Ch14 The Streamer Guild

High above the planet, Captain Unkud watched humans die.

The casualty count occupied only one corner of the tactical display suspended above his desk, yet the numbers changed so rapidly that they drew his attention more than anything else.

Thousands of individual biometric feeds streamed across the orbital command network.

Green.

Yellow.

Red.

Then black.

Every black marker represented another cadet whose wristband had stopped transmitting viable biological activity.

Another asset lost.

Unkud sat behind a broad desk of dark alloy, his armored fingers resting against its surface as he studied the planetary projection floating before him. Hundreds of cities glowed across the holographic globe, each surrounded by clusters of smaller lights representing human deployment zones.

Several regions were bleeding red.

Far too many.

A sharp chime sounded.

Unkud's eyes shifted.

[ ENCRYPTED PRIORITY TRANSMISSION ]

[ ROYAL AUTHORIZATION VERIFIED ]

The crest of the Zorvak royal house appeared across his primary terminal.

Unkud straightened.

"Accept."

The planetary display dimmed.

A holographic figure materialized across the desk.

Prince Vorash.

The prince wore dark imperial armor beneath a heavy mantle, gold engravings running along the edges of black plates. His long frame remained relaxed, but Unkud had served Zorvaks long enough to recognize the danger hidden beneath that stillness.

Vorash's amber eyes immediately found the casualty figures behind him.

"My Lord."

Unkud bowed his head.

Vorash ignored the greeting.

"Numbers."

Unkud had expected the question.

"Six million confirmed human fatalities."

For the first time, Vorash's expression shifted.

Only slightly.

But enough.

Unkud continued.

"Approximately eighteen percent of the total intake assigned to your trial cohort. Additional biometric signals are still being lost."

Vorash's claws pressed into the armrest of his chair.

"Eighteen percent."

"Yes, My Lord."

"In one solar cycle."

"Yes."

A low growl escaped the prince.

"I placed them in frontier territories, Unkud. I did not throw them naked into a Rank-Four Dungeon."

"No, My Lord."

Vorash's eyes narrowed.

"Then explain how Rank-Zero humans managed to die by the millions before their first sunset."

Unkud expanded the casualty data.

The planetary projection returned between them.

A graph appeared beside it.

The first half of the solar cycle showed a steady rise in deaths.

Thousands.

Then tens of thousands.

High, but expected.

The second half looked completely different.

The line turned nearly vertical.

"The wilderness is not responsible for the majority of losses."

Vorash stopped moving.

Unkud enlarged several city sectors.

"During the first portion of the cycle, casualty rates remained within projected parameters. Exposure, poor squad coordination, dehydration, territorial predators, accidental encounters with Rank-One fauna, and conflicts between cadets accounted for most fatalities."

He shifted the timeline.

Then the red markers exploded.

"The mortality spike began here."

Vorash studied it.

"Simultaneous?"

"Near enough."

"Across separate worlds?"

"Yes."

The prince's stare hardened.

Unkud continued.

"Different cities. Different environments. Different predator populations. Nearly identical timing."

Vorash said nothing.

He didn't need to.

Unkud opened several incident records.

Security footage appeared.

A group of human cadets sprinting through an alley.

A masked figure dropping from a rooftop.

The feed ended in static.

Another recording.

Humans returning toward a city gate.

Three unidentified combatants intercepted them beyond the municipal boundary.

The humans died in seconds.

Another.

A boarding house.

A corridor.

A door forced open.

Blood across stone.

Unkud closed the recordings.

"We began identifying organized execution teams several hours after deployment."

Vorash's tail moved once behind him.

Slowly.

"My siblings."

"That is the most probable explanation."

"Probable?"

Unkud met his gaze.

"I do not yet possess evidence sufficient to formally accuse a member of the royal bloodline."

Vorash's lips pulled back slightly, revealing the edges of his teeth.

"You possess enough evidence to tell me what we both know."

Unkud inclined his head.

"Yes, My Lord."

Silence filled the office.

Vorash leaned back.

His claws tapped against the armrest.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Unkud waited.

The prince had anticipated interference.

They both had.

Mercenaries.

Manipulated teleportation coordinates.

Predator migrations.

Sabotaged equipment.

Quiet assassinations.

Methods that could be denied.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

This was different.

Six million dead in a day wasn't sabotage.

It was humiliation.

Vorash's siblings were showing him how little his project mattered to them.

How easily his assets could be erased.

And if the mortality rate continued—

Unkud looked toward the projections.

Vorash would fail his father's condition long before the trial year ended.

The tapping stopped.

"Enough."

Vorash leaned forward.

"They want me to react."

