CHAPTER 166

Everlyn nodded. They touched hands and when Tom stepped into his system room; the invitation was already waiting.

He accepted it and to his surprise did not appear in Everlyn’s artfully created relaxation space. Instead, he materialised in an empty unadorned starting configuration. “Evie? What’s this?” He glanced around the featureless area.

“I figured you’d want to be in control and you probably wouldn’t feel comfortable reorganising my personal space.”

He laughed. “Yeah, I’m not that suicidal.”

“Hey.”

He thought about what he could do and mentally he tested his permissions. She had not lied. He had full control. Everything he could do in his own system room he could do here as well.

“Thank you… Now what do I…”

The walls expanded out effectively, doubling the size of the room and the two of them were shifted from the centre to the side. Where they had been standing, right in the middle, a large circular table manifested. It was roughly three metres across, and in real life it would have been imposing. A table built for something larger than humans because an object left in the middle would be out of reach without the use of tools or magic. For Tom’s purposes, if anything it was a little small. A moment later, a large map appeared on its wooden surface.

Everlyn whistled appreciatively as she looked at what he had created.

The map was hand drawn and laboriously constructed from the information sheets that Dux had shared with him. Her versions had not been to scale and had basically been a single piece of A4 paper with a sketch of the country’s borders and then a series of points that included; species, type of empire, average rank of citizen and soldiers, racial personality biases, direction and travel distances. She had gone through each of them separately rather than giving them a map, and Tom imagined that a restriction was in play. Tom had been incredibly grateful. With his memory, he could remember every page and had used that to create the map on the table. It was not the prettiest example of cartography that Tom had ever seen, but it captured everything, including things that could be inferred about the landscape that Dux had not included in her brief. For example, there were stretches of territory he had labelled unpassable, which was the only reason that an aggressive, powerful race had not attacked one of their neighbours.

Everlyn examined his creation with interest. “You’ve made this really detailed.” She was examining the connection between Stilkra and the kingdom of Entwites. “I never realised Entwites was so much larger. This is showing them as twenty times the size of Stilkra.”

“I didn’t either.” Tom admitted. “The maps I saw had all the countries being similar sized, but when I started putting individual kingdoms on the maps in the spots they were supposed to be, the borders didn’t mesh.” His finger found and pointed to a tiny county shaped a lot like an old-fashioned key that was almost fully engulfed by a larger country. “Then I saw that if I shrank the Ottaka empire it fitted into this space perfectly. I don’t know if all my resizes are perfect or not…” Tom frowned. “But… It should be accurate enough.”

“It’s a pretty map and all, but what’s the point of all this?” She waved her hand over the map. “Why reveal this masterpiece now?”

“Well, I need to pick a target.” He pointed to the centre of the map where their current fortification was marked. There were the foothills and visible mountains to the north and behind them were the wasp plains. “We don’t want to go back through the wasps, so I’m going to hope our objective is in the northern part of the map. At least that’s my starting assumption. Now we split that area.”

Tom created a piece of string and by magic the end of it flicked out and was attached to the centre of the table. He extended it out to the edge, cutting the area they had access to without retreating through the wasp plains in half. After a thought, a second string magically appeared to split the countries to the south. He very much hoped the target wasn’t there and would proceed with that assumption.

The string through the northern part of the map that he was interested in split a number of countries in half. If his target was one of those kingdoms, it would create issues, so he made adjustments to the string so that it didn’t overlap countries and instead traced their borders. A quick count showed more destinations to the right than the left, so he adjusted the positioning further to ensure even numbers.

Everlyn watched in interested silence.

“I need to find out where to go.” Tom explained. “Like everyone, I couldn’t use my oracle question to extract specific details about Existentia, which is why I had to wait till now before taking the step. However, with three questions…” he nodded at the map.

Tom saw the understanding flow across Everlyn’s face. “You can pick a direction, if not a final destination.”

“Yep, I can determine which way to point us and by the time we get there I’ll have one possibly two questions more which I can use to resolve the actual country I need to target.”

“Which is why you were so resistant to using them to find the killers. You knew you needed them for this.”

Tom nodded. “Yep. This is one step I couldn’t skip. Choosing a target with oracle questions increases my chance of success by a thousand.”

