7/21
Pathbreakers HQ
10:10 AM
Jose Amarillo steepled his fingers in front of himself. This was his new move which made him feel more boss-like. He'd skimmed through several business management guides and come to a conclusion: act like a boss, people treat you like a boss. This was, much to his surprise, working so far. Despite him insisting on wearing Hawaiian shirts to work.
Today the meeting in the conference room was Brian, Arushi, Luis, Meagan and Willard. This, not including his wife Amy, was what Jose was considering his department heads. Each of them, aside from Arushi, had at least one other person they looked after.
Brian, head of public relations and web design, spoke first. “So, we're getting a lot of requests for interviews. They want the inside scoop on the raid boss.” Brian had set up public email and social media accounts. He'd backed himself into doing PR.
“Madeline's busy,” Jose said. Madeline was their best person to put in front of a microphone. She was currently on a quest to clear three different five-floor dungeons in three days.
“Soooo, we blow them off or what?” Brian asked.
Jose thought quickly. Blowing off the press would... Do nothing. Talking to them would... Do nothing. Huh. “Tell them we can't compromise military information security regulations.”
Brian looked nervous. “Oh, is that a thing I need to be careful of?”
Jose held back a shrug. Bosses don't shrug. “Double check our contracts.” That was what Jose said when he himself didn't know the answer to something. Then he'd make the person recite what they'd learned to him. Confidence. The key was just to have unearned confidence.
Arushi was up next. The forge master had rough hands, arm muscles for days and a buzz cut. She wore tank tops and baggy jeans when not in protective smithing gear. She was in her twenties, and had the attitude, and vocabulary, of an old sea dog.
“I need more of that fucking dragon steel. That shit is primo.”
“No more that I know of,” Jose said. “Meagan, you have leads on new metals?”
He turned to the polished, redheaded office lady, Meagan Zabcock. She couldn't be more different from Arushi. “I'm getting some samples of materials mined from the Las Vegas and Philadelphia dungeons. They should arrive any day.”
“Look sweetheart,” Arushi pointed a finger at Meagan. “I don't need fucking sample sizes, I need barrels of scrap ta work with.”
Meagan straightened the cuff of her blue blazer. “Barrels of magical metals aren't yet on sale at the Dollar General. I have to make connections to get anything from anyone.” The Dollar General remark was clearly a dig at Arushi.
Jose knew the two women didn't get along. Arushi was abrasive to almost everyone, and Meagan probably hadn't spent more than a night on “the bad side of town.” Jose also knew he had to just let them work it out. Or not? It was hard knowing when to step in and say something. Especially when saying nothing and just pretending all was going to plan was very boss-like.
Jose nodded, bypassing their animosity entirely. “If we have the funds, move on anything Arushi can use. Willard?”
Willard was an older accountant who was in charge of finances. When Jose thought of an accountant with 30+ years of experience, he could only picture someone like Willard.
“Ah, well, yes.” Willard pretended to check his notes. Jose knew the man never had to actually check notes to know what the numbers were. He was just that good. “We should be able to spend...” He looked at Jose for confirmation. “Forty thousand this month on extraplanar materials?” Boss Jose nodded. “Yes, as long as the negotiations don't set us up for higher prices down the line.”
“I always negotiate,” Meagan said confidently.
Jose asked, “Meagan, what else do you have incoming?”
Meagan slid some papers and photos to both Jose and Arushi. “Five of the tommy guns the Las Vegas ogres use.”
Jose looked at the photos. Jun had mentioned those, but hadn't mentioned that the guns were about six feet long. Jose really wanted to fire one. The document said the metal parts of the guns were made of something being called orcish steel.
Arushi, not having to be a boss, shrugged. “Ain't gonna be as good as dragon steel, but fuck, I'll take it.”
“Luis?” prompted Jose, moving the meeting on.
Luis, who was not named Hector like Jun thought, spoke nervously. “So, um, Eagle Team is having problems.”
Eagle Team was Henry Gallup's team. It was made up of... A bunch of weirdos that Jun and Madeline had passed on.
“What kind of problems?” Jose asked, not wanting to know the answer.
Luis gulped. “Well, they're fighting, but not the monsters. Sorry, sorry, they are fighting monsters. But also each other. Florence Dovesong and Eddie Sloan get along great, but they're not professional. And Henry thinks they're uh, together. Andrew Wilhelm is throwing himself into danger recklessly. Victor Kovalchuk keeps telling the others, including Henry, what babies they are. And...”
“And?” Jose pressed.
Luis looked in any direction but at Jose. “Henry seems to think their teamwork isn't his responsibility.”
