by Ryan DeBruyn
Azoth calmed down and Rocky continued to blink away the spell’s purple afterglow. When his vision returned, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
He closed his eyes and opened them. Nothing had changed. The Pathway into the Grotto was crowded with ogres. Tao and Gamma were encased in a familiar glowing purple field-bubble—nearly identical to the one that had saved Bam-Bam. His vision cleared and he Analyzed a familiar figure leading the charge into the Grotto.
Bam-Bam
Master-Yabba-Dabba
Level 23
Health Points 1225/ 2450
Boss
He tilted his head and counted the ogres moving toward Tao and Gamma. There were nine of them, and he was absolutely sure that they were the same minions they had just killed.
Pebbles collapsed and her two guards caught her. They swung her onto their shoulders like she was a log and ran from the Grotto.
Follow her! he thought to his clone.
He ordered Azoth to the ground outside of the purple dome that encased Tao and Gamma. They hadn't moved yet.
“Tao, Gamma, are you two alright?” asked Rocky. No response.
He peered closer. It was barely visible, but Tao moved, just enough for Rocky to notice. They were moving as if they were paddling through the thickest molasses ever created. He cursed and looked at the army behind the two golems.
“Form up around the golems. I am not sure if the enemy can move normally in there, either, so let's not give them the chance.”
The tanks clacked forward.
A roar came from the Grotto’s entrance.
The first ogre to emerge was a glowing, red Bam-Bam. Tribal drums gave cadence to the haunting sight. It threw three round objects, and trees grew from the spots where the objects landed.
“Fire!” he shouted. He wasn’t going to let the Totems have a chance to form. Minions streamed out of the tunnel and formed up in front of the Totems, shielding them.
The second volley flew forward in a kaleidoscope of ionized light, and Rocky waited for the ogres to fall under the barrage.
They didn't, and he Analyzed Bam-Bam again.
Bam-Bam
Master-Yabba-Dabba
Level 23
Health Points 1500/ 2450
Boss
Blood Lust
Bam-Bam was healing under the onslaught, not dying.
“Zippo, get up in the air and take out those Totems! Sela, get some vines ready!”
Zippo hopped onto the Chimera’s back, and the wind from Azoth’s wings stirred the dirt and leaves, forcing Rocky to turn his face away.
When it was safe to look back, something had changed. Bam-Bam flexed his muscles against the onslaught. The ogres took tiny steps forward, like linebackers in football slowly collapsing the pocket of protection. This time, though, the protected quarterback was all of Rocky’s military, Tao, Gamma, Sela, and himself.
He checked his Ether. Not great. He charged up two stacks of Dark Blade and let them fly horizontally. They collided first with Bam-Bam, stopping him in his tracks.
Rocky smiled for a split second, until eight ogres stepped up and extended their hands to his double-stacked Skill. They began moving again, chewing up the ground.
Rocky searched the sky anxiously. What was taking Zippo so long?
Fireballs rained down on the Totems, splashing against an invisible umbrella that dissipated the fire twenty feet above the ogres.
He Analyzed the new totems and found one change. The Totem of Haste was missing.
Totem of Single-Direction Shielding
Master-Totem
Level 23
250/ 250
The Totem must have blocked some of the earlier attacks. How did he let the other ogres distract him to the point that he’d miss that? The advancing ogres protected the front while the Totem guarded the skies.
Rocky cursed. The gap was quickly closing—no more than ten feet left.
Sela’s vines sprang from the earth and wrapped around the bodies of the ogres.
“The aura is eating them faster than I can repair them,” Sela grunted.
The vines snapped, and the ogres took another huge step, cutting the distance to eight feet.
Rocky prepared his melee version of Dark Blade with the last of his Ether, readying himself for a fight.
An object whizzed by Rocky’s head. His eyes followed a black frying pan as it sailed through the air, clanged off the thick-skinned arms of an ogre minion, and fell in the dirt.
