Luigi gazed at the scroll before him with wonder. “A hundred locomotives in a month’s time?”

  Orlin positively beamed. “It looks like our silent partner’s interested in running a business venture with the best mechanics and engineers in the entire sector! And our boy’s willing to pay top rates to get it done.”

  “But, Your Grace!”

  Orlin fixed Luigi with a gimlet eye. “Those self-replenishing mines in Harriman territory include iron, copper, tin, aluminum, tungsten and Alutopaz, correct?”

  Luigi blinked, eyes bulging with his shiver. “I… yes. Yes they do.”

  Orlin’s grin widened. “Ore in its purest form, bound not to oxides but magic, as malleable as clay! And that contract specifically offers us unfettered access to those mines for so long as we’re in the locomotive business, does it not? Including the right to build multiple factories and forges!”

  Luigi blinked, merchant’s instincts curving even his stunned features into a hungry smile. “Yes, Your Grace. Yes it does.”

  “And we don’t even have to use our own replenishing nodes. Never mind the fact that we never had them until now, or that I remember discovering them years ago.” Orlin chuckled, rubbing his hands together. “Well, then. Let’s get to making our dear young prince all the shiny locomotives he needs to get his rail line company up and running… while making a fortune ourselves!”

  The red bearded dwarf snapped a cheery salute. “Right away, sir!”

  The moment Luigi left, his daughter, dressed in adventuring gear of all things, sprung into the throne room unannounced. “Father, our clan now has tenfold the number of cousins and odd relatives I’ve never seen before in my life than we did yesterday… yet I somehow know them all perfectly well!?”

  “Excellent! More loyal in-laws we can have working the kilns and forges and building the most powerful steam locomotives this world has ever seen!”

  His daughter did not look amused. “Father, what madness is this?”

  Orlin chuckled, gazing indulgently at the scowling girl who looked so like her human mother. “Truly, daughter? After feeling the sheer power radiating off the strongest Contender I’ve ever seen... one who you know far more intimately than I—you have to ask that?”

  Melissa paled. “Contenders aren’t gods, Father… are they?”

  Her father chuckled. “Of course not, darling. But then again, causality is a far more fragile thing than most people realize.” He favored her with a gentle smile. “How many of the stories that you used to love reading as a child do you think were based on actual history, and how many are pure fantasy?”

  His daughter blinked at the odd shift in conversation. “They’re all fantasy, Father. Everyone knows that. There was never a magical forest of iron oak, no dwarf was ever a sacred Druid, Argon Forgebane was never a Titanborn. There isn’t even such a thing as a Titanborn.”

  Her father solemnly stepped off his throne, gently stroking her innocent cheek with a father’s tender regard. “Every word you speak is true. In this timeline, child.”

  Her daughter paled as he spoke on.

  “And what do you think happens to our history when time itself warps and changes by the weird and will of Contenders wild, wicked, and bold?”

  Melissa trembled, white as a sheet, lurching back in fear and dismay before falling on her well padded rear with the clank of steel scales and mail armor. “No, Father! What you’re saying…”

  “You said it yourself, child. We now have ten-fold the number we once did. So best we record what we remember of our past before we forget, no?”

  His gentle smile belied the fierce intensity of his gaze. “I hereby appoint you Scribe and Storyteller of Ironthew clan. Like your grandmother before you. So get writing, child. Record our history as best as you can before you dare let sleep claim you. For I promise you that when next you wake, it is our past that will seem like a dream and the truths you write will be legends on the morrow.”

  Melissa choked back a sob, tears streaming down cheeks shaking with horror. “Father, this can’t be! Our entire world…”

  He leaned down, giving her a gentle hug. “We’re alive and well and in better shape than we have ever been before. Most important, we’re allies with the Contender that could dream us all out of existence, if he so chose.” He forced a cheerful smile. “So you best get writing and I’d best get greeting the thousand plus people who by first light tomorrow, we’ll have always known.”

  He forced a chuckle as his daughter gave a dutiful nod, saluting him fist to chest as tears streamed down her pale cheeks. “It will be as you say, Father. I swear it!”

