CHAPTER XVI: PRESENCE
_____________________________________________________________
{07:34 LOCAL TIME 1TH JULY 1ME}
UNCOMMON PERIOD
MORTAL REALM
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LONG BEACH
PRIME
[Is that your familiar?] An excited Kuma yelled through Team Speak. The team winced at her pitch and volume.
A louder avian scream started before being cut off by the Colonel’s commanding voice.
“Not now!” A ripple of energy like a soft wind flowed out of Clyde as he struggled to restrain his Presence. The bird trembled at the sheer amount of death she felt in it, her own death. He sighed at his reaction. “I am sorry, Kekere, we are in a battle here, and we can’t help too much, or else everyone will lose a ton of EXP. We have enough, okay?” Clyde spoke very sweetly to the cowering bird after he scared her.
“Um, okay... what the fuck is that?” Soto gawked at the tiny blue bird.
“Later,” Clyde yelled.
“Look out!” Sugar yelled as she jumped into Clyde, trying to knock him over. She face-planted into the solid wall of muscle that was her team leader, then fell over in a heap. he bent over to pick her up just as a beam of white light blasted where his head was, blinding everyone looking.
“Right, I had forgotten about you,” Clyde said calmly as he looked back at wave boss. “I’m not your target here, but if you want some, come get some.”
The ripple of energy shot out like a hazy lance that slammed into and through the Patriarch’s shields, causing him to stumble. The poor beast was confused so much so that it didn’t see Kuma jump through the hole in the shield and use a triple attack spell on him. That, however, broke him from his stupor, and the Patriarch was much faster than Kuma.
The paw of the Patriarch blurred at Kuma’s head, and blood and gore sprayed everywhere. The severed paw fell to the ground, and the beast looked at his bleeding stump, confused. He looked back at the dog who was supposed to be dead and noticed that she was replaced by a human... no, not a human, and a monster in human skin.
A bird flew in and landed on his shoulder, it was a tiny thing, but when the Patriarch looked into its eyes, and all he felt was fear, a primal fear. Whatever the human was, he was nothing compared to this world-ender stuffed into that comically small bird.
“Why would you do that, Kekere? Now, he will try and retreat.” The human said the most asinine thing. Try? Try? No, the Patriarch had already called for a full retreat. This was not a battle they could win, there were much easier targets. “I know I did it too, but that was to save Kuma...”
[Duck! Duck!] Soto yelled in team chat.
“Goose!” Clyde yelped as he hit the ground hard while still holding Kekere to his shoulder.
A massive black arrow slammed into the Patriarch’s face, breaking any thoughts of escape. He couldn’t risk taking these monsters back to the Matriarch anyway. Besides, the damage was minimal.
So he attacked, but that was when his body reminded him that he didn’t have a front paw. The majestic beast fell on his face, planted into the Colonel’s tough body when it lost balance.
[None of you say a word.] Sugar warned.
[I was about to say something too, haha.] Soto laughed nervously in command chat.
[You two got a plan? If I kill him, your EXP would be pretty bad.] Clyde asked.
The Patriarch recovered and fired a blast of light that Clyde easily dodged out of the way of. Kuma, who had been running since she had been teleported back with Rally Here, finally made her move. Kuma chomped down on the good front paw, trying to rip it off with her momentum. The limb held, but she severely damaged the appendage.
The Patriarch roared in anger and pain as he tried to shake Kuma off. Then he felt the Debuffs that Kuma put on him, and his MP started to plummet even faster than his HP. But, like most beasts, he could replenish his pool by eating their enemies. He brought Kuma to his mouth, but she wasn’t a fool she let go, and the Patriarch’s jaws closed on air.
Frustrated, the Patriarch looked for Kuma only to see her retreating at a sprint. He couldn’t pursue her because of his useless front paws, but he was a caster. He started to power up a spell, but the breaking of glass brought his focus away from the cowardly dog to the fact that his shields had all fallen by the collective might of the NPC army. What was more surprising was that all of his fellow Mirror Coyotes were dead. He really hoped one got away to warn the Matriarch. They cannot handle a monster like this.