His eyebrows joined his hairline. He traced the pan’s flight path to a man heaving a black metal wok. The man tossed the wok through the air and ran straight ahead, followed by thousands of other people.
Rocky scanned the horizon. The army’s numbers increased as more and more people bolstered it. What started as roughly seven hundred military men swelled to two thousand, and kept growing.
A man in a chef's apron waved his hands in multiple directions, dancing in place.
A flock of short blades flew around an ogre minion, crisscrossing tough skin. The ogre roared and fell to one knee. Its mouth opened to roar, and thousands of projectiles joined the onslaught. Glowing skills rocketed forward, growing brighter.
Tank operators shouted over the tumult, “Empty!” and “Switching to rifle fire!”
One soldier yelled, “Cease fire!” and the onslaught tempered but didn’t stop. The four thousand untrained citizens kept going until they exhausted their Ether pools. Several minutes elapsed before the firing ceased. Smoke swirled where weapons once rained.
Azoth landed beside him with Zippo on his back. “We didn’t hit the totems at all. That shield kept diverting my attacks.” He gestured between the four thousand citizens and the smoke. “This was them.”
Rocky’s heart swelled with pride as he looked over the citizens who braved the fight. When the Grotto was under threat, everyone stood together.
But there was still Pebbles to contend with. First, he needed to ensure that the ogres were dead. But, if Pebbles escaped, this could all start again.
“Azoth, can you give that smoke some help with dispersing?” Rocky asked. There was no response, of course. He still wasn’t used to it—he missed Azoth’s broken, childish speech pattern.
Azoth flapped his wings, as if he was playing a new game, and the smoke cleared to reveal nine ogre corpses.
Tao and Gamma were slowly extricating themselves from the time bubble. This battle hadn’t lasted long.
Rocky pointed to the hulking bodies and addressed the man who had ordered the cease-fire. “Loot the corpses, and then stack them in front of the Dungeons. Make sure the boss gets placed with Maximus.”
The man saluted and ordered his tank squadrons to hook the corpses up to the chassis.
Rocky checked in with his clone. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing—the ogre minions were being attacked by someone. He recognized it as the exiles immediately, since there was a particular Skill involved in the fight. Derik had hurled that same attack at Rocky a few weeks before.
“Zippo, oversee the cleanup.”
He searched the crowd for Sela and spotted her a few feet away, talking with a group of citizens. What was she doing? Pebbles was top priority. Whatever they were gossiping about could wait.
“Sela, let’s get on Azoth and find Pebbles.”
She excused herself and joined him on Azoth’s back. The group she chatted with shot them worried looks. Maybe he was mistaken. He patted his friend and asked, “Can you see the gold string? Good. Follow it!”
Chapter Six
Rocky and Sela flew over the tops of the enlarged Territory trees. Even the thickened canopy couldn’t contain the sounds of battle below them. Rocky scanned for a safe spot to land, but Azoth, being Azoth, chose his own.
Rocky and Sela leaped from the saddle as Azoth entered the fray. As she dropped, Sela shifted into her cat form to help with her landing. He didn’t have that option. He mentally turned on Dark Cloak, praying it would help with hi
s.
As he hurtled to the ground, branches whipped him, tearing at his arms and back. He shouted his pain and lost count of how many hit him. Abruptly, he slammed into a tree trunk, and his compressed lungs cut his shout short. Dark Cloak had some severe limitations. Like stopping a thousand branches of the ugly tree from beating him. Oh, and one trunk.
He landed on the forest floor with a crack. He wasn’t sure if he’d broken a bone ,but it sure felt like it. He struggled to catch his breath. He wheezed and gasped for air, wincing with each cough. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he cast Dark Mend and silently berated Azoth. And himself—he needed to take at least partial blame.
He cast a second Dark Mend, and the pain receded enough for him to roll onto his back.
He groaned at a new notification.
Congratulations! You have learned a new skill.
