The End of The Dynasty History System.

"Choice."

"Freedom."

"These are but illusions all humans desire."

"But freedom is anarchy."

"The enemy of order."

"People leave their small cage only to find a bigger one waiting for them or willingly fly into a smaller one furnished with gold and the luxuries of the world."

"But a cage remains forever a cage, and the chains that bind a good man only ever get heavier and longer."

"For true freedom is the ability to do anything."

"Whether it is theft."

"Murder."

"Or any other depraved desire a human may have."

"This is why the illusion of freedom must be maintained."

"The illusion of choice."

"All for the good of society."

"For only by doing so may a society prevent itself from descending into chaos."

"So I give people a choice."

"Even if the most logical choice is no choice at all."

Reginald Coulan, creator and head of House Aurellion in dynasties online.

….

The years in the game seemed to fly by one moment, Railius found himself at 12 years old, learning how to ride a horse and the next, he was 14, playing chess and other strategy games to help hone his skills and as he got older the differences between the General and Martial paths became apparent as instead of spending more time training up his swordsmanship like Jordis Mantelon the first son of Leon did Railius instead spent more time on learning military strategy and leadership skills.

This is mainly because the two youths were walking different paths even though they learnt together as Jordis would be to Railius what Leon was to Lucius, a loyal friend and protector who, in the future, would be responsible for the young lord's safety and so focused more on marital arts and skills with a full moon halberd and other weapons than Railius did though he just because their specialisations were different did not mean that either of them was unable to do the job of the other.

Actually, this was where Jordis had an advantage over his father because he was rather intelligent, and so even if he was not as skilled as Railius in military strategy, it did not mean that he was unable to be a capable general.

Because they were so close in age, it was much easier for them to get along than it is for an older man like Leon, and while Leon would become more like a father figure to the young lord, Jordis would become a brother, one that he was happy to have to accompany him anywhere also, Leon as a grandmaster and Grand Commander of the Pelican Guards may not be able to follow him everywhere like Jordis did also his skill at fighting would also make people wary of him a problem his son did not have.

Because Railius had been able to deal with the managerial nightmare that his noble house faced so well, he gained the loyalty of Baron Malwin, which would allow him to complete the 'Teacher For Domestic Affairs' main quest and give him more skill points for the actual start of the game.

Railius had heard about the aftermath of Darius' little tirade with Sigismond Security Service and was livid and almost had Darius beaten up when he heard that the genius crown prince of Nathia had found out about them as now House Aurellion would have someone constantly watching them who was powerful enough to wipe them out as easy as he would squish a bug such was their disparity in power.

This was also why Railius wanted to keep a low profile, as most landed nobles were connected one way or another to powerful factions within a nation. For example, Count Nidor could be said to be firmly in Crown Prince Kodjis's faction despite his apparent neutrality. Because of this, he told the Nathian prince about House Aurellion and their movements.

As a result, Railius now had to be careful, for the attention of a kingdom's prince was far more troublesome than a count.

Railius also had to preside over a few meetings where he was told periodically about the growth and influence of his noble house. This was an attempt by Baron Malwin and Leon Railius' regent to help him experience more about governance and managing people, something that he would have to do extensively if he succeeded in his ambitions in the future.

To summarise, House Aurellion currently had 5000 civilians under its control, many of whom were women and children. Malwin managed to find 28 intelligent children to teach personally alongside Jordis and Railius. These kids would be taught politics, governance, and other matters so that House Aurellion would at least have some loyal civil servants in the future if they ever managed to regain their power.

The rest would be taught basic literacy and arithmetic skills from the old military officers of the Pelican Guard who had picked up these skills while in service to the Chavarian Empire with the option of learning self-defence and other skills that are needed to become Pelican Guards for House Aurellion in the future if they so wished.

They also could choose not to take any educational opportunities, for House Aurellion was a noble house that liked to give people, even their enemies, choices. Even if the choices are only surrender or death, they are still choices, if not that different.

