"Refugees?" Bjorn frowned as he glanced at Ania. "Why have we to prepare for refugees? We're in the middle of a war here!"

Ania shook her head as she looked at him. "That's what Exile said. He said that all of Ragnarok's followers would be headed this way. As well as allies that can help us. But we have to help secure their path. He seemed confident that if they join us, then taking Stormcrown will become a lot easier."

Harik frowned as he sat between the two and listened to the conversation. He was more concerned about how they would feed and clothe so many new people. "We should accept them. I'm sure the gods have a plan to deal with it. Besides, we have need of able-bodied warriors."

Neither Ania nor Bjorn could argue with that statement. Although Harik was thinking about the situation that had just been put on them, both Ania and Bjorn were wondering about the reason behind such a massive resettlement. They did not believe for a moment that it was simply to bring all of the followers together.

"It will take months for all of them to gather here. They're coming from all over Skardia." Ania sighed as she glanced around the camp. "If we're to deal with this, we need to stop our march and turn back to Eraldsfen to prepare."

"Hm, we should expand Eraldsfen." Bjorn chimed in as he considered it. "We need to turn it into a place worthy of holding the main temple. Besides, if you were to become king Harik, I'm sure you won't want to leave the place."

"I guess we need to build a proper fortress or something." Harik sighed as he thought about a few suitable locations for a massive new building. "But I doubt we could build something like that quickly. We don't really have anyone who has the experience of working with stone or mining."

"That's true, but maybe there will be people among these refugees. If I had to guess, then we had better be prepared for something massive. The gods would not take such drastic actions without reason." Bjorn replied with a grim expression plastered on his face. 

Ania zoned out of the rest of the conversation as her attention shifted in the direction of the next town that they had been on the way to. 'I hope we don't regret turning back now. Everything was going so well...' Unknown to her, a pair of massive eyes in the distance were watching her carefully. 

Skovi's fur colour allowed him to blend in with the snow unseen as he chewed on the bone of a man from the group his pack had devoured the previous night. He was studying how the humans reacted to Exile's orders. This was so that his master could understand their mindset. 'Why does he even bother, they're humans. They should happily serve him as I do. If they don't, he just needs to give the word and I'll tear their throats out.' 

Skovi released a low growl from his throat. He could smell the doubt coming from the humans. He could sense that they were not as devoted to his master as himself. His instincts screamed at him to keep a close eye on them, even if Exile had not already ordered it. He watched on for a few more hours until he was satisfied that they would retreat.

A low grunt escaped from him. Disappointment filled him that he would not be able to report their failure to comply to Exile. He slowly stood up with the last remains of his bone and padded off in the snow to find his pack.

Meanwhile, Colt sighed softly as he rolled out of bed. He had delivered his orders to his followers before disconnecting from the game and getting some proper sleep. Although the capsule allowed the players to enter a sleep state so they could rest while playing, it was still important to take regular proper breaks.

Most pros could spend five or six days at a time in the capsule before it became too much. After all, the capsule was not miraculous enough to completely eradicate the need for an actual rest period. 'Besides, I'll need to order more fluids, otherwise, my body won't take in enough nutrients to sustain itself.'

Colt sighed as he thought about the cost of such things. But that was the price everyone had to pay if they wanted to claim as much of their lives for themselves. Ordinary people would work during the day for unreasonable hours, causing them to begrudge having to work as their lives were taken over by just work and sleep. Then the capsules came along and people were able to claim their usual sleep time back for recreation most nights. 

Colt shook his head when he thought about it. Most people would not get to spend as much time in games as he got to enjoy. Plus, because it ran on a sort of combined dream state, it affected the perception of the passage of time. Different games had different ratios. Such as a day in-game was the same as a day in real life. Both Mayhem and Pantheon ran on a one to seven ratio. One day in real life was equal to seven in-game. 

Colt gingerly fixed himself some breakfast and coffee before settling down to his computer. Today was for ordering everything he needed to keep his capsule running and to chase any leads on sponsors for the Pantheon. He opened a secondary window that he set to plays the Gamecast site. Which was a news site specifically aimed at news for the gaming industry.

As he navigated the pages to find good deals on what he needed, his ears only slightly listened to the background noise of the hosts talking away. A slight frown appeared on his face as he listened to a conversation that involved one of the players of Pantheon, who had been banned recently.

"And what are your thoughts exactly on this new game that seems to be gathering a lot of attention?" The host asked in an interested tone. 

"My thoughts? The game is fantastic, make no mistakes there. But I just don't understand why they insist on keeping us from rejoining the game! It really ticks me off! I've loved the world and the time I invested in it, and sure, I understand it's a big battle royale for an undetermined prize. But I think it would be better off as a competitive rpg just like Mayhem!" The player, half full of praise and half admonishing, responded to the question. 

"Hm, according to our investigations though, this type of game is gathering a mass following. Both in players and people eager to watch how everything unfolds. Especially with the high stakes everyone is playing for. After all, nobody wants to get banned from the game. Just recently the big three announced that they will be sending out sponsorship requests to the developer to help support this project."

"Sure! It all looks good on paper right now, but have they really thought it through? Eventually, the population of players will fall as more are eliminated. That trend will continue until only one person or team wins, but what then? What happens to the game? How long until it reaches that stage? Its overall shelf life will not be long at all. I think it would be a miracle for it to last three years at most with the developer's current plan."

"So, what you're saying is that overall it seems like a bad investment on the developer's and the player's parts?"

"You could say as such. Only one person or team will make it to the end of the game. The rest of us will have wasted our time. Frankly, I'm glad I've been put out so early before I get too invested in it. The game must have taken a substantial amount of capital to develop as well. I just don't see them making enough of a profit to cover the costs and treating it as a disposable world. To keep making money, they'll still have to rely on Mayhem or create another game to take Pantheon's place."

"I see. There have been a few other people voicing similar concerns over this game. But, there is one question from our viewers who have not been lucky enough to play it. Would you mind answering it for us?"

"Sure, I'm happy to answer whatever it is if I can..."

"So, our viewer, called Lucy, has been watching the streams. She's studying game development herself, but something has been nagging at her. In your own words, can you describe how you feel about the AI in the game? In the streams she's watched they make them appear incredibly intelligent and lifelike, as if they were real people. What she wants to know is if they are really like that or it's some trick of the developer's editors to make the streams seem more like a drama show..."