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Arc 2: The Power of Knowledge

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『』= Info

《》= Attribute

『』= Skill

【】= Sub-Skill

〘〙= Status, Combat Arts & Magical Spells

〚〛= Internal Thoughts

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Chapter 14: The Lonely Annihilator

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Part 1

Under normal circumstances the humanoid Kobolds would have been too much for Elrick, even one Kobold would have been more than a match for Elrick, but armed with the Customized Level 2 Military Grade Machine Gun Rifle and sheltering in the Hunter’s Lear that is located 750m high and 1.5km away Elrick was able to take Head-Shots at his leisure.

The Hunter’s Lear has near perfect noise reduction and the Customized Level 2 Military Grade Machine Gun Rifle is equipped with a noise reduction system thus the 2 combined give Elrick near perfect stealth. On Chaos Island Stealth is an Absolute necessity, and without it death is a certainty for someone of Elrick’s Skill and Power Level.

The Kobolds that had been tracking Elrick are 10-20 times stronger than those on Ado; their HP was between 10,000 and 22,000 with most of the points allocated to the physical Attributes. That meant that they had monstrous 《Endurance》, 《Durability》, 《Vitality》, 《Strength》and《Agility》, with the only positive for Elrick being that they had little to no armour and only wielded crude weapons.

5 Kobolds died before the rest of the pack decided to call it quits and run away much to Elrick’s relief. Elrick didn’t want to leave too many bodies this close to his hiding place, and once the Kobolds were gone he decided to log off and eat while getting a little exercise.

- - -

According to Arwick Chaos Island was created by the Ancients and placed in the pocket dimension to test evolution under a Chaotic Environment. Buried deep beneath the surface of Chaos Island is a Power Source that draws energy from the Tidal Forces of the Pocket Dimension and uses it to provide a breathable atmosphere, gravity and other necessities. As expected the Power Source is protected by a near impenetrable shield.

When the Continentals first brought Humans to Ado some of those who had been transformed into Beastials or Beast-Humans could not control their animal instincts and progressively went feral and began to prey on Humans. Noting that they couldn’t help their instincts the Continentals decided to move them to Chaos Island rather than kill them; though for many this was a death sentence.

Over time more and more criminals guilty of treason and other heinous crimes were sent to Chaos Island resulting in the current settlements on Chaos Island. The settlements on Chaos Island are separated by vast Crystal Plant forests that cover nearly the entire Island; though calling it a forest can be misleading. The Crystal Plants are probably the most numerous of Chaos Island’s predators.

The Crystal Plants of Chaos Island have razor sharp leaves and some are even similar to vinous fly traps with sharp blades that can skewer the unsuspecting victim. Some Crystal Plants are mobile for brief periods of time and can pounce on the wondering animal or person. Some of the Crystal Plants seem to have a symbiotic relationship with the resident predators, wounding and poisoning the prey with their razor leafs thus making it easy for the local predator to kill; the Crystal Plant gains from the leftovers.

The fact that the Crystal Plants provide the only constant light source through Bioluminescence makes them indispensable to the survival of many of the local breeds of fauna, and without the somewhat dangerous Crystal Plants Beastials could not survive on Chaos Island.

- - -

When Elrick logged back in he started at the Atlantis Offices of Starlight Spark to check in with the other Executives of Starlight Spark, and as expected Bowden Grinder and Axil were waiting for him.

Elrick : " Good to see you Gentlemen; I hope all is well."

Bowden : " Well; things would be better if you didn’t shit all over our plans!"

Axil : " What the Fuck man?"

Grinder : " Yeah!"

Elrick : " What are you talking about?"

Bowden : " Geez!"

Bowden activates the holographic display.

The holographic display shows the video of Elrick opening fire on people almost as soon as they arrive on Chaos Island; blowing people’s limbs off, putting holes in chests and blowing heads off. The worst is what happens after Elrick runs away; monsters show-up and start tearing living people apart, and that results in bloodcurdling screams and howls.

Elrick can’t help noticing the Red Caption at the top of the Video saying Deadliest PK and is surprised that anyone would regard him as a PK.

