Jorden looked straight into Daz's eyes with resolve, but when he saw how serious Daz's expression was, he faltered slightly.
"Well? Why did you volunteer?" Daz repeated himself. Even though the attack was going to happen in roughly ten minutes, Daz felt like he had to find out why Jorden was so eager to fight, despite what Daz had said to him earlier the very same day.
"I-I want to kill the monsters! I-I can help you! I increased my stats and I have this dagger!" he exclaimed as he made a show of waving his small weapon around, alarming everyone.
"I can move really fast and you don't need to worry about me getting in the way since I'm so small. Please, let me help you fight the monsters!" Jorden replied with each of his sentences having more confidence in them than the last.
'He increased his stats? Higher Identification,' Daz thought as he inspected the boy's status once more. Naturally, he had already checked each of his Citizens' statuses since he had to make sure none of them were evil, but he distinctly remembered Jorden's being rather normal.
Jorden's Status Basic Information Name: Jorden Species: Human Age: 9 Sex: Male Class: Thief Affinity: Chaotic Good Description A young boy whose life had barely begun before the apocalypse started. His parents were killed on the first day of the apocalypse, and it greatly affected him. His Lord has set him on a path of revenge that may save him from losing his mind to the cruel reality of his new life. Energies Lifeforce: 1000/1000 Stamina: 1000/1000 Stats Dexterity: 54(60) Stealth: 78(93) Agility: 52(60) Loyalty: Slightly Low
"I couldn't afford much with the points I had, but I bought as many stats as I could to make sure I wouldn't get in your way!" Jorden yelled with an emotion-filled expression.
Ger had a look on his face that said he didn't approve of Jorden participating, as did the muscular woman who held a sledgehammer over her shoulder. Heather looked conflicted while Sarah seemed to have been won over by the boy's passionate pleas. Lyle has his business smile on and clearly would be happy regardless of what Daz chose to do.
'This is a bother. Clearly, he spent all of his points on his stats, but even then... will he really be able to help me? I don't think he will, at least not much since I'll have to keep a constant eye on him which might impact my focus on the attack itself. It's decided then,' Daz thought. he then walked up to Jorden and went down to one knee before he started rubbing the boy's head of shaggy brown hair lightly.
"I can't let you fight today," Daz said calmly.
"W-Why?! You-You said I needed to stab and kill and-" Jorden desperate ramblings were cut off by Daz's soft and gentle voice.
"Don't worry, Jorden. You'll get to kill the monsters one day. You'll get your revenge against the system. Just not today. If you fought with us, you'd be a hindrance. I want you to join us, I really do. However, we'd be too focused on making sure that you're safe, so much so that we might even make a mistake in the heat of combat and one of us could die. The attacks are dangerous enough without that added element to worry about. Understand?" Daz said slowly and concisely. All of the adults present couldn't help but agree with Daz's statement.
'I... I'd be a hindrance? But I just want to help by killing some of the monsters... I just...' As the young boy was struggling internally, he suddenly noticed the unwavering look in Daz's cold, grey eyes. "Okay. I'm sorry, Daz. I'll go back to training," Jorden said with the falsest smile that Daz had even seen while tears streamed down his face. The boy then ran away from the group, in the direction of the training ground.
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Ger walked next to Daz and crossed his arms. "Don't you think you were a bit too harsh? He's only a kid," Ger asked. 'I get why he did that, but what if he sets the boy off? If I knew Daz was gonna be so blunt, I'd have persuaded the boy to not fight myself.'
Daz looked at Ger and replied, "It's a harsh world now. The sooner everyone gets used to that, the better. We can't be as soft on people anymore, even kids. It'd only make them weaker in the long run."
"I agree with our Lord," the muscular woman stated as she held her neck and cracked it. "Now, Lord Daz, you've got a plan to fight the monsters that are showing up in a few minutes, right?"
'Another weirdo that insists on calling me 'Lord', though I am getting used to the title,' Daz thought. He eyed the intimidating woman and used Higher Identification on her one more time to reconfirm her stats.
Crusher's Status Basic Information Name: Crusher Species: Human(Beginning stages of evolving) Age: 27 Sex: Female Class: The Mighty Crusher Affinity: Chaotic Neutral Description An ex pro-wrestler turned pro-body-builder, although, not by any choice of her own. Energies Lifeforce: 1000/1000 Stamina: 3500/3500 Stats Strength: 400(480) Fortitude: 300(360) Constitution: 300(360) Defense: 300 Loyalty: Low
'Yup, she's got a fucktonne of stat points. She might even be stronger than me, physically at least. I guess a God or two has shown interest in her. She was one of the few people that helped me at the DIY store, after all. I noticed this with myself and with Jorden too, but I guess the system displays whatever you consider being your name as your actual name,' Daz thought to himself before he responded.
"Yeah. I already know what you're all capable of, so here's what we're going to do," Daz said to everyone present before he started walking towards the Fort's gate.
Naturally, everyone followed after him. "Nothing complicated, really. Since Ger uses a gun as a weapon, he'll be on the walls with Sarah and Heather. Sarah, you'll use your nature sorcery to help Lyle mostly. You don't need to overexert yourself, just do the best that you can. Ger, you focus your fire on the enemies closest to Lyle and Dorian since I'll be pairing the two of them together. Crusher and I can handle ourselves," Daz said as the group of six reached the wall.
"Why am I going on the wall too?" the former model and store manager, Heather asked. 'Does he really know about the things I bought with my points without me actually telling him? If he does, he must have a really powerful skill. I'll have to check the shop's more expensive items out later to see if I can find what upgrade he got that lets him do that,' Heather thought to herself in mild suspicion.
"Since your primary weapon is a fishing rod, you'd be best utilised if you focused your points on a stealth-based role. But unlike Lyle who's melee, you're obviously more suited for ranged attacks. And judging by the skills you bought, you know this too, so why bother asking me such a useless question?" Daz asked Heather with a slightly annoyed expression.
"It's incredible how you know all of this stuff about us," Heather said in a half-serious, half-joking tone.
"It's just a better version of the skill most of you got related to identifying your weapon types that I'm using to find out all of this information. A much better version, I might add. Anyway, you three will be up on the wall with the ballista helping you. If flying enemies come at us from the cliffside of the Fort, move along the wall and deal with them," Daz ordered.
"Sounds good. Since I'm looking out for Mr Middleton, you be careful, okay?" Ger said with concern evident in his voice.
Daz nodded, so the two groups parted ways. Daz, Lyle, Dorian and Crusher left the Fort and dropped the portcullis behind them.
"So, what exactly is our strategy here, my Lord?" Lyle asked.
"For us?" Daz asked with a grin plastered across his face. "We just need to go wild and kill as many fuckers as the system throws at us, preferably without any of us dying."
Dorian Gulped at Daz's remark and tightened his grip on the wooden handle of his umbrella, and with that, the monsters of day three finally made their appearance, although, it would seem that they weren't really monsters at all.