The next morning saw the area buzzing with activity. The training dungeon was now open and with Duke’s massive donations of Mana, Sam had been able to create an armory allowing the Legion to happily arm themselves.
Duke joined his team, which now included Aurelia at what had become known as the “Command Table” in the Inn. “OK, so how are our troops managing after their first day?”
Aurelia’s golden hair perfectly framed her face as she offered a brilliant smile at Duke. He felt a stirring in his chest. Oh, fuck no! Keep it in your goddamed pants, flyboy! “They are attuning to the reality of it all, but most are just happy to have something to do. We are still sorting out the different types of troops, but I plan on having a foundational rotation so that all our troops have at least a functional understanding of the sword, shield, spear, and bow. That way we can have troops change over as needed. I still want to build the majority into specialty corps as Skills and Abilities relevant to those specialized Classes will greatly improve their effectiveness.”
“Excellent. Just enough detail for me to understand what is going on and make any adjustments if I need to do so. In this case, I can’t think if any. Keep it up and keep me apprised of their growth, levels, and Class distribution as it develops. Baslin, how are our Mages?”
“We now have more than eight thousand Mages! This is so exciting. I’ll be teaching them their first four base spells today: Firebolt, Forcebolt, Shield, and Sense Magic. Then it’s off to the practice range for Mana management and volley fire training.” Baslin was so bursting with excitement that Duke was sure that if not for this meeting, he would be out there already.
“Volley fire? I thought you weren’t big on war spells and formations?”
“I’m not, but let me tell you this…I’m big on reading and I just happen to have a pretty good book on magical warfare tactics. I spent most of the night reading it cover to cover. So many new things to try!”
“That’s great but when you have a break, I have a few things I want to discuss with you, OK?”
“Sure, Duke. Once I get them established in their training routine, I’ll find you.”
Duke looked over to Elaine and Grat, receiving a pair of smiles in return. “I’m going to continue working on our defenses while Elaine is going on a scouting mission.” Grat related.
“We just moved into the area and really don’t know what’s around us so I’m going to go find out.” Elaine added.
“Good idea. I’m going to take an aerial reconnaissance look myself. Let’s get together later and compare notes.” Duke said and Elaine nodded in acknowledgement. “OK, let’s get to it. We are on un unknown timetable. We could have months or days to get ready for something coming our way. I want us to be as ready as possible.”
With sounds of assent, the group broke up to head for their individual responsibilities. Duke headed outside with Baslin, Grat, and Elaine before they all went their separate ways. Duke took to the air to start his reconnaissance mission.
Duke quickly gained altitude and the first thing he noticed was a thick bank of clouds off in the distance. He had been wondering about the weather here. In all his time it had not rained at all and that struck him as odd. It seemed that the time for rain was coming. He continued to climb, holding at about 5 kilometers up. He took a long hard look at everything below and around him hoping that the map that had appeared while in the dungeon would once again appear. It didn’t.
As he studied the area around him, the expanding clearing around the Lake Front Dungeon was easy to spot. The next prominent feature was the smoking ruin that had been Baslin’s tower in the distance. He focused on the area for a good long time and was able to see that the army that had surrounded the tower was still in the area. He couldn’t see any semi-permanent structures so he figured the army would not stay there long. If they’re not staying there, they are either heading home or they are going somewhere else to attack. It doesn’t look like they know about the dungeon yet so heading home is most likely. I really want to get into the city before the army gets back.
Duke took out the Jewel of Whispers and used it to send a message to Baslin. “Looks like the army around what used to be your tower isn’t going to stay there. I want to get into the city before the army gets there. I’ll be heading back to base after I take a look at a few more things. Be ready to talk when I get there.”
With that, Duke took to a spiraling outward path, scanning the area from his height. There wasn’t all that much to spot as it was mostly forest with a few clearings scattered around. This was both good news and bad news for him. The bad was that there was no one around they could recruit or trade with. The good was there was no one around who could discover their operation anytime soon. He also discovered that he couldn’t see the city from here so there was quite a distance to get there.
Duke updated the physical map that Baslin had given him and TELEPORTED back to the Inn. Baslin was waiting for him. “You whispered?”
