For once, he was not in his kingdom.

Instead, he was visiting one of the other teams responsible for maintaining an overview of a certain part of the world of Magic Unbound. They were currently observing the large-scale mobilization of player-led factions through the territory. A tremendous jungle shook as the forces clashed with spells flying everywhere, trees falling down, monsters – big and small – charging into the fray, trying to express their displeasure while the players did their best to defeat them as fast as possible before the enemies could find them. Blood was figuratively and literally flowing…

He huffed silently and glanced around. The situation room they were in was so different compared to his that he felt like he was in a different world. There was no station with half a dozen different coffee machines, three fridges for the snacks and milk, the army cots hidden under some tarps (after HR complained), and several tastefully decorated dart boards with one particular picture of a person.

He sighed again, but then looked up as he heard somebody approaching him. It was Todd. Todd was a good administrator, but he always felt the man lacked a certain vibe for the job… He even suspected that if Todd had to deal with the fucker, the man would have given up after the first incident. Not like him, who took everything with grace and patience and made sure that nothing caused issues to the integrity of the game.

Sometimes, when he was really drunk, he even believed that…

"Why did you ask for me, Todd?" he asked with a tired voice. Last night, the fucker was doing something suspicious, and he was up monitoring until the wee hours.

Todd, with his stupid, perfectly maintained beard, also let out a sigh and plopped down next to him.

"My territory is almost next to yours. I wanted to touch base and get some first-hand information about your bogey," the man stated. "Those blood maniacs, or what ever the hell they are calling themselves, are pushing really hard south. It's like they want something." He frowned, then looked up to the side. "Sarah!" A woman looked up from a computer (he was happy to see at least one Lucky plushy amongst the collection of adorable plushies of player pets).

"Yes, boss?"

"Do we know what the bloody idiots are after?"

She rolled her eyes in response. "I told you already, boss. They are after the blood idols to enhance their powers…" she explained with a huff, then sat down and then dramatically turned around, signaling the end of the exchange.

Todd hit his palm with his fist. "Aha! Now I remember. Yes, those stupid blood idols. Area effect enhancement, rituals, and all sorts of nasty things they like…"

He let out a sigh. "The jungles were inspired by those historic myths about giant blood sacrifices and such. Not really surprising…" If this was Todd's ability to maintain control over his territory, he was feeling sad for his players. Though, admittedly, Todd didn't have to sharpen his skills to deal with someone like that fucker. His hands twitched toward his phone, his paranoia urging him to check his messages. His second in command and Selena were keeping an eye on him, but he felt every second away from managing that menace was just an opportunity for that fucker to make his life even harder.

"Never been a fan of them," Todd declared with a grimace. "Yuk…"

"And I repeat myself: why am I here?"

Todd blinked at him, then smiled. "Ah, yes. That…"

He looked back at the man, noting that his white coat, which they were forced to wear for the ambience, didn't even have one coffee stain, and felt his heart sink.

"Is this about that fucker?"

"Yes, your bogey. We were worried that he would interfere with the blood cultists, so I wanted to ask if you have any idea what his plans are?"

He looked back at Todd and held back the urge to sigh.

'This could have been a fucking e-mail…' However, instead of throwing that into the other man's face, he just let out a feeble smile – it came out more like a grimace, but he didn't really care – before answering.

"He is currently making sure that his country is fortified and ready to receive those bloody idiots when they finally turn their attention toward them."

Todd hummed thoughtfully before speaking. "Yes, I know that. But that didn't stop him from interfering with Sunspot. I just wanted to make sure he stays where he is and lets us do things without his interference. Marketing is super happy and we are dominating the local social network channels, so I wanted to keep the momentum going…"

That he could understand, however, he still didn't know why he needed to be present personally for this conversation. He opened his mouth to answer, but whether that would have been cursing or quiet advice would be forever unknown, as a screen nearby activated with a brief flash and Selene's graceful form appeared on it.

"Hey, guys!" she greeted them with a blinding smile and a wave of her hand. "I'm super happy to report that one of our persons of interest has released a comprehensive guide on countering blood magic, including antidotes, rituals, and spells. This was followed by putting up materials for the aforementioned rituals and consumables in the Auction House. The forums are suuuper busy!" she finished with a grin and a glint in her eyes. Thanks to being a digital construct, her eyes literally flashed with sparkles.

He could feel his hand tightening around his third favorite cup. He had had a premonition that this meeting would be unhealthy, thus, he didn't want to chance their destruction.

Todd, meanwhile, was busy gaping at the too cheerful AI.

"Also," she continued with the energy of a teenage cheerleader hooked on energy drinks and coffee. "On a totally unrelated note, a person of interest has left the dimension without the aid of the fractures…"

CRACK

CRASH

"Oh my god! His hand is bleeding! Get the first aid box!"

It was too much work.

