“I can help build the walls,” Isa informed her temporary Team Leader as they used the central stairwell to descend. While the elevators still worked, the power fluctuations were obvious enough to make the thought of entering an enclosed metal box unappealing.

Besides, they all had improved physiques. While descending fifty or so stories would have been extremely difficult before the ascension, it was only time-consuming and annoying now.

“Jenkins figured out runes to do that?” Jamie asked excitedly, referencing the researcher who worked the closest with the Dungeoneers. He’d taken the Enchanter class after the ascension and had immediately become the follower of Brielle, Goddess of Enchanting, when the option became available.

Following the goddess, Jenkins gained access to a lexicon of basic runes, which he had diligently been documenting and compiling into a physical book to teach others. Needing a way to justify her knowledge, Isa had asked to see the notebook Jenkins used to document the runes he’d learned.

Since his goddess wanted the information shared, Jenkins had been happy to grant her access to his growing lexicon. He also provided basic lessons on traditional enchantment construction.

Not that she’d needed it.

“He did,” Isa said with a nod. “I used the runes to make an enchanted wand since I figured that would be one of our biggest time-sinks. If it works the way it should, I can make more.”

“Is that what you were working on during the trip over?”

Isa nodded again, and Jamie’s expression grew distant as he considered the potential of such an item.

When they arrived on the fifth floor, it took nearly an hour to clear the space enough to make it functional for their purpose. About thirty minutes into the effort, Jamie pulled Benji and Isa aside.

“I want the two of you to start on the walls while we finish getting things organized here,” Jamie said. “I’ve updated your tablets with the current plans. The monsters are still doing quite a bit of damage to the older buildings without proper reinforcement, so it’s okay to make small adjustments if necessary. Focus on building walls, not the people still out there,” he said resolutely.

The occasional sounds of shouting and fighting were not audible with the windows closed, but she knew it was happening. The monsters continued to breach buildings and attack the people sheltered inside, especially in older buildings that hadn’t followed updated building codes.

Some of the people sheltering inside took their chances outside, hoping to make it into a more secure building nearby. Others stood their ground.

It didn’t seem to be working out well for either group unless the person running or fighting had some kind of special ability.

“No matter how much you might feel compelled to help, just focus on securing the area. Let me and the others handle the attacking monsters.” The Team Leader turned to the former goddess. “Isa, test your wand in the areas to the north and east of the building. I highlighted them in blue. Let me know how it works so I can adjust plans as necessary.”

Isa nodded, knowing that she’d likely be spending the evening crafting more wands to distribute among the deployed teams. They were lucky the flying mobs seemed to completely ignore delivery drones. Otherwise, they’d have a hard time getting whatever she made to the other teams.

Jamie then turned to Benji, a dark-haired Horizian native who appeared to be in his late twenties. “I want you to focus on the southern and western sides of the building.” Glancing at both of them, he said, “Once you get the perimeter built, help the rest of us clear it. We can honeycomb our way out from there. Make sure the walls are at least ten feet high. You’ll probably have to destroy most of the lower balconies around where you’re building to prevent them from being used to climb over the walls.”

Isa noted the highlighted marks on her augmented eyewear. Though she had an AI that likely surpassed anything available, she still used the lesser technology to keep from standing out. Her new compatriots still had no idea she’d managed to smuggle in the technology, and she doubted they’d take her actions well if they were to find out.

In all likelihood, they’d probably think she was some kind of spy. It ultimately wouldn’t matter all that much anyway since everyone who had volunteered had been forced to take a magical oath to keep the secrets of Horizon if they chose to repatriate.

“I don’t think ten feet is going to be high enough,” Isa remarked as she looked out the window.

She was certain at least half of the creatures below would have little problem making it over a mere ten-foot wall. They’d had little trouble getting onto the second-floor balconies and using them to climb higher, after all.

“Right. That’s just a starting point,” Jamie clarified. “It should hold back enough of the monsters for us to start clearing them out. We can figure out how high to build once we get a better idea of the monsters’ capabilities.”

