It took some convincing, but Chris managed to get Jo and Dichonius to get him in contact with a few of the more influential members of the two groups infiltrating the City. In particular, one of the ones who'd apparently figured out his identity, and instead of immediately reporting to the King warned Jo, an Elf named Tri'lotur. "Please, just call me Trent." Tri'lotur grinned, gesturing for Chris to take a seat. The man was actually one of the Captains in the Scouts, and they were meeting in his office. "I know how tricky Elven names can be for those who aren't used to them."

"You should try to pronounce a kobold name sometime." Chris shook his head. "It's all clicks and coughs that sound exactly the freaking same!"

Tri'lotur, Trent, blinked. "I'll have to take your word on that… I've never had an occasion to actually converse with a kobold."

"Not many do, considering we all attack each other on sight." Chris shrugged. "But I'm not here to discuss the ethics of treating sapient creatures as pests to be exterminated." He paused. "Or am I? I mean, that is essentially the ideology being brought against the Doppelgangers, isn't it?"

Trent shook his head. "Please, you don't need to tell me that the Doppelgangers are just as deserving of life as any other being on Azza. Do you really think Dichonius and Jo are the only ones to make friends on the other side? Though they are definitely the only ones who went so far with it…" He trailed off, before shaking his head again. "No, we've all been stuck down here long enough to realize this war is pointless. I don't think we've even had a death between us in the past decade… though I'm sure your parents are partially to blame for that. Looking back, it's obvious they've been feeding each other information to keep both sides out of each other's way." He chuckled. "No, I am aware that the Doppelgangers simply wish to live, and we… we're stuck here due to an overbearing ruler who can't stand anyone even glancing at him funny. We have no cause to create any more misery for ourselves than we have to."

Chris blinked. "Huh… Well, that's good then. Man, I even had a whole argument prepared…"

Trent grinned. "I'm sure you did. No, my problem is not with the Doppelgangers." Trent's expression suddenly turned serious as he leaned forward over his desk. "It's with you."

Chris cocked his head. "With me?"

Trent sighed, leaning back in his chair again. "You represent change. Imbalance. Upheaval. The King won't- can't leave you be. You would be a constant threat to his power. Yet, if you capitulate… the things your ability would allow the King to do are not things I can let be." Trent frowned. "I was happy with the status quo. The Elves and the Doppelgangers essentially left each other alone. We all lived in the City, arguably one of the nicest places to live on the planet, though I do sometimes miss sitting under an awning during a good thunderstorm." Trent trailed off wistfully. "But now that you exist…" Trent shook his head. "We had peace. We had freedom, even if it was in exile. We were slowly nudging humanity back towards the path of power, showing them how to grow… it would have taken decades, possibly centuries, but eventually they would have been able to stand as equals among the surface races, as their own people. But now… either way, humanity will be crushed between you and the King, whether you're on his side or against him."

Chris silently stared at Trent for a moment, before simply shrugging. "Sorry my existence is such an issue for you. Not much I can do about it, I'm afraid."

"You could leave." Trent growled in frustration, even though he knew it wasn't a real option. "Just- fuck off, and take this entire mess somewhere else! The King doesn't care about the City, he cares about you! If you're gone, things can just… go back to normal."

Chris considered that for a moment, before shaking his head. "I don't think so. Even if I leave, he'll see the City as something to use against me. He'll hold it hostage, so I have to do what he says. Or at least, he'll think I'll have to do what he says… I still probably won't. Which doesn't end any better for the City."

Trent let out a groan, rubbing his temple. "I know, I know. This- stupid politics I thought I'd escaped, just backstabbing and blackmail that doesn't even do anything except hurt the little guy trapped underneath it all!" He paused to glare at Chris for a moment, before sighing and shaking his head. "Why couldn't Jo have just kept it in her fucking pants?"

"Eh? I mean, thinking about it, the odds of me being powerful were pretty slim to begin with." Chris shrugged. "Born human, so I'm physically weak and the amount of ability energy I should have been able to absorb would at most put me at high-tier, which the King would laugh at. The only reason I'm even a problem is that my ability got weird, which no one could have really expected. Didn't expect. Straight up thought I was abilityless until I died in the Maze. The circumstances that existed weren't designed to create someone powerful… They just wanted a family. Can you really fault them for that?"

Trent's expression twisted. "I suppose I can't. But it doesn't change that it led to the circumstances we find ourselves in. Or give us any way to handle them."

