Chapter 24 – Sure, We Have Plenty of Room

As I awoke, I found Alice sleeping on my chest. She looked adorable, sleeping there so peacefully. I must’ve fallen asleep recounting my day yesterday. That artifact kicked my butt. Trying to absorb and transform it into something I could use. Going to have to be even more cautious when dealing with such energies.

‘I must be more prepared to confront things like that. Heck that goblin chief looked like a nightmare waiting to happen. The guy looked ripped and clearly knows some high-level magic too.’ I thought to myself as I slowly slipped out of bed and went into the master bathroom to shower and change.

I locked the door as I did not need Alice walking in and seeing something she shouldn’t. After smelling myself, I immediately jumped into the shower. I just stood there for several minutes letting the hot water flow over my body.

As I cleaned myself thoroughly, I thought about that goblin chief and the upcoming battle. Up until now I was planning on a pure magic caster build for my stat point distribution, but now I was not so sure. There was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to be a mage, that was a given. The problem with most pure casters is they are glass cannons. They can dish out the magical damage, but a few hits and they are dead, or won’t last long in close quarters combat. If I kept to that pure build, sure I would have plenty of mana to use, but I did not think I would live very long.

If living long was the plan, which it was, then I needed to change my thinking. Long term, my build was going to be focused on casting. Short term, I needed to survive to get to the long term. That meant I had to take a hit and be able to survive in close quarters combat.

I gained the skill Weapons Mastery at Master rank, which meant I had a plethora of weapons to choose from. It also meant I had the knowledge, and some baked in muscle memory. It was still a good idea to actually practice so as to smooth out any rough edges. The problem was I lacked the Strength and Dexterity levels to be able to stand up in melee combat.

Another consideration was all the people I was now in charge of. I could not ignore my Charisma stat if I wanted to avoid riots and other issues. So high enough Charisma could not be ignored.

My titles, perks from absorbing the Ancient Celestial Dragon Core, and actually becoming an Ancient Celestial Dragon, had given me a rather large stat boost. I still had to determine where to distribute my 117 stat points for reaching level 10.

“System, I remembered I gained a few stat points for reaching the first threshold. What is the stat point benefit for reaching the second threshold?” I asked out loud.

Query Accepted

Any who reaches the second threshold gains +13 stat points in all attributes.

“Wow, that’s a nice perk! What is the requirement for reaching the second threshold?” I asked.

Query Accepted

For the +13-stat perk, they must have a minimum of 100 points in the six primary attributes.

I looked at my current stats, did some mental math, and figured out I had enough points to make that happen. I even had some to spare. Making the mental selections I confirmed my stat distribution.

Then the pain hit me. I allocated more than 40 points each to Strength and Dexterity. That much of an increase meant my body was undergoing drastic changes all at once.

I collapsed to the shower floor. My bones felt like they were stretching. If that wasn’t bad enough, my muscles rapidly grew huge, then stretched and tightened, causing my body to go from a massive bodybuilder physique to a well-built runner or triathlon athlete. The whole process took maybe an hour, but it felt like I was lying there for days. I felt stiffer than when I woke up this morning.

Finally able to stand, I realized I was a few inches taller. I let the shower continue to work my new and very upset muscles. While I stood there, I looked at my updated stats.

Name: Shadowalker

Race: Ancient Celestial Dragon

Level: 10

Strength: 117

Dexterity: 117

Constitution: 117

Intelligence: 117

Wisdom: 130

Charisma:117

Spiritual Attunement: Omni

Core Stage: Divine Infinitum

Spiral Stage: Divine Infinitum

Health, Mana, Stamina Values & Regen Rates per hour (pH)

HP: 2,282

MP: 2,347

SP: 4,628

HP/pH: 13

MP/pH: 1,128.4

SP/pH: 1,027

Core Capacity: 65

Special: Core Generation

Core Generation: 13

“Now that is more like it!” I said as I dismissed my stats and pulled up the waiting notifications.

Congratulations! You have taken the first step in seeking balance within your mind, body, and spirit. Very few cultivators reach this critical threshold. +13 to all stats. You have reached the second threshold: Balanced Spiritual Signature.

Balanced Spiritual Signature

Description: This threshold allows a caster or cultivator to gain greater control over their aura and overall spiritual signature. Increased core capacity and efficiency. This allows the user to have great control over how much of their presence they wish to reveal. At any time, they can mask their presence, both in mind, body functions, and soul. Additional benefit provides increased control over aura projection and suppression. Open your remaining meridians and continue to periodically remove blockages and impurities to reach future thresholds.