  “Look on the bright side, child. Reality may be far more fluid than we may like, but if the scroll that Luigi pulled out of his ass like he had always had it in his hand is anything to go by, we’ll soon be a very rich clan!”

  ***

  You have successfully blessed New York City with the overarching boons of Productivity and Innovation! Dwarven Pocket Realm now enjoys the added boon of Prosperity! Enigma has been transformed into a top-tier cultivation retreat!

  Congratulations! You have successfully used the Golden Keys of Ascension to transform New York State into a mecca of Pristine Green Magic and enhanced Fertility!

  Every city, town, and community within your Duchy are connected by magical indestructible train tracks and free stations that will extend to any territory you claim anywhere upon the continental Americas!

  Eric’s sense of rapture became a startled howl as unexpected potency blazed through him, saturating his overextended cells with so much might that he thought he’d burst.

  Strength and Vitality have each increased a baseline 75 Points! (Further modified by all applicable modifiers). Soul Reserves have increased an additional 25 points as you drink deep from the Crimson Chalice of Endless Bounty before you!

  Share the bounty with your adoring supplicants and grow ever stronger!

  CONGRATULATIONS! You are the FIRST Contender in the northern hemisphere to claim a linchpin territory and claim an ENTIRE REGION!

  You have earned the Bronze Tier Title: Realm Forger!

  All Territory enhancements will now be 20% Stronger than they would otherwise be!

  All attributes have increased by 5%!

  You enjoy a +5% Modifier to all future attribute gains!

  NOTE! You have earned a Bronze Tier Title while still a White-Tier Contender!

  NONE have dared to contest your claim!

  All title and attribute boons have been doubled.

  Synergism Detected! (Productive Dwarves!) Train Tycoon Contender now additionally includes lesser versions of both the Free Stations sub-perk AND the Trains sub-perk!

  Eric choked back a howl, praying his Sister didn’t think he looked too bizarre with his head thrown back as he shuddered with the raw, sweet power of a Bronze tier title surging through him, caressing and saturating every iota of his being.

  It was some moments before he could focus on the system messages once more.

  You have successfully CLAIMED the former State of New York!

  Do you .wish to ASSUME this throne?

  Claiming New York State (150,000 square miles of extremely fertile Grade-A territory) will elevate you to a Rank 49 Bronze-tier Noble (Duke) This ELITE Class comes with multiple benefits, boons, and perks!

  Do you wish to embrace the Ruler’s Path? Y/N

  You have chosen: NO!

  You have surrendered the Throne of New York State!

  Eric tuned out the absolute flood of interface messages and psychic shouts, screams and commands flooding his mind from countless third parties in that moment between waking and dream.

  Instead, he turned his focus to the only one who mattered.

  The solemn face of his sister, gazing at him with such concern in her turtleneck sweater and stonewashed blue jeans, a girl who looked both awed and horrified by what he was offering.

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  “Eric, are you sure?”

  He flashed a bloody smile. “Sure as anything, Elonia. Sure as hell, I’m not going to give this to any of the screaming counsel assholes, either local or global, nor any of the power-mad fucks lurking in the shadows all around us. And as much as I like and respect my good buddy Caliban… I no longer give a fuck who accuses me of being too close to my family for a ‘Free Agent’. My conscience is clear and Conceptio agrees. So if they don’t like it, they can all go fuck themselves. Or they challenge me to my face if they don’t like the way I do things, and I’ll gladly take their heads. So, yeah, Elonia. New York State is yours.”

  His sister flashed a smile filled with such joy, happiness, and relief that it broke his heart, even as she swept him up in arms now so much stronger than a girl of 20 odd Strength, just barely holding on.

  Arms that now belonged to a girl blessed with several hundred glorious points in all her physical attributes, without penalizing her uniquely awesome perks and title boons at all.

