Jaco looked around at everyone who’d just been gathered together. There was Noah, of course, the leader of the encampment. Alongside him were nearly all the key figures amongst both their top members and strongest fighters. Nearly all, as Sam was still recovering from her injuries and needed a bit more time to just rest.

But aside from her, the Druid saw plenty of familiar faces in the group. On one side were Adam and Burt, the Scout and Warrior who once worked with Sam as a trio of scavengers. Though they hadn’t gone out together for a while, Sam became focused on working directly with Noah as an administrator of the camp and its needs. And with the last attack from the Chosen with the undead horde, the two men hadn’t gotten the chance to do much beyond just patrolling the immediate vicinity.

Then sitting off to the other side, there was Alex. Out of everyone within the camp, the young man was one of those who’d been transformed more than most by the Apocalypse. He’d gone from a relatively meek teenager to a Warrior that was both on the camp’s highest Level elites and acted as a leader to the other youth who wanted to do their part.

There were the others present as well. Jaco was at least passingly familiar with the top members of the encampment. Though several he would just call himself politely acquainted with, and didn’t think too much of them beyond that.

“So, now that everyone’s here, I guess I should begin. Although…” Jaco looked at Noah. “I think some people know what happened the last time I left the camp from secondhand accounts. But do you think I should go ahead and take things from the top and start with some context? Or just get straight to the point of what happened while we were just in the city?”

Noah leaned back into his seat. “Hmm. Are we in any kind of rush? Because if not, then there’s no harm in making sure that everyone’s on the same page”

The Druid considered the idea. It was true that they would need to act sooner rather than later. However, he wouldn’t say it was to the point that every second counted. He’d seen how quickly the Demon could fly and move around. If it had wanted to chase after them, it would have easily reached the camp before even they would have. And considering that it still hadn’t shown up since their arrival, it seemed that they had at least a little breathing room.

“Right, then I guess I’ll take things from the top. As you all likely know, I’ve spent more time away from this camp than staying within it. On the outing before this last one, I checked out the fortress at the center of the city. There, I fought the Minotaur. And in doing so, I freed a little girl that turned out to be an Angel. One who basically teleported me out of the fort and city entirely while I was weakened from my battle with the Minotaur,” Jaco began.

One man then raised his hand. A Martial Artist, judging by his gi. “This Minotaur is a Demidemon, right? I’m just double checking because of that System prompt from just a little while ago.”

“Correct,” Jaco said with a nod. “I’ll get to that in a moment, but yeah. As for what happened after the fort, that’s when I met Evelyn. At the same time, that’s when the Chosen Few launched their attack. I only noticed what was happening when I took to the skies and then saw the fires and hordes of undead.”

The faces of those present became grim. With the attack having only been several days ago, it was still fresh on all their minds. A moment of silence filled the room. A few people glanced around at the others who were gathered. Had the attack not happened, the room would be occupied by more top members of the camp.

However, said members were amongst the many who died during the Chosen’s attack. That, or they were part of the chunk of people who deserted and never returned. Due to how many corpses were ruined beyond recognition, it was impossible to truly say which was which.

“Anyway. At the end of the attack, that’s when I along with many of you met the leader of the Chosen Few. A man named Levi. After that, of course, was the time we spent rebuilding. But then that brings us to this morning. When the rainstorm suddenly appeared, and brought that swarm of Spectres with it, the Druid continued.

“Ah right. While you guys were in the city, did you learn anything about the Spectres? I know our main concern was the Demidemons, but I’m curious to know if you found anything about what happened with those ghosts?” Noah asked.

Jaco shook his head. “Nah, not really. Granted, we didn’t actually get to spend much time there before we had to leave. But as for how or what caused those Spectres, or why they focused on certain individuals over others, I don’t have anything for you. If an explanation is actually out there somewhere, we didn’t find it.”

The leader of the camp just nodded. He then motioned for Jaco to continue from where he’d been cut-off, which he did.

“Right. So after we dealt with the Spectres, we all got that same warning from the System about the next stage of the Apocalypse. Since it was about how Demidemons would be able to increase in their frequency of appearance, we decided to investigate. Sam, Evelyn, and I left together to check out the city and see just how bad things would be. And how that would impact us here. Which… it’s bad.”

A worried look was shared by the camp members. They glanced at each other, clearly unnerved by the grave words just spoken. If they hadn’t been concerned before, they certainly were now.

“So… just how bad is bad? Like on a scale from one to ten?” Adam questioned from the side.

Jaco only took a moment to think about the answer before he looked the Scout in the eyes. “Ten out ten, easily. Maybe even eleven, if I’m being honest.”

