“The real reason for this meeting?” Alice asked, trying not to show her surprise on her face.

When she had learned the [King] wanted to see her, she had thought it was related to the collapse of the System. The System breaking had introduced an avalanche of problems to the kingdom. The [King] asking someone who understood the problem to help manage the crisis just seemed reasonable. It made so much sense to her that she hadn’t stopped to question it. Alice had been a little surprised that the [King] had noticed her existence, but she was the apprentice of an Immortal. That probably gave her a lot of extra visibility.

So the idea that the [King] had a different reason for calling her here took her by surprise.

 “Indeed, Lady Alice,” said the [King]. The twinkle in his eyes grew stronger with each word he spoke. Alice suspected that the man was enjoying catching her by surprise “We have some things we wished to request of you, and some boons for your efforts so far.”

“All right…? I mean, your subject hears your request,” said Alice, hoping the [King] wouldn’t be upset at her breach of etiquette.

“We wish to preface this meeting with a statement,” said the [King], as the twinkle faded from his eyes for a moment. “The collapse of the System is extremely dangerous. We estimate that within a three or four months, more and more people are going to start fading. This is something that the crown desires to prevent.”

Alice nodded. She felt that four months might even be an optimistic estimate. The majority of people in the kingdom were probably going to be just like Boris within a month. Given all of Alice’s efforts to slow down the spread of people losing their minds, maybe they had two months.

Sure, Cecilia’s [Enchanters] were now at work creating rings to fix the [Enchanter] class, and Ethan had also started getting other [Enchanters] in the kingdom to make anti-mana rings much like the one Alice had made for Borris. But the production of enchanted rings was nowhere near the supply needed to handle the catastrophe. Illvaria had somewhere between one and two million people living in it, and there was no way the very limited number of [Enchanters] in the kingdom could churn out enough rings for everyone. And it was taking too long to teach new people how to make enchantments like the ring that Cecilia’s [Enchanters] had made. Alice hadn’t figured out a solution to this problem yet.

The [King], heedless of Alice’s internal musings, continued speaking.

“This crisis worries us. As much as we hate to admit that the System could struggle, we are not so foolish as to deny the evidence in front of our eyes.” The [King] looked at Alice. “So we have two things to bestow upon you, and one thing to request.”

“First of all, we hereby raise you to the rank of an honorary [Baroness]. It does not carry the benefit of any land, much like all other Mage-[Noble] titles. But you will receive the other benefits befitting your new station.” The [King] paused. “This is what you deserve for helping the Church of the System establish countermeasures against the current crisis, and finding a source of enchanting materials for the new rings being made. They have already started to circulate through Metsel, and the preliminary results are quite promising.” Then, the [King] paused, glancing at Alice. “One thing to keep in mind is that Mage-[Noble] titles will not pass on to any children or family members you may have. If you want a hereditary [Noble] title, you will need to work harder.”

Alice just barely managed to resist the urge to shrug. She didn’t have any kids. She had never been particularly interested in romance. If that changed in the future, she would figure it out then.

“The second thing we wanted to bestow upon you was… a title, of sorts.”

Hadn’t the [King] just given her a title?

“This title comes with certain conditions involved,” said the [King], heedless of Alice’s confusion. “We believe that the collapse of the System has the potential to inflict great harm upon the people of Illvaria… and we need someone who is able to advise us on how to counteract those problems. An advisor, of sorts.”

Alice felt a little bit better. At least her suspicions about the purpose of this meeting hadn’t been totally wrong. The [King] had called her here to address the collapse of the System. If the [King] had called upon her for a totally different reason, Alice would have wondered if there was something wrong with the country’s monarch.

“What specifically would this ‘advisor’ position entail? What would the requirements be? What are the benefits?” asked Alice. Even if she did want to help people, she had been doing fine with Ethan’s help. Working directly for the [King] might actually prove more of a hindrance than a boon for this, depending on what new obligations it saddled her with.

The [King] smiled slightly.

“Let’s talk about compensation first. According to what letters we have exchanged with Ethan, you are already paid a generous amount?”

“Yes, your majesty,” said Alice. Ethan currently paid her about 30 golden sun a month for her time and effort. It was enough for her to live in luxury and still have plenty of money left over. Not to mention, Ethan also handled most of her expenses – she was staying in Ethan’s manor to have a better buffer against the Society, several [Guards] were usually in charge of keeping her safe, and Ethan had even hired a [Hidden Guard] to keep any Society attacks from hurting her. Ethan also paid for her [Teachers]… meaning that Alice had surprisingly few expenses right now.

“In that case, we have three different offers for you. First of all, we could give you proper compensation in the form of money. Say… one hundred golden suns a month? This amount of money would be quite reasonable as a reward for someone who has managed to discover so much critical information. Especially given the very limited timeframe and resources you have had available to do all of this.”

