Life Reset: Conquest (New Era Online Book 5)

by Kuznits, Shemer

  “Father!” My daughter was the first to notice me. The beautiful goblinette leapt up, teleporting the last few meters straight into my arms.

  I hugged her tightly, smelling the fresh scent of her full, dark hair. I was back with my clan, back in the role of the chief who was now hugging his daughter. Oren Berman was just a distant part of me that only truly surfaced whenever I was forced to return to reality. “Lirian,” I said, smiling. “Are you well?”

  “I am! I trained diligently while we awaited your return,” she said proudly.

  I pulled back and took in her appearance. Only a week had passed, and yet she somehow seemed taller and more self-assured. The formidable blackened Outrider sword that was strapped to her back probably had something to do with it. Is she really the seed Guy mentioned in his prophecy? I wondered, making sure not to broadcast my thoughts. My seed?

  There were no answers, only questions. My daughter’s existence was a true mystery.

  Analyze.

  Name: Lirian, Goblin Princess

  Level : 22

  Attributes : n/a

  Skills : n/a

  Spells : n/a

  Traits :

  ● Shadow-Touched

  ● Child of Fate

  Gear :

  ● Ornamental back scabbard

  ● Fate Stealer [Greatsword]

  ● Kobold fire choker

  Even with my Master-ranked Analyze skill, my daughter’s data was as enigmatic as ever. I did notice she’d gained two whole levels in my absence.

  “You’ve gotten stronger,” I observed.

  She smiled proudly. “I trained really hard.”

  I didn’t smile back.

  Lirian frowned. “Is something wrong?”

  Gaining XP meant killing things, which meant my daughter had been through combat, which meant she put herself in danger. I was about to point that out, but then I caught myself.

  We’d had this conversation before. It led to a duel between us and ended with her pulling the Outrider sword out of the ground and defeating all my summoned creatures. My daughter had earned my respect by deed, and even though I didn’t like it, I’d learned to accept it. I forced a smile onto my face. “Nothing’s wrong, Lirian, I’m proud of you. Just be careful; you know if something happens to you–”

  “Then your vow to Nihilator will be broken, and he’ll kill you and everyone around?” she said with a mischievous grin.

  I winced. “I was going to say that I would be out of my mind if something happened to you, but … well … yeah.”

  The impulsive vow I’d made when she was born – promising not to let my enemies hurt her – was a binding one. But as my daughter demonstrated when we attacked this town, she was incredibly difficult to hurt.

  To my surprise, a goblin wearing some purple rags as a cape approached and stood a respectful distance away from us. “What’s this?”

  Lirian looked back. “Oh, that’s just Savol; he insists on following me around. He’s funny, so I let him do that.”

  My daughter has a stalker? I scowled at the small creature that wilted under my gaze.

  Analyze.

  Savol, Goblin Squire

  Level: 5

  HP: 44

  MP: 39

  Attributes: P:3, M:2, S:1

  Skills: Lucky Bastard 3, Protector 6

  Traits: Shadow-Touched, Sole Survivor

  Description: Out of a force of 3,500 foblins, Savol was the sole survivor, saved by a goblin princess. The experience opened his eyes to the world and made him swear undying loyalty to the one who saved him.

  I deflated. I had forgotten about the horde of foblins I’d sent to be massacred. But it seemed that one of them survived, at least. It explained how he got the Lucky Bastard skill, thus becoming an intelligent NPC. One who seemed to dote on my daughter. I wasn’t sure how to feel about it, but at least I realized there was no danger. The little guy was harmless.

  A boisterous cry drew my attention, and Malkyr came over. “Welcome back, Big Chief! We missed you over here. You don’t call, you don’t write … you don’t spread darkness to consume the land …”

  I smiled at my big friend. Malkyr and his sister were the first players who’d joined my clan, and they both had proven their worth and loyalty over and over again. “I’m alright. How is everyone?”

