Five drones moved across the beach with their riders, who were hanging on with varying levels of ease. The land drones themselves weren’t exactly built to be ridden; it was just something their owner had very quickly gotten used to. And it didn’t hurt that hanging onto something for extended periods of time had only gotten easier as his physical Stats increased.
It was almost convenient that the group had only numbered for people, however. It meant that they each had a ride without forcing Jordan to either reduce his total TP to zero, or have his land drones make multiple trips. As they drove across the beach of iron powder, they were effectively just retracing their steps back to the Crab’s base.
Jordan glanced at the trail of footprints he passed by. He wondered how the others felt as they looked at the prints of where they had walked. What it was like to know that a distance it’d taken them a full day and night to make on foot was now being done within just over an hour while riding the drones.
Since the gun evolution brought the speed of the land drones back down to 45 miles per hour, that was still more than ten times faster than what a person could walk. On the way to rescue them, Jordan had used Overcharge to make that trip even shorter in time. Though since it’d be kind of rude to leave them in the dust like that, he just settled with the drone’s base speed for this part of the ride.
But soon enough, they arrived at the former home of the Crabs. Jordan was the fastest hop off his drone as he then immediately marched toward the entrance. The others needed a bit longer to shake off the soreness that came from holding onto the drones for the last hour, especially since they hadn’t exactly gotten that much rest after their long walk. As soon as he walked into the middle of the metal dome, however, a pop-up appeared before Jordan.
Mandate claimed!
The territory of the High Lord’s current Kingdom, Industry, has now expanded!
Unfortunately, it wasn’t followed up by yet another notification praising his deed and rewarding it with an additional Title. But it did at least mean that on the leaderboard, one Crab Kingdom would officially be removed from the list. As far as a consolation prize went, knowing that the Golden Prince would likely notice this change was something he could enjoy the thought of.
Still weird that nobody who claimed a Mandate managed to claim a second one before I did earlier. Though maybe they got lucky with getting dropped near a Mandate, but not so lucky in that they have to deal with living with another super high Level monster, and can’t explore? Or maybe I’m the one that just got really lucky, with these portals. Although… the pattern so far of where a portal is located in relation to a mandate has now been pretty consistent. Too consistent to just be a series of coincidences, Jordan thought to himself.
On that note, he took a look around at the inside of the dome itself. Despite the fully open doorway, the interior was far warmer than it was outside, and by another degree even more humid. It was to that point that even after standing inside for less than a minute, beads of sweat were forming on his forehead.
While it seemed like the Crabs had no problem with living under the more regular conditions outside, Jordan could only assume that this kind of environment was their preference. Which as giant crustaceans went, made sense to him. Speaking of their preferences though, the rest of the dome was about as alien in terms of furniture and design. The first thing to note was the deep blue lighting that radiated from along all sides of the dome.
But when it came to looking at the other stuff, part of the problem was how big everything was. Despite the dome itself not being overall larger than his own base, all that space was seemingly being dedicated to just the single ground floor. The furniture was clearly built to accommodate the large size of the Crabs. But as for the design itself, while still being made of metal, round furniture was the order of the day.
There was some stuff that Jordan believed was a set of a table and chairs, just based on their positioning. Yet they were entirely rounded, to the point where the chairs could be described as cylindrical in shape more than anything. Jordan had no idea what kind of design style from Earth this was closest to, but he was sure someone out there would have been more enthusiastic about it. As far as Jordan was concerned, however, he didn’t care much for it and quickly moved on.
After looking around a bit more, he eventually came to a conclusion.
Damn, doesn’t look like they have a unique Boon for me to take for myself. If this Kingdom didn’t get one, then I guess it must have been one of the later ones to get claimed. Since I got one with the High Lord Title as the eighth Kingdom, I can only assume it applies to the whole top ten. Hmm, should have kept the Kingdom leaderboard open to see what this one was placed at. Even if I didn't know which copycat name it was, I could have figured it out by seeing what shifted in the list afterward. Ah well, too late for that now.
However, it wasn’t a total waste. For Jordan did manage to find something that still piqued his interest.
Name: Central Controller
Charge: 97%
EXP: 0/10000
Rank: 1
Description: This device acts as the central power source of the Kingdom’s first building. Standard to every Kingdom with an automatically constructed building, it adjusts the internal conditions to be comfortable to the Lord that controls it.
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Jordan was interested in how this thing’s Description compared to that of his Industrial Transmuter. They were kind of similar, but this one lacked any mention of it being a Boon, and instead went into greater detail of it basically being a standardized AC system. This seemed to mean that with Kingdoms like his own that did get a Boon, the System chose to just roll this feature in as well as a package deal. Though in his case, the Description for this part of its functionality had only gotten like one line, and focused a lot more on the Transmuter instead.
Well, let’s see, then. I’m the one controlling it, so shouldn’t you be kicking into being what I think is comfortable now? Jordan internally asked the machine. A request that was noted and heeded by the System, as he almost immediately felt a shift in the air. Within mere moments, the local humidity was already dropping to be far more tolerable as it then kept going. Nodding to himself, he was at least glad to know that was something else that updated only when prompted.
