CHAPTER 360 – CONFIRMING FINANCES

Tom woke the next morning feeling more and more confident about their plan. The insects were clearly crippled and not the threat they had expected. He spent a moment to confirm that his first impression, that there was no one in his domain, was correct. Then, confident in his privacy he stretched languidly before looking around. Everything was perfectly still and in situations like this, where not much was happening and he had time to analyse everything, his sensitivity was impressive. If someone was hovering just above the ground, their breathing would move the air, which would hit the rock, which he could pick up.

There were no stray air movements anywhere in the room.

Confident in his privacy he stretched languidly before looking around. Everyone else’s sleeping spots had been packed away neatly and not for the first time he marvelled at how deeply he slept these days. It was a little disturbing that being near allies and the impact of a single skill could influence him that much. Briefly, he wondered whether he should buy something to make him a lighter sleeper. Then he dismissed the idea. Unless it was high tiered, it could come with negatives and why he was in a team, it was okay to lean on them a little… Maybe… he wasn’t sure… depending on others still creeped him out a bit.

His stomach rumbled and when he checked the time, it was nearly lunch and then, with a sigh rather than immediately getting food he went to the command room. When he entered it, he was surprised to find that it was more than just Clare. The entire brain’s trust was seated at the table. The usual suspects from his group along with Selena and Vidja.

“Well, that’s a surprise. The lazy one’s up and it’s not even lunchtime?” Michael waved happily at him.

“When did you guys get back.” Tom asked, ignoring the light-hearted jibe.

“Mid-morning. We needed to do a couple of extra missions to get everyone over the line.”

Absently, he activated his privacy skill just in case there were unwanted listeners. A thought occurred to him. Practically speaking, most of them were now qualified to leave. There was really only one option to escape crafting. “What about Harry and Maher? How are those guys doing?”

“They’re crafting,” Clare replied immediately.

“Do you need me to take them out to power through the quests?”

Everlyn, Michael, and Selena burst out laughing.

Clare controlled her own amusement and shook her head sadly. “Good try, but no both them and you need to craft. They’re sorted. You don’t need to worry about them.”

Tom knew exactly what she meant. He remembered the loot that he had deliberately not looked at. It seemed the plan was to use the escape keys on them to give them an extra day or two of crafting. He was a little surprised. Tom was pretty sure that strategically the more humans that made the final zone the smoother everything would work. He had listened to Harry’s estimates of how long the teleporters were supposed to take to craft, and it wasn’t long enough to exclude them from spending time fighting in order to finish their personal quests.

“Stop looking at me like that,” Clare complained. “They’ve got other projects beyond the teleporters. But as I said they’re dealt with.” She turned and smiled at Michael. “Why don’t you tell Tom the news.”

The healer massaged his scalp. “There’s not much to report. We’ve extracted all the resources we could out of the wador and they have nothing more to give. The last chunk of value was arbitrage opportunities between them and our auction houses. But that’s finished. They had biped only gear that, for obvious reasons was dirt cheap and we had similar sets of armour that they could use and humans obviously couldn’t. Not to mention different pricing of certain types of abilities. The wador for example, prioritised potion and item-based healing far more than we do.” He scratched his head again. “But honestly, I’m pretty sure that is not as big a piece of news as yours.” Michael glanced at the five completed decoys that had been moved to this room from the workshop. The very distinctive stone façade told anyone with eyes who had created them.

Instead of responding to Michael immediately he checked with Clare. “Was meeting in here deliberate?”

“It was. Thor sent a note a day ago saying that they expect minimal returns from the wador going forward.”

“Understood. So, there’s no need for secrecy?”

She inclined her head in affirmation.

Tom turned back to Michael. “You’ve probably already guessed, but there was a True Dream, and it confirmed conclusively that we no longer need the precognition blocker.”

“Can you share the dream. I’m fascinated by how such esoteric knowledge was shared? I mean this was a need that a GOD foresaw us requiring and now you’re saying it’s not necessary. How was that communicated through another sapients experience. I’m trying to get my head around this. Please help me out.”

“No.”

“No! that’s it? Just a straight no?”

“It’s classified. Only Evelyn knows some of the details and that’s only because she was there at the time. To put it lightly, I think I was in shock and I blabbed specifics before I could help myself.”

“And I wish he didn’t.” She said quietly.

Michael crinkled his nose. “This vision was from over a week ago wasn’t it. It’s from when you went crazy during the last hunt.”

Tom shrugged. “Something like that.”

“And you decided to screw the wador?”

“We did,” Clare answered. “That’s why we couldn’t tell you before now.”

“So, the nine million we’ve gathered is available for us to use on whatever we choose?”

“Most of it. We’ll give the million back to the inventor by using the credits to purchase whatever materials it’ll find most useful.” Clare told him. “I don’t think it’s worth upsetting them. We’ll also offer something to the chosen, but we know that they’re gonna refuse that suggestion. The wador can go screw themselves.”

