Chapter 89: A great exchange
"Oh, we can name it 21 jump street!" Will said.
"That's a movie. And you just said you wanted an original name."
"What's a movie?"
"Man, naming things is hard." Will sat down on the ground sounding defeated.
"I mean, I think I have a good name. How about the 'Sun Kingdom?'" Sandra suggested.
"Interesting. Why that name?" Will asked.
"Many reasons: This place has been under the scorching heat of the 'sun' for a long time now, so it seems fitting to name it like that."
Will and Jack nodded. Will suffered so much under the intense heat of the sun. If it weren't for many things that held him back, he would have set up his base somewhere else.
'But if we name it that then I will only remember those painful times. Why would I ever want to be reminded of those dark times?' Will thought.
"And also since the name of the kingdom is the 'Sun Kingdom' we could have like a, uh… what's the word? A chant or something where people will say 'praise the sun' whenever they see you." Sandra pointed to Will.
"Why me?"
'Holy shit that's a damn good idea! She should have led with that first!' Will absolutely loved the idea! It made him wonder how after all this time, he never thought of that.
"Are you serious? You basically made this castle with your own two hands. Which basically makes you king… I think. Honestly I don't know what makes a person a king to begin with other than being born into it."
At one point there was no such thing as 'king' or 'royalty' so how did it start? They don't know.
"Good point. The Sun Kingdom it is."
Jack nodded. He also liked the name.
"But it's strange, Sandra. You never really liked to play any Souls games, I didn't think you would know about praising the sun."
"It's not like I didn't give Dark Souls a try. It's a very frustrating game." Sandra has her fair share of playing video games, but none come close to being compared to Dark Souls.
"That's what makes the games so fun… for most people at least." Will beat every Dark souls game there is, including Bloodborne and Sekiro. As for Elden Ring? He unfortunately died years before the game's release.
Jack wanted to ask what they were talking about, but something told him that even if they explained it to him he wouldn't be able to understand it either way.
Sandra didn't tell Will, but she only remembered the 'praise the sun' quote because Alex liked the quote, simply because it reminded him of Escanor from the Seven Deadly Sins anime.
Even Alex had his fair share of experience with games thanks to Will, mostly games that require killing.
"Wait, if I'm king, wouldn't that make you a queen?"
"Are we married?" Sandra asked with her left eyebrow raised.
"N-no."
"Then I am not your queen yet."
"Fair point."
'Wait, yet?' Jack noticed that Will failed to notice Sandra's wording.
"I gotta go now. I gotta help the people outside the castle." Sandra got up and left. She went up the castle walls and jumped from that height to the ground.
"I have to go soon as well. My family is going to get worried."
"Okay. I'll make an exit for you. Thanks for Adaline's armor." Will said.
"Anytime. If you need anything else just send me a message."
Will made a hole on the castle wall, Jack exited through the walls and Will patched the wall. Good as new.
"Praise the sun… Sun Kingdom… I really do like the idea."
Meanwhile…
Pete was all alone in his room sleeping nice and soundly on his bed. Unlike Henry and Britney, Pete slept very late. Henry and Britney step out of the room every once in a while to do something 'fun' and 'productive' while Pete is asleep.
And by 'fun' and 'productive' that translates to 'banging each other.'
Pete dreamed of his mother. He misses his home. He misses his family.
"Wake up you vile degenerate shit of mankind!" Pete heard a voice calling out to him.
"Mom? That you?"
"Call me that again and I'll slit your throat."
Lo and behold, he saw the most horrifying thing in existence standing in front of him, Victoria.
"THE HE-"
Victoria grabbed Pete's mouth and pushed him down on his bed forcefully.
"I ruined your life once, I can do it again in ways you can't imagine. So you better do something for me or else."
"Mfmfbfm." Pete tried to talk but her hand covered his mouth.
"What?" She let go of his mouth.
"You can't kill me. The Sage won't let you." Pete's first thought was that she was going to actually kill him.
But was confident that the Great Sage was keeping a close eye on her, any sane person would think that.
"Oh, you poor idiot. As long as I don't kill you anything is fair game. I mean haven't you realized he doesn't actually care about any of us?" Victoria wanted to laugh at his face so hard.
"What do you mean?"
"If you haven't figured that out yet then you're way more fucking stupid than I thought. So, now I want you to go with Josh on a field trip."
