Chapter 5:
“Hey, Clark, right? I’m Daniel. Can we talk for a second?”
Clark was a tall young man with dark skin and very short black hair. He had a muscular physique and Daniel had heard him be called handsome by many women, both from Earth and this world, in the past. Objectively, Daniel could see it too, especially now, much older mentally and more mature, and a lot less jealous.
When he’d first met Clark originally, who had seemingly effortlessly put himself in a leadership position, Daniel had not liked him. He assumed he was some asshole jock who coasted by with physical abilities and looks, and only knew what to do cause he had survival experience. It hadn’t helped when he noticed Elizabeth was getting close to Clark.
Still, even back then, before he left the remains of their group after they escaped from the Tarith kingdom, he’d realized he was wrong. That Clark was also very smart and was probably a good person as well, doing his best to keep everyone safe. That he was a natural-born leader.
Which was why, now with his adolescent jealousy and inferiority complex long since passed, he was hoping to make some changes to their plans through Clark. The other man was not one to ignore suggestions, and he’d be far more able to get people to do things than Daniel would, as he was already considered an authority within their group of fifty.
“Oh sure, man,” Clark said, giving him an affable smile. “Did you need something?”
“Kinda,” Daniel hedged. “I just had some suggestions I thought I’d bring up with you since you're kinda like our de facto leader at this point.”
Clark rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “I guess I kinda am. Though of course, I’m open to suggestions from everyone. And maybe I’m more of a guide? I don’t want people to think they have to listen to me or anything. We're just a group of people trying to work together. And Sapphire has taken a leading role too. Honestly, she seems better at it than me, even if she doesn’t really have any wilderness experience.
Daniel shrugged. ”I don’t think anyone thinks you're gonna be all authoritarian about it, and probably really appreciate that you took charge. I know I do, as I don’t have any survival experience myself. Everyone just saw someone who seemed to know what they were doing and taking the lead, so they followed. And I’m sure both you and Sapphire have your strengths and weaknesses.”
Clark let out a small laugh and relaxed a bit. “Thanks. So what suggestions did you have anyway?”
“Well a couple of things,” Daniel started, happy to be done with pleasantries. “But mainly, I think we might not be taking enough steps for our safety.”
“What do you mean by that?” Clark asked, his brows scrunching. “We’ve set up a night’s watch, and we’ve been making spears. We also have enough firewood to keep the fires going through the night. I don’t think there’s much else we could be doing. At least not tonight.”
Daniel nodded. “Those are good steps, and there is not too much time now to do much else, but we never really discussed trying to make fortifications tomorrow or later. Like driving spears into the ground pointing outwards as walls, to keep what directions we can be attacked to a minimum. And also I’ve been noticing some people going around without even a knife or spear. With what the scouting parties encountered, I think you should encourage anyone who isn’t arming themselves to do so tomorrow. Tonight too if there are any extras, or if no one minds doing some whittling before bed.”
Clark frowned as he looked around the camp. “You're taking the threat pretty seriously, huh? I know the scouting groups ran into a bear and some wolves, but animals normally wouldn’t attack a group as big as ours. Combined with our fire, and we should be pretty safe.”
“If they were normal animals.”
“You really think they were supernatural?” Clark asked, both skepticism and worry apparent. “I know some of the guys with Joseph said the bear’s eyes were glowing and it was really big, and Ted's group said the wolves looked weird, but maybe it was just tricks of light combined with their own fear and those messages.”
Despite his words, Daniel could tell Clark didn’t really believe what he said. He just wanted to believe them.
“Does it really matter?” Daniel asked. “Like Sapphire said in the beginning. Regardless of what is actually going on, AR, VR, Magic, whatever. Something weird is going on. And Monsters, or just strangely aggressive animals, I don’t think being too prepared would be a bad thing. Also, it seems like we’ll be fine for food, at least for now, especially if the stuff we forage is in fact safe. So it’s not like everyone will have better things to do. Obviously, if people aren’t willing and think it’s pointless, then that’s that. But it wouldn’t hurt to bring it up.”
