The next day at noon Aiden was standing on top of the town walls looking out at the horizon, where about a mile in every direction Mana beasts were being born out of thick clouds of Miasma. They seemed to have gotten lucky and the beasts were spawning away from the town. He knew that they needed to head out and kill them soon however, before they decimated the surrounding animal and monster population.
There seemed to be more of them spawning this time and when he looked closer he could see that the miasma was concentrated around the town and in the direction of Hardwick with a few more areas in the distance. It led him to believe that the system was intentionally spawning them in areas where there were people that could fight and kill them. He took note of the other areas in the distance to explore later and possible find more settlements or cluster’s of survivors. Especially the huge one that was far off to the east.
Aiden headed down and gave a short and to the point speech to the army and Guardians trying to get them focused and lift their spirits a bit. They marched out and split into groups of 20, with each group then heading in different directions to hunt the Mana beasts.
They fought nearly the entire day decimating the majority of the beasts that had spawned close by. They hadn't changed much since the last wave in appearance but were bigger and stronger in every way. The weakest one's he saw were level 30.
Thankfully they weren’t an organized force and isolating small clusters wasn't difficult making the fight's go smoothly. Aiden or Victoria were needed to help deal with a few special Elite variants, since the fights would have probably claimed lives otherwise. The two were still much stronger then anyone else there and had assist whenever an Elite was spotted.
With essence gained from completing the survival quest everyone had gained at least one level and the majority of Fengaria’s fighting force was now between lvl 10-15, with most of the Guardians over level 20, helped by their recent fight with the Ratlings.
The groups fought non stop with barely a rest during the day, hoping to kill as many as they could. They didn't want the beasts preying on the monsters in the area overnight and getting stronger. Eventually, the weary group retreated to the town for the night and headed off to bed with only a few remaining on the walls to keep watch and shoot any beasts that wandered close enough.
The next day the killing continued and they reduced the Mana beast population in the immediate area to small enough numbers that they shouldn’t pose too much of a danger. They would still head out the next few day’s to find and dispose of any they could.
Eden received a message from Hardwick the first day letting them know that they were having an easier time of it. Since the town was surrounded by plains, the majority of the Mana beasts there headed for one of the most visible places they could see, which were the walls of the town. Since they couldn't climb the walls however, they were easy pickings for the defenders and were slowly disposed of by the archers. Hardwick’s town guard was getting a work out and they were all gaining levels at a rapid pace.
After a week of constantly going out and picking off any stray Mana beast’s they could find, they finally reached a point where there were barely any left. The organized groups called it a job well done and life resumed as normal after that, or what was normal for them now.
In the following two month’s a few thing’s of note took place. The tunnel with the ant’s was finally cleared, taking over a week and pretty much all their manpower to do the job in any reasonable time frame. There were close to a million of the things that needed to be killed to clear out the hive.
Thankfully they were all still relatively low level, but the tedium of fighting swarms of ant’s for days took their toll on them. It did bring a good deal of extra money to the town however which was always a good thing. It was a great source of essence for them as well, with everyone gaining a few levels from the constant killing.
With the Ant’s now dealt with they had access to the dungeon there, with Aiden setting up an outpost at the tunnel entrance to claim the area. Doing so also managed to connect the borders of Eden and Hardwick, and brought him ever closer to upgrading his Barony to a Viscounty.
A few party’s would run the dungeon every day now, gaining some better loot and earning increased essence and credits. Unfortunately this was a low level dungeon and could only be run by one team at a time, so not many party’s could go per day. A system was set up so everyone that wished, would get a chance to run the dungeon eventually.
Scouting party’s were sent out in the direction’s where the miasma had coalesced in the distance looking for more survivors. In one of the places that they checked, there was nothing but Mana beasts and Undead. They had some luck however and ran into a few settlements out there with survivors.
The first group they ran into, consisting of over 300 people, had built a little community in a forest clearing. They were part of a larger town before, but were forced to flee when the first beast wave overwhelmed them the day of the Awakening.
They were unable to create a safe zone for themselves so they were making due with a manually constructed wooden wall and huts. They were excited to see other survivors and after being told about Fengaria they happily packed up and joined the scouting party and traveled back to Eden. Unfortunately the next group of survivors they ran into seemed to be hostile.
Tom who had been with the scouting team, had snuck into their encampment, which was a fenced off abandoned factory, and was horrified by what he found there. His horror quickly turned into anger and he proceeded to assassinate all of them in the dead of night while they slept. When he emerged a half hour later covered in blood and still looking pissed, the others were horrified, but when he relayed to them what he found they understood.
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The group inside were convict’s that managed to escape from a prison during the panic of the Awakening. There were over fifty of them and they were keeping slaves for labor as well as sex slaves, from ransacking a nearby settlement. They had apparently killed the rest of the people there and took a few of the non awakened people with them to use as labour and a bunch of women to do with as they pleased.