The patriarch died seconds with the same thoughts.
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< BATTLE LOG >
{Shadow bears X25 has died EXP +10,000}
{Mirror Elites X138 has died EXP +1380 (DEFERRED)}
< WAVE COMPLETE >
< NOTE >
{Total EXP Deferred! 22400}
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{07:40 LOCAL TIME 1TH JULY 1ME}
UNCOMMON PERIOD
MORTAL REALM
_____________________________________________________________
< UNCOMMON BEAST HORDE >
{WAVES COMPLETE 2/5
Time until next wave 1H:19M:58s}
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As the Patriarch succumbed after his shield failed. Clyde watched its massive body turn into motes of light after reading the prompts.
“We got time, let’s sure up our defenses.” The Colonel fell into leadership mode.
“Copy that,” Soto said from right next to him. He looked at Colonel with an odd expression.
“What?” Clyde asked.
“What,” Soto replied.
“You are looking at me weird, man. Spit it out.” Clyde urged his NCO.
“You look taller.”
“I do?”
“Yeah, and you are giving off a weird vibe. I don’t know what happened in the hour that you were gone, but I am sure it is one hell of a story.” Soto chuckled. “Also how come you aren’t jumping by me teleporting into your shadow?”
“That is because of my Cultivation mixed with my Presence,” Colonel replied. “I can feel any spatial concept up to my understanding of it in my Presence. Movement through space is the easiest for me to sense passively, even with my other paths locked.”
"I have no idea what that means."
Clyde shrugged and began pumping Mana into the walls and used some of the materials to make Mana cannons on top of the walls. After a few minutes, he made his first one, and he got a Rank in his Trade.
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< TRADE RANK UP >
{+5 STR, INT, CHA}
{TRADE NAME: Defensive siege weapon forging(Active)
TRADE RANK: 6
DESCRIPTION: Manipulate the resources around you using your mana to make defensive weapons of war.
Cost: Variable. Cast time: Variable. Cool down: None. Duration: 1 month per level of trade.
EFFECTS: The Legacy can forge Peak RARE defensive siege weapons with time and resources at a 99% chance of completion rate, the higher the rank of the professional the better chances to make higher level weapons.
COMMON Trade Benefit: Increased Durability.
UNCOMMON Trade Benefit: Increased Duration.
RARE Trade Benefit: Reduce cost for usage.}
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< PROFESSION LEVEL UP >
{+14 to all stats except magic}
{PROFESSION NAME: Forger
PROFESSION RANK: 15 (Amateur 2nd)
PROFESSION TYPE: Hybrid-Energy Creation
DESCRIPTION: A Forger is a unique profession as it needs no special materials, only the legacy’s mana and, in some cases, blood to fill in the blanks of what is being forged. The legacy can still use materials to augment and reduce the Mana cost, you can learn Trades but all of that is second to the Mana creation.
Initiate Benefit: Use mana with all trades to forge creations.
Amateur Benefit: Absorb Mana from kills within a controlled area for use in forging creations}
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He smiled as he Analyzed the cannon and saw why he got a level on the Trade so quickly.
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< ANALYZE >
{Creation Name: Mana Lightning cannon
Creation Type: Defensive siege system
Creation Rank: Platinum
Creation Durability:10,000
Description: A mana-powered weapon that uses the mana of its gunners to create a bolt of lightning that can be used until all gunners are out of Mana.
Weapon Damage: 600 damage plus 10% of Intelligence and Charisma stats of all gunners per second. Mana Cost: 60 Mana per shot split between 4 gunners. Range: 500 meters.
Duration: 6 months
Manned By: Unmanned
RARE ATTACHMENT: Reduced Cost; cost is reduced by 30%.