Unkud remained silent.

"They want me to pull the humans back."

His eyes hardened.

"Or run crying to Father."

A faint snarl crossed his face.

"I will do neither."

"What are your orders?"

Vorash studied the map.

Then smiled.

It wasn't pleasant.

"My siblings exploited a weakness."

Unkud waited.

"The humans possess no standing."

Vorash gestured toward the casualty map.

"They are foreign conscripts with no faction, no patronage, no alliances, and no political value to anyone except me. Killing one costs nothing."

"Correct."

"Then we change the cost."

Unkud's attention sharpened.

Vorash stood.

"Every city already contains recognized factions."

"Thousands."

"Mercenary companies. Guilds. Houses. Trade syndicates. Cultivation orders. Military auxiliaries."

"Yes."

"Good."

Vorash walked through the holographic map.

"Force the humans to join them."

Unkud's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Mandatory faction integration."

"Exactly."

Vorash turned.

"Once a human carries recognized faction standing, killing them becomes more complicated. Not impossible. Complicated."

A mercenary company might retaliate.

A guild might demand compensation.

A criminal syndicate might take an attack personally.

A trade house might place a bounty.

The cadets would cease being six million isolated targets.

They would become pieces attached to larger structures.

Unkud understood immediately.

"It will not prevent assassination."

"No."

"It may not even substantially reduce covert attacks."

"No."

Vorash smiled.

"But my siblings will have to work for it."

Unkud bowed his head.

"Understood."

"Send a formal directive through Skynet. Every surviving human cadet must join a recognized faction."

"Deadline?"

Vorash considered.

"Give them enough time to succeed."

Unkud almost smiled.

"Specific, My Lord."

Vorash's eyes flicked toward him.

"Do you require me to do everything?"

"No, My Lord."

"Then choose something reasonable."

Unkud inclined his head.

"Reward?"

Vorash looked toward the human deployment statistics.

"Twenty low-grade X Energy crystals."

Unkud paused.

That was substantial for recruits at their current level.

Vorash noticed.

"They need incentive."

"They are already facing exile for noncompliance."

"Fear makes humans move."

Vorash's gaze returned to him.

"Greed makes them move faster."

Unkud entered the order.

"Anything else?"

"Yes."

Vorash's expression became colder.

"Notify every recognized faction operating within my assigned territories."

Unkud stopped typing.

"My Lord?"

"Tell them the human intake is now open for recruitment. Tell them I expect cooperation."

"Some will refuse."

"Of course."

Vorash's smile widened.

"Make certain they understand I will remember which factions assisted my initiative."

Unkud looked at him.

That was not technically an order.

It was far more effective than one.

"And those that refuse?"

"Nothing."

Vorash turned away.

"Today."

Unkud understood.

"And your siblings?"

"I will deal with them."

The prince's voice lost the last trace of amusement.

"They have had their fun."

His amber eyes returned to Unkud.

"I will make it clear that the open slaughter ends now. If they wish to interfere with my cohort, they may do so properly."

Unkud knew exactly what that meant.

Quietly.

Through intermediaries.

With plausible deniability.

The killings wouldn't stop.

They would simply become harder to detect.

"Protect the candidates who demonstrate value," Vorash said.

"All of them?"

Vorash looked almost offended.

"Don't be ridiculous."

Unkud waited.

"The useful ones."

"Understood."

"Everyone else can prove they deserve the resources required to keep them alive."

Vorash raised one claw.

The transmission began to dissolve.

"One more thing, Unkud."

"My Lord?"

"Find out which humans performed best during the first hunt."

Unkud's eyes shifted toward the enormous database behind him.

"By what metric?"

Vorash smiled.

"Survival is a good place to start."

The transmission vanished.

Unkud remained seated in the silence.

Behind him, the casualty ticker continued climbing.

6,013,441.

6,013,992.

6,014,703.

Unkud watched it for several seconds.

Then he opened Skynet's command network.

"Prepare a cohort-wide directive."

Ryan woke to gold light filling his vision.

He jerked upright.

For one disoriented second, he thought sunlight had somehow entered the windowless room.

Then the notification sharpened.

[ MANDATORY DIRECTIVE ]

[ FACTION INTEGRATION ]

[ ISSUED BY: CAPTAIN UNKUD ]

[ OBJECTIVE: JOIN A RECOGNIZED CITY FACTION ]

[ COMPLETION REWARD: 20 LOW-GRADE X ENERGY CRYSTALS ]

[ FAILURE TO COMPLY: DISMISSAL FROM EXCLIPSE TRAINING ]

[ DISMISSED CADETS FORFEIT CITY RESIDENCY STATUS ]

Ryan stared.

