Arcane: Sovereign Of The Broken City71.70%

4. System Of Power

Act 3, Chapter 4: Systems of Power

Year: 893 AN

POV: Ashryn Virelle

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[Flashback – One Week Ago]

The converter core pulsed quietly behind her, silver-blue light bleeding across the command center's reinforced walls. Ashryn stood alone, fingers clasped behind her back, eyes fixed on the blank console before her. She had been stalling this moment.

The system. Her system.

Ever since it first whispered into existence during the firelight of the Ashes, it had been dormant—passive, silent. Until she planted her flag in the Clocktower and gave it a name. Virelle.

Now it pulsed with purpose.

Ashryn sighed, flexing her fingers. "Let's do this."

Her hand passed through the converter light, activating the interface only she could see.

"Open Main Menu."

A soft shimmer washed across her vision, revealing an array of luminous glyphs and sleek panels floating in air, tinged with the faint hum of raw potential.

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⚙️ [SYSTEM UI CORE – WEEK ONE]

Host: Ashryn Virelle

City Registered: Virelle

City Title: The City of Change

System Type: Passive Kingdom-Building Protocol

System Link: Synced to Virellite Core

> DP Balance: 31,170 DP

Interface Synced. Welcome, Sovereign.

---

Ashryn paced in front of the interface, letting her eyes trace the labels.

"Passive Kingdom-Building Protocol... huh. No helper AI, no magical voice in my head. Just me and the world's biggest toolbox."

She opened the first tab.

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📊 [STAT PANEL – HOST: ASHRYN VIRELLE]

Attribute Value:

Strength >> 29

Agility >> 22

Endurance >> 35

Intelligence >> 24

Sense >> 27

Charisma >> 23

Total Combat Value: 160 ( street level )

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"Solid stats. Tanky enough to get hit, quick enough to hit back, smart enough to aim in the right direction."

Ashryn gave a small shrug. "Still... I need more."

---

🧭 [LOYALTY PANEL]

Loyalty Band

Count

DP Gained

Absolute Loyalty

+4,000 DP

Fierce Loyalty

+2,300 DP

True Loyalists

187

+1,870 DP

Active Supporters

3,960

0 DP

Undecided Citizens

36,360

0 DP

Outsiders / Unaligned

39,826

0 DP

Loyalty DP Gained: +8,170

Ashryn tilted her head. "So DP scales with belief. They don't even have to love me—just love Virelle."

She tapped her temple. "That's leverage."

---

🏙️ [CITY PANEL ]

Capital: Clocktower Core (Ashenheart Sector)

Territories Claimed:

Ashenheart – Core tower and district

Glimmerdocks – Trade & docks

Fissures – Border trenches

Dead Slabs – Slum reintegration zone

Lurching Vents – Turbines & vents

Entrosol – Future housing + tech sector

Border Zones:

Sump – Controlled by Silco (Hostile)

Lanes + Sunken Market – Vander (Neutral)

City Metrics:

Category Status:

Population : 80,360

Happiness : 42/100 (Rising)

Literacy : 17%

Crime Rate : Moderate

Cultural Index : 11/100

Outsider Footfall : Moderate

"No disaster. Yet."

She leaned closer, voice low. "But no resilience either. One push from Piltover and this all folds."

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🏅 [ACHIEVEMENT PANEL]

Title - Category - Description - DP Gained

The First Spark - Milestone - Establish and activate a central base of operations (Clock Tower) - 2,000 DP+

The Light of Virelle - Infrastructure - Purify Zaun's smog and ignite the converter core - +3,000 DP

The People Gathered - Loyalty - First time over 200 citizens gathered under your banner - +1,000 DP

Declaration of Sovereignty - Political - Publicly establish Virelle as an independent city-state - +2,000 DP

City of Change - Title Unlock - Officially name and system-register the city - +1,000 DP

Founding Crew - Personnel - Recruit at least 3 elite followers with loyalty above 90 - +1,000 DP

Ashes to Blueprint - Legacy - Survive the Day of Ashes and initiate your own future - +2,000 DP

Voice of the Street - Influence Deliver a speech that sways a crowd of 10,000+ - +1,000 DP

Achievement DP Total: 13,000 DP

+ Welcome Bonus: 10,000 DP

+ Loyalty DP: 8,170 DP

→ Current DP Balance: 31,170 DP

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🛒 [SHOP PANEL – VIRELLE SYSTEM]

Ashryn's fingers moved to the final tab.

The screen shimmered, reorganizing into a massive grid with a search bar at the top and filter categories beneath.

"Enter Department → Keywords → DP Range"

Departments:

🔫 Weapons

🏗️ Structural

🛠️ Equipment

♻️ Utility

📦 Miscellaneous

> Note: System does not teach or assist with comprehension. All items must be manually reverse-engineered.

Ashryn exhaled. "Of course you don't come with a manual."

She scrolled through the options, eyes widening at the sheer breadth of what was available—dimensional rift stabilizers, nanobot clouds, auto-assemblers for cities, power suits from other universes. But then she frowned.

"Shop has nearly infinite tech... but that's the problem. Nearly all of it's locked behind knowledge, DP, or both. Even if I buy something high-tier, I still have to build it from scratch."

She sat down on the edge of the control desk, fingers tapping her knee.

"Luckily... the system converts everything to use Virellite. That helps. A lot. But even then—I have to be smart. We're on a countdown. Piltover won't wait."

She started drawing up her purchase list.

---

🧾 [PURCHASE LOG ]

Name

Type

Cost (DP)

Fabricator

Equipment

5,000

Portable Virellite Batteries

Utility

1,000

Retro-Refractive Panels

Utility

2,200

Gorilla Arms

Wepons

1,800

Wire Guns

Wepons

1,800

Phasers (Star treck)

Wepons

2,400

Stun Baton

Wepons

700

Mechanical Engineering

Skill (Viktor)

5,500

DP Spent: 20,400

Current Balance: 10,770 DP

She crossed her arms. "Started small. Everything I picked is something I—or Viktor—could realistically crack. Didn't matter if better tech existed. I need what I can build now."

Her eyes narrowed. "Basics first. Everything else can wait."

---

Ashryn stared at the display for a long moment.

Then she smiled.

> "Now... let's build a city."

---

(Present time - one week later)

Ashryn leaned back from her workdesk.and opened the system to check the update after the week one.

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🧭 [LOYALTY PANEL ]

Loyalty Band

Count

DP Gained

Absolute Loyalty

+4,000 DP

Fierce Loyalty

+5,200 DP

True Loyalists

710

+7,100 DP

Active Supporters

25,420

0 DP

Undecided Citizens

35,436

0 DP

Outsiders / Unaligned

31,728

0 DP

Updated Loyalty DP: +16,300

She tilted her head. "Okay. That's real progress."

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🏙️ [CITY PANEL – CURRENT]

Capital: Clocktower Core (Ashenheart Sector)

Territories Claimed: Same

Key Structures:

Clock Tower Core (Converter Active)

4 Civil Hubs (Phase 1)

Early Rail Lines & Comm Towers

Cold Storage Units (Viktor)

Prototype Drone Ports

📊 Metrics (Updated):

Category : Status

Population : 93,350

Happiness : 53/100 (Rising)

Literacy : 24%

Crime Rate : Controlled

Cultural Index : 17/100 (Developing)

Outsider Footfall : Growing

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🏆 [ACHIEVEMENT PANEL – CURRENT]

New Achievements