Several things were readily apparent from that fight. A minor behemoth was absolutely no joke. This fight went far better than it really should have, simply because Calvin’s group had been punching above their weight for some time now. They have started to understand the mechanics of the system and knew how to exploit the power they’ve received in interesting ways. Calvin’s trick with using his spears like a saw blade was one such example. That wasn’t just a skill he had, it was a combination of a skill, an enchantment, and his unique application and combination of those things. If the group had simply used their skills as written, the entire event would have gone much differently.
Another thing that they’d learned from this experience is that the system could be an asshole sometimes. The challenges were getting absurd now, and this was only a MINOR behemoth. Something Andy had informed them was on the lower end of the behemoth totem pole. This gave them some serious heartburn. They were still in the tutorial and the power creep has been a little absurd, both in their own power and the level of difficulty the challenges presented. What would all this look like after level 100? What about 200? The group knew that challenging the corruptors directly would require immense power. Like, galaxy destroying power judging by the projection they’d witnessed in the Sunken Caverns.
This left Calvin wondering what it would be like back on Earth. If there were more of these behemoths there and Olympus was charged with eradicating them, would they just have to tear up the planet to root these things out? In just a few days, they’d get the opportunity to see for themselves first hand what awaited them back in their old home.
One last thing, which was very important in this critical juncture was the system notification they’d received after killing the behemoth.
YOU HAVE SLAIN THE MINOR BEHEMOTH. REWARDS ARE AVAILABLE IN THE MISSIVE MENU.
Participants: Olympus 98%, New Aspen 2%.
Calvin wondered about this particular message, New Aspen hadn’t upgraded their settlement far enough to have a missive board yet. Were they just screwed?
That’s something they’d have to figure out shortly. First, it was time to start discussing relations with New Aspen. Calvin headed back toward the main group and Ian sent back to Olympus for Seth and a bunch of volunteers. There was a massive, dead creature on the battlefield to gather parts from. They had no idea what would and would not be useful, but they weren’t about to waste anything. Moments later, a dozen volunteers joined Seth and his small army of worker bots.
The clean-cut leader of New Aspen sat on a large boulder with his soldiers. They were discussing the fight they’d just witnessed in barely concealed whispers. Every single one of them was floored at what they’d just witnessed from Calvin’s team. The power they brought to the field was so far beyond their comprehension. Their highest level was 28 and that was Harlon himself.
“Calvin, can I talk to you for a moment, privately?” Harlon asked as he stood up to move away from his soldiers.
“Sure, what can I do for you?”
The pair moved away from the group. Harlon didn’t beat around the bush. He was a blunt and honest man, something Calvin appreciated.
“First, I know I’ve said it but we owe you. Big time. We don’t really have the means to repay you right now. I don’t know of anything we could offer you. That being said, what are your intentions?”
“My intentions? What do you mean?” Calvin asked. He had some idea of what Harlon was getting at but he didn’t want to open that can of worms without Harlon suggesting it first.
“You’re much stronger than us, better equipped. If I’m being honest, a part of me wonders why you don’t just walk right in the front gate and take what you want, take our settlement and boot us out. With the amount of power you have, we couldn’t stop you.”
“I’m not sure if you’re trying to talk me into that or not, but that’s not in the cards. I know Tank has filled you in, but we lead a city called Olympus. One of our main priorities when arriving in the tutorial was finding more humans. I’m not sure if you’re aware or not, but the entire population of Earth was brought here with us. Many probably didn’t survive, but there’s more out here.”
Calvin looked out over the horizon, realizing he hadn’t bothered to look for more beacons since he got to New Aspen. He’d been a little busy.
“The first group of humans we ran into were led by a man named Knox. Turns out he was a real bad guy, and he essentially enslaved his people. Those are the people that make up the core of Olympus. You’ve seen that we have strength and our only intentions are to get more of it, and use it to defend the humans left who deserve it.”
“So your services here are entirely altruistic?”