Honestly, if it weren't for his girlfriend's silent support, Lucy's very vocal or Tim's very bloody support, David would have given up a long time ago.

The guild, after the departure of his father's men, was in shambles. They didn't take any resources, but it was clear that the only reason the guild stayed together was because they kept paying key personnel enough money not to leave. And now that he had taken over and suspended those arrangements, those very same people just shrugged and left. Left, with their entourage, taking a large chunk of the competent players of the guild.

Still, some people were staying, willing to play the game for the game's sake not and just for the paycheck.

Well, there was a paycheck, but with a lot more clauses and requirements.

"I still have no idea why I'm doing this…" he complained in a low voice. "Why do we need to get trained on this?"

Tim just silently handed over another document.

David nervously took it and began to read, his eyes going wider and wider with each word. Finally, he looked up at the odd assassin-slash-fixer. "You serious?"

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"Sam is…" came the stoic answer.

David looked back for a second, then hung his head, his hair obscuring his eyes as he lamented the forsaken minute his lovable sister met that infuriating man. After a few seconds contemplating the feasibility of inventing a time-traveling device in the next fifteen minutes, he looked back at Tim, who was, for some odd reason, watering one of his plants.

"Alright, if Sam wants it, he will get it, one way or another," he spoke with a sigh.

Tim reached over and patted his shoulder awkwardly. "There, there… isn't it better to be an ally than an enemy?"

He closed his eyes, counted to ten, then opened them and glared at the bow-tie-wearing man.

"I fucking hate all of you! Do you know how much work that is going to be? I don't want to hold recruitment drives…" he explained his issues calmly, while definitely not whining.

Tim just handed over another document. "He expected as much. Here are the plans for a joint recruitment drive for all our sub-guilds. Crafting, summoner, and druids, with you joining, knights, and everything nice."

Once again, David was somewhat happy that both Sam and Lucy were some kind of freakish savants who could see the future and prepare for every eventuality. He wouldn't be surprised if Sam had some kind of 'I WIN' button hidden away that would be able to defeat those Blood Brothers menacing them from the south.

Not that he would ever voice that line of thought. There were too many people listening to his every waking moment.

Pausing for a moment, David's eyes narrowed. 'Maybe that's exactly what he wants…' Then he shook his head, trying to forget those thoughts before looking at Tim.

"It seems I know what I'm doing in the foreseeable future…"

Tim nodded again and, to David's horror, held out another stack of documents. With trembling hand, he took it over, but refused to look at it. Instead, he stared questioningly at the assassin.

The other man didn't disappoint.

"That's a guild, Titanium Titans, who wants to defeat you to take your place. We don't want that. Those are the attack times and a brief overview of their team composition, skill lists, and other useful tidbits."

David looked down at the document, then back at Tim, opening his eyes, but apparently, the moment he took his eyes off the odd man, he vanished, leaving his office weirdly empty with some nicely watered plants.

He reached for the first set of documents with a despondent sigh. "What even is my life…"

"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! AHAHAHHAHA!"

Dan watched as his friend, dressed in spiky goth heavy armor, wielding a giant serrated blade, crashed into a giant monster. The monster, some kind of porcupine thing, let out a roar full of pain and backhanded the laughing young woman, sending her flying until she crashed into the mountainside, creating a human-shaped indent in it.

Clarissa, standing next to him, just sighed and handed over a few coins. Isabella just cheered her 'friend' on.

Dan happily pocketed it, then raised his club toward the porcupine monster as it turned around to no doubt shower them with giant quills. They learned after finding the first monster that those things flew really fast.

Then, suddenly, everything was on fire.

A few minutes later, with loot collected, they were taking a quick break. Katie was playing with Puffball, Isabella was taking photos of something, and Clarissa and he were making a report to Lucy.

"…that's how we are currently," he finished lamely. He never knew how to finish these reports. Clarissa simply nodded without saying anything as they watched Lucy make some notes through the video call. "What's our next target?"

Lucy looked up from her writing and smiled, the bird on her shoulder staying unnaturally still. "Nothing. You're being recalled."

"Sam has something for us?" he asked excitedly. While destroying monster nests was somewhat exciting, anything that Sam planned would be much more fun (and profitable).

Sadly, Lucy frowned. "I don't know. He vanished somewhere, but he left some instructions."

Dan just chuckled. He had a feeling Sam would be getting an earful when he logged out.

"What does he want us to do?" Clarissa asked, looking interested.

"He wants you guys to focus on skill development. Seek out trainers and quests to increase your damage potential. Clarissa, for you, he left a list of things you need to know how to handle."

Dan smiled happily, hearing that. He had reached another plateau with his fire skills, and seeking out some further instructions was just what the doctor ordered. 'Maybe I could get Lara to join me and make it a date?' he wondered idly before nodding at Lucy. "Anything else?"

"Nothing on my end…" came the response. Then their boss – the saner one – smiled at them. "See you at the HQ!"

