CHAPTER 46 - VISITING THE STACKS
“Kassandra, give me my tablet back!” I demanded. I’d just sat down for breakfast, and started reviewing the available commentary and news feed, when Kass snatched the crystal out of my hand. I’d been so focused, I hadn’t even heard her slither up, or sit down across from me. The naga flipped my tablet around so she could look at it, then sighed.
Kass gave me a disappointed look. “Can’t you take it easy just for one day? We literally just finished the match yesterday,” she said.
“I took last night off, and celebrated with everyone!” I replied, snatching back my tablet. “Now is the perfect time for me to review the results and plan for the next match!”
“That’s a month from now!” Kass said, throwing her hands in the air. “We don’t even know who our next opponent will be yet, we need to wait on the other matches to finish!”
“Well, then I can review the news, and highlights of the match, so I can figure out what we can improve on,” I told her.
She sighed, “I know you enjoy research and planning, but you SHOULD take time off occasionally.” She stared at me for a moment, then sat up straight. “Tomorrow, you and I are going out on the town!”
“Why?” I asked suspiciously.
“Because you’ve never bothered to leave and explore. I know you’ve had to catch up on your duties, then were in charge of planning for the match, but you should take the time to get familiar with the city you live in,” she replied. “Plus, it wouldn’t hurt to go out and meet your fans.”
“I don’t have fans,” I snorted, “I never have.”
“You didn’t have fans before,” she corrected. “You absolutely have some now. Everyone knows that you planned the defenses, and now you’re a fan favorite.”
“No I’m not,” I said incredulously.
“Yes you are,” Kass replied with a laugh. “And I’ll prove it tomorrow.”
I stared at her for a moment, “Fine, I’ll come with, but I’m still going to spend the day reviewing the coverage.”
“Like I could stop you,” she replied with a smirk. With my cooperation secured, Kass grabbed the menu tablet off the table and started browsing. “I see you finished your breakfast, did you want anything else?” she asked.
I looked down at my plate, which should have been full, in surprise. I hadn’t touched my breakfast yet, I’d been too distracted by the news to eat, yet all that was left on my plate was a few crumbs. While I tried to figure out what happened there was a small burp from under the table. I nudged the eight-legged thief with my foot, before taking the menu.
After I finished my second breakfast, I slipped into the library to conduct my research. I quite liked the library. It was a massive structure which was three floors high, and absolutely jam-packed with hardwood shelves full of books. It was mainly filled with research material, but there was a moderate section of fiction for people to read too. The best part was there were several small sitting areas at the end of some of the shelves. Each was fairly isolated, and contained several plush chairs.
Most people had to go out and purchase a crystal shard from a vendor if they wanted the news, or archived broadcasts. Thankfully Lanivia had contracts with a lot of suppliers so much of this information was either placed within the library, or placed on the dungeon’s crystal matrix for review. So the first thing I did was grab a selection of recent news shards before finding an isolated area to read through them.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Surprisingly, there was quite a variety of opinions on the results, and plenty of coverage on the other matches. I was so used to the curated news from back home, which only published positive news from around the arachne cities, I didn’t bother to check the papers much.
I quickly sorted through the shards, and pulled out the local news first. Most of it contained praise for everyone that participated, and how we dominated the match. Both Kass and Calliope were mentioned frequently, with my own name appearing in the more strategic-minded papers. Most of it was what I expected, praise for specific fights and, unfortunately, very few criticisms. The most entertaining, and surprisingly helpful, article went on a massive tangent about how using gremlins introduced a layer of unpredictability to the match. Whether that would continue to be an asset, or would cause untold damage to our own forces was yet to be seen.
After the first half-dozen publications I just started skimming. There were some useful tidbits here and there, but most seemed like fan articles instead of impartial breakdowns.
Once I was finished with the local articles, I started sifting through the imported stuff. Although there were fewer publications, they were much more interesting reads. There were three separate publications which I found interesting.
The first was from the Savage Isles. An unfortunately-named tropical paradise which was popular with tourists, and also the nearest major settlement to the Dread Isles. Here I found a much more critical look at the tactics we used during the match. That might have been because it heavily favored the local dungeon, but I didn’t care; it was helpful. The main criticism they had was how much our offensive relied upon a single, core group; specifically Kass, Cassie, and Rembrandt’s teams, and when we shifted away from them our offensive was much less effective. It was a fair assessment. That core group managed to press forward with minimal losses, while our other teams had trouble. I knew going into the fight that I’d be relying upon that group, but I didn’t expect our backup teams to have so much trouble. I’d plan for more cross-training before the next match.
The next paper came from Mosswild, the capital of the Fae lands. Since the Elder Woods, which was based in the area, had just completed their match against the Tombs of the Last Dynasty, there was an interesting article that compared the two matches. Apparently the Elder Woods dominated most of the match, until they pushed into the later floors of the Last Dynasty. Since the Dynasty was based on the deserts to the south, and was run by a mummy lord, they had a lot of not only undying units, but several necromancer sub-bosses. This resulted in a lot of teams being ground down by practically infinitely-reanimating units, until the Woods could bring to bear some spell casters who had the ability to put these re-animators down permanently. They drew parallels to how we lured the Dread Isles’ re-animators into a single, decisive strike, while the Woods struggled.
I didn’t think that was a fair comparison. While on the defensive, they could hide team members behind the defensive lines, while on the offensive they were exposed. The Isles actually made a mistake pushing with their undead, while the Dynasty played it safe, and used those forces to grind their opponents down.
Besides this tactical comparison, most of the coverage just went over the action, in a floor-by-floor breakdown. I was amazed about the amount of detail they went into, even breaking down individual squad losses, which I didn’t even know. I knew the broadcasts were popular, but to have this amount of information all these outlets must have had access to not only the original broadcasts, but replays. Someone halfway around the world watched our entire match, and recorded every bit of action. It blew my mind.
When I picked up the last shard I hesitated for a long time. Even though it might have had some insightful information, I just didn’t want to read it that much. Haerine’s papers weren’t known for their impartiality, especially considering its proximity to the Arachne Depths, and my mother.
I tentatively slotted the shard into my tablet and checked the headline. There was an old picture of me getting beaten by one of my older sisters, Martena, with the headline ‘Lackluster battle led by abject failure.’ As soon as I saw it, I threw my tablet away. Martena was a master sorcerer, and liked to lord her intelligence over everyone, so I had no doubt she not only approved the article, but drafted the entire thing herself. It wasn’t surprising at all, considering how powerful my family was, and how closed-minded the Arachne city was, but it still hurt.
I stared at my tablet where it fell, and considered trying to pull anything actually constructive from the article, but almost immediately discarded that idea. I didn’t even want to review any other publication. For the first time in a long time, my motivation was completely shot.
It took me a long time to work up the energy to go pick up my tablet, before ejecting the shard and returning it to the stacks. As I trudged out of the library I considered tracking down Kass. She always made me feel better, but I didn’t want to bother her if she was busy. It was a good thing she pushed me to join her in town, so I’d see her tomorrow. With that knowledge, I headed back to my room so I could lay down. I was suddenly feeling tired, and tomorrow was just a day away.