Cardinal East Lane

Returning to the Duality camp on my newly improved wasp that had suffered from my own Spore Shoal, I send out a few messages asking for progress reports while going over the levels and fusions of my cordycep skills.

Among other things, I no longer produced just ice mana quills or feathers or scales but instead replicated 'ice mana product'. This was now any 'growth' of condensed ice mana. Like the old skills, the products had a high mana requirement just for small sized growths. However, these were permanent parasitic mana products that sustained themselves o natural ambient mana.

I could use them for crafting! Thanks to the evolution of Replicate to Reproduce, everything from my Hardened Hickory to my silk producing skills had undergone enhancement and augmentation.

The silk was already a semi-permanent production, but now it was permanent in that it fed on moisture and carbon in the air to maintain it peak strength and elasticity. Although the mana cost for spider web powers had doubled, it was still fairly efficient in comparison to the other 'ultimate' skills. Except for Blood Iron, this new skill had an almost mild production cost per pound of 'organically refined iron'.

Better yet was the Alloy Enriched Blood perk that came with it. Not only could I consume alloy components to directly upgrade the Blood Iron skill, but the skill and partnered perks were the reason for my new body. Apparently, I had unlocked the inorganic ability by breaking down over ten times my own mass worth of infected metallic components, unlocking the ability to directly upgrade my body.

Right now, the condition of my body was called 'Earthen Enrichment' in reference to the 'natural' metal incorporated in my body and production skill. Currently, I had plenty of materials in my inventory to get to work cultivating an alloy to upgrade my body from. However, I had done more than enough showing off in front of strangers for one day and I was ready to call it a day.

The campers of Duality were currently gathered together once again at the edge of their camp, but this time they were all staring out at me where I was parked on my wasp at the back of their camp. It was one thing for all of the clips and streams of what took place to be bandied around by everyone who died or were still present. It was another thing entirely to just keep going even while knowing I was probably being recorded at the very least right this moment.

Instead, I stayed sitting on my wasp going through my new powers until the sword king candidate and the twins finally made their way over after reorganizing their camp to continue with the defenses. Even though there were no other clans besides mine on this side of the territory, there was still the threat of random troll sieges. My current favorite mobs.

"You… what?" The sword king candidate who I believed to be in his lower twenties asks vacantly while examining my giant wasp mount from up close. Its ten legs were made up of flat, blade like segments that ended in three-pronged pincers. Those pincers, when closed, created a modern arrowhead shape with razor sharp siding that could probably punch straight through even my armor.

"Monarch of Plague, I'm a master of most things dead, undead, or just plain diseased," I say simply and vaguely at the same time, finally putting my masked helm back on while itching to play around with my new body and abilities. "Well, that's just one part of my abilities. As you can see, my abilities effect myself similarly to my critters. Thats just another part."

"You would really like some of our clan leaders," the sword king candidate seems to muse while calming down and sizing me up. "A couple of them have some interesting powers, too. You guys ever think about making an alliance with other clans? The NPC party and Duality Resistance have history."

"Ancient history in a far away and long forgotten world," I reply quickly as if I were going to deny him. "However, my core members and I share a very unique affinity and ability for crafting which makes selling our products somewhat risky. We can openly and permissibly affect the actual game balance, ergo we need people we can trust to sell such wares to. Depending on how well you guys can pay your debts, we'll keep you in mind when it comes time to do business."

"You'll get your money," the other guy quickly assures me, looking as if he wanted to laugh despite the seriousness of money and I. "If the clan doesn't honor our agreement after everything you just did, I will personally drop tags and seek employment with you travelers."

"We might accept you, we've only got three ranks open to the public," I say as if this were a valid reason for our exclusive numbers. "If the core members vote and accept you in, you'll start at the bottom in the Clan Fodder position. don't worry, though, there are no Clan Elites so it should not take long before you get promoted. We may actually start inviting people, soon, since our creation cool is about up. Three in-game calendar days, I think it was? However, we're not poachers."

Grimacing at both the prospects of the starting rank and the exclusivity of the clan, the sword king candidate says, "I'm sure we'll be the best of business partners in the future. Until then, what are you planning to do about the territory raid? It'll be a while yet before our people get here and even then there will be sharks outside the territory waiting to cut off our future supply trains and there's no telling how long it will take for one of us to claim the portal in the middle."

Portal? That giant freaking hole in the ground at the middle of the raid event leading to the raid dungeon? I think you meant 'how long it will take ME to get my shit and go home'.

Glancing about the area, I point to a territory 'lane' closer to the far east side of the territory and say, "We're going to set up shop over there but I'm going to leave the plague dragons here to guard you guys. If trolls come, just stay in the camp, I have already restricted their plague skills after they received their new owners for the first time but none of you guys are the owners.

"Otherwise, stay out of our way but don't be afraid to come running to us with half of your troll materials if you run into any problems. Help yourselves to the loot left over, but let your new familiars handle the infected materials and set them aside for me. I'll see you guys soon," I add, pulling up on the wasp with my knees to make it ascend.

Reaching a new max height of thirty yards in the air, nearing the height of the plateau outside of the territory, I soon flew off at an almost leisurely twenty miles per hour.

Landing at what my map estimated to be the 'lane' at the exact eastern side of the territory, I enjoy the view from high in the air while finally taking in a view of the other competition. I could not see what kind of activity, if any, was going on from my current position even at ninety feet in the air. However, enhancing my vision at least let me see their flags.

