Azimuth: The Elden Throne

Sorry for being a bit latter then usual, my eyes weren't feeling well today.

Enjoy the chap!

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Nothing impressive happened on his way to the Church, apart from the usual glances of the people, but it was when he arrived there that things changed.

Within the Church, Dale saw a group of people arguing with someone else...

He recognized Rodi… And he wasn't alone, he was with his Clan this time.

They were currently trying to get access to the Catacombs, however, it had been blocked off after the players' appearance.

No matter what Rodi said, the guard in front of the staircase did not budge, he allowed Rodi to pass of course, as he was told to do so, but the others weren't allowed.

"Hm?!"

'F-Finally!'

But when he saw Dale, Rodi almost cried, almost begging him for help.

"..."

'Sigh... What do I do with these people...?'

Ignoring his plea for help, Dale focused on his inner thoughts:

'Well...Looks like it's time to enforce what I planned for before.'

'To control the situation, I'll need a representative, a group of players that are in a sense, under my influence.'

'They themselves will suppress other players and prevent chaos from rising.'

'And since I already know some of them, they are my best bet.'

However, there was one thing preventing Dale from moving forward with his plans...

'But… I don't quite have the resources to support them.'

'I cannot issue decent quests unless I'm willing to part away with some of my hard-earned Exp…'

'Gold won't work forever, and the items I have aren't appealing to them.'

'Trading Skill Books is one thing, but those kinds of items must be kept for really High-End Quests, besides, I have no copies in hand.'

Dale was in a bind… He needed to control the players and prevent chaos from setting foot in this place like many other zones on the Continent.

For the sake of resources and control, Players would fight each other, and the moment they learned they could just ignore the locals and milk them for profit, they would do so without much guilt.

And currently, Resko did not have the means to suppress the players' movements like in the Capital with the Royal guards...

Dale only had money... And albeit that was very appealing to these people, eventually, its value would fall in the face of Exp, unless it was quite substantial, or if the economy provided the means for them to use said money effectively.

But for the players, money was a resource that in one way or another, would eventually be transformed into Experience.

From potions to armor to anything, that was how a proficient player would use it for.

"..."

So after frowning slightly, Dale first decided to be done with Rodi and give him his rewards for the past quests, he would think about the rest later.

He first gave him a decent sum of money for his services, and then, he did something unthinkable…

He rewarded him with a 10% Level Exp!

It may be a lot, but deeming their difference in Level, it's not significant for Dale, still, it was his precious, hard-earned progress… Or was it?

The moment he pressed 'confirm' something interesting happened:

[Ding]

[You have issued the rewards for the Quests, *****, and *****]

(I'm too lazy to make their names, but if you all want, I'll create a damn name)

[A total of 2.5 Zulls of Iron and 15% Level XP (18) will be consumed]

[Ding]

[The Quests Rewards surpass their given Difficulty assessment and Rank, a recalculation shall fall in place]

[A total of 1.5 Zulls of Iron and 10% Level XP (18) will be consumed]

[Player: The_Third_Egg is being rewarded with 2 Reputation points with the Village of Resko]

[Ding]

[Your current standing within the Southern Village of Resko is: Elder]

[Disclaimer, as an 'Elder' of Resko, you can issue up to 50 Quests per day Cycle, and provide up to 10 times your current XP count to be used as Quest rewards]

[Disclaimer, Certain Quests that meet the requirements can be rewarded by the Village itself in your stead, not counting towards your daily limit]

[Taking the Village's current wealth, you may issue up to 200 Zulls of Iron per day Cycle]

[Disclaimer, wealth is not endless, walk forward with the intent of reaping two coins for each spent else bankruptcy will be inevitable]

[Maximum Reputation reward has been increased from 1 to 10]

[Maximum Reputation removal has been increased from 5 to 20]

[Disclaimer, abusing Reputation rewards may backlash]

[You may now reward players with your own Intimacy Score]

[You may now punish players that commit infractions, but due to a lack of an official set of laws, punishment is arbitrary to your interpretation of the issue]

[Disclaimer, abusing this authority may backlash]

[...]

A long list of benefits appeared in front of him when he issued the Quest.

"!"

'What? Was there this kind of benefit for being an Elder?... Or perhaps... It had always been there, but since I never used XP as a reward, those were locked.'

'Had I known this before, I might've been able to control Rodi even further before the other players even arrived, it would've also made things simpler as I wouldn't have worried as much.'

He just couldn't believe it, but he felt ecstatic.

You can't blame him, Dale was the only player in the world with a significant position of power in the Continent right now…

Perhaps not the only one, but definitely the one with the highest one, his position being the second highest in all of Resko, even if shared with a handful of people.

