Since it was already getting late in the day, the three of us decided to drive back to Fallcry to rest before leaving in the morning. Originally, I had planned to stick around until the League had finished investigating the dungeon. However, a week had passed without any news. Clearly, they were being very cautious about this to avoid alerting the enemy and have them cut the connection.

  “By the way, Diane,” I glanced over at her while driving down the newly lit tunnel. “It should be about time for news of the next major patch to be released, right? Have you heard anything about what’s coming?”

  Bella perked up at that, looking at Diane as well. However, the halfling girl simply shook her head. “There’s been news, but it’s both good and bad. The bad news is that the patch has been delayed by another month. According to the devs, they are working on ironing out a bunch of potential balance issues that could arise from the content of the patch.”

  “As for the good news, the main content of the patch itself was announced. They’re going to let players manage their own dungeons, which aren’t part of the main world map. We can purchase monsters to fill it with, and even get Fallen or other Players to act as bosses. And the more we defeat other Players in our dungeon, the more experience we get.”

  I blinked when I heard this, nodding my head. “Are you planning to…?” I trailed off, but Diane abruptly shook her head.

  “Absolutely not. If I had a version of you acting as the dungeon boss, and it managed to drop your trait, I don’t know if the real you would be able to keep it. Ten star traits are supposed to be unique, right? Additionally, if someone else got your trait, they would instantly rise to power as a top player. I planned on asking Kelly or Wisteria if either of them would be willing to act as my final boss.”

  That made sense. My trait couldn’t risk even the theoretical chance that I’d lose it. Meanwhile, Bella couldn’t risk her trait being discovered, due to her status as a ‘fake’ Player.

  “That said,” Diane continued. “I can bring the two of you with me when going to attack other dungeons. I’m sure that I won’t be the only one wanting to recruit a high-level Fallen as my boss monster. There may be those with multiple such bosses, even. The rewards for defeating those dungeons should be extreme.”

  “In that case, we’ll need to make sure that you have everything you need,” I said with a small grin. “With two more months to prepare, that should be plenty of time. Once we’ve gotten everything taken care of, how about we go explore Oblivara for a while? You haven’t gotten any new shadow skills in a while.”

  Diane’s eyes practically lit up when I said this, barely restraining her reaction. “I would… very much like that, yes.” She said, though her eager nod gave away her enthusiasm, causing both Bella and myself to laugh as we emerged from the tunnel’s exit.

  However, I didn’t immediately drive into the city’s gates, instead taking a left to head south and drive along the outskirts of the city. “Drake? Are we not going to the palace?” Bella asked curiously, but I shook my head.

  “I think this is a chance for us to try out the new place I’ve been working on over the last week.” I saw the two of them both look eager as I said this, their eyes scanning the area ahead. Up ahead was a wide, flat expanse that had served as my ‘canvas’ for the last week. Currently, it was empty, as I had made sure to remove the building every time I finished training to avoid monsters settling in.

  I pulled the car up to park near the flat plot of land, stepping out and walking over. With a deep breath, I focused on the blueprint from my skill. I then withdrew a log from my inventory, and threw it onto the plot of land, together with some sand that had been acquired for just this occasion.

  Finally, I activated my new Walking Fortress skill. The ground trembled as pillars of stone rose into the air in waves. The log seemed to shatter into pieces the size of splinters, each splinter flying to different areas and hovering in place, shifting and growing. Smooth, stone walls rose up over the exterior, glass pouring in to create windows. Atop the roof, a large parapet formed with narrow slits, specially designed to allow Bella to shoot through if we ever came under siege.

  The other two watched with wide eyes as the building took shape. “Isn’t this… too big?” Diane asked in awe. The house, or rather, the mansion that I had built was a hundred and twenty meters wide, a hundred and twenty meters deep, and twenty-four meters tall. There were four floors above ground, as well as two basement floors and the roof.

  In response to Diane’s question, Bella nodded her head like a broken doll, her eyes and mouth both wide open in surprise. The size of this house even surpassed the Sunspire Palace, so their responses were understandable.

  I simply chuckled, scratching my cheek. “Well, I made a few variations, depending on the area we stay in. This is for a more open space like this. If we’re somewhere more cramped, I have a smaller house prepared. However, for this one, I wanted to make sure that it had everything that we could want.”

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  As I said this, I began to introduce to them the features of the mansion. “The rooftop has a shooting range for Bella to practice, while the first basement floor has a large training room for Diane. In addition, there are numerous storage rooms, guest bedrooms for when we bring others with us somewhere, an armory, crafting areas for alchemy, scrolls, and carpentry, a swimming pool, and a garden. I also left a bunch of rooms empty, just so I could fill them in later if I wanted to.”

  “A swimming pool…” Diane’s brow twitched as she looked at me. “Isn’t this too big for you to hide, though? We need a house that fits within your Ghost Zone, or else it will be a target for monsters whenever we’re camping. And, while I appreciate the thought put into this house, I think it might be a bit… much.”