"Twenty?"

Sleep disappeared instantly.

Twenty low-grade crystals.

His mind immediately started calculating.

A sword.

Food.

Ammunition.

Better equipment.

Maps.

Maybe even enough left over to start building an actual reserve.

Yesterday, he'd spent hours hunting fifteen beasts with his squad and ended the day counting fractions of crystals.

This mission paid twenty.

Which meant one thing.

There was a catch.

Ryan rubbed his face.

"There's definitely a catch."

Skynet did not respond.

He swung his legs off the bed.

His body complained immediately.

Yesterday's hunt had left muscles sore that Ryan hadn't known could become sore. Hours of walking, heat, running through the forest, crouching over carcasses, and manipulating his barrier had accumulated into a dull ache from shoulders to calves.

Still, he felt better than he'd expected.

Cultivation probably had something to do with that.

Ryan opened his status.

[ STATUS ]

Name: Ryan Lowell

Species: Human

Sex: Male

Cultivation Rank: Unranked

Qi Points: 1 / 360

Rank One Progress: 1 / 40

Talent: Absolute Energy Barrier

Strength: 7

Constitution: 7

Dexterity: 8

Speed: 7

Mental Energy: 8 / 8

X Energy: 9 / 9

Skills: None

Unique Skills: None

Still one.

Ryan stared at the number.

He had spent a good portion of last night working against Qi Point 002.

It hadn't opened.

Not even close.

The resistance had softened slightly—or at least Ryan thought it had—but exhaustion eventually won.

Apparently cultivation wasn't going to let him sprint through forty Qi Points because he was enthusiastic.

"Fine."

He dismissed the status.

"Tonight."

For now, he had a faction to join.

Before leaving, Ryan remembered the City Lord's warning.

Ask Skynet about the city rules immediately.

He probably should have done that yesterday.

"Skynet. Municipal law."

A concise legal interface appeared.

Ryan blinked.

"That's it?"

The code wasn't nearly as complicated as he'd expected.

Most regulations were straightforward.

Unauthorized combat inside municipal boundaries was prohibited.

Intentional destruction of public infrastructure carried severe financial penalties.

Residents were required to pay all applicable taxes.

Certain weapons and abilities were restricted in designated districts.

Theft, fraud, and unauthorized access to protected facilities carried punishments ranging from fines to forced labor.

Then Ryan reached the section concerning municipal personnel.

[ ASSAULT UPON AUTHORIZED CITY GUARD PERSONNEL ]

[ STANDARD PENALTY: SUMMARY EXECUTION ]

Ryan paused.

"Very forgiving."

He continued.

Faction law occupied an entirely separate category.

Recognized factions could own property, register territory, issue internal contracts, sponsor residents, purchase restricted services, and formally challenge other factions under specific municipal conditions.

Ryan reread that.

Sponsor residents.

Interesting.

He closed the rules.

The local clock was approaching nine.

Ryan opened the squad channel.

RYAN: Everyone awake?

Jessica answered almost immediately.

JESSICA: Yes.

Then Raven.

RAVEN: Lobby.

Dezzy:

DEZZY: Already downstairs.

Ben:

BEN: define awake

Ryan smiled.

RYAN: Alive and capable of walking.

Several seconds passed.

BEN: barely but yes

Ryan pulled on his uniform.

Time to earn twenty crystals.

Jessica, Raven, Dezzy, and Ben were waiting in the boarding house lobby.

Ben looked as though he'd slept extremely well.

Raven looked as though she wanted to go back to sleep.

Jessica had already secured her blue headband beneath her pulled-back hair.

Dezzy was reading something on Skynet.

Ryan descended the final steps.

"Everybody get the faction mission?"

Four nods.

Ben crossed his arms.

"Twenty crystals."

"Exactly."

"Twenty."

"Yes, Ben."

"Yesterday we murdered fifteen armored lizards for thirty crystals split five ways."

Ryan nodded.

"And?"

"And today somebody wants to hand me twenty for filling out a membership application."

Jessica smiled.

"You think it'll be that easy?"

"No."

Ben sighed.

"That's the problem."

Dezzy closed her interface.

"It will not be easy."

Everyone looked at her.

She continued.

"I purchased the recognized faction directory."

Ben groaned.

"You spent another crystal?"

"Information has value."

"So does money."

"Which is why I spent money acquiring valuable information."

Ben opened his mouth.

Then closed it.

Ryan grinned.

"She got you."

Dezzy shared the data packet.

Five interfaces synchronized.

Hundreds of faction names appeared.

Ryan blinked.

"That's... a lot."

