I stopped and remembered my promise to upgrade Melina’s fan and get her a shield, so I made her a pit boss shield and upgraded her fan to a pit boss war fan, then enhanced both of them to +5. My attack was already high enough that I didn’t need to waste stones on my own gear except for the armor, but I’d busy myself with them once I tested the bow out. I needed to know if using a bow would top using a melee weapon.
Melina appeared out of nowhere as I was exiting the smithy. It was almost as if she knew that I was just done with her items.
“Why did you have to yell so much earlier?” she muttered. “And I was just about to sleep.”
“Sorry. I had no idea how to make arrows. Here, look at this as compensation for ruining your sleep.”
I handed her the two slightly glowing items and observed the change on her face. She lit up like a Christmas tree.
“Hey! These are so much better than what I had before!”
“You didn’t have any shield at all,” I said and pointed the fact out she hadn’t been using one.
“Yeah, but that doesn’t matter. Look, when I put the bunny cloak on and hold the shield up, I have over 1,500 defense and over 10,000 shield.”
I whistled at the numbers. My stats were similar, but only because I was overpowered in comparison. She really had some good passives.
“Want to test the bow out with me? I could make you one as well.”
Several minutes later we stood outside and stared at the group of grazlitaurs. I pulled the bow back out and took a single rank three arrow, nocked it, pulled the string, and released it. A shockwave pushed my bow arm back, and I had to step back so as not to fall. What a recoil.
Damage Notification:
You have inflicted 6,247 damage to Grazlitaur: You have inflicted 4,833 damage to Grazlitaur.
The creature got hit right in the side and was lifted off its feet as the arrow exploded from the other side and struck a second grazlitaur for almost as much.
Melina put her hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “What the hell was that just now?”
I shook my head in disbelief and nocked a second arrow, fired it, and saw two more grazlitaurs die.
“Are you sure you want to play around with a fan?”
She slapped my back and grabbed the bow from my hand. “Give me an arrow. I want to try it myself.”
Melina stood there with the oversized bow in her hand and had some trouble nocking the arrow.
“I think you need a smaller bow, Mel. There is a hunting bow in the inn, right?”
“Yeah, but let me try it out first.”
I helped her pull the arrow back and let go. She didn’t need help holding the bow still, but it looked quite clumsy. The bow snapped, and the arrow flew straight, hitting the neck of a grazlitaur.
“Just under four thousand damage. Shit! I want one too!”
“Yeah, let’s go back and make you a bow and some arrows. I’ll work on some pieces of pit boss armor and give you the tyranitaur ones, alright?”
“Yeah, it would bring my defense up even higher. Just imagine me standing there and taking the abuse from those big bad monsters and being able to survive without problems. Now that’s something I want you to do for me!”
“Huh? What? You want me to make you invincible?” I questioned.
She nodded excitedly. “I want the best possible shield and fan and armor and everything! I want to be like a rock!”
“Why don’t you slow down a bit? You already have a far higher defense than I do.”
“And that’s the point! I could help you much better if I could just stand there and fire arrow after arrow!”
I groaned and slumped to the ground, not caring about any passersby.
“Sure, we’ll visit the spider again in a few days and mine some more of that black abyssum ore. What about the second tower, though? Do you want to go out with me?”
“No. I mean, yeah, I do, but why don’t we visit the tower or the general? It would be good manners, husband. They sent us a crate of some super special chocolate the other day.”
I shrugged and then nodded slowly. “Yeah, we might as well visit him and see what’s what.”
“Now that’s settled, how about you go make me that hunting bow? I want to see how it works when I can pull the string myself.”
“Yeah, alright. You go get the bow, and I’ll wait in the smithy. Make sure you first try it out in there so you’re sure it’s something you can wield.”
She raced off without saying another word as I got to my feet and walked back over to the smithy. I used the time to check which one of the armor pieces would be best. I was able to make several, but I wanted the biggest possible return for my ingredients.
The pit boss armor parts had a nasty specialty, which was a very high Reflect stat. That meant the following: if someone or something hit me very hard, a good part of that damage would be reflected back. It wasn’t something I would prefer to have; no, I would prefer speed and attack, or even pure defense, but the difference between armor parts was too large. Still, I would have to wait until we were back from the general until I could make them, as each part would take several hours.
Melina came running several minutes later and stopped right next to me with an ancient-looking bow in her hand. It was a recurve bow, and I was quite ecstatic to see such a marvelous piece. They stored more energy and delivered a higher speed and power in return when the arrow was released. This would add to her already lower attack power.