Clark sighed and nodded. “You're probably right. Though you know you could have brought this up yourself to everyone, when we were all talking after the scouts came back. You could have convinced everyone then, instead of just me.”
“Maybe,” Daniel said, tilting his head from side to side. “But I was still thinking of suggestions back then, and also I don’t think I’d be as good at convincing a group of people instead of just talking to one person. Also, I have one more suggestion, if you don’t mind hearing it.”
“Ugh. Sure, what is it?”
“Well, it’s about guns.”
“Guns? What about them?”
“Well, from what I can tell, considering it seems like we're all Americans, if from different parts, I think there might be more of us with guns than just that guy with Joseph,” Daniel said, knowing full well that there were. He couldn't remember how many, but at least five people. “Maybe it just hasn’t come up, since none of us have encountered anything near camp, but I think you should try and track down who's armed. Maybe as unconfrontationally as possible. You know how some people can get about their guns.”
“Yeah…” Clark agreed, a bit of a grimace on his face. “You want to make sure the people on the night watch are armed right? With more than just spears? Or were you worrying about… something else?”
“Pretty much that,” Daniel said, nonchalantly.
He ignored the other thing Clark was implying for now. Guns would still be a danger for some time for him, and a lot of people died the first time around. If he kept everyone alive, he couldn’t be sure all of them were good people, and if one of the gun owners turned out to be problematic, then that would be much worse.
Maybe everyone was just perfectly sane and normal. But considering there was already one evil bastard in their group, it would be better safe than to be sorry. He’d have to make sure to keep an eye on everyone who had a firearm for a bit, once they knew who those people were.
Just in case.
But Clark didn’t need to know that and worry needlessly.
“And it would be good to know in general. Though maybe we should see if anyone has firearms training and doesn’t have a gun as well. I doubt people will be willing to share permanently, but maybe they’d be okay at least sharing in a way to ensure everyone on the night watch is armed. Just in case.”
“That could work,” Clark said, still looking a bit nervous. Guess he wasn’t someone comfortable with guns. “And knowing the night’s watch is actually armed might make some people less nervous about us getting attacked. Though, it might make some people more nervous…”
Daniel shrugged. He wasn’t wrong about that. It was funny the variance people had in opinion on the things. His main focus was their survival right now, though, but he also couldn’t make the other man do it if he thought it might make things worse. It would be up to Clark, since Daniel didn’t think he’d be able to get people to organize tonight without him. “If you think it’s more trouble than it’s worth, then that’s up to you. These are just suggestions.”
Clark rubbed his chin for a long moment before sighing and nodding to himself. “It would probably help more than it would hurt. Besides, everyone seems like good people. There’s no harm in asking.”
“Great,” Daniel said, doing his best not to correct him on the part about everyone here being good. “That’s all I wanted to talk about. I’ll leave it up to you then.”
With that, Daniel turned and went to find Nathan.
Or at least, he tried. The hand on his shoulder stopped him. He could have gotten away, of course, but it would have been rude. He was still tempted to, considering he had a good idea of what was coming next.
“Come on, man. These are your suggestions. I know why you wanted my help with it, but you can’t just leave me alone to do all the convincing. Besides, you want to know who's armed right? Come help me and you’ll be able to find out.”
Daniel resisted the urge to sigh as he turned around, a placid smile on his face. “I wouldn’t be opposed to it if you want the help, but I’m not great with people. Might not be much help.”
Clark smiled and shook his head. “Just one more person coming with will look better than me going by myself. Besides, you seem smart. If some of the people need convincing, I’m sure you’ll be a great help.
Seeing he wasn’t gonna get away without being rude, something he didn’t want to do as having Clark on his side would help a lot in the future, he just nodded resignedly. “Sure. Why not.”
