(...and that's my plan for what you can try against the flood, Elly.)

(I'm not sure I like it. Failure would probably kill me. But I'm willing to give it a try.)

(Good, so let's do it later just like we've discussed.)

(Sure. But it still is a few hours until we regenerated enough resources.)

(Right, so back to checking the options we have with the fortress now.)

My check reveals that while I can order the construction of new buildings, there's only one spot left in the fortress. But there's a whole section just missing on the construction map...

"What is with the slums, Justo? Why don't they appear on the map?"

"It will take some time to get used to my new name...The slums? Hmm... I think I know what area you are talking about. Difficult. It should be an option along with the other edicts, but I would recommend against it."

"Why is that? Too expensive? Every edict seems to have a price tag like constructing a new building or upgrading an existing one, but that should pay back for itself given time."

"That is not the only concern. Once the people there are back under my jurisdiction they would instantly be judged, and I'm fairly certain most of them are guilty of one crime or another according to the current laws."

"So, can't I just pardon the slum dweller?"

"Not at your current level. You would need to increase your 'fortress lord' title at least to level 10."

"Great, so my need for exp just went up even more..."

"You need to gain those levels anyway. It is also required to unlock more specialized buildings, upgrades or how many civilian jobs can be on my payroll."

"Yeah, I was too naive. What was I thinking I could just hit a few buttons and then we can employ more medical staff to get the wounded soldiers faster out of the hospital, or set up an ammo factory to get some archers on the wall..."

"If you don't want to rise your title level you could alternatively use a 'Class Core' take the special 'Fortress Lord' class."

Fortress Lord Special class Growth Rates

38 HP, 9 MP, 20 SP, 4 STR, 4 DEX, 5 VIT, 2 MAG, 2 FTH, 4 WIL, 7 CHA Fortress Manager

Increase the effective skill level of the 'Fortress Lord' title by this skill's level.

"Yeah, no. It has low stats overall and I need to increase the title level anyway for 'Daywalker'. Do you know at what level of 'Fortress Lord' the last feature for the menu unlocks?"

"I think that should be level 30."

"Ok, so I'll just assume I won't ever reach that, at least not while it still counts. I think I'll just aim for title level 10 once I have enough MP for three rain spells at once and then wait until you're awake enough to tell me other important level breakpoints for that title."

(Any objections to that, you two?)

(None from me, my liege.)

(I'm not sure how far away that is. Unless the system deletes the 'Lost One' title or repairs its MP penalty, you would still need to bring all of your current classes up to about 13. Admittedly you've still one remaining 'Class Core', so that can bring you to that threshold sooner, depending on which class you choose.)

(Yeah, that is very far away. Hmm...)

"Say, Justo, can we just reclaim a part of the slums? Transfer the people that are 'safe' to existing houses, reclaim as much as we can and then destroy the ruined houses and replace them with more important buildings. How many people total are even living in this fortress?"

"Not sure. If we include the refugees and the slums maybe around 25.000."

"And all of mankind?"

"No idea. When I was last awake, they were about to reach a whole million, but then I also had almost twice the current number of residents."

"That's... actually worse than I expected. Low population count and on the decline as well... not that you can really make big expansions when you have regular monster floods AND get sabotaged by nobles at the same time. So stupid. *sigh* I'll need to study the existing laws and see which we need to remove that make the commoner hunts illegal..."

"Wait, I've already killed people here, the one guy I... accidentally turned into a ghoul and Maude, admittedly she was asking for it. Why am I safe if the people from the slums aren't?"

"I assume as long as the victim survives, it would just count as eating, and there's no law against having lunch. If it's not that, then I think there was a law that gives noble exemptions from most laws."

"Pardon, the fuck? Elites in this world don't even freaking bother to fake that they uphold the law!? They are openly utter scum with no repercussions?"

"I would have chosen... different words but the sentiment is the same. But did you honestly expect anything else if all the power is in the hands of just a few?"

"Yeah, that also goes on the to-change list..."

A few hours later in the evening, I go again to ruin the weather for the flood monsters.

Your 'Ice Rain' spell has inflicted a total of 1135420 damage.

Your 'Ice Rain' spell has inflicted a total of 1183681 damage.

Got 1736 exp out of that. So that leaves the other experiment, the... glitched aoe spell.

Now, how do I use that?

...

It just happens. A gigantic, pixelated wave ripples through a huge area of monsters.