“What?” she asked curiously as I stared at the piece in her hands.
“Nothing. I was just appreciating the craftsmanship.”
I held out my hand to take the bow, and she handed it to me with great care.
“Please make me a beast just like the one you were using,” she whispered.
I could swear there was a glint in her eyes, something dangerous and much more upsetting than it should have been. Was she going to use the bow in bad ways? To hunt… people? Time would tell…
I finished upgrading the bow pretty quickly, and I was pretty satisfied with the result.
Pit Boss Recurve Bow Rank 1
PHYSICAL ATTACK: 640
ENMA ATTACK: 450
BREAK: 1,100
The stats were quite strange, as the physical and break attacks were even higher than my bow. Not that it mattered, as the damage would depend on other factors as well.
“Here you go, love,” I said with a deep smile that was set on my face and just wouldn’t disappear. I was happy for her, genuinely so.
She hugged and kissed me before taking the bow and approaching the anvil. She stood there for several long moments until the bow started glowing. She must have upgraded it to +5 at least and made some arrows, as she suddenly held one in her free hand.
“Can I go check the bow?” she asked hurriedly. “Just a single arrow, alright?”
“Yeah, alright.”
I joined her outside and waited as she made the shot. To my surprise, the shot came about fifteen paces short.
“What the hell?” she protested. “Why didn’t it go so far?”
“Because it’s a smaller bow, Mel. You’ll need to stand much closer to the targets.”
“Oh, I see. Well, it doesn’t matter since I’ll be supporting you from the sidelines anyway, right?”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Hah, I knew you would see sense one day!” She laughed and cackled for several seconds until she noticed I wasn’t laughing along.
“Mel, are you drunk or something?”
“No, why? Can’t I be merry? I just got a great weapon, Viktor. Let me have my moment of glory.”
I shrugged and turned back toward the safe zone.
“Alright, come on. The general won’t visit himself, you know?”
Chapter Six
When we walked out into the crowded streets of Sylmar, the first thing I noticed was a damn explosion that resounded from the east. Bystanders rushed to escape and hide, but t
he panic only lasted for several seconds. Everyone quickly turned back to normal and kept on doing whatever they were doing before the explosion.
“What’s going on?” I snapped at one of the soldiers standing nearby. He rushed to his feet and turned to face me. Both he and his unit hadn’t noticed me, as they’d been standing with their backs turned toward the gate.
“Sir!” he snapped and saluted. “We’ve been having problems with the Green Dragon Gang portal.”
Melina tensed beside me, and her hand squeezed down hard around mine at hearing about them. I turned to look her in the eyes and nodded reassuringly.
“Nothing’s going to happen to you, love. I promise.”
The soldiers gave us a strange look, but then they looked away as if realizing what we were talking about.
“Sir, do you want to meet with the general?”
“Where is he?” I asked and stepped closer. “And what the hell is it with the Greenies?”
“They’re trying to blow up the box surrounding their portal. They light a bomb up every day or so.”
“And how has it worked for them?”
“They broke through on one side, but it was immediately reinforced, and we caught one of their men.”
“Alright. Have someone drive us to Kade.”
Nothing much had changed as we sped down the street. Life went on as usual, though you could notice the presence of crystals and drops from the portal and the tower alike. An armor here or there hung around someone’s body, or they wore a weapon crafted inside the rifts. It wasn’t just us who had a monopoly on the stuff, the Association had done everything they could to rival us and our products, and they had succeeded to a degree. From what I heard, they had a group of fifty people constantly crafting things, but their rift was far smaller than ours was. A smaller rift meant fewer ingredients.
The driver was silent and so was Melina. She had a haunted look on her face, one that told me more than I wanted to know. A trip to thank the general had turned into something I didn’t like at all.
We arrived exactly twelve minutes after boarding the jeep and stopped in front of the same tall building where we’d met him for the first time. The outer appearance had changed, and the façade was now replaced with steel plates that covered the entirety of the building, or at least would once they were done placing them. Only a good third had been put in place so far.
Sebastian and Mirna met us in the lobby, to my surprise. They were just sitting around and drinking coffee, but something told me it was still more than a coincidence.
“Boss!” Sebastian said cheerfully as he got up and ran over to us. “It’s good to see you!”
I shook his offered hand and flashed him a smile of my own.
“Bastion,” I replied and patted his shoulder with my free hand. “Been diligently working?”
He nodded hurriedly. “Sure have, sir. We all have. See, all four of us hit the seventh rank last night.”