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It took them a bit longer than Daniel would have liked, but eventually, they found everyone who had a gun. Well, everyone who would admit it. It was possible an overly cautious person might have wanted to keep theirs a secret. Just in case.
Regardless, they found about 5 people armed, and two more who knew how to use a gun but didn’t have theirs with them. It took a while because they didn’t just call out to everyone for a group meeting, as they didn’t want to bring too much attention to this. Since they ended up speaking to everyone, everyone did know, but not all the details and they were able to talk with the involved parties without being stared at by everyone else.
Thankfully two of the people had been willing to lend their guns for the watch while they slept, so all of them were available to help out during the night watch.
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With seven possible people that could be armed for the night watch, they ended up making it so that there’d be two or three gun wielders for each scheduled watch group, which would last two and a half hours each. To help with keeping track of time, they manage to borrow a watch from someone who thankfully still wore one. Which was much better than the alternative in the other's opinion, which would be to either guess or waste someone’s phone battery for a timer.
Daniel himself was fine with either option, aside from the guessing one. His younger self really hadn’t been one for pictures, so there really wasn’t much of value in his phone for him.
There would also be four other people, only armed with spears, joining gun holders during the watch. Just in case and as an extra pair of eyes.
Daniel would have preferred there being four or three of the armed people at a time for perhaps 4 hours each, but the people had balked at the suggestion. They felt 2 gunmen would be fine, considering one drove off the bear, and most people still doubted animals would attack and only jokingly believed that there was anything strange out there.
Not ideal, but it was fine. This was still better than how it was the first time around, and Daniel was going to make it even better by reducing how many goblins actually made it to the camp by a significant amount. He’d still let some through, just so people knew they weren’t safe and couldn’t try to delude themselves into thinking it’s just animals anymore. But two gunmen and four other spear wielders would be enough. He’d make it so.
And with that taken care of, the rest of the night didn’t last much longer. The sun went down, and without much else to do, people started heading for bed under the lean-tos.
Daniel, Nathan, and Brad, one of the guys who went fishing with Nathan and had gotten along with him, claimed a lean-to to themselves. They made sticks and leaves structures so people only needed to share with three or four people. They were made with a bit of privacy in mind, so the side that you would rest under faced away from the other lean-tos.
Not the best in terms of defense, but made things easier on Daniel.
Saying he was tired, Daniel laid down under one side of the lean-to and pretended to sleep. He curled up a bit and rested his head on one arm and turned away from the others. With how dark it was, and not wanting to keep him awake, the other two followed his lead and tried to get some sleep as well.
Thankfully, it was late fall when they were summoned back on Earth, so they each had a hood they could pull up to protect them from the hard ground of the forest beneath them.
Not that Daniel was actually going to sleep of course. Instead, he waited until it sounded like their breathing had even, and then he started using some magic.
First, he cast a sound-baffling cantrip around himself. It wouldn’t last long or was that powerful, but it would be enough to keep the sounds of him drawing in the dirt from being heard. Then, he flattened the floor again, something crucial to creating accurate ritual arrays while drawing in dirt. Finally, he went to work, carefully drawing out the diagram he’d need with a stick.
Having reached level 5 as a mage, he’d finally gotten the Mana Pool skill, which dramatically increased how much mana he held at once. He’d be able to cast the magic he’d been using so far relatively freely without having to eat a bunch of mana-rich foods. Something that wasn’t quite healthy or recommended, and was also a bit hard on his stomach. Despite that, though, it still wasn’t enough for him to create any persistent effects without aid.
Hence, the ritual array he was drawing out.
It took Daniel a lot longer to finish this diagram than it did for the others. Even ignoring the odd angle he had to work at, it was just far more complex. Despite the amount of information scrying spells could provide, the actual structure of the spells wasn’t that complex. They were just sending you information, without doing much else.