“What’s that supposed to-” the Warrior from before began to ask. But he was cut-off by Noah as the leader raised his hand.

“Please, let’s remain calm and not panic.” He then returned his gaze to the Druid. “Jaco. Could you please explain what that means in more detail? I know that before this meeting was called, you already gave me a summary of the worst of it. But for the sake of everyone else here, can you tell us just exactly what it is that you three found out there?”

“Right. When we went in, I expected an influx of Demidemons as the System warned us about. What I saw was even worse than I expected though. Now there’s a bunch of the Demidemons known as Taurlings. As for what those are, just think of them as the weaker cousins of Minotaurs. And then that is Minotaurs, plural. Because even though only a short amount of time passed between the System prompt and us getting there, several Minotaurs were already wandering the streets as well. However…” Jaco took a deep breath.

“If it was just that, I wouldn’t be nearly as worried. When we all hear the word ‘Demidemon’ I’m sure we all asked ourselves the same question at some point. If those exist, then what about normal Demons? Well, despite the System not mentioning those at all, that’s exactly what we encountered,” he said.

“You don't actually mean…” Burt said with wide eyes.

“Yes, an actual Demon from Hell itself. One who's much higher than me in Level, because I couldn’t even see it. We only saw one. But even just that single Demon honestly scared me more than anything else we’ve seen so far.” Jaco’s heart quickened within his chest as he still held the very fresh memories of facing what felt like absolute death.

The Druid sighed, and tried to compose himself. “How we actually ran into it is also important. As we were exploring the city, we spotted Levi, the Chosen’s Few leader. He was speaking with a pair of Minotaurs and seemed to be on friendly terms with them. With how obviously suspicious that was, I decided to follow him to find out more. After we did that for a bit, that’s when the Demon appeared, as if it came out of thin air. And then it didn’t take long for it to notice me, even with my stealth Ability.”

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“Did it just let you go, then? If it’s so strong, there’s no way you actually tried to fight something like that, right?” A female Scout asked.

“We escaped, but not on our own. Remember that little girl that turned out to be an Angel. I guess she must have been keeping tabs on me, because just before the Demon struck, she appeared to protect us. It’s only thanks to her that we managed to slip away and run. Though… she might be dead now for all I know. The last I saw was her being heavily injured while Demidemon reinforcements were showing up.

“I can only hope that she also managed to escape after we did. But honestly? I have no idea if she’s still alive, or if she sacrificed herself to let us run. We managed to kill a couple of Minotaurs on our way out. But both Levi and that Demon are still out there. And since it sounds like Levi is working directly under the Demon, we can only assume the worst for what kind of artifacts or other benefits the Chosen will receive from it.”

Another moment of silence befell the room, this one even heavier than the first. Nobody was sure exactly how to react or what to say next. In the face of Jaco effectively acting as the prophet who just shared a gloomy fate filled with doom, just what exactly could one even say to that? Eventually, however, Noah was the first to react by standing up from his seat.

“Alright. As we all process everything Jaco just shared, I think it’s time that I check up on Sam. There’s something that I have in mind, but I would like her input first. Since her injuries weren’t as bad, she should hopefully have been tended to by now. But I’ll check to see if she’s feeling recovered enough to join us yet. I should be back in just a few minutes, so I’ll ask that you all wait here and remain calm.”

The Druid watched as the leader of the camp left the meeting space. Some people entered into their own conversations, though when he glanced around, it didn’t seem like anyone was going to approach him. Maybe they just didn’t really need anything from him at the moment. Or perhaps it was a token of respect and assumption that Jaco would like to be left alone if something wasn’t necessary. Either way, he could appreciate the ability to currently keep his personal space to himself.

But to pass the time, Jaco decided to open up the golden screen for his personal Sheet. He had to hastily dismiss all his prior notifications as he’d been too busy to let them distract him. But now was as good of a time as any to see what gains he had made from the last fight.

General Info:

Species: Hell-Touched Human

Level: 47

Class: Druid

Evolution: True Shifter

Secondary Class: Blight Warlock

Level: 26

Stats:

Strength: 190

Agility: 106

Endurance: 146

Will: 140

Spell Power: 188

Unspent Points: 3

Class Abilities:

Passive: Animal Instincts

Passive: One with Nature

Passive: Permanent Aspect One

Passive: Wild Constitution

Active: Lesser Elemental Offense

Active: Minor Plant Control

Active: Lesser Beast Transformation

Active: Minor Primal Ferocity

Active: Lesser Shapeshift

Active: Lesser Manifestation of the Wild Elemental

Secondary Class Abilities:

Active: Lesser Pestilent Swarm

Active: Lesser Zone of Blight

Active: Lesser Rotting Summon

One Level to his Main Class, and nine Levels to his Secondary Class. That was the progress Jaco had made from the Experience gained by killing the two Minotaurs in the last fight. And with him dumping all his prior Unspent Points into Strength, it had eked its way into just barely being his new top Stat.

