Kingdom Level Four: LitRPG

by Adam Drake

  “He could make a good Sage, don't you think?” Rob teased.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “When he has an answer, he doesn't want to share it.”

  Saif scowled. “I understand why you say that, my Lord. But I have sworn to be as open and forthright with you as possible.”

  This made Rob's temper flare up and he stopped in his tracks. He needed to clear the air.

  The Sage stumbled to a stop, as well, nearly tripping over his robes. “My Lord?”

  Rob glared at him. “Forthright, huh? You really believe that?”

  “Why, yes, I swore to you I would,” Saif said, with growing concern.

  “If that's true then why didn't you tell me about the Resurrection Chamber?”

  Saif stared at him for a few seconds, as if gathering his wits, then said, “Oh, that.”

  “Yes, that.”

  “So you know about it, then.”

  “What did I just say?”

  Saif held his hands up in a placating gesture, but for the briefest of moments Rob actually thought the Sage was going to blast him with his Lightning Spell. A vision of the Rock-Cliff dragon roaring in pain as lightning danced across its scales flashed in his mind.

  “My Lord, please. I can explain.”

  “Lower your hands, Saif.”

  “What?”

  Rob continued to glare at him.

  Saif looked at his own hands and realized what he meant. He quickly lowered them looking hurt. “My Lord, you don't honestly think I would do anything to harm you?”

  “Would you?” Rob's pulse raced so hard it felt like a bomb ticking down in his ears.

  “Of course not!”

  “Is that your forthright answer?”

  “Yes!”

  “Then why didn't you tell me about the Resurrection Chamber before?”

  “There was no time, my Lord. Not with the pech swooping in and taking us all away.”

  “Before that. When I first arrived. After I took on the kingship there on the beach you could have walked me over to the dragon altar and had me bind myself there. That way, if I died, I'd appear there. But you didn't.”

  Saif stared at Rob, his expression now unreadable.

  Frustrated, Rob said, “What would have happened to me if Perrin, or those goblins or whatever killed me before I was bound?”

  The Sage's mouth formed a tight line, his lips trembling.

  Rob said, “Let me answer for you, then. I would have appeared back on the beach of the tutorial island, right?”

  Saif tensed as if he wanted to argue more, then his shoulders slumped and nodded. “Yes, I believe so.”

  “You believe so? That's exactly what would have happened because that's where I ended up after I'd died before. I was bound to that island. And had I died over here, on the mainland, I would have reappeared over there. Stuck. With no way to get back here. I know that's what would have happened so don't try to tell me different.”

  Rob was furious. He'd been considering the scenario of his next death ever since he found the Chamber. There were countless times since his arrival on the mainland that he could have been killed. Each one would have resulted in him being transported away to the beach, miles and miles away. Without a boat or food or water. He'd have died from dehydration before he starved, and then would reappear on the beach again. If he attempted to swim back, he knew his chances of returning were nonexistent. Then he'd die in the sea and back to the beach he'd go. Like a macabre version of Groundhog's Day.

  And Saif knew this, and said nothing about the Chamber. Now Rob was going to get his answer, whatever it took. He leveled a glared at Saif, and seethed.

  The Sage couldn't match his gaze and averted his eyes, staring at the ground. When he spoke his voice cracked with emotion.

  “Yes, I knew about the Resurrection Chamber,” Saif said. “It's an alter for Aggu'sun, the Dragon God who used her powers to bring you here.”

  So that creature had a name, Rob thought. He remembered its vast coiled body floating above the cubicles in the office.

  Saif continued. “But when you arrived, I couldn't be certain.”

  “Of what?”

  “If you really were the one. The right person. The right King.”

  Confused, Rob pointed at the crescent moon marking on his temple. “What about this? It means I'm the Chosen One, right? Chosen by that dragon-thing?”

  Saif shrugged meekly. “My Lord, anyone can have a tattoo such as that. It didn't mean I could trust it. Or you.”

  “What?”

  The Sage sighed and cleared his throat. “Please, understand. The kingdom was doomed even before your arrival. I knew that. Everyone did. But I couldn't be sure you were the right individual to save us, so I needed a backup plan. An ability to correct the situation if you turned out to be...”

  “Insane?” Rob suddenly realized where Saif was going with this line of thought. “You were worried you'd end up with someone like Perrin, right? That I'd go crazy. And if I died, I'd be sent far away from here without a way to get back.”

  “That's correct, my Lord.”

  “But that doesn't make sense. The kingdom was collapsing. Those walls were shrinking it down. Everything would have been destroyed.”

  Saif shook his head slowly as if trying to mollify a temperamental child. “That isn't quite true. Everything on the other side of the walls still remained, undisturbed. You saw that yourself. You told me that when you arrived.”

