Chapter 27: (Time Skip: Day 1)

Eventually Lariah and the rest of the Dark City girls were rescued from their order to ‘wait there’ by Red. That had happened in the morning, after the Solas Police Department had released the rest of Ben’s party and told them to ‘stay out of trouble’. Red had been sitting there with the rest of them, minus Ben, looking glum, when all the sudden she looked up and said ‘Shit!’, then ran to go get them.

The Dark City Girls, for their part in it, thought Red had been extravagantly merciful in that they’d only had to stand there for a night, and they were standing on a regular floor.

Ben’s group had then gotten back in touch with Anna, who told them Ben had been cut a deal, and would be fine. They decided to crash at her place until they ‘got their feet under them.’ Short Bus immediately claimed the largest couch and fell asleep on it. From the way his body began shifting and writhing, they could all tell he’d leveled quite a bit from the previous day’s events. Ghost Ears had found a quiet spot to lay down, and his body began to undergo changes as well. He grew larger once again.

Red, who had no level system and never would have one, claimed some part of Anna’s place for her and The Girls, and was currently snoring loudly while the well-dressed refugees kept trying to find somewhere uncomfortable to lay down and only finding couches and pillows. The reality of their situation was starting to sink in, just like they were starting to sink into the first soft bed they’d ever encountered. It was seriously freaking them out.

Vivi, who neither had a level system, or any responsibility, immediately began brooding over every little thing that had gone wrong. He quickly came to the conclusion that nobody in their party was any good at fighting as a group, and started theory-crafting. Vivi’s memory was perfect, and over the course of their adventure through the Overcavern Forest and their subsequent misadventure through Solas, he’d gotten a pretty good idea of just what everybody was capable of. Now, Vivi was dedicating his impressive mind to the task of finding out just exactly how everybody fit together as a group, and how exactly they were all going to keep themselves, and by extension Vivi, alive in a fight.

The Precinct Six riots raged as the [Plauge of Conscience] continued to spread. The entire area had quickly been put under quarantine, nobody in or out until the people in charge figured out what to do with all the suddenly insane grays.

The monsters of the [Final Fortress] were ushered away by a System Avatar, who seemed somewhat disappointed to find them all drunk and sleeping in the Sneaky Servo. The owner of the bar was eternally grateful to have all the apocalypse beasts out of his establishment, and asked The System if he had plans to remove all the Gods and Memes as well. The System thought about it for half a moment, laughed, and said they were players and could do whatever they wanted.

[The God Squad], meanwhile, had chosen the Sneaky Servo as the location of a long needed ‘family reunion’ of sorts. Gods and God-like beings met, plotted, schemed and conspired for the good and glory of mankind; after all, technically, very technically, they were a part of the human race as well. Solas, they decided, would be where they made their first major push, and Ben, they decided, would be their instrument of action. He’d already managed the impossible and gathered them all up together, they again decided, so the lad deserved a reward. Plus, the Apocalypse Beasts of the [Final Fortress] had already left their offering for Ben, and the [God Squad] wasn’t about to be outdone by a bunch of monsters.

Dryst-la-la-la, the Higher Music Elemental, was just getting back to Solas and very rapidly learning about what had happened in his absence. He was then approached by some extremely unfriendly liches, who were demanding information both on the recently destroyed Mice Labs, and on a recent purchase of undead insect super-soldiers. Dryst was starting the first day of the worst year of his life so far.

Anna was basking in attention and loving every minute of it. Her parents, who had disowned her when they found out how much she’d paid for a ‘useless phone’, were heaping praise on their once again beloved daughter. They’d never actually stopped loving her, but they had stopped funding her, which to a rich girl was basically the same thing. Why exactly were they praising their daughter so much? Aside from becoming a social media superstar, which was great enough on its own, it was nothing compared to the [Media Mogul] package she was explaining to her increasingly avaricious parents. It was a scheme that, in the words of her father, ‘would make them richer than Enelim’. All she needed, she explained, was a bit of seed money. Spoiler alert: She was going to get it.

