With a surge of will through [Suzerain’s Seal] I sent Ylsa, and Jaegan a party invite. I tried to do the same for Raiju, but wasn’t able to do so. Frustrated, I pulled up the Party Interface to see if at least the other two were able to join me.
[Arthur’s Party:
Party Members:
Arthur - Starlord (Suzerain)
Party Leader
HP: 100%
Mana: 98%
Stamina: 100%
Raiju - Evolved Gale Wolf
Bonded to Arthur
HP: 100%
Mana: 100%
Stamina: 100%
Jaegan - Mage
HP: 100%
Mana: 96%
Stamina: 100%
Ylsa - Mountain Tempest
HP: 100%
Mana: 100%
Stamina: 99%
Loot Options (Choose One)
All loot delivered to Party Leader (Default)
Equal Loot Distribution
Hold loot in party interface until combat ends]
OK, so that’s pretty sweet. I can see everyone’s expendable resources, but don’t have to do math all the time to figure out how close to running out they are. My eyes grew large when I reached the loot options. Hold on, does this mean…
“Jaegan, check out the Party Interface.” I leaned back to yell at him and the wind stole my words.
‘Use the Party Chat.’ Jaegan’s voice sounded in my head. ‘Just think about talking to me and I’ll hear it. You can do the same with Ylsa and Raiju as well as all of us at the same time or any subgroup you want.’
Seems he took to this like a fish to water, I can’t say I’m surprised. He’s a crafty old bastard.
‘Have you checked out the Party Interface?’
‘I have, and Ylsa and I both agree with you handling the loot.’ I felt his smile through the connection. ‘With your storage ring being so large, you can take damn near anything that’d drop and we can figure out where it goes when we have a few moments.’
‘Ylsa, is that true?’ I messaged her directly. ‘Jaegan can’t hear us, so you can be honest with me.’
‘Without question, milord.’ Her voice came through even louder than it did out loud. ‘As your vassals, our loot is yours until you deign to relinquish the bits you see fit to.’
That sent me reeling. Is that how she sees our connection? Before I could fully unpack that, I realized something else that nearly sent me flying off Raiju’s back, and it would have if she hadn’t noticed it happening and bumped me back into place. Hold on, if we have loot settings, does that mean…
I messaged everyone in chat. ‘I think we might auto-loot now.’
The silence was deafening as we flew ever nearer Chalcedony until Jaegan replied with a hesitant mental voice.
‘This… is as amazing as it is incredibly dangerous.’ His gulp came through the connection. ‘Entire countries would kill the lot of us if that is true.’
I nodded to myself. ‘I know.’
Raiju, bless her heart, chimed in curiously in chat. ‘Why? Can’t we always loot our kills? What does this change?’
‘Arthur, would you care to field that, or should I?’ Jaegan messaged me directly.
‘I think I know the answer, but I’d appreciate it if you did. You’ve traveled a lot more than I have.’
He did just that. ‘Raiju, do you know what war is?’
‘Tribes fighting each other over territory?’ The wolf ran higher to give us a better look at Chalcedony. ‘With Gale Wolves, it usually had something to do with food too, but I don’t think manlings usually have issues with food from what I’ve seen.’
‘You’re not exactly wrong, but there’s something you’re missing. Power.’ Jaegan’s tone was that of a caring father talking to a young daughter, kindly but firm. ‘Manlings, as you put it, crave power and one of the easiest ways to gain power is killing your foes.’
Raiju’s head darted out as she snatched a bird from the air as she ran. ‘Of course, killing gives experience, even if the System doesn’t show it happening. How does auto-loot change that? It might save a bit of time, but it’s not like it’s going to be better quality that way.’
‘Air raids, bombardments, and just plain sniping.’ I chimed in. ‘Our friend Jaegan here knows how one of those works a lot better than most.’ We were getting close to the city and I knew we had to speed up the explanation so we could figure out what to do in town.
Jaegan obviously realized where I was going and kept the rest of his explanation succinct. ‘Exactly. With an auto-looting ability, a party of snipers, artillerists, or simply [Mages] drunk on power could attack a city and kill people with impunity, gather piles of loot and escape before anyone was the wiser.’ Somehow I heard him hiss out through his teeth. ‘It’d be total anarchy if this ability got out. There’s a good reason the System disabled the Party System if auto-looting was a basic portion of it. As is, having to loot manually takes enough time that commandos can’t just kill people, take their stuff, and leave before someone can help. At least usually.’
‘Oh.’ My bonded shook her head. ‘Manlings are scarier than I thought, despite their lack of useful teeth.’
‘An understatement if I’ve ever heard one.’ I took command of the conversation. ‘Alright, we’ll deal with the loot issue once we get done working to save the people of Chalcedony. Here’s my current plan, please let me know if you have anything to add.