The closest clan was not even in the top ten but was in thirteenth place. However, there was something of a legitimate reason for this. Their clan name was Thirteenth Incorporated and this was long-standing 'free trade' organization with a presence in most competitive games since early dive VR.

Thirteenth Incorporated also had a presence in the world's most tragic video game, one equal to the presences of Fallen Monochrome and Duality Resistance. Unlike either, though, Thirteenth made it their life goal to literally be the thirteenth organization created in any video game and paid decent money to reserve such rights. Most to other players since developers could not usually show such favor.

During both the main wars of the game, they played a neutral position supplying all sides without taking an active part. This was mostly due to the multiple 'directors' who freely showed favoritism to different people or groups. Duality had several sympathizers among the thirteen directors, which was how we kept track of enemy supply trains and world bosses.

The next clan that was even bigger than Thirteenth was in the thirties for the generalized 'top clan' ranking. Based on overall firepower, they were actually considered equal to Tragedy's Travelers despite their current huge presence. This, though, was only because of our clan's buffs coupled with the core party.

Once we actually started accepting members, our crafters alone with increase our potential firepower up to soaring heights. However, the clan called B1G M0N3¥ obviously outclassed us in several other aspects besides combat rating and reputation.

Just the fact that we were considered on par with top one hundred clans in firepower was gratifying. Whether or not this was because of my current actions I had no clue, but I knew Stonewall alone was worth every tanker in any other clan. The others could all be considered elites to everybody outside the top ten, if not veterans at the least.

Remembering once again with an unsavory taste that my party was still lacking in many of their class abilities, I land the wasp on the ground outside my chosen lane where I am soon presented with a system notification.

[Does Tragedy's Traveler's wish to claim the Cardinal East Lane?]

[YES/NO]

"Yes," I reply promptly, triggering a raid announcement informing all concerned parties that my clan had chosen an official position. One that was out of the way of everybody else but where we could see to make sure they stayed the hell away from us.

After the raid messages went out, a small camp consisting of a single giant command tent and two 'small' utility pavilions appeared only a few hundred yards out from the actual lane where I stood. Examining the frontal view of the command tent sided by two pavilions that covered a third of an acre apiece, I find the compact but well stocked amenities pleasing to the eyes.

This would be the perfect place to not only private test my new abilities but also thoroughly examine the extent of my crafting skills. Finally receiving reports from my Go and Ivana who were in charge of the advance party and solo wagon detail, I hurried into camp to familiarize myself with the utilities. Luckily, Go, Lil, Agnes, and my familiars were close.

By the time I actually started checking out the equipment of the first pavilion, I received notifications that members of my party and my familiars had entered the territory. I was both upset by and grateful for this fact. I was upset that I would no longer have this crafting heaven to myself but grateful for the fact that I would soon have sla- assistants!

The first pavilion I checked out was both a fully stocked lab for various forms of alchemy and enchanting as well as an all-purpose kitchen. Much of the equipment could be used for shared purposes, as well!

My personal favorite pavilion was on the southeastern side of the command tent looking out toward camp Duality, not just because I could keep an eye on their progress but also because this was the smithing and armoring pavilion. There were enough smithing stations here to accommodate twenty people under the tall steel and canvas structure and then there were a dozen stations at either end of the pavilion for general textile and leather working crafts.

The four furnaces and massive forge well under the open center of the pavilion's domed roof were already loaded and burning like most video games would be. There were still times when I questioned the favoritism of scarring or convenient realism factors in the game. There were also timed when I disregarded it entire.

Right now was both of those occasions.

Unwilling to immediately set to work on crafting, knowing the exhaustive hell that I would put myself through, I instead set about preparing small stocks of steel for sales crafting and experimenting on the effects of our titles. As much as I honestly wanted to dive right in to recreating Hauntings with my title, I knew better than to rush. I needed to know the extent of my buffs to get the most out of the next recreation.

By the time I had prepared enough bars for everybody in the party, myself included, to craft ten ten-pound fuller swords. I was surprised they had not arrived sooner but both Go and Lil wanted to stop and check in with camp Duality to learn more about the raid. More to the point, about how I ended up taking two clans out of the raid.

Neither of my friends were happy with my actions, but neither did they complain. An ass clan like Bygones who were barely hanging on to the top ten even as a PVP committed group were not worth worrying about. Their advance team a territory raid was pretty weak, meaning their average forces were weaker unless they were secretly holding back their real firepower.

If so then they, as a clan, were dumb enough for us not to care about making enemies of. They will find themselves fighting for a tail end position in a completely different bracket soon enough. The next time we see them, if we ever saw them again, we can ask them what the top fifty clans were like.

Fallen Monochrome was a different story. They had a huge following that traveled across numerous games and even here they had a huge presence that dominated an entire side of the raid territory. They got donkey kicked in the ass from behind purely by coincidence, sending them flying right out of the raid and potentially out of the top ten.

At least for a little while, anyway. They will probably be prepared and at full force the next time they make a competitive appearance. Although, the same could also be said for all of the other clans who were probably caught by surprise like I was when I found out about the raid just today.

If we ever actually saw them again, it would probably be after doing some recruiting and putting physical finances into our clan. I could use my father's gym alone to secure a supply of loyal warrior classes in exchange for dive devices to play.

I knew that the others also wanted to do their own recruiting and put their own teams together and probably wished we had created our clan sooner because of our current position. Thankfully, neither Go nor Lil complained about our tasks and grumpily set to work in the forge crafting simple alloy fuller swords.

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