Magic it is. It took me another day to decide where I just meditated and wondered, doing nothing really in the meantime, just thinking. I still had a dozen or so path points left over from maxing basic Melee Mastery during the fight and some from Sleep Resistance. I wouldn’t use them on Path of Greater Endurance for now as the perk for finishing it wasn’t as useful. Instead I would use it to gain more mana, meaning the Path of.Greater Wisdom which needed Meditation to be at level 50 to be unlocked. Thankfully I needed only two more levels.
The grind began once again.
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[Meditation] is now level 50. You have gained 1 Path point. [Path of Greater Wisdom 0/50] opened. Increases mana regeneration by 50% while the skill is active.
[Detect Presence] is now level 53. You have gained 1 Path point. Actively sends a pulse of mana to check the user’s surroundings for living beings. Range 159 meters. Uses 5 mana per minute.
[Path of Greater Wisdom 5/50] Wisdom increased by 1.
[Path of Greater Wisdom 10/50] Wisdom increased by 1.
[Path of Greater Wisdom 15/50] Wisdom increased by 1.
[Path of Greater Wisdom 20/50] Wisdom increased by 1.
[Path of Greater Wisdom 25/50] Wisdom increased by 1. [Wise] perk gained. Increases maximum mana points pool by 10%.
Mana 17/220 Regeneration 4,4/hour
It was enough. There was no point investing more into this path as of now. As medium cores or crystals as some others started calling them regenerated two hundred mana per use, mana regeneration itself became negligible. According to Jake the mana I would get from ‘ruling’ the town would be negligible as well. Medium cores that I would get in reward would be all worth it, all of it just for some connections.
Ruling. It was something that was described to me over and over in the last few days. As in, there would be no ruling at all, I would act as a figurehead, a person that people can rally behind while surrounded by wastelands filled with monsters. There would be people responsible for administration and logistics and even one person in charge of soldiers, they would answer to me first though. Then to the Army, because you report to the lowest in the chain command. I would report to Jake myself.
The number of people that would be coming would be negligible as well, eighteen soldiers and me would be the first to set up a safe zone in one of the abandoned towns, more specifically in the abandoned ammunition factory near said town. Basic necessities such as water and a place to sleep would have to be secured. We would need to grow our own food as time went on. Then, if we succeeded to make secure place more people would come, this time responsible for returning the factory in the working order, even if it produced only a fraction of what was made before.
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Nineteen people, counting myself in, were prepared to leave. Our goal was to get to the target and secure a place to sleep. The target was thirty kilometers away with roads so blocked and destroyed that there was no possibility of using trucks. Heavy bags filled with water, food and a few pistols were all we had. That and a satellite dish with a receiver meant for communication.
“We are ready.” Henry, a sergeant chosen to lead the soldiers, spoke to me, waiting for me to give a nod. Accepting a move order.
Most men that chose to go with me were part of the people that fought close to me on one of the road blocks behind the roundabout. Almost all of them survived as they had less dogs to worry about.
We started moving, finally. Step by step slowly so as not to lose too much stamina. While ‘slowly’ it was still a slow run and not a walk. The goal was to get to the target in a matter of four hours, hopefully avoiding any and all monsters on the road.
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Three hours, it was how long we run, having only one break in between to regenerate stamina. And soon in front of us was our target, a town with a name that most of us agreed on was spot on. New Town, simple but precise, as we went around it as not to go inside the town we soon arrived at our target, the ammunition factory.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
It was not our target today though. Administration building was not far from the factory, with nothing but grass and concrete road in between to prevent destruction if there was an accident with explosions involved. The factory itself was surrounded by a high metal fence, and in some places it was broken as most likely bear-like monsters smashed into it.
For the near future, at least for a few days we were ‘advised’ to secure the building and use it as a warehouse and sleeping quarters. As it was close to the ammunition factory it was reinforced and given its strategic importance it was supposed to be hard to break into. Perfect safe spot.
So perfect that we couldn’t get into it. “It won’t budge.” Henry said, I didn't even try myself as I had the lowest strength of the group, focusing more on endurance and dexterity. Contrary to popular belief it was strength that mattered most while using a bow. Dexterity helped only in targeting, which was not as needed when bows had scopes.
