John let the moment settle in for his listeners. Of course, he wasn’t just dropping this change on the residence of this new type three city, vague warnings had been given in advance. Not that there was any real damage that could be caused by this rather sudden expansion in living space.

“Over the next few weeks, we will start building projects and get our internal affairs in order,” John told the camera. “If there are people out there that want to live under the rule of law, both the entire code and summary of principles you can find on the page you are on right now,” that being Fusion’s fancy new government page that was running on former Thorne servers, “be assured that we will soon have an immigration office up, please be patient until then.” He racked his brain for something else to say but found nothing, “Last should be said that Fusion is going to enter a defensive pact with the Illuminati in the future,” he felt a bit silly saying that, but that was his life now, “and talks over trade agreements are running with the queen of Rex Germaniae. They best make announcements regarding this themselves, so I leave the floor to Lydia as well as the Ho-“

At that point, the Horned Rat grabbed the currently active camera from above and yanked it around to point at his face. That act shocked more than just the poor woman handling the device but also John who had foolishly expected the ever-unpredictable god to keep to the protocol. Every child or person faint of heart on the globe simultaneously started crying out in shock as the skull-face with the red-flickering eyes filled the entire screen.

“241 days,” the Horned Rat spoke in its echoing voice, deep and squeaky at the same time. Words of power rolled through the air and boomed out of speakers everywhere. “That is the time from now until the defensive pact becomes true. Until then, neither Collide nor Fusion can expect any help from me or my guild.”

John’s eyes went wide, by stating it that bluntly, the god of calamity was basically waving a sign around that said, ‘If you want to murder this threat in the crib, here is the timeframe.’ The Horned Rat looked over with an open-mouthed grin, the fleshy tongue flickering out as he laughed like the true villain of John’s story. A torrent of arcane energy suddenly unloaded and then the camera fell to the ground, the holding god teleported away.

Despite his otherwise perfectly fine broadcast being suddenly derailed into this mess, now that his initial surprise had settled, John could just sigh over the broken piece of equipment. “Well, that’s Richard for you,” he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Guess the Horned Rat won’t be speaking about more then, Lydia, do you want to address the audience?”

“Definitively,” the queen of steel had nerves of the same material and nothing that unusual had just happened. “The HTC and NTC have both authorized me to say that Germany will look into making agreements with the stable market a proper code of law will provide. The NTC already traded with Thorne before today but will be looking forward to increasing its ties with a guild that has the navy to send wares the other way as well. A detailed outline of the contract will be published long before its signing.”

She then went on some more to address not John’s but her own people that were watching. Eventually, the announcement wrapped up without any more unexpected happenings.

____________________________________________________________________

“A dick as always,” John complained, running up and down the living room, as Richard refused to answer any text-messages. Chances were he had teleported directly to their airport and took a flight out, or maybe he had parked a boat nearby and was now cackling away as he cruised through the waves back towards France. Point was, the Horned Rat was guaranteed to enjoy this situation.

Meanwhile, the Gamer was making the mistake of browsing the comment section. “‘LOL, Richard for life! Such a boss!’” he read in a voice that was not fitting for the acronym LOL at all. “‘Man, is Fusion going to be a puppet of the French?’ – How does he even get to that conclusion when he just drew a GIANT target on my back?!” he was tempted to throw his phone like his mouse after being demoted in League of Legends after an insufferable round.

Rave fished his phone out of his hands, tossed it at Beatrice and kissed him on the lips. By the end of that, he was at least calm enough. “Shut it, big boy, this went well enough,” she stated and tapped her slender index finger against the tip of his nose. “Boop, now think about how nothing broke.”

“I find myself agreeing with Jane,” Lydia chimed in, one of the few girls in the room. Metra and Aclysia had left to patrol the city; Nia was officially doing the same, but she was also doing Nia things; Eliza said she wanted to take a shower and then a nap and so on. Point was, it was him, Rave, Lydia and Beatrice, who stood in a corner like a mannequin holding his phone. “Your reaction was also good. If you had looked overwhelmed, that would have made you an easy target of ridicule.”

“Yeah, because I am not right now,” John lamented, gesturing at Beatrice and his phone by proxy.

“Just the usual drivel, to be ignored,” Lydia stated; it was the truth in many ways. “You better wait a few days and then sort by most liked to see what is the actual representation of opinion, rather than read every negative comment as it comes in.”

Grumbling something about allowing Salamander to set the world on fire, he plopped down on the couch. Rave followed the motion and put a hand on his arm, a moment later their fingers interlocked and her warmth flowed into him with a happy fluttering in his stomach. There was just no way to remain angry when these pretty blue eyes were smiling at him.

Also, it wasn’t like he had left the situation worse off than before; he now had three unspent Guild Perks. There had been a third window about him deciding whether he wanted his Guild Hall integrated into the barrier or layered over it. He had chosen the former.

“Alrighty,” Rave noticed her boyfriend’s improved mood and rested her pink head on his shoulder, snuggling right up to him. Always more conservative with her demeanour, Lydia was satisfied just sitting close enough that their legs touched as she sipped her tea. “What now?”

“Now I have several things I should do,” John began listing them. “I should try to get an SEP, Gnome is at her maximum skill level so I can evolve her. I also should be grinding and getting some more levels, it’s only going to get more dangerous from here on out. I am also thinking about whether or not I should spend some GP to boost my AS skill level.”

“You should also think about having intercourse with me again,” Lydia advised.

“Again?” John asked, blinking at the usually more reserved member of his harem. More reserved meaning that she was fine with sex every other day instead of everyday or every other hour. “You must have really missed me.”

“I did,” the queen freely admitted, refilling her cup of tea. “It also doesn’t help that this room positively exudes the fact that there isn’t a single piece of furniture you haven’t molested during sex.”

