The Goddess of Intelligence

The Guild 21 Thunder was the top guild in Zeryann. This was quite an accomplishment, considering it only had 21 players, including the Guildmaster. The reason for its success was widely debated. Most thought it was due to the superior skills of the players, and they were partly right. If that guild decided to create a pro-team to play in world competitions they would probably dominate the stage, but they never chose to do that.

Some other players thought that it was due to the superior farming capabilities and monopolies of rare mines (places that respawn materials, ingredients, monsters, skill books, etc.), which in turn caused them to be filthy rich and able to customize equipment and train the npcs, and they were too partly right.

Most of the clueless players, though, thought that it was simply due to luck. That they had never washed their hands and were somehow able to encounter the event quests first than anyone, dungeon instances, raids, unique items and the like. Of course, they were condemned as fools, because nobody could be that lucky. The funny thing was that they were the closest ones to be right.

Of course, nobody ever thought that the 21 people of that guild were the 21 people that created the game, mainly because the fact that the creation crew consisted of only 21 people was never made public. If it was, then the number would make it suspicious. As the creators of the game, they were the only players and guild to know absolutely everything of the game. Its mechanics, secrets and best farms. The mere existence of the guild was a cheat. That was the reason why they never participated in guild wars, pro-competitions, etc. They swore they would only gather everything because it was fun. Of course, they could've done the same by using console commands, but it was just not as fun.

The first week the game was launched, the guild was formed. Then, they proceeded to farm and mine for the important materials and exp. After that, they completed quests, secret quests, side quests, radiant quests, all types of quests that yielded good rewards. As such, a month after the servers started, it was already the most powerful guild. And by a large margin to that.

But, the main reason for the success, was because they collected far more powerful items than anyone. It was to the point where every member of the guild and even the npcs were clad in divine rank armour, weapons, accessories, etc.

Still, there was another layer to the items they collected. They were called "Origin" items, and they were the highest tier there was.

Common, uncommon, rare, epic, unique, legendary, celestial, and origin. These were the 8 tiers of equipment in the game. This was applicable to everything, including accessories, armour, weapons, ammo, materials, ingredients, treasures, and auxiliary items.

The first 7 could be crafted, but not the 8th. There were a total of 200 origin items, of which 117 were on the possession of the guild 21 Thunder. 90 of them were equipment sets, each one including 10 items, for a total of 9 Origin Sets. The punchline was, the same guild owned all of the 9 sets, 21 Thunder.

Of course, each set had very harsh requirements to wear, but it was worth it. For example, the "Envoy of the End" set actually required to kill a god to complete it, but with it, any low-level necromancer could wipe out any of the 20 Global guilds alone. It was a ridiculous power-up.

There was also the "Wind God Gale", which was meant for an advanced class of bow-using-rogues. Once equipped, the user was guaranteed to never miss its target, and insta-kill anything or anyone of the same level or lower, ignoring any other factors such as defence, hp, items, effects, etc.

The sets were made for very different and rare classes, but amongst them, the most absurdly powerful set was the "Hermit King" set. It did not have a level restriction, just a class restriction. And it was a class that allowed for the use of warrior, rogue, and magician classes. Its true prowess was only brought when a player could master these three. But that was almost impossible.

Of course, one must not dismiss the remaining 27 origin items in possession of the guild. Among them, there was a tremendously powerful item called "Heavenly Tribulation". It was a magic orb which instantly killed any target in a 50 km radius of a lower level than the user once activated and could be used once a year. But if you were to ask any member of the 21 Thunder guild which the best Origin item in their possession was, they would answer unhesitatingly that it was "Original Gods' Abode".

This was an indestructible fortress type auxiliary item, and it was movable, customizable, expandable, and it had a spatial function. What that meant, was that a very small 5x5 meter room could actually be a whole planet inside. And as it was expandable, any building or facility built around the core item would be able to gain these properties. And, as it was customizable, it could be transformed from a log cabin, to a humongously big and luxurious castle. The best part was that it was movable, so it could change its location at will. Of course, it could also be a tower. And as it could change its materials any time, it could, without a doubt, be a tower built of a magic conductive metal and as such, become a Wizard Tower. Of course, adding buildings, changing material and form consumed a very big amount of resources, but it was actually very affordable for the guild.

