“I would’ve preferred a cool void beam or something,” Zarian said after looking over the new spell in his profile. “Man, is it me or I don’t get anything direct from these wizard spells?”
Almost all of them were situational, even the gator one. Granted, it made the use of spells interesting when he had to think on his feet about how to best implement them.
It wasn’t like he was hurting to have a direct damage spell. What was a lightning spell going to do for him, really? How could that compete against what he could already do with Straight Darkness +2?
Shutting his grimoire, Zarian put aside his ruminations and smiled darkly as the show began.
“Get up! Get up! Get your asses up and into that field!” Naomi shouted, her voice booming with some bass to it.
Zarian chuckled as he continued sitting on his throne. He slouched back and closed his eyes before remembering his time in the Marines. He used his spectral spiders to keep watch.
Naomi was letting her inner drill instructor come out, which she would’ve done if she hadn’t become a recruiter. Honestly, she would’ve made for a terrifying drill instructor.
The soldiers adapted quickly. They were all properly scared of Naomi and had some idea of her monstrous Strength.
The acolytes, of course, were extremely slow and unprepared. They stumbled, tripped, and became tangled with each other as they rushed out of the wagons and formed up on the field.
There were plenty more acolytes than the soldiers, but after taking a while to organize, they did a decent job of creating a formation. The young girls, of course, were shaking with the right amount of fear.
“Is this supposed to be a slumber party?” Naomi grouched. “Change into your training uniform! Now!” She turned a glare toward the soldiers. “If I catch any of you peeping, I will pluck out your eyeballs and eat them near your ears.”
She let her High Intimidation trait loose as she threatened the soldiers. A few of them squawked out in surprise before turning away from the panicking acolytes.
The girls moved their fastest, which was relative to them, and changed out of their nightwear to wear more appropriate training attire. It took them a while, but Naomi exercised patience until more of the acolytes gathered in the formation.
Then Naomi ran around like a rabid dog on the loose, hounding some of the slowest girls to the point of making them cry. At the very least, they cried while standing in formation. Once Naomi was satisfied, she took her position in front of the would-be trainees.
“Good morning ladies and gentlemen, I will be your instructor, Lady Instructor Washington. For the next week, until we arrive at North Crown Peak, your ass is mine. You will train. You will kill things we find out in the field. You will learn how to survive. You will grow your levels. You will not pick a class until you’ve had a discussion with me, Lora, and Roland.”
Naomi looked over at the other two who nodded in return from the front of the male and female formations. After their receiving acknowledgement, Naomi continued.
“You don’t necessarily need to get a battle class. But you will need to get the best class you can get, even if it might not be your immediate favorite.”
Naomi paced from one side of the formations then to the other. What was a slow stride for her must’ve looked fast for the trainees, especially the acolytes.
“Many of you have that decision coming up soon when you reach Level 10. The rest of you who are far off from Level 40 will have plenty of time to think about what you want. It’s unlikely you’ll get there before North Crown Peak, but you’ll be a different man and woman regardless. Am I clear?”
“Yes, milady!”
“No. You will address me as Lady Instructor Washington when we’re training.”
“Yes, Lady Instructor Washington!”
Naomi nodded in satisfaction. She reached down where a large boulder was mostly buried into the earth. With an easy bear hug, she pulled it out of the dirt and flipped it over until it settled on her hands while held above her head. Zarian laughed while all the acolytes and soldiers gawked, eyes wide open.
Naomi continued. “Now, let’s get to it. Soldiers. Run. Fast. And don’t stop until I tell you. Acolytes. Follow my example. No, you won’t need a boulder this large. Get a decent block of stone that you can handle. There’s plenty everywhere. Don’t make me wait or I’ll get mad!”
Zarian watched Naomi’s fantasy boot camp go on for a little while. They’d discussed this some time ago in private. She even had different programs in mind to help the acolytes and the soldiers separately.
The acolytes simply needed to get over the hump and hit Level 10, but they also needed to get their hands dirty and to be made tougher. The soldiers needed to grow their stats with more difficult training than they’d ever gotten.
It was a lot of work to track the needs of over two hundred youngsters, but Naomi had the Willpower, Strength, and Agility for it. She ran everywhere while speaking aloud all the time, and she was never without a giant boulder held up above her head.
She’d even kept up the pressure as they broke down camp and prepped the wagons to continue the journey. Today, the acolytes would learn to march alongside the wagons until they became tired enough.
Zarian suspected when the acolytes woke up tomorrow morning, sore and tired, they would all get a nice dump in stats. They had plenty of food to go around for two weeks to help with that.
