Simon's POV

Simon and Kaj woke up in Darknym's capsule room, Simon had forgotten that they weren't in their normal capsules because of the good time he had with Kaj and Kaj didn't even know where she was.

"So Simon were your rewards to your satisfaction?"

Darknym said, his voice sounding somewhat sarcastic at the moment, of course even if they weren't Simon could probably do nothing about it.

Kaj was still afraid of Darknym and quickly hid behind Simon, she probably wanted to ask something but at the moment it was impossible for her to do so. Simon didn't really answer but just nodded in reply, Simon after all got what he was promised and maybe even more than he had before, after all inside his head was complete map of a the virtual world, if he spent enough time to analyze it, he would probably be able to do whatever he liked in all Virtual worlds and maybe even make a world of his own.

"Alright, now I will send you off, back to your houses"

'I also recomment that you never speak about our deal with Kaj, after all remnants of memories are easy to re-emerge and hard to delete, let it be a dream or a nightmare that never happened'

The first was said out loud but the second dialog was spoken inside Simon's mind before he disappeared.

Simon in a hurry went to his capsule and entered Allastar once more. The first thing he did was check if his new powers had disappeared or no and the second was give Jak a deep kiss for good night.

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Lidie's POV

Lidie and Galie were sailing on a boat going for Ashrad, the Desert kingdom of Ashrad was a good place to become stronger. There were large deserts and a plentiful amount of monsters.

If not for the speed of the ship being too slow they might have already arrived, but they didn't care they somewhat enjoyed the ride.

Every now and then they arrived to some new exotic Island where they could see strange monsters, items, weapons, professions and skills, not to talk about cultures and lifestyles.

"Lidie do you think that we can do the round of the world in less than a year?"

Galie asked somewhat nervous, after all she didn't know when her father would come back and tell her they were leaving.

"Don't think of it, just try to enjoy it as much as you can"

Said Lidie as she was holding her fishing rod, they had been fishing for days now, mostly catching junk.

"It bites!"

Galie said as her own line was moving, the fish was probably trying to escape.

"Use telekinesis quickly!"

Shouted Lidie seeing that the line was about to snap.

Galie was a little lost at the moment and did exactly as Lidie told her.

A large, monstrous sea serpent's head was now in from of the two.

"Do you think we should throw it back in the water?"

Galie asked jokingly, as a battle with the sea monster was something that many players welcomed with joy. Normaly sea travels were mundane so monster attacks or some special event like an unknown Island exploration was a good way to overcome boredom.

A pity the monster was too weak to even offer a challenge to the plentiful amount of players on board, while Galie and Lidie didn't even qualify to get any of the loot, although it was they who found the monster, but their damage output was too poor.

After Lidie skined the monster, something that the others didn't really care about, gaining some sea serpent scales, the boat sailed forth once more.

Galie and Lidie looked behind, each thinking something else as they continued fishing junk and monsters along the way, rather peacefuly.

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Max's POV

"Your ship will be confiscated by the battle to come, If you like you can join the defence force of the Town, please do so!"

There were the words of the guard who was sent to inform them why their ship wasn't ready after so much time.

Max of course didn't understand anything at the moment but the pleading voice of the guard had made him understand just how desperated things for the city looked.

As to why the Town Chief didn't ask for reinforces or something from his guild, it was easy to say why.

He was an Npc, normaly they all belong to players, but port towns were somewhat special, since they had become targets for the Yokai no player cares about them anymore, they just aren't worth protecting in the first place.

After all even if they turned into cities, there were too few players who cared about reclaiming the Jin's lost half of the Island.

After all the whole Island can be divided into four parts, one was the Yokai Mountain, the other the Jin mountain, while the two parts in between were the human player's lands, one was supposed to be under the Yokai control and the othe under the Jin, the human land under Jin control had already lost half it's lands. The Jin players had long lost interest in the struggle for lands and each protected their respective guild towns and villages.

Few were like the Benkei who defended the borders and fought off the Yokai players that invaded Jin lands.

News about the imminent Yokai attack, made Max somewhat afraid for Progie's safety, he could of course take her and leave the town how many npcs and players did, there was no way for them to overcome this attack, no normal way at least.

"Mom could you come look after Progie for a while, there will be a war here and I don't want her to be in danger"

Max sent this message to his mother, who instantly appeared before the surprised group of people.

They of course knew about guardians, but only the strongest experts could become ones, or so the normal people thought, since most experts were guardians. It was probably the reversed that happened but people didn't know it, because it was guardians who became experts rather easily, as they had the support of a centurion, who had the support of a diva or the Empress behind them.

"Max, where is Lidie?"