That was the hidden ace, the trump card of the 21 Thunder, the Origin item, the Thunder Tower. Once that you think about it, they were living inside the highest class of item there was, and an indestructible one at that. Of course, they would be unbeatable.

One of the main concerns Simon had once that idiotic God told him he had to come to the game was losing these 117. He could recover almost everything else with his knowledge, but not the Origin items. He could only be relieved once he saw the Thunder Tower at the distance, as if smiling to him, because this meant that Origin item was safe and sound in his possession, and as Randwen already confirmed, the remaining 116 items were inside. At least he hoped so, because Randwen did not have the clearance to enter the treasury.

Of the remaining 83 Origin items, 81 had been taken by other players or guilds, and the remaining two did not have a lot of usefulness to the guild, so they left them alone waiting for it to be found. Now, though, Dane was in almost urgent need of one of them. Not only that, he also remembered at least 5 others that would greatly help him right now, but he did not know if they just disappeared with the player that owned them or if they respawned in the game for him to found. In case of the latter, would it be possible to obtain a duplicate of, say, "Heavenly Tribulation"? As the elementals approached the tower, that was the only thing on his mind.

...….

The Thunder Tower. The base of 21 Thunder. It was black with azure runes and formations shining from time to time. It had a total of nine floors and three sub-floors. It stood at 50 meters tall. There were four gargoyles for embedded in the outer walls of each floor, and 12 of them surrounded the tower at ground level. It had a diameter of roughly 20 meters. That said, it was on the outside. Inside, it was a whole other story. For example, the second sub-floor was big enough to place ten castles side by side. It housed the prison and the barracks. Of course, both of them were empty now. Dane had seen it at least ten thousand times, but this time was still different. This was the first time he felt the aura around it. This was the first time the tower felt real.

As Dane entered the tower, light crystals were illuminating everything. It was a beautiful sight. Every corner of the walls was ornamented with breath-taking detail. It was decadent to an extreme. Some parts were dressed in gold while some others had precious gems incrusted. And this was still the main entrance. Dane took a second to absorb all of this before resolutely making up his mind.

"Randwen."

"Sir." He knelt.

"Check every single defence system of the tower and don't let anyone approach. Make a list of everything you consider we are short on and name the vassals of the tower you consider are most important to resume normal operations of the tower. Then, make another list of names regarding the most important vassals military wise. Finally, make a list including both. Our priority should be crafters. Potioneers, alchemists, enchanters, blacksmiths and tailors. After that we need a mercantile network and an information net. Take all of these into account but the main priority remains the crafters." Dane paused for a second. "Do you know what quest points are?"

"No, my lord. I don…" Randwen paused for a second and widened his eyes. An expression completely out of character for him. "Sir, yes, I do know what they are. I don't know how I know, but I know."

"Do you know what they are used for?"

"Yes, my lord. I know about various uses for them."

"Do you know that the state of false death the other vassals are in can be reverted by using those points? And if you do, do you know the cost for each of them?"

"My lord, I know they can be used to unseal them, but I don't know the cost. However, I know the guild roster has that information."

Now it was Dane's turn to be freaked out. The roster? Seriously? That was supposed to contain equipment, skills, levels, stats and so on. When did it include the quest points?

[Beep! Player has entered the ownerless building "The Thunder Tower". Guardian: Randwen of the Thunder (non-hostile npc). To claim ownership of the building and access all of its areas proceed to the core room and activate the Tower genie. After claiming ownership, HUD will be updated.]

"That stupid damnable system. Can he not tell me things in advance? Why the hell does it wait until I wonder about stuff?"

"My lord?"

"Ah, yeah. Please consider the necessary points of unsealing and take that into account when making the list. Temporarily, we do not need the best vassals, just the most cost-effective option. We don't need a rank 20 assassin if it costs the same as 2 rank 10 assassins. Assume the biggest threat out there is a rank 15 for now. Also, when considering my safety, and I know you will, just focus on escaping, not retaliating."

"Yes, master."