PLATINUM ATTACHMENT: Mana Pool; 0/1500 regen 1500 a day}
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“A Platinum creation was a little surprising, but he wasn’t going to complain.” The Narrator began, “What Colonel would find out in time is the percentage of his trade effect is much higher than the average professional. Every level usually lowers the percentage on the next rarity by 5-13%, depending on affinity. Compatibility is the name of the game if a Professional wants to make it to the peak of their path.”
Clyde nodded at the information. The narrator was a lifesaver full of information that he planned to tease out. He knew he had high affinity in all skills, but a few of them he felt he had extremely high affinity.
Sugar had made her way over to the duo as Kuma changed into her Chibi form, and her buff hit the Raid Party, causing all of the fort to relax visibly. Clyde not only saw it but felt it in his Perception bubble with his Presence.
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< BUFF ADDED >
{BUFF NAME: Boost
BUFF TYPE: HOT/MOT
BUFF DURATION: Continuous
DESCRIPTION: One of the primary abilities of Kuma, it boost regen times 10 for one hour per Tier.
Current Boost: 30 times.
Duration: 2H:59M.58s}
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Clyde and his team relaxed. The warlord turned to his team as he built another cannon. “So, a beast horde, huh? That’s new.”
“I think we should get used to them. They seem to be a part of the Game world since it is a global event.” Soto said excitedly
“Agreed seems like a good way to keep players on their toes.” Sugar said.
“Did they run away the last time as well? Because the beast we were fighting wanted to run away, if they weren’t killed by us so quickly, they would have run for sure.” Clyde asked.
“Not sure.” Sugar began. “I came out into the middle of a wave.”
“Right, we didn’t have time to debrief while you two were bullshitting and going through your power-up ark in the Dungeon exit.”
Soto proceeded to catch them both up on everything that had happened to him before Sugar had shown up. Then Sugar explained her journey to the Void, Soto and Clyde were pretty impressed by her new powers as she told them her choices and quest.
***
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{08:00 LOCAL TIME 1TH JULY 1ME}
UNCOMMON PERIOD
MORTAL REALM
_____________________________________________________________
< UNCOMMON BEAST HORDE >
{WAVES COMPLETE 2/5
Time until next wave 59M:58s}
_____________________________________________________________
LONG BEACH
FORT CHAVEZ
PRIME
Clyde and Sugar sured up the defenses with their trade skills over the last twenty minutes. Soto walked with them talking about what they learned individually. About 20% of the NPCs had a trap power either a Spell, Trade, or General Skill-tree that had some type of remote detonation. The fort was now a fortress with a moot of bombs surrounding it, all but the dirt roads leading out of the fort. The road that led to the nearest Hamlet was noticeably wider than the other three.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
The Mana Lightning cannons were now manned by a team of two on each, the other three members of every five-man team were standing in formation next to the upgraded main tent now called a Command tent.
Clyde Analyzed the new updates to the Fort while Johnny and Yazmin made their way over to him and his team.
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< TOOL TIP >
{Building Name: Stronghold Vault.
Building type: Bank.
Building Rank: 1
Building Tier: UnCommon
Building Description: A Stronghold Vault is a vault that stores the wealth of the Stronghold in a secure and robbery proof magically sealed building, unless the stronghold falls. The leaders of the Stronghold have access to the Vault for making Quest and Quest rewards among other things.
Building Durability: 250/250 regen 10 per month per rank.
Storage rooms: 4; Name & Current Capacity.
1: Mana Crystal storage; 100/100,000
2: EXP Storage; 10/10,000
3:Reward Storage; 0/10 rare and above items
4: Attributes; 0}
< BUILDING UPGRADED >
{Building Name: Fort Vault.
Building type: Bank.
Building Rank: 1
Building Tier: Rare
Building Description: A Fort Vault is a vault that stores the wealth of the stronghold in a secure and robbery proof magically sealed building, unless the fort falls. The leadership of the stronghold has access to the Vault for making Quest and Quest rewards among other things.