Shock crossed briefly over Everlyn’s face. “I guess that makes sense. At some level, you’re challenging a native race and you need to find one weak enough to make that successful.”

“And the education session,” Tom waved at the map. “Didn’t give us sufficient information to drive that sort of choice. Rank is not the primary consideration. It’s how well they measure up against our attack group, what the internal communication is like because if they send an elite squad of a hundred to find us, no amount of planning will help.”

“I get it.” Everlyn agreed. “I feel bad for pressuring you…”

Tom shrugged. “Don’t. I’m not even sure I made the right choice. With three killers, I could definitely have seen me wasting the questions. But…” Tom kicked the hard stone floor. “A small part of me wonders if I could have saved Gita.”

“Don’t,” Everlyn said and went to pat him on the back before stopping herself with a wry smile. “Don’t go down that path. It won’t help, and we did our best to find the murder as soon as possible. Including investing a fortune in credits.” Pointedly, she took a step closer to the map. “Even if we assume a target doesn’t involve us back tracking through the wasp territory. There are what forty different kingdoms to select from? That’s a lot of questions.”

Tom smiled in appreciation at her blatant attempt to change the topic and he also knew she was right. “Between forty and fifty,” Tom confirmed. “If I get lucky, it’ll take five questions. Unlucky six.” Tom grimaced at that number. “Its wildlands, so if we can do fifty kilometres per day it’ll take us a couple of weeks to reach them. That’ll give me access to two more questions. Unless we’re unlucky, we’ll be able to act immediately.”

“Fate?”

Tom winced at that thought. “Maybe, but my instincts scream at me not to cross fate with oracle questions.”

She laughed. “I understand the concern, but there’s no reason to be worried. After all, it’s just a trait.”

He studied her suspiciously, and she smiled innocently back at him. “Why are your fate levels so reduced?”

“Oh, I used it to get Keikain and the others to follow me.” She answered instantly.

The response was too quick and sounded too rehearsed. “Please don’t use fate in ways that overlap with my oracle questions.”

“Of course I won’t.”

Tom didn’t believe her for a moment. He turned to face the number three that was engraved on the wall. A representation of his Oracle question he had made to manifest in the room. “I want to use an Oracle question. This portends to my personal quest. Is the best target for me in the right half?”

“No!”

Everlyn jumped at the unexpected voice.

“Oh… I remembered you said your avatar was female. She sounds very cultured.”

“Are you teasing me?”

“No… She sounds… lovely.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Shut up!” he ordered with a smile.

A second string appeared that he used to split the kingdoms in the left segment of the map. Tom placed his hand down in the space that was bordered by the two strings. “Is the best target for me in this segment?”

“Yes!”

Everlyn jumped up and down in excitement. “It’s working.”

Tom meanwhile sighed in relief. He had been worried that his target would be behind them through the wasp territory, in which case it would have taken numerous questions to find out. His gamble to focus on the north area had paid off.

Thank you Deus, he thought quietly to her.

He split the area again and asked the same question. The answer was ‘No’ but that was as good as a yes. There were only four species in each of the sections and he studied the countries that had been shown. “One of those is our target.”

Everlyn stepped closer to the table and leant down to read the details. “Interesting,” she murmured. “Two empires and a couple of… what would you describe them as.”

“Smaller targets.”

She laughed at that. “You think it will be one of the small ones? Or?”

The wall distorted, and the text was displayed as she took control.

Latoona Empire.

Dominant Race: Wolfman (Zabta).

Wolf like sapients with a mass of two hundred kilograms.

Preferred combat style is melee. They possess a dangerous bite, back legs have long claws which are often infused with Skills to enhance cutting effectiveness while their front limbs are capable of holding weapons which are used by most fighters to add a small amount of additional range in melee fights.

Civilisation. The Latoona empire is an offshoot empire of the Zabta species. It is highly organised and capable of rapid mobilisation to meet threats.

Average Citizen Rank: 17

Average Solider Rank: 32

Racial Personality Bias. Aggressive, insular and will attack any sapients that encroach upon their hunting ground.

“I don’t think my plan–”

“Or,” Everlyn interrupted, and the screen changed

Kingdom of McBrides.

