Chapter 95: Penalty

Lieutenant Doren had been overseeing five Tutorial Zones and the town connecting them long before Jaxir Chance became his problem. Normally, that meant managing officers, keeping Golden Fleece operations profitable, and stepping in only when something grew large enough that the people beneath him could no longer handle it.

This had grown far past that point.

He stood at the head of a private meeting room above one of the Guild’s local offices, both hands planted against the table while a faint heat rolled off him. Across from him sat Kaina, one of the squad leaders operating under the wider Golden Fleece structure, while Rin occupied the seat to his right with her staff resting against the chair and bracelets gathered around both wrists.

Rin was the only one there who didn’t belong to Golden Fleece.

She represented the Gravity Church, and in terms of practical standing, she and Lieutenant Doren were close enough that neither normally treated the other like a subordinate. Doren held the formal rank of Lieutenant and oversaw several Tutorial Zones for Golden Fleece, while Rin led one of the Church’s stronger operational squads and had originally been sent into the region for a single mission to make sure nothing went wrong.

Something had gone wrong anyway, thanks to Jaxir.

Rin had been roughly Level 30 when she entered the Tutorial Zone under suppression, and breaking its restrictions had cost her ten entire Levels when the system forcibly ejected her. Losing one Level at that stage could represent an enormous amount of time and work, so losing ten wasn’t merely an inconvenience; it had erased a chunk of progress that could take over a year, maybe even close to two, to recover.

The higher someone climbed, the worse leveling became.

Even Jaxir, still in the Tutorial range, already needed absurd amounts of Experience compared to when he’d started. For someone around Rin’s level, every single increase demanded vastly more, which meant the punishment had effectively stripped away a fortune in time, resources, hunts and opportunities.

To say that she had taken it personally was an understatement. She had been letting her hatred fester and broil ever since that encounter, but every time more news of Jaxir came, things only got worse.

That aside, Lieutenant Doren technically held the strongest authority inside this particular meeting. Rin wasn’t under Golden Fleece and didn’t answer to him in any formal sense, but this was still his territory, his Tutorial Zones, and his people who would have to carry most of whatever plan they settled on.

Kaina pushed one of the reports farther across the table. "We don’t understand what we’re dealing with anymore. Every time another report comes in, Jaxir has done something that should’ve taken him longer or required more people."

The heat around Doren sharpened slightly, while Rin’s fingers tightened against the arm of her chair.

Kaina noticed both reactions but had no choice but to continue anyway. Her standing was beneath these two, but she had been planning around Jaxir and learning everything she could about him for longer than either of them.

"He’s growing too quickly, and right now I don’t think the forces we have inside the Tutorial Zones can handle him. At this point, I think we should put the matter on hold until we understand what he’s actually doing."

Rin’s bracelets jingled as she shifted forward. "You want us to back off now?"

"For the moment." Kaina tapped another page. "Every time we attack him and lose, more people hear about it. What started as one player with a bounty has turned into a story people can’t stop talking about. Even our own players are getting antsy about it."

Lieutenant Doren’s jaw tightened.

Kaina met his gaze. "He wiped out a branch, survived every squad we’ve sent after him, and now he’s killing Village Heads. The crazier his feats get, the worse every failure makes Golden Fleece look."

Rin grit her teeth. "I’m still convinced the Chance Corporation is involved somehow."

Doren’s head turned toward her immediately.

The warning in his stare was enough that Rin rolled her eyes and lifted one hand before he could speak. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Don’t poke the bear."

She leaned back again, though the anger in her expression didn’t fade. "I used those words to probe Jaxir because I wanted to see how he’d react. That doesn’t mean I’m stupid enough to drag the Corporation into this for real."

Doren held her gaze.

Rin snorted. "The Gravity Church has influence, and Golden Fleece has influence, but neither of us is large enough to start swinging at Chance Corporation and pretend there won’t be consequences."

The heat around Lieutenant Doren eased, and after another moment he finally looked back toward Kaina. Whatever else he thought about Rin’s judgment, that answer had apparently been enough.

"So what do we do?" Kaina asked.

Doren pushed away from the table and straightened, his temper obvious enough that faint traces of flame flickered near his mouth before fading. "We stop getting in his way."