These civilians were surprised, as usually, the children of commoners learnt the craft of their fathers and, if they were lucky, found a master to learn a different skill, but these opportunities were few as most sons of farmers became farmers themselves. As a result, having the choice to have their kids choose their own paths in life was something that they were not expecting or really knew what to do with.

However, all chose to accept one offer or another because reading and writing are essential for climbing the social ladder. Whether it is becoming an official of a noble or even a wealthy, successful merchant, the ability to read and write and do basic maths is essential and a foundational skill that can open many doors.

Just like in the real medieval world, many commoners are illiterate. This stops them from advancing high in society or even becoming merchants without the backing of a noble family or someone with money to educate them.

And now, these people who had thrown everything away in Chavaria to follow an exiled noble house with an uncertain future got this very opportunity.

One could say their loyalty had come with great reward and the opportunity of a lifetime.

In fact, one unfortunate man who mainly dealt with logistics was swamped with work and soon became a leading figure in the education of these children, becoming somewhat of a headmaster to these kids of the loyal soldiers of Aurellion whom Railius had decided to teach.

His job in logistics required a high level of maths and the need to read and write, making him an excellent candidate to be in charge of teaching the masses the basics needed to fly high as once they had learnt the basics, they could search out teachers to teach them more.

If they were lucky, a noble family would hire them or help them gain a position in the royal court to help boost their influence there. It has even become a common practice in Nathia and the primary way for commoners to enter the royal court as ministers as these commoners would have no choice but to rely on the nobles who helped them, making them much easier to control than other nobles who may have alternative interests.

Of course, you would have to serve under the noble who helped you initially, but the networking opportunity this created for people to meet and build a relationship with influential people was not something to be underestimated as many had even gained landed noble titles if only a low one from these connections if a dynasty is removed from the Nathia nobility for one reason or another. While uncommon, this is not impossible, especially if the noble is not like Vice Count Valentine, who tried to lower political battles' effect on innocents as much as possible.

Because many of the Pelican Guards had two children each, there were 3000 children and 2000 women with some of the deceased Pelican Guard families deciding to continue serving House Aurellion, who had never mistreated them in the past, something that is not guaranteed when a new noble family took power in Nalora and so like the others also got Railius' excellent educational proposal.

Unfortunately, this came with its own cost, but Railius was happy with his decision as he was most concerned about not having enough competent, loyal subordinates in the future and so using this early once-in-a-lifetime time skip that would likely not come again, Railius decided to build a strong foundation for his noble house for the young player was suspicious of other players much preferring to use NPC's who the real world could not influence.

For who knew what Railius enemies in the game would tempt or threaten his allied players within the real world to get them to betray him?

Railius wanted to avoid this kind of situation as much as possible and, as a result, wanted to have a set of loyal NPCs so that even if a player betrays him for one reason or another, he has people in the game he can rely on to bounce back.

Of course, this is under the assumption that the game does not shut down because James Larant ran out of money to pay the millions of pounds needed to keep the game running.

Railius then looked at the ancient system notifications that had appeared as soon as he decided to go through with this educational program, sighing slightly.

[You have decided to create an educational program for your citizens. This will give you a small pool to recruit skilled people from in the future who have specialised skills or a basic education.]

[Baron Melwin has taken in 28 intelligent students to accompany you and Jordis Mantelon in your lessons. They will become scholars with debt and loyalty to your house, which can be used in various ways in the future.]

[2000 have decided, with the blessing of their families, to undertake training to become Pelican Guards in the future.]

[The others have decided to accept your basic education, but because their families do not want them to join your military, they have decided to learn other valuable crafts.]

[A large amount of funding is required, so the development of your information network will decrease by the time the main game starts as the money needed for this program will be shifted from establishing more taverns across Nathia to educating these people.]

[Are you sure you want to go ahead with this.]