Building Durability: 2500/2500 regen 20 per month per rank.
Storage rooms: 5; Name & Current Capacity.
1:Mana Crystal storage; 10,000/100,000
2:EXP Storage; 1,200/10,000
3:Reward Storage; 3/10 rare and above items
4: Attributes; 10
5: Prison; 0/5 tier 5 and below.
RARE ATTACHMENT: Prison drain. While a player is imprisoned, the Vault drains their MP and prevents HP regen.}
< NOTE >
{Once Storage is at capacity, the Stronghold will use the extra resources to generate Events depending on the level and rank of the building. Fort-related Events will empower the combatants.}
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That was a simple upgrade, but it was very effective at gaining Mana Crystals and EXP. Having a prison can only help. The Colonel looked at the building with his eye abilities active, and he could see an ethereal outline of a massive vault underground, but with one room above ground, the Prison was an all-glass affair, or at least the material looked like glass as it was transparent. The building sat between the Camp Fire and the Combat Tent.
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< TOOL TIP >
{Building Name: Camp Fire.
Building type: Workstation.
Building Rank: 1
Building Tier: Common
Building Description: A camp fire is a hot place to make a warm meal or heat up ingredients, The flame is magical, and creates no smoke. The building will give the user limited information on internal temperature of food and when water is hot enough to kill all impurities.
Building Durability: 5000/5000.
Number flames: 4 universal
< BUILDING UPGRADED >
{Building Name: Camp Fire+
Building type: Workstation.
Building Rank: 1
Building Tier: UnCommon
Building Description: A camp fire is a hot place to make a warm meal or heat up materials for creations, The flame is magical and creates no smoke. The building will give the user limited information on internal temperature of food, when water is hot enough to kill all impurities, and when materials are at a good temperature for molding.
Building Durability: 5000/5000.
Number flames: 5; 2 universal, 1 Smithing station, 1 Chow station, and 1 Alchemy station.
_____________________________________________________________
Now, the Campfire upgrade was going to get his professionals working. With only twelve cannons that only took up sixty gunners in the first place, so that left more than forty NPCs that needed to be put to work. The ones who were in formation all had trade skills in some type of craft.
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< TOOL TIP >
{Building Name: Guard Gate X4.
Building type: Defensive entry.
Building Rank: 1
Building Tier: Rare
Building Description: A two-lane minimum entryway in and out of the walled Camp that can be closed in time of combat.
Building Durability: 2500/2500 regen 10 per month per rank.
Capacity for each: 5 guards comfortably. Currently 2.
RARE ATTACHMENT: Reduced Cost; cost of powers are reduced by 30%.}
< BUILDING UPGRADED >
{Building Name: Guard Towers X8.
Building type: Defensive entry.
Building Rank: 1
Building Tier: Rare
Building Description: A two-lane minimum entryway in and out of the walled Fort that can be closed in times of combat. These towers make up the entryway by pairing up to add an extra layer of protection in height and line of sight.
Building Durability: 2500/2500 regen 25 per month per rank.
Capacity for each: 6 guards comfortably. Currently 2.
RARE ATTACHMENT: Reduced Cost; cost of powers is reduced by 30%.
PLATINUM ATTACHMENT: Recovery; While in Tower not engaged in combat, HP and MP regeneration is Slightly increased}
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Sixteen more combat-oriented NPCs took up residence in the Guard towers. On the inside it was spacious enough for a few cots and if need be a weapon and medic station. When at capacity, there will be a rotation of 8-hour shifts for all of the towers, but for now, with the personnel they had, they were going to go with 24-hour shifts once the horde was over. Each tower had the ability to close the Fort gate, so even if one of the towers was taken out, the others had an override option.
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< TOOL TIP >
{Building Name: Outhouse.
Building type: Sanitation.
Building Rank: 1
Building Tier: Rare
Building Description: A place to do a class 1 download.
Building Durability: 2500/2500 regen 10 per month per rank.
