World Conquest Online

"Have you played much World Conquest Online?" Stephen asked jovially as he climbed back in to bed, having originally climbed in to it fully dressed. He hardly needed to use the steps due to his height, however the rocking of the ship had almost caught him out a few times.

"I am never off it." Roger replied as he lay in his own bunk, "History in the game is much more vivid than the history in my books. There are so many people I want to meet, so I plan to travel to different Lord Players cities and learn from the Heroes that they spawn."

"Is there anyone you really want to meet?" Stephen asked whilst Dom put on his clean top.

"I would love to meet some of the great minds of antiquity, like Aristotle, Plato and Socrates." Roger began, "I would also like to meet some of those who have had huge impacts on the way the world came to be, such as Augustus Caesar, Qin Shi Huang and Genghis Khan! There are hundreds of people I want to meet though."

"You seem to really love history." Dom laughed as he climbed in to his own bunk, trying to balance himself as a small wave hit the Yacht. He didn’t have Augustus Caesar, Qin Shi Huang of Genghis Khan, but he did have Crassus, a close friend of Julius Caesar who was Augustus’s uncle. He also had Shang Yang, a key predecessor of Qin Shi Huang’s Qin State. He also had Subutai, Genghis Khan’s greatest General.

"I do, we can learn so much from it. Not just from our mistakes, but from our victories and successes." Roger replied enthusiastically. "There are so many philosophers from the many different schools of thoughts, not just the western ones but the eastern ones as well. Legalism and Confucianism alone are full of thousands of great minds."

"So I take it you aren’t playing as a Warrior then?" Stephen joked in a friendly tone, struggling to get his large frame comfortable in the bunk.

"That is correct, I am playing as a Civilian, I am becoming a Hermit like character that travels and shares what I have learnt, whilst teaching others." Roger replied.

"Will you ever stay in one place for long?" Dom asked as he lay down, facing the centre of the cabin so that he wasn’t taking away from the group.

"I hope too, but there has to be a reason for it. A place full of interesting people where I can add a lot of my knowledge." Roger explained, "Ideally with a place full of Ancient Romans or Ancient Chinese."

"What are you playing as Dom?" Stephen asked, moving the conversation on before Roger spoke about history for the next hour and no one got any sleep. Dom thought for a couple of seconds before replying, originally he was going to say he was playing as a Warrior, but decided that there was no point lying about it as he expected they wouldn’t believe him.

"I am playing as a Lord Class Player." Dom replied, wondering what the responses would be.

"That doesn’t surprise me." Roger laughed, "You seem like the leadership type of person, what type of Town are you growing?"

"I have some good Heroes and we are building a place that is based on the population being treated fairly and equally, whilst having a strong military presence." Dom explained, "What about you Stephen?"

"A Warrior of course." He replied jovially, "I was trying to build an elite squad in the Kingdom I have spawned in, but after hearing what Lady Howard said early, I suspect I’ll have to travel elsewhere for a different role. I am enjoying it though, I have been able to do so much more training and fight real duels and battles, rather than using training swords."

"I heard your surname was Lazarus." Roger enquired, "Are you the Lazarus on World Conquest Online?"

"I wish!" Dom replied quickly, not wanting to share that secret. They may be joining the same organisation, but he didn’t trust anyone out side of his close friends for now. "I am not doing bad, but I’m not at the top ten level yet."

"What Heroes do you have?" Roger asked, taking what Dom said as correct and getting to the question he really wanted to answer. Dom could see his excitement and decided that he would share some truth from Riverside, rather than hiding everything.

"I do have an ancient Roman that you may be interested in, he’s called Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus. He is one of the major Heroes I have and he has been instrumental in getting it up and going." Dom replied.

"I know of Cincinnatus!" Roger exclaimed, "I bet you are having issues with giving him major tasks, he is a farmer through and through, but extremely loyal to his nation."

Dom didn’t disagree with this statement at all, Lucius had constantly wanted to resign from his Mayor position and just settle on a farm, however he had been key to Dom since the beginning and Dom had no intention of changing that.

"What about Warrior Heroes?" Stephen asked, his eyes wide open as he looked across at Dom with some excitement in his eyes. Dom thought again that it wouldn’t hurt to share some information, but not enough to cause him any future problems. Part of him however was happy to be able to brag slightly about how he was progressing. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"I have two, which I think you’d both like to hear more about." Dom laughed, "Roger, I have a Hero called Gan Ning, who is a Military...."

"Gan Ning from Wu in the Three Kingdoms?" Roger interrupted with an excited voice. "He is a great Naval combatant, former Pirate who reformed himself as a mighty Leader. I hope you can develop a navy in the future as he will be a great asset. Where on the map are you?"

"He may not want to share everything with us Roger." Stephen replied before Dom had chance, "We hardly know each other, he’s not going to give us his coordinates and then tell us his strength when he doesn’t know where we are based or the forces behind us."

Dom was going to reply, but Stephen’s warning was true and he was grateful for it. He felt that the two of them could be trusted and even though he knew he wouldn’t be based at the Hundred Peaks often, he hoped to make friends there.