  I gave a small smirk in response to that. “I’ve been training my Ghost Zone this last week, and managed to reach level eighty-eight. With my room being on the second floor in the center of the floorplan, the radius just covers the entire building. However, I also had the same concern as you, which is why I got these.”

  As I said that, I pulled a steel stake out of my inventory. On the top of the stake was a large hole, and the base was a sharpened point. “Over the last week, I asked Hammerhead to make these for me. Since I only needed a single enchantment slot on them, he was able to make more than enough.”

  “I call them Security Stakes. Last night, I enchanted a full batch of one hundred of them. Simply put, you place them down at ten meter intervals around the property, and link them together with a rope. After that, they’ll activate in order to erect a security field, containing both the stealth of Ghost Zone and a projected barrier.”

  Diane let out a long sigh when she heard this, seeming to realize that I was properly prepared for such an extravagant mansion. “Okay, fine, you win. We’ll keep the royal palace of Drake. But we’re only using this one when we have a lot of free space to work with.”

  I chuckled in agreement. “Fine by me. Like I said, I have smaller ones set up for various situations. But since this is our first night in the new houses, I figured that we should go for the biggest. We don’t know when we’ll have the room for it on the road.”

  With a groan, Diane nodded her head, walking forward to pass through the ornate wooden doors. The inside was a diamond-patterned floor of black and white tiles and large, marble walls. “I should definitely not let you have so much free time in the future,” Diane said with a wry smile as Bella looked around, still in a daze.

  I showed the two of them around briefly, before we had dinner and settled in for the night. Although I had naturally included a kitchen, that was only for when we had a chef guest like Aznod around to cook for us. Otherwise, we could just use the enchanted menu to conjure up whatever meals we wanted in the dining room.

  The next morning, I stored the entirety of the mansion in my inventory, happy to see it occupying only a single slot. Though, because the mansion included two basement floors, there was now a ten meter deep pit where the mansion had once been. I filled it in with my Walking Fortress skill, and then summoned my car, getting ready to drive us to Oblivara to begin hunting for skills for Diane.

  However, before I could even start the car, a message appeared in the corner of my vision from Ella. Curious, I opened the message and widened my eyes at the context. “Sorry, Diane, but would it be alright if we held off on our trip to Oblivara for now?”

  Hearing the urgency in my tone, Diane arched a brow, quickly climbing into the car. “Explain while you drive,” she said simply, gesturing for Bella to get in.

  Bella nodded her head quickly, climbing in as well as I started the car up, immediately driving north and into the air. “Ella just sent me a distress signal. The Black Scale Kingdom, led by Drake Ebonfire, has declared war on her Burning Sun nation.”

  Diane’s eyes narrowed dangerously, fists clenched at her sides. “Your old player’s made a move. Given the timing, he’s probably been working on spreading the Black Flame Aura skill from the dungeon he got off of us. Your friend won’t stand a chance against dragons immune to her only method of attack.”

  “What happens if a Player loses a war?” Bella asked, looking between us. I wasn’t sure myself, so I allowed Diane to answer.

  “According to the forums, it depends on the two parties. The war can either end early, in which case the two parties can agree on terms of surrender, or one side can declare either a war of extermination or conquest. If they choose a war of conquest, all Players, Fallen, and NPCs of the defeated kingdom become vassals of the winner. They are bound by contract to be unable to directly harm the winning kingdom, and the winning kingdom can restrict their movements and skills.”

  “On the other hand, a war of extermination is arguably much worse. The defeated Fallen and Players don’t suffer as much, only losing their nation and becoming homeless. However, every NPC resident is slaughtered. In addition, the ruler loses their right to rule, their ten-star trait, to the victor.”

  “The winner gets to have multiple ten-star traits?” Bella asked in shock, her eyes wide. “Wouldn’t everyone flee the nation if such a war were to start?”

  “It depends,” Diane answered grimly. “If it is a war of conquest, as many people will try to evacuate as they can. Players on the forums advise giving up on the kingdom if it looks like you’ll lose, as long as the cooldown period to leave is up. Of course, even the oldest Player kingdom isn’t that old, so this is just speculation.”

  “However, for a war of extermination, it is strongly advised not to leave. Not only are the penalties for defeat less severe for most of the participants, but the fact that NPCs will be slaughtered, and the victor gains an additional king trait has caused many Fallen organizations to pledge that they will stand together with the defenders in such a war. Whether it’s the church, the League of Assassins, or even other nations, they won’t stand by and let this type of war reach its conclusion easily.”

  As Diane explained this, I could see her quickly typing on empty air, no doubt sending a message to someone. If I had to bet, I’d say she was alerting Wisteria to check what type of war this was, and if the League should get involved. After all, we knew that Drake had no qualms with attacking NPCs.