At the End of the video there is another Red Caption.

~ Frop! ~

『Danger!』

Elrick Starlight is the Annihilator.

Specialties:

•

PK

•

MPK

•

Cruelty

The Annihilator doesn’t kill for Items he does it for pleasure.

You’ve been Warned!

Elrick : " Motherfucker!"

Axil : " Yup"

Elrick : " What the Fuck? They’re all PK!"

Grinder : " Are they?"

Elrick : " Aren’t they? It’s Chaos Island dammit!"

Bowden : " Check-out this guy"

By restarting the video in slow motion Bowden isolates an individual.

Elrick : " Got him; Bandit Guy6"

Bowden : " Yeah; not a Bandit! This guy was being harassed by a party of rogues in a Knox Town during beta and when it became too much he killed a guy with a knife but the Town guards thought he overreacted and he was sentenced to 7 days on Chaos Island"

Elrick : " Oh?"

Bowden : " You see this guy?"

Elrick : " Bandit Guy2?"

Axil : " You should remember; you blew his head off!"

Grinder : " For Fuck’s sake Elrick"

Bowden : " Not a Bandit Guy either! Some men were getting Grabby with his Wife, and so he and his party took them out. You blew away their party like they were nothing!"

Elrick : " I see"

Bowden : " Do you? Look; here’s another one who’s on the Island for defending his sister from harassment. Do you recognize him?"

Elrick : " Ahhhhh?"

Bowden : " Yeah; that’s what happens when you open fire into a crowd!"

Elrick : " I get it"

Bowden : " Do you? I hope you do"

Elrick : " How many innocents did I kill?"

Bowden : " Directly; 17 people. 15 others if you include the wounded and MPK."

Elrick : " My apologies everyone; I fucked-up. How do I make it right?"

Grinder : " Monetary Compensation! Starlight Spark has offered each of them 7 Gold Coins and thankfully they’ve all accepted. It will come out of your salary so don’t expect to be paid for a very long time."

Elrick : " Thank Goodness! Will it be enough to restore Starlight Spark’s reputation amongst users?"

Bowden : " It will do"

Grinder : " Once everyone understands that you panicked and overreacted that is."

Bowden : " Now let’s talk about your compensation to me for the pain I’ve had to endure on your behalf."

Elrick : " What? What happened?"

Axil : " He got punched in the Face! That’s what happened. Hehehehe!"

Elrick : " Punched in the Face? By who? And when did this happen?"

Grinder : " Lady Lorelei. Hahahaha!"

Elrick : " Oh!"

Axil : " Apparently she broke his face during training. Hahahaha!"

Bowden : " Technically it was sparring; hand to had combat class in the Faculty of Knighthood. She picked me as a sparring partner to enquire about your behaviour, and when I defended your actions as tactically sound she punched me in the Face. Do you have any Idea how it feels to be punched in the Face by someone whose 《Strength》 is 25 times your 《Durability》?"

Elrick Grimaced at the thought; remembering his sessions with Arwick.

Elrick : " I do; hurts like a Bitch"

Bowden : " Yeah! So as compensation for my suffering; when you come back I’m gonna put you at the front with the other tanks now that you’ve buffed up. While I’m on the subject even in Atlantis you carry yourself differently; there’s a confidence in your demeanour. What happened to you?"

Grinder : " Yeah; I noticed it too!"

Axil : " It’s like you’ve become battle hardened over night."

Bowden : " Oh shit! You’ve had an Imprint didn’t you? Lady Lorelei and Mithriliar paid 150 Gold to get Imprints from the approved lists of Expert Ranked Apprentice Knights. Did you get yours from some shady rogue? Professor Arwick says that kind of thing could really fuck you up."

Elrick : " Professor Arwick?"

Grinder : " Professor Ravic Arwick; Dean of the Faculty of Knighthood. Former Knight Commander and Expert Rank in all Elemental Magic and Combat skills."

Elrick : " I admit that I sought-out and got Memory Imprints from someone well versed in clandestine operations, but that’s what I needed to survive. While there are some unexpected effects on my personality the Memory Imprints did produce the desired results."