Duke chuckled. “Yes, I did.” He led Baslin over to the bar and grabbed a pair of drinks. “Here, have a drink while I pick your brain.”
Baslin joined him and asked, “OK, so, what is on your mind and how can I help?”
“First off, how common is teleportation in this world?”
“Short-range teleportation is rare. Long-range requires a portal, and mine was one of three that I know about and the other two are controlled by the Mage’s Guild. Space magic is not well understood and presents more problems than solutions from my experience. I’m one of only two living Mages who have gotten it to work. There may be another operable portal in some ancient place that has been lost to time, but that’s about it. Your gift is vanishingly rare, if not unique.”
“Oh, that is good news indeed. Then it is unlikely that things are warded against it then?” Duke asked hopefully.
“Well, it is far easier to ward against than it is to use but I’d say it is a low probability that anyone has bothered with building such wards. It’s like warding a cellar against the wind. Sure, you might get a breeze down there if the house got ripped away, but at that point, does it even matter?”
“Right, then I think I have a plan.” Duke smiled.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
“This is going to be wildly dangerous and reeking of madness, isn’t it?”
“You might say that, or you might listen to the plan first. I want to TELEPORT into the king’s vault and steal everything he has in there. I know the phylactery is there and I am betting that the leverage he has against the arena-bound is there as well. If I can get my hands on it all, I can get them all out of that hellhole.” Duke paused in thought for a moment. “OK, maybe just the ones from Leviathan. The Stones are assholes. But you get my point, right?”
“And what if the vault is warded?” Baslin asked.
“My Ability won’t allow me to TELEPORT into a wall or something like that, so worst case, I don’t get in and we’ll have to find a different way to get to the phylactery.”
“No, worst case is that you wind up in a magic-suppression trap. But there’s one more thing. What makes you think that the king won’t be able to tell where his phylactery is after you grab it?” Baslin countered.
“I didn’t think about that, but didn’t you say that the dungeon blocks out that kind of sensing magic?” Duke smiled as his idea continued to flesh itself out.
“I did, but I have no idea if it would work to block a lich from its own phylactery. I’m not so sure that it would work for that. I’m certainly not going to try and stop you from this path. I’m not sure I could stop you. But I am going to tell you that it’s a great idea but terrible timing. We should try it after we have our area and our army prepared for a siege.”
Duke smiled. “So, how are your mages coming along then?”
“They would learn quicker if their primary instructor wasn’t sitting at the bar having a drink right now.” Baslin saluted Duke with his drink.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it. I’ll keep that plan in reserve, but I totally want to do it.” Duke downed his drink and placed the mug on the bar before heading back out to check on everyone else.
***********************************************************************************
Aurelia was not satisfied with her own progress. She had basic armor and a fabulous sword, but that was about it. She needed a horse and there just didn’t seem to be any to be had. Fighting the basic undead in the dungeon all day had earned her a second level but little else. She had just finished a run with her “best” troops. None were above level 2 yet either. This was the third dungeon run of the day and she was getting frustrated.
“Sam, is there any way to get more experience out of these dungeon runs? The undead you keep throwing at us are mindless and unchallenging. Would increasing their level really make them that much harder to defeat?”
“General, I could increase the level of the undead, but Duke doesn’t want anyone dying in here. He said it was only for training, not getting you all killed.”
“Then I need to have a conversation with Duke.” Aurelia angrily replied. She turned to her squad of leaders who she had been running with. “Prepare for our next delve. I am hoping I can get the difficulty ramped up so we can actually level more than once a day.” She then stormed out looking for Duke.
Duke stepped into the training dungeon to check on the troops actively fighting the undead. He was impressed by the design of the area. It was what Sam called an instanced dungeon level which meant that multiple groups could be running the same dungeon level at once, just experiencing it separately. He made it halfway through the entrance before he was intercepted by an agitated Aurelia.
“Duke, this is not enough. Not nearly enough!”
He responded with the universal gesture of all men who have no idea what they were in trouble for – he raised his hand up in front of him and took half a step back. “I’m sorry. What did I do this time, General?”
