Getting back to the portal had been pretty quick, since all Jordan needed to do was retrace back through clear path where he’d already forced his way through the snow. But after popping out on the other side, the first thing he did was shake off the snow that was still clinging to his legs.

Well, I can at least still feel the connection to the air drone. So that proves that the forced desummon before was just due to it getting disrupted as it went through the portal, while the evolution from the land drones makes them not worry about that. That’s good to know, Jordan thought as he stepped away from the gateway.

Though while they were all still fighting that Level 6 foe, he was now currently alone. This meant that aside from his Energy Pistol, Jordan was a bit defenseless. Or at least that was how he currently felt, after getting used to the comfort of knowing that they were always one or more drones patrolling around to keep him safe.

Well, Jordan could always summon one more land drone. That would just end up reserving 100% of his TP to bring it down to zero. Which… that was actually something he hadn’t tested in regard to the air drone yet. Since that would make it temporarily impossible to someone a new air drone on account of not being able to pay the base cost, would the regeneration still count, even if he technically had zero Tech Points?

Something to find out in a minute, probably. In case that did lead to the air drone getting desummoned, he’d rather not lose a gun in the ongoing fight. And that was for a couple of reasons. First, its general mobility and ability to fly made it great as something for the Ice Spirit to potentially chase around as it remained out of reach. Second, he would know as soon as it was desummoned if it did take critical damage, though hopefully as the last one to be finished off.

It was the second point that made it different from the land drones. If something took out their guns but didn’t do enough damage to actually shut down the core, then he wouldn’t be able to sense the TP being-

Wait a minute. Jordan? You’re a dumb, stupid, idiot boy. I can easily get around that. With that thought, he updated a new command to the land drones. If they were to receive enough damage so that either their guns weren’t functional, or their treads were damaged so that they couldn’t position themselves to aim toward the target, then they were to shut down their core and subsequently cut themselves off from his TP reserve.

The second he did so, Jordan immediately felt the mental snap of one removing itself from his TP.

Ahhhhh, that’s not good. Not when it’s only been a minute since the first land drone would have engaged. But at least it’s not something like all of them being cut off the second I did that. So that’s… good? Silver lining! Let’s call it a kind of silver lining, yeah, he decided while beginning to pace around in the area in front of the gateway.

Jordan also made sure that the System would actually show him the Experience, rather than automatically add it to the minimized stack. Though about ten seconds later, he felt another land drone cut itself off from his TP supply. He took off the outer jacket of winter gear while moving a bit further away from the portal. With just his building nerves alone, it’d started to get a little too warm under the heavily insulative clothing.

What if this Ice Spirit actually managed to easily wipe out all of his drones? What if it was actually smart enough to understand that he’d been their summoner and was the next threat that needed to be taken out? What if it understood the portal, and if it couldn’t find him, decided to come over to this side in order to chase him? What if-

Experience Earned!

+192 EXP

At that moment, Jordan’s spiral of worrying was like a car that suddenly had to slam on the brakes. Yet as soon as he processed the fact that the monster was actually dead, the next thing that came to mind was about the notification itself. That number was… too high, right?

I mean that can’t be right, can it? Based on what other things give, I think it should only have dropped a bit under a hundred Experience Points or so. That at least sounded about right from him. From how Level 5 creatures dropped 75 Experience, while those at Level 4 gave 56.

Then he checked to see if he’d somehow missed a notification about this Ice Spirit actually being another Initial Merger to count as someone slayed for double Experience. But from what he could tell, there was no such screen. Compared to what he’d been expected, he could not assume only one thing. Perhaps something that wasn’t just a coincidence with how he’d gained a Level-based Skill choice for the same Level this morning.

If Level 6 was a checkpoint, for some reason of all numbers, then perhaps that also applied to the monsters of this world. But if Level 6 was a marker for guaranteed doubled Experience, did that mean that the rate of EXP per Level would also remain doubled? The math for the EXP gained was actually rather simple, enough so that he’d already figured it earlier between rounds of working on the drone. Though it hadn’t taken him long to solve, and could be written out as such:

(Enemy Level times enemy Level) plus (Enemy Level times ten)

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So if you plug in the numbers, one times one is one. Then one times ten is ten. Add the pair of results together, and you get… 11! Yay for math!

Anyway, when Jordan actually thought through the formula, then a Level 6 creature should have dropped exactly 96 Experience Points. But instead, it’d given him 192. So if it were the same formula but then doubled afterward for the final result, then a Level 7 would hypothetically give 238 Experience Points.

Either that… or something that Jordan then thought about it. Which was that you’d also get 192 if the second part of the formula were Enemy Level times 26. Now did that sound a little too specific of an increase? Yes. But this was also the same System that had decided that Level 6 was the best increment possible for a Skill-based reward, so who could say for sure?