‘Jaegan, I’m going to drop you and Ylsa off on the lord’s keep near the Tower. From there you should be able to blast any large groups coming out from the infernal thing before they can split up. Ylsa, you’re in charge of defending the old Wallbreaker, alright? Trust no one to guard his back, we don’t know why the Tower is like this, so it could be an inside job.’ I chuckled. ‘ Old man, try not to live up to your nomme de guerre, alright? This place already looks rough, they don’t need to have to rebuild.’
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
‘Cheeky pup.’ He growled through our connection as we passed over the wall and into the scene of chaos. With a gesture he spawned a number of [Arcane Cannons] and set them to raining pain on any monsters they could target behind us as we flew quickly toward the center of town.
‘As you will, Storm-Blessed.’ Ylsa clapped a fist to her chest.
Still not used to that title, but I guess it’s not wrong, given [Elemental Pactlord] and Raiju. Part of me thinks I should… My mind rejected the next thought so violently that I nearly passed out. NO, it’s still too dangerous. I should just summon some elementals to help. Somehow I knew I was compensating for something, but it didn’t mean it was a bad idea.
‘What are you going to be doing, milord?’ Jaegan’s voice snapped me out of my distracted state. ‘I figure you’ll be taking Raiju with you, but where should we look out for you?’
‘Wherever the most monsters are.’ I smiled sadly to myself. ‘Maybe I’ll be able to save someone from a horde of monsters, but at least I’ll be able to do some damage. Raiju’s going to be in charge of hunting down civilians surrounded by monsters and getting them to whatever safe zones they’ve managed to establish.’
Wind whipped by as Raiju sent us into a nosedive above the lord’s keep. A few arrows and [Elemental Bolts] streaked toward us until the person in charge noticed we weren’t monsters, at least most of us weren’t, and had his subordinates stop just as we alighted on the crenellations.
Raiju growled at a nearby archer as she crunched an arrow she’d caught as we were freefalling. Without missing a beat, Ylsa hopped off the carpet with Jaegan in a princess carry before carefully setting him down.
The brown-haired middle-aged man in charge stalked over with his hand on his sword hilt. His big brass pauldrons didn’t match his armor, but with [Essence Reading] I could tell they were decently powerful morale enhancers. “State your business!” He roared unnecessarily loudly and my impression of him dropped a few points.
“Orders from the king to help clear out monsters,” Jaegan threw a cocky salute his way, “unless you’d like us to leave?” His [Arcane Cannons] hadn’t stopped firing as they poked over the top of the keep to rain magical ordinance on the monsters pouring out of the Tower in a steady stream.
To his credit, the brass pauldron wearing soldier didn’t miss a beat. “Adventurers, got it. I’ll have my subordinates stay out of your way unless something gets close to…” He trailed off as Ylsa stepped up beside Jaegan with [Bloodsplitter] hefted in an unconsciously menacing pose.
“Focus on your men. I’ll guard Wallbreaker.” Not a second after saying that she whipped an arm out and slapped a [Dire Mosquito] out of the air before it could even get close to her charge.
The soldier in charge wiped some sweat from his brow as he turned to see me sucking the [Cloud Carpet] into my storage ring. “And what are you going to do?”
“Rude, not even giving your name.” My tongue stuck out unconsciously as I pulled up the menu for [Elemental Pactlord] and selected a preset I’d worked on while flying in.
“I’m Captain Barney Fifendo, now what are you–” The captain was cut off as the sky around me erupted with a host of [Arcweavers], [Thunderhawks], and [Cloudpups]. Six of the vaguely elf-looking [Arcweavers] arrived, with Volta and Voltaire standing at attention in front of their fellows. The dozen [Thunderhawks] were just that, six foot long birds made out of black cloudstuff and lightning, but the biggest one stood out in front with a bright blue head frill as he looked me in the eye. [Cloudpups] weren’t much use in fighting with their friendly doglike cloudstuff bodies, but with twenty of them working together, they’d be able to put out way more fires than even a similar sized group of [Aquanids].
“The name’s Arthur Neilson and I’m going to take my friends to go kill a bunch of monsters while my fluffy pups help out your fellow citizens.” I grinned wildly from Raiju’s back. “Let’s go, Raiju!”
She immediately sprang off from the crenellation and sent us soaring above the city in just a few bounds. “Where to?”
“First things first.” I stroked her neck before turning to address my elemental army in Auran. “Volta, Voltaire, it’s lovely to see you again. I appreciate you showing up on such short notice.”
All of the [Arcweavers] bowed before Volta stepped forward. “The [Arcweavers] stand with the Pactlord. We await your orders.” She stepped back next to her brother, just half a step in front of the other four of her kind.
I guess she and her brother got some kind of promotion? Good for them.
“I need you six to spiral out from my location and keep me from getting overwhelmed.” I grinned while running my fingers through my platinum blonde hair. “Don’t be afraid to let monsters through, but don’t let me get mobbed either. I’m pretty tough, but without Raiju around I’m going to be relying on you to back me up.”