"Thanks Stephen, I’m happy to share that I am near a water source and have every intention of creating a Navy. He is the character you expect him to be and he’s been a key member of my Town since he arrived." Dom continued, before turning to Stephen. "The other Hero I have will probably interest you more, she’s called Tomoe Gozen."

"I haven’t heard of her before." Stephen replied honestly, "I do not know much about History."

"She is an impressive Warrior from the twelfth century Japan." Roger replied, "Fiercely loyal and fiercely powerful. She is known for her exceptional skills, not a woman you would want to fight against. You have had some very impressive Heroes join you. If yours are this impressive, it scares me to think how good the Top Ten Lord’s Heroes are."

"Oh, she sounds interesting, I bet I could learn a thing from her." Stephen laughed.

"She really is." Dom replied, impressed firstly by Roger’s knowledge and then secondly about Tomoe herself. She really was as impressive as Roger had explained, if not much, much more.

...

Dom soon woke up, the waves crashing against the Yacht had long since calmed down and the three of them had slept for a good few hours. The Cabin Door had been opened by Captain Kelly who informed them they should get dressed and head for breakfast, as they were soon to be approaching the Isles of Britainy.

Dom did as instructed, dressing in a tight fitting, black military style suit which had a red stripe on both shoulders. The suit was comfortable and included pants and a shirt, he also had black military boots and a black belt. It fit him snuggly and was easy to move in. Roger was dressed the same as Dom, however Stephen had a blue stripe instead. Dom assumed the stripes represented which part of the Peaks they were joining.

The three of them headed to breakfast and were greeted by everyone else who arrived at similar times to them. Stephen sat beside Rosie again, whilst Dom and Roger were joined by Jessica. All of those on Stephen and Rosie’s side had a blue stripe on their suits, where as Jessica had the same red stripe as Dom and Roger.

"How did you sleep Rosie?" Stephen asked, the two supposedly having never met before arriving at the hotel the day before.

"Really well, I shared with Miss Moon and Olayinka. Ola is a long sword user, so we had a lot to talk about, whilst Miss Moon was able to pass on some knowledge to both of us from her own experiences." Rosie replied with a light smile as she ate her food. Dom was listening in to the conversation, whilst others were talking in their own groups. Neither Captain Kelly or Miss Howard joined them for breakfast and Dom wondered how long it would be until they arrived.

"It has been hard work, but I am enjoying it." Dom heard Jessica Moon say from beside him, having tuned out of the conversation and his mind quickly re-joining it.

"I could never do something like that." Stephen had replied to her, Dom unawares of what they were discussing.

"What are your thoughts Dominic?" Roger asked, causing Dom to want to facepalm. He looked towards Stephen for help, but Stephen didn’t seem to understand the look.

"Rosie had asked me about how I am playing World Conquest Online." Jessica explained to Dom in a friendly but also judging voice. "I explained how I am playing as an Advisor in a Kingdom after passing some local exams. I think Mr Knight was alluding to if you would have played the game similar, which I assume you wouldn’t as you seem to be more of a Leadership type than a doing type. I assume you are playing as a Lord Class?"

"That would have been my answer, I couldn’t imagine joining a game and having to do exams. Being a Lord Class has many different challenges though." Dom replied with a smile, whilst Stephen and Roger shook their heads. The whole group laughed at Dom’s expense for a few seconds, Jessica was about to ask Dom some questions about being a Lord Class. However, Captain Knight appeared at the door.

"We are coming up to the Isles of Britainy, there are some interesting views if anyone is interested in seeing them, we should arrive at the port of Rothwell within the hour." Captain Kelly announced. The small group decided they would head to the deck and view the Isles of Britainy as they approached.

.....

The five of them were soon stood at the Bow of the Yacht, the crew around them moving sails to reduce the speed so that they could traverse the old River routes and the land under the water that had been subject to intense trenching and dredging from many construction workers over the years. The journey through to the Isles of Britainy was interesting, they first passed through a thick section of fog that seemed to protect the islands from those that were visiting them.

As they passed through the fog, they were greeted by clear skies and the stunning views of the lush green isles of Britainy that followed. They took a strange route, heading north in the sea, before turning south west and back in towards the islands.

"We are following the paths of the original river beds that existed when this was one large island, rather than the several it is now. We will then head up a dredged trench that will take us to Rothwell, we should pass the ancient sunken city of Kings Lynn, before heading south west towards the sunken city of St Ives. We will then head west towards Rothwell, originally a market town with thousands of years of history from back in the Bronze Age, now our entry harbour in to the wider Isles." Captain Kelly had explained to them, the others from the group having joined them and stood further to the port of the ship.

"What is that?" Rosie asked in excitement as she pointed to a protruding shape that was to the starboard of the ship after travelling south west for around forty minutes. The lush shallow sea surrounded them, and occasionally sea animals such as Seal’s or Dolphins would appear nearby, watching the Yacht as it travelled down.