Closing the video call interface, he slapped his knees and stood up with a small groan before calling out to the others.

"Guys! We're heading back!"

Katie and Isabella instantly let out a cheer before rushing back toward him and Clarissa.

"YAY! Puffball was telling me about this super-cool place! Want to visit it with me?"

Steven, sitting on Slathy, his giant bunny, watched over the area. They were currently protecting a small caravan of goods, filled with all sorts of reagents for the guild.

It was a routine quest, but he wanted to get away from running the guild for a while, so he volunteered for the job. Well, that's what he told others. Kim was at the guild when he heard the request for the guard, so he quickly signed up and high-tailed out of there.

Sadly, they had broken up, with her accusing him of cheating, and him throwing back some not-so-nice words about her obsessiveness with him. Granted, they both apologized, but after airing those thoughts, their relationship was in shambles, so they agreed to terminate it. Steven feared that she would leave the guild, but she told him that she put in too much work to just up and leave.

Looking over the caravan, with several of his guildmates (all of them lower-leveled than him) milling around and riding their own mounts. He saw a few deer (all of them sporting too sharp teeth), one giant wolf (nothing on the one that Solar rode, but it was still impressive), and one surprisingly large and fast tortoise.

They were all armed to the teeth, ready for anything. This was all thanks to becoming a sub-guild under AFK. The moment the ink dried on the paper, his guild was practically flooded with artifacts, consumables, and spooky cloaked players that did something very spooky.

AzureTiger tried to explain, but most of the details went over his head. Still, he understood enough that his guild was in great shape and Brightgarden was flourishing with the influx of economic benefits.

The last time he talked with the mayor, the man didn't even scowl at him once.

It was rather freaky…

He was interrupted in his reminiscence when Slathy, his loyal bunny, destroyer of lettuce and mountain trolls, snapped his head to the side, intently staring at the forest. A moment later, one of his skills pinged.

"Goblins!" he yelled out, causing everybody to start actively getting ready, while the NPCs took cover with a few players covering them, making sure that a stray goblin arrow, or sneaky goblin assassin, didn't get them. After all, without the NPCs, they wouldn't get paid…

A few seconds later, the forest shook, and then a small army of green pests emerged, rushing toward the caravan and guards, raising their oddly shaped, hastily put together or repaired weapons. Some of them were riding on disfigured wolves, while another group stayed in the shadows of the treeline and let loose a cloud of arrows.

Stephen grinned, knowing very well that the small fry were nothing before him and his teammate. Then the ground shook, trees fell, and a giant ogre followed with two rickety wooden towers built on his two shoulders, each one housing a goblin mage, all of them shining with unreleased magic.

"Well, Slathy. Time to earn that pay…"

Rabbits, in general, couldn't really roar. Slathy, somehow, still learned it. He unsheathed his weapon, raised it toward the towering ogre, let loose his own battle cry, and they were off.

"What the hell? Why the hell did they do this?"

He watched as his boss, the guild master of a rather profitable 'black' guild, raged around their hideout.

"Probably to distract people, boss!" exclaimed one of his guildmates.

The boss didn't take that well. "Of course they did! Why wouldn't they!"

CRASH

He smashed a wooden chair against the wall, where it fell into pieces.

"What I want to know is why they put a target on MY head!" his boss continued to rage.

He stayed silent, not sharing his thoughts. In his dishonest opinion, AFK and Solar just randomly selected a few names and let the player base loose on them with the help of a high number of bounties. His current boss thought he was some big name, bad boy criminal, doing his business under everybody's nose, raking in that money while the 'good' guilds and the local law enforcement floundered around.

He was of the opinion that his current boss was such a small fry that nobody bothered to deal with him. Right until now…

"I want you to double the guards! Those bastards are not getting me so easily!" the man exclaimed paranoidly, and another underling rushed away to fulfill those orders.

Pity, it was too late…

THUD

A man fell over, body rigid, eyes frantically rolling around, but not a sound escaping their frozen lips. The guild master naturally noticed it and began to back up to the wall as the rest of the room began to follow the first's example, falling to the ground frozen in the state they were in.

"What is th-this? W-who is doing it?" he stammered out, blindly reaching for his weapon. Like most career criminals, he joined the game to earn money and had little interest in the actual gameplay. If the man needed to level up for some reason, he would just have their underlings take him for power leveling. His own skill was somewhat equal to that of a concussed pet rock.

The assassin stood up, dusting his pants a little, before retrieving his dagger while giving the man a small smile as at least two dozen people lay on the ground or slumped against tables, bodies frozen.

"No hard feelings, right? My niece needs a new bike…" he explained softly as his dagger sank into the man's throat.

'Those fucking bikes are fucking expensive…' he complained in his mind as he watched the artificial life fade from the eyes of the idiot's avatar. 'Still, this bounty business is really good for my savings account…'

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