Alice paused for a moment. To be honest, if the [King] hadn’t mentioned that he had other offers, Alice probably would have just accepted that offer. One hundred golden suns was a ridiculous monthly salary. Alice could buy multiple books a month with that – and this was in a world where books were extravagant luxury goods. One hundred golden coins was more than most successful [Merchants] made in a year.

“What are the other offers?” asked Alice, after a few moments.

“Well, based on our understanding of your personality, we doubt this one will appeal to you… but if you’re interested, we can still make it happen,” said the [King], with a ‘throw it out and see if it sticks’ kind of attitude. “As a reward for your previous actions, as well as your agreement to our conditions, we could make you a real [Baroness], with land. Your Mage-[Noble] title would be converted into a proper [Noble] title. The crown has several smaller baronies and counties that could be given to you, so if you do wish to own land, we could certainly find something that suits you.” The [King’s] expression grew sour a moment later. “Some members of the [Noble] estate might object to that, on the grounds that most people who get awarded real, inheritable [Noble] titles have performed much greater services to the crown. But we can force it through, if a real [Noble] title is what you truly desire.”

Alice didn’t feel… terribly interested in this offer. Being a [Baroness] sounded more like a nightmare than a reward. Alice could just imagine how much time she would waste trying to put out fires in her territory, manage political discussions, meet with other [Nobles], and manage finances. Not to mention how weird it would be to come from Earth, a planet where [Nobles] had basically disappeared, and transition to being a [Noble] in her own right. Alice had accepted that this world hadn’t really advanced beyond monarchies, either due to quirks of history or because of how Classes incentivized people to keep doing one thing throughout their lives. Even so, Alice wasn’t ready to fully embrace the feudal system. Becoming a [Noble] would just feel weird to her.

The [King] seemed to see Alice’s rejection of this offer from her facial features and the frown tugging at her lips. He chuckled.

“It seems that you’re not interested. Very well then, moving on to the offer we think you would actually be interested in. We could give you and your [Enchanter] friend the titles of {Royal Crisis Analyst} and {Royal Enchanter Trainer}. And we would also be willing to hire a few [Royal Tutors] to help train your friend. It would amplify her levelling speed quick significantly.”

Alice blinked in confusion.

Why would these two titles matter to her? She didn’t care that much about what other people thought of her. Sure, having a few official sounding titles would be nice, since it would help her get through bureaucracy. Alice still remembered how long it had taken to get her dimensional study license approved. But Alice wasn’t sure if it was that important for her to have a title. Or perhaps Cecilia would get something out of the deal?

Did Cecilia have some sort of burning desire to be recognized as a royal advisor that Alice didn’t know about?

The [King] seemed to see Alice’s confusion. He turned to Ethan, and Ethan cleared his throat.

“Ahem… Alice, you may not be aware of this, but there are a lot of royal titles that double as Achievements. These Achievements can only be bestowed by a monarch of a country, and there is a specific Perk needed to be able to bestow them. Only one copy of each title can exist at the same time, and only a certain number of royal titles can be bestowed at once. Currently, there are twenty-three royal titles distributed in Illvaria,” said Ethan. “The [King] is offering you a… mostly permanent boost to levelling speed. And these titles usually have a few other, smaller effects as well. The titles can be taken away, of course – but there are penalties associated with removing a title that was already bestowed, and so it isn’t an action taken lightly. Most [Kings] and [Emperors] avoid taking away official titles unless someone breaks a whole lot of laws or outright betrays the country.”

Alice felt a lot more interested after that. She had been thinking for a long time about how to accelerate her levelling speed after she hit level 75, and the fact that the Achievements from the System were on the fritz meant it was harder to acquire new levelling speed boosts. Alice definitely wouldn’t mind something to speed the process along. Even if levelling up would probably add a bit more Alice mana to her brain, she felt fairly confident that she could revert the process once she just got another Perk or two. She just needed a better understanding of the mana gems inside of people’s bodies. Once she understood what was happening there, Alice suspected it wouldn’t be that hard to get her mana gem to eat the Alice mana in her body. Once she corrected that, Alice would have found a solution to most of the outstanding problems resulting from the collapse of the System.

Besides the fact that there was no way to create new class seeds, of course. And the fact that she still had to find a way to ramp up the production of enchantments. And a way to restore Achievements…

Alice realized she had gotten distracted, and tried her best not to make that obvious as Ethan continued looking at her.

Alice realized that Ethan was waiting for her to ask for more information.

“What kinds of bonuses are we talking about?” asked Alice.

“Well, I have one of the royal titles. I won’t tell you the combat-related portions, but it gives me a 100% boost to levelling classes that are related to both combat and magic. It also has a few smaller bonuses.” Ethan shrugged, seemingly uncaring of the fact that it was a slight breach of {Etiquette} to do so. “It’s nothing world-changing, but you can use every little bit of help you can get, right?”