"True. I'm just saying blaming them is kinda shitty. Sometimes life just fucks you over, and it isn't really anyone's fault, just… bad luck." Chris shrugged. It was a realization he'd had a long time ago, when he had the urge to blame someone for his lack of an ability, and found no one. "But let's be honest, the situation isn't all bad. The fact is, I am powerful. Arguably unnecessarily so. Which means… Well, there's a reason the King fears me, right? Or at least, I assume there is… if I'm being honest, I don't have a firm grasp on what the whole deal is, or why it's important that I have royal blood… beyond, you know, legality."

"You don't- why would Jo not-" Trent began, before shaking his head. "I will never understand that woman." He grumbled, before focusing on Chris. "It's because only those with royal blood can control the Blood Bow."

"The Blood Bow?" Chris asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. He was hearing a lot of stupid names recently.

"It is also called the Bow of the Elven King, but only ceremonially. The bow was created by the First King to solidify his legacy, tied to him and his line by blood. The bow is unique in that every time it is used, it grows stronger, feeding off the ability and life force of its wielder. By now, it is powerful enough that even a full grown Dragon would fear its might. However, every shot takes a portion of its wielder's life, depending on the amount of power used." Trent explained.

"Gross." Chris commented. Pretty much a bow of kill anything, but kill yourself in the process.

Trent snorted. "View the bow how you will, but it has allowed our kingdom to remain in power for centuries, allowing us to fend off the savage beasts that wish to eradicate us all. We did not choose to hide like the humans, we found a way to fight back!"

"Good for you." Chris nodded. "But still, gross."

Trent scowled at him. "Are you taking this seriously or not?!?"

"Oh, very serious." Chris replied. "There's a special bow that makes you King, and only people with the special blood can use it. I have the special blood, which means I can be King. Simple. Except for the part where I can threaten a man with the special bow, since the special bow apparently lets him kill whoever he wants, as long as he's willing to pay the price. Which I assume he would be, based on everything I've learned about the man."

"The spec- the Blood Bow cannot be used against anyone with royal blood." Trent explained. "Therefore, only those with royal blood can challenge the King."

Chris frowned. "How is something like that even possible?"

Trent shrugged. "The ability of the First King was unique, much like your own. He could control blood not only as a substance, but as a metaphysical concept. He created the bow from his own bones and sinew, making his blood, the concept of his lineage and life, its power source, infusing half his lifespan into its creation."

"Have I mentioned that this is all gross yet? Because gross." Chris commented again, his expression twisting. Who in their right mind would make a weapon out of body parts? Not to mention their own body parts. Just… gross. He didn't really want to be King before, but now he wanted to avoid it just so he wouldn't have to touch this thing. Which made it oh so much worse when he remembered he was going to have to touch this thing. Because Uncle Jer-Jer was a dick. He wondered if it had anything to do with constantly carrying around a weapon made from his ancestor's corpse… that'd mess anyone up. "Poor Uncle Jer-Jer."

Trent blinked at him a few times, wondering where that had come from, before ultimately deciding he probably didn't want to know. "Uh, yeah… as long as you claim the Blood Bow, you will be King."

"Super gross, but whatever." Chris sighed. You gotta do what you gotta do. "So, the King is going to come after me to keep me from going after him, because I'm immune to his mcguffin, which means I can challenge his authority. The question is what to do about it, because just whining and wishing it isn't going to happen isn't going to help anyone, right?"

"True…" Trent agreed a bit unwillingly.

Chris sat back thinking out loud as he considered the issue. "The obvious problem is that in its current state, the City can't stand up against the Elves. Period. If we try, we're gonna get wrecked. So we need a way to either avoid that, or make the City stronger… throwing everyone into my world is an option, but not a good or permanent one. I don't know enough about how abilities work, so anyone born in there will probably be abilityless, which isn't going to help our situation at all. It would keep everyone safe though, so… maybe. But only as an emergency measure. We should have enough warning since the Maze is, well, a maze. It isn't easy to get around in there."

Trent nodded along slowly. As an emergency option, Chris's world was a great fall back. Though the idea of getting stuck in there did make him hesitant.

