When they arrived, they discovered that night had fallen, and the Legion was largely bedded down for the night. Duke and Aurelia were both disappointed that they were not there for the return of the Legionnaires, but the celebratory spirit still moved through camp. Duke let the atmosphere grow on them for a while before returning to the Inn with Aurelia and Eihlen for the night.
Elaine immediately took Eihlen under her wing and began discussing everything she knew about healing from the natural world and the pair wandered off together to tend to Grat and keep him stable. Duke and Aurelia went off to their room and called it a night.
Morning found Aurelia waking Duke up for a continuation of their nocturnal activities. He had no complaints about that at all. He actively suppressed his notifications until they were done, and they were getting dressed. Once again ecstatic about his CLEANSE and RESTORE Abilities. He delved into his notifications.
*** Ants, ants, ants, everywhere! That was exciting! You have suffered your first losses as a military commander in this world. How did that feel? Not too great, eh? Do better. Be more prepared and use the Abilities you have been granted. You should have been able to sense the ants below you long before they attacked. Do not allow yourself to be caught so flatfooted again. The next time might cost you more than some unnamed Legionnaires.
That said, you acquitted yourself well once you engaged the enemy. Being able to capture an enemy leader without beating them to near death is quite the accomplishment for one whose primary modus operandi consists of hit something until it dies or gives up. You also managed your first true diplomatic challenge and even somehow came out on top.
You have learned a new Skill: Diplomacy. You gain this Skill at Novice 7. Expect to need this Skill more and more as your political power grows.
You have slain a significant number of giant ant soldiers and workers as well as the spiders. More than thirteen thousand in total. This has earned you 448,533 experience. Additionally, you won your first diplomatic contest in which you liberated 1,216 lost Legionnaires, gained an alliance, trade, and 50,000 mercenary giant ant soldiers for use in your campaign. This is a feat far beyond what was expected of you. You receive an additional 371,600 experience. You are now level 103 and have 96 Characteristic points to spend.
Your Skills and Abilities have increased as well.
TELEPORTATION has increased to Adept 75
LIGHTNING has increased to Practiced 63
OVERCHANNEL has increased to Adept 5
MENTAL FORTITUDE has increased to Practiced 17
FLAME DART has increased to Initiate 14
SIMULCASTING has increased to Initiate 35
CLEANSE has increased to Initiate 28
RESTORE has increased to Master 38
IDENTIFY has increased to Initiate 19
INVENTORY has increased to Initiate 41
ARMOR SKIN has increased to Practiced 77
FLIGHT has increased to Practiced 5
MANA TRANSFER has increased to Novice 15
DUNGEON SENSE has increased to Adept 48
Aerial Maneuvering has increased to Initiate 22
Your progress is pleasing, and you have finally begun to effectively utilize those around you. Use all the tools you have gathered to you. The day will come when you will truly need to know how to use them.
***
Duke was glad that the messages continued to be of a more friendly nature, hoping that would continue. He immediately spent his Characteristic points, placing 46 in Psyche and 50 in Endurance, boosting his Mana and Health.
Breakfast saw Eihlen and Elaine joining Duke, Aurelia, and Baslin. From the worried look in Elaine’s eyes, Duke knew that no progress had been made in curing Grat. Baslin, on the other hand, seemed excited. Duke inquired.
“Oh, my experiments are starting to show results. Nothing worth reporting just yet, but it’s exciting from a pure research standpoint. After being trapped in my own tower for so long, I’m having too much fun putting all my theoretical musings into practical trials and tests. I was wrong on so many things, but the things I was right on are beyond exciting.” Baslin trailed off into magical theory that no one else really understood. Eventually, they moved on to other topics.
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"So, we break camp today and re-commence our march on the capitol. It will still be three or four days before we break out of the forest to the main road. When we do, it will likely signal the time they will surely know we are coming.” Aurelia started.
Duke interrupted. “Can our scouts find and eliminate theirs?”
"Possibly, but I would not rely on that happening. Despite his depravity, Chopie has proven himself a savvy enemy. I don’t know if it’s possible to create undead insects, but if it is, I would bet on him using them as scouts and spies. There is no way for us to combat that approach that I know of. Baslin, do you have anything?” Aurelia asked.
Basin slid smoothly into what Duke had begun to call “Instructor Mode” and explained. “Undead insects? Not likely on an individual basis. They are too small to hold the energy required to maintain an undead. It might be possible to imbue a swarm as a whole unit but that would be difficult to maintain, especially if they separate by any distance. So, I do not think insects would work. But, squirrels, rabbits, mice, birds? All of these are possible. It would take a grand obscuring spell to hide the Legion and even then, it would only work if they were stationary.”