Yet as nice as the gains were as another step forward, it still brought up a confusing thought. How the System decided to actually split the Experience Points, he had no clue. As far as just the raw number of Levels gained, his Secondary Class was the clear winner by a mile. However, he still couldn’t help but once again wonder how the System actually worked to determine these things.

When Jaco had killed the first Minotaur, he had only gained two Levels despite there being a dozen Levels difference between them. Now he compared that to the Minotaur that he’d fought soon after entering the city alongside Sam and Evelyn.The one that he had used the Hell Crossbow to heavily injure before Sam was actually the person who had dealt the killing blow.

For that Demidemon, it’d been Level 49 while the Druid was Level 44 at the time. So that was a difference of only five Levels between him and it. Alongside the fact that he’d fought it with two others, and hadn’t been the one to finish it off for the kill. Yet after it died, the Experience Points Jaco earned had also earned him… two Levels.

On the surface, it just didn’t make sense. There was a huge difference in the factors between those two battles, and yet the reward for him was basically the same for both. Jaco had spent quite a bit of idle time thinking about how little he’d earned in that fight against the first Minotaur, relatively speaking. For it to be his greatest obstacle to ever overcome, the Experience just didn’t seem to match that fact. Yet at the same time… what if it actually did make perfect sense?

Jaco decided to construct a scenario within his mind. One that might lead him to finally crafting a decent theory of his own for how Levels and Experience worked within the System. Just exactly how did it handle large gaps in Levels between two people?

For example, let’s say that someone who was only Level 11 fought and won against a Level 50 monster. This feat would likely be impossible to actually achieve, but let’s hypothetically assume it happened anyway. If this individual did so without any cheap tricks, third party interference, or any other shenanigans, how many Levels would they gain?

One would assume that it would be many. That this person would jump up by at least a couple dozen Levels in one go, at the very minimum. And it would, of course, make sense for that to be the case.

But then what if there was a second scenario. One between the same person and monster and with the same difference in Levels. But instead of a fair fight, the lower Level individual pulled out some bullshit that would actually let them win. Like some super powerful artifact that had enough power to obliterate any foe, and was already fully charged by the time it fell into the weaker person’s hands.

In that case, would the System actually view both scenarios equally? Would fighting fairly to do the seemingly impossible give the same amount of Experience Points as a victory gained by using something far stronger as what’d basically be considered a crutch?

A while ago, Jaco thought that perhaps it wouldn’t make a difference. He used his fair share of artifacts, and knew that the Chosen Few did too. That Warrior had made liberal use of the wand that shot out balls of fire, after all. And he hadn’t seemed to fall behind in Levels when compared to his peers.

But what if there actually was a demerit to relying on artifacts? One that didn’t seem noticeable to Experience gain when fighting enemies relatively close to your one Level, but became more obvious as you tried to punch above your weight class.

Jaco knew that he only won against the Level 50 Minotaur due to downing the Hell Elixirs. If he hadn’t and tried to play it safe to avoid the deadly side effect in their description, he would certainly not be standing here today. So what if the System actually took notice of that fact and took it into account? That it could actually recognize that the Hell Elixirs basically carried him, and penalized his Experience gain as a consequence.

Now as for why it would do such a thing when the System was meant to help humanity? He had no idea. This wasn’t a video game where balance mattered, but a war for their own survival. If he’d been the one to design the System, Jaco would obviously have given every advantage to the people it was intended to assist.

I think I’m on the right track, in any case. Though there’s still too many factors that are just questions without answers. Like if I’m right about the Hell Elixirs, does it matter more because they’re consumable? Like how does relying on those compare to me using the Hell Crossbow or any other artifact like my staff? Jaco asked himself.

The Druid was pulled from his thoughts as Noah made his return. Entering from directly behind him was Sam. And then behind her, someone unexpected had also come to join in on the meeting.

Evelyn was the one who had received the most grievous injuries. Her expression was a grimace as her face was clearly covered in sweat. And while the bandaging peeking through the gaps in her armor made it even more clear that she had yet to recover, the Warrior seemed at least able to move around on her own.

Jaco just gave all three of them a nod as they entered. With a small gesture, he went ahead and also made an additional seat for Evelyn to use.

“So,” Noah began as he sat down. “Jaco told the rest of us about what happened out there. But for this, I wanted everyone’s input. With the information they gathered in mind, what are we going to do next?”