"So we have that, but we don't want to rely on it, which brings us back to getting stronger… there isn't much we can do on that front for the humans, at least not quickly, but I believe we do have forces that could face the Elves, if they were willing to step up, and if we could find a way for humanity to accept them." Chris continued, glancing at Trent, who gave him a curious look. "The Elves. And the Doppelgangers." Chris had finally found a way to get to his true goal. He obviously couldn't just come out and talk about a future based on a game in a different world. He'd either sound crazy or risk Trent telling the Elf King about Earth, which he predicted would end… poorly. Admittedly, the conversation had gotten a little rambly, but hey, they'd gotten there eventually, right?

"Us and the Doppelgangers?" Trent asked skeptically.

"You said yourself that the City is just as much your home as anyone else's." Chris pointed out. "Why not help defend it? You're strong enough, aren't you?"

Trent shook his head. "To face some foot soldiers, absolutely. Particularly in the Maze where we can take advantage of our familiarity with the terrain and the teleporters. But do you really think the King will stop at simple foot soldiers? No, he will send cultivators after you!"

"Eventually, maybe, but surely not immediately. To go grab a kid with an admittedly unique but not particularly powerful ability? From the City?" Chris raised an eyebrow. "No, they're just going to send some soldiers to grab me. Hell, they'll probably tell you to grab me first. Which means we can delay. Which means we have time. And we can take advantage of that, because if there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that if you give me enough time, I can become terrifying. Enough that this Elf King won't be a problem anymore."

Trent frowned. "I feel like you're contradicting yourself… are you not so powerful? Or are you terrifying? It can't be both."

"It's about perception." Chris replied. "Or as I like to call it, 'managing expectations'. What the King needs to see in me is unrealized potential. Currently I'm working with a bunch of low to mid-tiers and simply boosting their physiques. The Elves already have boosted physiques and people much stronger than mid-tier. What does he have to worry about? With the Maze, at best I'll get some high-tiers with boosted physiques, which won't be easy to deal with, but they aren't a huge concern for him. No, what he'd be worried about is me escaping the Maze and going for superior and omega-tiers, which would actually be a threat to him. In fact, given the fact that I can dominate people using my world, he'll probably do everything he can to avoid sending those with powerful abilities my way, because of the chance that they'll be turned against him. His focus will be sending those physically strong but ability weak."

Trent nodded slowly, before frowning. "But… isn't all that simply true? You can't find superior or omega-tier abilities in the Maze."

"True." Chris nodded.

Trent continued to stare at him for a moment, before getting a little frustrated. "Well? If that's the case, then you aren't 'managing expectations', those are just the expectations! It'd mean we're still screwed!"

Chris clicked his tongue. "Man, you can be so pessimistic. Look, who did I say we needed to work with?"

Trent frowned. "The humans?"

Chris rolled his eyes. "And?"

"The Doppelgangers?" Trent raised an eyebrow at him. "You realize they're in the same position as us, right? They may have made the City their home, but it isn't a place where the powerful reside. You won't be finding any superior or omega-tier abilities among them either."

Chris sighed, shaking his head. "You're just not seeing the full picture. You're falling into the same trap that the King will, seeing my ability as simply a way to make soldiers unkillable. It's certainly a feature, and a good one, don't get me wrong, but I wouldn't say that's where its true strength lies. No, the true power of my ability lies in its ability to gather resources."

Trent's frown deepened. "I'm not following."

"Okay, look, what do Doppelgangers do?" Chris asked, leaning forward.

"Transform?" He replied hesitantly, feeling weird. Why the fuck did he feel like he was being tested? And fucking failing, at that!

"Eh? It's more about the mutation." Chris explained. "When they mutate, they develop, absorbing ability energy, allowing them to make their ability stronger, yes?"

Trent nodded slowly. This was common knowledge, and one of the reasons Doppelgangers tended to be stronger than average, though it was still hard to reach the peak due to the exponential increase in the amount of ability energy required. It took ten low-tiers worth of energy to make a mid-tier, ten mid-tiers to make a high-tier, ten high-tiers to make a superior-tier, and ten superior-tiers to make an omega-tier. Finding that much energy to absorb was a challenge of its own, let alone being in a position to actually do so once you did.

"But of course, the problem is actually finding and condensing the energy they need to absorb. Even ability cores only release so much energy at once, and containing it is difficult. Unless you shove them into an airtight metal container with a couple thousand ability cores, it isn't really going to help." Chris continued, echoing his thoughts. "However, once I connect an ability core to my world, all that energy is mine to control. Once they start to mutate, I can just flood the area with energy, and keep it there. Which means-"

"You can make cultivators!" Trent exclaimed excitedly.