“Understood.” Voltaire clapped his fist to his chest before he and his fellow [Arcweavers] did just as I asked. They swept through a hundred foot radius circle around me as they shot arrows at the assorted monsters below with bows and arrows formed of pure lightning.
The blue frilled [Thunderhawk] flew closer to me and dipped her head. “I am Electra. How might my kettle be of use to you?” Her voice was sharp, but not unkind.
“I need you to keep the skies clear of those [Gargoyles] we’ve seen flying by.” I pointed to one of the seven foot tall stone-skinned monsters flying toward a group of civilians a few streets away. “Other than that–”
“Not to be impertinent, but why don’t you tell the [Gargoyles] to stop?” Electra looked at me curiously. “They follow the Earth Monarch, so a single word from you should stop them dead.”
I gaped at her for a second before pouring a bit of my remaining twenty percent of Mana into [Elemental Pactlord] as I bellowed in Terran. “Ceasefire! Gather as close to me as you can so I can address you properly.” I watched as my words became a wave of energy that swept out over the city. Despite its wealth, Chalcedony was only a few miles across, so it was only mildly surprising when the wave lapped over the edges of the city and out into the surrounding countryside.
Checking my remaining Mana, I hissed unhappily. “Damnit, that took almost everything out of me. I just wanted to throw a dozen Mana at it too…” Instead, I’d used sixty Mana, nearly ten percent of my total supply and nearly fifty percent of my precious reserves.
The effect, however, was impressive. All over the city, [Gargoyles] left their victims to streak into the skies toward me. There had to be dozens, if not hundreds, of them.
“Electra, remind me to give you a gift before you go home.” I gave her as regal a nod as I could. “I guess you and your kettle are on cleanup duty. Kill any monsters you see fit, but make sure not to injure any civilians in the process.”
I really don’t know what else to have her do, she solved what I summoned her for with a small bit of monster knowledge I didn’t have. I really need to study up on elementals with this damn Unique Skill, it’s way more powerful than I already thought it was.
“As you will.” She let out a throaty caw and dipped a wing to me. “Form leashes. We hunt!” The [Thunderhawks] split into groups of three before streaking away at incredible speeds toward large groups of [Inferno Drones].
[Inferno Drones] were small metallic monsters with flamethrowers that hovered near the ground lighting people and buildings on fire.
I turned to my fluffy doggos and beckoned them closer. “Do you prefer Auran or Aquan? And what should I call you?” I asked in a mixture of the languages.
“Either, master.” One of them bumbled forward and bowed deeply. “I am known as Nimbus. What would you have my pack do?”
Auran it is. Best to keep it to as few languages as possible. I’ve already got Common, Auran, and Terran going, no point in adding another.
“What you do best, Nimbus.” I resisted the urge to pet the cloud pup. “Make it rain. Though I’d like you to focus your efforts on wherever you see the most civilians nearby, I trust you know how your abilities work far better than I. Wherever you see people and fire in close proximity,” I tapped my nose, “make the fire disappear.”
The lead [Cloudpup] put a paw forward in a bow. “We’ll do our best.” He spun on another paw and rumbled toward his pack before they scrambled toward a nearby conflagration.
They’re so damn cute… I’m glad they’re working for me, it’d be tough to have to attack them.
“You’re doing great,” I patted Raiju’s side. “Sorry for keeping you out of the fight so far, you’ll get your chance in a bit.”
She craned her head around to look at me with big eyes. “I know. Plus, I like carrying you around. It makes me feel… better somehow.”
“Me too.” I leaned forward and hugged her. “You’re the best, Raiju.” Her chest rumbled and I knew she appreciated my honesty.
A ten foot tall [Darkstone Gargoyle] sped ahead of the pack of normal [Gargoyles], on forty foot wide wings, toward me before bowing frantically. His near-black granite skin gleamed, reflecting the flames below. [Essence Reading] told me he was an evolved [Gargoyle], but not much else, I really needed a book on elementals…
Maybe I should ask for one from King Evergreen or even the Governess?
“Pactlord,” his voice shook with fear, “command my host as you will.”
“Manners. What is your name,” I tutted a finger, “and how long have you been on Genovia?” I ran a hand through Raiju’s fur as I watched the huge monster squirm.
“I am known as Edifice, Pactlord, and I have been present in this incarnation on Genovia for fifteen years, as the mortals call them.” Edifice rubbed his claws together nervously as I stared deeply into his garnet eyes.
“Do you know what caused the Tower to leak, or break?” I figured it couldn’t hurt and was soon proven correct.
Edifice hung his head. “I do,” my eyebrows went up, “at least in part.”
What a letdown. I guess I should figure out what he knows. For some reason, he feels a lot… slimier than the other elementals I’ve spoken with since evolving [Elemental Pactlord]. Maybe it has to do with whatever caused his kind to attack the city alongside the [Ashen Tunnelers], [Flame Golems], and [Inferno Drones].
“Explain.”