  “Thank you, Eric. Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Her eyes twinkled with love and warmth. “And I promise that I’ll reach out to Caliban the moment I wake up from this dream, and make sure that Blue Corp Bank has a home in every last city and town that I now control. Because you better believe our economy’s going to be booming, and I want the bank you and Caliban share to be at the heart of it all.”

  Eric chuckled. “Thanks, sis! I know that will go a huge way toward keeping uniting Sylvan alliance and Blue, like mitochondria in every cell. It might all be in your name, in your honor, but our bank is definitely going to be seeing some major action. And, so long as I’m just a silent shareholder, my own crimson path doesn’t care how I profit from it all.”

  She flashed an arch smile. “Your Crimson Path that just shot up to level 20, and boy, that’s a doozy of a perk selection to pick from. I hope you choose the right one.”

  Eric blinked, at a momentary loss for words as she snorted.

  “Goodnight, Eric. I’m so proud of you that I could burst!” Her teasing gaze then turned to a look of genuine dismay.

  Eric blinked in sudden concern. “Elonia?”

  “Um… Eric, I think you’re becoming just a bit unbalanced?”

  “How so?”

  She squeezed his hand. “You’re Strength is now over 2800. And your Arcane Potential makes me want to cry. But your Spiritual Energy… 142 can’t be right, can it?”

  Eric swallowed, the incredible rush he had savored at achieving his greatest feat and empowering himself like never before turned to a sinking feeling of dismay, realizing that, thanks to his father’s bitter parting gift… the very potency that was letting him tear through the world with resistances now shockingly high, just might kill him in very short order.

  “Fuck.”

  “Eric?”

  Before Eric could explain, the roaring darkness of exhaustion had consumed him, Eric having energy only for a final glance at his character sheet, now filling him with such a sense of wonder and dismay, demanding that he make a final choice… and that he do it now.

  Congratulations! You’ve achieved Rank 20 Along the Path of Consumption!

  How do you wish to advance?

  You may choose.

  A. Contender’s Maw. Sure, transforming reality to suit your whims is all well and good, but what really matters is getting a good chunk of your fellow Contender’s POTENT flesh! You’re now truly swimming with the sharks, only now it’s they that have to worry about getting eaten alive!

  Path of Crimson Bounty boons remain unchanged! You’ve stepped off the path to set traps for your favorite prey! Your inner phoenix’s sharp talons and sheering beak can now tear free the quivering flesh of your prey nearly as well as any ancestral T-Rex! You can now claim an additional 50% of all an opposing Contender’s attributes, over and above what you’re already able to tear free from any Contender to fall before you!

  B. Reaver’s Maw. - Why hold back? Elonia has her happy little home. Let’s make the rest of the world YOUR OWN! Burn the foliage of your former flawed path to cinders as you savor 100% bonus to what you already tear free from ALL territories AND Contenders you devour as you drink down their potency and leave NOTHING behind.

  Not even ashes.

  Not even memory.

  The territories and tyrants you devour will have never been.

  And no corrupt Inquisitor or actual honest Imperial Agent will ever know!!!

  C. Paladin’s Promise.

  You’ve savored the sweet enticements of corruption and found it wanting. You’ve torn wonders free of desperately struggling souls and your heart bleeds with sorrow.

  Turn regret to redemption and forge a story that will bring tears of relief and joy to all who know your tale. Bring to life the higher order concepts of Justice, Love and Virtue!

  Your touch will no longer consume your foes, but will give them peace in the next life as the world blossoms before your loving gaze like never before! All Lesser territory boons become GREATER territory boons. In addition to the gentle gifts enhancing your physique and soul, you now savor the sweet caress of 5 Spiritual Energy with every territory you gift with the touch of enlightenment and virtue! For the world needs a champion both compassionate and strong and you, Contender, are fated to be both!

  A tiny part of Eric howled his frustration in the heartbeat between endless possibility and what will have always been. As anxious as he felt upon realizing just how truly close he was to his own destruction… no phoenix worthy of their wings would shy away from soaring for the heavens, no matter how hot their own peril might blaze.

