"What is your take on these tokens?" Eli asked Stevens and Cory.
"I think it's to help those without magic talent, get skills." Stevens said.
"I think it's an economic thing," Cory said.
They both looked at him with heads tilted, as if surprised he was standing there.
"Go on," Stevens said.
"Well, what happens is those who need the token can't use the token they get, they are going to sell it. I would always sell duplicates when I got them from my collectables. My mother said that people with money are always willing to buy power. I think this is that kind of thing." Cory said.
"I think he's right," Stevens said, "think about how pivotal an economy is to a society. And I think that probably only 15% or maybe 25% of people got these from the event. Those who have more nodes, will have them to sell first, meaning they will get the best price for them. And it also puts some perspective on the system credits. To start out, these tokens will be the most expensive thing anyone can buy."
"Ok so it's just a way for powerful people to get rich?" Eli asked.
"No, it's a way for powerful people to buy strength for their servants and followers, or to just get rich," Stevens said.
"My god Tara, he is sexy," Bethany said.
"Oh I'm aware, but I am.." She trailed off after Audrey elbowed her, "We are here to see if you are going to be worth the trouble. I know you've had your eye on him since you first saw him, but what I don't know is why? Also, what do you offer him?"
"The why is easy, he is powerful and unique, but what has really drawn me in recently, enough to even make this bond possible, is how he treats others. He almost died, many times, because people were too stupid or incapable of defending themselves. He didn't owe them anything, but he stepped up, and paid in blood and pain and trauma. My grandfather and uncle were combat vets, and Ash was getting the same look they used to get when the past came up. The voluntary undertaking of suffering for the sake of others, that's why my heart aches for him," Bethany explained.
"As for what I offer him, it's the same thing I can offer you. I can handle business, professions, auctions, trading, I'm the one you want handling that. Fighting won't win everything, and spying won't get you all the information you want. Sometimes an easy trade or bribe that will do wonders." Bethany paused and thought for a second then continued. "Although now that I've seen his face I do have other parts I would happily offer… " She was cut off by a punch to the stomach.
"I told you before, I need to be all in, I don't just want to serve him, I want to be his everything. Hell, I'll wash his feet and su…" Again she got cut off by a harder punch this time. Then they both paused and looked at Audrey realizing that she just heard that.
"I was in college for a year, you guys aren't nearly vulgar enough to make me blush," Audrey said, waving a hand dismissively.
"Well, then I want to…" A third punch to the gut brought her to her knees.
"That wasn't a challenge," Tara said to Bethany angrily.
"Do you have any questions for Bethany, Audrey?
"Yes, two in fact. First, do you understand that Tara is his wife and that their relationship is supported by the system? And second, are you going to try and sleep with him anyways?" Audrey asked, looking at Bethany suspiciously.
"I didn't know the system sanctioned marriage, but ok. And yes I will try to seduce him, but I won't cross any lines you two put down." she answered.
The three talked for a couple hours getting everything in line. Tara made a point to not mention that the system also sanctioned concubines, she would take that to her grave. After talking, Tara and Bethany seemed to have things worked out. Everything depended on if Eli made a move on her, so Tara would just have to make sure that wasn't something that would cross his mind. She felt it was a constant reminder having Bethany around, that her man was in demand so she would have to keep his attention.
They came together again and shared a few things, Audrey and Bethany becoming servants, which was glossed over since Stevens and Tara talked about how he was her minion now. They had all leveled, and shared what the token had given them. Mostly pretty basic skills except Audrey. She had hit level 30 and upgraded her class to 'Servant - Spy of Ashen hopelessness - Epic' the skill was an air node skill that let her hear voices from long distances. Her class upgrade upgraded her light spell to almost complete invisibility, which was then upgraded to full invisibility when she showed off the item that the boss dropped.
This was a cloak dropped from that last boss, it looked identical to Ash's cloak except that it had a hood, and when she put it up, it improved her invisibility spell. Its name and quality was also the same except hers was 'of mirrors' instead of Eli's 'of consumption'. Tara and Bethany poked fun at her for them looking so alike, so Eli said that when they started traveling she could ride on his shoulders for a while. The other women quickly stopped and apologized. After everyone had a good feeling about their new stats and skills and such, it was time for Eli to lay out the plan.
