Alistair and Riseth had succeeded in their respective cultivation goals but were cutting it close to meeting with the rest of the family preparing for the expedition. He had managed to refine some of his upper true ribs to store kinetic energy, forming a working augmented body part. Alistair did not need to worry about his ribs exploding in his chest, while Riseth did not involuntarily strip anymore whenever she turned temporarily ethereal.
Augmented Physiology: Name:
Effect:
[Kinetic Storage Ribs]
Allows the user to store and contain [KE] in his remolded true ribs for later use.
[KE] Will not naturally regenerate and is lost over time at a moderate rate.
Moderate amount of innate resistance against outside energies and manipulation.
Storage capacity of [KE] is determined by refinement quality and the [Body] stat at low efficiency.
The current overall efficiency of the augmented physiology for a Grade 9 augmented body part is low.
Alistair had a [KE] bar beside his other energy bars. It was almost empty as it slowly drained itself. This would be one of the first issues he would correct, but for the moment, he would refine the rest of his ribcage during downtime. Checking on his resource pools, he could see a lot of potential if he were to add his whole rib cage and work on its efficiency.
Resource Pools:
Health Points [HP]
4530/4530
Mana Points [MP]
2850/2870
Qi [Qi]
4524/4530
Kinetic Energy [KE]
69/480
They were among the last to arrive at the gate room, only Simon arriving a few minutes later. After some small talk, they made their way through the gate one after the other. Once Alsitair arrived in the trial world, he waited for the rest to come through. James and his girlfriend were the next to arrive. Jessica set up the crystal beacon while James checked the drone terminal he had set up in the corner. Meanwhile, Nessyra and the rest arrived, with Riseth bringing up the rear. As soon as she stepped through, another pop-up appeared in front of him.
Bloodline Challenge:
Your Clan has entered a Trial World with an ongoing conflict. If the clan matriarch and patriarch agree, you may initiate a Clan War Challenge.
Warning: Each Bloodline can only initiate one War Challenge for the duration of the Trial. This will limit access to this Trial World to members of the Bloodline. Any non-member initiates within will be removed, and gate access will be blocked.
Accepted: [0/2]
[Yes] [No]
Alistair and Riseth exchanged conflicted glances as they both received the pop-up notification. They quickly informed the rest of the clan, sparking a lively discussion.
"We should accept. We were planning on waging a guerilla war anyway, and this would just guarantee additional rewards." James offered, not looking up from his console in the corner.
Alistair knew his brother was the one to gain the most from choosing this particular trial. Access to technology was very tempting, but he would hear the opinions of the others first.
"What if one of the challenges posed is defending our location? We are not exactly ready for something like that," Simon questioned.
"I doubt it would give away our position immediately. It's more likely to do that if we were to capture a location. I am more worried about the fact that we only get one pick. If we pick this, we essentially commit to picking up technology rather than treasures." Alistair corrected.
"I say we go for it. It's not like we can't go to other trial worlds anymore. We will have more than enough opportunities to obtain treasures once we leave the trial. We need the tech." Riseth said, which earned her an appreciative look from James, who had finished with the console and geared up to argue some more.
"Neither one of our worlds has very advanced tech, so we can't get it from there. Also, just to confirm, does it state only one 'War' challenge? There might be other types of challenges, and we just fulfilled the ones that were required for a war challenge." Nessyra pointed out, her keen eye for contractual nuances allowing her to spot such details effortlessly.
"So we might find hunting or exploration challenges? If it is like magic, it might have been our intent that initiated this bloodline challenge," Juliana interjected.
"Good point. If this becomes common knowledge, it might restrict our access to our other more valuable Trial worlds." Riseth added with a hint of concern.
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"We should check out Slayer Trial World. Considering we got it from a rather obscure title, it might be less accessible, but we should check if there is a hunting trial. I would hate to be locked out of it." Alistair suggested.
Postponing the decision, they checked some of their more valuable trial worlds with the intent of starting an expedition in them. None of the more special worlds, like their initial trial worlds or the Slayer world, offered a bloodline challenge. However, Alistair's cave system Trial and one of Riseth's Jungle trials offered an expedition challenge. Upon their return, the pop-up appeared again, asking the same question.
"We should lock this trial down before any of the other bloodlines do," Alistair concluded upon his return.
Alistair was unwilling to potentially lose this trial world, as it was one of the most promising and valuable to them. His statement garnered a lot of support. Nessyra opted to temporarily leave in case the challenge did not allow people to leave without the clan abandoning the challenge. Nessyra had joined them for the combat experience but could get it elsewhere without jeopardizing the challenge due to her obligations. She had left the clan's business in Isabella's hands in her absence. However, his aunt lacked Nessyra's expertise in negotiations and business matters. While Isabella had some prior experience, as she had owned a farm with her husband, it wasn't quite the same. Isabella had received some training from Nessyra to serve as a stand-in, but Nessyra hesitated to leave the clan's business in her hands for too long. Once she had left, both Alistair and Riseth confirmed the window.
Clan War Challenge
Type: [War] [Bloodline Restricted]
Scenario:
Welcome Clan Ryser to the Trial world of Pulaliv.
