Rina was currently taking in the sight of the rapidly developing Vita City-State. Last time she had been here, the place had only just been upgraded.
Now, there were so many businesses and hotels around. Tradeskill masters of almost every single craft had at least 1 shop in the City-State, making it one of the best locations in the world.
Heck, even the Diad family didn't have so many varied Tradeskill workers in their workshops. However, that was a given since the Diad family only accepted top-tier talents in profitable Tradeskills, unlike Vita City-State where very few masters resided here, but many amateurs relied on the bonuses to raise the value of their craft.
Not to mention that for the Diad family, those Tradeskill masters were part of their group fully. As for Vita City-State, their relationship with the Tradeskill masters was of mutual benefit, though many ignorant people thought that Vita was losing out in this deal.
Rina walked through the paved roads of Vita, which sort of resembled the roads in Italy and France's business districts. Carriages moved along as many transportation firms had many of their branches here.
Rina could see a huge amount of traffic entering and leaving the Portal Center, but most of it was players of Umbra. Not to mention the high price of Vita's powerful Portal Center, the strict measures taken for entry also limited the entry traffic.
Rina herself had been stopped outside by some dark-skinned fellows who looked like Africans, and they only let her through after seeing her guild emblem. As a member of the Five Generals, she was only below the Vice-Guildmasters and the Guildmaster.
Rina uncertainly walked to the plot she had selected for her own home back when Vita had still been a settlement. At that time, Draco and Riveting Night had allowed her and the other four to do so, but Rina saw many new residences in the area.
No, what was more interesting was that the area with citizens and nobles was gated from the rest of the city. This directly created a serious class barrier, separating residents and non-residents from the citizens of the state.
A class system was a cancerous tumor in any state, causing great rife and unhappiness to residents there. But in a game like Boundless, such matters meant dogshit.
Especially when a state with benefits like Vita existed, then one could only grumble silently but accept it. Had many been in Draco's shoes, they would have done the same.
The houses that had been constructed for citizens was a different ball-game from that which was constructed for residents outside the gates, as well as those of hotels.
It was naturally impossible to buy land unless one was a citizen, and even becoming a resident was hard from what Rina had investigated from the members of the Nshaw Tribe at the gates.
Still, there was only so much she could glean from them in a short amount of time. As such, she wanted to check out her plot and then head to the Aether Hall for a quick de-briefing.
Rina soon came upon her property and was surprised to see that it was untouched, just as she left it. She had never gotten down to having someone build something for her, but it seemed she would have to do so soon.
She tapped her Flamesear staff against her temple, a tic she had slowly developed while she had been out completing her task to level it up. She did this whenever she was pondering something.
Rina decided to deal with this now. If she continually put it off, who knew when she would be able to get down to it?
As such, she went back to the business district and searched around for a bit. She saw many signposts which had the names of various business. However, what she was looking for was the Tradeskill Association's branch.
She soon found its location near the gated area, a prime location by all means. She meandered through the streets of Vita City-State, enjoying the l.u.s.tful gazes of men on her form.
She still wore her classic red robe that was tight enough to almost be a skinsuit. Her blood-red lips curled into a smirk and her sharp red eyes flashed.
With her good height, she was able to look most men eye to eye, which she was grateful for. It would be pretty uncomfortable to be short, as it would create a psychological feeling of inferiority.
Rina reached the Tradeskill Association soon enough. Her steps did not come to a stop as she entered the large building that had some mild human traffic going through it.
Inside were styled halls with some significant grandeur, along with a comfortable lounge in the center. Various servants went around seeing to their guest's needs, giving it the air of a high-class service building.
At the back of the hall were various booths with workers at each counter, taking in the requests and whatnot of guests in an orderly fashion. It reminded Rina of a bureaucratic office, just posher.
She directly headed to a counter to get her request sorted. There was a small line in front of her, as she obviously wasn't the first and certainly would not be the last to require services from the Tradeskill Association in this budding State.
Practically everyone needed something done; new buildings, new tools, new items. Even though they could source it from other Tradeskill crafters in the business district, many preferred to rely on the trustworthy Tradeskill Association.
This naturally had its own price, which many could not pay easily. An establishment like the Tradeskill Association would never run out of people wanting their services, so they had to create a certain standard with their pricing.
It wasn't being pompous, but very basic business. Price usually equated to quality in the eyes of most customers, and many big spenders would not even deign to look at certain things unless a suitable price standard was set.
"Hello madam, how can I help you?" A female worker at the counter asked Rina with a practiced smile.
"I would like to have a residence constructed." Rina answered after thinking for a bit.
The worker's eyes flashed as she heard this. To construct a residence in this ill.u.s.trious city, one had to be - at least - a resident. Such a status was extremely rare, like a needle in a haystack.
It didn't seem like Rina was a Rank 4 crafter or combatant, so could it be…?
Even while she thought this, the worker never halted her duty for even a second. "Please fill out this form for me. Along with it is the list of styles you can choose for your residence."
Saying this, she gave Rina a normal form as well as a pamphlet that was quite stylish. Truly, the Tradeskill Association spared no cost in order to make their service unique and flamboyant.