“I mean, sure. There’s a bit of a selfish nature to it all. The system essentially commanded us to defeat that creature. I imagine not doing so would have been real bad news and not just for New Aspen. Also, I can almost guarantee you there’s a shit ton of experience and rewards waiting for us back in Olympus once we hand in the quest. The system is not shy about handing out rewards. Unfortunately, it’s also not shy about stepping up the difficulty when we get stronger. So yes, our main goal is and always will be to provide hope to those who find hope lacking, and in the process, we’ll get stronger.”
“After all this is done, and the monster is cleaned up. You’re telling me that you guys will leave through your portal and that will be that?
“No, not exactly.”
Harlon’s brow creased at that. He was waiting for the other shoe to drop and to him, it seemed like Calvin just dropped it.
“There’s a few options as I see it. First, I’d like to invite you and anyone you want to bring with, to Olympus. You can see firsthand what we’ve got going on, and I think you’ll be impressed. We have an amazing chef and a brewery just started up, although the behemoth got here before we could sample the wares.”
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Some eavesdropping soldiers nearby visibly perked up at the mention of a brewery.
“I’d like to discuss our relations going forward. Ideally, we can be allies. That’s my hope. I don’t know how the system regulates or enforces alliances, but we have a pretty good resource in Olympus we can ask. If you wish to be left alone, that can be arranged too. We can walk back through our portal and that will be that. Alternatively, you all can move to Olympus.”
“Move… to your city? Just cram us all in there? See, now I’m a little suspicious. We’re in an alien world with few resources, and fighting to survive every day. Nobody in that sort of environment just offers resources for free to a whole town’s worth of people. Wouldn’t that strain your own resources? How would your citizens feel about giving up space to a bunch of outsiders?”
Calvin glanced at New Aspen. It was barely a village. From wall to wall, it was maybe 1000 feet and Calvin estimated there were at most 75 people within those walls. The structures he could see looked to be mostly shared housing. They were essentially just above camping, in the luxury department.
“Harlon, I understand all of your concerns and your suspicions. Maybe you could come with me back to Olympus. I’ll leave my people here, it looks like they have a bunch of work to do. You can bring whoever you want with.”
Harlon considered this for a moment. “How do I know your people won’t waltz into New Aspen and cause trouble while we’re gone?”
Calvin shook his head and chuckled. “I hate to say it Harlon, but if that’s what we wanted to do, we’d just do it. No need to get you out of the town first. I’m not trying to make you all out to be weaklings or anything, but my dog could probably take your town. The system in its infinite wisdom decided to consistently try to fuck us over, and we prevailed each time. Our power level as far as I can tell is far beyond what is ordinary in tutorial events like this.”
Harlon’s eyes were on Freya as Calvin spoke. She just sat there, tongue hanging out of her mouth as she patiently watched people moving about. He was surprised when a treat appeared out of thin air and Freya chomped down on it like that was a normal occurrence.
“Tutorial events… like this? This happens a lot?” Harlon asked.
“There’s a lot we need to fill you in on. C’mon, you up for a trip? We can have you back in an hour or so.”
Harlon agreed and gathered some of the leadership cadre from his town, as well as a few guards. He didn’t really feel like guards would make him any safer, but they insisted he wasn’t going anywhere without protection.
Calvin suspected their insistence was heavily based on the fact that there might be booze involved.
With a wave of Ian’s hand, a portal flashed open to New Olympus. Harlon’s crew eyed the portal warily. They were hesitant to step through until Calvin led the way.
They arrived back in Olympus and Harlon’s crew couldn’t believe their eyes. Olympus was a full fledged city. The smell of food wafted through the air and threatened to hypnotize them. New Aspen didn’t have smells like this. They were still eating whatever they found in the woods and cooked over the fire.
“How about we make our first stop at Ambrosia” Calvin said as he saw their faces.
They looked around in wonder as they walked. There were so many buildings, including the massive obsidian library, which looked like something straight out of the future. Compared to their camp, this was absolutely incredible.
