Sanctuary Square,

Non-PVP Zone.

Location Classified.

Closest Known Claimed Territory: Planet Earth

Unclaimed

Current Phase Points:

155205

Current Ascension Tokens Applied:

32

End of Phase Two: 25

D:05H:28M:22S

After clearing out the last two forges we had locations on, both Duskbreaker and BrainCraft leveled up, reaching Level 19 while Swansong and Freakenstein both hit Level 20. While we didn't have enough time to necessarily get back to California in time, we were conveniently close enough to the New York City token at noon that our trackers registered it the moment we all clicked on our trackers.

Collecting it put us up to 7 new tokens we were going to need to add to our Upgrader and it prompted pretty much the entire group to usher us toward our base. Miss Mist didn't seem to care about the, as she put it, "minor rewards" that she'd receive from the Tokens and insisted we go ahead without her. I might have been okay waiting to drop the tokens in until I gained another level just because I wasn't sure how close I was to hitting 23 already, but I wasn't going to hold everyone up just to boost myself up by an extra level.

Plus, with the extra level we'd get from crossing over another ten tokens in our Upgrader, both Duskbreaker and BrainCraft would also be eligible for the very same Options. While Freak was of course happy he'd be joining Pinky up at Level 21, he was of course even more thrilled by the prospect of figuring out how Merchandising Options would work for him since he still didn't have access to the Guardian Guild Hall due to the probationary period.

We wasted absolutely no time at all, dropping our tokens into the Upgrader the moment we were all safely inside the Squad Base before tackling the various extra windows this prompted for all of us. Since it was only an Odd level for me, I simply bumped my Luck and Dexterity up by 2 each while my Ingenuity raised off of the Catch Up feature. When we finally made our way into the Square, opting to make our way through our respective Safe Houses just so that we could follow Freak out of our own curiosity, there were actual people turning to look at us.

Pinky and Freak were, quite predictably, loving it, waving like they were on a parade float as several Augments that must have outleveled us by a dozen levels turned and were nodding approvingly at us.

"Let me guess… There's footage of the fight with Moth Moth everywhere right now… isn't there?" I asked, reaching up to pinch the bridge of my nose as I tried not to let my own nerves get to me. For some reason, this felt more embarrassing to me than making a big declaration in front of the people of New York and I wasn't quite sure why.

"So much. I've been digging up all the news channels I can find and while there's tons of footage of all the different Kaiju from last night, there's been a ton of talk about Wildcard Assembly as "the new Paragons on the block", which I think is mostly just because of Loophole's speech in front of the Pangolin," Jon explained and I felt my brow furrow.

"I specifically said we weren't the Paragons…" I muttered out loud, the brief bit of attention we were getting already dying down just a bit. Sure, there seemed to be a few people looking our way or muttering between each other, but we weren't necessarily that famous either. Or maybe that was just my own private hope.

"And the creator of the GIF format insists it's pronounced jif. Sometimes the public latches onto a point of view and runs with it whether you intend for it to happen or not," BrainCraft said, stepping up to match my gait as we followed behind Pinky and Freak.

"Hell, just look how I got lumped in as a Miscreant," Freak shot back, turning on his heel and walking backwards as he shrugged. "Honestly I'd say it's a damn flattering comparison."

"You guys are a new group at least partially working out of the city the Paragons were famous in and just like them, you've shown to have at least a somewhat national presence. There were always gonna be at least a few comparisons," Jon added. "Plus I agree with Freak, it's a really flattering comparison. I'm telling yah, I don't think money is gonna be a problem at all any more."

"Y'know… I hadn't really thought about it but I wonder if there's a way we can make squad merchandise," Pinky said, tapping at her chin.

"Oh you definitely can, but it's a Squad Base Upgrade. And you're only eligible to grab it once every member of your squad has set up their own Merchandising Options," Jon chimed in right away as if he had been anticipating this very question.

"Really?" Pinky perked up considerably, her hands clasping together. "I've definitely got a few ideas that I think would look great. Why didn't Franky tell me about that?! He knows I've been excited about making merch."

"Yeah but you probably never specifically asked him about squad stuff until you just thought about it, did you?" I asked and Angie giggled in the back of my head. Though she mostly stayed silent lately since I was always around other people, that didn't quite stop her from reacting to things.