"Very well then. I will go to the core room and then head to the treasury. After that meet me in the conference room. I need to talk to you in detail about the future plans."

"Yes, my lord." Randwen then got up and left to do his assigned task. Dane, on the other hand, had a lot on his plate. First, to the core room. It was in the ninth floor, and that would mean a dreadful number of stairs. However, he had a solution. As Miko, a member of the guild and a developer was handicapped, he built a teleportation system to move across the tower. The game could've allowed him to walk again, and even fly, but he chose not to do so. Dane walked to the centre of the room, where the portal was located.

"Teleport. 9th floor. Core room." After saying that, blue dots of light started to converge on his body and then, he just disappeared.

Dane materialized in the core room of the tower. It was the most secure location, safer than the treasury. It was small yet not small, and big yet not big. It had spatial magic that made this space of 10 square meters infinite. Everything was at least 2 meters away from each other, not that there were a lot of things in the room. There was a bookshelf, which included all the reports of the operation of the tower and its members. There was a chest, which served as a gateway to reach some parts of the treasury remotely. There was a big square crystal resembling a screen and about 50 smaller crystals, resembling a keyboard. Each of them had its own symbol, resembling letters. This served to modify manually the tower. It was a master access, so to speak. There was too a gate, which served for teleportation. These four things were placed in each of the four walls. At the centre of it all was a huge transparent crystal surrounded by three motionless metal rings. One made out of the strongest magic conductor known, Thanium. Other was made of the most spiritually conductive mineral, Ochtirum, and the last was made of the hardest primordial metal, Black Prismatic Vehelium. These three rings had four small holes each separated by an equal distance in which twelve different types of gems were incrusted. Spirit stones, Mana stones, Power Stones, and Energy stones. One in each hole. But still, the most striking of it all was the fact that it was static. Dane took a deep breath and a yellow crystal appeared in his hand. It was a piece of Intelligence Quartz, one of the rarest minerals of the world. It had one purpose and one only, to store the consciousness of a living creature. Of course, even among that quartz there were different tiers. Black was the lowest while yellow was the highest, ant the difference in each was the additional processing ability that the spirit could gain upon being stored in the crystal.

This was probably the most often overlooked item in the treasure trove that was Elliot's Inheritance, as it could be sold for a huge amount of money but few used it. However, it was programmed to be the best spirit genie for a building in the entire game. The reason was simple. It stored the spirit of a god. It was the best item below the origin tier.

The Intelligence Quartz seemed to resonate with the main crystal in the room, as an obvious attractive force was calling for them to combine. Dane was nervous at this point in time. His future actions depended largely on the outcome of this action. Intelligence Quartzes had a rejection rate depending on the consciousness stored in it and the tier of the crystal that they merged with. The highest tiered crystal with the highest tiered quartz had a rejection rate of 50%. Thankfully, this crystal was basically an Origin item, so the rejection rate was only 1%. Still, Dane died while drinking coffee and got a wand shaped like a dick, so his luck had exactly not been the best, recently.

"The unluckier one gets the luckier he is bound to be, so it ought to be fine." Dane said while closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. This was a quote his father liked a lot, and now Dane was remembering it like a mantra. He knew that it did not matter how lucky or unlucky he got, as they were independent events as well as random variables, but he still went into a trance. After about five deep breaths, he let go of the quartz, which floated towards the main crystal. First slowly, and then accelerating until finally meeting it.

When they touched, the main crystal started glowing with a yellow light while the quartz was slowly fracturing. The rings started to rotate and very slowly accelerated. The light was getting brighter and the quartz was getting frailer, until it finally broke and became dust, absorbed into the main crystal.

The rings around it started to rotate at a speed so high that even Dane got nervous, and he programmed it.

The light was blinding.

Dane closed his eyes and… everything went dark.

Dane was sweating bullets by this point, and he did not want to open his eyes. Still, one minute passed this way. He slowly opened his eyes only to see a dim crystal and static rings. He felt like crying.

"No, come on, move please."

Nothing happened.

The light got dimmer.

"Come on. This has to be it."

Dane's forehead was soaked in sweat.

And still, the light got dimmer.