As far as the Kingdom itself went, there wasn’t really much left for him to do here. Like with the Mandate he had claimed in the mountains, the territory here was a small bubble, fully disconnected from his original Kingdom. But Jordan didn’t want to believe that claiming these territories now was a pointless endeavor, despite their immediate lack of obvious usefulness.
Instead, he believed that it might be better to think in the long term. The System had made it obvious that despite being separate leaderboards, there was some connection between Guilds and Kingdoms. Why else give him the prompt to start a Guild, the moment his Kingdom actually got its first member beside himself? From the total number of Guilds, there were obviously other ways. Maybe, like how the System often did things only when prompted, it might even be as simple as two or more people expressing the formation of a Guild as their will.
But if I were a betting men, I’d be willing to put money that there are some hidden functions I haven’t unlocked yet. Right now, since it doesn’t count me, my Kingdom has a population of five people. That hasn’t revealed anything yet, but what about when that reaches ten, or even more? Until proven otherwise, I should act with the assumption that the System will reward me if I actually put effort into expanding my Kingdom’s population. Easier said than done, since I don’t know where to even find others. But if I encounter more groups of people in the future, I should at least keep trying to recruit them. Maybe at some point then, the System will unlock something good, Jordan theorized.
Having spent the last couple of minutes now inside the dome, Jordan then stepped back outside. He’d told them that he only needed a few minutes at most to take care of Kingdom business. So with that done and nothing else of major note that needed his immediate attention, there was no reason to linger.
“Right,” Jordan began as he nodded at the four. “Like I said, it shouldn’t take me more than a couple of hours for me to get some winter clothing ready for you all. Then, when we’re back in the forest my base is in, there’ll be plenty of space for you to settle down.”
As he’d spoken, Sammy uncomfortably shifted in place. “While I think I’m speaking us for all when I say that we’re thankful for what you’re doing… just what is that you expect from us?”
“I can give you two answers to that, short term and long term.” On the way here, it’d been something he already thought about. “I know things have been rough, as much of an understatement that is. So for the next day or two, all I ask is that you take care of yourselves. Food and water are plentiful, so take as much as you want and then get as much rest as you need. After that? I’m not some micromanager that’s going to breathe down your necks. I trust that we’ll find a way to our parts in helping each other stay alive on this planet.”
“Well… all I’m good for is fighting with my Class. But I- I don’t think I can do that. I’m just not that kind person, and- and-” Tears began to run down Sammy’s cheeks. From the way her voice had cracked, Jordan could only emphasize with her. He could imagine the pent-up emotions she must have been putting down for a while now, only for them to come up now at once.
Tentatively, Jordan tried to reassuringly place a hand on her shoulder. “That’s okay. For now, just focus on yourself. But for the future, I can at least promise you all this much,” Jordan said as he then glanced between the other people and momentarily locked eyes with each person.
“I will never force you to risk your own life, or do something you’re totally opposed to. If you have a combat Class but don’t want to fight? That’s okay, you don’t have to. Just take things one day at a time, and we’ll go from there. But here, for in case any of you want some before I get back.” He then handed Sammy his water bottle, already refilled, of course.
With that, he just talked to them a little more about the minor details. Just to give them a more accurate rundown of what to expect from the cold mountain environment, the need to go through the portals, and such. While perhaps some of said details were less minor then others, it was just a fancy way of planning out a road trip at the end of the day. Just one where they might need to keep an eye our for Ice Spirits or Wyverns along the way, and let either Hage or Jordan’s drones take care of it.
After making sure they didn’t have anything major they wanted to bring up now, Jordan then rode off on his noble and metal steed. As his other drones followed him, he left one land drone to keep a patrol around the other Humans. Just as a precautionary measure against the unknown, more than anything.
Soon, as Jordan approached the portal, he noticed a familiar figure. Standing next to the gateway was Haje. Seeing him, Jordan did feel a little embarrassed by the idea of not even knowing how long his new friend must have been waiting for him. But at the same time, it did bring up an idea. In terms of a thought that’d been in the back of his mind for more than an hour now, he finally came to a conclusion.
He had promised that he wouldn’t force Sammy or anyone to fight if they didn’t want to. And while Jordan himself intended to keep to that, the world they now lived in was unlikely to be so kind and accommodating. To not at least recognize that reality would just be wilfully naive of him. But all that meant was that for those who were willing to put their lives on the line, they had to make up for those who weren’t. Yet as far as a willing fighter who was already worth more than the other Humans combined in terms of battle prowess, only one obvious name came to mind.
Haje.
When he got close to the portal and he stone giant next to it, Jordan hopped off his land drone. Then he reached into his hand, and pulled a gem from his pocket space. While this remained a bit of a leap of faith, he decided to trust in the positive impressions made so far.
It was time to use his recently gathered Advancement Crystals and let Haje have his own power boost.