Eli explained what the next 12 days would look like, it would take them at least 4 days, maybe 5 to get to the training grounds where Eli was working on getting stronger, then they would fight some truly strong beings down there. Then they make sure they are back in time for the next monster horde event, those tokens were too valuable to pass up and it was likely that it would change in format somehow. Tara and he would travel together and get there in about two days, they would train and hunt some before the others joined them and they worked more on group things. Then Tara would return early to see how the southern towns were doing before they got set up to kill everything again.
Everyone else would get back in time to be rested for the event. Eli would join them last, wanting some alone time to hunt where he could really test his skills and capabilities without worrying about others being too close or in danger. On the trip down you guys work on body and soul upgrades as well as fight any monster you run into, if you stay away from the volcano that you can see from here on your way south they won't be too high level for you to handle. I also want everyone to think about what they think we should do after this next event. I don't have a clear direction for us yet so I want everyone's opinion. That wasn't word for word what he said but it was close, he was still working on speaking to the group while maintaining his powerful inhuman image so it had been a lot sloppier than that.
"What about you destroying parts of these southern towns that did not do as you asked?" Audrey asked Eli.
"I think I'll leave that up to Tara for when we get back, I'm sure she will know how to handle it." He answered. "Any other questions before we all head south?"
They all looked at one another, but no one seemed to have any other questions.
"If that is the case then I suggest that you all step inside the barrier and check out the store, I have more credits than I know what to do with, it seems monster horde monsters are automatically looted, so let me know if you need some extra for something you need." Eli said.
They all walked a few minutes to get inside the barrier and started going through the list of things that were available. Audrey got their attention and told them to get emergency food and water, she was feeling hungry and thought that maybe the system was taking off some of the training wheels. They all stocked up on spare weapons and armor, some clothes, tents and food and water. They came back to Eli looking ready to go.
"Last chance to back out, if you leave the group out in the wild, you may not make it back to a safe zone," Eli said as a final warning.
No one wanted to back out so Tara and Eli said their goodbyes and took off running south. The sun wasn't up yet so the other decided to just rest and maybe get a nap in before they started at first light. They all laid down near where they had set a fire before and started to get some rest. With three out of the four of them being able to contact Eli or Tara through system messages, they felt like it was going to be a safe journey.
Stevens woke everyone up, when he saw people approaching just as the sun was coming up enough to light up the sky. They all got ready for a fight with gear on and weapons out. Audrey pulled her hood up and disappeared with her skill, but she stayed close. It was a group of six, five men and a woman, they were walking up to them at a casual pace seemingly not in a hurry.
"Hello there," Stevens said to them loud enough to be heard while they were still far away.
"Hello, may we have a word?" said the leader of this group of what appeared to be a bunch of homeless people before and after the world ended.
Stevens took a few steps out to meet the leader of their group who was stepping away from his group as well.
"Would you happen to know where Lord Ash is?" the man asked
"That number one guy?" Stevens asked.
"Yes, him, we are looking for him."
"Trying to knock him off his number one spot eh?
"Good god no, we want to join him, anyone that powerful would be able to tell these other lords to piss off." the man said, and he was so affronted by the notion they wanted to fight him, Stevens thought it might be an act, and prepped some spells in his mind.
"Why would you need to tell these Lords to piss off?" Stevens asked, while wearing the most innocent face he could manage.
"Look, do you know where the guy is or not?"
"I know that he is the one who destroyed this area outside the safe space, we came here to check it out, but there was no one there when we got here." said Stevens.
"Alright then, we will be on our way," the man said and waved for his group to move further east.
"Audrey, what was that about," he said after they left.
"Some lord where they were when the event happened is causing them trouble, they didn't say why but one of them said that trying to pay Lord Ash to fight him was a bad idea."
"That is worse than a bad idea, Ash would never take money, he would be more likely to be offended that someone thought his principles were for sale." Stevens said. "Ok, now that that is over, let's all double check the shop and see if we missed anything we might need, then we can be on our way."
They all went over everything and started to move south, walking at first but then at a jog, and for the end of the day they were running. It seemed that monsters near the safe zone hadn't respawned yet as they did not encounter a single one the whole first day. However, they all knew that the next day wouldn't be as easy, so they made sure to rest up and took turns on watch while the others were asleep in their tents.
Bethany and Audrey were starting to become friends, discussing their mutual jealousy of Tara, and their plans to surpass her. Cory and Stevens were both gaming nerds who liked to discuss magic, how it worked, how it felt and non-system ways to use it. Stevens was more science and Cory was more intuition, but they respected each other and were always trying to puzzle it all out.