"Its just 1%, right? I doubt I am that unlucky. I'm not like the blitz or anything…"

After agonizing for over 30 seconds, the light died down.

One…

Two…

Three…

…

Dane took a deep breath.

"OHHH COME ON! YOU STUPID GOD! REALLY?!?! ONE FUCKING PERCENT AND YOU CHOOSE TO SMITHE ME? FUCK YOU! I WISH YOU WER…"

*Swoosh*

Dane got interrupted by a blinding light and the harmonic sound of three rings turning, almost like a dance. The twelve stones in each ring were radiating light and concentrating in the core crystal. After a few seconds, the light died down and a voice sounded in the control room.

"Main Intelligence Crystal activated. Revising systems… Systems operational. Doing inventory… Inventory complete. Scanning building… Scan complete. Preliminary report: Structural damage of 12% caused by space-time undulations. Energy reserves at 31%, Authorize automatic resupply?

"Authorize" Dane said while almost crying.

"Automatic resupply authorized. Energy reserves at 100%. Time available for low-energy mode is 189 years. Time available for standard mode is 39 years. Time available for overload mode is 4 years. All systems activated. Please choose a spirit model."

"Humanoid"

"Humanoid model chosen. Creating spiritual body."

After that brief exchange, a beautiful figure started to appear inside of the main crystal as if it were a mirror. Seconds passed, and it started to get more real, until it, no, until she finally floated out of the crystal. She was a beautiful female elf with purple eyes and a long, green dress. Her skin was almost pink, but mostly white. If one did not know that this was just a spiritual manifestation, one would fall in love.

"Greetings, master. My name is Sheraffina Defella Efberneth, the ancient goddess of Intelligence. Or well, I used to be, anyway. Now, I am your Tower's Spirit. If master so wishes, you can give me a new name. I am here to help you in anything you might need. I can organize the tower and control it. It is a pleasure to meet you, master."

"Yeah, it is a pleasure to meet you too, Shera…"

Dane was crying and had a huge smile on his face. The reason was too simple, Sheraffina's voice. When Simon was three, his mother died. Usually, a kid that age wouldn't remember much about her, but he did. And he remembered het, while in a probably incorrect way, as the most intelligent and gentle being in the planet. Right now, the person in front of him. If we take the pointy ears, the green hair and the purple eyes, she looked just like her. And so was her voice. After digging videos of his mother, he recorder her voice and made Sheraffina using her as the mould. In his own world, this was the best way he had to make his mom live, making her immortal.

"I finally get to see you. It has been a long time, Shera…"

"Master, forgive me, but I don't think we have ever met before."

"Yeah, I know, I meant that I have been waiting for this for a long time."

"It is my pleasure to serve master." She said while bowing.

"Yeah, I know it is. It is a pleasure to be your master." Dane had what was probably the most heart-felt smile he ever made, but he was still a little bit sad inside.

"Master, shall I proceed with the spiritual imprint?"

"Yes, go on. But first tell me, what benefits are there in that?" Dane just had to make sure. A lot of things were changed by the damned AI, so it was best to be cautious.

"Master, the benefits are quite numerous, but the main reasons are the following ones. We will share a mind, so I will be able to manage your tower more efficiently. As I am the tower spirit now, your ownership over the tower will not vanish even after your death in the case you did not select a successor. I will be able to materialize and communicate around you outside of the tower by taking your mana. And you will be able to teleport anywhere inside the tower without using the portals. Those are the main benefits."

"And drawbacks?"

"None. I guarantee."

"Great. Initiate the spiritual imprint."

After that was said, Shera floated towards him and placed her hand over his chest. Dane just felt a sensation of warmth and closeness. Maybe he was just too happy, or maybe he programmed it like this, but he did not care. He was enjoying yourself. Until…

[Beep! External spiritual force is trying to enter player's body. Determined to be a Spirit. The spirit can take over all of the duties of the system and perform the same tasks. Absorbing the system will result in an increased processing speed. In case of the death of the spirit, the player will lose the system permanently. Allow the system to be absorbed?]

Dane just grinned.

"I can finally get rid of you." For Dane, this day was just getting better and better.