Decisions made necessitated that plans must be laid. Scott and the sheriff had come to an agreement, and in so doing a theory would be tested. That theory? Could he gain access to a building and upgrade it if he did not own it?

After explaining in detail, the sheriff had seemed highly interested. Unfortunately, each thing that they tried proved to be a failure. Scott could not prompt the system to consider the police station to be one of his holdings. Signing the station over to him as its head of operations did not work. Selling the station did not work, possibly because the paperwork could not be filed with the county without questions being asked. They tried a few more things, even hiring him to rebuild the place as a contractor. None of it worked.

Scott rubbed his chin. The option was off the table for now, and he had lost a lot of his slightly regained respect from the sheriff. He sat now at Ashton’s bedside and watched her sleep. She was healing, that much was obvious, but she remained unconscious.

“There has to be some way to provide a safe place for people,” he said softly.

He could upgrade his own house, but not to the extent needed. Buildings had something akin to an upper upgrade limit and the costs to upgrade would vary accordingly.

“Can’t even legally rent this building because it’s going to need to have the paperwork processed by the county. Doing so would set of red flags and all kind of problems legally,” mumbled Scott.

If he were to be technical, his own house should not count for the purposes of land holdings, but the system needed something to latch onto since he was a noble. A rental agreement was good enough for a place to start, but he would actually need to own any other buildings and the land that the buildings sat upon.

It all came down to money. He could not even convince people to donate to such a cause unless he could prove that it worked. If they went to his house, they would not receive a prompt that called it a safe place. He had no proof!

“Not enough money… Even if I sell off all of the remaining stuff that I had gathered in the mine… the exchange rate for jerin to dollars is deadly.” His plan to start up Blackthorne Enterprises required a lot of capital. He could earn that, but it would take a few weeks to really get things moving. The dream world might also have more danger involved now that he had sent someone to the abyss and killed a judge.

He gazed thoughtfully at Ashton’s face for a moment. His thoughts turned to what it must have been like for her and all the others when the world went crazy.

“Monsters just came in and tried to take over the place,” he muttered. It was ridiculous.

Those words rang in his ears for a moment. Take over a place.

“Take over?” His eyes narrow and his nostrils flared, he slowly tilted his head to the side. Perhaps he had been going about things all wrong!

“I have to own things legally, but how will I be able to get land after the world goes to hell?” he asked himself quietly. “Clearly I would take it, or secure rights from the ones who lived there.”

If he tried to claim the police station like that, he would spark a war. But there were actual laws on the books regarding squatters and their rights. “Could it be that simple?”

There was even a place that he knew! The original owner had died a long time back, but nothing ever came of his place. It was a run-down old warehouse well outside of town. “Place… it’s been empty since before I was born…”

It was a large piece of real estate, one no doubt owned by some distant relative of the man who either did not know about it or did not care. At least, they had not cared enough to maintain the place.

Scott lightly rubbed Ashton’s cheek then squeezed her hand. “You get some rest. I need to go see about a safer place to live.”

He left the building and told Sonja to watch Ashton while he headed out. Originally, she wished to go as well, but admitted that he would travel faster on his own once he left the city.

Running full tilt, he exited town quickly. Once he made it to the tree line, he shifted into his shadow form. Up. Up into the endless blue sky he flowed. He mixed among the clouds and continued on his way.

Given an aerial view of the land it only took a few minutes to find the place. A large sprawling ramshackle group of buildings, practically the rudimentary location of something that could have become a town on its own, the warehouse could prove to be quite interesting.

Scott sensed the energies of the area, and upon discovering that there were no homeless squatters in the area he flowed to the ground then took human form once more. “So. What now? Do I just claim this place?”

He shrugged and looked around the area for a while. The buildings were on the verge of collapse. The parking lot was heavily cracked while grass grew up through the asphalt. Most of the windows were busted out, as well.

It was a dump of the highest order, one of those buildings abandoned and left to rot because no one wanted to deal with the expense of repair and the county did not want to budget a demolition crew.

“Walls, infrastructure, easily a few acres of land to go with it.” Scott rubbed his chin. Anything of value had long since been claimed legally or otherwise. There were even doors missing in some buildings.

He shrugged then stomped the earth. Imperiously, he raised up his hand and proclaimed. “I Scott, also known as Blackthorne, hereby claim this land and all its holdings!”

Nothing happened for a brief moment, and he began to feel a little silly. However, a rumbling noise reached his ears and the ground began to shake.

Attempted Usurpation in Progress!

You have attempted to lay claim to sovereign soil that is part of the United States of America. Currently, the laws of that nation do not allow for usurpation without conflict.

You may continue to stake your claim. If you choose to do so, you will have to acquire all further lands in the effected region through the system Usurpation and Annexation menu. You may no longer simply purchase land, as you shall be deemed an enemy nation to the United States and its governing forces.

This is an adversarial position in opposition to the rule of law of the current governing body. We will inform government offices of your attempt, however as the menu system is currently locked there is no one currently seated in power who can access or receive this notification.

Normally, this would disallow Usurpation and Annexation.

You are deemed celestial nobility and have access to the infrastructure upgrade menu. Given this situation, in lieu of legally acquiring this land through lawful means and bloody war against the current regime you must face a system challenge that simulates such a condition.

Numerous thematically appropriate forces shall be generated that match or slightly exceed your current level. Defend against each wave of inbound enemies with all your might.

Will you attempt to usurp the rightful authority of (The United States of America) and claim this land?

Yes | No

Scott blinked owlishly. His face a calm expressionless mask, he spoke the words that well up from within the depths of his heart. “Well, shit.”