In any case, that same math would bring Level 7 to 231 EXP gained instead. So Jordan would just have to find out for sure after he beat the first enemy of that Level. But either way, it did bring a dark thought to mind.

If the base EXP at Level 6 was doubled, and then doubled again for slaying another person …

Jordan recalled the Mightiest Individual leaderboard. So far, he was one of only a relative few to actually hit Level 6. It was an achievement that put him ever so close to the top five, after all. But when morning came, it would be to shine the dawn of day four since the Merging started.

With 361 days left in the Quest at that point, there would be more than enough time for people to hit Level 6 by then. Hell, if one were to assume a steady rate that never slowed down, his own Level would be somewhere in the hundreds by the end of the first year. So who was to say how long it’d take for people to realize that aiming for those of a higher Level wasn’t just more EXP, but also was even more.

With a small sigh, Jordan stepped back through the gateway. After putting his top coat back on, of course. But as he considered the reality of it all, he really wasn’t looking forward to the bloodshed to come.

Especially since it’d already come to his doorstep, he wouldn’t be surprised if more people like that pair would eventually arrive in an attempt to claim his life. He could only hope that as he checked the leaderboard, he didn’t see one of the Leos suddenly drop off it. And if he did, then all he could do was pray that it would be a stranger and not his friend.

Someone out there probably thinks it might be cruel to pray for that kind of thing. But honestly? Screw them. If I had to pick between those I care about or some strangers, that’s an easy choice that I could make every time. Even if you try to trolley problem it by saying it’s ten for one, or whatever, it doesn’t matter. I’ll- woah.

His train of rather self-righteous thought was interrupted by the sight that greeted him. Quite soon after walking through the portal, it hadn’t taken him long at all to see. A few hundred feet away from where stood was the corpse of the Ice Spirit. Although, perhaps corpse wasn’t the best thing to call it. A pile, perhaps?

Because just a couple dozen feet from the ruined form of one of his land drones, there was a stack of broken pyramids. Some were missing entire hunks, but even those that did have a spiderweb of cracks and holes from where they’d been shot through. The worse of the damage was to the largest pyramid that now roughly sat in the center of the pile.

Huh, well, seems like energy bolts work just fine against big pieces of ice. Actually… it looks like the thing was made of normal ice, but maybe it’s like magic ice? Hmm, no harm in taking some, either way. Either it’s magical and I can try to figure out something to use it with, or I have a supply of ice cubes to keep my water chilled, just the way I like it. Jordan tried to think of happier thoughts by thinking about that kind of thing. It was a bit forced, but made for a much better train of thought than one revolved around death.

From there, things went pretty smoothly on his part. When he stood up close to the pile of ice pyramids, the largest piece was still bigger than he was. Something that was also way too big to simply put into his pocket space as is. But with a bit of help from his drones, and pulling out a hammer, Jordan quickly broke it up into smaller pieces that he could actually pull into his pocket space.

Potentially useful ice, now collected!

Jordan then hopped onto one of his drones. At this point, the novelty of actually exploring a new environment with his own two feet had begun to wear off. So now was the time for him to actually expedite things a bit and take the much more practical approach of just riding a drone to make the trip shorter. Especially since it now seemed pretty proven that their treads had little issue with the snow-covered terrain.

Now that the very rude interruption was dealt with, he had the drone head toward where a Mandate would hopefully be waiting. With his air drone still alive, Jordan also had it resume its prior orders and fly ahead.

A few minutes passed as the environment did have an impact on the maximum speed that his land drones could safely maintain. At least when it came to keeping the human riding one safe and not fearing that he’d end up being sent tumbling down. The steeper parts of the terrain also did have an impact on the time taken. But overall, the delay it caused was still only in the timespan of minutes, so not really that significant.

Well, just gotta keep an eye out for any more of those Ice Spirits. With how big that one was, don’t think they’re just fully buried and hiding under the snow. At least not around here, though it could be possible in much deeper areas. But as long as there aren’t any other sudden surprises, it should be fine. Just have to resummon two more land drones when I stop. Other than that, all will hopefully go as-

At that moment, there was a violent beating of what sounded like wings. Jordan looked up, and had to squint as the noise was coming from the direction of the sun. Even with his slightly tinted eyewear, looking directly at the sun was still not something that Dr. Joyner would recommend.

But then his eyes suddenly widened, as the figure moved away from the sun. Or rather, figures, as in plural. Because one was what could only be described as a blue dragon desperately trying to flail around while flying in the air. And the other, with four arms attempting to strangle the dragon’s neck, was a… stone humanoid?

Of course, Jordan had definitely brought this on by tempting the System with his thoughts.