'Oh god… It's fucking Josh.' Pete realized who the culprit was. He is the reason why Victoria is in his room threatening him.
Victoria's arm transformed into a snake and coiled around Pete's body.
"Off you go." Victoria threw Pete out the window.
After the last time, Henry asked the king to be moved to a lower floor so it wouldn't hurt as much when the 3 of them wanted to jump out the window like last time.
Pete crashed on the ground safely intact and alive.
"Yo, Pete, lez do this!" Josh was already waiting for him outside his window. Beside him was his harem also waiting for him. This would be their first time personally meeting Pete, another hero. Will did not count as they had no idea he was a hero.
His plan was to threaten Pete using Victoria to go with him, then have her launch him out the window. Since everyone apparently knows that Pete is lazy, and since Victoria knew that Henry and Britney always leave early for 'something' that is the best time to threaten Pete.
If the three of them are together, it would be much harder to convince Pete to help Josh to get a dragon egg.
'I fucking hate this bastard.' Pete thought.
Pete did the math, and he concluded that helping out Josh was the best course to live. It was better than having to deal with Victoria.
Does this mean that Victoria can use Pete to do anything she wants with Pete? Yes. But Pete doesn't know that. Even if he does he hasn't realized that he also has the power to stand up to Victoria.
But Pete is lazy, he doesn't want to put the time into training and hone his hero abilities. It is why Victoria is able to freely use her hero ability with ease, because she trains but in a sadistic way.
No sooner than later Pete, Josh, and Josh's harem, Felicia and Naveah went on an adventure.
Did the Great Sage see this happen? Naturally. Does he care to stop it? No. As long as nobody killed each other he didn't care.
The Great Sage has seen this scene with the past heroes as well. There is always someone like Victoria, or Pete. It was nothing new.
"Seriously, how can Pete be asleep this late?" Henry said as he and Britney walked together through a hallway.
"It's a mystery. Hey, your shirt is sort of messed up." Britney gently tugged on Henry's shirt.
"And I think my underwear is backwards." Henry said.
"Well we were in a hurry. Honestly, why do you want to keep us a secret from Pete?" Britney asked. This question has been weighing on her mind.
"It's not that I am ashamed or anything like that. It's just that… have you ever seen a movie or a show before, where there's this group of 3 or more and one of them is a girl, and one of the guys from the group ends up dating the girl and the other guys get in a fight and the group breaks up?"
"Yeah?"
"I feel like that's gonna happen to our group if Pete knows."
"I honestly don't think he'll mind. I don't think he even likes me."
"It's hard to say. Then again he's been my friend for 15 years now, so I am not going to risk it."
Their relationship was hardly a secret. Only Pete hasn't realized because he's always asleep, and he just hasn't noticed or even slightly suspected it. Pete never asked himself why is Britney staying with their group?
They have been a couple for 3 months now, ever since they were summoned. It just happened.
Once they entered the room, they didn't see Pete on his bed as usual.
"Well that's a first. He's up this early?" Britney asked in shock.
"No, Pete never gets up this early."
Currently it's 3:30 pm.
"He's been taken!"
"Pete isn't a teenage girl on a trip to France with his blonde teenage friend that's been kidnapped by sex traffickers. He's a hero like us. If by any chance he was taken, the Great Sage would know and would have done something about it." Britney explained.
"Yeah, you're right. It's probably nothing." Henry accepted it. If it was back in their world he would be worried. He is worried because he doesn't know where Pete is or went. "You've seen Taken?"
"Obviously."
'Well I hope Pete's okay.' Henry lately was feeling like Pete's own babysitter.
And lately he's been getting tired of it. He also wants to be free, to be alone all the time with Britney instead of having to deal with his friend. But he would feel sorry if Pete blamed him for leaving him, because they are friends in the end. It's just that Pete has always been more childish compared to him, he's always been more independent of others.
Since they are in another world, Pete relies on Henry. Henry knows this and finds it annoying, but he bears with it.
If Pete were to leave on his own accord, that was different.
"So… wanna go out on a date?" Henry asked as he pulled Britney a bit closer to him.
"Sure."
Meanwhile…
"Come on, Adaline, put it on."
"GRRRR!"
Will tried desperately to place armor on Adaline but Adaline was being stubborn and refused to do so.
What Will didn't know is that organic creatures don't wear armor. Some cases they wear saddles to help the rider ride their organic creatures with ease but no armor.