Bowden : " What Rank? The others became very proficient in combat techniques, do you have them?"

Axil : " 〘Heavens-Blade〙 and 〘God-Speed〙?"

Elrick : " It’s Expert Rank, and extensive amounts of military training Memory Imprints along with other survival methods some may consider Criminal."

Grinder : " Getting back to Business; we’ve employed the 87 High-Elves that responded to the Starlight Spark Adverts for a job at $200 a month and a 6 Gold Coins loan to get to Cobalt City and acquire the 【Light Magic】 Sub-Skill. There should have been over 230 Atlantian High-Elves but there’s only 117 Atlantian High-Elves; looks like there’s been a significant level of Avatar deletion.”

Bowden : “That being said; Nova Horizon has been launching field raids into nearby Forests. So far we’ve essentially cleared 3 initial Forests at a rate of one per night, and Starlight Spark has been providing the bulk of the fighting force. Because of their better equipment the other members of Nova Horizon have been performing the Frontline Tanking role since we spent most of our money on Investment Projects."

Grinder : " By Nova Horizon agreements the revenue from joint raids is split equally amongst the 8 parties: including Nova Horizon Faction as one of the Parties. Thus 3 field raids have netted 179 Gold Coins for Starlight Spark; hardly enough to finance our operations."

Axil : " Nova Horizon operations are necessary to raise the attributes of our people, but very soon we will need to venture deeper into the territories of high HP monsters."

Elrick : " As long as we always remember that the primary role of Starlight Spark’s First Ranger Cavalry is to secure Crafting Material."

Grinder : " Accordingly during the Forest Field Raids Starlight Spark’s First Ranger Cavalry collected ample amounts of Herbs, Wood, Animal Bones, Stones and other Crafting Materials. As planned we were able to hire local unemployed recent Academy Graduates for the Crafting Role relatively cheaply at 10 Gold Coins a month but the Alchemists, Appraisal Mages and Rune Mages are expensive at 40, 40 and 50 Gold Coins respectively. Soon Starlight Spark will be completely self sufficient, and thanks to the 87 litres of blood every 7 hours the High-Elves supply we will have enough good quality recovery potions to sell at a significant profit. Once construction of our facilities is complete the financial burden will drop significantly."

Elrick : " How many wagons have you procured?"

Grinder : " We’ve ordered 15 of the 10 seat wagons at 5 Gold Coins each thanks to the discounts gained by our Graduate from the Academy’s Faculty of Commerce. We can’t afford more but as planned we are aiming for 300 of the 10 seat wagons."

Bowden : " The power of a military is reliant on its logistics, and that applies for business organization such as ours. Once we are ready to move we must be in a position to move efficiently."

Axil : " There’s Coal about 370km north but setting up a mine will require military security we can’t muster without logistical support."

Elrick : " Do the best you can with what you have."

Grinder : " Understood"

Elrick : " I don’t think Monetary Compensation to those I killed will be sufficient to restore Starlight Spark’s public Image so I want Starlight Spark to release a Powerful Secret."

Bowden : " Powerful Secret?"

Axil : " What Secret would that be?"

Elrick : " Fortunately the Beastials of Chaos Island will find those I killed and take them to the settlement; they’ve come to understand the usefulness of Atlantian Immortals. They basically use them as bait for large predators. Hehehehe!"

Axil : " So; they’re fucked either way?"

Elrick : " Oh yeah! Anyway; the secret I want Starlight Spark to release relates to the Power of Faith."

Grinder : " Power of Faith?”

Bowden : " Humans have the Power of Faith. Lord Vhon said something about that; didn’t he?"

Axil : " Titans of the First Age"

Elrick : " What is Faith? Confidence, Trust, Reliance, Assurance, Conviction, Belief, Devotion or Loyalty? A feeling? An emotion?"

Grinder : " The 《Sensitivity》 Attribute"

Bowden : " The 《Sensitivity》 Attribute in Humans is abnormally high amongst the Races Users can choose."

