World Conquest Online

Dom awoke in his bed, a hot sweat running down his back. Not sure if he was happy or annoyed that he had been logged out at that point. He didn’t want to do things like that in the game world, he wasn’t that type of gamer, but he knew that if he had stayed there any longer, he definitely would have. The realism of the game was a bit to much at times and the human like personalities of the NPC’s continued to throw him off balance.

He got out of bed and headed to have a cold shower to cool himself off, noting that his muscles on his stomach were more obvious than usual, and that his biceps and chest muscles had also grown slightly from the previous day. He finished showering and got himself dressed, before heading in to the living room. Andrew and Kai were both sat there with each other chatting and discussing things as Dom entered.

"Good Morning Dom!" Andrew said, turning to him as he entered.

"Morning Andrew!" Dom replied with a smile, wondering when he would be able to log back in to the game and check up on Riverside.

"Thinking about World Conquest Online?" Andrew asked, looking at Dom who seemed to be in deep thought.

"Yeah, it just feels so real that it’s difficult to pull myself away from it." Dom replied seriously, "My town is currently in a difficult situation and it’s worrisome leaving them."

"I can understand it." Andrew replied, "it’s something Kai and myself were just discussing, I think it’s because we are spending a rather large time in the game, both mentally and physically."

"It is a strange feeling, I think the emersion of it is just too intense." Dom replied, with a shake of his head, "but tell me about what you have both been doing anyway?"

"My trade caravan has continued to move." Kai started, sitting forwards as he spoke and grabbing a drink from the coffee table that was in front of the sofa he was sat on. "We are making good progress and I have been getting more engrossed with the game world. We have come across some interesting towns on our journey and have met a wide range of different types of people."

"Have you traded any interesting goods?" Dom asked.

"I have been buying and selling as I move, mainly with food items and unique materials." Kai replied, "I’ve also began to collect some seeds as I move, hopefully they will help when we all meet up at a later date."

"I’ll try and see if there is a way I can transfer some funds to you." Dom replied seriously, "I don’t have much, but you could potentially use it to increase your stake in the merchants caravan and trade more suitable goods for us."

"That would be great!" Kai replied, "I have discovered that there are some small financial companies in some of the larger towns that are interlinked, if you can connect with them then it will be possible. I have been reading about inter game trade online and people have been using these financial and larger merchant companies to transfer goods and finances. My brother has done the same thing and has been able to acquire a decent amount of funding to make purchases to grow his town quicker, as being a low grade he has a lot to do."

"I bet Dom understands that feeling." Andrew joked.

"All too much." Dom replied, still hiding the fact that he had a Grade S Town and not a lower grade like he had told them both. "How about you Andrew?"

"We are still moving down the coast, and should be in position to meet up with Kai in the next few days." Andrew replied, "My small group is growing as we travel south and we now have over one hundred fighters that I would say will stay with me long term. A combination of NPC’s and players, but mainly the former. We have heard rumours about ships going missing further out to sea though, so we are taking our time and travelling as close to land as possible. This has brought on other risks and we did have to stave off an attack from a small pirate group yesterday!"

"I bet that was fun!" Dom exclaimed, thinking it must be a very different game style to play as an adventurer rather than a lord.

"It was!" Andrew laughed, "We did some ship to ship combat, the Gladiators I have with me showed their worth and we actually ended up gaining an additional ship, which the merchants that hired us are more than happy to have join the ranks. I was thinking about claiming it as payment when we depart from them, so that we have a dedicated ship for the Town."

"That would be a huge asset." Dom replied seriously, thinking that his Trireme were taking a long time to build, and with the Merchant vessel arriving tomorrow he had no ships currently to show a strong force. He also would need to build merchant vessels of his own at some point so the more they could gain the better. "Even better if you can hire a crew for it, any sailing crew you can find would be ideal, and the more Warriors you can find would also be ideal!"

"You seem a bit flustered today Dom, what’s been going on with you?" Andrew asked seriously. "That is a good idea on the crew though, I’ll see what I can do!"

