Ch 24. Day 9. What Comes Next.
The shimmering flashes of the Obelisk grew more frequent, until two occurred at the same time, abruptly ending the lightshow. Around the base of the Obelisk were 40 newly integrated beings, 10 to a side. On two sides there were humans, and on the other two were naga. All of the new arrivals were dressed in the gear provided by the Tutorial, which looked almost too clean to have been real at this point to Nenn’s eyes.
The newly integrated very quickly found out there was another race involved, and sides were drawn as weapons were raised at one another.
“Ahem!” Nenn said as he cleared his throat. He had used [Entangling Roots] to build himself a small elevated platform. One that was much more approachable than the Helkis’ pontification balcony, the ruins of which had been blown clear across the inner fortress area.
“If I could have everyone’s attention,” Nenn said in a commanding voice. Some of the beings turned to look at the half-man, half-treant holding up a gleaming golden trident that stood slightly above them. But the others were more interested in fighting amongst themselves, unable to peel themselves away from the fear of the unknown. The sides moved to engage one another.
“PLEASE SIT THE FUCK DOWN AND LISTEN BEFORE I KILL YOU MYSELF,” Nenn roared. The groups instantly came to halt as they turned to look at Nenn, their eyes wide. More than one pair of pants already needed to be changed. The newly integrated wisely chose to sit down and follow instructions after that.
It turned out that [Primal Roar] could be quite a useful skill, especially when you could use it to make words, and not just guttural howling sounds of horror. That was all due to the practice Nenn had already accumulated while freeforming the ability in his [Shapeshift - Dreathstalker] form.
“Now that I have your attention, I wish to welcome you to the world of the trial. As you can tell, both humans and naga have integrated from the same Obelisk. This is intentional, and not an accident. We have an alliance with one another. Now, you are all part of the first wave of integrated to join after this alliance was formed, and this Obelisk was recaptured. As you can see around you,” Nenn gestured at the state of the fortress. “Things have not yet been cleaned up and made hospitable.”
“So what do you want us to do, Mr. uhh… Tree thing. Uhh.. Sir?” One of the humans closer to the stage asked.
“I want you all to live your lives freely. Well, freely is maybe not the opportune word for it. The world of The Trial is an inhospitable place where danger lurks around every corner, and we are all very new to an already established world of civilizations. We all have to work together to generate those freedoms for each other. We are starting from nearly nothing. We have The System to make up for our shortcomings. With a couple of levels you will soon be stronger than you could ever imagine being.”
“Why should we work together?” a naga asked.
“Because it is mutually beneficial. By bringing together different viewpoints and experiences we can bring new perspectives, which an individual wouldn't arrive to on their own. Each species has its own advantages and disadvantages. Working together allows us to make up for each other's deficits.”
There were murmurs of agreement in the crowd, although they still sounded reluctant.
“Look, I understand everyone just came from their old world. Things were different there. We were each the apex existence there before The Trial began. Here, we are the new kids on the block. We have nothing compared to the forces that have been here long before us. We need to work together to overcome challenges, not create them for one another.”
As if on cue, Velnoriss, Elkorin and the other recently integrated naga entered into the inner area of the fortress. The look of shock on their faces was priceless as they realized the scope of the battle that had occurred. Then they finally fixated on Nenn and made their way over.
“Ah, here we are everyone. Here is Velnoriss, a trialborn naga who was formerly a conscript of the tyrant who had previously conquered this Obelisk. He was beaten almost to death and left to die in imprisonment for his rebellion. He is joined by Elkiron, the leader of the surviving integrated naga who were previously held captive by the aforementioned tyrant. They fought valiantly through the night and overthrew their jailers.”
Using [Entangling Roots] Nenn made a ramp up to his makeshift platform for the two naga to join him.
“Newly integrated naga and humans, my name is Velnoriss, and I am a trialborn naga. Trialborn means that I am a descendant of integrated naga and I have never known a world outside of The Trial. What this human druid who stands before you has told you is true, and I am here to offer you a bit of perspective. If we don’t work together we will be crushed. Other naga warlords will try their hand at seizing this Obelisk before long, and we need to be ready to face them, together.”
“And my name is Elkorin. I am a newly integrated naga who emerged into this world a couple of days ago. When I arrived I was placed into captivity to await whatever plot the tyrant known as the Helkis had planned. He controlled us using curses to ensure that we complied. Thanks to Nenn, we are once again free, and I have no intention of ever submitting to another tyrant ever again. What I am willing to do is offer my services and work towards a better future, and I believe Nenn here is our best chance to make things happen.”
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“Thank you both. We have a lot of work ahead of us. It is one thing for us to give these grandiose speeches, and it is another thing entirely to put our words into action. For now, why don’t we break up into groups of four, with two humans and two naga in each. Then each group can pair up with one of the previously integrated naga and get caught up to speed.”
