Time left for Tier 1: 6 Days,10 Hours.

  “TAI, Is that what I think it is? Did they really build a fucking castle on a space station? using part of the space station?”

  “That would be correct Voyager.” she responded cheerily.

  A honest to god Castle stood in the middle of a large atrium. It was comprised completely out of scrap metal acquired from the station around it. The panels in the walls were all removed, the pipping and wiring were completely exposed, and most of that was also gone. The conglomeration of station salvage was immense. Stretching four stories into the air and nearly half a kilometer wide. The atrium it was built in was clearly meant for gathering the full crew that would reside on the station into one place. The castle took up half of the area in the Atrium. Leaving a decent walk up from the hallway we were currently in.

  The castle is exactly how you expect a castle to look with one big difference. All the stone and mortar was replaced with rusting and aged metal, cobbled together with wires and bad welding jobs. Everything was spot welded by what I would assume was a teenager with his first welder. The joints were full of holes where they got impatient and moved to quick, leaving weak seams. If I had the strength I could hit it just right and half the structure would probably collapse through a domino effect. I was amazed just at the sheer accomplishment of building this Frankenstein castle without it collapsing and killing them all.

  “Are these guys any tougher than the ones we been dealing with TAI?” I asked my tiny sprite guide. We had been making our way here slowly over time. So far we had taken out five more groups of Kobalts. four groups of two and even a group of three as we got closer. They were all the same level too as the original pair me and Marco killed before I went into the classroom. The loot wasn’t any better either. except, I now had a new weapon, the third pair had yielded me a new Melee weapon. A mace with some real heft to the head. It was a pipe about two feet long with a leather wrapped around it on the bottom half for grip. At the top sat a heavy metal ball with a six inch radius and solid metal spikes protruding from all sides. It was some kind of heavy metal, that was extremely sturdy. Everything I hit it with would buckle under its mass and it would come away unfazed.

  Title: Mace of metal

  Rarity: Uncommon

  Item: Mace

  Category: Weapon

  Stats: +10% Damage.

  “Nothing is more satisfying than crushing ones foes under the weight of a heavy fucking ball of metal” – any man with a mace and several enemies to crush with it.

  Along with it I also found some uncommon Shoes that looked like running shoes I would have worn during practice back in college, when I was a Cross Country runner. Ultra light weight, and plain black. They had no designer logo at all. They gave me plus five percent to my movement speed and increased my physical defense by a whopping two percent. A pair of uncommon socks that just made me quieter when I walked with a +5% sneakiness. Apparently I had a sneakiness skill? I don’t know this game is just weird. It constantly feels like it’s been cobbled together by a bunch of different game logics being smashed together to make one big conglomerate of gaming.

  We stared up at the giant makeshift fortress, wondering in it’s half hazard construction and focused on how to get in quietly. I was equipped to sneak after all. I turned to TAI and asked her for help.

  “Unfortunately Voyager, they are most likely a level or two higher. They shouldn’t be any more difficult though after your own recent advancements. but, I’m not sure I can really be of any assistance. I can’t fight for you, and that would include distractions along with actual combat. I can only interact with non hostile entities. These are indeed hostile to you by nature.” She informed me.

  “Yeah, no shit TAI, can you give me any advice on how to move forward with this. Can you scout it out for us or something. Just any information that will help me and Marco take these guys out.” I said back shortly.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “You could always challenge the king directly. He may except a single combat dual for rule over his kingdom and subjects. They are more of a Kratocracy than anything else. If you can force your way to his chambers and then defeat him in a one on one combat you would gain this entire castle. It would count as owning a town or village for you. You could list it on Zillow afterwards I guess. It appears to be a fixer upper though.” She seemed to be getting snarky now. Great an A.I. thats going from overly happy about my impending death to sarcastic about my constant survival. One thing at a time.

  “Marco? you cool with trying to get in there to the kings chambers with me? If I’m gonna face him solo I’m gonna need to get there as intact as possible, so I’m gonna need you to be dialed in on those hot hands of yours. Can you do that for me?” I asked him. his accuracy thus far had been shaky at best. Apparently that first shot had been way more luck than I was comfortable being aware of. It did fit the theme of my life though. So, I guess I can’t complain too much, I am still alive because of it.

  “I think I’m getting better, I’ll do my best Mr.Stryder. I promise” The young boy looked determined to improve.

  “Just Stryder kid. I don’t need to be called Mister, too formal for this environment.”

  Thinking about how insane it would be to insist on being called Mister in this kind of environment started giving me some ideas on how to handle the situation and then something came to mind. something absolutely ludicrous , so insanely out of left field that it might actually work. I stood up and started to slowly approach the front gate. I had thought of a good tactic for getting in.

