'Updates please,' while we await their decisions.
** DING **
Combat summary
Enemies slain:
Goblin lv 5 - 9 x 3,198
Goblin Warrior lv 10 - 14 x 1,782
Goblin Scout lv 10 - 14 x 1,538
Goblin Bandit lv 10 - 14 x 828
72,162 syscred and 125,669 exp awarded
Combat summary
Enemies slain, 2 participants:
Hobgoblin lv 15 - 17 x 527
4,347 syscred and 11,956 exp awarded
Slain Hobgoblin Mage lv 15 - 18 x 80
2,120 syscred and 9,363 exp awarded
Spell mastery rank up, Micro Flight Early > Basic
Skill level up, Intimidate 12 > 19
Skill level up, Evasion 21 > 22
Skill level up, Dodge Roll 17 > 18
Skill level up, All-Armor Proficiency 9 > 10
'Inspect Micro Flight, thanks!'
Micro Flight - Basic. Journeyman rank. Various mana cost. Incomplete spell, upto Basic only. Spend [5+(90% of caster's volume in cm³ / MAtk)] mana, to shrink into 10% of your total mass and encompass yourself with a geometric force barrier in a shape of your choosing, every [MAtk/60] minutes. Pushing mana through parts of the barrier creates directional propulsion force. Pushing you for [MAtk] meters every ten mana, the more mana invested at once, the stronger the force of movement created. Reconfiguration of the barrier into an Airplane-like shape boost flight speed by 50%, and it is now possible to create force of movement before achieving 10% of body mass with a penalty [of current mass percentage - 10 percent] to speed.
—
"We are grateful for your timely assistance. But I must apologize." The leader tells me after almost an hour, his entourage neatly lined up behind him in support. "We have all come to a consensus, and have chosen to remain independent at present time."
"I understand," I say in kind, as he is being polite, so will I. "Well, I'll be on my way. Just a friendly reminder, it would be best if you organize a thorough hunt to rid yourselves of those Goblins and Hobgoblins as much as possible. Make sure to find where they come from and keep the population under control. They breed like rabbits."
I jump onto Gon before it occurred to me, "oh! And protect your girls and womens. Those greenskins tend to kidnap females for procreation." Sensing that I am done with my conversation, Gon turns north to lift off.
"Wait," I gently pat his neck. I happen to notice two people approaching just as the leader-group is gathering to leave for the city. They noticed me noticing and decided to wait a little longer---for their leaders to truly leave---before approaching.
"Hello," the taller one says, they are both equipped in a mishmash of modern-old armor; bike helmet and sports equipment, that is hiding their face from view.
"Thank you for saving us." The shorter one says, this time in english. "We heard you were offering an alliance of sorts. Did the boss accept?" Ah, gossip~.
"They didn't," I chuckle at their immediate groans of disappointment. Then I, again, warned them of how fast their latest enemies could breed and the need to cull them down.
"Did you tell them?" One asks, which I answered with a yes. Upon which they both shared a knowing look and shrugged.
"Think we and our family can join you?" They ask, making brief peeks at the retreating leader-group. "We saw what you can do and figured you know what you're doing more than..."
They had just implied their leaders are no good. And that stumped me… "uh, you're gonna have to wait while I ask."
Zen: Hen, I'm at KL
Zen: Their leaders refused to work together
Zen: But I have two combatant asking to join us, they kinda saw me fight with magico
Zen: When I arrived they were under attack by a goblin horde
Zen: Palembang needs to be ready, there are gobs nearby
Zen: From the north
Zen: Bolster their defenses or something
"How are you asking?" The taller one asks, I don't bother to ask for their name, really bad at memorizing them anyways.
"By text," I explained, Henry happened to reply by the time I was done. "My boss said they don't mind, anyone and everyone can join as long as they mean no harm."
They were instead excited at hearing about VICOS and were eager to get one for themselves. Tsk, phone addicted people, have shame! I say shamelessly.
"I'm sorry but could you wait while we ask around and prepare and stuff." One said. "Two hours… no, one hour tops!"
"Sure." There are people who want to survive, I won't deny them two hours, let alone one. Though, with how things are, guess I might be buying a new Mana Tower after all…
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Waiting. is. booring~. I realized as I sit while leaning on to a tree, Gon lazily sleeping on the ground near me. Should have told them I'll be back and go check on Singapore.
Ah! I grab into one of my pouches and pull out the Woe-Core now turned Mana Core, damn it's big! 'Inspect!'
** DING **
Mana Core (10,335)
This is amazing! Potential money maker this spell!! War may be unpleasant but damn it sure is—as they say—profitable, to the right people. Now then, I am also reminded that there are Monster Cores I have yet to feed to my ring, mostly cores from the elemental dungeon, but… feed them first or leave them be..?
After a bit of math with the help of my VICOS. I feed my ring all elemental Monster Cores starting with the ones with the lowest mana content, and finally, the Mana core. Boosting its mana pool to 1,655 mana. Had I just used the Mana Core, all those elemental ones would be unusable and my ring would only end up with less than 1600 mana.
"Hi! Thank you for waiting. We're ready." I look up from my ring and see two guys before me, still decked in armor and with sheathed weapons. A little bit further away, stands quite a large group of people. Maybe a hundred combatants and twice or thrice that; civilians.
"This… is more people than I expected." I tell them. "And, are those gear yours or the Territories?"
"It's ours, we bought it from the logistics department using our Creds." tall clarified, "you need something?"
"Nope," old-modern equipment for Creds? Taking the cash off of their own combatants and giving back trash. "Can you sell them back?"