This ritual though, was to create an illusion. Not only that, but there had to be a mental component to it, else Nathan or someone else might try to wake him up and break the illusion.
Overall, though, it was far from the most complicated ritual Daniel had ever created, and he finished inscribing it on the ground in around fifteen minutes. Then he took out the partially used Monster crystal from the Monster wolves, and very, very carefully, used a controlled cutting cantrip to cut it in half. To prevent any of the wild mana from escaping, he used his own mana to surround the crystal and pushed any escaping wisps back into the two crystals.
He then placed one of the halves inside the ritual diagram, and then placed his hand in the designated spot, willing the spell into existence. He kept the results of what he wanted as firmly in his mind as he could, and created an illusion of himself sleeping on the ground, exactly overtop of himself. Along with that illusion, was a subtle mental effect that dissuaded and befuddled people from wanting to approach.
That done, he cast a much more powerful illusion than before on himself. This one was an actual invisibility spell. Not perfect by any means, as his control wasn’t all there, and the spell wasn’t overly powerful either. But it was enough to let him sneak away with the sundown and only sparse fires to light the area.
With that spell up, he got up, grabbed the spear he had left beside him, and made his way out of camp. As he went, he spotted a familiar and hated form, talking to others by the campfire. And part of Daniel wanted to say fuck it and walk over there and spear him in the head. Maybe people would think it was an invisible Monster or something.
But no, that was too brazen. And he had other things he needed to do. He’d take care of the coming Monster threat first. Then he’d take out the monster in human skin within their midst.
He turned away reluctantly and made his way out of the clearing. Long-practiced habits kept him far away from the sights of others, despite being invisible as he left. It was time to begin his hunt.
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Daniel started off with another ritual, just to get a better idea of how much time he had left. Not wanting to waste time, he used Detect Creature again. He ended it as soon as he had a rough idea of where all the goblins were, and that there weren’t any other Monsters approaching. He wanted to make the most out of the other half of the Monster crystal before he had to use the others.
The goblins were now much closer than before. Probably only thirty minutes away, and they were still headed in the direction of the camp. As he’d expected from what happened originally and the fact that he’d scryed them heading this way earlier in the day. Though as he thought about that, he couldn’t help but feel it was strange.
After all, from everything he’d seen of the other Monsters and even animals around their summoning site, the goblins’ behaviour was odd. Instead of being scared off by the summoning, they seemed to be drawn to it. But why? What made them so different from all the other monsters in the region.
Sure their lineage was interesting, but what did that have to do with anything? Or was it something else. And was it just this group of goblins or were there more out their coming this way…
There had been a couple more goblin attack in the orignal timeline. But that had been because they managed to drive off the Monsters and they’d returned later to attack again. There hadn’t been any increase in their numbers as far as he could remember…
Daniel shook his head and pushed away those thoughts for the moment. He could figure out what was up with their strange behaviour later. For now, he needed to plan for how to deal with them.
They were in a rough search pattern, spread out into small groups rather than a big clump. It made some things easier and others harder.
Part of him felt that just a little illusion magic and his own skills as a fighter and ambusher should be enough to finish them all. But he tampered that side of him down. He was far less adept physically than he was before, and most of all he didn’t have his Rogue skills to help. Best to be more careful.
It was a bit frustrating, but Daniel knew that it would be worth it in the end. By only accepting the mage class, he wouldn’t just level faster, but gain access to the next tier of the general Mage class line as well. And the skills he would gain so much quicker would be worth the annoyance now.
Though, despite his commitment to being more mage-oriented, that didn’t mean he would stop fighting like a Rogue. He’d just mix in a lot more magic than usual, even when fighting some E-Ranks.
If the goblins had clumped up and he’d been a higher level, he might have considered trying some long-range ritual magic, using his scrying for the targeting, like a proper mage as one of his more annoying professors at the Grand Academy would say. That man's opinion was that if you were in range to be attacked by any non-mage, then you were a failure and far too close to the battlefield.
