In the shadow of the crumbling skyscrapers that represented the metaphysical heart of the Camp Hearth, a man was currently pacing back and forth, ignoring the slight chill that was beginning to plague the otherwise fine evening. Soon, he was interrupted by the woman who was covered in lather and latex, a thin and elegant whip she carried in her hand still having traces of fresh blood.

“Is everything settled?” the General asked, hoping all of this foolishness had finally ended.

“No. I manage to corner some of the weaker fools, but Doom appeared” Carmen solemnly responded.

“Is he the same guy who escaped you last time?” Carmen was nodding her head and the General followed it up with another question “Didn’t he only escaped that time due to his blinding potions? What changed now?”

“The man is much stronger now. And he had help, I was completely outnumbered. Speaking of which, I personally caught at least five would – be deserters. Are things that bad?”

That question flared anger in the General, because things were not just bad, they were bordering on absolute cataclysm. His troops were massively deserting, their spirits broken. His carefully laid plans were unraveling and all the hard work during the year threatened to be for naught. Except for Carmen, he only had a squad of heavy troopers fully loyal to him. The rebels continued to wreck havoc all around Camp Hearth and they even managed to incite the population in rebellion. Even worse, they had the old Loremaster with them and he proved perfectly capable to remove the block placed by his archivist, further boosting their numbers. Pulled from his thoughts by the worried look on Carmen’s face, he shared his worries with her. Sharing the entire burden he carried helped alleviate them some and the General managed to find some peace, his mind returning to his analytical side, trying to find the solution to the pressing issues. The lynchpins in the rebel’s organization were Doom and the Loremaster. Depending on which head he managed to cut, the rebels will either lose their sense of direction or their real power. And judging by the humiliations his army received, the power was more of the problem here. Power turned out to be the problem every time, once again assuring the General he did the right thing when he decided to block the leveling for the majority of people. His regime and his rule was threatened by the man who wasn’t even in the fifties, what would happen when the rest of his generation grow up even more and continue to amass power? No, he had to put a stop to it, at the very least at his fief. He planned to gradually empower his troops, always keeping them at the three times lower level than himself, and then pressure the Loremaster through his archivist to prepare the World Congress they are planning faster. There, he will be like a fish in the water and what he was not able to sway, Carmen would kill, securing the unlimited amount of power and influence for himself. Was that really that bad? Countries in the old World constantly played like that, trying to one - up one another and secure their position as the global hegemon. The thinking about the old World brought him back to his childhood and youth days, those carefree period of his life, without the constant need to thrive and improve. He was born in a relatively good standing family, which guaranteed him he will have an easy life if he just did the bare minimum. And that he did, sometimes even less, using his charm to throw his work onto others. And then the damnable System came, shattering his whole life and forcing him to work for everything. He remembered how lost he was during the tutorial, struggling to find himself in this new world. That changed however, when he started manipulating other people to do all the heavy lifting for him, a charming smile and pleasant demeanor being his main weapons. He soon figured out that boosting his Charisma increased his already high social skills and he dedicated every point he could to that particular stat. From that point on, his fortunes were on the rapid rise and after the tutorial he already had a dedicated base of people who were willing to do all the work for him to profit. Seeing his chance, he formed a mercenary unit, dreaming of becoming the power in the shadows and manipulate the world politics just with a word of support. He mercilessly thrown his men into invasions and with every heroic death, his reputation grew. After the last invasion has been dealt with, world devolved into regional squabbles and he and his unit travelled the world, serving as hired muscle for everyone who paid them, with the General increasing his grandeur whenever he could.

All of this was shattered however on the battlefield a year ago. They were preparing to lay siege of some town in the newest regional conflict that was active at the time and to the General’s surprise, the defenders exited the town, preparing to take the unit in open battle. His officers, the one doing every kind of military planning, were rejoicing at the prospect of exchanging the prolonged siege for a decisive battle. That proved as a colossal mistake and the majority of his unit was massacred by the powerful people that just so happened to be in town, quickly recruited by the town’s administration to defend it. About seventy five percent of his men were killed that day and General faced the prospect he was fallible for a first time in a long time. Those thoughts had him scared and he channeled that fear into one of the best speeches he had ever delivered, which set him on the path on which he was now. For the whole year they were securing the region, taking smaller settlements and testing the new rules the General wanted to implement, a vast majority aimed at making sure no one came close to threaten the man himself. And just when he was supposed to have his grand moment, a powerful individual who just happens to exist at the same location threatened his path to glory.

“Not this time” the General thought and he called for the heavy troopers, deciding it was time to take a more direct action. While he waited for the troopers to arrive, he called “Status” and a menu appeared before him.

Name: Rick Alston, the General

Class: Charming Grifter level 61

Attributes:

Strength: 57

Agility: 55

Constitution: 66

Intelligence: 60

Willpower: 62

Perception: 64

Charisma: 101

Luck: 44

Health: 3762

Stamina: 6765

Mana: 3720

Skills:

Grifter’s insight

Sway

Share the vision

Charm

Pacify

Calm doubt

Equipment

Parade uniform of the Forgotten Realm

Ring of Serenity

Ring of Silver Tongue

Single fire pistol

Quests

N/A

Titles

First of Earth

Defender of Humanity

Magnet for Adoration

He had to admit System had a flair for dramatic, seeing he unlocked his “Calm the doubt” skill just as this whole business with the rebellion started. That was the same time Carmen finished the task he set her to do and he finally broke the level sixty barrier that was impeding him for the longest time. He was infinitely grateful that his class allowed him to scoop experience just if someone does the task he sets, without him needing to do a whole lot of work. But all that aside, he liberally used “Calm the doubt” in this two days, managing to stop any massive desertion. There were still pockets of men who ran and even now he knew at least five troopers will try to escape, including Michael, as he didn’t fail to see how his skill utterly failed to take effect on the man earlier. He wished them the worst of luck, cursing them for their cowardice and their incompetence and focused once again on salvaging the situation. That was the time when the squad of his strongest and most loyal heavy troopers entered, followed by Carmen. He looked at every one of them, eleven people packing so much destruction, yet willingly limited in their growth in a show of devotion to Rick. Rick felt incredible pride in his accomplishments and his guile in achieving them and he took a moment to admire himself a bit before sharing his plan.

“This idiot rebellion had gone long enough. It’s time to negotiate terms of surrender with the rebels and I need your help in achieving that” the General started “you will take position in the skyscrapers and unleash destruction on the parts of the city on my command. I leave the decision on what to target to you” he finished. The troopers nodded and saluted before scurrying to take their positions. He then turned to Carmen.

“You have the key role. You are to find Doom himself and deliver the message to him” Rick spoke.

“And what’s the message?” Carmen asked.

“Unconditional surrender of him and everyone else he is working with. Or absolute destruction of the city”

Carmen nodded and quickly disappeared into the night and the General sighed. His endgame was about to begin and he was determined to either save his life or take every one with him to the grave.