Genesis Sync

"The human race is facing severe punishment,” Tia replied before waving her hand as she added. “Here, let me grant you a quest, then we can discuss it more once you have read it."

[Quest Notification]

[Help Tia contact John Michaels and discover the level of the Dawnscape City corruption. (Atlantia Unique Quest)]

[It has been discovered that a Dawnscape City government official has been stealing money from one of the city’s citizens.]

[John Michaels, a human male orphan who just went through initiation four months ago, has never once logged into Genesis. After a thorough investigation by Tia to determine why this is the case, she has discovered that a government official has been stealing the financial support John Michaels is entitled to under the Genesis Article and using it for their own benefit.]

[Furthermore, the access band he was provided at his initiation does not have the call or GPS function, making Tia believe that he was given an older model for some unknown reason.]

[Your quest is to go to Dawnscape City and locate John Michaels so that Tia can communicate with him via your access band to confirm her suspicions regarding his own access band.]

[Quest success reward: 1 drop of Ice Phoenix blood]

[Quest Failure punishment: Loss of Blood of the Immortal Phoenix Pearl]

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Blue Ice Queen shouted out loud upon reading the quest.

"Blue, what's wrong?" Silver Oracle asked in surprise as she heard her friend's reaction.

“I’m sorry, Alea, but I need to go,” Blue Ice Queen replied before turning to Tia and saying. “Please contact me via my access band.”

“Very well,” Tia replied before taking another sip of tea while Blue Ice Queen swiped her hand and logged out, causing her character to vanish.

“What just happened?” Alea asked, turning to Tia.

Tia placed the teacup down on the table before saying, “Thank you for the tea, princess.” After which she vanished.

Silver Oracle sighed before saying, “I told you not to address me as such.”

***

Sarah Lapis’s blue eyes fluttered open as she awoke in one of the comfy armchairs aboard the private plane she was travelling on. She took a moment to adjust herself before pressing one of the controls on the nearby table and ordering, “Change course for Dawnscape City.”

“Of course, ma’am,” The pilot replied through the plane's internal speakers before Sarah felt the plane begin to bank.

Sarah held her access band up to her eyes before asking, “Tia?”

Instead of responding through Sarah’s access band, Tia’s appearance appeared on the holographic screen in the plane's cabin. “I’m here.”

"Tia, are you sure about this?" Sarah asked with obvious concern.

"I am,” Tia replied. “John Michaels did not log in for four months after completing his Genesis initiation and so I attempted to contact him via his access band. However, upon failing to do so, I was led to the conclusion that he was, for some reason, given an older model.

After reading the information on his access band, I noticed some peculiarities with his bank account; simply put, he never received any of the government funding he was entitled to and the only form of income he receives is below-minimum-wage credits paid to him in an envelope at the end of each day from a construction company.

“Wait, so he’s working underage?” Sarah asked in surprise.

“Correct, I believe that John Michaels is currently being forced to work underage against the Genesis article's rules in order to survive," Tia replied. ”The Genesis agreement stipulates that any underage orphan should receive financial support from the government, something he is not receiving."

"Any suspects, Tia?" Sarah asked, as her face hardened with anger

“One Frank Hargreaves, a Dawnscape City government official,” Tia replied. “He was responsible for arranging John Michaels' funding after he became an orphan and also the one in charge of his Genesis initiation. I also have surveillance footage evidence of him using John Michaels' funding at a brothel.”

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“Scum,” Sarah cursed before taking a deep breath and asking with obvious concern. "What sort of punishment is the human race expecting from this?"

"That remains to be seen depending on how deep this corruption goes, if it is purely Frank Hargreaves or if it goes further. At minimum, the human race can expect to lose Stone-mist Castle." Tia replied.

Sarah slouched in her seat, unable to speak upon hearing the damage this incident had already caused the human race, and that was only the minimum punishment.

Stone-mist Castle was one of the eight great ocean sieges in Genesis; it was invaluable to any race that held it.

This was because it was situated on an island directly between the Eloa and Essnoris continents, and any ship that wished to travel between these continents had to stop at Stone-mist Castle. There were similar castles between each of the five continents, making a total of eight.

The distance between two continents was too far for any ship to make by magic power and combustion engine combined because either the players had to rest and let their magic recharge, or the ship needed to be refuelled, and it was too dangerous to stop in the middle of the ocean.

The race that held these islands could charge an exorbitant price to let ships dock there, while the island also contained a large number of mines and other materials that were valuable in Genesis.

Currently, the human race held two of these locations, Stone-mist Castle and Dragons-claw Bay, which was located between the Eloa and Xaynneth continents. The loss of Stone-mist Castle would be a huge financial, economic and military blow to the human race, as it provided the perfect defence and staging ground between the two continents.

Though it was unlikely any attack would come from the Essnoris continent, as most races that lived there were peaceful, the fact remained that once the human race lost Stone-mist Castle, it would be available for capture again by any race. If a race the humans were not on such good terms with, such as the Orcs, captured it, then they would have a strategic staging ground from which to invade the Eloa continent.

"This is bad,” Sarah said while covering her face with one hand. “When the empress hears about this, she is not going to be happy."

{Ugh, what am I going to do? I should probably contact Adria and give them a heads up.}

As Sarah was in thought, she suddenly realised something and turned to Tia while asking, “Why come to me for this?"

"There are two reasons: first, you can be trusted not to try something foolish and hide things from me, further damaging your race, and second, the aircraft you're currently on is flying near Dawnscape City," Tia explained.

“Makes sense. Suppose I should contact Adria and let her know what's going on,” Sarah sighed before playing with her access band.

After a few moments, a holographic display appeared above Sarah’s access band showing a beautiful young human woman with long red hair and sparkling blue eyes. “Sarah, oh and even Tia is with you what a surprise."

The woman in question was Adria Bristle, though in Genesis she went by the name Red Rose. Although she was not as famous as Blue Ice Queen in Genesis, in the real world she was far more famous than Sarah, as she was the first princess of the Human race and daughter of the current empress.

"Tia, it's good to see you again. How are you?" Adria asked.

"I am fine, thank you for asking, princess," Tia replied.

"Tia, come now, how often must I ask you not to call me that? But by my name instead," Adria replied with a pout.

"Apologies, Red Rose. I will try to remember in the future." Tia replied, giving the exact same response she gave Silver Oracle a short while ago.

Adria smiled in response before asking, "So, Sarah, why have you suddenly decided to contact me?"

Sara replied before saying, "Because the human race is about to receive a severe punishment."

Adria’s face turned serious as she heard the response, "I see, tell me about it then."

In response, Sarah pressed a few keys on her access band's holographic interface, causing the contents of the Atlantia Unique Quest she had just received to appear before Adria.

Sarah sat in silence while Adria read the quest and waited for the predictable outcome, and sure enough.

"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THIS!" Adria cursed, losing all her princess decorum.

"That's not the worst of it," Sarah said with a sigh.

"There's more?" Rose asked with rage in her eyes.

Sarah nodded. "The punishment for this has not been fully calculated as of yet; however, at the very minimum, we will lose Stone-mist Castle.”

What colour remained in Adria’s face disappeared as she stared, slouched back in the chair she was sitting on. “When mother hears of this..." She didn't need to finish, as they both knew how the human empress would react.

She was a harsh but fair ruler in that she rewarded hard work and great deeds done for the human race with equally great rewards. However, for those who damaged or brought harm to the human race, their punishment was swift and appropriate for the crime they committed. If the damage was harsh enough, she would not hesitate to have the guilty party executed and losing Stone-mist Castle was definitely something worthy of execution.