"Yes, but for less than we bought it from." Tall, again, answered my question. "They said our purchases also helps them grow the Territory, so it's fine."
"Alrighty." I gave them a thumbs up, "well, do you have any suggestion about where we can build a secret base? Some place with more cover, and easily defensible. Preferably a large space indoors."
"How large are we speaking?"
"I'd say, at least six meters wide and long, with walls about seven meters tall." I answer short.
"Maybe the airport?" Short recommended, but I declined, too public. "Well, we know of several camping grounds up in the mountains."
"Or the University of something-ham," tall half-contribute. "I think there are some resorts on the outskirts too."
"The zoo would be too dangerous with every animals evolving like they do," short muttered to himself. "Maybe we should ask the others."
"Wait here okay," someone said. I wasn't paying attention—a zoo? After a moment to decide, I mount Gon and walk towards them. The group pauses their discussion at my approach.
"Where can I find the zoo?"
I ended up getting pulled off Gon and into their discussion. Where I explain what a Dungeon is and that our zoo became one. A few—the younger generations most exposed to video games—understood my intentions and began to explain how, if safety can be maintained, having a nearby Dungeon can only be good for the long run. I allowed them a few more minutes to talk things through before re-asking my previous question.
This time, they did better than answer me, instead offering to guide me there. But, requested at least two may come—smart of them to be cautious—so I agree. I allowed the pair of guides, a guy and a girl in their twenties to mount Gon. They hesitate and seem wary while the Dragon Familiar is visibly eager to make new friends.
"I haven't got all day you two." I remind them. Eventually I had to hold Gon's head so they may mount in peace. Do they not notice his neck is very flexible? If he decided to bite, his back is not safe at all. "So which way?"
I cast Micro Flight while they point in a direction and off we go, landing not a few minutes later, unmistakably on the outskirts of a zoo. The new symbol on my map does not disappoint.
"You can fly!?" The girl asks, being the first to dismount. "That is totally illogical!"
"Yeap, and so can he," I point at Gon. "You had just rode on an ethereal Dragon and you've been fighting Goblins and who knows what evolved animals. Logic can go find a hole to hide in, forever." I made sure to open my mask, showing me grinning a human grin and letting her know I'm chill.
"Can you teach me?!" The guy asks while the girl seem lost in thought. I know that my MAtk–or Magic Attack–is above three thousand as I have noticed that Micro Flight would require mana about every fifty minutes. Even so, I needed about eighty mana to get here. A spellcaster with below 500 MAtk might need upwards of 600 mana, while someone with 100 matk; maybe above 2700 mana. Unless they choose to save a few hundred mp by crash landing.
"I can but you might not have enough mana or magic to actually use it much." I tell him. "Its pretty expensive until your magical ability passes a certain level. Do you still want it?"
"Yes!"
"Me too please!"
"If you're gonna be trying to fly anyways, stay low, okay!" They agree and I open my store to send them the spell, and Conjure Trilattic Swarm, as well as Magico Disk. Note to self: claim my sales, it's been 40 or so days since. It is also worthy of mention that I had allowed Henry to use my share from Rumah to be used for its betterment.
"Alright, let's head back. I got the answer I was looking for." I told them after we did a bit of scouting. As like Taman Safari, the whole zoo is encompassed by solid mist, the entrance gate being its Dungeon Gate. My Mana Tower will be built a little further away but be positioned right in front of it; in the car park.
—-
We land near the other group as they are in the midst of a heated debate with people I recognize to have been part of their Leader's entourage. Something about stealing their properties and betraying their country and stuff. Everyone was too busy to even recognize our landing. Shit…
I suppose this might be a solution. Opening my store interface and aiming at everyone who seemed to be on our side, I gave them all Magico and Trilattic Swarm. All four hundred or so people paused, maybe due to their System chime, each seemed to be reading something before every single one slowly turn to look at me.
"I was hoping it wouldn't come to this." I say calmly, "but with what I just gave you, I recommend you just return those gears. Although you did pay for them. And equip the better option instead."
They all say and do nothing, opting to continue staring at me. So I added, "and if it matters to you. We, as in my friends and I, no longer differentiate people by their nationality. There are definitely worse things than fellow humans out there now, so we're all in this together. To survive, to avoid going extinct. If your purpose is for humanity to live, I think it's best we all work together."
"You!! You're the one who tricked these people to desert their country!" A guy said, he totally did not give a duck about what I had just preached. In one ear and out the other, tsk!
"You guys coming?" I begin walking in the direction of the zoo. "Non-combatants make a line, five rows wide please. Combatants on that side, I'll handle this side."
I walk a little bit away, and stop to wait while they organize into a line. The combatants each approached their former leader and discarded their gear on to the ground, then cast Conjure Trilattic Swarm right where they stand before also joining the line.
Soon, we were on our way but I feel like we're all going to attend a funeral… though, on a side note, no creature decided to try their luck with attacking this many people, even as it got dark and I had to cast Light on sticks to use as a makeshift torch. Eventually, we arrive by the uncleared Dungeon a few hours later, wholy unaccosted.
Upon arrival, I easily claim the area for myself. Then bought the stuff for my signature Work-Together Plan consisting of a rank 2 Mana Tower with a LeyLine Gate. But this time, instead of a 20,000 Creds donation to a non-elected leader, I bought a rank 0 Territory Core and placed it dead center inside the tower lobby—it doubles as decoration—then contacted Henry. He soon arrives with more combatants and builders.
After a few hours of working with stone and dirt, we successfully house a few hundred people as well as build a wall. I gave up ownership of the Territory to Rumah, introduced important people, slept for a while, then depart for Singapore.