"I just need you to try this for a few minutes, for future references." Will kept chasing down Adaline.
Will honestly did not like the armor, because it was steel only. He wanted better armor like the dragon scale armor he wears.
But it would prove to be more complicated than Will thinks.
The only reason Will is able to wear dragon scale armor is because of his system. He is the only one who can easily run in scale armor, and use the set's complete ability. It's also like wearing cotton clothes, it felt light, was flexible even if he wore steel. Heck he even wore wood armor for a time which is impossible.
Should anyone else wear his armor they won't receive the same benefits as him. Will learned that the first month thanks to Jack helping him out.
Will knows that, and he knows that Adaline might feel uncomfortable wearing armor but it was for the best.
After all, he could also make magical items for people he cares about now that he has the knowledge. Only thing he lacks are the materials to make magical items, but he believes it'll only be a matter of time.
"Huh?"
Will saw the communication stone in his right pocket glow. It was Sandra sending him a message.
{Will, I think the Empire is here.}
'Empire? Already?' Will thought.
He has a deal with the Empress that every two weeks he would hand over guns with the infinite enchantment, and in return he would receive anti-hero metals, and mana ores.
However it hasn't even been more than a week and yet they're already here.
{Tell them to sneak around the back please.}
"Sorry, girl, maybe next time." Will left Adaline. Adaline acted quickly and hid the armor by pulling it underground with her roots, like a child hiding or throwing away the veggies from their plate.
Just like with Jack, Will waited but not as long.
Three men came to Will on foot. They were the same ones as last time.
"Hero." The man in charge nodded to him as a sign of respect.
"Dudes." Will nodded back to them as a sign of making fun of them.
"Uh-huh. We have your stuff. Do you have it?"
"Of course. I just didn't expect you guys to be here this fast."
Will kept the enchanted guns in a secret place that not even Sandra knows.
"I told the Empress in advance of the weapon's enchantments. She immediately sent out some men to meet us halfway, we gave them the weapons you supplied us, and she gave us the materials you want. Thus saving us time."
Once Valerie heard what enchantments the weapons had, she knew what she had to do and acted quickly. She did not expect such an enchantment to exist, and she already knew just how powerful a weapon with an infinite enchantment could bring to her Empire.
'Oh. That makes sense actually.' Will thought. He noticed that they were tired, and probably hadn't taken a shower all this time. Did he care for that? Not really.
It just showed him that these men really value their Empress and went through great efforts to make it here quickly.
Even if they met up with their men halfway, that's still a week away. If they returned to Will soon after that is another week of riding their horse, but they made it here in less than a week.
"And before I forget, here." The man tossed Will a communication stone which he caught.
The communication stone had a chef's hat glued on it.
'Why a chef's hat?' Will wondered.
"That communication stone connects you with the Empress. She said that she believes this will help both you and her for future deals."
"I cannot argue that." Will placed the stone in his pocket and took out a chest with so many enchanted weapons.
The Empress did like the chef's hat. She never liked cooking but could. She just really liked the hat.
"Isn't it better if we make the deal inside the walls? I don't feel at ease with so many people outside your gate." The man was surprised to see so many people standing in front of Will's castle. They knew before but didn't think it would be that many.
They knew in advance because there is actually one person among the group of people who works for the Empire, and he reports to the Empress anything related to Will.
The same goes for the Kingdom, they kept tabs on Will as well.
"Sure." Will kept his gun close to him should they try anything they'll regret.
Will showed them all the enchanted guns he had with the infinite ammo enchantment. Because they didn't want to get scammed, they scanned every single weapon to be sure it's what they were looking for. It is what took them so long.
"We have confirmed a total of 127 enchanted weapons. According to the deal it's either 6 mana ores per weapon, or 14-pounds of anti-hero metal per weapon. We can only buy 107 weapons with what we have. We only have 40 pieces of 14 pounds of anti-hero metals, which is a total of 40 weapons. And lastly 402 mana ores which is 67 weapons in total."
"Um… yes." Will had absolutely no idea if the math was right, but he decided to trust them for the time being. At this point it is no surprise that he is terrible at math.
They concluded the trade and left straight for the Empire.
Will did not show any type of emotion. He ran to his room to his shower, and screamed at the top of his lungs: "FUCK YEAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"
Will was ecstatic, over the moon to receive over 400 mana ores. Making a deal with the Empire was the correct choice after all.
He could make 40 low-tier golems with that amount.
