After a blindingly bright flash of light, Anniceta regained her vision and saw that she was located in the middle of a rather ramshackle encampment.
Shoddy wooden fencing, a smaller hut next to a larger hut, both made of wood and leaves, a campfire, and a little garden area that had but a few flowers and a small statue that was shaped like a gorgeous Elven Swordswoman.
In front of her stood a rather confused female Elf.
"What happened? Papa never told me about an event like this. I wonder..."
The female Elf had an excited look on her face, and completely ignored Anniceta, who was just staring at the female Elf, who had just pulled out a weird totem.
Anniceta saw it glow for a bit before the image of a rather handsome, middle-aged-looking Elf who wore an ornate Taoist robe, appeared with a dignified stature and air.
Once the middle-aged Elf saw the female Elf, however, he heartily laughed and greeted her.
"Hahahaha! My little princess! How are you doing? What brings you to contact your awesome father? Are you eating well? Do you need me to send some supplies?"
The female Elf shook her head and smiled.
"No Papa, no supplies are needed, and yes, I'm eating just fine. Something weird happened though. I tried using my Hero Summoning Token, but I didn't manage to summon an Elite Elven Huntress, but a rather cool looking being instead!"
The middle-aged Elf instantly frowned.
"Show me what you summoned. If it poses a threat to you, I'll directly descend and kill it. I won't let a mere summon harm my precious baby!"
The female Elf turned the image, so that the middle-aged Elf was facing Anniceta, who wasn't even mad at what he said, but rather, amused.
The middle-aged Elf's expression instantly froze when he saw Anniceta.
The image was so clear, the cold sweat that broke out on the middle-aged Elf's forehead, and presumably his entire body, was perfectly visible.
Sweating bullets, he hurriedly went down on one knee.
"Please forgive me for my impudence, Great Goddess!"
Anniceta was confused as she tilted her head slightly to the right.
"I appreciate the flattery, but I'm no Goddess. I know plenty of Divine Powers and even a few Esoteric Arts. That's probably why I might seem like a Goddess."
The middle-aged Elf looked absolutely petrified but managed to force smile on his face.
"Esoteric Arts? As in the type of powers that only Supreme Gods and above can use? Hahhh... Well, I would really appreciate if you could help my lovely daughter establish an empire in that world."
The female Elf coughed into her fist.
"Um, Papa, I think we should introduce ourselves first, I'm sure the powerful Miss would like to know our names."
The middle-aged Elf froze and wryly chuckled. Turning towards Anniceta, he cupped his fists and performed a light bow with this head.
"Forgive me, Patron. My name is Luo Tian, and this is my precious daughter, Luo Weiwei. What might your name be?"
Performing a light bow with her head, Anniceta smoothly replied, "My name is Anniceta Cromwell, my surname being Cromwell, though you both can just call me Anniceta. Now then, let's get a move on, shall we?"
Browsing through her skills, Anniceta sauntered to the edge of the shoddy fence, choosing a few that she hadn't used in quite a while.
"I hope you don't mind me bringing in some help. I can't be bothered to do any manual labor, and neither should you. Besides, why do the work yourself when you can just have powerful underlings do the work for you instead?"
'Clockwork Legion'
'Special Unit Summoning'
'Dark Summon'
VMMM
2 portals that were 20 meters tall and 50 meters wide appeared outside of the fence, their swirling white and silver surface looked quite dazzling.
CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!
First, thousands of bipedal, 6-armed, humanoid automatons wearing red, gold, and silver colored plate-mail, marched out of the portal in neat rows.
They were each armed with a 2.4 meter long, 30 cm wide "sword" that looked like it could slice a dragon in half, a large, double-sided war hammer, a very thick and heavy shield that covered most of their 3-meter-tall height, a 3-point flail, a 9-ringed saber, and a seal that featured various cogs and clocks as a design, with a faint Time Aura emanating from them.
Next, 5,000 mechanical monstrosities emerged.
Standing at 10 meters tall, these monsters were bipedal with a body that looked like the result of a cracked out tweeker with an overactive imagination being asked to draw a robot scarecrow.
They sported 13 mismatched arms that either ended in a blade, a clawed hand, or an absurdly powerful "Sun Torch", which has a 2-meter-long beam when used and is hot enough to instantly boil diamonds. (A/N: The Sun Torches were used by these monsters to cut away at city walls and barricades back in the VR game. They figuratively, and sometimes literally, melted through their enemies.)
What followed the Scarecrows were 5,000 flying units which kind of looked like two crescents forming an X, with a floating sphere being housed in the middle.
Their entire bodies were only 3 meters across, 3 meters tall, and 5 meters long, allowing fast movement and superior agility.
The tips of the crescents each ended with a high-powered, magic autocannon.
It's underside and back areas housed a Skill Casting Unit which gave it cloaking, bombing regeneration, illusion, dogfighting, searching, and spying capabilities, just to name a few.
Despite it's completely mechanical look, it's actually considered a bio-mechanical war bird, similar to what the hunting hawks on Earth are to their human handlers.
They were a special reward given to her by the Developers of the VR game, and they were called Crescent Hawks.
However, if you'd asked the other players, they'd have responded with, "They're that f*cking lunatic's death pigeons!"
The moment the last Crescent Hawk crossed through the portal, the originally white-and-silver-colored portals turned a swirling black and purple color instead.
Without making a single sound, a small force of just 40 cloaked figures paced out.
Each of them carried a sinister looking, pitch-black blade that had multiple jagged points and extensions, each of the blades seemed to gather and absorb the shadows around it's wielder.
All you could see were their blades, and their masks, which looked very similar to a ballistic mask, with the exception that they had no eyeholes.
These units were the "Psychopomp Assassins", and each of them could fight against several Great Sage rank beings at once and win. They were some of Anniceta's deadliest units, with no losses recorded during her time in the VR game.
They struck without warning and were impossible to detect if you weren't a being who specialized in tracking and deduction.
Even then, 99% of the time, it would be too late. Their targets would be dead before they could act.
Anniceta then closed the portals with a wave of her hand, gradually turning towards the stunned Luo Tian and Luo Weiwei.
"What should I order them to gather and kill? As long as it's nothing that's above Peak Great Sage rank, then these troops of mine will be able to handle anything."
Luo Weiwei thought for a few moments, seemingly debating with herself about whether to tell Anniceta something or not.
Eventually, she sighed, looking kind of shy about something, and a little... ashamed?
"This might sound a little absurd, but pretty much anything and everything, from Trees to ores, fruits, nuts, weeds, flowers, edible greens and plants, mushrooms, vegetables, ancient stones, artifacts, treasure, and especially water, tell them to gather as much water as they can when we need it.
Monsters are going to be a problem, and that problem will continue to grow as time goes on. Large groups of monsters will occasionally attack in waves, which thankfully won't start for another 3 weeks. There'll also be a super strong monster commanding the wave as well, and they're strength is at least 10 times stronger than of the "normal" monsters.
Aside from the wave, as you've probably noticed, it's pitch-black outside of the fence, with only a half-meter line of sight. There'll be plenty of other monsters that are roaming around in the darkness, and they need to be killed off before we can expand.
So aside from gathering those other items, killing monsters and bringing them back to the base is just as important."
Pausing for a moment to assess whether Anniceta was displeased or not, she breathed a silent breath of relief upon seeing that Anniceta still seemed attentive. Thus, she continued.
"The reason for this is pretty simple. Aside from the fruits, nuts, and edible plants, mushrooms, and vegetables, most of the monsters can be eaten as well. More than that though, is the Energy Points we obtain using a special token. We simply scan the item, the points get added, and the token will automatically process our harvests for us, giving us the usable remains.
Energy Points can be used on class-ups, upgrading buildings and summons, purchasing exclusive items from the Wandering Trader if they ever show up, and we can even exchange for blessings if we have enough.
We also need Energy Points to summon Normal and Elite Elven soldiers.
Don't worry though, I'm sure with all of those... where'd they go?"
Luo Weiwei and Luo Tian looked at Anniceta in confusion, to which she snickered and cheekily explained.
"While you were monologuing, I had already teleported them 30 meters in random directions. With their strength, it's not going to take long before you see wonderous results. Whatever they harvest, I'll receive in my spatial storage.
The best part is, they'll keep working until they're either destroyed, or I recall them. Also, don't worry about the "pitch-black surroundings" outside of the base. My troops and I can see as if it were a clear sunny day. Just sit back and relax, my troops will handle everything just fine."
Although they looked fairly uneasy, both Luo Weiwei and Luo Tian ended up just relaxing, with Luo Tian directly descending with the intent to meet and appraise Anniceta.
After looking her over and viewing what little he could of her skill base and physique, Luo Tian grunted.
"Hmph, what the f*ck sort of freak are you? In my 30,000 years of life, I've never seeing a lifeform as powerful and mysterious like yourself. When I tried to look at your acupoints, I suffered a minor backlash, and that's just when I tried to make contact with my mind. I don't dare imagine what would happen if I had tried to forcefully investigate.
Your body's physique has me equally as puzzled. Not only that, but the energy you passively let off feels far more powerful than any type of energy I know about, and believe me, I know of plenty. So, would you care to tell us, what exactly are you?"
Anniceta chuckled into her fist and gracefully sat down on the ground next to the campfire.
"My race is called "Progenitor", and you're correct if you assumed I have my own type of Energy I use to activate my skills. I can't tell you much more than that."
Luo Tian nodded, as if he had predicted Anniceta's answer.
"Hahhh... well, I'd better get going. Your mother is going to kill me if I get home late for dinner. Seriously, she's getting more and more aggressive the longer you're gone. Just make sure you contact us a lot. Especially your mother. For her sake, and even more so for mine!"
Luo Weiwei hugged her father and gave him a heartwarming smile that made Luo Tian want to dote on his daughter even more.
"Don't worry Papa, I'll make sure to contact you and Mama plenty. Besides, with Miss Anniceta, I'll complete my Empire in no-time! Then I can come home and see you."
Ruffling her hair one last time, Luo Tian met Anniceta's gaze with a warm gaze of his own.
"Thank you for helping my daughter, Miss Anniceta. When my daughter's Empire is completed, I'll try to reward you with whatever you want."
Leaning back into her chair, Anniceta lazily gave him a thumbs up.
"Got it. Don't worry Luo Tian, your daughter is in good hands. Not even a God would dare try and mess with me. If they DO dare, then I'll kill them like any other chicken or dog."
Luo Tian merely grinned as his body disappeared into motes of light, that quickly dispersed into nothing.
By the time Luo Weiwei was done processing what had just happened, she looked over, and saw that Anniceta was on her side, already asleep.
She had the bright idea to try and mess with Anniceta. As such, she managed to lay in front of her and snap a picture using a Memory Crystal, only to suddenly feel Anniceta's arms wrap around her waist and shoulders.
With her face quickly turning a bright red color, Luo Weiwei's only thought was, 'Well... what do I do now...?'