  “We’re fine,” Aly said. The muscular woman with the short platinum hair approached to greet me along with several other players. “We spent the last week fortifying Novenguard, fixing the walls, training the soldiers, you know the drill.”

  “Now that you’re back, we should discuss what we’re going to do next,” said Sullivan, one of the players who’d proven himself to be a capable strategist. “We won the town, but we can’t sit here for too long. I’m sure word of our victory has spread, and if we don’t move soon, the other towns will eventually group up and form an army against us. We need to move before they have time to raise a force we won’t be able to match.”

  “We’re also missing a general,” said Kyth, the half-gnome, half-goblin player. The gnomblin smiled at me apologetically. “There are a lot of lieutenants, but none of them are capable of commanding the entire army.”

  “Oh,” Malkyr said suddenly. “Food is also becoming an issue.”

  I sighed. A chief’s work never ended.

  I looked around the open hall. “Is there a meeting room we can use?”

  ***

  I followed the other players into a separate room where we were greeted by a metallic figure made of multiple shifting pinkish spheres. “Oi, g’day, mate, long time no see!”

  “Seems like just a few hours to me,” I said to the unruly golem. “What are you doing here, Aidanriel?”

  “Oi, don’t mind me, mate; I’m just interested in ‘earing your plans.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Why?”

  “Now don’t get me wrong, mate, being your secret weapon was nice and all, but I feel like I can do more – really express myself, y’know? How ‘bout I compose a theme for the army? It’ll set our enemies runnin’ when they ‘ear us coming along, eh?”

  Malkyr chuckled. “Your golem is hilarious.”

  “I don’t think–” I began.

  “Come on, mate, I can be useful. Check this out, I can even be a comfortable chair for you.” The golem beads rotated, rolling on top of one another as Aidanriel shaped himself into a rough semblance of a chair. The lumpy seat looked anything but comfortable.

  “Alright, if it means so much to you, you can stay, but lose the chair, and try to keep it down.”

  “Crikey!”

  I sat down in a normal chair at the head of the table where a large map was spread. Lirian took a seat to my right, and Malkyr, Hoshisu, Aly, Kyth, and Sullivan sat across from me. Nero, the black half-dragon player, opted to remain standing. Julee, a red-skinned girl, and Cron, a thick-armed dwarf, sat farther away. The other players chose not to attend, putting the burden of planning our next steps on us.

  All eyes turned to me.

  “What are you looking at me for?”

  “You’re the chief,” Aly pointed out.

  “I’m just the chief. You are the geniuses. I’ll continue to be in charge of supplying the troops and logistics and setting our goals – which at the moment is to take over the capital, Everance. How we’re going to do it… that’s up to you.”

  “Fair enough,” Sullivan said, rubbing his chin. “There are many small villages, hamlets, and isolated farmhouses between us and the capital. I think our safest bet is to conquer the large ones along our way to maintain our supply route and secure the land behind us.”

  “You might as well aim to conquer as many settlements as you can,” I said. “I don’t think I’ve shared this with you before, but Goblin’s Gorge is now a capital that specializes in warfare. Every settlement we conquer gives a tribute to the capital in the form of food and other resources, as well as increasing the level of new recruits.”

  “So you basical
ly want us to farm enemy towns,” Hoshisu said.

  “Pretty much.”

  Cron let out a rough chuckle. “Ha! That’s a new one. Farm whole towns instead of monsters.”

  “ We are the monsters now,” Aly said calmly. “It makes sense to use whatever tool we have at our disposal, especially since pretty much everyone else is against us.”

  Sullivan shook his head. “Getting tributes from conquered settlements and increasing the levels of our soldiers are powerful tools, but I’m not sure even that will be enough. Everance’s military might is incredible. Even if we convert all the towns along the way and throw our entire population against them, we still won't be able to match their strength. And they have several extremely powerful NPC heroes. How are we going to counter that?”