Axil : " Let’s see"

Axil brings-up the Human initial stats on the screen.

『Human』:

『HP = 196』 『MP = 34』 『Atk = 11.92』 『Deff = 15.842』

Attributes:

《Strength = 10》 - 《Agility = 10》 - 《Dexterity = 15》 - 《Durability = 10》 - 《Endurance = 10》 - 《Sensitivity = 20》 - 《Vitality = 22》 - 《Eyesight = 10》 - 《Charisma = 15》 - 《Leadership = 15》 - 《Awareness = 15》 - 《Reputation = 0》 - 《Observation = 10》 - 《Knowledge = 10》 - 《Wisdom = 15》 - 《Intelligence = 10》

Skills

『Magic Skill = 4』

Magic Sub-Skills, Affinity & Proficiency

【Earth Magic Exp = 0 ~ Aff = 1 ~ Prof = 1】 - 【Fire Magic Exp = 0 ~ Aff = 1 ~ Prof = 1】 - 【Wind Magic EXP = 0 ~ Aff = 1 ~ Prof = 1】 - 【Water Magic EXP = 0 ~ Aff = 1 ~ Prof = 1】- 【Ice Magic Exp = 0 ~ Aff = 0 ~ Prof = 0】 - 【Alchemy Magic Exp = 0 ~ Aff = 0 ~ Prof = 0】 - 【Appraisal Magic Exp = 0 ~ Aff = 0 ~ Prof = 0】 - 【Enchantments Magic Exp = 0 ~ Aff = 0 ~ Prof = 0】 【Light Magic Exp = 0 ~ Aff = 0 ~ Prof = 0】 - 【Plant Magic Exp = 0 ~ Aff = 0 ~ Prof = 0】 - 【Psionic Magic Exp = 0 ~ Aff = 0 ~ Prof = 0】 - 【Rune Magic Exp = 0 ~ Aff = 0 ~ Prof = 0】 - 【Sound Magic Exp = 0 ~ Aff = 0 ~ Prof = 0】 - 【Shadow Magic Exp = 0 ~ Aff = 0 ~ Prof = 0】.

Grinder : " Sensitivity; would be determined by compassion, sympathy & kindliness to others affecting how they see you and your Reputation."

Bowden : " So you reckon the 《Sensitivity》 Attribute is the transfer mechanism?"

Elrick : " It’s a hell of a lot more than that! While I was running for my life through Crystal Forest I experienced an intense wide range of emotions so powerful that even my Elf of Light form could not contain, and when I was finally safe I noticed that my 《Sensitivity》 Attribute had gone up by 2 EXP, but what surprised me was that my 《Intelligence》 Attribute had also gone up by more than 2 EXP. Then it hit me; Emotional Intelligence!"

Axil : " Huh!"

Elrick : " Oh; it gets better! So I did some research of the Realm Eternal profession known as 『Empath』 and got the shock of my life. All the 『Empath』 have abnormally high EXP in the 《Sensitivity》 Attribute; it is the fuel of their profession. The 《Sensitivity》 Attribute somehow Buffs their Healing 【Light】 and 【Psionic】 Magic. I finally understood the true nature of the 《Sensitivity》 Attribute to be a Buffing Attribute. Anger, Fear and Outrage add a temporary Emotional Buff to 《Endurance》, 《Strength》, 《Agility》and others through the 《Sensitivity》 Attribute."

Grinder : " That would mean choosing the Human would make it easier to get stronger"

Bowden : " You’re right Elrick; this is a very Powerful Secret."

Axil : " It will change how people behave in Realm Eternal."

Elrick : " Once you make this public the Public Image of Starlight Spark should greatly improve."

Grinder : " I’m not sure we should make this public?"

Bowden : " If we tell our people the secret will get out anyway."

Axil : " And we won’t get the Publicity for uncovering one of the Pillars of Realm Eternal"

Elrick : " We need others to develop it further; find the proper power transfer mechanism."

Grinder : " The Power of the Titans could be very Valuable."

