Leaving the devastation behind them, Lanek turned his attention to his status screen. With his new titles and race, he really didn’t know where he stood anymore. Additionally, with all of the notifications, we wasn’t even sure how many times he had leveled up, if any.
Name Lanek Solvinsson Species Dranrid Class Soulbinder (Mythical) lvl 37 Subclass Shinobi (Rare) lvl 10, Ranger (Uncommon) lvl 10 Titles Ally of the Wild, Khan of The Hordefather (Caelis), Jarl of the Great Bear (Caelis) HP 1,055/1,055 MP 240/240
Attributes
STR 99 CON 211 DEX 257 PER 132 RES 200 SPI 90
Hold on, my SPI went up? And my PER shouldn’t have gone up that far. What’s going on?
Lanek turned his focus onto his species, figuring that becoming a dranrid likely had something to do with it. Sure enough, his dranrid evolution had provided him with some much needed boosts to his attributes.
Dranrid
The Dranrid were the first race to build a civilization on this world. Little is known of this race as unfathomably ancient ruins are all that remain of them.
+6 SPI, +4 PER per level.
That’s a big boost. The dranrid must have been very strong spiritually and magically with those stat boosts. I hope I can find some information about them. Not that their history matters at this point, but I am curious.
Lanek focused on his final notification, eyes widening at the result.
You have learned [Dranrid Rejuvenation] [Mythical] Due to the magical power running through your body and its compatibility with your species, you have become capable of regenerating your mana passively. Regeneration rate scales with CON and SPI.
You have learned [Dranrid Resilience] [Mythical] Due to the inherent capabilities of your species, you have become resistant to mental effects, making it almost impossible for outside forces to invade or manipulate your thoughts via magical or psionic means. Resistance scales with RES.
Oh yeah, these people were beasts with magic. I don’t even want to think about what might have wiped them out. Maybe there weren’t a lot of them to begin with?
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Lanek looked at his companions, regarding Ivan in particular. The Lothenae’s runes were brutal and he would definitely be an asset. From what he could see, Ivan would be wasted on offense. His ability to prep the battlefield and reinforce structures would make him ideal for defending the monastery and city. On top of that, Lanek was already looking forward to seeing how Ivan could potentially tweak or refine the arrays within the monastery.
Turning his attention to Liv and Ograch, he couldn’t help but smile at the thought of the flexibility getting those two mounts would provide. At that point, Lanek would probably be the one holding the group back in terms of speed, especially in open terrain. I wonder if I can get a mount?
In short order, the group managed to reach the tail end of the refugee column. Liv, Ograch, Sanguineus, and Kazuma stayed behind to cover the stragglers while Lanek and Ivan joined Talwarg in the lead. Talwarg eyed Lanek for a minute before scowling.
“Don’t suppose there is much left of the village?”
“No, sorry. Ivan had to blow the hill to hell in order to slow the gaunts down enough to buy us time to retreat and catch up to you.”
“Dammit. Well, I guess me and mine will be taking you up on your offer to join you in the city sooner rather than later.” He glanced at Lanek, brow furrowing before adding. “My khan.”
“Oh hell no, don’t start that. Please. I don’t know enough about your people, their capabilities, and customs to have even the slightest idea how to lead them. Wurgoth himself said he was giving me the title to let his followers know that I can be trusted and to make it easier to convince them to join us in Caelis.”
Nerek spoke up. “You will have to lead. If you are not the one giving the orders, the other tribes we encounter will become suspicious and begin to doubt the veracity of the title.”
“That’s how I would react if someone approach me with the title of khan but was allowing someone else to give the orders.” Talwarg agreed.
“Fine, what do you suggest? I don’t want to offend the tribes, get them killed, or just royally fuck everything up because I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“I would recommend a council to help you make decisions privately while we teach you what you need to know.” Nerek suggested.
“I like that idea, but I won’t agree to that unless you agree to call me out if I am about to do something you disagree with or find stupid. Also, none of this calling me by my title in private or during council meetings. I get that it is probably necessary to use it publicly, but I honestly don’t like you guys treating me like I’m your superior. It just doesn’t sit right.”
“We can agree to that, but you will have to give us a bit of leeway. It’s been so long since the tribe has even heard rumors of a khan that it will be hard for us to avoid a bit of reverence.” Talwarg said.
Nerek nodded in agreement. “The title of khan is a massive deal for our people. The last confirmed khan was several centuries ago. There have been self-proclaimed ones, but none that have been given the title by Wurgoth himself.”
“I understand. I just wanted to be upfront about everything. Where I’m from, I wasn’t a leader or military officer, so I’m serious about needing all the help I can get.” Lanek continued after getting nods of assent from the two hobgoblins. “So, the first thing we need to go over is food. The monastery is large enough to house everyone here pretty easily and we will have plenty of water for everyone. However, food is going to be an issue. All I have at home is the food you gave me in trade.”
Nerek excused himself to go check on the column while Talwarg focused on logistics with Lanek. “Obviously we are going to need to send hunting and foraging expeditions into the forest, but we do have enough food for a few months if we can’t get out to hunt safely.”
“That’s good to hear. Do we have anyone that knows how to farm? I don’t know how feasible it is, but I was hoping that we would be able to clear some ground near the monastery for farming.”
“I think some of our elders may know a bit. It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to settle down long enough to grow food that most of our people are focused on foraging, fishing, and hunting for our meals.”
“Okay, maybe the library at the monastery has some information we could use. No offense intended, but can the Night Arrows read? I can only read the languages of this world because of the System, but I don’t know how common that ability is.”
“It’s a fair question. All of our shamans have that ability, but the rest of our people need to learn on their own and typically just focus on reading and writing our own language. It shouldn’t be a problem finding useful information in that library of yours. I’m sure the shamans will trip over each other trying to read everything in there.”
“More power to them, then. I need help, I can’t do everything on my own.”
Their conversation tapered off as they came within sight of the city gates. Lanek held up his hand, bringing the column to a halt. Talwarg glanced at him, his question obvious.
“It is best if we proceed in a tight group rather than a column. There are many directions the gaunts and dungeon monsters could attack from, so I would rather a compact group that our warriors can surround as we make our way to the monastery.”
Talwarg nodded and set off down the column. As he went, he pulled aside his hobgoblin warriors and gave them their new orders. Within a few minutes, the Night Arrows had formed up into a square formation with the warriors forming a defensive perimeter on all four sides while the non-combatants occupied the center.
Lanek recalled Kazuma and asked the cat if there were any stragglers left behind. At the cat’s negative response, the formation moved through the city gates. Lanek could feel the mood shift once they entered the city. He could feel a slight sense of relief from the Night Arrows as they left the woods and were surrounded by stone walls. However, that sense of relief was overwhelmed by a sense of dread that was only natural considering how many of their people had been lost to this city.
Thankfully, the mass of people met no resistance on their way to the monastery. The dungeon’s creatures clearly weren’t in a hurry to challenge that many warriors, at least not without calling up reinforcements. Lanek quickened his pace, not wanting to give the dungeon time to make a move if it was going to.
Lanek stumbled when he felt a pulse of alarm from Sanguineus. He took to a nearby rooftop and looked to the rear, his pulse quickening. With a shout, Lanek urged the Night Arrows to follow Kazuma and run to the monastery.
The gaunts had followed them into the city.