  “We’ve already handled extremely powerful enemies before,” Malkyr boasted. “Remember when we stormed the Manapulators’ guildhall? Man, there were over 20 players around level 300 there.”

  Sullivan shook his head again. “You had a powerful golem back then, and the one sitting here is nowhere near that level.”

  “Hey!” Aidanriel said, affronted.

  Sullivan ignored him. “Even then, it was all just diversion tactics to bring down their mansion. Given time, the players would have killed us all.”

  “You have a point,” I conceded. “But let me worry about that. I’m working on another angle, but it’s going to take time to develop. For now, concentrate on leading the army to conquer the outlying settlements.”

  “Some of them are pretty powerful,” Kyth remarked. “They don’t have Novenguard’s high walls, but off the top of my head, Whitebanner and Storg have a standing militia of several thousand soldiers each. How are we going to handle them?”

  All eyes turned to Sullivan. Our accidental strategist rubbed his chin. “We could start by taking over the smaller settlements and use the bonuses they offer to further increase our strength and build our forces to a peak when we finally go against the toughest opponents.”

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” Malkyr announced. “So how do we begin?”

  “Here and here.” Sullivan pointed at two spots on the map. “There are two settlements, each one just a couple of days’ march from here. They’re located in spots that serve as natural chokepoints between us and the rest of the populated area. If we take them both, no army will be able to flank us. We can fortify the towns and turn them into our forward staging area. This will allow us to send quick attack forces to the outlying villages.”

  “It’s going to be hard mobilizing the entire army without a general,” Cron pointed out.

  My stomach churned at the reminder. Bob, my trusted second-in-command, a hobgoblin who’d been with me since nearly the very beginning, had fallen during the attack on Novenguard. Ragnar, the dwarf player, had used some sort of holy light attack to burn Bob’s very soul, killing him permanently. He almost did the same to my daughter before I was able to stop him.

  “We don’t need the entire army,” Sullivan said. “These are small hamlets with small populations. They’ll have a dozen guards at most and fairly low-level at that. A couple of player-led squads should be enough to conquer them. Our newest member will be eager to join, I’m sure.”

  “What newest member? I asked.

  “You didn’t hear?” Sullivan looked surprised. “We found another player in Novenguard prison and freed her. She’s … different. Very aggressive.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Is she going to be a problem?” Having one aggressive player already working against me had proved to be a serious obstacle; I didn’t need any more.

  Aly shook her head. “She’s not hostile; she’s more like Nero … only not as civilized. She’ll want to fight on our side. I think bringing her along to take over these hamlets is a good idea; help her blow off some steam.”

  “Alright, I trust your judgment,” I said. “You’ll need to take a goblin adept with you to convert their local shrines. Once that’s done, I’ll be able to teleport in if needed.”

  “Good idea,” Sullivan said. “The real problem starts after that. Once we take those two hamlets, we’ll instantly be perceived as a threat by the other settlements. They’ll upgrade their defenses, and we should probably expect a retaliation strike. We’ll need to prepare for that, which means we need more soldiers and resources to keep the captured towns and expand further.”

  “That’s a problem,” Aly pointed out. “Goblin’s Gorge is four days’ march from here. That means six days to reinforce the hamlets.”

  “I might be able to help there,” I said. “But I’ll need time to prepare.”

  “I expect we’ll have a week before retaliation once we capture the hamlets,” Sullivan said. “So you’ll have about ten days to get the reinforcements from the moment you give us the green light to go.”

  “What about Novenguard?” Julee asked timidly. “Shouldn’t we keep a force here to secure it?”

  “No,” I said. “The town is fully converted; the entire population is part of our clan now. They’ll defend it against attacks.”

  “We should still keep most of the army here,” Hoshisu said. “Our first attack will probe their readiness. We’ll need to keep a major reserve force in town in case we need to fall back in a hurry or in case we want to send in reinforcements.”