Rooms: 2 female, 3 unisex, 1 male
RARE ATTACHMENT: Recycle; All waste is magically cleansed and recycled into storage for siege use only.
< BUILDING UPGRADED >
{Building Name: Latrine.
Building type: Sanitation.
Building Rank: 1
Building Tier: Platinum
Building Description: A bigger place to do a class 1 download.
Building Durability: 25000/25000 regen 250 per month per rank.
Rooms: 6 unisex, 1 Female, 1 male.
RARE ATTACHMENT: Recycle; All waste is magically cleansed and recycled into storage for siege use only.
PLATINUM ATTACHMENT: Plant manure. All magically removed nutrients are stored for use in Alchemy, Farming, and Herbology.}
< NOTE >
{Since this building was made for free for every 100 people added to your fort, another Latrine will be built using the Stronghold Mana supply up to the level limit.}
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“Clyde had to use the bathroom so he walked into one of the unisex rooms, inside was a row of five toilets on each side of the room with wash stations at the back of the room. There was even a drying station at the front door. After christening the back stall he walked out to two female NPCs(I have to learn everyone’s name.) They were holding their noses as they tried to politely leave the Latrine.” The Narrator narrated.
“I would try another one ladies, this one will be out of order for... a little bit.”
“The words were pretty superfluous, and he chuckled at them, trying to be respectful while trying not to pass out. From the ton of impurities that he had had to get rid of now that he was back in the real world, and he really hadn’t had the time to do so yet.”
‘There was just so much to do.’ Clyde thought. He looked at his map and saw that the area around their fort was relatively clear. While there was a fog of war on it, making most areas of detail map grayscale, it still populated some Events, and note-worthy beasts ‘Dire Raccoon den?’ he had identified before, none had stayed in the area, most heading west towards the Hamlet. As a matter of fact, when Clyde zoomed out, he could see a cluster of red dots where he believed the Hamlet was located.
He washed his hands and dried them with magical hand dryers, then stepped out into the warm morning air. He looked straight up and noticed two small objects way above their fort.
Kekere landed on his shoulder as he existed. She looked at him then the latrines, then she covered her beak with her wing. He chuckled.
“Bro, what crawled up your ass and died?” Soto said as he walked up with Sugar, Johnny, and Yazmin in tow.
“I’ll tell you later after the hordes.” Clyde had looked over the last few Fort prompts while he was exercising his colon demons.
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< TOOL TIP >
{Building Name: Field Shower.
Building type: Sanitation.
Building Rank: 1
Building Tier: Uncommon
Building Description: Hygiene is very important in the GREAT GAME. Small debuffs will slowly build on a player if they don’t shower or clean themselves for a while. These debuffs attach more monsters at best to the player. At worst, body parts start to rot and fall off. This Field Shower is a large, heavy-duty tent that has canvas separators.
Building Durability: 250/250 regen 10 per month per rank.
Rooms: 2 female 2 unisex 1 male}
< BUILDING UPGRADED >
{Building Name: The locker room.
Building type: Sanitation.
Building Rank: 1
Building Tier: Rare
Building Description: Hygiene is very important in the GREAT GAME. Small debuffs will slowly build on a player if they don’t shower or clean themselves for a while. These debuffs attach more monsters at best to the player. At worst, body parts start to rot and fall off. This is a wood and metal building with multiple entrances. Each room has a storage locker that adds up to the number of citizens in the fort.
Building Durability: 2500/2500 regen 25 per month per rank.
Rooms: 4 female 3 unisex 1 male
RARE ATTACHMENT: Recycle; All waste is magically cleansed and recycled into storage for siege use only.}
_____________________________________________________________
Clyde could not wait to take a shower he had been dying to since he had thrown up on himself when he first entered the game. His gear was self-cleaning but he wasn’t. So he was pretty sure he stunk. Then he smelt his armpit and smelt nothing. But he felt dirty, so yes a shower was much needed.