  Though he was no saint, and no fool to leave a shockingly potent source of power behind that had literally doubled all his near legendary attributes in just a handful of days… he would never become the very monster that he had fought so hard to rescue his world from.

  Hell no.

  He would be Terra’s greatest defender, and profit from every Contender that dared to think his world their hunting ground.

  It was his territory and his alone.

  And it would blossom under his care.

  The phoenix spread his wings as Eric soared along endless currents of ether and dream, reveling in his strengths, no matter how uncertain his future had just become.

  _______________________________________________________

  Eric Silver Level 99 PRISTINE GOLDEN PHOENIX (Adventurer)

  (3rd Tier Core Saturation at 95.51%!)

  You and your progeny may now ascend to Light Gold without any planetary sacrifices needed at all!

  Rank 73 DEATH’S DISCIPLE (Is it cultivation you practice... or EVOLUTION?)

  (You now have 2.1% Plaque upon your once PRISTINE Foundation! Fortunately, evolution ALWAYS finds away! But the wisest predator keeps to clean kills and occlusions BELOW 5% for as long as they can!!!)

  Level 74 Master Necromancer

  Physical Characteristics

  Strength – 2862 (With Burst of Strength, you can shred pretty much any object, even those reinforced by higher order concepts, if they don’t exceed your WRATH! Super Punch man would be proud! Tungsten-reinforced bank vaults? You’re bursting them with ease!)

  Vitality – 2859 (Your Vitality is worthy of a Silver-tier behemoth!)

  Finesse – 1691 (You’re now as deadly as a Bronze-tier sniper. Even without all their perks!)

  Quickness – 2914 (You’re over 145 times faster than an Olympic Fencer. Good thing Battletime makes pesky things like relativity, inertia, and air resistance strictly optional for you!)

  Appearance – 40 (If this were pre-apocalypse, you would star in all your mother’s movies!)

  Mental Characteristics

  Scholarship – 43 (You’re still yourself, but your thoughts are clear and your memory is sharp!)

  Perception – 1640 (A deadly marksman who always spots his prey. No one’s sneaking up on you!)

  Willpower – 161 (You were forged in fire, and it shows!)

  Charisma – 22 (No comment. This isn’t your path. You didn’t choose the slice-of-life option and there’s no going backsies this late in the game!!)

  Potency Pools

  Arcane Potential – 1440 (An Archmage would be proud to make you his prodigy!)

  (Mana Pool = 17291)

  Spiritual Energy – 137 (You now risk absolute PERIL, maximizing your defenses, but none can deny your incredible resilience!)

  (Qi Pool = 1644)

  Psionic Potency – 589 (Despite your flaws, you’re worthy of a Psion Knight’s regard.)

  (Psion Pool = 7077)

  Soul Reserves – 1423 (You could be a Master Necromancer... You ARE a Master Necromancer!)

  Stamina – 28410 Points

  Health – 33179 Points

  Resistances & Recovery

  Physical Resistance – 1137 (At this point, you could charge the Imperium’s Dreadnoughts at sub-light speed and THEY would be the ones to blow up on impact! NOTHING short of Deep Silver opponents or essence-infused attacks is damaging your flesh! With Battletime further cushioning the blows? You’re ABSURD!)

  Physical Regeneration – 285 health per second (After triple-heart shots, it’s clear you DO need this!)

  Elemental Resistance – 570 (855) (Resistances this high means you’re basically immune to elemental magic, unless Higher Order concepts are in play! No Silver-tier master lacking essence-infused spells is stopping you, Hyperion Blazer!)

  Qi Resistance – 643 (Shockingly high! Your Qi Resistance is now FOUR TIMES your Spiritual Energy! BE CAREFUL, Body Cultivator! The wise warrior balances resilience with bountiful reserves!)

  Mental Resistance – 622 (Even Silver-tier faerie enchantments, persuasion, and illusions will be revealed to you, unless Essences and Higher Order concepts are in play!)

  Psionic Resistance – 439 (Dense Neurons mean squid-brains and Psion Lords like Song won’t find you easy prey at all!)

  --_________________________________________________________--