Chapter 179: Day 399 (4) – Rod of Control

I got my 50k loan returned and purchased the Rod of Control as another 500k was being brought out to reimburse me. While I had a lot of points reserved for my health insurance plan, I wasn’t about to go over one million points, even if they were already cashed.

The moment I chose the option to purchase it, I was presented with an option for the design unlike the Processing Rod. In fact a design choice was required, there was no default option which was interesting. I carefully thought of two gold Chinese dragons intertwined in gold on a dark blue pillar. The Rod of Control appeared in the air above the store pillar I was using.

I carefully reached out and took the Rod of Control in my hands. It was about three feet or a meter long. It was quite heavy too. Someone without a Body stat would struggle to move this easily. It was about as thick as a soda can, so a bit thicker and longer than the Processing Rod.

The mental download came. There could only be one Rod of Control per city. It could not leave the city. It granted administrative privileges on all property. I had to purchase those privileges and they could be used by someone holding the Rod of Control inside the Meeting Chamber.

Transferring ownership of property, which included removing it, cost 500k initially and then 10k after that. I could move building plots. Same initial unlock cost of half a million points and then 10k after that. Finally, Purgatory could be organized in a grid pattern and not a drunken hobo pattern.

The big one was 500k to unlock banning people from the store in this city only. After that it cost 10k per ban. The only way to reverse a ban was to get the Rod of Control, take it to the Meeting Chamber, and pay 10k points. Just the ban process in reverse.

Finally, there was the option to pay one million points to track all store purchases as they happened. There was no historical record, but this included all stat purchases. Once this upgrade was purchased, someone could sit around holding the Rod of Control and know what everyone purchased from the store.

That would have seemed pointless along with the ban function, but the thing was the Rod of Control had one final feature. It wouldn’t despawn unless untouched for 100 days. It had a special rule just like the carts. The carts didn’t indicate how long they would last, just that they wouldn’t immediately despawn like everything else. This was another item in that category.

It wouldn’t surprise me if that time limit was 100 days as well. No one would ever leave a cart unattended for more than 100 days. That made no sense, so it didn’t matter, and the System didn’t share that. But with this unique item, one could sneak into a city, ban a person, and then hide out.

The no leaving the city rule had no exceptions or workarounds from what I could understand. The mental download was telling me it can’t leave the city at all. Perhaps there was a higher level upgrade that would allow for something like that. That was it. Basically, it was the admin rights to the city.

I carefully handed it to Clarissa who had to adjust her posture due to the weight. I went over and began refilling up my health insurance from the crystals that had been brought out from the treasury. I noted a flagpole had been erected in the center of the store pillars.

At the top was the city flag I had come up with. Eight dots in a circle with a larger circle around it. White dots on a dark blue background. I noted flags with a dark red background hanging from the short walls, still with the eight white dots.

I noted that Captains with capes had the flag symbol on their capes. They had capes, how had I missed that? I guess it just wasn’t that important in my mind and they were always facing me and saluting. I was broken out of my musings when I heard a discussion building up.

“This is something, we can’t afford to lose. The RMPF will assume responsibility for protecting the Rod of Control within the city treasury,” Gerold said.

“It needs to be used too much to put in there,” Clarissa countered. President Bob didn’t say anything.

“That is the safest place as you have made sure,” Gerold said. Really power plays. Only one person deserved and should get this administrative power, I thought a bit sarcastically.

“Enough,” I said, and everyone went quiet. Including the soldiers and people talking nearby. One word was enough to silence the area around me. The answer was obvious. This was primarily an administrative tool and a danger magnet.

What would any crazy person do? They would go right for the Rod of Control, killing anyone nearby. I was not about to put Clarissa in that kind of danger or put a bigger target on the city treasury. Let there be shiny for everyone to look at and think about stealing instead of targeting the important things.

It was also administrative in function. I didn’t want the city upgrade budget to be sunk into city reorganization. President Bob did such a good job at being efficient, well he could make sure the city rebuilding was efficient. He was also expendable, unlike Clarissa.

“President Bob. Congratulations. I think the Rod of Control will be handled quite well in your hands and future Presidents. You can manage the city restructuring. Something we can discuss in detail later, but it falls perfectly in your area of expertise.” Clarissa passed the Rod of Control over to him and he struggled under the weight.

“Thank…thank you for this great honor, Champion Michael,” Bob said. I smile and nodded at that. I started clapping and everyone joined it. It perked President Bob up a bit.