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“Oh,” said Jose. That was bad. Really, really bad. Like everyone dies bad. “Get them home ASAP. Even if they have to abandon their current dungeon. No, scratch that. I'll do it.”
Jose went into his menus and chose his new Guildmaster menu.
Pathbreakers
Renown Rank 4
8831 of 16,000 (7169 to next rank)
Glory: 572
Members (22/25)
Parties (3/5)
Quests (4/16)
Headquarters
He chose Quests. The Pathbreakers had 7 of 16 quest slots filled. He just needed one.
Create new quest:
Go to Pathbreakers HQ.
Time limit: 24 hours.
Reward for completion: not being fired.
Issued to all members of the “Eagle Team” party.
Cost to guild: 10 glory per person (50 total)
Reward for guild: 12 Glory per completion
That should get them moving, Jose thought to himself. “Luis, anything else?”
“No sir,” Luis promptly said, then promptly backpedaled. “Well there is the one thing, that we're getting a lot fewer adventurer applications, and the ones we're getting are uh, underqualified.”
Jose dismissed the bad news. “There's more guilds every day. More guilds and more of the good people getting scooped up. Bound to happen. Willard, how do we look?”
Willard adjusted his glasses. “Adequate for the moment. I suggest we alter the current loot sharing agreement to the company getting two shares instead of one. We're paying salaries to our adventurers, and need to cover that better if we want to expand into another team.” Currently the company got one share. If Jun's five person team got loot, the loot was split six ways, the company ending up with 18% of it. Split seven ways, with the company getting two shares, the Pathbreakers would get 28%.
Jose thought it sounded fair. He knew a lot of guilds were taking 50% of all loot. “I'll let everyone know, and-”
A computerized voice sounded out in the room, coming from everywhere and nowhere. “Attention, an Administrator is entering your area! Attention, an Administrator is entering your area! All violence will be met with absolute force.”
“Get down!” Jose shouted, drawing his new rifle, Desert Rose, from his inventory. It was patterned after a Winchester lever action rifle, firing .300 Win Mag rounds. The grip and stock of the gun looked like they were made of sand, yet had a smooth, glossy texture. The firing mechanisms were made of rose gold. Jose had affixed a variable magnification scope to it, though he didn't need that at this range. This rifle was the only thing he'd gotten from the magic item machine downstairs. And it was all he needed.
A small swarm of orange crystals, each the size of a tennis ball, faded in above the center of the conference table. Jose's rifle was at his shoulder, charging with electricity. His finger hovered over the trigger.
A male-ish voice emanated from the hovering gems, the pitch fluctuating between high and low. “Jose Amarillo I GREET YOU and request that you STOP THE PLANNED level ups of one JUN KYUNG HAN. Failure to comply with this REQUEST will result in LETHAL force applied to JUN KYUNG Han.”
“Description of lethal force?” Jose asked, aiming down sights. He could probably hit the whole cloud of crystals with one electric blast.
“A HUNTER killer UNIT deployed against him upon completion of his proposed LEVEL UP strategy.”
Jose already had an angle. The Dracosys liked rules. It liked things to be like a game. It liked fairness. And it had resource limits. “One unit one time or multiple, continuous deployments?”
The collection of crystals silently spun in the air for a moment.
Everyone but Jose was as still and quiet as possible. They were, by now, huddled under the massive conference table. Jose was still sitting in his chair, the butt of the rifle against his shoulder. His expert sniper training had taught him to breathe without moving, and combined with his stats and abilities he was able to hold perfectly, inhumanly still.
The only sound in the room was the air conditioner blowing cool air in to thwart the Texas summer heat.
The resource limits the Dracosys itself had were already documented, thanks to Hak-Kun's notes. The Dracosys couldn't make infinity monsters. Each Dungeon, Ruin, Arena and Castle had a finite amount of resources, aka Dracosys Control Points, aka nanomachines. Simply put, there were a limited number of nanomachines in the world, and the Dracosys had to manage where they went. And Jose knew that making monsters appear outside their normal creation zones cost a lot of nanomachines.
The crystals finally responded. “ONE DEPLOYMENT, 6TH tier, level 60 or above. To be DEPLOYED upon completion of his leveling strategy.” It had understood Jose's question. It understood that this was now a negotiation.
“I agree to those terms,” Jose said. “Jun will complete his ability stack and immediately be attacked by a monster of your choosing, 6th tier, level 60 or above. If he kills it, that's the end of your current opposition to him.”
The swarm of crystals glowed for a second. “I, Nentik, Administrator Four, agree to these terms. Your cooperation is appreciated.” Then the floating crystals faded away and the room was again only occupied by humans.