They wouldn’t grow as fast compared to someone eating the best of Foodie’s cooking, but at least it was a start in the right direction. By the time Zarian’s party left them, they should have enough of a base to defend themselves.
Zarian took to the sky. An autumn morning breeze blew past. There was more cloud cover today, so the morning light was dimmer.
Para still held onto the dungeon core as they flew closer to the giant’s new home. Flying about, Zarian marveled at the size and speed of its construction.
Hannah must’ve worked nonstop with her cube maker to absorb materials and place down blocks that worked using their own mystical rules. She created a castle-like home that was taller than the giant and featured more interior space.
When Zarian flew through a window, he saw the home went down into the earth with a sunken floor. Thankfully, Hannah had constructed the foundations to be water tight. She even built a chimney with a fireplace.
Zarian was impressed, and so was the giant.
“This home is better! Much better!” cheered the giant. He was sitting on the steps with his enormous hands clapping down on his knee.
Hannah, Gilbert, and Bianca were standing on a mini tower made of cubic blocks in front of the giant. Zarian dropped in behind them.
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“Okay, you really are a genius. How’d you manage all of this so fast without extra aura from me?” he asked Hannah.
“I was almost tempted to ask,” Hannah admitted. “But I altered Roller to help me recharge faster and placed down multiple recharge stations. I’ve grown quite a bit from this. I’m now Level 54, and Summon Cube Maker is now Cube Maker Magic.”
“Really?”
Hannah raised a hand and formed a cube of stone in her palm. “Really, really. I’m the cube maker now, and it is amazing. I can do easy enchantments on them. Almost instantly.”
She lit the cube on fire. Zarian waited to see if it would burn out, but the Flame Coat enchantment held strong.
Using his aura manipulation, he realized there was a potent amount of aura inside of the cubes. He checked the cube tower below them and found lots more of the stuff.
“This isn’t your aura?” Zarian asked.
“I think the skill takes in materials and aura simultaneously, infusing the cubes with the aura for me. All without too much cost to myself other than the burden it takes to create immense works like these.” Hannah waved her arm at the massive giant’s home.
It was kind of barren under closer inspection, but Stony seemed happy.
Zarian was happy, too. He was happy to capitalize. “See, Stony! Anything is possible when you have the help of us good adventurers, regardless of alignments! Are you ready to get vengeance on the wolf dragons and the Grimrock Warlock who destroyed your first home!”
“Yeah, I’m ready!”
And off they went, continuing their journey to North Crown Peak.
Zarian spent most of his time sleeping during the day, reading at night, and doing some sparring with Bianca, Naomi, and some others.
He joined the training exercises when the acolytes needed live specimens to kill so they could get their hands bloody while working toward Level 10. Once they started hitting Level 10, he joined in as part of a council to advise the acolytes.
Battle Maiden Starter seemed to be a popular choice that kept coming up, all uncommon quality. There was also a class called Adaptable Physician Novice that sounded like a good pick for any acolyte who wanted to deal with medicine, which was another uncommon pick.
There were more such as Physical Therapist Beginner or Logistics Manager Assistant or even War Spy Trainee. The last one was a rare quality class that only a few acolytes found waiting for them.
Amabel and Lora were two of the few acolytes who had War Spy Trainee in their class selection. Their alpha skill gave them invisibility, and they had a unique range of traits that either heightened their senses, made them good at handling blades, or made them better actors.
Honestly, it was a lot of fun to see how the local humans could grow and change. They still got five free points like the Outsiders, but the biggest difference was the lack of a starting skill.
Zarian had the unique opportunity to watch the acolytes readjust to their changes. Even if all they picked was an uncommon class, that was above the normal population who had strictly common classes.
Hell, now that Zarian was so invested in the acolytes’ growth, he didn’t have many comparisons regarding those with common classes except for the soldiers. Roland’s Garden Officer Cadet class was only uncommon, so it wouldn’t be long until the acolytes surpassed the soldiers unless the soldiers kept working hard, never slacking off, to eke out more stat points.
Of course, Naomi didn’t let off on the acolytes either. Much of their training surrounded spear fighting for simplicity’s sake, shooting bows and arrows, getting familiar with survival, using teamwork in battles, and then practicing their skills to help each other.
The soldiers, Zarian’s party, or the skeletons would watch over the acolytes especially closely while they learned to hunt and kill beasts. There were injuries, but Gilbert fixed those up. Other than a few close calls of near death, everyone was carrying on alive and well with plenty of improvement to go around.
Stony was having a grand time watching all of this happen as he lumbered a few hundred feet off the road. He was a mighty creature, and a little slow, but the giant had splendid vision, apparently, so he liked to cheer everyone on from afar as they trained.
He only ate plant matter, especially hard and stony trees, so there were no concerns about him going hungry or digging into their food supply. Sometimes, Zarian would plant his throne on Stony’s shoulder as they moved, letting the giant talk to him while he studied his grimoires.
“This is the first time humans are friends instead of attacking me,” Stony said.
“Not many humans are as good as me, regardless of alignments,” Zarian said with a chuckle.
“You’re the most good human ever, Lord Zarian!”
Ignoring his evil alignment, Zarian enjoyed the praise and kept chewing through the pages of his grimoires. Lore Eater was a big help, but he was pushing himself hard to finish the gator grimoire, learn one more spell from the voidling grimoire, and then get back to working on the gravity spell before reaching North Crown Peak.
On the night before reaching the territory surrounding North Crown Peak, a spectral spider caught sight of a dangerous presence stalking through the dark and warned Zarian. Recognizing what it was, he left his usual spot in the middle of the wagons and camps and went out to meet the figure.
“I’ve been expecting your rising gnolls, not a gnoll elder,” Zarian said.
The ten-foot tall gnoll elder stalked forward with a confident swagger. As always, she was filthy, smelly, and smiling like she was going to burst out into hyena-like laughter. She drew close enough to tower over Zarian, blocking two of the moons shining from the starry sky. Then she stooped over and placed her muzzle filled with rotten fanged teeth close to Zarian’s face.
He held his ground as he looked up calmly.
“You must rid yourself of the chewy, soft meat,” Ezda said. “Our rising gnolls are still young. Fresh from the prairie pits and bloodletting. They will not know how to control themselves around such delicious prey. Perhaps it would be best for you to come to us so you can see for yourself, Elder Zarian.”
Zarian tilted his head. “Perhaps not. I can always teach them directly with the soft humans nearby. I don’t mind making them more disciplined.”
“Just like how you taught the kingdom of their weakness?” Ezda laughed softly. “You’ve removed three White Roses and left the garden crippled. Are these more examples of your teaching?”
“Killall told you?”
“No, strangely.” Ezda cocked her head aside. “We’ve received a message from … the other side.”
Zarian thought about it quickly. He went with the most wild guess. “Lovewar?”
Ezda growled deeply. “It is disturbing to have her presence involved with us. We don’t understand her aims, and it displeases Killall. But our great god will not act against her. In fact, our great god says you must be killed.”
Zarian wasn’t sure where this was going. He didn’t react and played the silent card, which placed the ball back in Ezda’s court to carry the conversation.
Ezda shifted uncomfortably, showing a hint of hesitation. “We are waiting to see what happens. Killall isn’t always knowledgeable about the way of things in a lesser world.”
You know your own god is an idiot, and yet you put up with it, Zarian thought. I don’t know if I should be wary of your own intelligence or think of you as weasels for using a god when it’s convenient and ignoring him when he’s inconvenient.
Then again, Zarian didn’t care for Killall, so if the murdersome god continued to persist as a tool, then so be it. Zarian also had to admit it was a little funny that Killall’s own worshipers knew the god could be a colossal idiot and had to temper certain expectations.
That left Zarian in an interesting position as he pieced a few things together.
“You’re being awfully helpful, Elder Ezda,” Zarian said.
“You are a curiosity, Elder Zarian,” Ezda replied. “You’ve left an impression on me. And that impression resonates louder and louder as you impact our world. It will be wise to watch further instead of antagonize. All of us are curious to see how you handle the wolf dragons.”
“I have a giant,” Zarian said.
“And the wolf dragons are dragons.” Ezda backed away, receding into the tall grass. “And you’ve arrived too late.”
“Too late?”
“Where there are dragons, there will be kobolds. And the kobolds are worse than the dragons. Worse than us, even.”
“How much worse?”
“Kobolds don’t negotiate. They have dragon blood in their veins. All that matters is conquest and dragon supremacy, as willed by the First Evil King, the First Destroyer.” Ezda let out a hyena-like laugh before fading away completely with some last words. “Have fun, Elder Zarian.”
Some time later, Zarian and the caravan reached the southern edges of North Crown Peak. They found a walled village.
Everyone that should’ve been inside was gone. There were no signs of survivors. All that remained was the blood that coated nearly every broken surface and chewed up body parts. A few spectral spiders found an effigy made of human parts and a strange text written in blood on a standing wall.
Zarian used Identify to translate the text.
“Everyone,” Zarian said in a dark and somber voice. “I think we’ve arrived too late. North Crown Peak has fallen. And we’re all that stands against the wolf dragons.”