Aurelia realized that she was berating her commander in public, and for something he didn’t really do. She stepped back and to the side. “Forgive me, but I am frustrated.”
“Well, that’s at least identifying a symptom, but what is the actual problem?” Duke applied all his leadership experience to the situation in his response.
Aurelia seemed to calm down a bit and launched into her issues. “We have been killing zombies and skeletons all day. They are slow, dumb, and provide about 25 experience per kill. It is taking forever to advance. No one has hit even level three yet! We are not learning or advancing fast enough.”
Duke nodded along, waiting for her to finish. When she did, he asked his next set of questions. “What is our casualty rate. Have we lost anyone to injury, or worse?”
Aurelia laughed. “The worst injury so far was when Jasha kicked Eldon in the nuts after his hands went wandering. Asshole learned his lesson right then and there. Point is that the undead are at our same level and offer no challenge as such.”
Duke made a mental note to find this Eldon and give him some additional duties to hopefully straighten his head out. If that didn’t work, he might have to resort to “other methods.” He then turned his mind to what Aurelia was really on about and decided that it was a fair concern. It made him glad that he had come to check in on things and even happier that his General was willing to dress him down if it was for the good of her troops.
“Sam, I need to speak with you.” Duke only raised his voice slightly, certain that Sam would appear quickly. He wasn’t disappointed.
“Duke, I’m here. What can I do for you?”
“I want you to adjust dungeon protocols according to Aurelia’s instructions as far as difficulty level and level of dungeon creatures. No more than one Tier higher for bosses and no more than ten levels higher for regular dungeon creatures.” He turned to Aurelia after receiving Sam’s nod of assent. “Do not kill our army off by pushing too hard or too fast. I am suggesting that you slowly ramp up the dungeon creatures’ levels, maybe by one level at a time.”
“Understood, and thank you, Duke.” She turned to Sam. “For the next round of instances, increase dungeon creature level by one. For my team’s next instance, increase dungeon creature level by three.”
“Yes, ma’am. It shall be as you requested.” Sam replied formally.
Duke chuckled and followed up with a request of his own. “Sam, set up an instance for me at my level. I want to get some experience myself.”
“Can I come along?” Aurelia asked.
“That would be an awful idea. All it would take is one stray hit and you would be dead. I can’t afford to lose you before you even get started being my General.”
“I will hang back and mostly observe. The instances are a straightforward fight. You can easily take care of the undead, but I can gain a bunch more experience even shadowing you through a run at that level than I could with my own group even at ten levels above my own. If you even just leave two crippled undead for me to finish off, I’ll gain at least a level, probably more. I am the General of this army and I need to get to a level that I can actually lead them. That’s not going to happen fast enough without taking some significant risks.”
Her argument was solid, but Duke still hesitated, unwilling to put her into that much danger. He wracked his brain on how he could do this without risking her. He poured over his character sheet, looking for something that would help and came upon his titles. He had two titles that he admittedly had largely ignored. The first Was Redeemer of Souls which granted him Soul Sight, a 10% boost to his Psyche, and the ability to resurrect someone. Idiot. There’s your answer right there.
Duke’s second title was Dungeon Master. Amongst other things it gave him control over the dungeon creatures within the dungeon. That gave him another idea. “Sam, cancel that dungeon run for me.” Aurelia did her best to not show her disappointment, but it was nearly impossible for Duke to not notice even subtle body language at this point. “Next, I want you to create an instance with ten level 100 zombies in it. No terrain or any other features are needed.”
Sam responded nearly instantly. “The instance is ready. Where would you like the entrance?”
Dukes smiled. “Right here, please. Aurelia, gather your command cadre and all of you join me in this instance.” She didn’t question or hesitate. Her team of 5 was gathered and ready in under 30 seconds.
Duke looked them all over and smiled evilly. “Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to exploit the system to an insane degree. Do exactly what I say, and this will be a massive benefit to you. Fuck around, and you’ll die. Clear?”
A short chorus of “yes sir” indicated that they were ready.
“OK, then. Wait five seconds and then follow me in. And for the love of all that is holy, do not attack anything until I tell you to do so.” He locked eyes with each of them to make sure they were on the same page and then stepped into the entrance.