"…and as you can see, things are still chaotic in the Emerald Kingdom. The recently released series of bounties has thrown the area into a gladiator fight. Most people are here to be the one standing at the top and to gather the most money possible. However, recently…"

CLICK

"…the current statistics show that there was a 257% uptick in fights amongst guilds, with the aim of killing each other's guild masters, while unaffiliated players have joined the fray, sowing chaos and destruction all along major trade routes and cities. The current hotspot…"

CLICK

"Do you like to play? – YES! – DO YOU REALLY LIKE TO PLAY? – YES!! – THEN THIS MEAL IS FOR YOU! THE ATOMIC…"

CLICK CLICK

"…interestingly enough, even the non-player factions have joined the fights. There have been reports of several in-game organizations sending out groups to hunt for some of the named people on the bounty boards. There have been rumors that some of them are not economically motivated but politically, and those groups are using the general chaos to act. What do you think?"

"Well, as a person who spent most of his time trying to map out the political landscape of Magic Unbound, with the help of my team, I can confidently say that there are some truths to those rumors. However, as with everything else, nothing ever is that simple. We found that there were at least a few in-game communities and organizations who acted because they were prompted by players using them as puppets or smokescreens."

"Fascinating. And what about the rumors that the AFK Company is behind the inciting bounties?"

"Ridiculous! Based on our analysis, they have invested all their money into their guild and the new city they're building. There is no way their income is high enough to sustain a bounty hunt of this magnitude!"

CLICK

"The tide of blood is still marching ever north. We have been seeing more and more towns and villages being left as empty husks, if even that. The number of participants in what players call the Blood Tide has swelled to a truly amazing number. Current estimates show that the number of players under the aegis of the enigmatic leader of the Blood Brothers has reached a truly insane number."

"Why do you think that is?"

"Glad you asked! We polled our watchers, and around twenty percent said they've joined to earn money. And an astounding number, thirty-nine percent, stated that they joined the guild and movement just for the fun of it. Isn't that interesting?"

CLICK

Sam turned off the futuristic television, threw the remote next to him on his sofa that cost way too much, and turned back to the table in his living room, where on one side sat Lara and Dan, on the other side was Lucy, eating some takeout food that Lara recommended.

All of them were staring at the screen that he had just turned off.

He grinned. "Well, we are famous!"

Dan gave him a polite thumbs up as he chewed his meal, while Lara giggled.

"My cousins are so excited! They think this is a great opportunity for them…"

Lucy just shook her head. "And your grandfather or their advisors didn't warn them?"

Lara shrugged while reaching for another fry. "They're there to prove themselves. If they want to join the fight, nobody is going to stop them. The smart ones see this for what it is, the rest are simply the casualties."

Sam nodded while Dan finished swallowing and turned to Lara. "What about your grandpa? Won't he get mad?"

"Mad for what? Dealing with idiots?" she asked incredulously. "Nah, he probably knows everything about this and is just laughing at my cousins."

Dan just looked back, bewildered. However, as Lara finished explaining, she saw that both Sam and Lucy were grinning.

"What did you do?" she asked, a little taken aback. "What the hell did you do?" she exclaimed again and pulled closer to Dan. "Hold me, you big lug, they're scaring me!"

Dan, confused, just hugged her and sent Sam a questioning look. He grinned and looked at Lucy.

"Want to tell them?"

She returned the grin but shook her head. "Nah, it was your demented idea. You tell them."

"Alright," Sam replied with a nod. Then he got up, walked around the sofa to the table, leaned on it with both hands, and began to stage whisper. "We are going to put out bounties on the biggest bounty hunters for…causing chaos and upsetting the public order," he explained with a smile on his face. "Thus, we have the cause to call in the city guards, nobles, and whoever we want. Additionally, the price on their head will be in gold, set up in the local bounty hunter stations. Which means that even the NPC bounty hunters will join in."

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As Sam finished his explanation and Lara let out a little sound of surprise mixed with a scream. "What the hell? That would cause…"

"Maximum chaos?" Sam finished it for her. "Exactly."

Dan looked at him, then Lucy. "And this will work?"

This time, Lucy spoke up. "We set everything up to cause chaos for our enemies, and while they're trying to rip each other apart for loose change, we can finish the city, and set up defenses without being beset by the barbarian hordes."

"That's…that is…ambitious," Lara spoke up after a few moments of silence. Then a gleeful grin filled her face. "My cousins are going to loooove it!"

The city of Ironwood was in chaos.

Streets were filled with chaos and blood as people duked it out there, at least until the city guards or Chrysalis guild members arrived to break up the fight and to haul them away into the cold, inviting embrace of the local prison dungeons.

The local nobles were incensed, including the Silvercrest family, and have pledged to bring peace to the city in any way possible. Sam, through Lucy and Adam, made sure to support them to the fullest extent. Surprisingly, they were rather thankful. Both for the support of the personnel and for the bounties on the players.