Falling
● You have fallen numerous times in your life, and have always gotten back up. Let the system help you with that. Reduces damage from falling by 0.5% per level in weak ranks.
Current level Weak level 1
Thanks a lot. Did the system have to rub it in?
Rocky gingerly rose to his feet and surveyed the corpses of the three ogres. Azoth was atop one with his claws dug in, and Rocky covered his ears as his pet roared.
He shook his head and walked over. “Azoth, before you eat that disgusting thing, let us loot it first.”
Azoth had pumped his wings to gain altitude, still towing the minion corpse, then reluctantly dropped the corpse at his command.
Rocky knelt beside the body and thought, Loot. Five Crystallized Ether appeared in one of his hands.
That’s a significant amount. I wonder if it's because they are humanoid?
He glanced at his other hand. Some sort of leather? He Analyzed it.
Ogre Loincloth
● This loincloth is made from the fiercest creature the ogre has slain. Often, it carries immense strength, due to the inherent Ether of the original occupant.
He dropped the Loincloth like it had burned him.
He grimaced at the thing on the ground, and bile rose in his throat. He caught an eyeful of what it had been covering and turned away.
“Azoth, you can take it away now.” He coughed, nearly misspeaking.
The gusts of wind that built up and then dissipated told of his pet leaving with the corpse in tow. He sure was getting stronger if he could carry something so substantial now. Maybe Azoth could even carry a third person.
He headed toward the boss's corpse, already imagining the loot he’d get, when a voice stopped him in his tracks.
“You wait right there! We stopped these creatures and would have killed them without your pet's interference. I’m pretty sure you did some damage to that tree trunk, though.”
He didn’t miss that voice one bit.
Derik pushed and shoved through his fellow exiles, wrenching his arms free from those who tried to hold him back.
If he had felt any goodwill toward the man, it vanished with Derik's tone. And the man pointing out his fall.
He had a decision to make. Should he allow them to loot the corpses? The rules of their exile were clear. The loot of their kills was to be given to the Territory. He scrolled through his screens and noticed his waiting notifications. Shaking his head, and recalling his vow to be a good leader, he made the fair decision.
They had killed these bosses and helped the Territory. Rocky shouldn’t let his dislike of Derik cloud that. He ignored a few notifications and navigated to a screen that allowed Derik and the exiles to loot the corpses in front of them.
Rocky motioned that the loot was Derik's. He didn’t trust his voice to stay neutral.
“Very humble of you, Mister Leader. Thanks for offering us the loot of our own kill,” Derik spat out.
“Consider yourself lucky that this meeting doesn’t end with my fist in your face. Again.”
Sela interposed herself and Rocky blinked.
Oops. I really need to work on that anger management.
He turned his back, signaling that he was done with Derik, and checked the notification he had closed to loot the corpses.
Congratulations! You have completed a quest.
Protection Quest
Leader of Territory Algonquin Valley – Chimera Knight
● You have successfully safeguarded the sanctum and even renewed a new timer for your Ether-Assisted Protection. You have upheld your oath and successfully defeated the invading monsters in the time limit.
A knight is only as good as their oath.
Rewards:
0 Personal Etherience (250,000 Etherience diverted to Spirit Realm as per Michabo agreement)
You have successfully claimed the Chimera Knight Journeyman Class
Great job, Leader!
The Etherience of the quest diverting to the Spirit Realm reminded him of his earliest conversation with Michabo. He quickly pulled up his other completed quest and searched through the Greater Territorial Perks. Michabo had stressed the importance of obtaining one of the perks listed, and he needed to find it before the timer lapsed. According to Michabo, he had exactly a week from the completion of a quest to select a reward, if offered; otherwise, it would randomize your selection.
He opened the quest, which was awaiting completion.
Congratulations! You have completed a quest.