Rain asked somewhat surprised not seeing her there, Max hadn't told her about the events that had occured and she was probably blissfully ignorant about the events that had occured.

Max took some time to explain in details what had transpired so far and how they came to be in their current situation.

"Max, you are an Idiot, who cares about a fake child, you seriously reprimented her because of this bunch of data!"

Rain was furious, of course a part of her anger was because her plan to attract Darknym to their side had been completely ruined.

Lidie could be anywhere in Allastar by now and her stupid son didn't even call her for something so important.

"Tell me Max which are the three rules I have been trying to put in your head, since you were young?"

Rain asked after she calmed down a little and maybe Progie had also something to do with it.

"Don't fall in love with an npc, don't use drugs and never give more value to an npc, than you would give to a human"

Max said after a little brain whacking, he had almost forgiven some of it but in general lines that's what she had told him.

"Yes, so do you love this child?"

Rain said somewhat angry, seeing how human-like the child was performing.

Max of course couldn't say nothing other than hug the little progie, he didn't care what his mother thought but this child for him was as real as any player and needed love and compassion to grow into a remarkable person.

"Do you use drugs or something, how could you let Lidie go because of a program!"

Rain shouted and without even waiting for his response she disappeared, it was not that she didn't like children but this was not really a child, it was a program, even it's name stated so.

Max however didn't despair, he went for plan B.

He sent a message to his father and the Helllion guild. Over there the Helllion guild members were still celebrating their victory over the Isleplains Alliance.

Of course when Leo read the message instead of hurrying to go and help he simply fainted. in truth if he was in the real world he would have already died of a heart attack. Due to him being too old and having heart problems the game sent him into a fainted state to protect him from any excessive damage, he even have a skill called "weak heart".

Max of course had taken a response from Dublin who for some reason was already back in the guild and celebrating their victory, to which he hadn't constributed in the least.

"Max, what exactly did you tell your father to make him faint again?"

Dublin asked, the last time his father had fainted was when he heard that he had a grandchild, while this time it was because he had broken up with his wife for an npc child.

It's like your child first calls you to say that he's got someone pregnant and the next day that they have broken up.

Max once more had to explain everything in details.

The result was faster than he expected, the players in the Helllion guild especialy the Valkyries were favoring his decision, after all most of them weren't even guardians, so for them npcs were as good as real people.

Only guardians and millionaires could have real children, so most people settled down in some virtual world and lived their life to the fullest, after all even if they died, they would just respawn at some checkpoint, most people of this era didn't know what death meant.

This system of course was akin to selective breeding, since powerful psychics bore, at least average psychics and weak children were numbered no more than a hundrent in the whole world.

Of course there was a rule that only centurions knew about. Centurions had to have one child every ten years, it didn't matter whith whom. This was decided on because of the ones called lucky stars and the revolutionaries, who either killed or died in flocks.

The reinforcements from the guild however needed his father's command to leave, after all a siege might take months before a well fortified town falls.

Not that the port town was such a town, but now that it was in danger, the npc ruler would no doubt put all his resources into protecting the town.

In truth the town was just a month away from becoming a city, if this crisis hadn't befallen, the ruler of the town would have been happy.

When the night fell, no one in town was asleep.

The reason was that most people were still gathering their stuff and abandoning the town, after all this wasn't the first time something like this happened.

Max and his group were invited to the Town hall, since they had anounced to the guards that they would stay.

The town hall was a large castle considerably near the docks but was built on a somewhat lifted tilted ground, making it hard for enemies to attack from both sea and land.

All the players that had decided to stay were summoned to the castle, there were around 200players at the moment but even more would come eventually.

In truth more players would stay rather than leave, after all the most they would lose were some pieces of copper and maybe something useless from their inventory, since only PKers dropped equipment.

Max and his group looked at the players who were now waiting in the courtyard for the lord to come out.

Of course there was a little chaos at the moment but in time, two guards carrying lights around came out and a man wearing a rather stylish robe begun reading from a scroll.

"Honorable adventurers, the lord of Suzaku town welcomes your help in defending the town, you are free to use the town and Castle as you please, unfortunately the lord had some urgent business to attend to so he has taken the last ship and left for the nearby port town to ask for reinforcements"

The man said with a rather strangely feminine voice, signaling that he was an eunuch.

The players were at an uproar but a shout out of nowhere made them all stop.

No it wasn't Max who put an end to the chaos, but a man called Benkei.

He wore a monk's garb and held a khakkhara, a buddist staff with four rings that gave a strange sound each time he walked.

"We of the Benkei corps have been protecting the Jin territories for an eternity, those who think that they can be good leaders please step out and name yourselves"

He said and his voice sounded out echoing through the now silent courtyard.