Bowden : " It would probably have a willing participation requirement, but it should not be beyond indoctrination."

Axil : " This is scary stuff!"

Elrick : " If we want to control Cities we’ll need access to the kind of power that would give other countries pause."

Grinder : " Alright! I’ll put out the proper statement."

Bowden : " Our Allies may not like it"

Axil : " It will benefit them as well"

Elrick : " I’ve got to go now; I’ll see the next lot at the next check in."

Soon after Elrick went back to Chaos Island.

〚Elrick : " Know the levers of Power; Economic, Political and Military. The abilities of an individual are insignificant in the face of an Army.”〛

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Part 2

Elrick could be forgiven for assuming that Atlantians sent to Chaos Island were Bandits since Banditry had proven surprisingly profitable. Items in Realm Eternal had an automatic lock in relation to Users, but that limitation did not extend to Natives, Demons or monsters. And so Atlantians found a way around the automatic lock by selling the stolen goods to local Criminal Organizations.

When Elrick returned to his 2X2X2 Hunter’s Lear he lamented not having had the chance to loot the PK group he’d killed despite being labelled an Annihilator. Putting other concerns aside he started the first item on his daily schedule; 【Alchemy Magic】. Although his 【Mana Shaping】Sub-Skill being a little over 1EXP meant that that he could only work with the most basic of materials it also meant that he had room to use all three Alchemy Spells simultaneously thanks to his Affinities.

Despite the cramp circumstances of the 8 cubic metres inside capacity of the 2X2X2 Hunter’s Lear that looked like a large rock from the outside Elrick deployed the 【Alchemy Magic】Basic 〘Matter Conversion〙 Set, the 【Alchemy Magic】Basic 〘Mixing〙 Set and the 【Alchemy Magic】 Basic 〘Synthesis〙 Set and prepared the Handful of grains of sand and Dirt for Alchemic processing.

Ordinarily someone with the relevant Elemental Symbiotes would not need the 【Alchemy Magic】Basic Sets and could simply apply a 【Alchemy Magic】Spell directly on ingredients according to Magical Recipes Spells. Having Elemental Symbiotes in every magic sub-skill is extremely important to magical crafting and Elrick was keenly aware of this even as he set up the instruments.

However before he could even begin the Alchemic processing of grains of sand he had to use 【Appraisal Magic】to Identify and Classify every grain of sand. This is where the lack of a Symbiote Wisp complicates the situation because the Soul having been Marked with the 『Magic Element』 allows you to affect the Element but does not allow you to control the Element.

If Elrick had an 『Earth Wisp』 Elemental Symbiote the Identification and Classification of available grains of sand would have been subject to an 【Earth Magic】Sorting Spell. However without an 『Earth Wisp』 Elemental Symbiote Elrick would have to Identify every Grain he intended to use for the Basic Alchemic recipes manually with 【Appraisal Magic】.

And so Elrick Identified 5 grains of sand; 2 different types to combine into a third with 〘Synthesis〙, 2 similar types to combine into a bigger one with Higher〘Matter Conversion〙and 1 suitable grain of sand to dissolve in 1mililitre of water through 〘Mixing〙 .Elrick would repeat the process over and over until his Mana was exhausted.

Unfortunately for Elrick he never got passed the first item on his daily schedule, and the reason was that even including the 〘Aura Glow〙 he was using for Lighting he wasn’t using his Mana quickly enough. Taking into account the fact that using 【Appraisal Magic】 raises the 《Eyesight》, 《Observation》, 《Knowledge》, 《Wisdom》 and 《Intelligence》Attributes of which the latter 3 increase Mana Capacity and that 【Alchemy Magic】, 【Mana Shaping】 and 【Appraisal Magic】 also increase Mana Capacity Elrick had miscalculated; underestimated growth rate.

After 25 hours Elrick gave in to both physical and mental exhaustion. Like Adonites Atlantians also needed adequate amounts of daily sleep; though since logging off is putting the body in an Inter-Dimensional Pocket it counts as sleep. Elrick had added 3EXP to his 【Mana Shaping】 and he was certain that the next day he would be able to exhaust his Mana quickly enough to get to his reading and 『Magic Writing』.