“Clarissa, arrange for him to show up with Gerold and the rest of the leadership council tomorrow. We can discuss the assault on Truth and the city restructuring,” I said quietly.

“I will make the arrangements,” she replied as we both clapped. The clapping died down. I left with Clarissa towards the prison. President Bob gave me a look and lugged away the Rod of Control himself. It would make a good weapon. A beat stick of high quality.

I could only imagine some crazed person swinging it around as the last person as their city crumbled around them. Desperately trying to wield such a heavy weapon. Hmm, now there was a question. Was it heavy due to density or canceling out stats in some way.

Well, it wasn’t my problem anymore and there was enough to research. “President Bob, really?” Clarissa asked.

“Unless you want to manage the city restructuring or take the costs out of your budget?” I asked.

“That makes a lot more sense now, but the risk if someone bans you.” She clearly wasn’t thinking things through.

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“Hahahaha, oh, that would be funny. So, what if I am banned from the store. At most it is 100 days and people would rip the city apart to find the Rod of Control. It really should be called the Rod of Tedious Administration That is Kind of Interesting But Not Really,” I said. I thought back to how Tyrese wanted it so long ago. It was disappointing that it was nothing that special in the end.

“That makes sense. What direction are you thinking for the rebuilding?” Clarissa asked.

“Straight streets and blocks. We can also move the buildings to form an inner wall of some kind around the city center. Control the gates, and the city center, but leave the rest of the city to the craziness. Also, the main roads in and out from each cardinal direction and the wall.”

“You are thinking way in the future,” Clarissa said.

“Yes. I also want my home expanded. I am thinking a block is four by four plots. The main streets three plots wide. Size limit people’s homes to one plot or two plots at most if they aren’t in the Immortal Council.”

“Such restructuring is going to be expensive,” Clarissa said.

“Then we best start now, so it is less of a headache later on. It will make it easier to manage properties later on. It will create a prosperous core the city, and then the outer slums, and then the wall,” I explained.

“Why plan to have slums? I know there is going to be growth, but planning for slums, I thought you wanted to avoid that?” Clarissa asked.

“You need a bad part of town and a good part. It was a lesson I learned in Sim City about city management. Trying to cover everything, is just asking to run out of resources. We can always kick people out of the slums and build a second wall of buildings. Maybe. Still want an inner wall.” I thought about that for a second.

“In fact, that is a good idea. Have an inner loop, then the inner wall made of buildings. A three plot wide street. That should be more than enough. We can work it out tomorrow.”

“Michael, basing city decisions off a computer game, maybe that is not the best idea?” Clarissa suggested.

“Maybe? What do you think?” I asked, curious what she would suggest.

“A grid is a good idea along with an inner wall of buildings. But I don’t think we should purposefully aim for slums. I am thinking that most residential buildings would be outside this inner portion of the city, in the outer portion. Keep businesses and key buildings in the interior.”

“Michael, a lot of effort was made to stop vagrancy and implement a curfew. That is forcing people to go out and tackle higher level monsters. The RMPF sends out patrols into the city to hunt and kill vagrants. That policy is not being changed now.” She clearly had feelings about the issue.

“Alright, I was just suggesting ideas.”

“Just be careful. People take your ideas as gospel. The city is finally functioning. There is organization, a plan, and people are productive. Don’t poke holes in the boat. We just finished patching all of them,” Clarissa said.

“Don’t upset the cart. Got it. Got it,” I replied. Clarissa gave me a look as we walked side by side. “At least you would earn your salary then.”

“I already earn it, ten times over. Let’s enjoy the stability while it exists. We can’t always be in a state of crisis,” Clarissa said.

“Crisis is like a forge. It gets rids of the impurities,” I countered.

“Or you burn all the metal away by leaving it in too long. I can throw around pithy sayings with the best of them,” Clarissa said.

“Any serious issues I need to deal with, another Laura?” I asked.

“No. The people and criminals who caused drama were either killed since they weren’t important and the couple questionable cases went to the Prison.”

We walked in silence for a bit. “Thanks Clarissa. For not letting this place burn down,” I said.

“You’re welcome. Thank you for your support.” I smiled at that. We were a good team. Even if she was taking a ton of points, she was worth every single one. I never really understood why CEOs got paid so much, but now it made sense.

It was easy to talk a big game, but making it happen, thinking ahead, managing everything, and steering the ship that was the city. That was impressive. I wouldn’t have been able to do what she did. I could grind and think in gaming terms. But managing all the details to make this function, impossible.

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