The teleportation transit back to the Valley of Cinders was significantly less jarring than the trip to the slums. Sebastian was getting used to the nauseating sensation of having his digital atoms rearranged. He materialized on the large stone platform of the Sanctuary grand hall, immediately followed by the heavy thudding arrival of Galleon.
The dwarf stumbled off the glowing runes while clutching his stomach and groaning loudly. He took one look at the towering black pillars, the vaulted glass ceilings, and the perfectly smooth walls of the citadel, and his jaw practically detached from his face. The ambient heat of the valley outside was completely neutralized in here, replaced by cool and sterile air.
"By the sweat of the First Maker," Galleon breathed as his alcohol induced stupor instantly vaporized. He reached out with a trembling hand to trace the intricate masonry of a nearby pillar. "This is Tier 5 Fortress Architecture. Seamless integration. No mortar. It is conceptually fused stone. Who built this? Where are the laborers?"
"I fixed a leak," Sebastian replied dryly as he stepped off the platform. "Welcome to Sanctuary, stubby. Do not scratch the walls."
"Sebastian!"
Valerie shouted across the massive and empty hall. She was standing near the central war table, surrounded by a dozen floating and translucent blue holographic screens. The corporate heiress looked like a stressed worker who had just been handed a failing company. Her pristine blue silk robes were immaculate once again thanks to the instance reset, but her eyes were wide with sheer panic.
"We have a massive problem," Valerie announced as she swiped a glowing interface panel toward him. "A categorically apocalyptic problem, and for once, I am not talking about the real world."
Sebastian casually strolled over and his ragged Drifter boots clicked against the polished floor. "Did you break the guild interface already? I gave you administrator privileges five minutes ago."
"I did not break anything! The game broke us," Valerie snapped while her fingers danced across the floating keyboards. "When you planted that Mythic Guild Token, the server did not just register the territory. It updated the global map. It broadcasted our coordinates to every single player logged into The Ethereal Plane."
"I expected that," Sebastian said, entirely unbothered. "Let them look. They cannot break Tier 5 walls with iron swords."
"You are not listening," Valerie insisted and jabbed a finger at a highly detailed map of their valley. A glowing blue icon was flashing directly beneath the footprint of their newly rendered citadel. "The territory scan revealed what was buried under this specific patch of dirt. Sebastian, we built our base directly on top of a pristine and untapped Leyline Node."
Galleon let out a sound that was half gasp and half squeal. The dwarf practically threw himself onto the war table, his bloodshot eyes staring at the pulsing blue icon like a starving man looking at a roasted ham.
"A Leyline Node?" Galleon whispered reverently. "Infinite ambient mana? An endless and naturally renewing power source? Boss, do you know what I can build with this? I do not just need to build a railgun. I can build a localized orbital strike cannon! I can build plasma turrets! I just need scrap metal! Give me metal!"
"Calm down," Sebastian said and pushed the hyperventilating dwarf away from the console. He looked at Valerie. "Infinite mana is exactly why I picked this spot. My real world body is going to need a massive battery to pull the citadel into reality when the Merge hits. What is the issue?"
"The issue," Valerie said as her voice dropped to a grim whisper. "Is that every major guild on the server just realized two players in a brand new guild are sitting on the most valuable real estate in the game. And they want it."
She tapped another screen and brought up the global chat and the localized scouting feeds.
The chat was scrolling so fast it was just a blur of white text, but the scouting feed was crystal clear. Less than two miles away at the southern mouth of the canyon pass that led into the Valley of Cinders, a massive sea of players was rendering into the zone.
"Baron K and Viper did not just respawn and complain," Valerie explained. "They united their factions. The Golden Lions and the Crimson Skulls have formed a temporary coalition. They promised thousands of silver coins to any solo player or mercenary group willing to join the raid."
Sebastian squinted at the visual feed. The sheer volume of character models was causing the canyon textures to violently lag. Banners of crimson and gold flapped in the hot wind. There were heavily armored Guardians forming a massive shield wall, hundreds of Mages organizing their spell rotations in the backlines, and swarms of Rogues flanking the ridges.
"Five thousand players," Valerie said with a tight voice. "Five thousand heavily armed and highly coordinated players marching down the canyon right now. And we do not have a single turret built yet. We have a giant stone box, a drunk dwarf, and a rusty dagger."
Sebastian watched the massive army slowly advancing through the toxic smog of the valley. He could practically see the arrogant and greedy sneers on Baron K and Viper faces from here. They thought they were marching to a free real estate acquisition. They thought they were about to bully a couple of lucky exploiters out of a Leyline Node.
"Five thousand," Sebastian mused and rubbed his chin. "That is a lot of loot drops to organize. I really hate inventory management."
Valerie stared at him, utterly exasperated. "Sebastian, this is not a joke! If they breach the guild core, the Sanctuary is destroyed. We lose our physical anchor in the real world. We die!"
"They are not going to breach the core," Sebastian said. He turned away from the war table and began walking toward the towering titanium front doors of the citadel. "Galleon."
"Yes, boss?!" the dwarf snapped to attention and practically saluted with his blacksmithing hammer.
"Start tearing up the floorboards in the east wing. Find the Leyline tap. I want blueprints for those railguns ready by the time I get back," Sebastian ordered.
"You got it! I am going to need lots of conductive wire and maybe some highly unstable crystals."
"Valerie," Sebastian interrupted and cut off the dwarf manic engineering rant. "Lock the doors behind me. Do not step outside. Do not open the gates until the screaming stops."
Valerie gripped her wooden staff as her knuckles turned white. "You cannot fight an army of five thousand people by yourself. It defies the mathematical logic of the game combat system. You will run out of mana. You will run out of stamina. They will just rush you until your health hits zero."
"Princess," Sebastian paused and looked over his shoulder. The dim light of the hall caught the cold sheen in his deadpan eyes. "I stopped playing by the game logic the moment I logged in. I am not going to fight them. I am going to introduce them to an industrial accident."
He pressed his hand against the massive titanium doors. The heavy pneumatic hinges hissed, and the thick metal slabs slowly ground open, revealing the harsh heat and the swirling ash of the Valley of Cinders.
Sebastian stepped out into the desolate wasteland. He did not draw a weapon. He did not cast a protective shield. He just stood there in his ragged starter tunic as a solitary speck of grey against the imposing black backdrop of his fortress.
The heavy doors slammed shut behind him and the deadbolts locked with a resounding final clank.
Down at the end of the valley, the vanguard of the allied army finally crested the last ashen ridge. Five thousand players stopped in their tracks as the massive and impossible Tier 5 Citadel rendered into their field of view. A collective gasp of shock and unadulterated greed echoed across the canyon.
And standing perfectly still in the open ash field, waiting for them, was the man they had come to kill.
Sebastian cracked his neck, the sound sharp in the dry air. "Alright, meeting is in session," he muttered. "Let us see who brought their complaints."