Amelioration, p.8
Amelioration, page 8
“Is that what you want me to do?” asked Xeal. “Marry Austru and create a world for just us over there?”
“I am not sure about Austru as it will likely be a long time before you will have full control like that and if you fall short, you will never see her again. That said, I know you and it would also create another level of motivation for you, as well as ensure that you have someone with your best interests at heart handling things when you aren’t there.”
“Great. Let’s just put that under consideration after I survive the first two, or three, rounds of eliminations. Besides Taya needing to be there and here, what else do you have to discuss before we start making our moves?”
Kate just smiled as she launched into a list of issues that she had with the current situation. These ranged from the issues with possible rebellions and his inability to be there enough. The makeup of the 100 players was also a major pain for her, as with the world only having ever had tier-6 and below entities in it, she was worried about players stagnating if they stayed too long. On the other hand, it made no sense to have players constantly changing out, outside the aid of the phoenixes’ marked as they came in to handle special jobs as needed.
“Alright, it sounds like we are going to need to just deal with most of those. That said, what do you think of putting Vento in charge of the players that will be there for the long haul?” asked Xeal.
“Hmm, that actually makes sense, though that hinges on him accepting after he turned you down once before.”
“Just let me worry about that as you get everything else in order so that I can drop them off when we log back in.”
“Alright and I will discuss the Austru issue with the others, though perhaps Vento could be of use. After all, she is a sylph and Vento loves his wind puns.”
“Right, if she doesn’t feel insulted by his very presence,” retorted Xeal. “I will likely need to keep them apart if she takes issue with him.”
“Or sell tickets and just watch him get blown away by the very wind he is always talking about,” quipped Kate.
“Ha, ha, very funny.”
Xeal just returned the smile Kate gave him as he messaged Vento, before getting to work on guild business. This included going over the reports from the struggle against the mist demon and vampires at the start of the session. As he looked over it, Xeal sighed as it looked like at least 30 noble-blooded vampires had been killed and even by the conservative estimates, that would mean 100 new noble-blooded vampires would have been created. Additionally, over 200 FAE players had been killed between the struggle and the pursuit that followed, and it was clear that it would be naive to not expect the same tactic to occur each time they moved to seal a well. Though with 17 in captivity and once he added the shards that had been recovered, bringing his total to 861 out of 2048, the vampires were starting to run out of numbers. Still, with 1170 vampires left and Taya’s butterfly exposed, Xeal would need to make new plans for how to handle the situation as they wouldn’t be as easy to handle next time.
Xeal moved onto his other work as he read up on how the new recruits were doing, both those who paid for a slot and the few hundred thousand that had been added when FAE had reached level 44. Once more this had involved a mass injection of tier-1 to tier-4 players who had passed the skill tests that were constantly having their standards lowered. Had it not been for a few dozen guilds folding since FAE’s last recruitment, Xeal doubted they would have even gotten the roughly 40,000 tier-5 players that showed some promise. Though absorbing these loose pieces also came with issues, as many of them wanted to move right into a leadership position, especially as all leaders got performance bonuses. Even those at the bottom of the ranks that were unpaid and only had ten players who they kept track of, could earn a few hundred credits a month easily. Xeal felt bad for Catriona, Ihyi, Leaena, Asa, Felicius, Saima and Lily, who had all been tasked to handle this mess as part of their vice guild leader training under Taya. Though Caleb had it far worse as he tried to keep the entitled players that had bought their way in, on the right path. Even so, it looked like 100 of them were actually ahead of schedule and only around 300 were really making things hard. Xeal was just thinking about how to adjust things when he heard a knock as Vento arrived. Once Xeal had greeted him and they were seated Vento spoke.
“What has the wind blown my way today, guild leader?”
“Vento, just Xeal is fine. Besides, you should know about why I called you in.”
“I am sorry, but I do not as I have heard neither a whisper nor a howl on the wind.”
“Right, I am asking you to make good on your promise and step into a role just below being a vice guild leader.”
Xeal could see Vento start to get nervous and it bled into his voice as he responded.
“Alright. Umm, just what are you assigning me?”
“I am in the middle of a rather unique and special quest that will allow me to take a team of around 100 with me into another world. However, I am only able to spend a very limited amount of time there, while those I lead can remain even when I am not present.”
“I see, you wish me to ensure that the wind stays in your sails while you are away by leading this team.”
“Exactly, though I must warn you that it may grow up to 3,200 total if I am successful and you will all need to adapt to that world in a few ways.”
“The winds of change are not something to fear as they come for us all,” replied Vento, looking relieved.
“I take it you were worried about any leadership role I was going to offer you.”
“Yes, well, you can be a bit of a whirlwind at times, but 100 to start and no more than 3,200 sounds perfect to me, as I simply fear dealing with tens of thousands, or more.”
Xeal just smiled as he made up the contract and secured Vento’s signature, before heading to his home in the capital to get a nap in before his forced logout.
(*****)
Evening September 13 to Morning September 20, 2267 & ED Year 4 Days 177-197.