"Oh… yeah I guess I forget they have that stupid little built in rule," Pinky shook her head.

"See, at least you've learned something," she chimed in and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Thankfully, Jon decided not to pile on to her, probably since we were the only two that could hear her, and he pushed forward.

"Anyway, I was curious about it once I realized you were all going to be eligible for merchandise finally and decided to look it up. It requires a Level 4 Squad Base and you can actually buy it through your Manager if your sales are doing well enough. The databases I can currently access don't go much more into it past that since you haven't unlocked it yet, but it's at least promising to know."

"Well shit, we've gotta figure out how to get the base pushed up one more level," Freak said.

"Two actually, we still have the Relocator Panels that we have to wait till Level 5 for," I added before looking over at Duskbreaker. "I think Duskbreaker doesn't mind being a taxi, but he'd probably also like to start training his powers in different ways."

"It has actually helped me level up that particular ability to 9 at this point," he replied sheepishly, "but yeah, I feel like I wasn't really a whole lot of help with the forges this morning since most of my abilities right now just slow them down…"

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Well Codex, got any insight on how we can get our base leveled up faster?" Freak asked, stopping as we came to a spot just past the giant marble statues where the path split off toward the Guardian segment of the square.

"Not a lot, and trust me I've been digging. Getting lucky in the Squad Loot Boxes can help, but it seems to be a mixture of reputation, combined level, and your Guild Hall participation of all things, which isn't something you guys have really been messing with at all yet," he said.

"And not something I can do a damn thing about until I get past the probationary period," Freak said with a sigh. "Oh well, I still got a mission about the merchandising stuff, though maybe I should be concerned that it's called "Back Room Deals," cause that just sounds shady… though it wants me to start at Greg's and that dude seems as vanilla as they come."

"Well I'll be looking over your shoulder if you need me. That goes for all of you of course but I do kinda already know what to expect since I've seen both Pinky and Loophole go through it in the Guardian Guild Hall," Jon added, causing Freak to nod before looking at the rest of us.

"Meet yah back in The Common Ground in a bit for some lunch?" he asked.

"Sounds like a plan man," I said, reaching out and bumping his fist with mine before I nodded toward the Guardian side. "Come on, you guys are probably gonna take longer than Pinky and I will, so we'll grab the big booth once we're finished up."

"I wonder how it works if we have the same Manager," Pinky asked as we wandered away from Freak who had picked up his own pace as he headed for the Neutral segment.

"I guess I never did ask, are you working with Paul too?" I asked, looking over at her.

"Nah, Annie Snow. She apparently likes to work with the high ranking ladies, which I assume means she'll probably be Swansong's manager too since we keep fighting over 2nd place," Pinky said, throwing a playful smile in Swan's direction off to my other side.

"Well it's not like it will take long for us to find out how that works," BrainCraft said as we entered the hallway leading toward the Guild. We really could have done this a lot faster had we just gone through the shortcut in our Phase Lounge, but I also hadn't minded having the extra second alone with Swan when we retreated back through the door into my room before we met up with the others in Sanctuary Square.

There had been part of me that had been concerned that swapping back into "fight mode" after having a more or less "normal" night would have been difficult. But just because I was seeing her in a different light didn't mean I suddenly thought I had to drop everything else to protect her. While she might not have been a fighter, Swan had proven to be incredibly capable of navigating a battlefield without ever getting into a single fight, all without skipping a beat while singing.

"See you guys in a bit," I said, nodding to the group as they headed toward the counter where Mr. Gleibs stood waiting. Pinky and I split off for the Manager's Doorway, slipping through the portal and into our own separate instances.

"Well well well, there's my star! Boy do I gotta tell you that business is good," Paul barely even wasted a beat and my eyes were still adjusting as he sprang to his feet and spread his arms wide. "And I mean seriously, taking down a second kaiju on the other side of the country? I'm telling you kid, you can't teach that kind of natural marketing instinct."

"I… what?" I asked, feeling almost overwhelmed. "I didn't do it because I was trying to market anything…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know that kid, you did it because it's the right thing to do and all that noble stuff you Guardians stand for," Paul said, waving it away before he held his hand out toward the chair in front of his desk before he circled it and dropped into his own chair. He rolled it over slightly, opening up a small mini-fridge. "Need something to drink? A cola?"

