"This… is quite the conundrum…" King Avery stroked his beard.
King Avery looked down at the Cursed Hero, Brandon, and the tied-up knights disguised as bandits. The conflicted look on his face varied between appreciation and irritation. He wasn't irritated at the adventurer but simply at what his dire news meant for their kingdom. News like this needed to be acted on immediately. It also added far more grey hairs to his head and beard than he was comfortable with.
"Reward the Cursed Hero for his righteous actions taken to protect this kingdom and the human race. Chancellor! Marshal! Follow me." King Avery rose from his throne.
"Your Majesty, I am grateful for your benevolence." Brandon rose from his kneeling position as he fought to keep the maniacal smile from forming on his face.
When Brandon successfully made it outside of the castle, he could no longer keep himself in check. He thrust his hips and fists into the air while whooping and hollering. Being rewarded by the King himself was better than anything else he's ever been rewarded within the game so far. A legendary achievement, a crazy amount of experience, a stupid amount of reputation increase, and a quest to become an actual Duke!
The first part of the quest was to raise an army strong enough to go to war with Duke Gaul and his territory. The important part of this quest was because of the wording, he didn't have to rely on NPCs specifically. This meant he could make a post on the game's forums about this quest and build an army of players to raid Duke Gaul's territory without even lifting a finger! This game had an active player base with over two million players on the daily.
Logging out after being given weird looks by the guards at the entrance of the palace. Brandon swiftly exited from his gaming pod and went to his computer. His impressive sky-view loft from the middle of a bustling city was still taking some time to get used to, but right now, he had something more important than the beautiful sights outside his glass windows. Logging onto the forums, Brandon didn't even need to make his post elaborate, detailed, or long. All he needed to say was, "big war. duke gaul territory. Salona." And he left his computer to go work on his hygiene and body.
Unlike other gamers, Brandon wasn't just any old gamer now that he got rich from World of Eternia. Befitting his status, Brandon made sure to avoid being seen or known as a stereotypical gamer. Bad hygiene, unhealthy body, and horrible eating habits. While he had all this money from selling high rarity loot that was useless for his class to other gamers, and could certainly afford to neglect his health. Why should he?! He was rich now! That meant he was better than a lot of people in society. What better way to embrace his newfound status in life than absolutely living it up!?
No longer did Brandon have to live the life of a useless, mediocre leech of society with an obsession with games. Now, video games were his job and source of income! It was a symbol of pride to him now after years of mockery and ridicule. After making the post, he started his daily regimen of exercising for thirty minutes. Then, he took a shower, cooked up a well-balanced meal, looked at the news for World of Eternia and other famous streamers who play it, and then brushed his teeth after eating. When he came back to his high-end gaming desktop, there were already dozens of posts on his war thread.
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"Warwarwarwarwarwarwarwarwarwarwar." EpicGamer69 repeated before getting temporarily banned for spamming.
"Can you imagine the type of loot I can get from knights? I'm in, baby." LootGoblinSupreme liked the post.
"When should we be there?" TacticalGeniusBaby asked.
"Count me in as a healer! Every war needs support roles, too! I'll keep the army alive and kicking. Looking forward to seeing some dramatic and painful deaths. Let's make this a legendary war!" RoleplayEnthusiast added.
"Hey OP, I'm a low-level noob, but I'm eager to join the war! Do we need to be a specific level to join?" NoobSlayer99 questioned.
"I'll be there selling wares for anyone who needs stuff!" LegHumper liked the post.
"HUMANITY SHALL NEVER DIE!!!" ChampionAte liked the post.
"You fleshy bastards! You leave our traitorous Duke alone! The mushroom faction is aware of this post, and we shall be heading to Duke Gaul's territory to defend our noble!" MushroomLover9999 shared.
"Death to the mushroom spies! We'll eradicate you all until there's not a single mushroom left in World of Eternia!" JayRock responded to MushromLover9999
"Is the war going to start when we see the mushroom faction or when we meet up in front of Duke Gaul's territory?" Salamdaner questioned.