Both women looked at him.

Lieutenant Doren’s mouth curled. "If Jaxir wants to speedrun Village Heads, let him."

Kaina frowned. "You want him to kill the last one?"

"I do."

Doren dragged Auren’s report toward himself and tapped the section detailing how quickly the fight had ended. "He’s already killed two, which means we know where this is going. Once all three Village Heads in the region die, the Tutorial Zone enters the special instance."

Rin’s expression shifted first.

It wasn’t some hidden mechanic Jaxir had stumbled into. Guilds and churches had triggered that regional event before, but those attempts were organized campaigns built around large groups of players who stocked Vestigem Cards, prepared equipment and planned specifically around fighting bosses beyond the Tutorial cap.

Even the smallest successful team anyone knew about had still been two people, but Jaxir was doing it alone.

"All three Village Heads are Level 20 Named Bosses," Kaina muttered. "Inside a region capped at Level 10."

"Exactly." Lieutenant Doren pulled another report toward them. "Technically, a player can bridge that difference with enough money. Vestigem Cards don’t care nearly as much about personal Level as Skills do, and strong enough equipment can make up a lot of what you’re missing."

Kaina nodded. "The reports mention both. He’s using a ridiculous number of Vestigem Cards, and nobody thinks his equipment is normal anymore."

Rin shook her head. "It still doesn’t explain enough."

Doren glanced toward her.

"A rich player stacking Cards and high-grade equipment can kill a Village Head with the right setup," Rin continued. "Doing it this quickly while solo, then moving on and repeating it, is different."

Kaina looked back down at the reports.

Jaxir’s resources made his accomplishments possible enough that nobody could point at one thing and call it impossible, yet every report pushed farther than those resources should have allowed. He wasn’t just surviving fights above the Tutorial Zone’s intended scale anymore, he was finishing them too quickly.

Lieutenant Doren’s anger slowly shifted into something more useful. "Which is why we’re done fighting him under the current rules."

He tapped the table once.

"When the third Village Head dies, the regional instance starts. That state won’t reset for a full year, and the important part for us is what happens to the Tutorial restriction."

Kaina’s eyes sharpened. "The cap rises."

"From Level 10 to Level 20."

Rin smiled.

Doren looked between both women. "So let him finish the job for us."

The plan came together quickly after that.

Golden Fleece wouldn’t send another small squad after Jaxir and give him more people to isolate, trick or kill one at a time. The Gravity Church wouldn’t waste another specialist by forcing them into the Tutorial restriction either.

They would prepare for the instant the third Village Head died.

Lieutenant Doren would pull players from the zones under his control and begin gathering Level 20 combatants nearby without making the buildup obvious. Kaina would organize the lower-level forces already active around the region, while Rin would coordinate with the Gravity Church and bring in people from her own side who could enter the moment the new cap took effect.

The instant the system raised the Tutorial Zone from Level 10 to Level 20, Golden Fleece and the Gravity Church would hit Jaxir together with numbers he had never dealt with before.

The only problem was that both sides were also preparing for the Nightmare Dungeon, and the Levels involved didn’t line up perfectly with what this new plan demanded. Still, there was enough overlap that neither Doren nor Rin thought it would stop them from putting together a force large enough to bury one player.

Rin leaned forward as the plan settled, and the sharp smile spreading across her face held none of the humor it might have once carried. Losing ten Levels had nearly erased an entire stage of her progression, enough that recovering it would take an amount of grinding she didn’t even want to calculate.

But...

"Maybe getting knocked down wasn’t completely worthless."

Lieutenant Doren looked toward her.

Rin’s smile grew sinister. "When that cap rises to 20, I’m going in myself."

Doren didn’t argue. Having someone with the comprehension of a Level 30 at Level 20 would be a major asset in an operation like this. He couldn’t go personally, because he was above that cap. But, with Rin there... he could rest assured.

This time, Golden Fleece wasn’t going to send someone else to deal with Jaxir Chance, and the Gravity Church wasn’t going to sit on the sidelines either. They were going to send their best, settle the problem properly, and take a nice bounty for their troubles.