact that by the time they would be moving on to clearing that area, he expected himself and the rest of his team to have reached tier-6 before sealing the next well. There would also be the issue that the deeper that they sealed the wells, the stronger the monsters on the surface would become. While the party Xeal was going to organize would be able to easily handle monsters ten levels above them when they were tier-6, that would not be the case for the average player. So it was that as much as Xeal wanted to secure the sword shards, he knew better than to try to do so at this point as he figured the last one would be in the final boss of the dungeon.
As Xeal had been explaining, his wives had joined them at the table and breakfast had been brought out, with Xeal feeding Midnight a piece of bacon before eating. With the arrival of the others, the conversation shifted to the plans for travel today and questions on what they should bring, as Eira frowned at the fact that she would have to deal with her mother. That said, the others seemed to be looking forward to the change of pace as they discussed the possibility of establishing a second set of garrison portals for traveling around the beast-man tribes’ lands. This would require that the teleportation hall succeed on the first attempt and it would also mean that anyone who wanted to travel further than the nearest city would need to make a stop somewhere else first. If Xeal wanted to have ease of access for all of Nium it would take three hearts, and if he wanted to be able to reach the far corners of the continent it would take four hearts. That would likely be the farthest that Xeal would push for things, as to reach another continent would take six void hearts and it would take ten before the whole globe was available. At the same time, each heart would add to the number of gates that could be operated at once, with one heart only allowing for a single one. Two void hearts would allow for four, as the max number of gates was the number of hearts squared, with the caveat that a gate that could travel the distance that two hearts would allow cost twice as much. This meant that the special gate that every capital had which allowed travel to any continent counted as ten base gates and most gates in such halls were the type to travel across the continent itself.
Once breakfast was finished, Xeal smiled as he made his way to use the garrison portals to get close to Hardt Burgh. Along the way, several others joined them, to include Kate, Luna, Selene, Amet, Clara, Ignis and Nanami, who was giving Xeal a look that said that they needed to talk. Once they were there, they piled into the carriages that had been permanently stored there to accommodate access to the city and he sat with Aalin, Gale, Kate, Ignis and Nanami. While he wished it had been just him and his wives for a bit longer, this was a good chance to handle what he knew would be an important discussion as he started talking.
“Alright, what did Mom and Dad say.”
“Ha, I thought you were supposed to get them to agree, not tell them about Jessica being part of the deal.”
“They guessed that on their own. Sorry, but I’m not going to lie about it as she would be showing up with you this summer and they could call the whole thing off just like that over it.”
“Yah, well Mom is pissed and she is saying that if I am going to move out here with her, that we need to find our own place.”
“Did she say anything about the distance learning idea?”
“Yah, she is fine with it as long as I can walk with my class and I fly back there for a few events, like my senior prom.”
“Honestly, it might be for the best if you all spend the year in the apartment and come out here next summer.”
“Ha, are you going to have Dan move back in with his parents? Sorry, but I am done with all the idiots trying to ask me out. It’s not just at school, as most of them know that I go to the two dojos and dance hall at this point.”
“Wait, you have guys showing up to harass you when you go to your lessons as well?”
“No, they all joined the lessons and are just trying to talk with me. Honestly, it’s kind of pathetic as only the few who were there from the start are even halfway decent. Sensei Sano and Sensei Kikuchi are fairly annoyed about it as if they put as much effort in learning as they do trying to catch my eye, they would at least be able to hold a proper form by now. Heck, Mr. Fredholm has taken to being my partner most of the time to help me avoid the ones who showed up to the dance hall. Though he is also happy as at least the other girls in the class are happy to take advantage of it since there are finally enough guys for them all to have partners.”
“Still, that isn’t something you should need to deal with. Has Dad not been going with you?”
“He has and it is likely why nothing major has happened, but it’s still annoying to have to keep telling them that I am not interested in going on a date. It’s also why I’m done pretending that Ignis is anything other than my boyfriend.”
“Have you run that by Mom and Dad?”
“Nope, but I don’t care.”
“Honestly, what can they do about it, Xeal?” interjected Gale.
“Quite a lot legally, but next to nothing practically,” supplied Kate with a sigh. “Xeal, do you think that your parents are the type to be fine with their 16-year-old daughter living in the same house as her boyfriend, even if they live there too?”
“No, because I’m not. Ignis, what are your intentions with my sister?”
“Honestly, it’s too soon to say. Sorry, man, we aren’t like you who started to date and within a few months were ready to go all in. I believe we like each other a ton, but it would be a lie to say that I was ready to marry her right now.”
“Or that I would say yes if he asked. Honestly, we haven’t even had a real first date yet.”
“Alright, I will see what I can work out, but I will likely have two plans to work off of, depending on how the summer goes. Nanami, if you want to be in Colorado you need to hope that Jessica does well while she visits this summer.”
“Got it. Don’t pull a you and keep Jessica focused on Casmir, not you. Anything else?”
“Yah, smile and enjoy becoming an aunt,” chipped in Aalin with a smile, as the topic shifted to less stressful topics for the remainder of the journey while Xeal thought over his plans.
When they arrived at Hardt Burgh, Xeal and the others smiled as they disembarked outside the third ring where the planned marketplace would be. From here they quickly made their way to the entrance to the third ring that would house the teleportation hall. Unlike the other sections of the third ring, this one was much smaller and only went an eighth of the way into the ring and was walled off from the rest of the city. This meant that anyone who teleported to the city would need to still enter through one of the gates, that would be guarded by the beast-men who were part of the still-developing city guard. However, all of that would need to wait for a while longer as the current procedure was to only have a few of the gates open and have guards placed at the gate which provided access to the teleportation hall. The idea being that a few airborne beast-men flying patrols would be able to spot anyone coming from a long distance at this point and only those arriving by teleportation would be able to catch anyone by surprise.
While hopefully unnecessary, Xeal was concerned about groups like Abysses End trying to assault the city as a way to harm FAE. Considering the fact that they had already become a hostile entity to Nium and would be apprehended the moment they arrived in Nium, Xeal figured that it would be one of their subordinate guilds to make a move if one was made. The issues with trying to stop this was that Abysses End had many such guilds at this point and in many cases no connection would be known until they were utilized. While Xeal could remember a few of the guilds that they had used in his last life, it was nothing compared to just how many there had been as his memory wasn’t perfect. So it was that Xeal knew that at some point the city would have to deal with an assault of some kind. Though he doubted that they would be able to harm anything beyond the market and teleportation hall in their assault. Even then, with the tier-7 NPCs that would be guarding everything, Xeal expected it to only result in minor damage unless they waited until they were tier-7 themselves. At which point it would depend on more factors than Xeal could consider at this point as there were too many possibilities.