The Healer-turned-Team Leader glanced between the two mages. “For now, we need to establish some sort of safe zone. Be sure to tie in the existing infrastructure; don’t just build up to the wall and leave it disconnected.”

The reminder was unnecessary, but Isa nodded in acknowledgment anyway and got to work.

As expected, a significant number of creatures found little difficulty scaling the low walls. It was mostly the ones that had been capable of climbing onto balconies that were making it over, though others were making it past the obstacle as well.

Ten feet really wasn’t all that high when magic was involved.

It took seventeen feet to block the majority of creatures from getting over the walls. Obviously, the wall wouldn’t stop flyers or those with special climbing abilities, but it prevented the vast majority from entering the soon-to-be-cleared area.

Milo, Sophia, and Jamie carefully targeted monsters with their plasma blasters and projectile weapons, particularly focusing on those that were attacking anyone brave or desperate enough to exit the relative safety of their buildings.

Several buildings had been breached, and there were signs of fighting within, but there was little they could do to help from within another building.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Milo and Jamie had to go to the first floor several times to aid those who managed to make it to the building. The survivors were swiftly taken to another floor to be cared for by the residents and those caught in the building when the lockdown went into effect.

“How are you on mana?” the sociable Healer asked once she’d finished building the last segment she’d been assigned. With nobody currently in need of medical attention, Jamie had returned to the fifth floor to target the monsters still alive within the walled space.

“Good,” she replied. As an E-Grade human, her mana efficiency was notably superior to those still at F-Grade. It was still horrendously poor, but there was little she could do about that without significant progression.

“Alright. Shift to clearing. Don’t let yourself get too low on mana, though,” Jamie warned as he exchanged the plasma canister on his weapon. “We’ll take a break before heading to the next target, and I’d like you to make another wand or two if you have the necessary materials.”

“I do,” Isa said confidently. “I also have a few habetes I made using materials gathered during our dungeon runs. I haven’t really gotten to test any of them out yet, but I’ve been using the runes Jenkins taught me to expand my repertoire. In addition to the Air spell I started with and the Lightning spell I got at level five, I can also create explosive effects, stone shards, fireballs, wind blades, and a few other things.”

“Really?” Jamie asked, suddenly interested. “Do you want to test some of them now?”

With a grin, Isa leaned out the open window she’d been using and threw several small octahedrons carved out of bone, targeting nearby groups of mobs with each small habetis. She glanced at Jamie as he watched expectantly. The former goddess’s grin stretched when the bombs began to emit shockwaves of fire and superheated air.

She’d specifically designed them not to damage the surface they landed on, but there was still a small amount of collateral damage from the force of the explosions. It wasn’t anything she concerned herself with.

“That was pretty impressive,” Jamie said appreciatively, turning his attention away from the dead creatures.

“Keep watching,” Isa smirked. About thirty seconds later, the beads erupted in a second set of shockwaves as devastating as the first. Isa could trigger them early if needed, though the explosions would be weaker since they wouldn’t have had enough time to fully refill the expended mana.

Isa could also deactivate the habetes using her psionic abilities. It was something that anyone trained in both magic and psionics could do, which meant there was exactly one person on Gentrius currently capable of such a feat – Isa.

Left alone, the enchantments would eventually fail, but it would take more than a dozen explosions for that to happen. Realistically, it was much more likely the pieces of bone would break down from the violent pressure than for the enchantments to wear out.

“Holy shit,” Jamie muttered after the third salvo left huge gaps in the crowd of mobs. “It’s a good thing you never tested those in a dungeon.”

The former goddess smirked but said nothing as she temporarily deactivated the habetes, allowing the braver monsters and scavengers to re-enter the area. It was pointless to leave the miniature bombs constantly discharging when she’d already killed everything nearby.

Sensing the pending notifications, Isa shifted her attention inward.