“What’s that?” Harlon asked as they made their way to Ambrosia.
“That was a system reward we received for completing a quest. It’s a library packed full of knowledge from species all over the universe.”
“Did I just hear you say, species… all over the universe?”
“As I said, lots to fill you in on. We’ll grab some food and head over to my cabin to eat. Andy can help cover the basics.”
A few minutes later, Stan was loading them up will all sorts of amazing foods. Calvin had asked him to give them a good sampling of his creations, which also included a new brew similar to a hard cider made with exotic jungle fruits.
They were barely able to contain their drool as Calvin led them back to the fire by his cabin and they got themselves seated.
“Andy, can you give my guests here the short version of what’s happening out in the universe? They haven’t gotten any information yet about what’s going on.”
Andy materialized out of nowhere and scared the shit out of Harlon’s crew before Calvin got them all calmed down.
Over the next hour, they listened to Andy tell them all about the wider universe and the war with the corruptors. He gave them some critical information about the tutorial and their place in it and left time for them to ask any questions they needed. After they’d had their fill of information and food, Calvin decided it was time to move the meeting along.
“So, Harlon. What do you think?”
“This has been the weirdest day of my entire life. And that’s saying a lot.”
“Andy, are there special system rules for alliances?”
“Sometimes. Alliances come in many forms. Informal alliances are just a pact between the people. They can be broken at any time. Formal alliances work much like contracts and completely disallow hostile behavior for specified terms. Those do expire and need to be renewed. There are also system-enforced annexations.”
“How do those work?” Calvin asked.
“Any settlement can agree to be annexed by another. This is essentially one city claiming ownership over another, however some things remain. The leadership structure in the annexed settlement could remain untouched for example. Annexation allows the annexing party to declare what system resources and capabilities transfer over to the annexed settlement.”
“How would that work for New Aspen?” Harlon asked.
“If New Aspen agreed to be annexed by Olympus, then Olympus would be able to share things like system constructions, resources, and the treasury with you. In return, Olympus could set the tax rate for New Aspen and that would automatically pay into the treasury. All other matters regarding laws and governance would be up to the terms set during the annexation. For example, it could be required that you fall under Olympus governance without a leadership structure of your own. Or you could retain leadership under Olympus governance. The terms set forth in an annexation would need to be agreed upon by both parties and they would be system enforced beyond that.”
Calvin nodded as Andy spoke. He hadn’t actually known this particular detail about alliances. But now that he thought about it, it made sense. There had to be some system in place, especially with settlements growing rapidly as they leveled up.
“We should get you back Harlon. Don’t want your people to think we kidnapped you and I want to check on the progress back there. As I see it, there are a few choices to make. We part ways and make our way through all this independently. We initiate a formal alliance and agree to help out wherever we can. We initiate a system-enforced alliance, or we discuss annexation. There is one final option of taking your settlement by force, but that’s not on the table whatsoever, not unless you decide to turn into a bunch of major assholes and start threatening other peaceful settlements.”
Harlon was deep in consideration. All of the options had their own merits… well except the parting ways option. Seeing what he saw now and the power that Calvin’s group had. There’s no way he’d let this opportunity go.
“I’m not saying this is my choice. There’s quite a bit I would have to discuss with my people, but should we agree to an annexation, would you allow us to live independently in New Aspen if we chose to?”
“Of course, and our doors would also be open here for any that decided to come live in Olympus. We would make resources available to you to construct your settlement and drastically improve conditions for you and your people there. Hell, you could move everyone to Olympus if you wanted and New Aspen could become an outpost if you wanted. As you can see, we have plenty of room. We’ll get you back and let you discuss it with your people. We can reconvene tomorrow. The tutorial ends in six days, so whatever we decide, we probably have to decide quickly.”
They made their way back to the anchor point so they could signal Ian to let them back through, but not before Calvin picked up a special order of Ambrosia’s finest to send back with Harlon.