“Sir, stop being weird.” Soto shook his head at his commanding officer.
Clyde ignored him and stood in front of the main tent. He thought about the upgrade to it.
_____________________________________________________________
< TOOL TIP >
{Building Name: Main Tent.
Building type: Housing/Command/Storage.
Building Rank: 1
Building Tier: Uncommon
Building Description: The sleeping area for the leadership of the CAMP as well as the strategy tent.
Building Durability: 5000/5000 regen 100 per month per rank.}
< BUILDING UPGRADED >
{Building Name: Command Tent.
Building type: Housing/Command/Medical
Building Rank: 3
Building Tier: Platinum
Building Description: The sleeping area for the leadership of the fort as well as the strategy tent, there is also an attached hospital for peace and wartime treatment. This building has minor spacial enchantment allowing it to be bigger on the inside than it was on the outside.
Building Durability: 50000/50000 regen 500 per month per rank.
RARE ATTACHMENT: Map table; A strategic table of the local area around the Fort up to the edge of the AOI.
PLATINUM ATTACHMENT: Recovery; While in the Command Tent and not engaged in combat or planning combat. The player’s HP and MP regeneration is Minorly increased.}
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Clyde pet Kekere as she crooned. Kuma looked at her, the dog’s impatient written all over her face. Clyde remembered the Trade upgrade he had gotten as he smiled at the pouting dog.
_____________________________________________________________
< PROFESSION TRADE LEVEL UP X 3 >
{+9 to All Stats except Magic}
{TRADE NAME: Stronghold Structure forging(Active)
TRADE RANK: 5
DESCRIPTION: Manipulate the resources of a designated area while using your mana to make non-combat structures for any level of Stronghold.
Cost: Variable. Cast time: Variable. Cool down: None. Duration: 5 years.
EFFECTS: The Legacy can forge High-Rare structures with time, concentration, and resources at a 98% chance of completion rate, the higher the rank of the professional the better chance to make higher-level weapons.
Structures available: A ton.
COMMON Trade Benefit: Increased Durability.
UNCOMMON Trade Benefit: Increased Duration.
RARE Trade Benefit: Upkeep cost reduced.}
_____________________________________________________________
< PROFESSION LEVEL UP X3 >
{+48 to all stats except magic}
{PROFESSION NAME: Forger
PROFESSION RANK: 18 (Amateur 2nd)
PROFESSION TYPE: Hybrid-Energy Creation
DESCRIPTION: A Forger is a unique profession as it needs no special materials, only the legacy’s mana and, in some cases, blood to fill in the blanks of what is being forged. The legacy can still use materials to augment and reduce the Mana cost, you can learn Trades but all of that is second to the Mana creation.
Initiate Benefit: Use mana with all trades to forge creations.
Amateur Benefit: Absorb Mana from kills within a controlled area for use in forging creations}
_____________________________________________________________
Progress was good in his profession, and he had planned on pushing it even more, but they had to debrief his Raid Party before the next wave.
They all walk into the Command tent and gather around a big table with a massive map of the area on it. The Colonel looked to Yazmin first and asked. “How are our people?”
Yazmin was a little surprised he would start with her first and was a little slow to answer. “Uhh most are fully recovered physically, but we all have the Dungeon sickness debuff which slows down our regen by a lot, all of our Mana is low but the potions you handed out will help with that. We believe a few nights' sleep will fix Dungeon's sickness.
“It will, somewhat,” Adia said next to Soto, causing him to jump back in a reaction.
“When did you get here?” He screamed.
“We just got here,” Bour said from Soto’s other side, causing him to jump again.
“Okay, new rule: you will not sneak up on me anymore,” Soto said.
“No.” Both mentors say in unison.
“You are weak; this is good training,” Adia stated coldly, looking at Soto intensely.
“Colonel and Sugar both could sense us somewhat. You need to get better since you are supposed to be the scout of the team,” Bour added.