"Max, from the Helllion guild!"

A female voice sounded out, making it sound somewhat funny. It was read who just nominated Max as one of the leaders.

All eyes at the moment were focused on Max and Red, those close had a hint of disdaint seeing that the man next to her was the one called Max, but he didn't speak up himself.

Max didn't want to be a leader but a small whisper from Red made him shout so loudly that everyone close to him, even Progie could do nothing but plug their ears.

"Max of the Helllion guild reporting for Duty!"

He shouted and went forth with Progie still on his broad shoulder.

Almost everyone could see him since his size was that of a Drogan barbarian, who were only a little shorter than an ork, orks in Allastar are three meters tall in average, while Drogan humans were around two and a half average, while Max was probably all three meters, because of his mother.

In truth the words Red had told him were...

"I will tell your mother about this"

His mother didn't like it when she heard that her son was a coward or did something unbecoming of a strong person, she wanted him a warrior among warriors, a leader, a king, a man who would inspire others to follow him. If she heard that he was a subordinate to someone else other than his father, she would not let it go easily, even more now that she was a little angry at him.

Of course Max's presence had a great effect on the players there. They didn't know if he was strong or not but he was no smaller than an oni.

His face gave no sign of fear and although he seemed troubled, his sture and size gave a sense of power.

Even Benkei next to him was losing by a head or two in size, who in turn was rather tall for a Gold dawn human, that's how the japanese were called in Allastar.

Many names begun sounding after Max but few could take their eyes from the towering barbarian, dressed in the shining runic armor.

In the end only twenty people went forth.

"We only have a week or less before the enemy arrives, Everyone should go rest as we leaders will go talk about what needs to be done"

Benkei announced before he dragged the rest of the so called leaders inside. Non from Max's team were among them since they all agreed that they would be under Max in this siege.

Max followed with the others, the castle was empty, it looked as if some burglar had just come in recently, but they could now better understand the town's situation.

The town was probably out of funds and the npc people were leaving just by the rumor of an invasion. The town lord had probably taken Max's boat and left at the first sign of danger, taking with him all his property and even the town's funds.

It was of course logical since victory was impossible and it wasn't as if the enemy would stay there, they would just destroy the town and leave.

The Money could be better used in repairing what's left of the town rather than used to defend a lost cause.

The twenty of them reached a map that showed the town's territory and layout. It was rather large and laid on a table.

"This is how the town is right at the moment and here is a list of the things that can be created in the short time that's left for us to defend against the Yokai"

Benkei said while giving each a piece of paper.

On it were listed buildings fortifications traps and other things that could be employed for defence in a siege, while next to them were numbers. Of course only a fool wouldn't understand that these numbers meant expenses, each building cost a small fortune for a player but since they wanted to be leaders, it at least meant that they had other players under them.

Before they could even begin talking Benkei spoke again.

"Each has to check at least ten items from the list, otherwise you can forget being leaders"

The reason behind it was that the Benkei corps had seen many such leaders before and only those who could offer monetary support were ever useful in any of their sieges so far.

The cheapest thing on the list cost 3silver, and it was the cheapest soldier's wages for a month, the rest even the traps cost at least 10silver coins since they weren't the small traps hunters used but large scale pits and baricades.

Of the twenty people after the players looked through the list only seven were left, the reason behind this was simple, the rest had no guild backing them up, meaning that they would have to pay from their pocket just for the leader position, but what if they lost?

No one single person without a backer would be willing to waste gold, after all the tenth thing they would have to select from the list had to be worth at least ten gold, it was like throwing gold away just to have a little fun, only rich people could do something like that.

The seven people inside gave their sheets to Benkei who looked through them one at a time, giving them responsibilities akin to their constributions.

The first of the seven was a samurai called Gatsu, his constributions were the lowest of the seven and he was backed by a small guild that hoped to gain control of the town after it was destroyed, after all fighting for the town's safety did give them popularity with the town's people.

His constributions were of course akin to nothing, other than a few troops and traps, his guild could only pay for the constraction of a watch tower.

The watch tower was the cheapest of the buildings in the list.

Because of this Gatsu was given the role of the watch tower master. He would be in charge of his troops guarding the watch tower and scout the area, once he gets a sign of the enemy he would have to come back to the town and report on it.

Of course he was to only send a message but since fighting a horde in the open plains was practicaly suicide, he also had to retreet back to the town.

The second lowest constribution was done by a merchant, or so he looked to Max. In truth he was the Yang master Tao-san, he was also only intrested in gaining popularity with the people, but he was a little more clever than Gatsu.

