“Nigel, please assign this unit to Sirina and her family.”
“Of course, sire.”
Sirina’s eyes shot up to the ceiling. “Who was that? Can he see us?” Her gaze darted around the room, looking for cameras.
“That is Nigel. He’s the AI that runs all of my Strongholds, ships, everything. And it’s more like he… senses you. There are no cameras in here. And Nigel is harmless. In fact, anytime you need something, anywhere near one of our structures, you need only call out to him.”
Sirina looked up at the ceiling again. “Uh, hello… Nigel?”
“Greetings miss Sirina. It is a pleasure to meet you.”
Allistor had a thought. “Sirina, do you mind if I cast a small spell on you? It’s called Identify, and it will give me your basic information.”
“What would you like to know?” She took a nervous step back.
“Well, what level are you? And do you have a chosen class?”
“I am level eight. And I do not have a class.”
“No, at level eight you wouldn’t. You choose your class when you reach level ten. Are most of the people here a similar level?”
“We do not discuss such things much, but yes, I believe so. My mother is level six, my sister eight, like me. We do not fight the monsters to level up, but we have been here in the Stronghold when monsters attacked and were defeated. And my sister and I were on a work crew that was attacked by hyenas. We held them off with axes and sharp branches until enough fighters could be summoned to kill them.”
“Then you are very brave, as well as intelligent. Tell me, what would you like to do? Given the choice of anything. Would you want to hunt? To cook? Are you good with machines? Maybe heal? Or do you enjoy being a lumber… I’m sorry, a harvester?”
“My mother loves to cook, but I’m afraid I did not inherit her talent for it. My sister and I are very good dancers! But I do not suppose one could earn a living that way anymore.” She lowered her gaze.
“Probably not right now, though as we rebuild and grow, that might be a possibility.” Allistor did remember a few exotic dancers at the Stadium, but didn’t think that line of work was right for this woman.
“I like to garden…” She offered.
“There you go! There are several classes that involve plants. Druids, farmers, herbalists, alchemists… lots of possibilities there.” He smiled at her. “And I know just the person to introduce you to. Come with me.”
He led her out of the apartment, closing the door behind them. She gasped as the door closed, looking over Allistor’s shoulder. When he glanced back, he saw letters appearing as if carved into the door. They spelled out Lady Sirina.
Five minutes later they were standing in an open area inside the newly expanded wall. Allistor placed one of several additional teleport hubs he’d purchased from Harmon, and enjoyed the look on her face as it sprang into existence. Several others noticed the seemingly magical appearance, as well as the towering new buildings, and had wandered over to take a closer look. Allistor took the opportunity to make a sales pitch.
“I’m Allistor, new proprietor of this establishment.” He smiled at the crowd, but got only blank looks and neutral expressions in return. “This is a teleport pad. It is connected to a whole network of other pads at my various properties here on earth, and our new planet called Orion. I’m about to escort miss Sirina here to meet a few friends of mine, who can teach her about some available classes that fit what she likes to do, which is gardening.”
He paused as there was a bit of mumbling. Realizing they might have no idea what classes were, he took five minutes to outline them, describing his own class, and a few others. As well as the spells that came with them. He was realizing more and more that Rajesh had kept most of these people completely in the dark about the opportunities for growth this new world offered. They were so far behind the curve, it made him angry. If Rajesh still lived, he’d kill him again, slowly.
Finished with discussing classes, he changed his mind about the day’s schedule. These folks were not informed enough about their world to make an important decision like whether or not to become citizens. Though he was doubtful they would survive otherwise, he wanted to educate them.
“Nigel, loudspeaker please. Through this whole Stronghold.”
“Go ahead, sire.” The voice echoed out of the pad, causing several folks to step back.
“Attention everyone. This is Emperor Allistor. Please drop what you’re doing and join me at the new teleport pad. Just walk toward the two new high rise buildings, and you’ll see our gathering. I have some information to share.” He didn’t want to bully these people, but he needed all of them to hear him. “This is a mandatory meeting. Please make your way to my location now. This includes all my raiders and trainers, please.”
While they waited for the others, Allistor answered some questions. They were pretty basic, like who was he, how did he become emperor, did he maintain a harem? That one had come from a hopeful looking teenage boy. After about fifteen minutes there were several thousand locals standing around him. A few were so elderly and frail looking that he had his people produce whatever they had in their rings that could be used as seats.
“Nigel, is everyone here?”
“There are two elderly residents who are in their beds, and one of them has two young children with her.”
Allistor looked around for one of the healers. Spotting one, he asked, “Please go take a look at them, do what you can? Nigel, have five droids meet her there. They can carry our last few stragglers back here.”
A woman stepped forward, an angry look on her face. “The old woman with the children is my grandmother, and those are my children. She is sick, and cannot be moved. You leave them alone!” There were some angry rumbles from the crowd behind her.
“I mean her no harm. I’m sending a healer to her. If there is something wrong with her other than age, she will help your grandmother. The droids will carefully carry her here, so that she can hear what I have to tell you all. No harm will come to her, or to your children.”