Chris blinked. "I was thinking omega-tiers, but sure, I guess? They'd still need to get to the physical peak though."

Trent waved his hand dismissively. "Reaching the physical peak is easy for Doppelgangers. Well, not easy, but not all that difficult. They simply need to make sure they don't rush their mutations and they're pretty much golden. As long as they have enough energy…" Trent nodded slowly. "This- this could work."

Chris grinned. "I'm glad you agree. There's just one issue… if we're going to pull this off, the City needs to be united. The secret war between the Elves and the Doppelgangers needs to stop. Both the war and the secret. The humans need to know you exist, and that you're all on their side. Otherwise they can be turned against you and make this entire thing pointless."

Trent frowned. "That… might be tricky. Humans can be a bit… xenophobic. They may be able to accept the Elves, since we're largely similar in form, but the Doppelgangers… they're pretty much straight out of a horror movie."

Chris paused. He had seen a horror movie about a group of people trapped behind a cave-in as they slowly disappeared one by one until the monstrous shapeshifter was revealed… "I suppose that could make things difficult, but which is worse, the scary monsters coming out and saying 'hi, we're friendly' or someone suddenly revealing that a significant portion of your population are scary monsters?"

Trent paused for a moment. "I see your point… though, I'm not the one you'll have to convince. If you want to make this happen… you'll need to talk to the Doppelgangers themselves."

"I plan to." Chris agreed. "I just want to make sure I have your support when I do."

Trent gave him an evaluating look, before shaking his head and chuckling slightly. "Long live the revolution."

Chris had a few more similar, if a bit more streamlined, conversations with other significant figures from both sides. He probably should have actually planned out what he was going to say before going in to talk to Trent, but honestly it just felt like too much work. The idea of trying to predict what the other person would say and how to respond to direct the conversation where he wanted it to go… Chris shook his head. Not his style, plus he was pretty sure what he thought people should say wasn't what people would actually say. He couldn't have predicted half the shit Trent had come up with… particularly not all that crap about the Blood Bow. Would have completely thrown him off. Nah, better to just wing it. He knew what he wanted to talk about, and if it really came down to it, he'd just say it and fuck the consequences. However, for this night, he did have a plan. Well, kinda.

"What's this?" Beth asked, studying the… town? Chris had created in his world. Beth looked around, confused. She recognized several of Chris's subordinates wandering around, doing various tasks, but there were also a few people there too, interacting with the Maze creatures as if it was normal. "So, as it turns out, I can't really heal genetic issues." Chris began to explain. "I can heal the effects, but not the underlying cause, so in order to keep those with such conditions healthy, they need to stay in my world. And since that was the case, I thought, why not make something actually livable then? Let people have jobs, like the baker, or the tailor, or- well, the doctor is going to need to find something new to do, but here, people can do whatever they want, whatever makes them happy." Chris had been somewhat surprised to learn that Dr. Jenkins was dealing with his own illness as well, though it did make his connection with the Immortal World a bit more understandable. "Plus it gives my subordinates a way to slowly get used to interacting with people, which will let me give them a bit more freedom. And it's something to do when they aren't exploring the Maze."

Beth nodded slowly. "Okay… but why are we here?" When he'd offered to take her out for the night, this wasn't what she'd been expecting.

"Well, it turns out that Alexander's mom is an excellent cook, so we're eating in her tavern tonight." Chris grinned, grabbing her hand and leading her down the road towards the tavern.

Beth took the chance to look around the town a bit more as they walked. Chris had added grass and trees to his world, giving the town a comforting sense of nature, which somewhat clashed with the rigid order of the town's layout, which ensured everything was perfectly symmetrical, including the nature. Beth grinned slightly at that, squeezing Chris's hand. The man probably had no idea how off-putting the unnatural order would be, and he was obviously trying to make the town welcoming. He just liked symmetry.

The town wasn't very big, considering it only had around a hundred people living in it, so the walk to the tavern didn't take all that long. A server, which Beth was ninety percent certain was one of the kobold women, quickly approached them and flashed them a smile (sharp teeth, definitely a kobold) before leading them to a table. "What can I get you started with?" She asked politely, though Beth frowned a bit as she noticed her focus was on Chris.

"You should try the root beer." Chris commented, immediately focusing on her which made her smile. "It's from Earth, and it's delicious. Honestly, a lot of their food products are just better than ours… probably because they have access to more ingredients. Which reminds me…" He turned to the server with a serious expression. "We're going to need an order of the cheese bites. A large one. With that blue cheese dipping sauce."