"I believe this also brings me up to 23 anti-hero metals." Will said to himself.
In truth 14 pounds of anti-hero metal is half of a metal ingot, it is what the system recognizes as an ingot like in minecraft. So in truth he is selling 2 weapons for a complete anti-hero metal ingot. He just didn't realize until much later because he's an idiot.
Will checked his book to see the materials he required to craft the {Hologram platform} , the one item he needed to craft anything he wanted.
"I needed 100 blueprints which I already have. 8 anti-hero metals, check. And lastly 1 advanced mana ore, and I do have enough to make four I believe."
It takes 100 low-mana ores to make 1 advanced mana ore, or 10 mid-tier mana ores to make 1 advanced store, same difference really.
"I wanna count to be sure… huh?" Will saw something really strange with the mana ores. The men dumbed the mana ores in a chest that Will had placed for them, they carried the ores inside a magical item. They placed the metals inside a separate chest that Will also placed.
To Will's surprise, he did not see just low-tier mana ores, but also mid-tier mana ores.
"Holy… you can't be serious." Will couldn't believe it at all.
Will carefully counted the amount of mana ores he had. Like the men said, he counted a total of 402 mana ores.
But in reality there were 201 low-tier mana ores, and 201 mid-tier mana ores.
"I am…" Will slowly walked to the bathroom once more in a daze.
"LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
This exchange was very much beneficial for Will, by an extremely large margin. Don't forget a single mid-tier mana ore is equivalent to 10 low-tier mana ores.
Low and mid-tier mana ores are useless. It was not an accident by the Empress. She didn't see the difference between giving Will low or mid-tier mana ores.
It was the advanced and high-tier mana ores that really count, for them at least.
This exchange would later show how both sides became much more powerful. Will with the golems and now the ability to craft anything he desires. And the Empire, with over a hundred weapons with infinite bullets.
In another part of the world in a dense forest…
A group of four, Josh, Pete, Felicia and Naveah were slowly walking.
Three of them were a bit afraid of the forest because the last time the trees almost killed them, or more specifically the Goddess almost did. But this route was the fastest way to get to their destination, the black mountains.
Even till now Josh and the others kept their destination a secret from Pete.
"How much further exactly?" Pete asked in a pissed tone. Anyone would be if they were threatened.
"I dunno. Not like I've been there before." Josh said.
Felicia and Naveah both were sweating bullets. They knew where they were going, and they dreaded going there. But they comforted themselves knowing that two and very 'reliable' heroes were with them.
But no, these were some of the worst heroes of this generation. One was extremely lazy and has had no training or experience using his hero powers.
And the other, although has a very destructive ability, he is lost in a fictitious belief that he is a main character, and won't ever die no matter what and will most likely place others in a perilous position. Much like that innocent village girl that gave Josh a ride and never made it back alive.
"I swear if you use Victoria to threaten me again I will lose it." Pete said in a not-so-threatening manner. He has never threatened anyone in his life, unlike Victoria.
"Yeah, believe me you left me no choice-gah!"
Josh fell as he tripped because he didn't watch his footing.
"What the…" Josh fell because he accidentally stepped on a steep hole.
"What is that?" Pete, and everyone else looked at the trail of destruction.
They were walking across a forest. They didn't notice that a part of the forest was completely destroyed by some incredible force.
"Damn, it looks like Saitama himself did this with a punch or something." Josh described what he saw.
It did indeed look like that. It was a literal trail of destruction that went in a straight line. They could barely see the end of the trail of destruction even with their improved hero eyesight.
It did not look to be from a monster or a weapon, but most likely man made.
"Oh god." Felicia pointed in horror to the ground.
They failed to notice many, many monster parts scattered everywhere in a very gruesome manner. The total of monsters likely exceeded 100. Not one of those monsters were alive, they all died slowly and painfully. Only a sadistic monster would do this, and it enjoyed it, every second of it.
But the monster parts were already decomposing, the insects had already devoured most of the body parts. They have been here for quite some time already.
"Should we get out of here before whoever or whatever did this comes back?" Pete suggested as fear showed on his face, it was the fear of his life being at risk.
"Let'S GEt the fuCk out oF hEre." Josh's voiced cracked.
The group ran with their tail between their legs in a hasty manner. They might be heroes, but it was obvious that the one who did this was even more powerful than Josh, the hero with the second strongest offensive ability.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone