Late in the afternoon, Mark slowly rolled the vehicle into town. It was on its last legs. There had been several more wolf packs that had harassed them for nearly an hour. The vehicle had scars all along the steel plates in the shape of wolf claws, with some chunks completely torn out. The three men inside were in rough shape as well. Not physically, but the experience had been harrowing. They could barely hear anything after all the noise of gunfire, a symptom brought on by having to use every last bullet they had to fight off the wolves.
By the end, Mark had to use the vehicle as a weapon, plowing down the last few wolves. This left it in a sorry state, and Mark was having trouble just keeping it going straight. As they pulled up to the garage, Naomi was standing outside, a worried look on her face as she looked on.
They pulled into the garage, and eased out of the vehicle, trying not to break the vehicle any further. Mark quickly dismissed the machine gunner back to the barracks and prepared to explain the situation to Naomi.
"What happened? Are you ok?" Naomi said, checking Mark and Arlo for wounds.
"We got attacked by wolves, a lot of them." Mark waved off Naomi. "We're fine, just shaken up. I'm sorry about the buggy, but it saved our lives."
"It was insane. I've never seen so many of them, and they wanted us dead." Arlo said.
"It looks like the thing went through a blender, but I'm glad it got you back in one piece." Naomi relented, seeming to accept they were uninjured. "You should have Will take a look at you, just to be sure."
"What?" Mark asked, his hearing still impaired.
"You should see Will," Naomi repeated. "Especially if you can't hear anything."
Mark sighed. "We can do that, but do you think you can fix the the buggy?"
"Look, the last thing you should be worried about is that damn buggy." Naomi kicked the buggy to emphasize her point. "You need to rest and regain your strength." She sighed and continued, "I could, but is it worth it? Probably not. I'll try to recycle what I can, but I'm gonna focus on that thing." She jerked her thumb at the canvas screen behind her.
"Alright, I get your point, we'll go see Will now." Mark held his hands up in resignation.
Mark and Arlo pulled themselves together and headed off toward the town hall. Will looked them over and determined they were really just wrung out. He told them to drink some water and get some sleep. Their hearing should go back to normal in a few hours. Mark and Arlo went along with Will's wishes and got some rest.
The next morning, Mark was woken up by the slight pulsing in his head that told him he had notifications waiting for him. He realized they must have come from the prolonged battle the day before and was glad that something good had come from it.
[Leadership Lvl 8 -> Lvl 9]
[Leadership Lvl 9 -> Lvl 10. Max Level Reached]
[Wolf Lvl 9 (30) Slain. Experience awarded. x1200 Basic Resources]
[Commander Lvl 7 -> Lvl 8]
[Commander Lvl 8 -> Lvl 9]
[Class Action Available]
He realized that he must have leveled leadership while he was meeting new townspeople and assigning jobs. He saw that it had reached level ten, which seemed to be the max level for skills before the advanced in tier. The main focus was the levels he had gained, and that there was "Class Action Available". The last time he had seen that was when he spawned his first soldiers. He focused on the notification to see what it had for him.
[Class Action Available]
Class advancement earned. Please select an advancement. No experience can be further earned until selected.
This worried him as he wondered if some of the experience from the wolves yesterday was wasted, as he hadn't selected a class advancement. There was nothing he could do about it now, but he was slightly annoyed as he knew he needed every edge he could get. He acknowledged the notification and a new menu showed what was available.
[Class Advancement Selection]
Special Operations Commander:
The Kill Team Commander specializes in leading small, elite units trained and equipped with the best available. The soldiers under their command are few in number but expert warriors. They are the spearhead that breaks the enemy line, the stout bulwark that enemy advances are broken against. They can operate in any condition, and nothing will stop them from completing their mission.
Requirements: Leadership greater than Tier 0, Level 5. Rifleman at Tier 1. Land Navigation and Tactician as known skills.
Mark was impressed by how the class was described but wished that it told him a little more than just the requirements. He was interested, but it sounded like he wouldn't be getting very many soldiers, which went contrary to what he wanted, so he moved on.
Sentinel Commander:
The Sentinel Commander is an expert in scouting terrain and enemies, and the soldiers that they lead are equally skilled. They specialize in infiltration and information gathering. They are typically augmented with vehicles that help to accomplish their mission. Swift but deadly, nothing escapes their gaze.
Requirements: Identify at least Tier 0, Level 5. Rifleman greater than Tier 0, level 5. Land Navigation as a known skill.
Another option that made some sense based on what Mark had done since the integration, but still not incredibly appealing to him.
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Officer:
The Officer is a key point in any military. They are experts in command and do everything in their power to maximize the efficiency of any unit they are charged with. While not specialized in any specific type of warfare, they are not caught off guard by any circumstances and will continue to lead to the best of their ability in any situation, no matter how few or many they command.
Requirements: Leadership at least Tier 0, Level 10. Rifleman at least Tier 0, Level 10. Land Navigation, Identify, and Tactican as known skills.
This appeared to be much closer to what Mark was looking for. He knew that the more specialized classes were better at what they did, but the officer clearly allowed him to continue to grow his force. The wolves had shown him that there were more of them than he realized, and if he was going to be able to combat them, or any other large groups of enemies, he needed more men. He would need better equipment as well, but there was nothing he could do about that for the time being.
Mark read back over the class descriptions to confirm his gut feeling and selected the Officer class. Mark then checked his character screen to see what had changed.
[Status]
Name: Mark Anders
Race: Raxxor (C)
Class: Officer (Level 10)
Profession: Mayor (Level 5)
STR: 18 DEX: 16 CON: 17 INT: 10 WIS: 10 CHA: 18
HP: 84
VP: 18
STA: 77
Units:
Rifleman: 18/40 (+8 per day)
Specialized Units: 6/10 Allocated
Machine Gunner: 2/2
Medic: 2/2
Grenadier: 2/2
Subordinates: 1/4
Arlo Rollins (Soldier Level 8)
Skills:
Leadership (Tier 0; Level 10): People are slightly more willing to follow your lead.
Rifleman (Tier 1; Level 1): Basic understanding of how to aim and fire a rifle including during combat.
Identify: (Tier 0; Level 5): Focus on a target to gain information.
Land Navigation: (Tier 0; Level 3): Basic understanding of how to navigate using a compass and map.
Recruiting: (Tier 0; Level 2): People are more likely to hear you out when attempting to recruit them.
Tactician: (Tier 0; Level 1): Battle plans that you make are more easily understood by people.
Titles:
2nd Lieutenant (Rank; Class Specific)
Duke (Nobility Rank)
Progenitor Noble of Earth (Award; +1 to all stats)
Basic Resources: 1310
Everything seemed as Mark expected, except for the spawn rate of his riflemen. It had doubled with his class advancement. Before, it had replenished at a rate equal to how many units he gained from a level. Since there were now eight spawning per day, he assumed that his limit would increase by eight the next time he leveled up, but he would just have to wait for that to happen to find out. Satisfied with the advancement, he went over to the barracks to see if anything had changed there, but he doubted it.
Nothing had, but he grabbed a few soldiers to take to the range. He was curious if they had improved as well, but if they hadn't then taking them to the range for some target practice wouldn't hurt.
----------------------------------------
In the afternoon of the next day, Mark stood guard outside Naomi's Workshop. It had been a long two days. The longest in Mark's life. Since the attack at the hills, the wolves had only escalated. There had been more and more sightings the first day after and at the end of the day, the attacks started. He was bringing a group of eight back from the range when it happened again. They had organized themselves into these groups of eight, which in retrospect made sense as Will had told him it was a standard-size squad for the military, minus a squad leader.
The wolves struck in packs of five, and they had been forced to make a fighting retreat back to the town for reinforcements. He thankfully had both of the machine gunners and one of the grenadiers with him, and the added firepower was enough to keep the wolves at bay for long enough. Despite this, he had lost two of his regulars to the wolves before they made it back. The retreat had been a slow process but had cost the wolves dearly but Mark was still saddened by the loss of the two soldiers.
He didn't know them, but he felt it reflected poorly on him to lose them so carelessly. They were his men and he would not through their lives away, even if the system said they were NPCs. Since then, he had to cancel the training at the range, only using it to resupply ammunition. That ammunition was key.
Since the first attack, there had only been an increase. They not only increased in frequency but their number and strength increased as well. He had been forced to keep a constant guard of at least one squad on guard at once, rotating who was on guard. It was stretching him thin because any area that was deemed a weak point was immediately set upon by wolves.
It had been hard fighting, and each time he went to resupply ammunition was a risky time to be attacked. He was thankful that Arlo had stepped up and was taking charge of the soldiers. Mark was hesitant to push him as he knew their whole situation was already incredibly stressful, but Arlo had showcased his tenacity. Arlo had even inspired a few others to help out, and within a couple of days, Mark had filled all of his subordinate slots. He had also allocated two more machine gunners, and one more medic and grenadier. The machine gunners were more effective in combat, so far, but Mark didn't want to fall into the trap of becoming too specialized.
There had been progress made in other areas as well. A few people found that the machines in the factory were easy to use for them and the town now had many useful tools, including something to finally cut all of the tall grass down. They had even constructed a rudimentary wall out of metal, roughly two yards high, with a few towers to guard. It protected the four buildings that made the center of the town, but Mark could not justify extending it to the firing range. It mostly worked, but once wolves had made it through, and since then they had made more attempts to break through.
The wolves had also changed tactics quite a bit. Before, a group would attack and wouldn't stop until they were dead, or what they were attacking was dead. Now, they would retreat, create distractions, or try to flank groups that were alone. They had managed to make some progress in thinning out the wolves' numbers, but there were still countless wolves out there. Mark had even spotted some larger wolves hiding in the trees, but unfortunately, they weren't close enough to identify.
Something the defense had focused on was protecting Naomi's Workshop. Naomi had told him she was close to finishing her secret project, but even with the attacks she had refused to tell him what it was, the only thing he could glean from the large pieces of metal she carried inside was that it was some kind of armored vehicle. She assured Mark that it would help with the wolves and that it was worth the wait. He trusted her judgment after the success of the armored buggy, but his patience was wearing thin.
Night had fallen, and Mark had given the stand to order, meaning that everyone was alert at one time. He had learned to do this the night before, as that was precisely when the attack that broke through the wall had happened. The soldiers all took their positions in spots where they could fire over the wall. Floodlights were turned on, and they prepared for another attack, hoping for the best, and preparing for the worst.
Mark was just about to order them to stand down and get some rest while the third shift took over when the door to the second garage of the workshop flew open. Inside was something that completely shocked Mark.
"You built a fucking tank?" Mark shouted as howls filled the air.