As Leo had anticipated, mere minutes after reports confirmed that the West Duke's son had fled the city, powerful explosions erupted across all major government buildings and the Duke's palace, setting them ablaze in a synchronized inferno.
The young duke, meticulous in his retreat, ensured there would be no spoils left for his enemies to claim, even in victory.
By doing so, he significantly minimized the strategic and economic value of the city, effectively diminishing the WhiteSabers' gains from their conquest.
With the destruction of sewage lines, the ducal palace, and every key administrative building, the young duke guaranteed that even if the WhiteSabers captured the city, governing it in the aftermath would be an arduous and chaotic endeavor.
If the WhiteSabers were more alert, they could have avoided this fate by firmly taking control of infrastructure critical to city governance, however, it was a mistake they were going to learn from in the future.
"Log-out" Leo murmured, once he saw everything he needed to see playout, as with mere minutes left in the day's gameplay and the city already in chaos, he no longer felt the need to stay online.
*********
(Real World, The Arc Ship)
Leo fully expected to see Captain Kid the moment he logged out of Terra Nova Online, and, as anticipated, the moment he logged out, he heard the doorbell on his manor go off.
"Haha… right on time" Leo muttered, as he made his way to the door, where Captain Kid seemed to be waiting for him with a nervous smile plastered across his face.
"Master Skyshard…." He began, bowing slightly, as he honored Leo's status as a VIP guest.
"Captain" Leo said, nodding back, as although he did not bow, he acknowledged the captain's presence.
"I have some urgent matters to speak of– may I come in?" Kid asked, as Leo pointed the way to his well furnished living room, offering Kid a seat.
Kid chose the widest living room couch at the center to get seated, with Leo choosing the seat opposite from him for the conversation.
"The reason I'm here today is because you have hit the level cap….." Kid began, his expression serious.
"There's still close to 14 months of gameplay time left till we reach planet Terra Nova and we have already imposed on you the maximum possible gameplay restrictions that a player can receive" Kid said, as he let out a long sigh.
"As per protocol, we are supposed to limit a player's game-time once they hit the level threshold, but with you we cannot even do that anymore.
Which is why I came here today looking for possible solutions to this unexpected situation" Kid said, sounding half defeated, as he did not like having to negotiate such unfair terms and conditions, everytime something did not go the way the big corporations back home wanted them to go.
"I am open to lucrative offers, Captain…. Like you said, you're here to negotiate, so let's start with your top offer, what's the most you're willing to offer?" Leo inquired, as Kid let out a deep sigh once more, shaking his head in resignation.
"Not much…. 500,000 MP and some housing perks upon landing on planet Terra Nova. It's not a bad offer, especially from a monetary perspective, but it's not great either" Kid admitted, as Leo raised his eyebrow in confusion.
"What's going on captain? I don't seem to understand the full picture here" Leo said, as Captain Kid began to rub his hands earnestly, as he sheepishly began to tell Leo some secrets he wasn't supposed to talk about.
"There are three main parties that I'm answerable to at the moment, that have a say in how this situation ends up playing out.
Firstly there's the universal government, the organisation I'm employed at, who is the owner of this carrier ship and who also has the biggest say in your situation.
As per universal government rules, there is a formula in place for how much gaming time of a passenger they can reduce externally without it being considered as mental torture or the government robbing one of opportunity to flourish, and you have already hit that point.
This means that legally, no-one can force you to reduce your gaming time against your will anymore, however, there are other parties involved…." Kid began, as finally he revealed some juicy bits that Leo was not already aware about.
"The second party involved is our employer, the Unity Empire— who as you already know is the primary governing authority on Planet Terra Nova.
They have contracted us, the Universal Government, to transport you Earthlings from your home planet to Terra Nova, to address their critical workforce shortages and they are not happy with how you as a single player are disrupting their project.
The Unity Empire does not want earthlings to look up to a single player such as yourself as their role model and does not want the rebellion succeeding as a whole to topple the Unity Empire within the game.
The optics of such a situation does not bode well for them when they're trying to appear as all powerful overlords and hence they want you removed from the game world at any cost necessary.
For them, the quality of the entire batch of migrants is far more important than the individual success of a single player.
And with you continuing to massively disrupt the game world alone, they're not happy as things stand" Kid explained, as Leo carefully raised an eyebrow to his words.
"Finally, there's the third parties who are interested in your development and your development alone and have no vested interest in the batch of humans as a whole.
These are organizations like the one that has gifted you your meditation manual, who want nothing more than to see you flourish and develop to the limits.
These are the people who feel frustrated at the repeated attempts of the Unity Empire to suppress your growth, and for now they are your biggest allies" Kid said, as he laid out the whole situation for Leo to understand.