“Tell us about the Dungeon sickness, please,” Clyde asked, trying to move the conversation along. “We only have a few minutes before the next wave.
“Do you?” Adia asked academically.
“Uhh, yes,” Soto said obviously.
“Doubtful,” The Colonel said.
“That is a better answer,” Bour stated.
“What do you mean?” Sugar asked.
“Two major reasons,” Adia began. “One, your completion of the first two waves was so efficient, and having a second Stronghold so close in proximity to your fort, made the Horde boss pull her beast back.”
“She may send a small wave to distract you. But it would be token at best. She will be taking her full force against the Hamlet.
Clyde zoomed the table map out so that the Hamlet is in view. The tactical table copied his map ability as along as he was in the command tent, and gave permission, otherwise they would get the information from their rangers when they get them, or people with map skills or abilities can download their current information. The table would consolidate all information, and make a comprehensive map of the local area.
Speaking of local area it was massive the LA river ran to the west of they fort with a few tributaries flowing around, and one was directed through the fort to provide a water source. The LA river was more like a stream in the pre-breaking world, now it was as wide as two miles across getting wider as it was near the estuary, where the river met the ocean which was at least ten miles at the mouth.
The river broke off and flowed all the way southeast to the Long Beach convention center, where it went back out to the sea again. The Hamlet was at the halfway mark between the fort and the Convention center. In Colonel’s Map, there was a massive question mark over the convention center. He had learned that big question marks meant a quest completion area but also a chain quest area.
Clyde downloaded what he had, which was mostly black outside the area of Los Angeles County. While it was mostly in grayscale, the original landmarks were still there, but further from each other. The city was much more spread out, but it was at least mostly intact, just much, much, much bigger. The Colonel zoomed into the Hamlet which was almost ten miles away east southeast of the fort. The Hamlet was surrounded by hundreds of red dots.
“Okay, we don’t have too much information? Soto, you feel like a scouting mission after this next wave?” The Colonel asked as his eyebrows furrowed.
“That is a lot of enemies, boss. Are we going to help?”
“Yes.” Sugar said
“Yes,” Johnny said
“Yes,” Yazmin said.
“No,” Colonel said.
“What, why?” Sugar asked, confused.
“While I am not opposed to helping people in need, if we weren’t here, they would have had to deal with this without us, correct?” He asked their mentors. They nodded. “Well, these hordes are meant to empower the people in your Stronghold by making them more prepared for the next horde. Helping them may only hurt them in the long run.”
“And what if they get wiped out?” Sugar asked coldly, looking at Colonel.
He looked at the Warlock and thought before he answered. Clyde knew his mindset might not mesh with her, but he also knew that he had to be decisive. “What do you recommend, Ms Sugar?”
She didn’t answer right away as she wasn’t sure what the Colonel was going to say, so when asked the question, she was stumped.
Soto stepped in. “We can scout it out. If they are in trouble, we can help out.”
Sugar smiled at him. “Can we do that?” She asked the Legacy as she looked back at the map. “We have to deal with them after the conflict, may as well get some good fate in while we can.”
Clyde nodded, looking at the mentors. “What are the chances we would have to step in?”
“100 percent,” Bour said
“1000 percent,” Adia said right after.
“She is probably right. Her Perks and Talents allow her to predict these things better.” Bour conceded
“They also have bigger problems to deal with than just your horde monsters.” Adia placed her hand on the tactical table and the map updated, some of the rivers shifted slightly and the area for twenty miles was in full color. No new events populate, but a few points of interest appeared next to the Hamlet, they were marked on the map as a big “D” next to an exclamation point.
“What are those?” Soto asked, looking at the new information.
“Dungeons.” The two mentors and the Colonel say in unison. The two mentors nodded their approval to Colonel.
“Dungeons that are hoarding to be more specific. They had three Peak UnCommon Dungeons already. When you decided to take the pressure off of them, they were barely hanging on. Now that your horde enemies would be added to theirs now, they won’t have a chance. They looked like they were in trouble before the horde, to be honest.”