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‘Being able to have greater control of my aura would have been super helpful yesterday! More reason to not horde my stat points for too long. Also distribute gradually next time. Now I know what my uncle felt like when he grew several inches in height his senior year of high school.’

I reached to grab the towel and ripped the bar the towel was hanging-on right off the wall. “Crap! Okay, reminder, way more strength than before. I have to be super gentle until I get the hang of this.” I told myself out loud.

I very slowly and carefully turned the nozzle controlling the water for the shower. I managed to not break it, so I claimed that was significant progress.

It was interesting that I grew a few inches, and it made me think. ‘I wonder if that also affected my dragon form. Which I still haven’t been able to check. Another thing to add to my list of things to do. Get some alone time away from everyone to get a feel for my dragon form. I think it would have to be after I have a better handle on my Gravity Momentum Manipulation ability. That way I could fly away fast enough to give me the time and distance to check myself out. I have to remind myself these are awesome problems to have. My clothes are going to be a bit tight. I wonder if we have any tailors or leatherworkers that could help.’

I grabbed some sweatpants that used to be long on me that now were a little short but still worked. Pants on, I felt comfortable leaving the bathroom to grab a shirt. As I exited the bathroom, I saw Alice sitting up wide-awake staring at me.

“You got taller new daddy. Oooo, and more muscles. Neat trick!” Alice commented as she held on to her doll and watched me like a hawk.

I quickly grabbed what used to be a loose-fitting t-shirt that was much tighter with the increased muscle mass I had. “This shirt will have to do for now. Luckily, I always bought one larger size in everything, don’t know why, just did.” I said more to myself than Alice.

“You got even more handsome, new daddy. The girls are going to be even more interested now, but don’t worry new daddy, I won’t let them hurt you.” Alice said the last part with a rather scary look in her eyes for such a sweet little girl.

The look was gone in a flash, to the point I thought I might’ve imagined it. Shaking it off, I refocused on my plans for the day. “Want to come with me downstairs for some breakfast?”

Alice jumped up faster than I could blink. “Oooo. That sounds yummy. I am hungry and meat sounds yummy, not as yummy as playing, but still good.”

Before I knew it, I was carrying her downstairs in my arms. I plopped her down gently into a seat by the kitchen as I started pulling out ingredients.

“What kind of food do you like, Alice? I heard you mention meat, which is good as that is all I seem to want to eat now a days.” I said as I kept pulling food out.

“I only eat meat. Prey eats foliage. I don’t want to be prey, so I eat any kind of meat.” Alice replied.

“Huh. You know I feel like I said that very thing at some point in my life.” I said before shaking my head. “Oh well, doesn’t matter. If you like meat Alice, then you came to the right place. We have plenty of meat here.”

“Oh, I know that new daddy, but let’s focus on breakfast. I’m almost ravenous.” Alice stated.

I cocked my head to the side in confusion, but then just dismissed it as she just smiled cutely at me. She was adorable and so reminded me of my daughter. I shifted my focus to preparing the meal. By the time I have everything cooking, the smell must’ve woken up Gr’ex. I saw him sitting at the table with Jek’jon and Jebediah.

Jeb leaned over to talk to Jek’jon. “You came at the perfect time. The best meals I ever have come from Shadowalker. The man is a genius chef.”

“Jek’jon never smells something so good. Is all huemon food smell like this?”

“Not even close. Trust me, I tried some of the food the huemons fixed down below, horrible stuff in comparison.” Gr’ex commented.

I served everyone and set plates for Suzie and her friend Emily. As they sat down to eat, I greeted them. “Good morning, ladies. No Duncan this morning? Again.”

“Food smells yummy as always Shadowalker. And no. Donut hardly leaves the Communications room. He does an evening debrief with Carol on progress and situation on both sides.” Suzie paused as she looked at me before continuing. “You know, you look taller and in really good shape.”

“Awe, it’s nothing. I just finally distributed my stat points. Figured I should do it before we deal with Tek’tar and his clan.” I replied as I took my own seat at the head of the table.

That is when I noticed something was different about Emily, she had pointy Elf ears. “Race Change?” I asked just as Emily was about to take a bite of her food.

Her face turned a shade of pink. “I hadn’t chosen my system perk, but after talking it over with Suzie-cue and seeing her changes as a wood elf, I decided I wanted the same benefits.”

“Looks good on you. Now we have two elves in our group.” I commented.

“Great, elves.” Gr’ex grumbled in between bites.

Emily couldn’t wait another minute and started to inhale her food. She looked up and swallowed before speaking. “This food is delicious!” She turned to her friend. “Do we get to eat like this every day?”

“Only when Shadowalker cooks and he only cooks for his party.” Suzie said in between bites.

