Chapter 95: A Governor’s Responsibilities
Being the Sector Lord wasn’t all celebrations and creating amazing holographic monster gyms.
A lot of the job was just... management. It was like being the boss of a very large, very complicated company where some of the employees were angry wolf-people and others were highly disciplined soldiers who still weren’t entirely sure if they liked you.
The day after he unveiled the Training Matrix, Ryan spent the morning doing what he now thought of as his "vassal check-ins." He sat in his quiet office at the top of the god Spire, the holographic map of the sector glowing softly in front of him.
He opened a secure communication channel to his first vassal, Outpost #12.
The face of Tom Kane, leader of the Crimson Banner, appeared on the screen. He looked tired and grim, and his usual pristine uniform was smudged with dirt. Behind him, Ryan could see the strange, twisted landscape of the Deep god Zones.
"Stone," Kane said, his voice a low grumble. He had stopped calling him "Governor" or "Lord." It was just "Stone." Ryan took it as a sign of grudging respect.
"Kane," Ryan replied, keeping his own voice even. "Report."
"My scouts have covered three of the five designated zones," Kane began, his tone all business. "The areas are highly unstable, as predicted. The local monsters are... creative. We lost a transport skiff to something that looked like a giant, flying jellyfish with teeth." He paused, his expression darkening. "But that’s not the main issue. We’ve found something else. Something worse."
He brought up a fuzzy image on the screen. It was a picture of a crude, ugly-looking altar made of dark, sharp rocks. Strange, unsettling symbols were painted on it in what looked like dried blood.