  “Wait, are you saying that everything would have been just fine if the walls finally reached the middle and merged? So what was the point of me even coming here if that was the case? Would they walls of vanished? Didn't I prevent the destruction of the kingdom?” Rob's mind reeled at what he was hearing.

  “Oh, I believe you saved us, my Lord. Most certainly. I realize that. But not from destruction. From something else just as terrifying.”

  Rob wasn't entirely sure he wanted to hear more, but said, “What, then?”

  “Reboot.”

  Hearing the word coming from the Sage made it sound strange, almost alien.

  It took a couple seconds for Rob to recover from his surprise. “Reboot? Re-boot? Is that what you said?”

  “Yes, my Lord,” Saif said. Seeing that Rob recognized the word he leaned forward, eagerly. “What does it mean?”

  “Reboot?”

  “Yes! I've been wondering ever since I first heard of it.”

  Rob shook his head, trying to get his mental bearings. “Wait a second there, buddy. Where in the hell did you hear this word?” He suddenly envisioned the word engraved above a big switch somewhere that can be flicked. Would such an action kick him out of this God-forsaken place?

  “Aggu'sun told it to me in a dream the night before you arrived. Do you know its meaning?”

  Oh, yeah, he knew alright. But what did it mean in the context of this place?

  Rob said, “It means to restart. Start over. Begin again, fresh. New.” Something clicked in the back of his mind. Reboot a server. A server that was running a simulation.

  “Ah,” said Saif, his face alight with revelation. “I think I understand now. Or at least I think I do.”

  Rob and Saif stared at each other with equal amounts of wonder and confusion.

  Rob was the first to speak. “You're still not making sense on the whole not-binding me thing. What would have mattered if I was bound to here, and the walls finally did close in to... reboot, or whatever?”

  “In case I was wrong. Even after the walls were gone I couldn't be sure. Your behavior right after was more than a little disconcerting.”

  Rob had to give the Sage that point. After seeing the mark of the Chosen One on his face, he did lose it a little. It would have made Saif more than a little concerned. He said, “Okay, fine. I acted a little squirrelly, but how long were you going to leave me hanging?”

  “Until I was sure,” Saif said, then quickly added, “I thought that if you returned from purging the farms
tead of goblins you were someone worthy.”

  “Worthy? How so? What would have been different then?”

  “It would have been something you completed on your own. Up until that time, you had Jace helping you. Doing a quest like that one by yourself would have proved-.”

  “I was wasn't a dud,” Rob finished for him. Seeing Saif's confusion at his meaning he said, “A dud. A lemon. Someone who wouldn't work out.”

  “Ah, yes. A dud. And you are most certainly not a dud, my Lord. Not even close. Since then you endured many difficulties and even rescued us all from the pech. With a dragon, no less. No, you're not a dud. You're the Chosen One.”

  Even with all this cleared up there was still something that didn't add up. “So what would have happened if I died and ended back on that island?”

  Saif shrugged again. “I suspect the gods would have realized you were not in any position to lead the kingdom, and would have done something to rectify things.”

  “Reboot?”

  Saif nodded. “Bring back the walls, again, maybe. Or some other terrible action. I don't know for sure. No one really understands the way of the gods.”

  Rob's mind spun in circles. This explained much Saif's behavior toward him. “So you would have let me stay on that island, and wait for things to play out however they may? You'd really have done that to me?”

  “Let's be honest, my Lord,” Saif said with a small diplomatic grin. “We'd only known each other for a couple of days. So, no big loss on my part.”

  Rob laughed, surprising himself. “Okay, fine. I get it now. Or at least, I think I do. I still need to mull all this crap over.”

  “Well, my Lord, if I may be so bold, while you're 'mulling all this crap over' there is still a kingdom to run.”

  Michael suddenly appeared from the treeline. “What's taking you so long? Come see! Quick!” Then he turned and bolted away.

  Saif regarded Rob with a look of concern. “Shall we go, my Lord?”

  Rob had other questions. A lot just got dumped on him, but the wheel still turned.

  And the server keeps on running, Rob thought. “Okay, but we'll talk more later.”

  “Very good!” Saif said, and they both hurried along the path.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  As they entered the village Rob saw a crowd of people had formed at the center circle. When he got closer, he noticed what they were looking at.

  A stone platform filled the circle displacing the mud. It was huge enough to take up the entire space and uniformly flat as if carved from a single slab.

  “What the hell is that?” Rob said, stopping at its edge and staring in wonder.

  “It appeared a short while ago,” Jace said, as the big man approached. Rob was relieved to see him armed with his massive axe, shield strapped to his back. Good to know someone was prepared for any more surprises.