"One thousand eight hundred and twelve recognized organizations within this city," Dezzy said.

Jessica stared at her.

"You read all of them?"

"No. I filtered them."

"Thank God."

Dezzy expanded several profiles.

"The majority are unsuitable. Many have species restrictions, Rank requirements, occupational prerequisites, sponsorship fees, or initiation conditions we cannot currently meet."

She selected three examples.

The first expanded.

[ IRON SIEVE ORDER ]

Classification: Mercenary Organization

Primary Fields: Wilderness Combat / Dungeon Security / Escort Contracts

Recruitment Profile: Combat-oriented

Reputation: Severe discipline / High attrition / Performance-based advancement

Raven studied it.

"That sounds promising."

Ben looked at her.

"The words high attrition are literally on the screen."

"I saw them."

"And you're still interested?"

"Yes."

"Of course you are."

The second appeared.

[ CHITIN SYNDICATE ]

Classification: Commercial / Underworld Organization

Primary Fields: Restricted Technology / Smuggling / Information Brokerage / Black-Market Trade

Recruitment Profile: Variable

Reputation: Extensive multispecies network / High internal secrecy

Jessica frowned.

"Absolutely not."

Ben leaned closer.

"Hold on."

"No."

"We don't even know what the benefits are."

"The word smuggling is in the description."

"That's a benefit to some people."

Raven looked at him.

"Join them."

Ben considered it.

"I might."

The third profile opened.

Ryan stopped breathing.

[ STREAMER GUILD ]

Classification: Media / Combat / Entertainment Organization

Primary Fields: Combat Broadcasting / Sponsorship / Competitive Events / Dungeon Media Rights

Recruitment Profile: Combatants / Personalities / Analysts / Production Specialists

Reputation: High visibility / Corporate backing / Performance-based sponsorship

Ryan leaned closer.

Jessica saw his expression.

"No."

Ryan looked at her.

"What?"

"I know that face."

"What face?"

"The face you made every time Darkstar uploaded something."

Ryan pointed at the profile.

"Combat broadcasting."

"We can read."

"Dungeon media rights."

"We can still read."

"Sponsorship."

Ben looked between them.

"Is he about to start vibrating?"

Ryan ignored him.

"This is perfect."

Dezzy studied the profile.

"It aligns closely with your stated long-term goals."

"Exactly."

Ryan expanded the listing.

Images appeared.

Combat streams.

Arena matches.

Dungeon expeditions.

Advertisements.

Warriors fighting creatures Ryan couldn't identify while viewer counts scrolled beside them in numbers that made the streams Ryan watched on Earth look small.

Hundreds of millions.

Billions.

Some feeds were being translated into dozens of languages simultaneously.

Ryan felt something electric move through his chest.

This was it.

Not someday.

Not after five years.

The infrastructure already existed.

The audience existed.

The industry existed.

Everything he'd imagined while sitting in his bedroom on Earth was standing in front of him.

"The Streamer Guild," Ryan said.

Ben shook his head.

"No chance."

Ryan looked at him.

"What?"

"I don't want millions of people watching me get punched in the face."

"Then don't get punched."

"Brilliant."

Jessica smiled.

"It's definitely Ryan's faction."

"What are you choosing?"

Jessica returned to the directory.

"I don't know yet."

Raven was already studying the Iron Sieve Order.

Dezzy had opened several technical and cultivation organizations.

Ben kept switching between commercial factions.

Ryan looked around.

"So we're splitting up."

"Most likely," Dezzy said.

Ryan nodded.

That bothered him slightly.

Not because he expected all five of them to join the same faction, but because they'd only just become a squad.

Jessica noticed.

"We're still hunting together."

Ryan looked at her.

"Obviously."

"A faction doesn't change that."

"Good."

Ben pointed at her.

"Unless mine offers better teammates."

Raven stared at him.

Ben smiled.

"Joke."

"Bad one."

Ryan expanded his map.

"Let's handle applications before today's hunt."

Dezzy nodded.

"Agreed. The directive has no stated requirement that faction duties replace Exclipse objectives."

"And if we get accepted," Jessica added, "we'll have whatever protection comes with membership."

Ryan paused.

"Protection?"

Jessica shrugged.

"Why else would Unkud suddenly care what faction we belong to?"

The group went quiet.

That was a very good question.

Ryan looked at the directive again.

Yesterday, Exclipse had dumped them onto a frontier world and ordered them to hunt.

Today, suddenly, everyone had to secure faction backing.

Ryan's excitement cooled slightly.

"Something happened."

Dezzy nodded.

"Likely."

Ben looked around.

"Something we should be worried about?"

Raven checked her sidearm.

