"That's fair," Paul said, smoothly shifting gears while both Crystal and Elizabeth looked like they wanted to argue. "Initial reports suggest Noctarus is more than keeping his word."

"I saw the camp on the lake and the night crew starting work last night."

"We just received an update from Burns," Crystal said. "The advance team are thrilled. They are gaining huge experience boosts for working on the ships, far more than expected, and today the first hunting parties will begin bringing monsters in for them to slay."

Elizabeth chimed in. "Teams are already preparing to head out. We have another 200 people joining the work crews this morning. If projections remain consistent, we are looking at an experience windfall."

Paul nodded, looking very relieved. "I can't believe it, but cooperating looks like it will bring in far more experience with less risk than fighting would have. We should have everyone to at least level 25 within a matter of days."

"That's when things will likely go south."

Crystal said, "Most likely. That's why we need to really focus on the effort to pool resources. We need more mana crystals to get everyone a minimal set of basic equipment to survive the battle we all fear is coming."

If Burns had been there, he no doubt would have argued to focus more on building up the elites. After how much my team had struggled to clear the dungeon, his argument made more and more sense. I wasn't a council member, though, so I kept my thoughts to myself. Starting an argument wouldn't help.

Instead, I asked, "Who is overseeing purchasing the right gear for everyone?"

"I am," Crystal said. "We get a discounted rate when buying for the council, and we've set up a council-sponsored store that I oversee. Folks can submit requests for certain items, equipment, weapons, or spells. Instead of mana crystals, we've set up a bond system where folks can take out a loan to get what they need, with promises to pay it back as they level up."

"We just lack the funds to really get the system off the ground," griped Paul.

"Maybe I can help with that," I said as my idea gelled.

"How?" Elizabeth asked with an eager tone in her voice that made me a bit uncomfortable. I didn't like that gleam in her eye, but I could help and we were low on time. The survivor counter was still dropping too quickly.

"I won a lot of loot for surviving last night. I also got a pass to the store that might get me an even better discount than you're getting, at least for a bit."

"No wonder you didn't jump at my offer," Paul exclaimed.

"Wait, you tried to use our store access to enrich yourself?" Elizabeth demanded.

"Not at all. The mushrooms would benefit the entire town."

I interrupted before they could argue further. "Send me your list and I'll see what I can do to help."

"Seriously? How much money do you have?" Crystal exclaimed with a happy smile.

"Enough to help some."

"We'll take it," she said. "I'll send the list as an attachment to a chat."

"Since when can we send attachments?" I'd known folks were unlocking new functionality with the chats all the time, but I hadn't realized I'd fallen so far behind the curve.

"It's a new council perk we got after signing the accord with Noctarus's agent."

"Cool. Send it over and I'll see what I can do."

"Our debt to you us rising," Paul noted seriously. "You already provided a great deal of crafting material and you found those miraculous mushrooms. Now you're going to personally help fund our community store."

"I help where I can, and I got an idea about how you can pay me back without using up the town's mana crystal supply."

"How?" Elizabeth asked warily, twirling a lock of her brown hair and regarding me shrewdly.

"First, answer a question for me. You all receive experience for sitting on the council and running the town, don't you?"

"How did you know about that?" Crystal exclaimed.

Elizabeth just laughed, a throaty sound I didn't expect to hear in a council meeting. She'd been spending too much time in her club. "Delightful! You're making a power play. What do you want, a seat on the council? Appointment as dictator?"

Paul's response was more measured. "I shouldn't be surprised you figured it out. Yes, we receive compensation for holding these positions. The town receives experience based on the performance of all of our citizens, and we on the council share that experience."

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"That's how you're all leveling up so fast."

He nodded. "I take it you want a seat on the council?"

"Not exactly. I don't have time to sit in meetings all day. As I've already proved, I'm most effective out in the mountains fighting strong monsters."

"Can we create a position like town protector, or something?" Crystal asked, looking to Paul.

He pursed his lips, gaze going vacant as he explored his menus. As mayor, I bet he had access to all sorts of functions no one else did. After a minute, he nodded to himself and his gaze sharpened.

"There is a function I've never explored before. As mayor, I can appoint councilors, but also leaders of town militia, crafting guilds, and things like that."

"Why haven't we leveraged those functions before?" Elizabeth demanded. "There are many I would love to nominate."

Paul shrugged. "Two reasons. First, we've been too busy just surviving. Second, every position earns some of the town's experience so the more we appoint, the more our own experience gains will diminish. From what I see, it's not a 1-to-1 ratio, but we would see a dip."

"So we need to use the function with care," Crystal interjected.

Elizabeth did not look pleased, but I spoke up before they wasted too much time arguing. There were more benefits to assuming leadership roles than I'd ever realized. I already had that temporary employment scroll that gave me 50% of the experience of the council members. Would they see a dip in their experience growth from that?