No one as young as him should have to witness such things or be the one to do something about it. Aiden would have probably done the same but the kid was only 14. When Aiden later confronted him about his state of mind after the incident, he was resolute in his response when he claimed he would and will do it again if it was necessary. That they were no better then the monsters. There seemed to be a story there as he was really passionate about it but Aiden didn't pry.
He agreed with him completely but he just didn't think someone so young should be killing people. He seemed to mature quickly in this new world, and others his age were as well and Aiden and alot of others didn't know how to handle the issue.
Tom would be kept off the scouting part's from now on in case they ran into something similar, it being the only thing he could at the time. It would be best if Tom and any other kids grew up a little more before being put in situations like that. Fighting and killing monsters was one thing but killing people was different, deserved or not.
The 42 men and thirty seven distraught women were brought back to Eden and looked after. None of them were awakened, apparently the ‘monsters’ that had taken them captive didn’t want them fighting back so they only took regular people. They had been there for nearly two weeks. The settlement they were from was investigated when it was asked of them, but unfortunately there were no survivors to be found, only a burned out ruin.
Almost two hundred survivors had found their way to either Eden or Hardwick in that time as well. The amount of new people coming was starting to decline and would soon most likely stop altogether, but any that made it were welcomed with open arms. Anyone else out there was probably either dead or doing fine where they were, and had no need to risk themselves to try and go locate someplace else.
The town had gone through a good deal of changes as well. It was expanded to over twice its previous size, the walls stretching north slightly, and a good deal east towards the Ocean. Aiden was slowly expanding the town in that direction to eventually combine it with the port.
Fortunately it was relatively easy to move buildings around with the terrain manipulation option. You simply needed to select the chunk of land the building sat on and slowly move the whole thing, making it easy and not very costly to reorganize the layout of the town. He sometimes really loved what was possible now.
The crafting hall was upgraded to a large one, able to accommodate over 300 people, with an additional one built across town. Two compounds were added to serve as headquarters and housing for the towns forces. A small one for the Guardians to reside in and a medium sized one for the army to use. The only people now staying in the mansion were The Circle, and a few other people Aiden trusted. Order meetings were still held there however.
The small compound was just as comfortable and a little more spacious then the towers attached to his mansion, so the Guardians still had a nice place for themselves. The compound was essentially a large gated training facility with housing. The only difference with the medium sized one he bought for the army was the total size of the building.
The compounds were four stories tall, and rose above the town walls, with another two subterranean levels which were meant for storage. One of the levels being converted to more housing space instead. The small compounds could hold up to 250 people with the medium one increasing that to 500. Two barracks were also added to the town for later expansion of the army, as they were much cheaper then another compound would have been.
The Mana well’s were removed, except the one’s by the stables. Everyone could get clean water from any building now, so they were unnecessary. The residences were relocated slightly and more rows were added on for future expansion. They were now all located above the farming area and the grazing field. A brewery was constructed and the town now had access to their own alcohol, no longer having to overpay on the system shop if they wanted a drink.
A bar had been built along with various other shops for the crafters to sell their wares, there were even two restaurants now. Two more community halls were added along with another bathhouse, and warehouse. A school was also constructed and was already teaching the almost 200 students. It was mandatory for anyone under the age of 14 to attend untill they could pass the newly designed tests.
The Island just off the coast named Faros had been transformed into farmland as was the plan, and the crops there were already starting to grow. The extra food would be needed since winter was fast approaching. The farm was still being expanded and would eventually span most of the island. It was also a great place to keep farm animals since there was no danger there from monsters and many were purchased and placed there.
The cost of all the upgrades to the town came out to over 20 million credits all told. Aiden still had a few things he wanted to add but was holding off for now. He wanted to have the extra funds for any emergencies. Also Allan wanted another ship that was a bit larger for exploring further out then a couple of miles.
It seemed they had a scare out on the waves while exploring. The Donna had taken damage, and almost capsized when they were bumped by something from underneath. Some of the crew reported seeing small hills rising out of the water and eventually they concluded that it must have been a sea serpent of some kind, and a big one at that.
Aiden agreed that it would be a good idea to purchase a larger sturdier ship that could feasibly deal with things of that nature. He was currently saving up for a good one, but it cost quite a bit, at almost 5 million credits.
Fengaria was thriving with its populous content if not happy. New things were being discovered every day by scouting party’s or people just scouring through the system shop and the copious help menu’s. The caves in the mountains to the north were half way explored at this point, at least that was their estimate. New metals were found further in, and those that were mining, now had another source of income. They could sell precious metals on the market for a decent amount of system credits, supplementing their income from killing monsters.
It was noticed that none of the citizens had gotten sick since the Awakening, which would have been almost an impossibility before. The few doctors they had were baffled by this and didn’t know what could be causing it.
Evryone it seemed was in better shape than before, and a few people reported the disappearance of various chronic diseases. Those that needed glasses to see had miraculously had their eyesight slowly get better over time, and many other things of this nature were noticed and reported.
Aiden not being such a rigid or scientific thinker had a plausible theory for it already, and it only grew in probability with the event that took place the next day, shocking a lot of people to their core.