Perhaps there was an entrance from the roof. “Don’t destroy the doors or windows.” I spoke, just to be sure that I have some time to check it over. With a single jump using [Half-step] to propel myself further I got to the top of the building, it was only three stories high.
The roof was flat, with doors leading to the lower levels. Flat roofs usually had access points for maintenance, especially in commercial buildings. With a few steps I closed the doors and pulled the lever. It was closed. Shit.
“Edd!” I called from my previous position, bending over to see the group of my men. ‘My men.’ Huh. “Come over, there are doors for you to open.” He couldn’t, while he was strong the building was made in such a way that it was impossible to climb it. Instead they tossed me a rope that I tied to one of the air vents.
Soon three people climbed on top of the building, and Edd, being the most muscular one, or rather with most points in strength pried the doors open with a crowbar.
“First off we open the front doors for the rest to enter.” Henry said and we followed. It was best to leave troop command to someone who knew what he was doing.
As we descended the stairs we noticed something that we were not used to anymore. It was clean. Sure, there were cobwebs and dust here and there but it wasn’t all taken over by the spiders. Other than that there was nothing inside. People left work and never came back, it was as simple as that. The building was secure enough so that even a bear-like monster couldn’t enter.
As we made it to the front doors we just opened them from inside, letting everyone else enter with all the bags we had brought. “Let’s split and search this place room by room.” Henry said again, making me nod again.
The building was quite large, long and thin to be more precise. On every level there was a single hallway with a recreation room and thirty or so small rooms to the sides, all of them filled with computers, desks and chairs as well as some documents. The third story had three big glassed rooms meant as meeting places for board or even courses that happened from time to time. All that we found inside were spiders.
For safety we prepared the big room on the highest level for us to sleep in, it helped that there was a nice carpet to lay on there and a kitchen in the recreation room next to it to keep our supplies in. The plans were made for tomorrow, and as it stood on the next day awaited us hard grimy work.
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Digging a well. “Damn, I didn’t expect that I would be doing this.” Said one of the soldiers that was already one meter dug into the ground, with at least three to four meters to dig left.
I had other work to do, as the only scout present I had to find something that we could use for making a well, so that it doesn’t just collapse due to water corroding away earth. It had to be either cement to make the walls somewhat more resistant to water or ideally concrete pipes, wider the better. With the men that came with me being able to lift one hundred kilograms on their own, moving them shouldn’t be a problem, at least with a few of them.
Soon after looking at the map, trying to locate any place where such things could be located I went ahead. Alone.
Ammunition factory was located technically inside the town, yet first buildings, single stories homes started only a kilometer further in. First target was a construction site that I noticed on the side. With a single step I jumped over the fence that divided the street from the never to be built apartment. There were useful things, tools, even heavy equipment such as an excavator. Just not for what we needed, my face lit up a little thinking that we were allowed to loot anything we wanted from the abandoned town. A scowl appeared soon after I realized that we actually had to loot everything so that other people don’t do it once news spread of military presence and rebuilding effort, even if a minor one.
With nothing to use on the site and nothing of notice really, other than a few dogs hiding here and there in the holes that I avoided, I left.
Next was a construction shop, I hoped for PVC pipes to be inside though it would be nice to take a look of what was inside. It would also be nice to look for some beds. Something nice to meditate on would also be nice. My thought returned towards the first thing we needed, water.
The doors to the store were smashed, again, most likely by a bear-like monster. It was fine, it shouldn’t be too hard to run away. Once I stepped inside I changed my mind. It was dark inside, there were only a few windows near the entrance that did almost nothing to light the inside. I pulled a flashlight from one of my pockets and lit it up. Dozens of torn human remains of bones and clothes littered the floor. Oh.
Minute later I was outside, breathing hard and looking back at the construction shop from almost half a kilometer away, from the roof. Yeah, I was not going back inside alone. I got used to monster corpses but human ones I would rather stay away from.
Perhaps there will be something interesting on the open stock on the backside of the store.