Time continued to pass by in reality as Alex held to his routine and found every excuse he could to get time alone with his ladies. On Sunday this became easier as with Dan, Amanda, Fred, Anna, Jessica and his dad all heading to California for the week, the house quieted down considerably. At least outside of the nursery. That room was still full of the sounds of babies, from the bits of babble that all of the little ones were working on to the crying they all could do perfectly. Still, Alex found himself enjoying the extra time he had with that week’s evening game nights, allowing him to play with mostly just his ladies. Though not all at once as Tara, Henry and Jessica needed at least one for most of the games they were playing as well. However, this also meant that Alex rarely won as between the looks Ava and Mia would give him and the skill Kate displayed at any game, he just couldn’t come out ahead.
While time in reality felt relaxed, the same could not be said for in ED as Xeal felt like he was playing Taxi as he transferred players back and forth several times. This had included all of those marked by the phoenixes, as well as Gale, Luna and Selene as they all tried out their abilities in the new world, though only Taya, Arnhylde and Lucida spent any significant amount of time there. The report they had submitted had concluded that only Taya was needed once Xeal removed the taint from the land and that she could only do so much due to the drop in stats she experienced. Still, it looked like she would be able to alleviate the food supply issue, at least partially, as she couldn’t tend the revived fields and few farmers wished to return to the fields with the stronger demonic monsters around. That was where the 86 players that Vento was leading came in, as they were focused on getting used to their new skills that had been provided by King Silas. This had essentially emptied the city of their best skill books and had it not been for the fact that Vento was leading his team to bring back meat every day, it would have been unsustainable.
While everyone else focused on stabilizing the area around Mauvers, Xeal was focused on expanding his dominion over the land as he managed to complete about a 120-mile square. This opened up around 14,400 square-miles of usable land, which was only around 3.3% of his dominion’s max size currently. However, it was more than enough to stabilize the current food situation as he made plans to switch to pathfinder mode and explore the situation in the other populated areas around Mauvers. This included several other kingdoms in the region that had once been full of city-state style settlements that all vied for dominance.
Meanwhile, in the main ED world, Xeal remained focused on his time in the Vault of Ucnuc with his party, though with Taya missing they found that things were noticeably harder. While she had only been able to do so in a limited amount, between her and her butterfly she had become a major control element of their battle formation. While they were still able to keep up with the enemies and were able to gain levels without issue, it was clear that they would have issues sealing the next floor where the next vampire attack was likely. Still, Xeal was happy to see his level climb to 152 as he started to do the math on when he thought they would be able to seal the final well on floor 150.
Finally, Xeal found himself spending a fair bit of his time on relationship maintenance during this time in ED, as first he found himself visiting the Muthia Empire for dinner on Mari’s birthday. Needless to say that Empress Sakurai Jingū was more than happy to hold Maki for the majority of this time as she cooed over her granddaughter. Mari had just smiled and deflected when her mother had asked when she could expect number two, as despite Xeal and Mari both telling her that it would likely wait until she had reached tier-7, she kept asking. Finally they had returned to Hardt Burgh and enjoyed a second dinner and party alone, as thanks to the time difference they had plenty of time to do so.
After that though, Xeal had to deal with the meeting regarding Austru that was held after Gale, Aalin, Luna, Selene and Kate had all taken a fair bit of time to get to know the sylph who was always standing by when Xeal returned to Mauvers. Kate took the lead on directing the discussion, which to Xeal felt more like a rehearsed debate, where all of the women had already made up their minds on how to proceed. Xeal found this pointless as he interrupted Kate after about three minutes had gone by.
“Kate, you and I both know that the ten of you have already come to a decision after speaking with Aila. Now, please just let me know what you have all decided as I would much rather simply enjoy the time that I have with all of you.”
“Oh and listening to us explain our reasoning isn’t enjoyable?” Enye mock pouted.
“Not when I can infer that you will either say no due to the inability to meet her, or maybe as you have me act as a carrier for the letters you intend to exchange with her to try and get to know her,” replied Xeal. “Besides, it is too soon to even consider seeing her as anything but a lady who wishes to get to know me better as things currently stand.”
“Oh, she definitely wants to get to know you better,” commented Gale. “You’re just lucky that she knows better than to try a few of the more direct approaches and respects that you have others who came first.”
“Yeah, she is nice,” added Luna.
“Unlike us, she won’t tease you until you give in,” cooed Selene.
“That is why we have decided to simply have Enye, Mari, Lingxin, Dyllis, Eira and Aila all send letters,” announced Kate. “It will be made clear that she will have no meaningful time with you until you are able to spend an hour and a half in her world each day, but we also know that you are fond of her already. You can thank the main system’s AI for that bit of information, as well as a few other tidbits that it shared with me.”
“Great. I thought the main system’s AI was going to ease off on adding women to my life,” complained Xeal.
“Oh, it is. One of the things it warned me of is to make sure that we not overload you too much,” commented Kate. “Considering that I was already prepping for when you inevitably went past your limit of 19, you should thank it for convincing me to do my best to make sure that you don’t reach 19, at least anytime soon. Though I didn’t enjoy it playing around with me so easily. As Jinx put it, the chances of winning an argument against it seems impossible.”