Chain Quest
Red Quest
Party Quest - Druid
Cleanse the Land
● The land around your Territory has been infected by the Irradiated Ether and needs to be cleansed by fire. To ensure that this infection does not linger, remove its source, Apep's Dungeon, and its Leader. Failure to eradicate this plague will result in future attacks on your Territory and erosion of borders.
Rewards:
1 Greater Territorial Perk (Awaiting selection 4 hours, 13 minutes, 3 seconds remaining)
0 Etherience (250,000 Etherience diverted to Territorial Etherience)
1000 Crystallized Ether to party Leader.
Choose your reward to finalize.
He clicked the Greater Territorial Perk and scrolled through the list of twenty-five items, skipping over those he wasn't looking for. With four hours remaining, he couldn’t afford to look at the others, especially due to knowing himself well enough to admit he would probably end up believing the Territory needed one of the other twenty-four options more.
Not that he fully trusted Michabo, but the weird bunny-man had told him the Atlantean Guild Tower would be required to keep the Spirit Realm functioning. The fact that the space had recently saved his entire party's life made a good argument for keeping it.
He clicked on the Atlantean Guild Tower and was shocked when it gave him an additional option within the building tab.
Atlantean Guild Tower
● An Atlantean Guild Tower creates a conduit for a Territory, increasing the Territorial Etherience conversion from 1 for every 100 citizens to 1 for every 10 citizens. It also provides a Guild or Palace living area within the dome, which is attached to its base. This building can be continuously upgraded to better serve your Territory. It even comes with an additional option upon creation, if Orbital Satellites exist.
For an additional 500,000 Territorial Etherience, this Tower creates a Satellite Uplink, which will allow remote access to the Atlantean Net. The single Satellite Uplink will also enable the owner to view areas below its orbit.
Would you like to Uplink to a Satellite?
Would you like to accept this as your Greater Territorial Perk?
A Satellite uplink would be invaluable, but he wasn’t sure if the price would be worth it. He searched around for Sela and found her chatting with the other exiles while Derik looted Pebbles. She laughed at something, and his heart clenched. He rolled his shoulders, forcing out the physical tightness, and called, “Sela, can I borrow you for a moment?”
She t
urned, smiled, and excused herself from the group. Once she had joined him, he motioned toward the hovering Guild Perk option.
“Michabo, told me that we needed this Tower. What do you think?”
Sela’s smile vanished like the sun at night. She finished reading the screen and asked “How much Territorial Etherience do we have?”
He heard something in her voice. He would have called it excitement, but it wasn't bubbly. It was too intense and made his heart stutter. Was it because the tone made him worried, or was it his own desire?
He opened Algonquin's Territorial page and scanned it to find the current total. He hadn’t yet had the time to delve into most of the options—only really recalling that for every one hundred people in residence, the Territory created 1 Ether per day for the pool.
He scanned the lists of options for spells, buildings, and conversions. But there was a new tab that he’d never seen before.
Territorial Management Page
Click a tab to open the options within.
Total Population: 3,693 Individuals within Borders
Total Etherience per day: 37 Territorial Etherience
Current Etherience Total: 1,265,213 (2,265,213 – 1,000,000 for current Rebirth)
One million points per Rebirth? Michabo had said they needed the entire group's Etherience for resurrections. If his Etherience transferred point for point, he had more than enough for the Satellite. Rocky alone had transferred two hundred million at least! Had Michabo needed the group’s collective Etherience? Maybe there was a conversion rate. Etherience wasn’t exactly Territorial Etherience—right?
Rocky had no reason not to trust Michabo, and figured he would try to get the rabbit man to explain later. He clicked the Rebirth tab.
Territorial Management Page
Rebirths
● Thanks to your place of power, the Altar of Michabo, you have access to Rebirths. You can only use this option on Spirits that reside in the spirit realm to place them in a physical body. Spirits need to have a constant stream of Territorial Etherience to be sustained in the Spirit Realm. If it runs out, they may either die a true death or be demoted to the 7th Layer.