  Saif said, “Appeared? Did something happen?”

  The woodcutter shrugged his shoulders, then hitched a thumb in the direction of a cluster of people at the edge of the platform. “Those folk there just arrived. Said they'd got word the walls were gone and decided to uproot from Casso and make a new start here.”

  It looked to Rob like a large family with bundles of their belongings carried on their backs and bags under their arms. “They brought this thing?” he asked, but knew it sounded stupid the moment he said it.

  Saif's eyes brightened. “In a matter of fact, I believe they did my Lord!” He held his arms out, waving at the pitiful buildings around them. “I think that this village now meets the minimum population requirement to progress into a town. We must have been close until they arrived and put us over the limit.”

  “Town? I thought it was already.”

  Both Saif and Jace laughed at this, but stopped at Rob's scowl.

  Saif said, “My Lord, as you know, everything is based on progression. The Kingdom itself, your skills, the castle. All of it gets bigger and better. Our village is no different. Right now it's a simple village, the most basic of population centers.”

  “And being a town is next?”

  “Correct,” Saif said. “After that is a city.”

  “Can't we just jump to being a city?” Rob said. “No, let me guess. We'd need a buttload of people for that, right?”

  “Uh, buttload? If you mean considerably more than a town, then yes.”

  Rob looked over the assembled village folk. There were roughly a hundred present. Far more than what he brought back from the Western Mountains. It looked as if a lot of people had arrived over the last few days. “How many for a city?”

  “A lot.”

  “How many?”

  Saif shrugged. “Thousands, perhaps. It's hard to say, my Lord, as it various from place to place. But it would require more than that to progress from a town into a city. Infrastructure is a major factor.”

  “Like a blacksmith and roads not made of mud?” Rob said kicking at the wet muck beneath his bare feet.

  Jace frowned. “Where are your boots?”

  “Long story,” Rob said, then to Saif, “Okay, so we qualify for town status. Big deal.” He waved at the stone circle. “What the hell is this for?”

  “I believe its for the Town Foundation Stone, my Lord. Ah, see there, at its center?”

  A small circle was cut out of the stone at its middle, giving the entire slab the appearance of a giant prehistoric wheel.

  Curious, Rob stepped up onto the platform, the stone feeling cool beneath his feet.

  A series of gasps rippled through the assembled throng, and Rob tried to offer them a comforting smile. Their expressions were of trepidation, even fear. He hoped that seeing their king investigating this strange object would put their minds at ease. Even with muddy feet.

  He padded across the stone's surface until he reached the middle, then carefully peered down at the hole, which appeared black and bottomless. “So, what's this for?” Rob said, turning back to Saif.

  The Sage offered another one of his shrugs. “No idea. I've never encountered one before. The village never reached this phase before.”

  Great, Rob thought. He looked again at all the people watching him from the edge of the stone. Each one expectant.

  No pressure here, he thought then reached down to stick a finger into the hole. A message suddenly appeared before him.

  Town Phase One

  Allows a village to become the foundation of a town, granting the ability to place roads and specialized buildings. Creating a town will attract merchants and tradespeople to live here and, thus, contribute to the economy. Adds a contentment bonus to residents. Can be upgraded to Town Phase Two.

  Requirement: Town Foundation Stone

  Rob read the requirement and sighed. Here we go again.

  You have been given a quest! “A Great City Begins With One Stone”

  Locate a Town Foundation Stone and place it in the Foundation Slab. Doing so will initiate the basic infrastructure of a town.

  Reward: Town Phase One

  Rob shook his head. Well, here's another quest to add to the pile. No doubt it would be just as difficult and potentially fatal as the others.

  He heard a grumbling from the surrounding crowd. Instead of looks of expectation, there were many expressions of disappointment. Standing, he raised his hands and said, “Sorry, folks. No town today. But soon, I promise.”

  Some people nodded and smiled, while he did catch the occasional grimace or frown. With nothing happening, they began to disperse back to their crappy huts and shanties. The only one who looked remotely happy was Michael who was skipping along the edge of the circle and singing.

  I can't be Mister Miracles all the time, he thought as he watched his subjects shuffle away. He'd saved most of them from a dismal life of slavery, and they act like this?

  “My Lord.”

  Rob jumped as Saif appeared at his elbow.

  Rob said, “They sure don't look happy, do they?”

  “Well, they've been living in s
qualor for so long, it can only be expected. Complicating matters is the lack of supplies. They're-.”

  “Almost starving, yes I know,” Rob said. He frowned at his muddy people and his lame excuse for a village. If a town was needed to make everyone happy, then that's what he would do. Not like he had much choice in the matter.

  Michael skipped over and gave him a wide gap-toothed smile. “Can you make me into a knight?”