“Fuck.” Clyde cursed. “I wanted them to stand on their own two feet, but we can’t let them be wiped out. I agree with you, Sugar, but this is a special circumstance in the future. We let other Strongholds defend themselves unless they ask for help, is that clear?” The Colonel looked her in the eyes.
She met his gaze and held it. “We should always help when we can.”
“Not if it weakens them.”
“And if they die?” She asked
“Colonel is right if we spend every waking moment protecting everyone, the ones that really need protecting get hurt the most.” Soto jumped in.
“And are we supposed to let innocent people die?” Sugar asked again.
“Johnny, how do you feel about this?” Colonel asked. Sugar looked at him for support.
Johnny was not comfortable with the attention, especially from the desert Elf and Dwarf. He looked at his wife for support. She smiled, squeezed his hand, and said. “We believe in helping those who help themselves. Then again, we were at a homeless encampment when this all started.” She pointed at the tent. “We were so lost and confused when the Dungeon formed around us, and all of a sudden, we had interfaces.” She looked at Johnny to continue.
He kissed her forehead. “Yazzy is right we needed help badly, if it weren’t for you three I do not doubt that we would all be dead. While these people probably should be in a better place than us. That wave could have easily turned on us if you three weren’t with us. Which means you saved us all twice.” Johnny finished.
Clyde nodded. He wasn’t convinced yet, but he was coming around. He knew now that everyone needed to get stronger, and he had enough EXP to cover a lot of his advancement, but that didn’t mean he was going to use it until he knew how to use his current power. He also didn’t want to take anyone’s EXP, but if it’s your life or a level, he believed most would take their life.
Adia broke his train of thought. “The three Dungeons means that they have three types of beast attacking them. Now, adding in the Mirror coyotes is a fourth. I believe the Hamlet was going to be wiped out regardless, one local Dungeon uncleared is pretty tough for a Camp, but for a Hamlet, it should be a piece of cake. Two would be tough, but not that tough. Three would be a major uphill battle, and they would have suffered massive casualties, though the ones that make it through would reap the great rewards.”
“But our horde being added to the Hamlet is a death sentence for all,” Clyde stated.
“Yes, it is rare that you can change the fate of so many people, but...” Bour looked at the Colonel. “You are too powerful for this level of horde, and the beast can sense it. I have never seen a weaponized Presence before at least not before Gold cultivator ranks when a player’s Presence becomes a part of the player’s Aura, how did you learn that?” He asked.
“That’s a shortish, long story.” He looked at the bird. “This is Kekere, my imprinted bird friend. Say hi, Kekere.”
[Hi Kekere] A smug female voice joked in party chat.
Clyde rolled his eyes. “She can be an asshole. I seem to be collecting them my whole life.”
“Hey!” Soto said
“What?” Sugar chuckled.
[This coming from the guy who was going to leave the weaklings to die.] Kekere added.
“I wasn’t going to leave them to die. I wanted them to thrive. We need everyone strong.” Clyde looked at Kekere with narrowed eyes. “You know my thoughts why am I explaining to you?”
[Because if I don’t get you to, everyone will think you are a callous psychopath.] The bird flew over to Kuma and whispered in her chibi ear.
“Fair. Okay, we will go help. Johnny prep a squad of ten combatants. Sugar you get your cannons up and level up first so you have a longer duration on them just in case our action shifts the horde back to the fort I want us to be ready.”
“Yes, sir! Should I go as well?” Johnny asked.
“Yes. We may need that shield of yours. Yazmin, you will be in charge of the medical side of the fort. Sugar you will be in charge of the defense side.”
“Aye, aye.” Sugar said.
“Copy that, sir,” Yazmin said.
“Now tell us what is the Dungeon sickness,” Clyde asked his mentors.
“I knew we were forgetting something.” Soto tapped his forehead.