This wasn't just any position, it was the position of an Elder in the village with the highest starting Level out of all other Villages on the Continent.

Even if there is someone else out there with a similar position to his, he surely did not share what he knew with others, and neither would he.

He was threading into unknown territory, and this time, he acted and got a reward without expecting it, but next time, that may not be the case.

Dale needed to thread carefully, or else he could end up switching positions with the players.

Though that wasn't likely to happen.

'With this, I won't need to fear for my Level or my Coins… I can issue as many Quests as I want and the rest will do itself.'

'It's also interesting that there's a reward limit, this means that I can't make a simple Quest such as asking someone to fetch me a bucket of water, and then setting the reward to the absolute maximum of 10x my Level, essentially power-boosting someone else into oblivion...'

'Looks like there is a hidden calculation that limits the maximum reward, and if it's surpassed, it changes it to something more fitting.'

'Difficulty x Rank... I wonder how I set those up? It must be calculated by Azimuth's AI based on the requirements I gave it.'

'All of this essentially gives me something to base my future Quests on.'

'Why always reward the players with the maximum reward? That's not sustainable.'

'After all, these rewards may be a bit high for what was essentially asking Rodi to give me his scrap loot from the Dungeon, and asking him to relay a message for me.'

'I'll have to keep that in mind for the future… And properly set the rewards so I always come out on top...'

'No, not me, the Village itself.'

'Although… Even if these mechanics are meant to stop people from abusing this, I'm sure someone will find a way to do so eventually.'

'Still... The people that will take these positions of power will likely be the people that are either very lucky, very capable, or very privileged, so in those circumstances, would it matter if they could abuse such a system?'

'Perhaps it would promote the strong, allowing them to become even stronger, but does that even make a difference?... There are one in a thousand ways for them to grow stronger without the need for such a thing.'

'I'm going off-topic…'

"Sir? Is something wrong? You've been awfully silent…" Rodi asked meekly as he looked at the silent Dale

"Oh? Apologies, I was just thinking about something…" Dale said with a pensive gaze

'I'll have to inspect all of the System messages later to properly understand how to make use of it.'

'But for now, I already know enough to send them on my desired path.'

He looked at the people in front of him and smiled.

"Rodi, from a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the people around you?"

Rodi was caught off guard, he wasn't expecting such a question all of a sudden.

"1 to… 10?" He mumbled to himself

'Why would he ask me that?'

'I mean, they're all quite capable, they're Elites in a sense... Wait!'

'Is this… A Quest I smell?! A party Quest!'

'Is he considering using us for something?!'

"Sir! They…"

/Clears throat.../

"They may not be as strong as me, but I've worked with them for years, our teamwork is refined, and their skills aren't anywhere lower than mine!" He said as he pointed at the people next to him

""...""

They seemed slightly annoyed with Rodi, but they remained silent.

Meanwhile, Dale recognized one of them, the girl with short dark hair and a pair of glasses.

He remembered her because Rodi was always very respectful to her, likely indicating she was of a higher position to him...

The reason why she must be following him right now should be due to his high Reputation, allowing Rodi to interact with the Villagers and sometimes, even get Quests from them.

However, he couldn't tell what Guild/Clan they were part of.

Because of everything that happened when he last logged off, Dale forgot to check his streaming Channel to confirm where he belonged... It wasn't that big of a deal but knowing who he was dealing with would pose an advantage for the future.

That, however, would have to be left for later.

…

/5 minutes later.../

The time passed, and Rodi ran his mouth, telling about each of his friends' specialties and abilities…

But Dale cared little about it, that wasn't his reason for asking.

So as soon as he got his chance, he said:

"I see, no need to explain further."

"After all, if you're lying or mistaken, the only thing at stake will be your life." He said deeply without even blinking

"..."

'Looks like it's going to be a big one…'

Dale pointed towards the Catacombs and said:

"I'll allow you to enter with your team on the premise you do some things to me every time you go there."

/Gulp.../

Rodi gulped hard, focusing his attention on Dale's words.

Dale raised his right hand and index finger and said:

"First, like before, I'll ask you to keep collecting materials from within the Catacombs."

"We are in dire need of Metal, and unfortunately, until I clear the Mines, our only source comes from the reanimated bodies of the ancient Soldiers whose metallic equipment has decayed due to the Miasma."

'It's not technically metal, but as Barme said, most of the resin has already decayed so what's left now is only the metal that needs to be cleaned off.'

"..."

'The Mines? It's not the first time I heard of this... This is a hint.'

'Looks like it'll be a new zone that will be unlocked soon...' Rodi thought to himself as he listened to Dale's words

"I'll pay you handsomely for this task, and I'll put in a bonus for things such as a map of the regions you go through, and even a description of the creatures you find there, something I wasn't capable of doing when I was there."