Frankie had been released, and was currently sulking in Ben’s Utility Pocket, surrounded by his minions. Something magical, critical was happening to the Lesser Elemental, something which would fundamentally alter and enhance the little guy. Frankie was becoming a full Elemental Source, a fully fledged elemental being in his own right. Rather than need to be submerged in Ben’s Utility Pocket to survive, now his minions would be able to survive off of Frankie’s presence alone.

While all of this happened, Ben was being escorted from his maximum security jail cell, to an even more maximum security jail cell. The Vault of the Bank of the Sun. He was walked to a grand, golden elevator set into the trunk of the great tree Solas. The Executive Director was walking with Ben, and everybody, and I mean everybody around them was on their best behavior. This guy was like the Royal Sage times two in terms of how puckered he made everyone’s assholes. Ben, likely in sheer defiance, pulled a Short Bus and started picking his nose in boredom. Best to set the expectations of his professional behavior as low as possible, Ben thought, considering he was getting the job no matter what he did.

“You’ll find there is an entrance to The Bank at every level of the trunk of Solas, as well as at every customs station between The Outer Ring and Solas Proper,” the Executive Director said, ignoring Ben’s behavior and punching in a complicated series of numbers on the keypad next to the elevator. “I expect you to memorize every location and be prepared to report at a moment’s notice. Further, when you aren’t working, I expect you to be devoting your full efforts towards completing your Quest. I intend to invest a considerable amount of resources into developing you into a valuable asset of The Bank, and losing you to a Quest would be intolerable. The fact that I’ll have to let you roam about outside of The Vault is already nearly intolerable-” the Executive Director paused his speech, and finished punching in the nearly two hundred digit long password. “What is your quest, exactly? I might be able to simply pay someone to-”

“I have to kill all the Elder Gremlins in the Overcavern Forest,” Ben said, embellishing his Quest just a tiny bit. The Executive Director blanched.

“Nevermind then. It’s hard enough to get an adventurer into the Overcavern Forest for something exciting. Hunting Gremlins? Really?”

“Really really,” Ben said with a sigh.

“Hmm. I’ll figure something out. Luckily for us, The Bank employs some of the highest leveled and most distinguished [Lawyers] in The World. If there’s anyone who can find a loophole, its them.” Ben silently hoped they didn’t find a loophole, because his Quest was basically the only reason they couldn’t just chain him to a desk till the end of time.

“I sure hope they figure something out,” Ben lied, a big smile on his face. The elevator started moving, and they went down, down, down. Fast. It was like a bullet train that went up and down, following a wavy, curvy path that followed the natural contours of the Tree Solas. “Hey,” Ben asked, because it seemed like it was going to be a long elevator ride, “what’s with the tree?”

“The tree?”

“Yeah. The tree. You’ve got a city growing out of it,” Ben stated simply, “what’s up with that?”

“We’ve lived in this tree for billions of years,” the Executive Director said, “and it used to be growing out of a star. The System brought it here and we. . . adapted to terrestrial life.”

“Oh,” Ben said, “that’s neat.” The Executive director glanced over at Ben, then adjusted his suit a bit.

“I hope you are as useful as the Royal Sage claimed you were,” he said, “otherwise I’ll be embarrassed, and you’ll be dead. Show some respect, ‘Prince of Wonders’. Your life is on the line.”

The rest of the long elevator ride was spent in silence. Ben could tell the exact moment they passed from the surface to the underground by the sudden spike in the ambient mana. Their passage from the first to the second cavern layer was marked by a similar spike. From the second to the third, an even larger spike. Ben breathed in the air, and it felt good. The Executive Director started to literally glow, and he seemed to be at ease as well. Shortly after they passed into the fourth cavern layer, the bottom of Solas, the elevator door opened, and Ben saw the Bank of the Sun for the very first time.

Or, he would have, but he was immediately blindfolded. Ben for his part didn’t struggle too much, but instead contented himself with spitting off to the side.

“Until we know you are going to work out,” the Executive Director said, “I’m afraid you will not be allowed to lay eyes on the Bank itself. We don’t yet know if you’ve been infested with surveillance equipment-”

“It’s fine,” Ben said, then allowed himself to be led. They walked a while, then stopped for a security checkpoint, then started again, then stopped again. Over and over again; at one point, Ben was pretty sure he got led through a maze of some kind. The trip through The Vault took nearly a half an hour, and by the time they were finished, Ben was completely confident that he would never get out of this place without help.