Tao-san only selected troops, some of which were somewhat expensive but Tao-san was also a merchant so he could barter a little and if it came to worst, he would simply let the expensive soldiers leave and serve as his caravan guards.

Benkei who had seen many such merchants could only frown but do nothing after all even the few men they would provide were wellcome in his situation.

Tao-san was given the duty of protecting the docks, there was little to nothing there to act as a fortification, but at least the merchant would act to delay the enemy if they decide to attack from the sea.

Third worst constributor was called Fuji, he was a samurai whose guild was quite well known, his guild was not after popularity at all, they were after the strife and action of the whole thing and so they had a limited budget to throw away, the rest would be spent on equipment for themselves.

In reality his constribution was as bad as Gatsu's but Benkei knew of his guild so he had a better opinion on him, he was given a wall to defend and a small part of the town, which made Tao-san somewhat envious, since the docks were just a small region with emply werehouses, with no Inn in sight.

The two other were Rikishi and Mai, who were given the two last walls to defend, the reason why they were given the walls was because the walls were the most dangerous spot in virtual warfare, meaning that they were the first ones to die.

I know it sounds like bullshit but in the game the catle was more important than the walls, if the castle falls everything falls.

last before Max was Ryu who was a martial artist, he was something unhappy that he wasn't the top constributor, the reason behind it was that he had no guild behind him, all the gold was hard earned with his own strength and he also wanted to be one of the legendary defenders who controls a town, but he wanted his town to change the situation on Eal Island and with a port town to launch a counter attack on Yokai territory like they had done so long ago, leaving his name in the pages of history.

Ryu had given the part of protecting the entrance of the castle, something that didn't really add to what he imagined it to be after all he had constributed to upgrade the town walls and Castle walls.

Lastly Benkei went to Max with a somewhat angry expression.

"If you can't afford the things that you selected on the paper, they you can beat it right now, but if you can..."

Benkei's face from the angry brute face turned into a smile, this was probably the first time they had such a rich player on their Island. The things Max had selected were akin to invulnerability.

Recruiting a Jin, by itself was like a victory but he had also selected a few warships, upgrading the castle into a fortress and even the best town walls.

In truth it was like making the town into a city, the only problem was that it would take some time, but they would have a fucking Jin to guard the town.

Even hiring the weakest Jin for a day cost 100gold, meaning one valuable stone, a month's pay was 30 stones, but Max didn't sign for the weakest at all.

300valuable stones were an amount only the large guilds of Eal Islant could afford.

Of course Eal Islant players didn't really know who the Helllion guild were, after all most of them didn't leave their island and when they left, they didn't travel too far.

The distance from Drogan and Eal Island was considerably long and tourists didn't really care about who the ruling guild at that place were, even Honda who had gone to the arena there didn't know what the Helllion guild was, he only went for the arena there.

"You will be the ruler of the Town for the siege, fuck, what town, if you can do all that, you can be the ruler of the city to be"

Benkei said as he showed the others what the rich barbarian had selected to buy for the siege.

Even Ryu who considered his constribution great could only rub his eyes in horror from the numbers he saw, all the items selected cost valuable stones.

All the players who were present had a strange smile on their faces, if before they were ready for defeat, just by seeing Max's list they had a wide smile on their face, Ryu even offered to join Max's guild, which Max accepted, after all he was an officer in the guild, he could recruit anyone he liked and Ryu looked rather rough for a samurai, only seeing at his well build body could make people think that he wasn't a Gold dawn person, but his skin color and eyes gave his away.

Max could no longer take back his word as he had now become the substitute ruler of the Town.

Of course substitute was but a word, if the previous ruler returned after a successful defence, there was no way that anyone would aknowledge him as the rightful ruler, he would just be a landless noble and nothing more.

What however the people there didn't know was that Max not only payed for what he had checked but he also went on buying other things he found useful.

In just an hour, he had turned the whole town upside down. Instead of an oriental castle there was now going to be a large fortress with moats,walls and even fortification after fortification at each layer, as if a mountain was being constructed.

The people seeing how the place will look went silent, even if the docks were to be taken, there was no way for the fortress to fall in a month, even a year's siege would look petty for such a large castle.

Benkei's eyes were shining as he saw the 3d map of the town, at least what it will be in a week, since all constructions needed at least a week to be completed, be it a ship or a city the game only took a week and they were ready. Of course for a city you would need time until npc people begin settling in the newly made houses and shops.

Benkei and the others were quickly calling their guilds, they were asking favors and even bootlicking the great guilds. One week, if in one week the port town still stands then the Jin counter-attack will begin, not only they would be able to regain the lost territory, they might even be able to take some of the Yokai territory.