The next day it took Elrick 20 hours to exhaust his Mana and by that point he was already suffering from mental fatigue so he decided to move to the last item on his daily schedule; training. While waiting for his Mana to recover he decided to cook using his Basic Magical Cooking Set. Ordinarily someone with the relevant Elemental Symbiotes would not need a Magical Cooking Set and could simply apply a Cooking spell directly on ingredients according Magical Recipes Spells.

As for the Training; it amounted to mounting sir Arwick’s Mechanical Contraption or Magical machine apparatus that moved the body at an alarming speed. On closer examination Elrick realized that the movements of the Magical machine apparatus were similar to the 15 movements or Kata of the 〘Heavens-Blade〙technique. The Magical Machine Apparatus is powered by the user’s Mana and would cycle through all the movements of the 4 techniques; the more Mana you had the faster it would move.

Elrick only had enough Mana to last 12 minutes on the Machine Apparatus after which he collapsed and slept for 7 hours; something unusual for Elrick having only slept for about 5 hours at the most for his entire life. Elrick couldn’t contain his frustration at not being able to follow his carefully constructed schedule but he decided to power through until he met his target.

The next day Elrick was able to get an hour’s reading of the only printed book in his possession; a children’s picture book about fairytales. To Elrick the first story was some lame-ass story about a boy and his clever pet monkey, but as he continued to read he found himself swept up in the emotional tales of love and joy; surprising since even as a child Elrick wasn’t particularly interested in fairytales. The book was obviously Enchanted.

The rest of the thousands of books Elrick had brought with him were contained in a Runic Book reader; the magical equivalent of an e-book reader. Once you purchased the Runic Book reader all the books you buy are installed and available for reading at your leisure. Elrick had also purchased a Runic Book notebook which looks similar to the Runic Book reader except the notebook is for 『Magic Writing』.

The『Magic Writing』 Skill provides training for 【Mana Shaping】and the 『Linguistics』 Skill. The 『Linguistics』 Skill is the key to understanding the over 100 written languages of Realm Eternal. The most prominent of written languages of Ado is Kemet; the language of the Midgard Humans; written in hieroglyphs similar to those of Ancient Egypt.

The 『Linguistics』 Skill doesn’t translate writing into your native language but helps you learn the actual language because the languages of the Realm Eternal are in a very real sense actual genuine languages. For the day to day needs the Adventurer’s Guild offered a document translation service for a nominal fee based on the number of pages.

One of the major benefits of Memory Imprints is that it gave you familiarity with learnt languages. Since sir Arwick could read and write a number of languages it made it easier for Elrick to learn Elvish, Dwarvish, Alvish, Rune, Kemet and many others. However there are Expensive Items that could translate the Major languages to whatever language you choose.

- - -

It took 10 more days until the stubborn Elrick finally admitted to himself that his daily schedule was impossible; his reading was also growing his 《Knowledge》, 《Wisdom》 and 《Intelligence》Attributes and constant use of 【Alchemy Magic】, 【Mana Shaping】 and 【Appraisal Magic】 also increase the same attributes as well as raising his Mana Capacity.

Elrick was trapped in an endless cycle of his own making and it was sheer stubbornness that had kept him going this long. However he did manage to reach the point where he exhausted his Mana through the use of 【Alchemy Magic】, 【Mana Shaping】 and 【Appraisal Magic】 in 12 hours, and so he declared victory/defeat and decided to rework his schedule.

Elrick was spending 4 days at a time alone on Chaos Island; the isolation was getting to him. Unlike other users Elrick wasn’t welcome in a Beastial settlement because of his Elf of Light body; it is the reason sir Arwick came up with this strategy. The constitution of the body of a High-Elf of Light incorporated a significant amount of Gold, and all members of the Dragon Species love the taste of Gold.

The fear is that if Elrick ventured outside the Hunter’s Lear a Serpent-Wyvern or true Wyvern might take notice of Elrick. To avoid Serpent-Wyverns the Beastials didn’t use gold as a currency, and even on Ado small villages without adequate shielding don’t allow gold or High-Elves of Light near the village for fear of attracting Wyverns.