“Luckily, Xeal has no intention of giving it what it really wants,” interjected Aalin.
“Oh and what does it want?” asked Dyllis.
“Me to only exist in this reality,” replied Xeal. “Which is something that I might accept in another 180 to 240 years here, but I have too many reasons to live in both realities to accept that now.”
“Xeal, if I correctly understand the entity that you call the main system’s AI, isn’t it the most powerful thing in our reality?” asked Dyllis.
“It’s not,” replied Kate. “It is held in check by many layers of oversight, both from other AIs and some of our kind that are responsible for ensuring that nothing gets too far out of hand.”
“Still, it can be considered the most influential as it decides on what is a quest and what isn’t, as well as many other things that can have a major impact on our kind,” added Xeal. “But, it is cut off from all life in this world and only holds onto a few connections in the quest world, limiting its ability to actually act against anyone.”
“Unlike the gods, who have much more limited access to us, but have powerful bodies that could destroy any of us if they wished,” commented Gale. “Though luckily for everyone, they are all focused on keeping the even more powerful primordials at bay.”
“Like Bīng, as you call her,” interjected Lingxin. “I know from the few stories that have been passed down about her that even stepping into her prison can freeze anyone solid. It’s why everything we gave her for comfort had to be enchanted by our best crafters to withstand the cold as much as possible.”
“Yah, replacing it was expensive as well,” added Aalin. “And that was with her agreeing to restrain her aura to where a normal person could last a few seconds, as I couldn’t afford the same level of crafters that your family did.”
“We are getting off topic,” stated Mari. “Xeal, we are trusting you to keep our wishes in mind, but if you manage to claim that realm as yours like the quest allows you to, I think it would be wise to take at least one native as a wife.”
“On that we all agree,” interjected Enye. “The issue is whether Austru is the correct fit with us and I fear that we may never know before we meet and only those who grow close before he completes his quest can be considered from that world.”
“And that is where we stand,” proclaimed Kate. “So, just be kind to Austru and bring myself, or Luna and Selene with you whenever you can, when you start visiting that world for extended periods.”
“Alright,” replied Xeal. “Now let’s enjoy the time we have.”
With that the conversation shifted to more enjoyable ones, like what to do for all of Xeal’s children’s birthdays that were coming up in a few months. Xeal still found the sight of the four of them pulling themselves up and walking with the aid of furniture wonderful. Though he also felt as if they were all growing up so fast and that he was doomed to miss far too much of it.
(*****)
Evening September 20, 2267.
Alex was all smiles as he waited with Ava and Mia for their second appointment with Dr. Avery, as they chatted about having an ultrasound done and getting a better idea of how far along they were. This continued for around five minutes until Dr. Avery arrived and greeted them.
“Welcome back. I take it that everything has been fine the past month.”
“Oh, yes,” cooed Ava.
“We have been wonderful,” added Mia.
“Though it has been hard to wait for today.”
“Yeah, we want to know how far along we are.”
“Yes, we should be able to have a decent idea, especially if we can hear the heartbeat,” replied Dr. Avery. “Now, I think we better take care of the well woman exams first, before letting you all hear the heartbeat and doing an ultrasound.”
“Boo,” teased Ava.
“We want to see our babies,” added Mia jokingly.
“Well then we better take care of business,” replied Dr. Avery as she took Ava and Mia into the other room for their exams.
When they were done, they called Alex in and he found Ava was up first as Dr. Avery prepped the equipment and wasted no time in getting started, once Alex was seated next to Mia. It wasn’t long before a heartbeat was found and Dr. Avery let them know that it sounded good as she switched to the ultrasound. Once she had the image pulled up, it only took her a second to zoom in on what she said was the baby and get a few measurements before showing them and talking.
“Well, your little olive is about an inch long so it is safe to say that you are past nine weeks along.”
“Yay, you hear that? In 31 or so weeks you can come out and meet your mommies and daddy,” giggled Ava.
“Wait, what’s that,” commented Mia as Dr. Avery zoomed out slightly.
“That would be baby number two,” commented Dr. Avery with a smile on her face.
“Twins?” muttered Ava.
“Twins!” exclaimed Mia happily.
“I’m having twins!”
“Lucky! Can you tell if they are identical?”
“I would need to do a DNA test for that and that needs to wait until they are born, though they both have their own amniotic sacs and placenta, so I would say that it is unlikely, but not impossible. Right now I would say that it is around a 10% chance if we go based off of everything,” replied Dr. Avery. “Though them having their own placenta and amniotic sacs means that we have a lot less to worry about between now and the delivery.”
“Darn, I was hoping to have fun mixing them up,” quipped Ava.
“Still, twins!” cooed Mia excitedly. “Alex, isn’t this wonderful!”
Alex had just been stuck in his own head as he held each of the twins’ hands and tried to process what this would mean for everything. As he was doing so, he realized that both Ava and Mia were looking at him as they spoke.
