"Karl, what did Herman say about the tiger?" asked Annemiek with concern in her voice. She was not comfortable with the family having to face such beings without being properly prepared. Even if the younger generation was talented, she knew all too well that confidence and reality were often two different things. A single mistake against an unknown enemy could cost a life, and unlike before, death was no longer something people could simply walk away from.
Karl took her hand and gently squeezed it to reassure her. "Don't worry. From what Herman told me, the Tier 1 creatures are fierce, but the reason they killed so many people is because those people were not prepared and were not officially trained troops. Fighting goblins and fighting something like this is a world of difference." He leaned back slightly before continuing. "According to the reports Herman read, one arrow to the head is not enough to kill a tiger, but three certainly are."
Annemiek rolled her eyes at the confidence in his voice. Karl simply chuckled at her reaction. "Don't you trust your children?" he asked with a grin. "You've seen them grow up. Most of them could kill a man five times before he crossed ten meters, let alone a beast that practically throws money at whoever kills it."
His grin widened as he remembered the media reports. The news stations had eventually uncovered how much the person who landed the killing blow on the tiger had earned. The reward had been a full ten silver coins. Even Karl had nearly fallen out of his chair when he first heard that number.
"Yes, they are capable," Annemiek admitted. "And our finances have never looked better either. Have you seen Bennie recently? He's grinning like an idiot every time someone mentions the secret realm. It looks like he won the lottery."
"Can you blame him?" Karl laughed. "Just look at what happened on that island. They're practically printing money over there." At first, public perception had been mixed. Many people had protested and demanded the operation be shut down after the first deaths were reported.
The news stations had actually been surprised by the backlash. They had expected public opinion to support their narrative. Then, one news anchor made the decision to convert the rewards into euros during a live broadcast. That single clip spread across the world faster than anyone expected.
For most people, ten silver coins did not sound impressive. They understood it was valuable, but they had nothing familiar to compare it against. Once someone explained that ten silver coins were roughly equivalent to one hundred thousand euros in purchasing power, public opinion changed almost overnight. Suddenly, everyone understood exactly how much money was involved.
The protests largely disappeared afterward. Instead, enormous lines formed outside registration offices for the island. People were willing to risk quite a lot for that kind of reward. In the year 2100, many products had become dirt cheap due to automation, making land one of the few truly valuable assets remaining.
A reward of one hundred thousand euros could serve as a down payment on a very respectable home. For some people, it represented several years of savings. Others saw it as a chance to completely change their lives. So while the media continued discussing safety concerns, most people were busy figuring out how to secure a place on the boats.
"Still, can you really blame Bennie?" Karl continued. "We've made five thousand silver coins in seven days. That's only counting the regular spawning rate from our own family's activities, not even the additional kills. We'll recover our investment much faster than expected." He looked genuinely pleased with the numbers.
"The only disappointing thing is that the system doesn't immediately hand over the money. It pays out at the end of each month." Karl shrugged before smiling again. "Though it does automatically handle taxes, so I suppose the tax man is finally out of a job."
That statement made Annemiek snort in amusement. The Sonnebergs had dealt with enough government bureaucracy over the years to appreciate the joke. Tax agencies had always been among the most feared organizations in existence. Not because they carried weapons themselves, but because they could make life miserable in ways armies often couldn't.
"This may not be America, where the IRS practically has its own army," Karl continued jokingly, "but it doesn't mean they're any less dangerous. Here they simply borrow the regular army if they need to. Messing with a man's income is already dangerous. Messing with the government's income is basically signing your own death warrant."
"Don't be too happy," Annemiek replied. "That only applies to money earned directly through system rewards. Every other source of income still has to be reported." She pointed a finger at him. "And don't think they won't notice the amount and quality of produce we're selling online."
Karl nodded reluctantly. She had a point. Their bow making operations were expanding rapidly, and the profits were becoming difficult to hide. Even if the government did not know every detail, they certainly knew enough. Anyone who thought otherwise was fooling themselves.
"I'd bet my life that governments have received additional privileges from Gaia that regular factions don't possess," Annemiek continued. Her conclusion was hardly unreasonable. Every faction currently operating under the system had some kind of restriction placed upon it.
Conglomerates could only recruit a limited number of official employees into their factions. Noble houses had their own problems. Most were required to own specific amounts of land and receive official government recognition before their noble status was acknowledged by the system. That requirement alone had created enormous headaches.
Many governments simply refused to recognize old noble claims. They acknowledged property ownership because denying that would create legal chaos, but titles were another matter entirely. For most noble houses, their claims ended there. Only the Great Houses and a handful of powerful subordinate families could force governments to accept them.
The Great Houses could get away with it because they effectively dared governments to challenge them. Their historical claims were often older than the states currently occupying the territory. Meanwhile, the houses directly beneath them benefited from the protection and influence of their patrons. Everyone else had to struggle through endless bureaucracy.
Ultimately, these restrictions limited the growth of nearly every faction. Guilds faced limits. Corporations faced limits. Noble houses faced limits. Everyone was forced to specialize in one area or another, preventing any single faction from completely dominating the system.
The only major exception appeared to be governments. The European military alone had already recruited twenty-seven million personnel. Before the arrival of the system, such a number would have been considered absurd. Entire finance ministries would have suffered collective heart attacks at the expense.
Now the situation was completely different. The dangers were obvious, but so were the rewards. Secret realms were producing unimaginable amounts of wealth. Treasury departments that had previously complained about military spending were now demanding faster offensives and greater expansion efforts.
Some officials were even regretting selling development rights to secret realms. They had underestimated how profitable those locations would become. The numbers involved were becoming difficult to comprehend. Every new report seemed larger than the last.
Military personnel stationed at secret realms were required to hand over half their earnings to the government in addition to paying normal taxes. That arrangement meant governments received roughly seventy-five percent of all money generated through military kills. It was such a large amount that even veteran economists struggled to process the implications.
After lengthy negotiations involving nearly every senior government official, a compromise had eventually been reached. The military would retain forty percent of the total 75%. The treasury would receive thirty-five percent. With them being responsible for distributing the rest of the money to the other departments, which was originally their job.
As for why Herman had agreed to surrender an additional ten percent of potential military income, the answer was simple. He had been forced to do so. The sums involved were simply too large for other departments to ignore. Every ministry wanted its own share of the growing mountain of wealth.
The military could win battles, but it could not govern an entire civilization by itself. Roads still needed to be built. Farms still needed support. Administrators still needed funding. Herman understood that better than anyone, even if he disliked the outcome.
So he had swallowed his frustration and accepted the compromise. The military remained the single largest recipient of system-generated wealth, which was already a tremendous victory. Meanwhile, the rest of the government was kept satisfied enough to continue cooperating.