Dominant Race. Gnomes (Quizzacada)

Gnome like creatures with an average mass of ten kilograms.

Preferred combat style is melee where they use their small size to gain an advantage. They have quadrupedal motion and utilise their main sensing organ as a dangerous whip with a length of a little over a metre and a half to deliver magical attacks requiring direct contact.

Civilisation. This is the main empire of the Quizzacada species, but they have an extensive adventurer base and a number of smaller enclaves scattered over Existentia.

Average Citizen Rank: 14

Average Solider Rank: 38

Racial Personality Bias. Exploitive veneer of legality.

“Also unlikely to be our target.”

“So, one of the last two?”

Tom shrugged. While he could draw guesses, he honestly did not know.

The screen changed to display the two.

Rabotaca Wildlands.

Dominant Race. Bite and Claw Trolls (Rabotaca)

Six legged, four armed, troll like creatures with an average mass of seven hundred kilograms.

Preferred combat style is burst ranged with magic damage followed by melee.

Civilization. This is one of two wildlands that remain under control of the Rabotaca.

Average Citizen Rank: 52

Average Solider Rank: NA

Racial Personality Bias. Will attack outsiders on sight.

Tom’s eyes then skipped them to settle on the last description of their target.

SilverBell Kingdom.

Dominant Race. Eagle Gliders (SilverWings)

Large eagle with an extra set of arms with an average mass of a hundred kilograms.

Preferred combat style ranged magic. This species can no longer natively fly, but they can leap off the ground and glide for hundreds of metres.

Civilization. This is one and potentially the last surviving enclave of the SilverWing race, however they have a significant presence in adventuring teams and breeding populations in most adventure orientated cities.

Average Citizen Rank: NA

Average Solider Rank: 26

Racial Personality Bias. Welcoming.

“Very interesting,” Everlyn said, taking two steps to the wall and pointing at the relevant lines.

“Yeah, one race having only soldiers and the other one only civilians. It’s not common.”

“Agreed,” Everlyn tapped the Silverbell Kingdom absently. ”I’m thinking that our target is the silverwings.”

“I don’t know,” Tom admitted. “But if I was a betting man, it’s not the wolfmen.”

She looked at him sharply. “Why?” Then her attention flipped back to the map, and she pointed. “Is it because they’re an offset empire and not the primary location? Because you need to attack the seat of power to initiate of a Racial Bonus Assimilation.”

Tom shrugged, and he suddenly regretted including that name in the contract. In hindsight, it was self evident that the description would give away a lot of what he was planning. The fact they were bound to the effort should mitigate some of the risk. “I could be wrong, but the questions never led me wrong in the tutorial, so I have faith that they’ll be right.”

“I wouldn’t want to take on the trolls. An average rank of fifty-two, that’s just fearsome.”

“Yet, one of them would be easier than a company of gnomes and the silverwings society is all soldiers. Have you thought for a moment what that might look like? If they get organised against us, we’ll be destroyed.”

She chuckled. “Good points. I’m not much liking your plan anymore. Poking any of these seems like suicide, and I don’t think your quest involves only poking.”

Tom shrugged. “I haven’t lied to you once.”

“I know… But there’s a different between knowing we’re going to do something dangerous and seeing this level of rank discrepancy. And there’s ten of us and we’re confronting a kingdom.”

“I warned everyone about the risk.”

“You didn’t mention we might have to fight creatures whose average rank is fifty-two.”

“I didn’t know.”

“For me to boost my attributes that much I need to reach… what? Two hundred levels! That’s ridiculous.”

“It’s a lot less than that if you have titles.”

“Shut-up. How on earth does an entire population get their average up that high?”

“Long lived and low fertility is my guess. But hopefully, our target won’t be the trolls.”

“But it’s one of these four.” Everlyn said tapping the map.

Tom nodded. There was nothing else he could say.

“Maybe we should abandon this plan.”

“No.” Tom blurted out as he imagined how many ranking points they would lose if they abandoned the attempt. Continuing was the right choice. He had asked so many questions to guarantee that. “It can work. It will work.” Tom corrected. “Is it dangerous? Well, obviously, the answer is yes.” He waved at the kingdoms. “But it’s not suicide. I made sure of that with my questions.”