“I have never been treated so good, even as a goblin chief.” Jek’jon said, glad he pledged himself to Shadowalker.

“You do have a gift my boy. I’ll give ya that.” Jebediah commented.

I looked over at Alice to see her rubbing her tummy, a clear smile on her face.

Deciding to get things moving I started with my team. “I’d like us to consider some hit and run tactics to start testing their defenses. I was hoping we could pull Duncan away for a few hours to join us.”

“Should be doable as long as we are back in time for the evening brief. You know, about that. I’m surprised you don’t want to talk to your buddy each day.” Jebediah replied.

“Good to hear Duncan can join us. As for your implied question. I see no need. He will be here soon enough, and we both have plenty to get done in the meantime. He and I will swap survival stories once he is here. Laraaq is a capable man and I trust him, but I won’t get my hopes up until he is here. Until then, I can push to deal with more pressing issues.” I answered.

“Kind of heartless, don’t you think?” Emily asked.

“Not at all. I’m just compartmentalizing and focusing on what is in front of me. Speaking of that...” I turned to Jek’jon. “What about your evacuation?”

Jek’jon finished the last bit of food on his plate before replying. “It goes too well.”

“What does that mean?” Gr’ex asked before I could.

Jek’jon sighed. “My people are almost all the way through and should be ready to move out later this evening.”

“Sounds good. What is the problem?” I inquired.

“Several of our neighboring clans have taken notice of our evacuation. Normally they would use this as the perfect time to move in and expand.” Jek’jon began to explain.

“That is the goblin way.” Gr’ex chimed in.

Jek’jon nodded. “Yes, the great Gr’ex is correct. The problem is that my people said they were leaving to come serve the one with the authority of the Dark Mantle.”

“The damn blabber mouths!” Gr’ex hit his fist on the table.

The sudden move startled Jeb, Suzie, and Emily. Alice just giggled at their reaction while she listened intently.

“What are you two going on about?” Suzie asked.

I cut in. “She means about your neighbors.”

Suzie frowned at me. I smiled back, and her frown melted away. “Well, that was part of it, but I also was asking about this Dark Mantle business.”

Gr’ex clarified the issue. “Goblins have a history of following the strong and powerful. They also go where they think they will prosper. If Sleeping Willow’s neighbors think they are coming to a lush new land to serve a powerful master...”

Jek’jon stepped in to continue his explanation. “They have entreated us to join the evacuation. Our homeland is swamps and decrepit. Resources are scarce. It is no surprise they wish to leave.”

Jebediah asked the question in our minds. “How many green skins we are talking here?”

Jek’jon winced as he answered. “Over a thousand.”

I groaned. “How many clans?”

“In addition to my clan, another three clans.” Jek’jon replied.

“How many Bone Marrow goblins are here?” I asked.

“They exceed 1,000 now. Most of those coming are crafters, women, children. Each clan specializes in some way even if they have warriors and casters. Bone Marrow specialization is war. Though Gr’ex’s clan the Death Weavers are one of the three coming through.”

“My people?” Gr’ex said in surprise.

Jek’jon smiled at his friend. “Yes. I did not tell them you survived so as to ensure Kit’erak does not take his wraith from your betrayal out on your people.”

Gr’ex turned to me. “The Death Weavers specialize in necromancy and curses. They will be great assets to our fight.”

“Fine. They can all come, we will find somewhere to put them. However, I expect their oaths of fealty when they arrive.” I answered.

“Of course, of course!” Gr’ex said excitedly.

I turned to look at Alice. “Would you go tell Melody that Jebediah needs to speak with her.”

Alice smiled. “Okay!” She immediately got up and skipped to the elevator.

“Why me?” Jebediah asked.

“She likes you better. Plus, you’ve been helping to coordinate with her in regard to the survivors. Plus, and far more importantly, I think you’re sweet on her.”

Jebediah’s face turned red. “I have no idea what you’re talking about my boy. Though I will be glad to talk to her.”

Turning to Suzie and Emily. “I still would like to go do some grinding with my party members; you are welcome to join us, Emily.”

“Umm, maybe next time. I think I’ll help out around here.” Emily said shyly.

“Oh, come on. Join us. You need the levels.” Suzie encouraged.

Emily sighed. “Fine, but I’m not a front-line fighter.”

“Not a problem. Just stick by me and Donut.” Suzie replied.

I shared my plan. “With that settled, new plan. We will start testing out how many Bone Marrow we can pick off. Afterwards, we split up. Gr’ex and I will rendezvous with Jek’jon and the other goblin clans while you guys get cleaned up and make sure Duncan gets back in time to give the evening report.”