[Yes/No]

After pressing the yes option, another system notification appeared.

[Basic education system established.]

[Pelican Guard training system established]

'It would be nice if they all decided to become Pelican Guards, but it was their choice, and I can't expect everyone to be willing to fight in the war, and anyway, these other crafts may come in handy in the future.'

Railius thought and knew that having a standing military, especially with a unit like the Pelican Guards, was no easy feat. Even if many of them could join Sigismond Security Service and even bring in money, he would need a steady and reliable supply of strong weapons and armour due to the unique Pelican Guard armour.

While for now, they can use the ones left over from the previous generation of Pelican Guards, if they retire to expand this powerful unit further or get it back to its previous strength, he would need a team of skilled, trustworthy blacksmiths to build weapons and armour for him. It would also help if he needed to acquire weapons for any…. under the table missions.

As he Railius fights more and more battles, his stock of this special customised armour would slowly deplete until there was nothing left of it, and he was forced to use either mail or plate armour for his men, with one not being strong enough and the other restricting movement too much which is why the customised armour is so important as it was strong enough to help protect from most blows yet light enough with the armour mastery skill to allow the loyal soldiers movements not to be impaired much by their armour.

This armour also played a crucial role in the Pelican Guards' victory over the Chavarian Imperial Guard, allowing many Pelican Guards to go 2/1 against the so-called best soldiers of the empire.

After all this, Railius finally completed his quests for the Dynasty History event. All the preparations he could do were completed, so after getting time skipped again and again, he finally got through the Dynasty History System finally getting his last set of system notifications.

[Congratulations to player Rising Pelican of Loyalty for completing the E-ranked main quest, 'A Teacher for Domestic Affairs.']

[Congratulations to player Rising Pelican of Loyalty for completing the main quest 'A young lord's training.]

[Congratulations to player Rising Pelican of Loyalty for successfully navigating through the Dynasty History System.]

[Please choose two skills to do with political affairs and governance to improve.]

Railius let out a sigh of relief when he saw that he had succeeded and took some time before deciding to put one skill point in both deception and administration, gaining two new skills that will be essential for him in the future, but the subsequent two system notification made him jump out of his skin.

[Due to the exhaustion of players and the need for a game update, the game servers will be down for an extra day, officially opening on the 4th of February so that everyone will be fresh for the opening of the servers, but the dynasty history system will close at 8 am on the 3rdof February as usual.]

[Rewards for quests done in the Dynasty History System during the first few days may be claimed once the servers re-open]

[Time remaining until servers close 30 IRL minutes. It is recommended that players please complete their quests as soon as possible.]

'Fucking hell, that was close!'

Reginald, the player behind Railius, thought as he knew the consequences for not successfully getting through the dynasty history system in time was the eradication of your dynasty. The worst consequence for a player to suffer apart from a permanent ban from the game, as all your progress and assets in the game that you have built up will be gone in a second, including all inheritable dynasty traits a player may have as well.

The only reason for this eradication is that, unlike players who join later, Railius and the other early players have the opportunity to influence the world before the game starts and seamlessly integrate themselves into it.

This also allowed them to set up influential organisations before the game officially began, a privilege that the later players would not have as backgrounds such as landed noble would be unavailable to them, giving them very few resources, which included whatever rewards they got from the dynasty history system and a starter kit compared to players who made their characters before the game began.

But when compared to the mercenary company, taverns, soldiers and other benefits that Railius and others got, it would cost a pretty penny for any company or player who did not invest money early to get that kind of power.

That or many years developing in the game at which point their competitors will be able to suppress them easily putting them in a true predicament and practically forcing their hands!

Because all the in-game resources they got would have to come from their own farming or other players, and James Larant, the cunning bastard who created this game, had no worries about not having enough investors or businesses buy vast sums of gold from players.

All he had to do was wait, and the fish would swarm to take the first bite of his bait.

His bait to change the world.