Using [Entangling Roots] Nenn lowered the platform down to the ground and retracted all of the roots, returning them to their proper place. The humans and naga were slow to mix with one another, but soon they had broken into the groups and taken on a mentor.
Some had chosen to sit and chat, while others got to work and started to clean up the wreckage caused by the fight. Two groups made their way out of the fortress all together and went to gather and hunt anything that still might be around. There were a lot of logistics involved with trying to support fifty-some people who, for the most part, had arrived all at once. Logistics that Nenn would leave to those who were better suited for the task.
In the meanwhile Nenn, Velnoriss, and Elkorin had made their way over to the giant tree that stood as a living monument to what had happened.
“So you weren’t lying about being human,” Elkorin said. “Although, I’m not sure how much this form of yours actually counts as being human. You look like you’re half of a tree.”
“I'm still human where it counts,” Nenn said as he gestured to where his heart was. “My only word of advice is to avoid having half of your body smashed in by a half-orc. Apparently this can be the result if you manage to live.” Nenn laughed, and was joined by a small awkward laugh from the two naga.
“So, where do we go from here,” Velnoriss asked. “Do you have a plan?”
“Uhh, no actually, I do not. My plans are simple at best,” Nenn said. “For example, I just finished my two step plan. Step one was to arrive in the valley. Step two was to raise hell until there was no more hell to raise. Mission accomplished.”
The two naga looked at Nenn with blank faces as they processed the absurdity of his plan. Nenn could see their faith in him evaporating by the second as they realized they had bet it all on a human who did not have a plan.
“Hmm I see, in that case, maybe I can make a suggestion,” Velnoriss said.
“I’m all ears,” Nenn said.
“Being that you are so new to the world of The Trial, I figure you have not had time to explore and find any dungeons yet.”
“That’s correct. Although I think I have an idea of where one might be. So how do dungeons work in this world? We had the concept back on Earth, but there were lots of interpretations of it.”
“Dungeons vary significantly. They are System-controlled areas that offer a variety of challenges. Not a whole lot is known about them, but what is known about them is that they are a place that the strong go to grow and train. The natural world around us only has so many challenging monsters living about, and you have already eclipsed many of them. The stronger monsters are spread far apart and are territorial, so it makes it hard to grow at a reasonable pace,” Velnorris said.
“That sounds right on theme then,” Nenn said. “Do you happen to know where I might find such a place? It sounds like your plan is to send me off to get stronger.”
“Guilty as charged,” Velnoriss said. “Right now, there is nothing around that can offer you the chance to grow in strength. We need you to continue to grow. The Helkis, while formidable, was a bottom-of-the-rung naga warlord. That’s why his army was first here, he was already on the far outskirts of the unassociated naga civilization. It will take time for the others to make their way over here en-force. But you will need to be stronger in order to challenge them. Helping the newly integrated does help, but we need some heavy hitters on our side too. You just gave a textbook example of what happens when an army faces an over-powered opponent.”
Nenn ruminated on Velnoriss’s words. He knew there was truth to them, and he knew it was probably the best course of action right now. He was just worried about leaving the newly integrated humans without a human role model to follow.
“I want to stay until tomorrow. Or until the Denver group, the one I was talking about before, arrives. I think, for the time being, it would do the integrated humans some good to see another human involved with their training. Not that I doubt your abilities to facilitate their continued existence and training, but they should have a human to turn to with their problems for now.”
“If the tables were turned and we were outnumbered, I for one, would appreciate having a same species representative up in the chain of command,” Elkorin said.
“Hmm, yes. I could see how your presence would stabilize relations until they have time to mature. Okay, we can wait a day, but no more,” Velnoriss said.
“We? I thought you were sending me off on my own?” Nenn said.
“No, you’re going to need a party to back you up. Dungeons are notorious for difficult encounters that require additional party members to navigate through. You, even with all of your strength, would run into trouble facing a hard counter. Or running into multiple elites at once, or a double boss fight, or-”
“Yes, I understand,” Nenn said. “I’ve played plenty of games back on Earth that mimic this kind of setup, so I very much understand where you are coming from. Do you have other members in mind for the party?”
“Games?” Velnoriss asked. This question derailed the conversation for a good long while as Nenn went through the intricacies of earth’s modern day video games and tabletop games. He explained how concepts from The Trial had evidently found their way into his world. Elkorin nodded along adding in his commentary on how things differed back on the naga homeworld. Apparently, as much as Nenn hated water levels in video games, Elkorin, and other naga, apparently equally disliked flying levels.
Velnoriss stood speechless for most of the conversation as he absorbed what Nenn had likened to ‘the wisdom of the ancients’. It was clear he was concentrating, trying to commit every detail to memory.
“You know, with the sheer amount of experience you two have, it would take trialborn years, if not multiple decades, to see so much variety and gain experience in navigating dungeons. And that’s if they manage to survive in the first place. Something tells me that dungeons are going to be a very lucrative training tool going forwards for our newly integrated,” Velnoriss said.