Rina nodded and filled in the form. She then carefully checked the pamphlet and saw hundreds of residence designs there. She combed through them until she found one that she liked.
It was similar to an expensive villa in a resort city, which fit Rina's taste. If she was going to live somewhere, it had to be one with the highest quality.
After handing the form and her choice back to the worker, the woman read through it a gasped. Rina was building a residence in the core area! She was an Immortal Adventurer that was a part of the Umbra guild!
The worker then processed the form quickly before turning to Rina again. "I'll need your guild emblem as well as the payment for the construction."
Rina nodded and handed over her rainbow-colored guild emblem, asking a prudent question. "No problem. How much would it all come to?"
The worker received the emblem and check the final price before assessing the emblem. "It will come to… it will… it…"
She had been about to mention a truly heart-breaking price that would shatter Rina's will to live, but found her words halting as her mind quaked.
"Erm… how much?" Rina asked with a raised brow.
The worker gulped and shook her head slowly. "Nothing… it will cost nothing."
Rina's expression showed surprise then understanding. "I guess core members get to have their residences built for free?"
"That is exactly right, Lady Rina." The worker affirmed with a still cowed voice. She even thought to herself, 'that is for core members, but you're a step above them. Shouldn't we pay you money to build your residence then?'
Rina nodded and waited for the processes to be completed before taking her emblem as well as her leave. She fiddled with the emblem and considered it carefully.
'It seems as if this emblem finally carries some weight around here, eh?' she mused silently.
Rina felt emotional when she remembered that Umbra began with them and Draco. She had sent him a message back then when they first logged into this game, and he had taken them to go leveling.
Their first act as a guild had been to brutalize one horny player, toy with some bears, castrate an Ursa and then bully an undead to death.
Rina sighed. Such good times. When could they even have the freedom to release stress by harming other lifeforms for their own pleasure?
She pushed away these old longings and headed to the Aether Hall. Now that she was done with getting her new residence's - or better yet, villa's - construction, it was time to meet the other generals.
Rina felt that she had been away for too long and certainly needed some time to get herself relaxed and rested. She crossed the gates of the inner district and headed to the center of the city.
This was where the marvelous Aether Hall resided, a magical building that looked like something crossed between sci-fi, steampunk, and cyberpunk.
Even the various Rank 7 powers had been stunned and enraptured by it, much less Rina. She inspected it for a short while before entering the hall and meeting an energy lifeform that had the outline of Draco.
"Greetings General L.u.s.ty Wench. Are you here to see Administrator Sublime?" Vitae asked formally.
"Yes, please take me to her." Rina affirmed with a smile.
"No problem, please follow closely." Vitae answered, leading her through the various halls of the building.
Rina could only marvel when she saw how efficient the building was, as everything was automated. No need for servants or any unnecessary people, the building could do all that on its own.
Rina was lead to the center of the Aether Hall, where a large office was open. Its interior was extremely aesthetic, with many bookshelves, a wide desk, comfortable chairs, a mini-bar, mini-restaurant, and mini-lounge.
At the desk sat Sublime Notion, who was poring over some doc.u.ments seriously. She didn't look tired on the surface, but she gave out an aura that seemed like she had seen the vicissitudes of life.
… Such an aura contrasted with Sublime's adorable and young physique, rendering Rina speechless.
In the lounge sat the other four fellows. Cobra, Kiran, Uno, and Boyd were enjoying this rare break from work. They were busy managing the guild in Draco's and Eva's absence, reducing the load of Sublime's shoulders.
Hearing that Rina had returned, they naturally came to check on her. When they saw her enter, they all greeted her enthusiastically.
"Yo Bitch."
"Dumb whore, you're back."
"How come you're not dead?"
"… Vile woman, you dared to return."
Rina's heart warmed when she heard their heartfelt greetings. These four fellows were her close brothers in their profession and in the game, so they were naturally very close.
"Hehe, how can this Queen die? Did you bunch of clowns lose your v.i.r.g.i.nities yet? I heard that inactivity would make it fall off without you noticing." Rina teased evilly.
The four of them grabbed their third legs to check and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Come, quickly show us your weapon. I heard you upgraded it?" Boyd said with anticipation in his eyes.
"Yep, that's right. Feast your eyes and see the results of my hard work over the last few months." Rina said proudly, displaying the details of the upgraded Flamesear to them.
｢Flamesear – Staff
Rank: Divine
Durability: MAX
Effects:
Passive 1 – Fire Divinity: While this Staff is equipped, any and all forms of fire magic can be used, regardless of the Rank.
Passive 2 – Flame Subjugation: Gain 100% resistance to all forms of fire damage, absorbing damage dealt as health while reflecting it all back to the attacker. All forms of flame in the world can be controlled by this weapon.
Active 1 – Ultra Supernova: Create a sun that deals 10,000% fire damage over a Continent Zone. Cast time: 1 day. Cooldown: 1 year.
Description: Staff of the Fire God Flashflame. It was damaged and cast down to the mortal realm during the War of the Gods. It has now been repaired and had reached its prime.｣