“What are we purchasing with this windfall? Apart from golems because I can already see that investment.”

Clare tapped the table her lips turning down. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but that many credits don’t go too far. For coordination purposes I’ve purchased a dozen Locked Order Rings. Everyone will trigger them when they enter the final zone to receive updated orders.”

Michael frowned too. “That’s to stop the giant from interrogating someone and revealing the plot. If that’s the plan, I doubt it’ll work. Any questioning will reveal the purpose of the rings and then the whole thing will unravel.”

“I disagree,” Clare answered. “I think it relies on its gut too much. The rings aren’t to threaten it, they’re to manage the wador. I’m confident they won’t draw the attention of the giant, and in the unlikely case that it does, I can stop them from being activated to avoid giving away our plans to the wador. They won’t get a thing.”

“Then it’ll follow the trail and interrogate you.”

“And I have a skill that protects me.”

Tom was sure that it was not a new skill she was referring to. It was almost certainly something she had bought in the contribution store to pair with her bloodline. It was protection for back then, in case someone with a truth telling ability had asked her directly if she was murdering people, but it would work here and now too.

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“It just seems that…”

“Michael, nothing we are working with is perfect. This is the best solution I have available to deal with the wador. Please let it go. Anyway, in addition to those I’ve bought a potion for everyone to counter the dragon’s ability to freeze all movement in a large area. A human raiding party got a heap of it from an area where the local monsters have a similar skill. We will all drink it before we enter the zone and it means that her lock down capability will be completely countered.”

“And the giant?”

Clare looked at Michael quizzically. “The Giant’s kind of the most critical piece of this plan so half the potion I sourced is going to him.”

“But you’re not supplying the wador?”

“They’ve proven themselves to be our enemies.” Clare said flatly. “I refuse to help them in the slightest. Personally, I wish we could make them go in blind to the threat. If the dragon stunned them, it’d make them easier to deal with. Unfortunately, Tom’s contract means he has to share this detail with them. So, they know about the risk, but they need to look after themselves. They won’t get a freebie from us.”

“Good point,” Michael said and looked at Tom. “How does that contract align with holding back the information on the precognition blocker.”

Tom smiled. “Why would they have access to that? It wasn’t pertinent to them. We, the humans, were already dealing with the problem. It was never something for them to be concerned with.”

Michael guffawed. “That’s weak. Your contract really allowed you to do that?”

“It was mildly uncomfortable, but it was arguable whether they deserved the information and… I always intended to tell them. It was just a timing issue.”

The healer shook his head. “If we were still on earth were you studying to be a lawyer?”

“No!”

Everyone laughed.

“They all sound like decent purchases.” Michael turned his attention back to Clare. “But that can’t be all of them. What else is there?”

“No, I’ve left two million in reserve for emergency purchases. I’m tempted to spend it early to stop the giant commandeering it. The only thing that’s stopped me is that the giant’s not very materialistic. It likes to earn its own equipment, so it’s unlikely to want to steal from us. That means I’m more willing to run that risk and not rush the spending. To me, keeping flexibility in case something else comes up at the last minute is the best call. As to what else I’ve bought in addition to the obvious. ”” She nodded at the golems. “It’s unfortunately been slim pickings. We’ve been monitoring both auction houses, and were successful with a couple of items from the Spectaculi and three from the human’s.”

“Anything for me?” Michael asked tongue in cheek.

Surprisingly, Clare produced a stone and threw it at him. “Your specialities make you nearly useless in the dragon fight. That’s a spell that you can target on any creature up to five kilometres away and basically it hit them with a magical flashbang. Sound, light and magical interference. It’s a nifty spell a because you can push unlimited mana into it.”

The healer held the crystal up and studied it. “I can’t believe you’re giving me this. You’re essentially assigning me the easiest role in the coming battle. Cast this spell when I say. This is emasculating. I thought I was in charge. You’re all getting way too uppity.” Despite the joking, he consumed the stone to make it clear he was happy to do his duty. “What else?”

“I got a skill similar to Tom’s dodge to enhance my tank role.” Clare continued, and then winked at him. “Arguably better because it’s got a precognition element.”

“And exactly how much does it speed up your movements?” Tom couldn’t help but ask.

“A very respectable three times. It was only tier five, but it’ll let me be a proper tank now. The other beneficiaries of the purchases were Soetanto, Harry, Usko and Maher. The first three were to make sure they’ll be useful in the coming fight while Maher got a trait stone that he can use to give us better control over the directions of the teleports.”

“It all sounds very sensible, but you really should have consulted with me prior to doing this.”

“There were time pressures and because you and Tom are the main liaisons with the other species, we want to keep you out of the operational side of things.”