  I searched in my inventory and found a couple of hollow wooden bowls I had found in a breakroom earlier and tested them out. I banged them together and they made a satisfying hollow clap. similar to that of a horse clomp. I passed them to Marco and told him to do exactly what I just did. He mimicked the action perfectly and a solid clomp clomp clomp noise came out of the bowls. I began trotting towards the two guards like I was riding a horse.

  “Marco keep that noise up and follow a few feet behind me. I’m going to try something weird I just need you to go with it. If a fight starts though get to a good distance and torch the one I’m not directly fighting. Got it?” The Incubi nodded and continued the Clomping of the bowls.

  I galloped across the open Atrium and towards the front of the castle. When I was a few feet from the guards I made like I was pulling a horse up to a stop and said the only thing someone can truly say to a ridiculous castle placed in somewhere a castle has no business being.

  “It is I, Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon, from the castle of Camelot. King of the Britons, defeater of the Saxons, Sovereign of all England!” I announced in a fake British accent

  “Whaaa?” The guard on the left said in severe confusion.

  “I have ridden the length and breadth of the land in search of knights who will join me in my court at Camelot. I must speak with your lord and master.” I continued to press.

  The two guards looked at eachother in confusion not getting what was going on.

  “I think I broke them.” I said over my shoulder looking back at TAI and Marco. He was clearly as broken as the guards and TAI just looked gobsmacked. I turned back to the guards “Look your king, or leader, or whatever you call the guy in charge, is waiting for me. let me in so I can talk to him. If not he probably won’t be happy with you guys later on.” I said with an air of mock importance. The dots on my mini map seemed to slowly shift from red to white? It worked! I’m not sure what exactly I did, I’d have to talk to TAI about it later but I figured if I confused and insisted enough they would just roll with it rather than try to logic their way through the problem unnecessarily.

  The gate started opening for me and I motioned for Marco to stop the clomping and for TAI to join us at the front. They cautiously approached and the white dots remained their Milky cool shade. Which I had banked on. I assumed they could only be changed by me, The tween NPC and the questionably visual sprite would have no effect on this outcome. We all began to enter the makeshift castle and made our way towards what I was assuming would be the throne room. The structure was absolutely equal parts impressive and terrifying. It was impossibly sturdy for being made of recycled ship parts. Every inch of the place was either metal panels from the floors,walls, and ceilings. Or it was wires, signs, pipes and other materials used to tie things together. The most impressive part was the massive steel beams and girders that were also mashed in for real stability. I was afraid to ask where they had gotten the beams from, but I might have to so I can stay away from that part of the ship.

  They must also have an abundance of Sauder as most things were poorly welded together. Those that weren’t were riveted instead, they must have found some maintenance closets or something. altogether it was a kaleidoscope of rust,steel and hope.

  “How did you know that would work Voyager?” TAI asked me in wonder flying close to my right shoulder.

  “He didn’t” Marco said in shock and awe from next to my left elbow. His horns were barely visible from under his scruffy black hair. Not that it mattered his bright red skin was a big give away that he was clearly an incubi. I looked down at him for a second and a thought came to me.

  “Hey TAI and Marco, Incubi don’t have any natural sentient enemies do they?” I asked and Marco looked up at me confused. “When I say enemies I mean like racial prejudices, like are their other races that will just hate you on site?”

  “No Voyager, Incubi and Succubi are well regarded in most NPC societies for being very capable in most aspects of society, their race is known for being naturally gifted at almost everything. They usually will be a master level in anything from Physical combat to state politics. Some of the best crafters and leaders have been of the seductive race. The only time people tend to have a negative view of their kind is when they have a personal history with some of the rogues who use their natural charisma to seduce and steal from them or their ancestors.” TAI informed me quickly as we continued to be led through the hastily created hallways. This place was way bigger than I expected. we even went up a flight of stairs on the way to the thrown room.

  “That’s good I was worried Kobalts would just hate Marco for being red. Now I can just challenge this guy to a fight and win.” I said with a fake air of confidence. I had just hit level four after fighting our way here through about a dozen on the lizard people. I had put the points into my Physical attribute again and was rocking a solid Eight in it which was an insane increase to be frank. I had been testing it out lately and not only was my HP doubled from when I started, it was now up to 200, but my strength was insane. I was zeroing in on becoming the strongest man on earth, if I had still been on earth that is, I wasn’t. I remembered I’m both in space,and in a VR video death game. That being said, I was feeling very confident in my abilities. “Let’s do this thing” I said as the doors opened and we entered the Throne room.

  My face immediately fell when i saw the King. The King who wasn’t even looking at me.