"Umm, got a bottle of water?" I asked and he nodded, grabbing an unlabeled plastic bottle and tossing it my way.

"Now, regardless of why you did it, taking down that giant moth has done some great things for the range of your merchandise. My colleague, Ms. Snow, has let me know that several of the stores running merchandise for her client and your team member Pinky, have put in requests to stock your merchandise as well given your professional relationship. I know you've only just approved your initial sale options, but I think we've got a real chance at capitalizing on your group's rising fame."

"Huh? We were actually just talking about that but our base is only Level 3 so we still can't do group gear yet, right?" I asked, reaching up and scratching the side of my head.

"Well yeah, actually surprised you know about that kid. We get reports about what groups qualify for Squad representation and trust me when I tell yah that most of us are chomping at the bits for that," Paul said, a wide smile on his face as he spread his hands out. "But that don't mean we can't do collaborations with your other teammates until then. You'd each split the profits on any sales and it of course helps spread your range out even more."

"Damn really?" I asked before holding up a finger and opening a chat window.

<Loophole: Hey did your manager ask you about making joint gear with me?>

<Pinky: And with Brain too, I really don't know how they are doing it legally but they really want me to do a Pinky and the Brain shirt with him… But hey, I won't say no to having some shirts and other stuff with by teammates if the system will let me, though I think we should take some time to think about it.>

I stifled a laugh as I looked back toward Paul.`

"Okay, I think we'll definitely need to revisit that once Pinky and I can talk it over and come up with some ideas, is that okay or is it something we have to jump on right now?"

"It's up to you kid, though I always suggest striking while the iron is hot and you've got good media coverage. The world is in chaos out there right now but trust me when I say you've been putting up some solid numbers with media appearances and there's been an uptick in search activity on you as well. That might not always be the case, but I'd say you're in a good enough spot that your not in an imminent danger of losing your relevance," Paul said, leaning back in his chair and putting his feet up on his desk. "Besides, it's not like you're not making any money right now, in fact, we've already sold out of initial print runs for both versions of your shirts, and even the charms have been selling, though we still got a good stockpile of those."

"Really? How uh, what does that mean exactly then? Do I have to do anything about it?"

"Come on kid, what do you think I get a percentage for? We do initial runs to make sure something's actually gonna sell, then we do larger orders to fulfill the demand. I'm telling you all this just to keep you apprised of how well things are going, you just gotta leave the nitty gritty to me," Paul said with a wide smile. "Now, last but not least for today at least if you're not gonna be making any new merch, I think it's time we got you paid."

This caused me to perk up and I was honestly surprised I didn't hear Jon add anything, though I assumed he was busy with the others as they navigated the initial setup.

"I was wondering how that worked… so do I have to collect it here? Or is there some system for it that I'm just not aware of yet?" I asked.

"Please, you really think they'd have this whole advanced system and make you come and get a check from me every time we had to pay you? That would just be silly," Paul laughed, slapping his desk maybe a bit too enthusiastically. "No kid, I'll go ahead and unlock the Marketing Account in your sheet now. You'll get paid out once a week starting from today since this is your initial attempt to cash out, we might be advanced but we're not so advanced we can pay you the moment a new sale happens, y'know?"

I opened up my character sheet in my interface, noticing a new tab available on it that, sure enough, said "Marketing Account." I clicked on it and was greeted with a rather simple smile window that almost could have passed for a spreadsheet. I scanned over the various numbers on it, sure that an accountant probably would have had a field day with it, until I came to a stop on one of the last lines.

"That's… holy shit I made over 125,000 credits!?! What the hell!?! How?!" I wasn't quite yelling, nor was I upset of course, I was just a bit shocked to see such a sudden drop and I was trying to mentally do the math on just how much that was if I had converted it to dollars.

"It's $12,500 Loophole and I am almost entirely positive you're gonna be getting a new achievement the moment you hit that withdrawal button. I should really warm up my vocal chords," Angie supplied quickly when she realized what I was trying to do and Paul was already laughing as he took in my reaction.

"I told yah kid, business has been good."

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