Your 'S̵̖̀ḁ̴̉ń̷̼g̴̽͜u̵͉̎i̸͈͆n̶̦͒e̷͚̍ ̵̔ͅW̸͙̍á̵̫v̸̺́e̴͔͒' spell has inflicted a total of 11417 damage.

It seems the glitch skill also comes with censorship built-in. Whatever mess, this blood-red wave causes is just pixelated and blurred out.

Can someone please fix that skill? That display is no fun!

It is weird. Despite how wrong this skill looks, it felt even more natural to me than the real spells. Maybe that is because it is blood magic and I'm a vampire? ...no point to speculate about this.

I have enough exp for the fifth level of Summoner, so I take a moment to add it.

Name Jared Delacroix Status disguised Age 18 (frozen) Classes Wizard 15, Survivor 9, Blood Mage 9, Summoner 5 Race Silver Elf 10 Extra Vampire 10, Noble 2, Lord 2, Progenitor 2 Title G̷̜̉ő̵̺d̴̗̉’̶͈̅š̴̬ ̷̛͚L̵͓͒o̴̘͒s̸̗̀t̶̗̽ ̴͉͆Č̶͍ĥ̸ͅĭ̴̭l̴̲͗d̶̲̔, World Navigator, Noble, Vampire Progenitor, Daywalker, Demon Lord, Regenerator, Title Holder, Demon, Fortress Lord

Title Level 3 EXP 305 HP 1964/1982 [2478] MP 116/2534 [3168] SP 58/1558 [1948] STR 294+75 (staff) or +140 (claws) DEX 329+5 VIT 313+60 MAG 554+45 FTH 457 WIL 444+20 CHA 396 Equipment Topaz Staff, Book, Leather Cap, Robe, Sun Cloak, Defense Ring, Sun Guard Ring Skills Affinity Magic 15 (Rank 1), Cure Magic 10 (Rank 1), Dark Magic 15 (Rank 1), Earth Magic 15 (Rank 1), Ice Magic 15 (Rank 1), Lightning Magic 15 (Rank 1), Water Magic 15 (Rank 1)

Blood Burst 9, S̵̖̀ḁ̴̉ń̷̼g̴̽͜u̵͉̎i̸͈͆n̶̦͒e̷͚̍ ̵̔ͅW̸͙̍á̵̫v̸̺́e̴͔͒ 9, Summon Spirit 5 (Rank 1)

Spear Training 9, Trap Lore 9, Unnatural Claws 2

Charm Eye 2, Embrace 2, Familiar 2, Greater Vampiric Bite 2

Disguise 10, Intimidation 4

Ageless 2, Beast Killer 2, Enhanced Regeneration 2, Extra Affinity 15, Mana Boost 5, Mana Regeneration 15, Sleepless 10, Stealth 10, Supernatural Toughness 2, Undead 10, Vampire Hierarchy 10 Weakness Fire, Light, Holy

I like the new skill. A bit simple but certainly not useless.

Mana Boost

Passive

Increase max MP by 5% and (5 x skill level).

Also, increase MP regeneration effects by 5%.

Still miles away from my 3000 max MP goal. I definitely should check what a good next class to take would be, I still have the one core from my dungeon trip.

(Elly, ready for our experiment?)

(Yup, a bit nervous, but ready nonetheless.)

I summon her forth.

"Then get to it!"

"Yessir!"

She takes a moment to produce two dozen arrows and five spears, puts them in her inventory, and then takes flight. She flies a bit out. A moment later she unloads her inventory. Most of the arrows and spears land on the monsters below, seemingly landing three or four hits on the same target. A few projectiles miss entirely and just disappear.

"Fuck!", I hear her scream. It seems like it didn't go as well as hoped...

Elly returns to me.

"That didn't sound satisfactory, what happened? Was it a complete failure?"

"More or less. The 'attack' only used 30 SP total, that much was a success. But landing multiple hits on the same target doesn't count, each monster only took a single instance of damage, even if three or more projectiles made contact."

"And same damage as a normal attack?"

"On the dot. Gravity and mass of the objects don't seem to matter at all..."

"Just the usual bullshit... okay, stage two then?"

"Yes, let's do that."

Elly takes out her bow and produces five arrows. Then strings them on said bow. Or tries to. Most of her arrows fall down. She picks them up again and tries once more. This time only two arrows drop.

Then she aims up and blindly shoots all three arrows at the same time.

thunk thunk thunk

"Hmm... so good news, bad news", she reports, "it again only consumes the same amount of SP as a single arrow shot, but..."