Alice nodded. Every boost to levelling speed was greatly appreciated right now. She wanted to hit level 85 in [Explorer of Magic] as fast as possible so that she could finally fix the Alice-mana problem, and perhaps the class seeds problem as well.

And even more temptingly, Cecilia would get a levelling speed boost. The more Alice learned, and the further she progressed, the more Alice felt it was likely that she would reach Immortality. But Alice had no way to share that with Cecilia. Cecilia was young now, but Alice didn’t want to see her best friend wither away while Alice spent century after century thinking about the best friend she had once had.

Giving Cecilia a levelling speed boost was very appealing to Alice.

Alice understood that Cecilia hadn’t really earned a royal title from the [King]. Cecilia had contributed a little bit to solving this crisis, but most of her actions were built off of Alice’s discoveries and work. Giving Cecilia a title was of dubious value to both Illvaria and the crown.

And Alice didn’t care. She wanted her friend to live.

“What are the conditions for accepting the title?” asked Alice.

“First, you need to actually act as an advisor for us,” said the [King]. “We want to keep the people of Illvaria safe, but we can’t do that if we don’t know the intimate details of the problems we’re facing. So we expect you to share the underlying information about how and why you act the way you do.”

Alice winced. That would require that she reveal at least some of her studies of the System.

On the other hand, things had already reached this point. The System had collapsed, people were being warped by the mana in the world around them, and monsters were gaining intelligence. Perhaps questioning the System wouldn’t be quite as inflammatory now as it would have been a few months ago…

Alice sighed, and then nodded.

Seeing Alice nod, the [King] smiled.

“For this purpose, we would require that you meet with us at least once every three days to discuss your findings and proposed solutions. We’re willing to implement most solutions we feel are reasonable, and given the unfolding crisis, the estates are a lot more united than they usually are. But that requires people to understand what’s actually going on,” said the [King].

Alice thought about it for a moment. That wasn’t too bad. Attending a meeting with the [King] to explain what was going on made sense, and afterwards, Alice could just return to solving-

“And there will be other people at the meeting as well that we think will be able to help handle problems. A few of our [Advisors], as well as other people such as the [Minister of Finance], will be critical to forming policies for Illvaria as a whole. We would need you to be able to present information and evidence confirming its authenticity, so that we can build policies around it.”

Alice tried not to wince. There went her dream of a simple, quick meeting.

“I have {Shared Memories}. Is that enough for evidence?”

The [King] thought about it for a few moments, before he nodded. “That’s acceptable. We would appreciate it if you had everything written down as well, though. While it seems like you’ve invested heavily into memory Perks, most people don’t bother.”

Alice nodded. That was still manageable.

“I accept your conditions,” said Alice. “And I would like the title for myself and Cecilia as the reward.”

“We thought you might appreciate that offer the most,” said the [King], as his smile grew wider.

“Then I hereby name you {Royal Crisis Analyst}.”

A moment later, mana surged towards Alice, and a few seconds later, a System notification popped up.

You achieved an Achievement!

Royal Crisis Analyst (Rarity:N/A)

Named by King. Appoint. Chosen to analyze crisis.

++80% class experience for classes that analyze the crisis “Collapse of the System.” Perception stat +20% effect. You g@in ability to sense places where crisis hits harder than others within country_Illvaria, and some perception of Relevaaaaaaant areas of interest.

Alice blinked as the new Achievement settled into her body. The way the mana from the Achievement moved into her body also felt slightly different than before. She turned her eyesight inwards using {Lesser Organic Vision}, and noticed that a lot of the mana from this new Achievement was making its way towards her head. There, Alice lost sight of it – it was moving a little bit too fast, and she was also distracted reading her new Achievement.

But most distracting of all, a moment later, Alice felt a very new, very weird sensation. It was a very, very weak sense of where people were succumbing to problems caused by the System collapse.

In a very, very limited way, Alice felt like she could sense all of Illvaria now.

Some villages were filled with people who were starting to succumb to their class mana. Others had people who had been ripped apart by armies of intelligent, coordinated monsters. Alice couldn’t detect most of these crises well, or exactly what was happening inside of them. But she could probably pinpoint most of these crises on a map and only be off by a few dozen kilometers. Considering the fact that her ‘vision’ extended all the way across Illvaria, that was quite impressive.

Finally, Alice also sensed… something. Something far to the northwest that felt important to her.

Alice blinked in surprise. A place that was relevant to the crisis…

The fact that the System had a physical mainframe somewhere…

Alice had been baffled about the right way to track down the System’s location after she learned that it existed. After all, this planet was just as big as Earth, and Alice had no way of knowing where the System might be at all. It could be under the ocean, in the sky, or even in the center of the planet or the moon, and she would be none the wiser.

But now, Alice had the very distinct feeling that something important was to the northwest, even if the exact location was pretty vague.

And Alice had a very, very strong suspicion that she knew what that important thing was.