The many Stuquit nations of Pulaliv fell during their first and last World War. However, the Automata and automated war machines continue to savage each other in a never-ending cycle of violence, even with their masters long gone.
The Clan War Challenge will introduce both public and hidden objectives, which will be calculated at the end of the challenge. The challenge will last until shortly before the end of the Trial or until the System has deemed the Trial World Pulaliv as conquered. Individuals may leave the Trial world and return to the challenge at will without penalty.
Clan leaders may end the challenge prematurely. Rewards will still be distributed but at a large penalty to contribution points.
Duration:
[248] Days.
Victory Condition:
Conquer Pulaliv.
Rating:
Ratings will be calculated for both Individuals and the Ryser Clan as a whole based on contributions during the challenge. Failure to meet the Victory condition does not result in a penalty.
After confirming they could come and go as they wished, they gave Nessyra a call, and she rejoined them, also receiving the pop-up.
"This setup feels incredibly similar to a dungeon," Alistair commented after reading the new pop-up.
"Kind of like a cross between that Temple Run Dungeon and our first one, but without the stringent time limit," Riseth added.
"I'm just glad we're allowed to come and go. " Nessyra said, relief evident on her face.
Alistair was happy this wasn't the case, as there was no way he would stick around for the rest of the trial or try to conquer a whole planet at record speed. Also, Simon's worry that they would immediately get attacked to claim their base of operation did not come to pass. Alistair still had to get used to the fact that the system considered 324 days to be a year. It usually translated and compressed numbers to make sense with most measuring methods. According to Riseth's research, it was an average based on planetary rotations within the multiverse. At least, that was the general consensus in the multiverse. However, many factions and planets used their own timekeeping methods, only occasionally referencing the system timekeeping when necessary.
"I wonder just how many people just got kicked out of this trial world. I hope they don't know it was us who claimed it." Melissa said with a worried expression.
"Our universe is massive, and even if they know who booted them out, the chances of them finding us or bothering to seek trouble with our clan over this are slim to none," Nessyra said reassuringly.
This calmed her down, and James instructed everyone to pull out their receiver devices. These devices would update the drone-collected map data in irregular intervals. Alistair looked at the map, and it looked like they were lucky. Their first target, a large Nugan logistic node, was still mostly unguarded, and they had a clear path to approach as the patrol force was already moving to the next logistic node in their patrol route.
"It's a good thing they have only limited patrol units. Our timing is good, so we should head out and proceed with our first objective," James said after looking at his map.
Known Objectives:
Destroy Automata Faction
[0/?]
Kill Automata Units [0/?] Destroy Outposts [0/?] Destroy Logistic Nodes
[0/?]
Alistair checked the objectives window as they made their way up the stairs. They planned to strike targets far away from their gate location in case the automata sent retaliatory forces. Since keeping the gate hidden was a high priority. Luckily, there were tons of ruins everywhere, so theirs only stood out for being somewhat close to Alistair's first appearance. He wondered if the third objective appeared because they planned to execute it. They planned to destroy the node and disrupt one of the faction's logistics, but it was also an easy target far away from their gate. The location contained equipment resources and automata specialized in logistical and construction tasks. It both transported and produced equipment needed for the front line.
Capturing both the specialized automata and some of their equipment, particularly the construction and transportation ones, was key if they wanted to establish themselves as a force. Not having to build specialized robots themselves or recruit droves of strangers as construction workers would be a massive boon. Nessyra was screening individuals from Neshan to work for their clan and this would take off a lot of pressure to recruit workers.
Everyone had put on their cloak except for Alistair, who, even when he reduced his height, was much too large for the cloaks and required Riseth's assistance to stay invisible. They wandered some distance away from the ruins before Jessica pulled out the cube containing the Zephyr. As they entered, they immediately noticed how the troop compartment was rather sparse and many platings welded to cover what Alistair sensed were wirings and circuits. He noticed many hatches that would grant access to the internals but was more annoyed at how he had to bend down so as not to hit his head. There was no seating, only multiple straps to hold on to and affixed to the internal hull of the compartment.
"This sucks," Alistair grumbled as he had to bend and angle his neck in an awkward position as he grabbed one of the straps.
James gave him a sympathetic look while Jessica headed for the cockpit to start the Zephyr. The rest of the group followed suit, grabbing onto their respective straps.
"I thought you would be the one piloting it," Riseth remarked, observing Jessica's departure for the cockpit.
"If I were the one flying it, who would repair things in case something goes wrong or we take damage?" James retorted, securing his grip on a nearby strap.
Alistair decided it was worth the mana expenditure. He summoned a small couch, sat down, and focused his magic to anchor it and himself in place on the floor. This garnered him some jealous glances as Riseth sat next to him.
"Any chance you could summon a bigger couch?" Simon inquired.
"Not without vastly increasing my mana expenditure. Also, my focus is limited." Alistair said apologetically.
"Don't worry, I'll look into it during our expedition. Installing some seating and proper harnesses shouldn't be too difficult, though comfort wasn't exactly my top priority," James chimed in as the craft silently lifted off.