Even though Elrick knew that he couldn’t go outside the isolation in the small Hunter’s Lear was getting to him and he was finding it harder and harder to concentrate on his tasks. And so in order to avoid a situation were he was so desperate he ends up making lethal lapses in judgement Elrick decided to implement one of his diversions earlier than planned.

The Hunter’s Lear has a hatch at the bottom meant for people to dig holes for waste disposal. Since Elrick brought with a rather expensive Magic Toilet he had no immediate need of a traditional waste disposal. The Magic Toilet is a variation of the 10,000 capacity magic chest with 10,000 of the 50litre capacity containers for storing waste; more that enough to last six months.

And so the activity Elrick chose is mining. He opened the 1m wide hatch of the Hunter’s Lear and began digging. Using a small shovel and chisel & hammer he hacked away at the hard mountain rock. The soil from the operation was turned into rocks through 【Alchemy Magic】and small rocks were turned into bigger rocks which could be sent outside the Hunter’s Lear through the peep hole.

The manual labour proved sufficient to keep Elrick from thinking about venturing outside in the darkness.

- - -

Meanwhile Starlight Spark’s release of information regarding the use of the 《Sensitivity》Attribute managed to restore Starlight Spark’s public Image. However somehow Elrick the Clan Chief of Starlight Spark and Elrick the Annihilator had become different people in the minds of people, and they blamed the High-Elf’s low 《Sensitivity》Attribute for Elrick’s duality.

To many in his role as Elrick the Clan Chief of Starlight Spark Elrick is a competent manager, but the high stress and pressure sometimes turns him into Elrick the Annihilator because the High-Elf’s low 《Sensitivity》Attribute makes him lack the emotional maturity to adequately deal with his emotions; at least that was the analysis given by a user who is also a psychiatrist.

Consequently people believed that Elrick the Annihilator would always show up when Elrick experiences intense emotions. The advisory when dealing with Elrick was that everyone should avoid interactions with the potential powder-cake. Elrick could only sigh when reading the statements posted about him on the web, and even in Atlantis people were weary of him.

On the up side Starlight Spark’s 55 Story Tower had been completed and the employed Alchemists could now process the Blue Moss into a cheap toxin and anti-toxin that could be sold on the open market. The biggest clients for the product were the Atlantians since many of them were struggling to hunt without toxins to weaken the prey.

Elrick estimated that only about 25% of the Atlantians could afford the Academy fees from day one, and that meant many would have to work and save up for the 50 silver coins or $1000 registration fee; not to mention that there’s the equivalent of $500 a month necessary to continue studying at the Academy. Elrick didn’t feel ashamed that his better financial circumstances gave him an advantage over other Users; after all, the world isn’t even almost fair.

Now that Starlight Spark had sufficient storage facilities they could invest in proper crafting facilities and equipment, but more pressing was the combat equipment for Starlight Spark’s First Ranger Cavalry. They couldn’t get by on basic equipment anymore since they had to venture further away from Cobalt City; they needed Level 1 weapons at the very least.

Elrick authorized the Transfer of another $7million into 3,500 Gold Coins to purchase second hand Level 1 Magic Armour and Military Grade Longbows from Sir Arwick’s Clan at 45% the price of new equipment; though the Magic Armour needed to be adjusted to properly fit the designated user. At first the Executives of Starlight Spark were surprised that Elrick had made connections to Sir Arwick’s Clan but they soon realised that Elrick had always made connections with powerful people a priority.

To the Executives of Starlight Spark Elrick had always understood the proper application of power, and now he was using financial power to give Starlight Spark a massive tactical advantage in resource collection. Starlight Spark currently has 2,000 people dedicated exclusively to Starlight Spark’s First Ranger Cavalry and 1200 in Crafting and Services

Now that Starlight Spark had both Equipment and Facilities it could afford to act alone in resource collection, and rather than sell the animals they hunt they could process the animals and resource materials into more valuable products that could be sold on the open market. Starlight Spark would still be required to participate in 2 Nova Horizon Field Raids a week but since Nova Horizon started allowing people to join it had more than enough people to operate freely.