But since the goblins were all spread out and he was still only level 5, that wasn’t really an option. With his current reserves, and what mana crystals he had, he’d probably only be able to get off a single attack like that if he was lucky. Even then, he wasn’t a hundred percent sure about that, or how effective such an attack would actually be. So, sneaking up on the individual groups and eliminating them was a much better option.
Just like with the last group. Except with more magic this time. Arcane Shadows leant far more toward the Rogue side than the Mage side of things, but it was still a very magic-oriented class. And he’d learn many spells that would let him deal quite a bit of damage.
Most of what he used in the past was out of his league for the moment, but there were still some things that he could still do now. If in a different, and probably would be considered wasteful, way.
Still, beggars couldn’t be choosers.
With that in mind, Daniel used half the time he had remaining to jury rig some tools to help him in the coming hunt.
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Finished with the last of his very crudely enchanted tools, using up most of the materials he’d been gathering through the day, and both of his remaining crystals, Daniel went to cast the scrying spell once more. With a firm idea of where all the goblins were and their dispositions, he blended into the shadows again with a spell and started to move out.
Normally, he wouldn’t be so overly reliant on scrying spells so close to the enemy, as other Mages, stealthy classes, certain skills, and higher-level Monsters, all could potentially detect them. But against some dumb E-Rank goblins, it was a very powerful tool and made up for the lack of more subtle methods.
Daniel soon met his first group of goblins, having moved quickly but carefully in the direction he knew they would come from. He aimed for the group farthest to the east out of their rough line of goblins.
It was a group of five goblins. Like the ones from before, they were short and stout, with pot bellies and gnarled nails and dirty and chipped teeth. These ones were also as haphazardly armed as the ones from before as well. An assortment of salvage short blades, axes, and a club.
Only a single extra goblin compared to the group he took out earlier today, but ideally, he would take this group out as quickly as possible without alerting the rest, who were near enough to hear.
So first thing first, he cast a quick sound muffling spell. It used a decent amount of mana to cover the entire group, but it was a worthwhile use of it if it kept the other groups from noticing.
Then, once one of them got close enough, he stuck out, quickly spearing one in the head. Before the goblins could react, as some of them hadn’t been looking in his direction, he speared one of the two that had seen him. Then he was forced to step back as the other one lunged at him, and he could see that the other two had finally turned their heads and were reacting too.
He stepped back twice out of range of the goblin’s club swing, then darted forward and speared it quickly in the chest, driving it to the ground.
The other two goblins, apparently having lost their nerves, opened their mouths to scream for aid and started to run towards one of the other groups of goblins. Their voices were of course silenced by the spell around them, but they didn’t need to go far to get out of it’s range.
So Daniel reached for one of the crude wands he’d attached to his belt, and quickly pointed and fired. Two bolts of dim light blasted out from his wand before the wood cracked and broke in his hand. But, despite the destruction of the wand, the bolts flew true and homed in on the heads of the two fleeing goblins, slamming into them from behind and sending them to the floor before they could reach the limits of the silencing spell.
Flicking the remnants of the wand away, Daniel quickly closed the distance with the last two goblins and speared one through the torso, and kicked the other in the head at the same time. Being far more sturdy than they looked, the goblin that got kicked in the head tried to swipe its rusty blade at Daniel, but that only lasted as long as it took for him to pull his spear out of the dead one and then finish it off.
Then, just like that, all the goblins in this little group were dead. With a quick pulse of magic, he dispelled his silencing spell, and thankfully heard no cries of alarm from the other goblins in the distance.
One group down, two more to go. He’d leave the last group alone so they’d go attack the camp, and that should be the end of that. Six grown men on alert, with two of them armed with guns, should be more than enough to take out a small band of five goblins. And if not, and things got out of hand, then he’d cross that bridge once he got there.
Until then, he had some more Monster cores to collect, and two more groups of goblins to wipe out.