Sirina stepped forward and placed a hand on the woman’s arm. “Trust him, he is a good man.” The woman looked uncertain, but must have trusted Sirina to some extent. She nodded once and stepped back. The healer departed at a sprint, knowing Allistor wanted to get things moving. Another healer took off after her, unasked, to see to the other senior.
Allistor took the time to tell the rest of the crowd the short version of his story. How his town had been flattened by the void titan, his family killed. He spoke about when they first formed the Warren stronghold, and of the challenges they faced in the early days. These people were basically still at that stage, not having been allowed to develop, and he thought they could best relate to that period in his life.
Then he spoke about adding more Strongholds, about making allies of other leaders, and his stroke of luck when Helen granted him the parks. He introduced Helen, then some of the others. It was at that point that the droids and healers arrived with the grandmother and children, and an extremely old man wrapped in several blankets. The healer walking alongside the old man’s droid shook his head, letting Allistor know there wasn’t much he could do for the old man. You couldn’t cure old age with a healing spell.
But this gave Allistor an idea.
“Please excuse me for just a moment, I need to check on something.” He opened his UI and the tab Daigath had pointed out to him. A quick glance at his own stats showed that he had more than a hundred and fifty million experience points toward his next level. After a bit of exploration, he confirmed what he’d wanted to know, and made an adjustment.
“Thank you folks.” He looked at the healers and motioned for them to bring the droids carrying the seniors forward. “I needed to check to see if this was possible. I’m about to do something I’ve never done before.”
He took a deep breath, organizing his thoughts. “I had planned to give each of you until noon today to make a choice a
s to whether or not to join me and become citizens of Invictus. Unfortunately, I’ve learned that Rajesh kept a lot of vital information from you. He also kept you stagnant, rather than helping you to grow stronger.” He looked around the crowd. “Are any of you, other then the fighters, level ten or higher?”
Maybe fifty hands went up into the air. “And you were given the opportunity to choose a class?” He focused on one individual near the front, whose face he could see clearly.
The man nodded, then shook his head. “I got a message about choosing a class, yes. But Earl Rajesh instructed me, all of us, to ignore it. He said he would instruct us on which class to choose, later.”
Allistor was getting angry again. He took a couple deep breaths. “Did any of you ignore Rajesh and choose a class anyway?” He waited several seconds. “It’s okay, you won’t get in trouble. Rajesh is a melted pile of goo, probably still smoking. He can’t hurt you, and I won’t hurt you. In fact, I’m hoping to make it so all of you can choose a class.”
After several more seconds, half a dozen hands went up. “Please, step forward.”
When the six had meekly moved forward through the crowd and joined him up on the teleport pad, he continued. “Thank you, for your courage and for stepping forward. I like people who think for themselves. May I ask, what classes did you all choose?”
The first in line spoke quietly. “I chose farmer.”
“Very good! And extremely valuable now, since commercial farms are no longer producing food. Feeding everyone is a high priority.”
Encouraged by his reaction, the others shared their classes. There were two more farmers, one blacksmith, a druid, and an enchanter.
“Wonderful. Good choices all around. And we have folks who can help you improve your class skills and spells.” He smiled at them all, then motioned for them to rejoin the crowd. “Now, normally I reserve this kind of assistance for my own citizens, for people who have sworn the oath not to harm me or mine. But in your case, you have been so oppressed by Rajesh that I feel I need to put you on a little more level playing field before you make that decision. So as I mentioned before, I’m going to do something I’ve never done before. I’m going to give you all a very valuable gift. Something that I and the rest of my people had to fight hard for, to risk our lives to earn.”
He paused, holding his hands out for dramatic effect. “Nigel, please assign experience points from the Empire’s pool to each of these people. Exactly enough of them to raise each person to level ten.” He smiled at the crowd full of widened eyes and open mouths.
“I am sorry, sire. I cannot comply. Recipients must either be subjects of your empire, or must complete a quest to receive experience points as a reward.”
“Ha!” Allistor began to blush. His grand gesture had just fallen embarrassingly flat. Helen snorted, then laughed loudly beside him, as did most of his raiders. The crowd just looked confused.
“Well, as I said, I’ve never tried this before. Even your mighty Emperor makes mistakes…”
“A lot of mistakes.” Helen added.
“Mistakes that usually end up with him bleeding all over everybody.” McCoy called out from somewhere in the crowd. Allistor shot him a bird and moved on.
“Alright, let’s try this. Those of you who took the oath yesterday, please step forward.”
When they’d gathered around in front of him, the roughly one hundred locals turned at his direction to face the crowd. “Nigel, please use the experience pool to raise each of these people who aren’t already there to level ten. For everyone who is already ten or higher, please raise them a single level.”
“Of course, sire.” The crowd gasped as a glow surrounded each of the local citizens, and their eyes unfocused. One by one they finished reading their notifications and turned to smile at Allistor, or bow, or cry out.
“He did it. He raised me to level ten.” One man raised both hands in the air. “I can now choose a class for myself!”
Others began to speak out as well. As they did, Fayed cleared his throat and motioned to Allistor, who nodded his permission to approach. The man stepped next to him and spoke quietly. “Thank you for the additional level, Emperor Allistor. And for the boon.”