Eventually, finally, the blindfold was removed, and Ben beheld for the first time in his life, real power. The room was deep and wide, shaped exactly like an egg. Walkways were terraced along the walls, and alcoves were set into each wall. Artifacts, relics, things Ben couldn't identify but that his senses as both a human, and as a [Prince of Wonders], told him were valuable beyond belief. The lower down you went, the more grand the treasure became.

And, oh yes, there were wishes. Hundreds, thousands of wishes set into the walls, each one on display behind a robust looking security system. Down and down Ben's gaze went, till he saw what was at the very bottom, his mouth going instantly dry.

It was a crystal, and inside of it, was a [Princess], no, a [Goddess], no, a [Queen], no, a [Virgin], no. . . but she was human, and dressed like royalty. Her head was bowed, her eyes were shut, and Ben knew he would trade all the wishes in the room to set her free. Not from love, lust or desire. From something deeper in his soul he couldn't identify.

The Chief Executive wasn't oblivious to Ben's gazing.

“You are seeing something so few ever have,” he said, “The Vault of the Bank of the Sun, and the treasure entrusted to us by The System. Behold, Ben, the real capital crystal of Solas. The Treasure of The Trial. One of the seven keys to escape The World. Stand there and don't move, I'll be selecting the object of your testing.”

Ben didn't say anything, and filed all that information away for later review. He stood and watched as the Chief Executive casually browsed the contents of The Vault, and noted that, holy shit, there was a complete set of Plus Perks down here, ready to go behind a protective shield. Ben noted that as well. The Chief Executive hmmed and hawwed before finally selecting a golden staff with a turtle pattern on it. He grabbed a wish almost at random, and then carried both objects back to Ben.

“Follow,” he said, and Ben followed, his own curiosity getting the better of him. “I have no doubt that your abilities work well enough,” the Chief Executive said, “on weak wishes and weak objects of power. However, if you are to have any value to The Bank, I will need to determine if your powers have any substance to them.”

“I understand,” Ben said, not understanding at all. They walked for a bit through dark, unlit hallways, until they emerged into another egg shaped room. It was designed in the same way as the vault, except instead of treasure set into the alcloves, it was [Lawyers]. Thousands of them, all in black robes, sitting at desks, with paper and pen ready to work. There was a raised dias the floated in the center of the room, attached by a thin walkway. Standing on the dias, floating really, was a Djinn.

Ben did a double take at the red skinned being of smoke. It looked powerful like how The System had looked powerful, and had golden manacles on its hands and feet and neck. He looked bored, glanced at Ben, then looked even more bored. Ben was handed the staff and the wish, both of which he could immediately tell were more powerful than anything he'd ever laid his hands on.

“Now,” the Chief Executive said, “you are going to equip whatever class equipment you need. You will apply whatever buffs you have, then, you are going to place the Large Wish into the Staff of Aegis, and utilize it. Don't worry about what to say, our lawyers have already taken care of that part. If you attempt to do anything but what you have been instructed to do with your wish, well first, it won't work, not here in The Vault, and second,” he paused and looked over at the Djinn, “you'll find you wish you hadn't.”

Ben decided that now, when The Vault was literally more ready than it would ever possibly be for being attacked, wasn't the time to try anything funny. Ben pulled the lamp from his Utility Pocket, which prompted a brief look of surprise from the Djinn, walked up to the dias and did exactly as he was told to do. He placed the wish into the Staff of Aegis, raised it high, and let it do it's thing.

The wish vanished, and Ben felt that he'd immediately, finally leveled up. Fucking hell the requirements for advancement for the [Prince of Wonders] class was insane.

“Now what,” Ben asked, and the Chief Executive gave him a thin smile.

“Now we wait.”

A half an hour later, a bank employee walked calmly into the room and whispered something into the Chief Executive's ear. The man nodded and smiled.

“Congratulations, Prince Ben,” he said, “the Aegis which surrounds Solas has more than doubled its range, and you have officially become too valuable to kill. Welcome to The Bank, your orientation will start immediately.”

End of Timeskip (Day 1)