"Only one hit per monster counts?"

"Yes, same as before."

"Eh, still better than just single hits. You won't be able to focus a specific target down but we can double or even triple the damage our archers can potentially do to the flood monsters. That might not be an option with proper arrows that could be produced in a factory, but as long as we can abuse the free arrow generation you spirits can pull off, it is an improvement. So, carry on with that."

thunk thunk

"Well, I'm currently far too weak for that to matter."

"Maybe, but that is something we can change with enough time. If I read my status right, I need one more level for you spirits to also get stronger. And there's still the option of adding a new class, not sure when I can do that. We should select a suitable target class soon either way."

"Yeah, we should do that. I think we have enough of an overview about what you can do currently as the new lord and Chloe still needs a bit before we can have our discussion."

"Correct. Well, I'll head home now, you deplete your SP and then follow me."

"Yup, laters."

On my way back I wonder about how war in this world works. How can you possibly conquer someone else's fortress? Wouldn't the automatic law enforcement put an end to all attempts? But then, I've never seen it in action. Maybe it is just enforced by a relatively strong robot or something that you can fight off with an army?

I should ask Justo about that.

A few minutes later I arrive back at my mansion. Therese stands in front of it, waiting for me.

"Ah, I was wondering when you would be back."

"Hi, Therese. Guess I really need some staff to cover for me in my absence. Want to come in?"

"No, It will be quick."

She hands me a binder with some files, "Here is the overview you wanted."

"That was quick. I thought you would need at least another day or two."

"It was the first thing I took care of. I consider it more important that you can start implementing changes than checking some group transfer forms."

"Oh, right. Half of Chloe's team... wants to get away from me. Guess, that also lands on your plate, sorry about that."

"That is just how things are. I hope once you make your announcement things will finally calm down. The other thing I wanted to let you know is that Chloe has woken up. She has already agreed to a meeting. I've not told her anything specific though. That is something you should do personally, Jared."

"Just Jared? Shouldn't you address me as lord or something?"

She has to think for a moment, "Do I have to? I have... not a good history with nobles and I'd like to not be reminded every five minutes..."

"Fine, I accept that. I won't pry, but if you want to tell me you can do that at a time when we have less urgent matters to take care of."

"Alright,... thank you.", sounds like it is very hard for her to trust a noble like me, even if I'm something like a minor god to her. Not that she knows I'm basically about to lose that title.

"So, when can we hold the meeting?"

"Tomorrow around noon should be fine."

"That soon? Shouldn't Chloe get some more rest?"

"I'm no expert. The doctor says she should be fine physically, the rest are mental issues. In my opinion, the sooner she learns the truth, the sooner she can start to recover from them."

"Good, then I'll trust the opinion of that expert. But the moment she shows signs of relapse, we'll stop the meeting and you bring her back."

"I'm fine with that."

"So you take care of Darius and Chloe, and I'll invite Geoffrey and Marca. They are the sole remains from Chloe's group and already know what I truly am."

"Understood, see you tomorrow then."

With that, she leaves and I finally enter my home.

"Hey, Justo?"

"I am here. What can I do for you?"

"I want to know how the automatic law enforcement works. I was wondering how war or a hostile takeover of a fortress would work, and the enforcement looks to me like it would make that impossible."

"You have strange ideas. Why would anyone do that?"

"...humans are just stupid and greedy. I mean, just look at how nobles treat the common people. We have enough monsters outside to deal with and nobles still have nothing better to do than suppress commoners, hunting those that 'dare' form a family... it is just sick."

Justo goes silent for a moment, "Hmm... I don't recall there being a war that involved me, but given that what you said about humans is true, I can imagine that they have indeed happened."

"So they are at least possible. How?"

"The law enforcement is carried out by an avatar of the fortress. The stronger the fortress the stronger the avatar."

"If it is that strong why doesn't it help with the defense of the fortress against the flood? Even if it was restricted to just the inside of the fortress, there already was a boss inside at least once while I was here. And the people here were clearly afraid of punishment, so the avatar must've been operable even while you were napping."

"I have to disappoint you. The avatar is unable to harm any opponent that hasn't broken a law. By default laws don't apply to monsters, you can fix that by a high-level edict."

"So if I reach a high enough title level, we get a very powerful fortress guard. Any idea at what level that becomes available?"

"I think it was at level 22, but don't take my word for it."

"Ok, then that will have to wait. So far we are getting by, and that is a ton of exp I need elsewhere more."