This one I bought during the Kirana emergency is a mere Rank 1 Mana Tower and LeyLink Gate; 5 rooms total, with a 1 km square range, a mere mana pool of 1000 points total and 3 available spell slots. Without a Territory Core, the whole area, Tower included, had been available for the taking. Fortunately, the only creature I could find was a few clusters of the Roach variants. More food for my tummy! Into my Pocket Suspense they go, whole, Monster Core included.
Combat summary
Enemies slain:
ShadowRoach lv 5 x 9
DarkRoach lv 6 x 6
DarkRoach lv 7 x 7
AbbysRoach lv 8 x 5
AbbysRoach lv 9 x 1
239 syscred and 247 exp awarded
Reclaimed. I began organizing the area; first, a mere Rank 0 Territory Core and Safe Zone for 15,000 Creds; respectively 10 km square range of influence and a maximum size of 1 km square Safe Zone. Plenty for such a confined space, which is also why I registered the three spells; Light, VLoS, and Latent Coating. A bright flash of Light to surprise any dark dwellers that are the most likely invaders, and for the off case anyone needs to visit. While the other two, I believe are self explanatory… I proceed to exit the dugout. There is one shared spell I can register on the Territory Core, but did not, as a Tower does not get the bonus.
Exiting, I find myself standing upon a tunnel that connects to the sides of a 3 meters diameter cylindrical cavern, with both a high ceiling and a deep floor. I do remember making it this way; the hole was made to be a pitfall trap of some kind, as well as a watershed of sorts, there already are a few corpses below... Uh, the smell would be amazing once they start to decompose. For hygienic reasons, I took out the two pine-boats I had and Modeled them into a frame and door of sorts, Shape Stone helped too.
—
Gon and I are now flying straight westward from the exact point I had encountered the Yu trio. Once, in the distance, I spotted a cluster of Pangolins mulling about or doing things Pangolins do; working with metals. I was highly tempted to approach and check—somehow—if they were the group I had encountered, but decided humans are currently the greater priority.
Soon, I find signs of civilization; shoes tracks, trash, the remains of several campfires. Sometimes a little later, I even see one still in use by a party of five. Hoping to communicate, I descend and approach.
"Tíng!" One of them, the younger of two guys, yells. One hand raised, palms facing me in a stop gesture. "Chénshù nín de yèwù!"
Of course the first thing I do is stop, before inquiring. "English?"
"Stop!" The same guy says, "state your business!?"
His English is flawless, and from his tone, that sounds like the exact same words he said in mandarin. "Hi, I'm looking for three brothers by the name of Chen, Guo and Feng Yu. I believe they reside in Beijing?"
At the stunned look on their faces; two I assume are a couple. While the three younger; a guy and two girls, are their childrens. I can assume that the trio are not all that well know—the three younger members of their party burst out laughing, while both parents merely smile blankly. Curious, I ask, "what?"
The mother looks at the girls and asks, "Tā zài shuō shénme?" Prompting the dad too, to turn and look at them.
With a snicker, one replies. "Tā yào zhǎo shǎ Yú jiā." The dad grunts and visibly loses interest while the mother suddenly has a pitiful look on her face.
"Gàosù tā." She says.
"May I know your name, Mr?" The younger girl says, "I am Shui Zhou, my sister is Shai Zhou, the rascal is Wang." She introduced everyone, the parents are; mother Lian and father Jiang. They are—used to be—a family of fishermans.
I introduced myself and listened as the three childrens told me of the Yu brothers… Not long after their encounter with me, they returned and regaled everyone with stories of meeting an expert; Together, they tamed a family of Pangolin and had managed to convince the expert smiths to teach and craft them a few pieces of weapons made from the magical scales of an elder Pangolin before returning home unscathed.
I wouldn't identify myself as an expert, but besides that point, only about 20% of what they told was the truth. I am struck speechless. Ignored by the older generation, yet mocked and criticized by the people within their generation, they set out to get proof. Only to barely escape with their lives and return empty handed. They are good people I think, just a little lacking in the head? Either way, the guy, Want, pointed me in the right direction to Beijing, and off I went… after healing some of their injured, providing them with some extra food from my stock, and verbally expressing my thanks.
—-
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
"Please, you have to revenge our misfortune!" Feng demands from me, he is exasperatedly pacing back and forth, clearly very restless and angry. I am currently sitting by the only table found within their humble abode, the cheapest rent Creds can get in the new Beijing city; a small unit with two 3 x 3 meters bedrooms, and 1 family room. A total of 9 x 6 meters located on the third floor, there is a community toilet accessible from the hallway.
"Did you even meet with the same bunch?" I ask them.
"We are uncertain." Chen answered me this time, "they attacked us with no warning."
"But, there is the bigger one that saved us." Guo adds. "His looks I have seen before."