[Dungeonbreak Mobs defeated X41]

[You have leveled up! X3]

[…]

Name: Isamie Stone

Race: Human – E Grade

Level: 9

Class: Spell Crafter

Attributes:

Mind: 25

Memory: 26

Cognition: 26

Perception: 22

Body: 19

Strength: 17

Flexibility: 21

Recovery: 19

Spirit: 29

Control: 30

Sensitivity: 29

Manifestation: 29

Available Points: 9

Class Abilities:

Spell Anchor

Enhance

Spells:

Stun

Air Blade

Learned Abilities (expand)

Learned Spells*(modified list):

Air Blast

Create Air

Isa had hidden all of her ‘learned abilities’ and most of the ‘learned spells,’ only displaying the two spells she’d displayed prior to ‘learning’ how to use runes. Showing everything was just excessive, and she didn’t need the system to show her what she already knew.

The former goddess assigned her points, once again splitting them between each major category. While some might feel specialization was better, especially for someone who relies mostly on magic, Isa was not willing to leave herself weak in any particular area.

“You leveled up?” Jamie asked knowingly, noticing her unfocused gaze.

Isa dismissed her status and smiled. “Yes. I’m at level nine.”

The Healer whistled. “That’s a pretty significant jump. Another few rounds of explosions like that, and you’ll have doubled your level,” he said, having known her level as her Team Leader. Of course, she could have lied about it, but there wasn’t much need to.

Isa shrugged modestly. “If you want to save on ammunition, I can hand out some of the items I made,” Isa offered. “They take a little mana to use, even with the gathering arrays I added to each item. But it’s a lot less costly than casting a spell directly.”

She reached into her backpack and pulled out several carved items. It had been a very long time since Isa had bothered with such basic enchanted items, but the former goddess still felt confident everything she made would work as intended.

“I have one that casts [Fireball], one for [Air Blade], a [Stone Shard], [Water Lance], [Icicle], [Lightning Bolt]…” She shuffled through the smaller wands in her hands. Some were created with runes since Isa didn’t have a strong enough aptitude for Fire or Earth.

Using spells without sufficient aptitude wasn’t impossible – it was actually how one grew one's aptitude for a particular aspect. The system just wouldn’t provide any assistance, especially not for a lowly E-Grade.

“Can I use the Ice one?” Jamie asked. “Aspects don’t matter, right?”

Isa shook her head. “Not for using habetes. You can use any kind of magical tool you want as long as it doesn’t require a specific type of mana.”

“Can I try one of those?” Milo asked. He and the others had been drawn by her demonstration and were now eying the wands in her hands with longing.

Isa nodded. “Of course! Which one do you want?”

The former goddess didn’t really care which habetis they used. She got a small amount of experience from each kill made with her creations, regardless. That was part of the reason she’d handed the items out in the first place.

She gave Milo the [Fireball] wand and Benji the [Water Lance]. Benji already had access to offensive Earth magic, and he wanted to broaden his options instead of focusing them.

“Which one do you think would be best for me?” the team’s Rogue asked after the other team member turned away.

Sophia was the only other female in their five-person team. Though she was always nice when they interacted, the other young woman generally kept her distance from the rest of the team. The former goddess wasn’t sure if the Rogue was simply introverted or if there was some other reason for her anti-social behavior.

Regardless, it didn’t matter all that much. The team worked well together. That’s what mattered.

“Do you want to use your aspect or something different?” Isa asked with a friendly smile, knowing the other woman had an aptitude for Air magic. It was weak, but it was more than many people had.

It was no secret that the system had randomly assigned Sophia’s class because she’d been unconscious at the time of the ascension. Had she been merely sleeping, the system would have woken her up.

But she’d recently undergone surgery and was still heavily medicated when the system arrived. By the time the anesthesia had worn off, it was too late for her to decide.

“Air, please,” Sophia said politely, sticking with the only aptitude that showed up in the system. Isa handed her a wand and watched as her last team member walked away with a nervous smile.

The former goddess watched with interest as the others tested her creations with excitement while steadily gaining experience. It wouldn’t take any of them long to reach their first race evolution at the pace they were going.