In Realm Eternal a Faction has all the privileges of a Clan and that allowed people to join the Faction directly. Thanks to the popularity of Lady Lorelei and Mithriliar Nova Horizon now had over 5,000 new members, and could now operate independently. The appointed Nova Horizon Chancellor could now carryout a field raid without Clan members from the 7 constituent Nova Horizon Clans.

Since the majority of members of the 7 constituent Nova Horizon Clans spent 10 hours a day at the Academy the Nova Horizon Chancellor carried out Field Raids in the nearby forests. The Nova Horizon Chancellor was appointed by Nova Horizon’s 7 Clans to act as both politician and military commander, and because of this the Nova Horizon Chancellor is a Local; an Adonite native of Cobalt City named Lionel Adev.

- - -

The Nova Horizon Faction is by no means the largest; that honour goes to Starfleet Clan’s United Federation of Nations. The organization of Star Trek fans known as Starfleet had recently migrated to the Realm Eternal in the aftermath of a massive fallout in a Space based VR Game. The players of the Space VRMMORPG Solaris were Irate over the game braking privilege given to some players.

Apparently a number of paraplegic players in Solaris were given the special privilege of starting alone on a derelict Ship, Station or mining camp which they then achieved ownership off. The result was a group of over a dozen players that quickly achieved an unassailable dominance over the entire game. As a result Starfleet the organization of Star Trek fans abandoned Solaris by labelling it Broken.

Starfleet wasn’t the only one to leave since Battle-Star, Jedi, Babylonian and others also left which effectively bankrupt the VRMMORPG Solaris. Not wishing to end up in yet another situation where game owners could arbitrarily adjust the balance of the game they chose Realm Eternal because it also had a space component, and unlike others there were no overpowered hidden classes or unique weapons.

Finally VR producers understood that overpowered hidden classes or unique weapons only work if you are the only VR platform. In an environment where people have abundant choice they tended to leave platforms that had unfair overpowered hidden classes and unique weapons; choosing platforms where a level of fairness is carefully maintained.

The new arrivals had a size and scale that Elrick could not match, and by the end of the month (RWT) the Starfleet Clan and its United Federation of Nations faction would rise to the top of the Rankings. Even the individual Rankings had suffered from the influx of new people after Open Beta. The (RWT) monthly prize for the Top Ranked Faction is 2,000 Gold Coins, Top Ranked Clan is 1,000 Gold Coins and Top Ranked User is 500 Gold Coins.

At the End of Beta the Phoenix Consortium gave the Top 10 Ranked Clans 2,000 Gold Coins and Top 10 Ranked Users 1,000 Gold Coins. There were also publicity deals that netted the likes of Mithriliar 1,000 Gold Coins, Hiroshi Nakamura 2,000 Gold Coins and Lorelei 2,500 Gold Coins. But as things stood none of them would make it into the top 10.

Pundits put the Top Ranked User as a Saudi Prince who was rumoured to have spent $25million on Spiritual Fortifications and his close competitor being the son of an Oil Billionaire. The influx of the super rich irked Elrick, but since he had spent $4million of his dividends on Phoenix Consortium Shares the influx of money into Realm Eternal would cause a boom in the Phoenix Consortium’s stock price.

The problem was that the Princes and Princesses brought with them armies of officials and security personnel, and that in turn drew the attention of Intelligence Agencies which in turn resulted in the current situation where even America’s Cyber Command was talking about sending an entire Division into the Realm Eternal. The battle for the soul of the Realm Eternal had begun.

Elrick knew that it was only a matter of time before Countries tried to reproduce themselves in Ado in the form of a City or even a Country. That means that Elrick’s primary Mission as an Operative of the Eastal Security Agency to establish an Eastal aligned Country was becoming more and more difficult to accomplish. Being trapped on Chaos Island was a bigger hindrance than Elrick had predicted.

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