Everlyn chuckled. “Your defensiveness is cute. But I’m on your side and I wish I had used the oracle questions in the tutorial similarly. I will not play it safe. I’m with you, but it might be prudent not to mention anything to anyone else till we’re a few days into our journey. Their motivation might drop if they see these targets.”

Tom sighed audibly in relief and then he found himself back in the courtyard with everyone gathered around him. Jingyi had obviously joined while he and Everlyn had been communicating in the system room.

These were the people who were going to help him guarantee a future for humanity, and he felt a little bad about making them wait while he had been happily chatting with Everlyn. Every single one of them was competent and brave. The only question mark over the team was the three of them that had bought that cursed bloodline, a choice which was almost as reprehensible as what he planned.

Tom wished he was the sort of person who could come out with an inspiring speech, but he wasn’t. “We have in a destination.” He pointed and got a confused expression in response. “And it is that way.”

“For now, it’s only a general direction,” Evelyn explained, “but when we get closer, we’ll be able to narrow it down.”

“Is this dealing with our problem.” Keikain asked waving his hand at Clare and Sven.

“As good as any other.” Tom snapped before he could help himself. “You’ve seen the maps. All the sapient countries are a similar distance.”

Keikain deliberately shut his eyes and then all the life and soul moving him vanished for a moment as it became only a doll made of flesh with a beating heart.

They waited for thirty seconds and then the earth mage opened his eyes. He pointed a good 40° to the left of where Tom had indicated. “The closest sapients are that way.”

Tom shrugged. “The difference is a couple of days at best and if the river crossing is problematic. We might be pushed days off the direct route. Given the amount of backtracking we’ll need to go through and the potential for it to deliver absolutely no time saving we’re going to go directly to my target.”

“We don’t have that much time.” Keikain said. “Do you think we were killing for fun?”

Tom said nothing.

“We’re not.” Clare interjected. “We were not killing for fun. It’s a matter of survival.”

“And a murder only tides you over for a week? I don’t believe it. Have you been doing upgrades on the side?”

“No, we haven’t.” Keikain told him angrily. “Not one. We’ve been doing the bare minimum. It’s just that low rank sapients only buy a small amount of time. If the prey was stronger, we would have longer between sacrifices.”

“Let’s try to go quickly, then.” Tom said and pointed toward the target kingdoms.

Keikain’s face crinkled in annoyance, but he said nothing.

“Are we going back to camp?” Thor asked. “Or doing the ritual to protect Rahmat and Jingyi.”

“There is no rush to do the ritual, but we’ll complete it tonight. Technically, they’re both safe till we complete the contract.”

Thor went cross-eyed momentarily. “Of course they are.” Thor said finally. “I didn’t read that bit.”

“We need to hurry.” Keikain told everyone. “We’ll go the way Tom suggested.”

You don’t have a choice. Tom thought to himself, but decided to let the man pretend to be in control of his own destiny.

“But let’s try to go as fast as possible. I don’t think we’ll make it in time for all of us.”

“Won’t.” Tom interrupted suddenly concerned.

“Might not.” Keikain clarified. “Its very close. We can’t afford anything to go wrong… and…” While talking, they had filed out of the fortifications. Keikain paused and sent an anxious look at the main camp. “It’s going to be tight. And I don’t think we should go in there. Loose lips will be disastrous.”

Tom almost tsked at himself in annoyance. Given how stressed everyone would have to be about the revelation of killers the chance of a slipup was material. “I assume everyone has said good byes already.”

There were grudging nods all around him. “We’ll skip the camp. Everlyn? Do you think you can let them know we didn’t want the delay.”

She nodded.

“And if you can brief someone that we’ve taken the murderers, but swear them to silence till night time tomorrow.”

“Is that a good idea?” Keikain asked. “They might come after us.”

“I don’t think that’s a risk.” Tom said.

Everlyn snorted. “I’ll tell them that the killer is in the group and we’ll be taking care of him tonight. That’ll stop everyone from following us in case the killer runs.”

“They won’t follow us if you say that.” Tom caught Keikain’s eyes and the other man looked away, accepting the decision.

They set off, Jingyi moving a little ahead of the main group to scout while Everlyn jogged back to the main camp. She would catch up with them quickly given how fast she could move when she wanted to.