Michael frowned, then nodded. “Yeah, that’s reasonable. Let’s continue doing that.”

The meeting broke up and he went back to his crafting and then, like clockwork it was time to sleep. He knew the enemies that he was facing and was comfortable that he understood their powers. While it was tempting to terrorise the insect leader and give it more antenna cramps, Tom decided not to. , The discomfort such an action would cause the insect was not enough to compensate Tom for having to spend time in its foul mind, so he wasn’t going down that path. Instead, he wanted to find out more about the current state of play in the final zone. How were they set up, and he didn’t want the situation from a month ago. He needed more recent information, preferably only a day old, but no more than a week.

He slipped into sleep and instantly a True Dream swept him up.

Tom shuddered in distaste as he touched the mind he was in.

It was the dragon once more, and she was a very bored, frustrated and angry dragon.

He couldn’t have wished those feelings onto a nicer person.

Currently, she was staring at a text box overlaid in her vision. She had it on permanently and it tracked the time until this nightmare had to end. The number was both gratifying and despicable. A few days to go, a number that simultaneously was a frustrating eternity and a sign of how much of this torture she had already endured. She could remember when it had read three figures and there had been over a hundred days left.

Now there were only four days to go and not a single opponent had made it here. Only the insects had accomplished it. If this was all a waste, if all the other competitors had died to the pathetically weak trial… she would… first she would scream in frustration and then she would dedicate her life to tracking down every member of all the different species and hunting them to extinction as punishment.

Even if they came through right now, she was not sure that would be sufficient payment for her time. She would only have a few days to play with them. It was intolerable. She dreamt of years of glorious genocide with most of her consciousness, but with a small part she continued to scan around her just in case now was the moment when the excitement would start.

It wasn’t.

There was no slight rippling of the portals that would have revealed someone coming through.

She was so bored.

She wanted to kill, but…

That was forbidden for now.

There had been no contact with her GOD, which also annoyed her. Something was blocking the trait that enabled the connection. Which resulted in there being no opportunities to ask if all the enemies were dead. Last time she had contact and had asked they had all been alive and until it was confirmed otherwise, she would stay.

She had sworn an oath to defend this spot, and that meant she couldn’t exactly leave it at a whim.

The magical barrier she had constructed prevented her from leaving and stretching her wings properly, and it was not like she could take it down. The barrier was necessary to guarantee no enemies could sneak to the finish line. She was stuck here in the centre of the zone, but her magic and any projectiles she launched could escape through the barrier as it only stopped living creatures from passing. A flap of her wings took her up, and she was thankful she’d made the boundary wide enough to allow her to circle relatively comfortably, even if she couldn’t produce the speed necessary to do any advanced manoeuvres.

She searched for the insects.

There were fifteen left, unless one, like a weakling, had succumbed to its injuries.

This was a game they had settled on.

She let them hide and then she would search them out. Then she would attack. If they were fast enough, they should be able to survive with only minor injuries. Of course, if they didn’t bother hiding properly she strove for more permanent damage.

They now put their all into the game and really tested her perception.

Her eyes immediately picked out the two she had crippled with her breath. The first had been accidental and logically she regretted it slightly. She hadn’t even known it was in the area she had targeted because it was so well hidden.

It’s fault for being slow though. The other maimed outcome had been the result of a more deliberate action because it hadn’t been bothering to hide. Spying them both so easily made part of her hungry to destroy. But that would grant them a quick death, which they didn’t deserve. It was pleasing that they still suffered from their mistakes of drawing her ire.

The insects had nothing that allowed them to heal from the ravages of her breath. Leaving them alive was the best way to cause them suffering. Satisfied with her logic, she decided to not kill them today.

She circled around, searching.

One was perched on top of a portal. Another was at the correct location a hundred metres away. A third was almost at her barrier, which was way too far from the portal to be effective.

That was who she would play with. If she launched her breath just right, she might be able to force it close enough to the barrier that she could catch it. Before she attempted that she had to find all fifteen. She didn’t want to be in the same situation as the last time where she actually killed one because she wasn’t aware of where it was hiding.

They couldn’t look after themselves, so she had to be careful to ensure she did not reduce their numbers further. She would need all of those that remained if heaps of enemies came through at once. Honestly, she had probably culled their numbers too much already.

The dream shattered, and Tom smiled at the information that it had given. Their discipline had crumbled and there were far fewer enemies than he had been expecting.

His confidence increased.

When he woke, he immediately went to Claire’s war room. It was just Michael with her today. He placed a crystal down and told them everything.

“Tom, before you go, can I ask a couple of questions?” Clare asked.

“Of course, proceed.”

“With my revised planning is strategy omega superior to strategy upsilon?”

“Oh, it’s going to be that type of question is it?” He growled at her.

She grinned, showing lots of white teeth and everything. “Well, is omega better than upsilon or not?”