Apparently, as Lucy explained, there were laws hindering the nobles and local judicial forces from interfering with the adventurers (players), but with Sam's company placing official bounties on them, the official bounty hunter association allowed them to interfere.

Hell, they even offered to reimburse them a percentage of the bounties they placed. After the meeting, Sam and Lucy spent almost ten minutes straight laughing.

Then came a whirlwind of activity.

They organized patrol routes, logistic chains, and everything needed for the chaos currently going on in the country and the construction of Farabor, their city project.

"How are we doing with the city?" Sam asked. "Anything I need to know?"

Lucy looked over her collection of documentation, then shook her head. "Lara has everything in hand. She is slowly doing the property auctions, and even the government black project is going well. At least, that's what I'm told by Lucrecia between gossip about her 'beloved'…" she replied.

Sam let out a relieved sigh. "Good. I really need to get some area damage on my spell list."

Lucy raised a questioning eyebrow. "Why would you need one? You're already a one-man army…"

"Maybe with endurance, but I need a little more oomph if we're going to fight against an army of blood mages and cultists."

She looked at him searchingly, but then narrowed her eyes. "You just want an orbital laser."

Sam nodded unabashedly. "I want orbital lasers."

His first target was the Mage Tower.

He fought through the usual throng of people there for the usual things, before consulting one of the mages he was assigned to. Sadly, the old woman just shrugged when she saw the void-attributed spells and sent him to another person. After another crowd (and a fee), he consulted them. The man hummed a little, asked him some questions, and sent him to another person.

The only reason he persisted was because every mage was higher in the tower than the last, indicating their seniority and knowledge.

It took him two hours until he finally arrived in an office, filled from the bottom to the top with books, scrolls, amphoras with old runes painted on them (some even glowing mysteriously), artifacts with impossible geometrics floating in the air and one old cat lounging on a stack of old books near the window.

In the middle, sitting behind a big desk, also covered with books and parchments, was an old, wizened man with flowing locks of red hair, with a rare few silver strands. As Sam stepped through the door, the old man looked up, clicked his tongue, the cat meowed, and waved his hand in Sam's direction as if telling him to go away, and Sam felt like he was falling backward.

It took him a moment to realize that he had just been sent through a portal that appeared without him sensing or feeling anything with his senses, before the sensation of falling overcame him. He heard a quiet 'Good luck!' before the darkness swallowed him.

'Oh, fuck…'

The darkness was thankfully empty. None of Katie's friends showed up or watched, which he was very thankful for. However, it was also very easy to fall in it. No wind or anything like that, just the pure sensation of falling. Incredibly weird feeling…

He spent an entire minute before he sensed a blip of magical energy, and another portal opened, which spat him out over some stone surface.

Sam had enough presence to do a backflip and land on his feet, albeit a little bit wobbly. He instantly looked up and saw the portal vanish into nothingness.

Worried, but not really afraid, he looked around with a hand around the handle of his sword and another ready to unleash some unfriendly magic at anything that looked wrong at him.

He found himself in a courtyard, visibly well-taken care of, with a few plants in a few artistic-looking planters. Before him stood a tower, with no windows or any other type of opening visible, made entirely out of some dark gray stone. Not even a door. Turning around, he spotted an arch, and the gnawing void right outside of it, held back with a see-through white barrier that glowed softly. Behind it, he could see exactly the same 'things' that Katie called cute, gnawing at the barrier, looking mighty hungry.

Though he could have sworn that several were wearing T-shirts with Katie's face on them, or waving flags with Puffball's silhouette, but then he blinked and they vanished.

"They haven't been so peaceful for a long time," came a musing voice right next to him.

Turning his head, he saw a tall woman, black hair pulled into a sensible bun, wearing a rather goth-looking robe (lots of frills and laces) with a few strategically placed slits and windows, and mascara that summoned memories of metal concerts in Sam's head.

"I have a friend who knows…things," he replied, trying not to freak out.

She sent him a look that told him exactly how much that worked, before continuing to speak.

"If the old man sent you here, that means that you managed to figure out a very specific magic, correct?" she inquired.

Sam held up a palm and summoned a mote of void energy, then clenched his fist and extinguished it.

"Good," she replied. "Follow me." Then she turned around and began to walk toward the tower. Sam glanced back at the roiling chaos that seemed to be doing the rumba with drumsticks that wore sweaters, and Sam followed her.

Reaching the wall without the door, the mysterious woman simply walked through it as the stone began to ripple. He followed along, feeling the oddly liquid stone around him for a fraction of a moment, before he found himself in a well-appointed foyer.

It was well-lit, decorated with furniture made of light-colored wood, rugs, and plants everywhere, with a staircase in the middle.

The woman took a few steps up on the staircase, turned around, and struck a pose, holding her hands out.

"Welcome…to the Tower of the Void!"

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