  “I agree,” Sullivan said. “Novenguard is our current staging area, and until we have a solid foothold on the front border, we should keep it as such.” He looked at me apologetically. “And we really do need you to appoint a new general.”

  My shoulders slumped. “What’s the rush? You still have over 500 intelligent hob lieutenants under you.”

  “Like Kyth already said, it’s not the same. A lieutenant can lead a small squad well, that’s true, but they don’t see the big picture, and they can’t cooperate with other squads efficiently. We need someone with authority and foresight for that. As their officers, the soldiers obey our orders, but our control is limited; we can’t order a whole battalion the same way Bob used to. You could probably do that, but you can’t be everywhere. You should promote one of the lieutenants as the new general.”

  “I can’t.” I sighed. “I’m afraid I might have outsmarted myself. A general needs to be a boss, and I exceeded the quota of bosses I can promote when I summoned all those Ogre Mages.” At the time, I’d thought myself so smart for exploiting the loophole. The game only allowed me to promote a certain amount of bosses – depending on my town’s level – but I found out that I could circumvent that limitation by summoning premade bosses via the Breeder’s Den.

  “You’ll need to solve it somehow,” Sullivan said.

  Vic said.

  Huh, I guess you’re right. Hadn’t occurred to me. Thanks, Vic.

 

  “Looks like there might be a way around that problem,” I told Sullivan. “I still need to figure out who to promote though. I prefer not to rush it.”

  “We have some time. For now, you should focus on enlarging the army. We need a hell of a lot more soldiers to accomplish what you want us to do.”

  “Alright, I’ll see what I can do,” I said. “In the meantime, send the first attack wave to those two hamlets. I want us to keep pushing forward. It might be safer to wait and amass more forces, but each day we delay means another player out there is having a bad day longer than he has to.”

  Everyone sobered up at the reminder.

  Sullivan nodded. “I’ll send several player-led squads out as soon as the sun sets. We’ll keep in touch with each other via messages and let you know when it’s done.”

  “Good.” I got to my feet, and Lirian followed suit. “In that case, I should get busy too.”

  I put a hand on my dau
ghter’s shoulder, and we teleported away.

  ***

  “Man, the chief’s got a flair for the dramatic,” Malkyr said with a chuckle once Oren had disappeared in a burst of darkness.

  “Yeah, he’s one smooth meat suit,” the golem said. “So, come on, mates, time to talk about our marching band. You’re all into it, right? Right?”

  The remaining players exchanged wary looks.

  Aidanriel’s beads juggled merrily. “Crikey!”

  2 - Expansion

  Lirian and I reappeared in the center of Goblin’s Gorge.

  The valley walls towered over my settlement, protecting and hiding it from our enemies. Around us, goblins were busily moving about, hauling goods and resources, working at their craft, growing and improving the clan’s capital.

  “I want to go find Mother,” Lirian said. “She’s probably hunting.”

  I let the clan’s information tendrils wash over me. “She’s on her way to the valley’s exit. If you hurry, you’ll catch her before she leaves.”

  Lirian offered me a nod and disappeared, using her ability to chain-cast the short-ranged teleport spell to quickly cover a long distance. I wondered, and not for the first time, about my enigmatic daughter’s mana pool. But it was still hidden from me, along with most of her character stats.

  I wanted to see Tika as well. It had been nearly a week from my perspective since I’d left the clan and my goblin mate behind. I missed Tika’s large, caring eyes and gentle touch, but I decided to let Lirian catch her first. If there was one thing I had learned during my time in NEO, females of all species loved to chat amongst themselves.

  I looked around. There was so much to do I hardly knew where to begin.

  I spotted new buildings that had been finished in my absence. I’d have to go check them out. Then I’d have to summon new troops, check our food supply, arrange for equipment, recruit more workers as needed while providing enough lodging, practice Runecrafting… the list went on and on. Thankfully, the starting point was always the same, and the information tendrils that saturated my clan alerted me to its approach.