“So, it is likely that they know we are coming and have a fair gauge on our strength. They must also know that we have Farthell in custody. They might think him dead since they can’t reach him inside the dungeon.” Duke surmised. “How does that change our plans?”
Aurelia took over. “We have only cursory information about their defenses, primarily from before they started setting up any additional fortifications recently. That is a disadvantage. We do have the Legion, however, and their Abilities are well-suited to sieging a city and breaching its defenses. The FORMATION Ability can weaken the city’s defenses all by itself. When the Mage Corps fully engage their collective Spells, it can have a devastating effect. Duke can place squads of troops behind their walls to cause trouble within. Baslin will be responsible for countering any large-scale works of magic brought to bear against us. We also have the ability to deploy siege engines of our own and pound away at their fixed defenses.”
She paused while the others digested what she had said. “That all is geared toward a largely living humanoid population. We can expect a strong undead presence. Some, if not the majority of the city’s citizenry may have been converted and we will have to deal with them. The Freeze Undead Spells that the Mage Corps have been actively practicing will serve us well in that case.”
She paused again. Upon seeing nods of agreement and understanding, she continued. “Once we break out of the woods, our spies will be observing the city to get us an idea of what we are facing. We want to limit civilian casualties so massively destructive attacks are probably off the table, at least initially. The bottom line is this: We do not yet know what we are walking into, but we are prepared for a number of contingencies.”
“Well, whatever the case, we should get back to the Legion. Someone’s liable to get bitter at us not being there every night.” Aurelia said.
“Yes, but if they don’t have something to bitch about, they’ll find something to bitch about. It’s the way of any military in the universe. A bitching soldier is a happy soldier.” Duke replied.
“You know that makes absolutely no sense, right?” Baslin asked.
“Just trust me. They need something small to bitch about.” Duke responded. He then TELEPORTED them all back to the Legion, effectively ending the conversation.
The Legion was nearly ready to depart when the group arrived. Aurelia was immediately swept away by her command cadre to discuss status and plans for the march ahead. Eihlen returned to her assigned century with the understanding that she would join Aurelia if the right opportunity presented itself. Baslin wandered off mumbling something about samples. For the first time in a while, Duke was relatively alone. Sure, he was surrounded by thousands of people, but he was still by himself. He also realized that he had nothing specific he needed to accomplish at the moment.
Smiling, Duke launched himself high into the air, pushing the limits of his FLIGHT Ability. He reveled in the speed, the sensation of the wind pulling at his hair, his clothes, his skin. He flew, twisting and turning, pulling maneuvers that would have snapped the wings off his plane or would have exceeded his ability to stay conscious. Finding that G-forces did not seem to affect him in any significant way was his favorite discovery.
As he flew, he did not keep track of what direction he was going or how far he travelled. He knew he could TELEPORT back to the Legion at any time, so he just took the time to push the limits of his FLIGHT Ability and simply enjoy himself. The sensation energized him. Hours later, he received a whispered inquiry form Aurelia, “Are you OK, Duke?”
He responded smiling, “I’m fine. Just pushing some Abilities. Am I needed back with the Legion? Over.”
“Over what? No, never mind. It must be another idiom of yours. We are marching without incident and Baslin’s new mobile wards seem to be working.” She whispered back.
“Great. I’ll keep at it then. See you later but call me if you need me. Duke out.”
Duke had yet to try and OVERCHANNEL his FLIGHT Ability but decided that this was the time to try it out. He poured extra Mana into the Ability and felt its multiplicative effect instantly. Clouds flashed by underneath himself at a speed he could not gauge. He pushed it faster and faster until things started to blur around him and he eventually pulled up to a stop.
Duke hovered very high above the ground, looking down at what appeared to be well-ordered farm fields as it was a patchwork of nearly perfect tiny squares and rectangles. He descended to get a closer look, discovering that his first guess was right in nature, but not in scope. He realized this as he descended several kilometers before he could start to discern any real features in the fields.
As he got within five kilometers of the ground, he was able to make out some more details. The fields themselves were vast, the smallest one at least fifteen kilometers across. All were cultivated with some form of crops or another. Having absolutely no farming background, Duke couldn’t identify them by much of anything more than height and color.
What he was able to discern was that the people tending the fields were definitely not human. They were humanoid for sure, but most were heavily furred and appeared to have canine snouts or other animalistic features. “Beastkin.” Duke whispered to himself as the realization struck him. He descended closer and knew he was spotted by the myriad sets of eyes pointed in his direction and the flurry of activity now happening below.
Duke put on his best friendly face and finished descending into an open square between fields, landing gently on his feet. “Greetings, I am Duke, and I am a visitor here from afar.” He was greeted with all manner of looks which his XENOGLOSSIA translated from curious to frightened to aggressively angry. Oh, Duke, what have you gotten yourself into this time?