POV: Victor Sterling
“Is everyone else still here?” I asked as I took the last step.
Zellora continued to stare at me in disbelief. She was the third of my npcs I recruited.
After about a moment, she snapped out of it, “Yes, everything is just as you left it one thousand nine hundred twenty four years ago. Well almost, the treasury is only at 98.6% of the value you had left. Only one of your retainers is missing, Deliliah.” she rattled off as if she went into a heavily rehearsed job.
“Thank you for doing such a great job as always. I want to do a Forge inspection later. Who is missing?” I smiled at her, and her face lit up.
“Deliliah is missing sir.” Then she noticed Empyrea and a few of her followers standing a couple of steps behind me, “Oh you have guests. I shall get the staff around and get the Grand Hall ready for you.” With that she was running off to do her tasks before I could say anything else.
“One hundred percent loyalty,” Empyrea mumbled behind me.
“Huh?” I turn to her.
“Even though it has been over a thousand years everyone of your npcs are loyal to you. Even without you being here. You are the best of us to this day. How?”
“I played the game to have fun not to win. Did you know about the quest generation system?”
“Yes but what dose that have to do with anything?”
We started walking to the Grand Hall, “Recruited npcs can generate quest to but have little to no reward, right.”
“Yes. I only did a few and mostly by accident.”
“Would you do a favor for me with out a reward?”
“Of course, we're friends it would be wrong not to,” she said defensively.
“Right, but I did all the quests for my npcs. I didn't think much about it at first but once I gained level 50 in the Lord class I saw that the loyalty of all of them was over 150%. I continued to do so and one day the loyalty system broke and displayed a 'NA%'. I had emailed the developers and they said I reached a loyalty level so high that is couldn't go down. The npcs quests likes and dislikes aligned with me. I was the first and only one to reach this. This was a bug but they liked it so much and as a reward for me they let it remain.”
“So in the end you treated the npcs' quests like a friend asking a favor and they ended up fanatic followers to a degree?”
“Yes.”
“He treated us as equals even when we were far inferior to him. Yes we know what we were before. Not completely but close enough. Then he gave us a home, provided for us, and gave us a purpose,” the massive black dragon, Adratheth, chimed in.
“And for my brother and I, he was our father and our teacher,” the white dragon, Queendrabia, added.
“Wow. I never thought of that, back then.”
By that time we had reached the other side of the room. I put my hand on the wall next to the path upward. A hidden door opened in the wall leading to a chamber with a magic circle etched on a large circular stone panel that stood in the center of the room. A small pedestal with a crystal ball stood about eight feet back from the stone.
“What is this?” Empy asked inquisitively.
“A Gate Stone. I watched a TV show on Earth called Stargate SG-1, I took it as inspiration for the in base teleportation system.”
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I placed my hand on the portal and images of many rooms similar but different floated before me. With a thought, one of the images floated to the Gate Stone. The runes on the stone lit up and from the center a blue disc grew quickly covering most of the stone then it rippled like water and then the room I selected appeared. I walked over to Empyrea took her had and lead her through the gateway. We on opening the door Empyrea gasped in awe of the architecture due to it's impressive nature.
Large vaulting arches made of marble, basalt walls, gold lined crystals brought a magical light from the mithril chandeliers, and panes made of smooth obsidian trimmed with marble sat like windows into the depths. Just the hall was extravagant but this was merely a hallway in the area of the Forge I dubbed the Palace. It was a place made for talking with outsiders, and projecting my wealth and strength. Leading her down to the first door which was large made of intricately carved magical woods with Orichalcum accents. They silently swung inwards to welcome us in to the Grand Hall. The banquet hall was even more decorated than the hallway just beyond the door.
We had walked in no more than 20 feet in to the massive dinning hall when a three tall thin humanoids each with a different color skin floated in through the servant doors on the far side of the room. These were the three genasi chefs of the palace; Butch, he is a fire genasi with bright red skin that rippled with a glowing cinders, Zi Chúshī, she is a water genasi with leafy green skin, and Pierre, he is a cyan colored air genasi. They were the engine that fueled the Forge, as with any army it ran on its stomach.
Pierre spoke first in a aloof and flamboyant voice in a fake French accent, “Oh Great Lord Sterling, it is soooo magnificent to see you once again.”
Butch spoke next in a matter a fact tone with the accent of a cowboy, “We ain't had a good opportunity in a long time to unleash our skills.”
Chúshī spoke, fast with a heavy Asian accent, to the others, “No, the Forge as a whole deserves the whole of our skill and effort but I will agree with you that Master Sterling requires extra care to fully express of gratitude and skills.”
This began to devolve into a bickering match, at which I could only smile. I had wrote in the backstory that they had both a harmonious working relationship but full of bickering levels of disagreement that can result in only the best outcomes. This was the best seeing my creations made real in full.
At that from behind and throat being cleared interrupted them. I turned to see Zellora standing there with other denizens of the Forge of Creation. These were all but one of the sub masters of the Forge. They became the pillars that the Forge is built upon. The greater lich Straeddas, he is a master of enchanting and a commander on the Undead Legion. The gorgon Madam Ruze, a veil covering her face prevents the petrification effects, but her skills in Herbalism are second to none the Miasma Maze is under her provision. The salamander naga Xodox, he is a taskmaster in charge of the volcanic kilns in the center of the Forge's manufacturing. Prospector Grav an earth elemental who crystallizes the base ores from the magma. Khiva a spider folk who dedicated herself to mastering the art of armors. Panora a centaur, she is Khiva's rival who specializes in melee weaponry. Chlora a high fairy with peerless insight into the art of ranged weaponry. Plexi an ancient automaton who is irreplaceable expert in the crafting magic staves and wands. Zinket the old Gnome Alchemist who researches new and exotic weapons and armor. The missing member is Deliliah a vampiric assassin my Spymaster, who like me spent experience points to negate the vampiric weaknesses to blend seamlessly into the world around us.
“So it is true,” the gruff voice of Xodox expressed in disbelief.
“Yes, chefs please bring out the best you can quickly, as Lord Sterling has many things to take care of,” Zellora commanded to the now quite triplets.
They bowed quickly and rushed off to the kitchen to complete their task. With a clap from Zellora's hands the retinue of serving staff came out and seated all eight of us at the table. Drinks were poured and table was set before the echo of the clap faded.
Zellora then addressed Empyrea, “Lady Empyrea, I think you would be best to explain everything to my master. We haven't had a good intel for nearly 400 years.”
Empyrea just looked at her for a solid thirty seconds before looking back to me, “As you have found out by now, we are considered gods by the population at large. This is more than just the whims of the hapless. Have you looked into your jewel since you came here?”
“No,” I said hesitantly as I instinctively retrieved one of the Jewels of Status from my inventory.
As it landed in my hand a translucent window like that of the game appeared in front of me. Empyrea continued, “After a large group started calling me the Angelic God, I gained a new class 'Divine Being'. I was not the only one as the 18 others of the top 20 players in Emberheart are here in this world. The records also indicate that other players had been here at many points in history. But no others in resent memory”
I looked at my classes in the window as she spoke. At the bottom of the list was a the new class of 'Inheritor of the True Divine' at level 46. My jaw must have dropped slightly, because Empyrea explained, “The experience of the class is based on the levels of all who worship you. So all of us are just over level 22. Before the war it was at about 37.”
I interrupted her, “I'm at level 46, and it's not Divine Being.”
“What!?!” she blurted out stunned.