"Honestly, as I said earlier we are in a difficult situation in my Town." Dom stated, "We are growing at a steady rate, but have discovered another potential enemy on our outskirts. However it’s not from a human settlement this time, but a grey elflike creature with pointy teeth."

"An elflike creature with pointy teeth?" Kai asked. "Like a Drow or a Dark Elf or something?"

"Almost." Dom responded, "But also a bit goblin like. It’s not something I have seen in a fantasy game before. It had long silver hair as well, and it lived in a cave with a pack of large wolves."

"I haven’t heard of any none human creatures yet." Andrew added, "That’s a strange development. I haven’t read Golden Suns blog yet, it will be worth reading that and checking the forums."

"How strong was the creature?" Kai asked seriously, as their were no obvious levels within the game.

"It killed some of my warriors and was bested by one of my strongest, but only just, she came back in not the best condition, but brought the creatures head." Dom replied.

"A female Warrior?" Andrew asked with a cheeky smile.

"If only you had a higher grade location, you would get better units and have a better chance." Kai said, purposely ignoring Andrews comment, "I’ll see if I can hire some warriors myself as I travel, the more the better it would seem."

"The only risk is if we bring to many, it will upset the fragile ecosystem within Dom’s town." Andrew stated seriously, "If we bring in too many players, we could potentially risk being destroyed from within, so we need to be careful with who we hire."

"As long as you guys are sensible, I am confident I have control of the situation for now." Dom said, agreeing with Andrews point.

"Did you see that the first world ranking league tables will be released in game tonight?" Kai said, as he checked his phone whilst they spoke. "Such as the best Lord and Town, the best Adventurer, strongest Dueller and other class related top tens"

"Not much chance of any of us being on that." Andrew laughed, "but once we are together we will be there soon enough. Have you thought about getting Alice to come join us as well, she’s probably the only person we know who could get on any of those rankings this fast."

"Eventually." Dom sighed, grabbing his phone and logging in to the forum. He scrolled down looking for Golden Suns blog. "It would be interesting to see who does get in the top ten of each class though, Golden Sun mentioned that their would be some hidden auctions for the winners to join."

"I expect that very few people have that much currency right now, bar the players who have set up guilds or lord class players who have multiple people supporting them." Andrew said back, "But it would be exciting to be a fly in the room and see what is going on. I’d love to see the sadness on the face of someone like Prince Li Shang when he is out bid by some unknown player who sneaks in to the leader board."

2"This isn’t some novel where a normal person is able to compete at that level." Kai replied with a sigh, "It would be a miracle if my brother even touched that, and we are pretty wealthy nobles."

Dom looked at Andrew and they both rolled their eyes, which Kai thankfully missed as he had turned back to his phone as well. Dom then started to read the blog himself, Golden Sun introduced himself as usual and began to outline some of the interesting stories that he had received since he had last posted. Just as Dom was about to get in to it, Kai began to speak again.

"We may hear back from the first lots of Universities and Sects today!" Kai suddenly said as Dom clicked on the blog to open it. He looked up as Kai said this, realising that what he said was true.

"Damn, hopefully we all get in to Central." Andrew said, "I’d miss you both to much." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"I wonder where Horatio will go." Kai replied, talking about their fourth dorm mate that they very rarely saw. At the mention of Horatio, Dom felt that it would be worth speaking with him about World Conquest Online, as he seemed to be quite knowledgeable and may be able to give him some pointers on how to deal with his newest enemy.

"Probably on some crazy adventure in some secret Sect." Andrew said seriously. "I am grateful I am his friend as I would not want to be his enemy."

"We need to head to breakfast soon." Kai stated, "As we could receive invitations at any point, some representatives may even come to campus and invite us for interviews!"

"Damn, I best go and do my hair then!" Andrew laughed as he stood up and headed towards his room, he turned back and looked at Dom and Kai with a cheeky grin. "You guys may want to do your own, you look like you’ve just got out of the shower."

Dom looked at Andrew and smiled back at him with the shake of his head, he decided to continue to read Golden Suns Blog whilst he waited for them both to finish getting ready.