"But there are some conditions for this, first, you must never go to the 5th floor, it's mostly for your safety than anything else, but if you do, be ready for consequences…"

Rodi shook his head, he wouldn't ignore a warning like that...

"And although I find it difficult for you all to survive beyond even the 3rd floor, in the off chance you're forced to take the plunge, make sure to return to the surface as soon as possible in order to reduce casualties or contact with the Miasma."

"Avoid the others when you do so as well, as contamination is possible and it can be deadly to some."

"In no circumstances are you all to dive deeper, and in case you find something such as hidden entrances to somewhere unknown, such as a hole leading deeper into unexplored territory, report to me immediately together with any sort of strange activity you encounter while you're down there."

"I'll give you a bonus and allow you to explore the sewers as well, but remember, you have a daily quota to achieve if you want to keep exploring the Catacombs."

"If you do find more, I'll pay extra for each individual piece you bring back based on their size and quality."

"If you cannot do so, I'll pass this task on to someone else."

"Regardless, on the off chance you have the leeway to explore the Sewers, I also wouldn't mind giving extra rewards for any unusual items you may find throughout your exploration, including once again, any strange activity you see there."

'I must guarantee anything unusual is reported to me...'

"One last warning, while you're there, you're prohibited from diving into the Submerged Sewers, you know very well where that is." Dale said as he looked at Rodi

"Understood sir!" Rodi replied like a soldier

"..."

'This guy... Does he think he's in the army...'

'Forget it.'

Dale shook his head and said:

"In case one of you gets hurt and can't participate anymore, I won't be stiff and I'll allow a replacement."

'Although I think that won't happen, either a player will die and respawn after a set period of time with a penalty, or they'll drink a potion/wait until their HP is full again.'

'I'm only doing this in case they get a disease from the debuff of the Dungeon, preventing them from fighting.'

'It wouldn't be good if the players I'm investing in are forced to be replaced due to my own promises.'

"I'll make this clear, in essence, I'll be allowing 5 people to accompany you down there at any time, so it doesn't matter who it is, as long as they are with you when they enter the Catacombs, if they aren't they'll be barred entry."

"Did you get all of that, or do I need to repeat myself?" Dale asked with a serious expression

"I did sir! Loud and clear." Rodi said with a salute

'This is pretty much a free ticket into the only known Dungeon in the area!'

'A multi-staged Dungeon that is so big it can be considered an entire Hunting Zone!'

'The only condition is for us to recover a set number of items every dive, but that is simple.'

'Another problem is the number limitation, but I imagine we should be able to raise the total number over time as we grind our Reputation scores.'

'We could officialize this place as our Guild's exclusive hunting grounds through the Quests!!'

'Oh boy, what a Quest!... With this, my position will...'

"Good." Dale replied, pleased

'Any moment now…'

[DING!]

[You have created the Repeatable Daily Quest: Cleanup Squad 1]

[The Quest can be shared with upwards of 5 players]

[The conditions and terms have been determined, as long as they're fulfilled, the Quest will renew itself until it fails, or you end it yourself]

[You have delivered the task of completion to another player]

[This quest is currently under the jurisdiction of player: The_Third_Egg]

"I'll be going first then." Dale said as he took a step further

He nodded towards the guard and patted his shoulder before taking a step down into the dark…

But he stopped and said:

"Also, I forgot to mention it, but I'll remind you to not raid the tombs of the fallen soldiers."

"You can check inside if they're already open, but do not open them yourselves." He warned in a deep tone

'I know that things change when players enter a Dungeon, but just to be sure, it would be better if Testros didn't come back and saw all of the tombs open and violated.'

'He would have an anger attack...'

And with that, he left, leaving behind a group of excited and confused players…

"..."

'I always thought those tombs were either map props or traps, I had no idea they could be opened…' Rodi thought to himself after he heard Dale speak

'Well, I was warned either way, must be my recent Reputation increase!'

'In any case… I hit the jackpot this time! Time to Livestream!...'

He then looked towards the short-haired lady, who was smiling dangerously.

"You weren't thinking of streaming this very sensitive information, right?" She said deeply as she tightened her grasp on her long wooden Staff

"Eh? What do you think of me? Of course not!" Rodi replied with confidence as a bead of sweat fell from his forehead

"... Alright then, share the content of the Quest with us if that's the case, there's a lot to go through, in the meantime, I'll contact the Guild leader." She said as she fixed her glasses

"Yes, Ma'am…" Rodi replied dejectedly

…

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Notes

I'm trying to mix more POVs as we go through the story to try and give more perspectives on how each person reacts to what Dale does and says.

Dale sees the Catacombs one way while everyone else sees it in another, that is how it is.

Peace.

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