“Boon?” Helen asked before Allistor could.
“Yes. I received The Boon of the Emperor.” He saw that Allistor was confused, so his eyes unfocused as he pulled it up and read it aloud.
You have received: The Boon of the Emperor!
Planetary Emperor Allistor has looked upon you with favor,
and gifted you an allotment of his personal experience points
sufficient to increase your level. You receive two additional
free attribute points.
Experience gains increased by 50% for a period of thirty days.”
“Wow!” Helen exclaimed, again before Allistor could speak. Which was probably a good thing. He needed to act like an emperor, not a surprised kid.
“That is… unexpected.” Allistor replied. “But a valuable boost. I hope you make the most of it, Fayed.”
By this time, the others had stopped talking and were listening to Fayed and Allistor. Seeing this, he opened his arms again. “All of you who just received the boon. Make the most of it. My people will give you quests to complete, take you hunting, even take you on dungeon runs if you desire. A fifty percent boost to your experience is too valuable to waste.”
Every one of them nodded or smiled, grateful for the levels and the boon.
“As for the rest of you… I have a quest for you.” He opened up his UI and created a quest, specified it was for anyone under level ten, left the experience as variable knowing that Nigel would handle the numbers, and finalized it.
“Those of you who have children with you, please pick them up. Have someone next to you help if you have more than one. You will have to accept the quest on behalf of your children if they can not read.” He fervently hoped that all of the adults could read. When all the kids were accounted for, he sent out the quest.
Quest received: Hold Still, Please.
Do not move from where you stand for ten seconds.
Reward: Experience sufficient to reach Level 10.
Those ten seconds were among the longest Allistor could remember. He hoped no one would move and fail the quest, as that would be both embarrassing and inconvenient. When the clock ran out, swirls of light surrounded each of them, including the children. All of them were now level ten.
The crowd went from dead silent to an explosion of wonder and celebration. Kids cheered, not sure what was happening, but thrilled at all the smiles and laughter. Allistor got the impression this hadn’t been a very happy place before. He let them celebrate and congratulate each other for a while, then held up his hands.
“My friends! Welcome to a whole new world. I would ask a few favors of you.” The crowd got quiet. He knew what they were thinking. Nothing is free. Now comes the catch. “First, please don’t rush to choose your class. You have plenty of time to go through your options. Ask questions of my people and the class trainers that I have here with me. If you choose to become a citizen of Invictus, you’ll have access to more than a hundred different trainers, and can ask any of my people about their classes. Choosing a class is maybe the most important choice you’ll make for yourself, so consider it carefully. Also, you will have received a bunch of free attribute points. Don’t rush to assign those until you’ve chosen your class. You’ll understand why soon enough.” He paused for effect. “Next, rather than ask you to make a decision about citizenship today, I’m going to ask you all to take the day off and explore a bit. This teleport pad can take you to any of our other locations. This is the only one on this continent, at the moment. But you can travel to Europe, several dozen spots in America, Canada, the Caribbean, and if you’re feeling really adventurous you can even travel to another planet called Orion!”
“What about our quotas?” The same woman who had warned him away from her family stepped forward.<
br />
Allistor wanted to growl in frustration. "You have no quotas. As of today, there are no more quotas. Period. You are all relieved of whatever production burdens Rajesh placed upon you. If you should choose to become citizens and remain here to work in the factory, you will be paid a fair wage, provided with housing and food, and have all the same rights as every other citizen of Invictus.” He looked at Sirina and smiled. “On the other hand, if you should decline to become a citizen, you will be asked to leave. You’ll keep the levels I’ve just gifted you, and we’ll give you a week… no, let’s make that a month’s worth of food and water. We’ll even help you clear and claim a Stronghold somewhere else to give you a safe place to sleep, and provide you with decent weapons with which to defend yourselves.” He eyed the large factory behind the crowd. “And, uhm, six months’ supply of toilet paper.” This elicited a laugh from his people, and several in the crowd. “But that’s all the help you’ll get from us.”
“How do we know that if we step through this teleporter, you won’t just enslave us in some dungeon somewhere?” Another woman asked.
“That’s… no. If I had plans to enslave you, or harm you in any way, I would have already done so. These people I brought with me?” He waved across the crowd, and they all waved back, identifying themselves as if that were at all necessary. “Most of them are level fifty or higher. We just finished fighting off an attack from about a million undead, all of whom were two or three times your level. I could kill every one of you myself in about thirty seconds.” To prove his point, he cast Storm over the empty field close to the high rises. Clouds formed, and lightning bolts began to slam into the ground. He let it run for about ten seconds, then stopped channeling.
They got the point.
“I came here to help you. I want to help all of the human race that has survived the last year to grow stronger. To take back as much of our planet as we can, and restore our civilization as close as possible to the way it was. There will be no peasants, no slaves, not anymore. I accepted the titles I have because they’re necessary under the new System. Somebody has to be in charge and make the rules. To represent the rest of us in dealing with the non-humans out there. But I’m no tyrant.”
Shadow Sun Unification: Shadow Sun Book Five Page 33