"We're on a Class-Three frontier world. The answer is always yes."

Ryan dismissed the notification.

"Then let's not waste time."

They agreed to stay connected through the squad channel and regroup once they had either secured membership or learned what their chosen factions required.

Ryan headed out first.

The morning streets were already crowded.

Ryan followed his outer-district map until he reached the edge of its coverage.

Then the route disappeared.

Beyond a tall stone archway lay the inner districts.

Ryan stopped.

Skynet immediately offered him another purchase.

[ INNER DISTRICT MAP PACKAGE ]

[ ACCESS FEE: 2 LOW-GRADE X ENERGY CRYSTALS ]

Ryan stared.

"No."

He dismissed it.

He'd already spent enough money learning where things were.

People had navigated cities before maps existed.

Probably.

Ryan stepped through the arch.

The architecture changed almost immediately.

Buildings grew taller.

Cleaner.

More elaborate.

Street surfaces shifted from rough dark stone to polished composite materials. Holographic advertisements became larger and brighter. Expensive alien vehicles floated above designated transit lanes.

Ryan slowed.

He needed directions.

Finding someone willing to give them was another matter.

After several failed attempts with alien pedestrians, he spotted a human leaning against a stone pillar.

The man's armor was worn but clean.

Ryan approached.

"Hey."

The human looked up.

"Yeah?"

"Streamer Guild headquarters?"

The recruit stared at him for a second.

Then pointed deeper into the city.

"Central plaza."

"How far?"

"Walking?"

"Yeah."

"About an hour."

Ryan sighed.

"Of course."

The recruit smiled.

"You can't miss it."

"What am I looking for?"

"The building screaming for attention."

Ryan blinked.

"That describes half this city."

"No."

The man laughed.

"You'll understand."

Ryan thanked him and continued.

An hour later, he understood.

The Streamer Guild headquarters didn't merely stand in the central plaza.

It dominated it.

Ryan stopped at the end of the avenue.

"Whoa."

The tower rose hundreds of stories into the sky, a needle of polished black alloy and reflective glass catching the light of both suns.

Massive holographic rings rotated around its upper levels.

Every surface seemed alive.

Live combat feeds played across screens several stories tall.

A horned warrior fought a swarm of creatures across one.

On another, a team descended through a Dungeon while viewer comments poured along the edge of the broadcast.

Another displayed an arena duel between two species Ryan had never seen.

Numbers hovered beside each feed.

428,381,772 LIVE

1,208,443,091 LIVE

771,029,115 LIVE

Ryan stared.

A billion.

More than a billion people watching one fight.

His pulse quickened.

He remembered Darkstar.

The asteroid.

The chat moving too quickly to read.

The tens of millions watching from Earth.

That had seemed enormous.

This was something else.

This was galactic.

Camera drones flew around the tower in organized swarms. Some followed armored combatants walking through the entrance. Others hovered around groups posing on the marble steps.

Advertisements shifted across the building.

Weapons.

Armor.

Cultivation products.

Energy supplements.

Luxury spacecraft.

Ryan slowly climbed the first step.

Then stopped.

For years, the dream had been simple.

Pass the Aptitude Test.

Awaken.

Become strong.

Fight monsters.

Stream it.

Make enough money to help his family.

Maybe become famous enough that his name actually meant something.

It had always existed somewhere in the future.

A vague point beyond training.

Beyond Exclipse.

Beyond everything he had to survive first.

Now he was standing in front of it.

Ryan opened his status one last time.

Not because he needed to.

Because he suddenly felt painfully aware of how little he had.

Cultivation Rank: Unranked

Qi Points: 1 / 360

Talent: Absolute Energy Barrier

Skills: None

Unique Skills: None

One Qi Point.

One Talent he'd awakened yesterday.

A few crystals.

No reputation.

No audience.

No achievements worth mentioning beyond surviving his first hunt.

Ryan looked up at the enormous screens.

Some of the warriors displayed there were probably stronger than everyone he'd ever met combined.

For the first time since seeing the Streamer Guild listing, doubt crept in.

Why would they want me?

A camera drone floated past.

Its red lens rotated.

Stopped.

For half a second, it pointed directly at Ryan.

He stared back.

Then smiled.

Fine.

If they didn't want him yet, he'd give them a reason.

Ryan adjusted the collar of his Exclipse uniform.

Squared his shoulders.

And climbed the steps.

Above the colossal entrance, brilliant blue-violet letters burned across the tower.

STREAMER GUILD

The glass doors opened.

Noise spilled out.

Voices.

Music.

Crowds.

Broadcast commentary.

Ryan's smile widened.

Then he stepped inside.