“What about the TV?” Rave suggested.

“Uhm,” John chimed in, “Remember that one time we put a lesbian porno on out of boredom and the redhead really got us going so we went doggystyle against the screen?”

“Ah, right,” the Lightbearer did recall that. “Okay, I got nothing then.”

“And what of the things you should do are you going to do now?” Lydia kept the conversation flowing.

“Dunno,” he slurred his answer. “You know that feeling when you know you should do something, anything really, but you are just so damn comfortable?” He put his arm around Rave’s shoulder and pulled her even closer, if that was possible. “That’s how I am feeling right now.”

“You are procrastinating,” Lydia used the common word for it and made it sound like a disgusting disease. She acted the way too, slapping his left leg with a small whip she quickly formed from the Ferforitum rapier she had left lying nearby. “Such conduct is disgraceful, particularly for a leader. You can relax next week. Currently you have to work, pick something to do.”

“Alright, alright,” John mewled and opened his character sheet.

Nothing of great change there, he hadn’t even achieved a level in the last days because he hadn’t really taken the time to grind it out. He could probably convince Magoi to accompany him for a ten-day Saturday tomorrow in order to give him a much-needed boost, but otherwise it was only his skills that were rising.

The one he was currently interested in checking was Artificial Spirit. At 19, there was not a whole lot he could do there. Or was there?

“Huh, that’s convenient,” John spoke out loud and immediately tapped 100 Skill Levels for 500. Sure, that took exactly all GP from him, but that skill levelled so slowly nowadays (no wonder at the second reset) that it felt perfectly worth.

Well, and there was his fun ruined. How bad was the nerf?

Well, not that bad.

“What’s convenient?” Rave asked, squinting her almond shaped eyes as if that would help her see the window the hundredth time around. “Talk to me or I am going to poke ya in the ribs until ya do.”

“I was thinking about whether or not I should invest some GP for some immediate gain, particularly by buying skill levels for Artificial Spirit,” John answered her. “Gaia or whatever randomizer she uses for the store decided to reduce the cost of getting 100 to exactly how many GP I had.”

“Huh, that IS convenient,” Rave agreed. “Think she feels bad for all the mud she is dragging ya through?”

“I highly doubt it,” John shook his head. “I doubt she feels much for me to be honest, aside from maybe using me as a reality TV show and that one time as a tool to get off.”

Lydia almost mockingly raised an eyebrow. “You are lucky then she needs entertainment enough to continuously empower you,” she commented. “Albeit I agree that you can’t expect her to save you.”

John just nodded and went on with his business. Step one was to raise Artificial Spirit all the way to 100. There was an argument to be made to invest these points into his elementals instead, particularly Siena and Sylph who were Tier 3, but as far as John was concerned powering up Aclysia and simultaneously getting an opportunity to give Beatrice some abilities would be worth more bang for the buck.

That investment took 81 of the 100 points he had. After a moment of thinking, he spent 11 of the 19 remaining points on Tempest Elemental Summoning, pushing it to 95, and the rest on Nightmare Elemental Summoning, making it reach level 69. He could show at least some love to his elementals. As to why he didn’t push Sylph right to 100, he didn’t even have the Skill Evolution Point for Gnome right now, so he assumed she would naturally reach that level in time. “If you get the chance, will you create another one of us?” Beatrice asked from the sidelines.

“No,” John answered pretty much immediately, for the same reason as usual. His harem was currently integrating two new members, the asking Artificial Spirit herself as well as Scarlett, and after the disaster that was his creation of the passive maid, he really didn’t feel like making another one right now. “Anyway, Aclysia isn’t here right now, so I am starting with you, Beatrice,’ he told the people in the room, nevertheless reaching out to his first creation. ‘Are you currently preoccupied?’ he asked, along with a rush of information as to what he had just done to get right to the topic. He wanted her to return as soon as possible.

‘Yes, but not in a meaningful way,’ Aclysia answered, sending back what she was currently seeing. It was the quickly bleeding out form of a suited man, his knuckles hidden under iron. Probably some sort of bodyguard.

John’s primary reason for creating a type three barrier had been the utility of a vast area that could actually be patrolled. It was much easier to find criminal hideouts in a neighbourhood than it was to find dimensional pockets that were invisible and could contain either criminals or a harmless pool club. The fact that it was prestigious and that it allowed wares to flow within the magical economy without the costly (and very risky) act of shipping them through real world traffic was nice, but secondary if he was honest.

Aclysia must have stumbled over someone’s hideout, but being the same level as her master meant she had no problems rooting them out by herself. John reminded himself what her current Stats looked like.

Quite Strength focused, as she still wasn’t able to wield Marath properly. Once she was able to swing that oversized utility knife around with ease, John would increase her Endurance. They had also dipped into Charisma for a little bit due to Aclysia’s increased public work.

‘He ambushed me and I prioritized safety of myself over his life in prison. I hope that course of action meets your approval?’

‘Approval is a strong word,’ John didn’t like killing people, even if he wasn’t the one wielding the weapon that ultimately did it, ‘but I understand that logic. I would still prefer it if you could make prisoners whenever it seems feasible.’

‘I understand, I will try to keep my responses in the frame of non-lethality,’ Aclysia answered, her sight moving on after finishing the ambusher off by unceremoniously ramming Eclys through his neck. Having nothing to say about that, John had seen the wound on the man’s chest and knew that his weaponized maid had spared the criminal the process of a slow death, the Gamer left her mind with a request for her to return.

To use up the points accumulated by the skill’s levelling, John needed to use Create (formerly Enchant) on the physical form of the girl in front of him. Thus, bestowing the perks on them over a range was impossible, even if it came without any flashy visual effects.