After further inquiries, they had returned to where we met, having also marked the area on their maps. From there, they tried to follow the clues; footprints, trampled grass, imprints on the ground that looked a lot like scales, in addition to a lot of luck. Before they finally stumbled upon a large gathering of Pangolins. Where they are promptly attacked, robbed and then saved by the previously mentioned large Pangolin, who led them away. Which is how they survived the encounter with their lives and managed to return home with nothing but the clothes they wear.
From what they had managed to garner, their Pangolin savior was not the largest, but it was at least, definitely among the top five fiercest out of about at least fifty Pangolins present… intrigued and moved by their pitiful acts, I agree to at least help them speak with the Pangolins and retrieve their most prized possessions; their swords. For without it they have failed as a sword practitioner! Their word… personally, I think it is one unforgivable failure to have lost them in the first place, but kept quiet. After lunch, we departed on this side quest.
The Pangolins were found to the southeast of Beijing. I patiently follow Chen's lead. We had to travel on foot, as without swords, they are incapable of the slight bit of sword riding I had seen them do previously. And with more of a warrior's build, they lack the mana to sustain Micro Flight. Geez, they are slow! Too bad I had returned the HoverBus to Rumah… oh! Haste x4!! And I saw all three faceplants onto the ground. They took a while to adapt, but the goings were faster after that.
Alas, arrive we still do. Haste having truly saved the day—and my time, as without it we would have taken at least 20 hours to get this far, even without rest. Alas, we stop under a large tree some few hundred meters away from where they last encountered the Pangolins. This tree is maybe 6 meters in diameter. I cast Model Wood to create a small 3 meters diameter burrow within, causing the tree to bulge out even wider, but creating a hopefully, safe area with only one point of entry for us to rest upon. It is getting darker, we have been traveling for the last three hours or so and the Yu brothers need rest. 30 extra minutes to refine the area, adding 3 narrow slit windows near the ceiling and a small organic door that would at most fit human sized entrants, then I left them to rest while I scout our target… hmm, feels like I'm missing something a proper camp should have, I thought as I depart.
—
Hovering and invisible 650 meters above the ground, I observe the Pangolin Village. They are—besides their skills with smithing—primitive. Their houses are mere support pillars and roof; made out of non-uniform logs nailed onto another log, non-slanted roofs to boot. At least they had the mind to build their houses on elevated grounds.
On the other hand, the way they work their metals are truly magical. No anvil, no intense heat to melt the metals, and of course; no quenching. Rather, they grab a few pieces of scales off of a pile from what seems to be a community storage of sorts and simply wander around in search of the nearest flat surface available. Next, the scale on their wrist would slightly glow mysteriously before they start pounding on the pieces with said scale, magically fusing and molding them with each touch of the wrist-scale.
From above, there is some obvious hierarchical stuff going on. There is one that is much larger than the other. I ascend 300 meters to place it within range of my Mana Sense; 'Inspect! Thank you.'
** DING **
Pangolin Metalsmith lv 17
Is that high or low? The next four largest are also of the exact same variant, albeit being of a lower level: one is 16, two are similarly 14s and lastly, a level 11. They each occupy a small area within the vicinity of their houses, having more members the larger their size and levels are. Hmm, the amount seems to correspond to their levels. I watch them work and go about their daily lives for a while before returning to camp.
All three are currently sitting outside the trunk-house sitting around a small campfire, eating. Oh~! That is what was missing, a campfire! A stove? But there is very limited space inside the tree, so cooking outdoors should suffice for now, though that did not stop me from making a simple BBQ-stove-campfire out of stone.
"There are 77 of them," I tell the Yu's. "Five are larger, as you had correctly identified. They are Metalsmiths. The rest are one of three variants; a Weaponsmith, an Armorsmith or an Ironsmith. That last one being the smaller of the three, while the other two are a few bits larger, about similar in size to each other, both are ripped; only that one is slightly leaner while the other is bulkier. At least half present are Ironsmiths."
"So what's the plan?" Chen asks me…
"The plan is, there is no plan. I wish to come forth with an overwhelming show of force to make peace a very appealing option for them." I tell the Yu brothers, they are at most levels 17, that is what, times five; 85. Plus their base attributes of maybe 100? 120? That is a mere total of 205—even Elves and Dwarves are born with 155 and 150 points respectively, and every level up for any basic race or creature always grants 5 Ap, this fact is confirmed by both races on separate occasions. So, 200 something total versus my attribute of almost 4100 points. I think we have a clear winner.
Strength + 4
Constitution + 9
Dexterity + 3
Intelligence + 4
Wisdom + 2
Will + 3
Charisma + 2
So come morning—after devouring a level 10 Vespa Queen out of my storage—as casually as possible, looking like we are merely taking a stroll through our backyard, I lead the trio on a trip approaching the Pangolin village. When approximately 150 meters away, the wind which had been blowing sideways happened to change direction, bringing along our scent into their general vicinity. That instant, all 77 pairs of eyes turn to look at me.