"And two root beers." Beth added, shaking her head as the server left to get their order started. "That sounds like a lot of cheese."

Chris gave her a look, leaning forward. "Beth, you need to know, the City has been doing cheese- it's been doing dairy wrong, and it is a travesty. That crumbly, chalky shit? Absolutely heresy compared to what we're about to get. I'm also going to have to introduce you to ice cream."

Beth raised an eyebrow at him skeptically. How big a difference could there be? Maybe Chris would find it special, but she'd been raised on the upper-levels, with access to the finest foods. She didn't think Earth could beat them by that much. And she was wrong. She was oh, so, wrong! "This is bullshit." She grumbled as they walked out of the little town, in-between licks of her ice cream cone.

Chris chuckled. "That's like the fourth time you've said that."

"Because it's true!" Beth exclaimed. "City food is garbage compared to this! I won't- I can't go back!" She turned to give him a deadly serious look. "You're going to provide all my food from now on. All of it!"

"Hey now, slow down." Chris shook his head. "The City isn't all bad. Admittedly Earth has better sauces and whatnot, but base level our meat is just at another level compared to theirs. I'd choose a City steak over an Earth steak any day."

"I've had the best City steaks and I'd trade all of them for more of this." Beth retorted, waving the ice cream cone at him.

Chris chuckled again. "Well, good thing you don't have to choose. Cause here, we can have both."

"Which is why you're providing all my food from now on." Beth nodded.

Chris paused. "Huh… walked right into that one, didn't I?"

"Yup." Beth grinned, before finishing her cone. "Now quick, make me another!" Chris just shook his head as another cone appeared in his hand, which he handed to Beth. Beth hummed happily, immediately getting started on the new cone, leaning closer to Chris as they walked. Chris led them down a small path out of the town, rounding a small hill and coming upon a lake with a willow tree on the bank. Chris went straight for the trees, pulling aside the leaves to reveal a bench looking out over the water, the willow leaves perfectly parted to provide a stunning view of the horizon as the sun was setting. "Wow." Beth muttered as they sat down. "I know you made this, but still… wow."

Chris grinned. "I thought you'd like it." He had no love for giant balls of fire floating in space, but for Beth, he could put up with it.

Beth snuggled closer to him, happily watching as the sun dipped lower and lower towards the horizon. Then, as the stars came out, she froze, her eyes widening. Clearly written in the stars was a simple question: Beth, will you marry me? She quickly turned to look at Chris, finding him staring at her with a small smile, holding a ring. "Chris, you- this is your proposal?!?" She asked incredulously.

Chris hesitated, a nervous glint appearing in his eyes. "I- yes? Do you not like it?" He'd put together some of the best moments they'd had together… the willow, the bench, the lake, the sunset. He'd thought it'd be romantic. His whirling thoughts were suddenly interrupted as Beth jumped into his lap, kissing him passionately.

"I love it! I love you!" She exclaimed as she pulled away slightly, staring deep into his eyes. She couldn't believe he'd actually done something this romantic! Everytime she thought she knew the man… her smile widened as she leaned in to kiss him again.

"So, is that a yes?" Chris asked with a slight grin as she pulled away again.

"Of course it's a yes!" Beth rolled her eyes, smacking him lightly. "I was always going to say yes." She continued softly, sliding off his lap to sit next to him again, cuddling close. "I love you. I want to be with you for as long as I can."

Chris chuckled, taking her hand and carefully sliding the ring on. "That might be a bigger promise than you might think. You know, some of the people I healed were pretty old, but after…"

Beth blinked. No wonder everyone in the town looked like they were in their twenties… "For as long as I can." Beth repeated, smiling wide.

Chris smiled back, before getting to his feet. "Come on, I have one more thing to show you." He led her out the other side of the willow, revealing a small house that had been hidden before. "What do you think?" Chris asked as he took her inside. "I tried to make it seem coz-" He cut off as Beth tackled him, pushing him back onto a nearby couch, kissing him again.

"This is perfect." She replied, her mouth actually starting to hurt from all the smiling she'd been doing. Suddenly, a light call came from the floor as a tiny creature padded its way over to her, purring lightly as it began to rub up next to the couch, looking up at her expectantly.

"Oh, yeah, I went back and got you the cat." Chris commented with a small shrug, before Beth dived in for another kiss. She absolutely loved this man!