Hopefully not. My recent contract with Sam had given me the idea that I could maybe win even more experience. That was far more valuable for me than getting more food or mana crystals.

"Sounds like my idea will work. I'd like you to appoint me a role something like a roving monster hunter with base experience equal to what each of you receive. Consider it my reward for fighting off Alpha and that fire dragon demon last night."

"That's not unreasonable," Paul said slowly, but Crystal interjected, "If that role is a reward, are you saying you're willing to provide the equipment for the store for free?"

"Unfortunately, not. You're aware I level slower than most. I've made a lot of progress, but still need to catch up. So I'd like an additional 15% experience until I catch up to the same level as the lowest-leveled council member."

"That's crazy!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

Crystal added, "She's right. You're asking for a lot."

"I'm offering a lot. Like you said, I already provided tons of crafting gear, I will continue to hunt Alpha and protect the town, and I'm offering to spend up to 20 million mana crystals to purchase the needed inventory to start up your store."

I kept my expression calm as they considered it, but I silently urged them to take the deal. The mention of up to 20 million crystals worth of equipment helped a lot. Besides, they'd get a ton up front, and the town would benefit, which would mean that much more experience would roll into the town's account. Of course, the extra boost of experience I wanted would likely remain a lot longer than any of them might expect.

They couldn't know how much harder it was for me to level, but if they agreed, I might get enough to help tip the scales in my favor. I did not want to have to fight my way through another collapsing stage.

Paul's gaze went distant again for a few minutes before he sighed and turned to the two ladies. "It is possible. We'd each take a hit of about 10% to our experience gains until the extra boost expires."

"That's a lot to ask," Elizabeth repeated, still scowling.

"But the entire town would benefit," Crystal countered. "Paul, do your calculations include increased levels of experience our people can achieve with better gear and faster leveling?"

"No. There's no good way to project that, but if we do see more gains, which is likely, the drain to us should lessen."

"Then I vote we accept," Crystal said.

Paul nodded slowly. "I believe it is in the best interest of the town."

Elizabeth hesitated until I added, "I'll give each of you 20 of the mushrooms and give you a deal on those 200 bottles of hard liquor. Just 5 tier-5 mana crystal for the lot."

She coughed. "Half a million mana crystals for some booze?"

I shrugged. "That's only 2,500 crystals per bottle. Kill one monster and you'd get a lot more than that."

I didn't tell her that I had been giving Sam a better deal. Of course, now that I was part owner of his tavern, he'd be getting the liquor for free.

"Make it 3."

"I'll take 4."

"Done."

"And done!" Cyrus boomed, making the others jump in their seats. "I've taken the liberty of highlighting the options you'll need to select in order to set up the unique appointment."

"Thanks," Paul said, his eyes going distant as he worked his menus. After a moment he added, "Done."

What a relief. Even if I only got 1 extra level from all of the extra experience streams I'd set up, it would be worth it. I transferred the alcohol to Elizabeth and mushrooms to each of them.

Then I rose. "I've got to get back to hunting. Crystal, send me that list and I'll get as much as I can."

"Be sure to stop by the Eclipse some time," Elizabeth added with an inviting smile, her demeanor changing like she flipped a switch in her brain.

"If I can."

After I exited the castle, I paused and looked up. "Hey, is it possible to just buy levels at the store?"

Cyrus answered immediately. "Not at this stage, and I strongly recommend you never buy levels, even should that option become available in the future."

"Why not?"

"Because it's cheating!" He sounded really offended.

"If it was cheating, why would the store allow it?"

"Because the rules of the store are sometimes foolish. Lucas, trust me, it is a very bad idea. You could ruin all the great momentum you're gaining with viewers across the multiverse. With your wonderful battles on top of the business acumen you displayed this morning, your popularity is skyrocketing."

"That argument would be stronger if you would explain what that means."

"Soon. Very soon. You're going to love it, and I don't want to ruin the surprise and blow up your parade."

"You mean rain on my parade."

"Why would you hold a parade in the rain? And since when can humans control the weather? Your planet has no magic."

"Never mind."

By the time I returned to my castle, Crystal already sent me the list. It was long, but most of the items looked pretty basic.

"Jeeves, can you see this attachment I just received in my last message?"

"Indeed, sir. Are you setting up a store?"

"Helping the council to set one up for folks to get the basic equipment they need to keep leveling."

"Very admirable of you, sir."

"Can you take this list to the store and see how much of this you can get? Sythrak should give us a pretty good deal for buying in bulk."

"He does seem to respond well to large orders backed by ready money."

"See what you can do. Cap expenses at 20 tier-6 crystals. Deliver the goods to Crystal Bonney, the council woman."

"Very good, sir."

When I left my castle again, I planned to head out to start hunting. Ruby and Steve had just left with a large company heading for the lake, so there was no one else I needed to see.

I made it halfway to the town gate before I crossed an intersection and glanced to my right. Way down at the end of the street stood a figure I recognized.

They were supposed to be dead.

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