My eyebrows rose. That was pretty fast. Sure, they had all the necessary resources to keep cultivating, but it was still quite an accomplishment, seeing as Mark had only hit rank nine the other day, and he had me as support. Melina was on the border of getting to the twelfth rank, so I was looking forward to her ascending to the next realm. Speaking of which, I was getting lazy. I needed to start tempering my bones and my body, not just absorbing absurd amounts of Enma.
“That’s good. And where are the others?”
“Out at the Green Gate. That’s our designation for—you know?”
I nodded and looked over at Mirna. “You’re looking good, Mirna. Looks like all the Enma has smoothed out your skin.”
“Viktor!” Melina hissed and slapped my shoulder. “You don’t say such things to women!”
“Why not? It’s not like I’m insulting the woman. It was a damn compliment.”
Melina rolled her eyes and pulled me toward the elevator.
“I’ll teach him how to behave next time, Mirna,” she shot over her shoulder.
“Why are you here?” Bastion asked as he caught up with me.
“What does it matter to you? I can come and go in this place.”
“True, and don’t get me wrong, but please indulge my curiosity.”
I frowned, and my fleeting moment of happiness was quickly exchanged with annoyance. “You would do well not to stick your nose where it doesn’t belong, friends or not.”
He put his hands up defensively and stepped back. “Sorry, don’t get me wrong. I never meant to disrespect.”
I turned back toward the elevator and pressed the button to call it down, but the elevator wasn’t moving even after half a minute passed.
“Don’t,” she whispered and pulled at my arm. “Don’t cause a scene, please. They’re officials, and they’ve been keeping us happy for a while now.”
“Officials or not, I’ve done a lot to repay those favors.”
“The elevator isn’t working,” Mirna said as she appeared beside us. “They cut the power an hour ago to rewire some things.”
“Then why are the button lights working?”
She shrugged and had a strange kind of expression on her face, one I never saw on her. “I’m sorry, but it is what it is.”
I turned to face her fully and grabbed her neck, squeezing so hard her shield cracked. Bastion was there in an instant, but Melina had her new bow drawn and pointed it right at him. He wasn’t a fool. It was a new weapon, and it glowed, which meant that it was much stronger than what she had been using last time.
“Sir? Please let go of my wife’s neck,” he said and tried to appear calm, but was failing pretty badly.
“You seem to have forgotten who made you into what you are and who gave you most of what you have right now,” I growled. “And you seem to have forgotten who I am and what I’m capable of, specialist.”
“No, sir, we don’t. It’s just that—”
“Just what? You have five seconds to start explaining, or I’ll squeeze even harder.”
“There’s new leadership. Civilian leadership, and to prevent unrest in the streets, the general accepted.”
I snorted and shook my head as I let go of her. “Where are they?”
He looked up at the ceiling, and I nodded as Mirna stepped back and coughed violently. I didn’t apologize, as it would have been a stupid thing to do. You can’t go around showing muscle and then tuck your tail between your legs.
I pulled out my halberd and walked back out of the building, only to stop in front of the massive scaffolds.
“Viktor! Think again about this!” Melina yelled as she caught up. The hairs on my arms and back stood upright from anger, and I wasn’t really thinking straight. No damn career politician was going to order me around, or even order those around I was affiliated with.
I jumped, using all of my power, and landed on top of the scaffolding, looked down and counted the floors, and then spotted the general’s floor seven windows above me.
“Stay downstairs!” I yelled just as I jumped up and slammed my halberd into the side of the building, just below the general’s floor, and pulled myself up, crashed through the window, and rolled to my feet.
The general sat behind his desk and the secretary behind hers as I came crashing in, but several men and women who had been sitting around an expensive-looking table jumped to their feet and screamed.
“That’s so not like you, Kade. I thought we were friends,” I said with a hint of sarcasm.
He shrugged and got to his feet. “But you arrived, didn’t you? Let me introduce you to Mayor Densley.”
I turned to look at the man he pointed at, and grabbed his neck before the man could even speak, squeezed hard, and threw him out the window. His screams died out pretty quickly as his body hit the ground with a loud thump. The two women dropped to their knees and screamed while one of the remaining three men tried to act all tough.
“Mayor? I thought you were the mayor?” I asked curiously. “What changed in the last few weeks I hav
en’t been visiting?”
Before he could even reply, I grabbed the cocky bastard and threw him right after the mayor, but just a little harder so he wouldn’t land on his partner and survive.
“I think you’ve made your point, Viktor. Please, can you—you know? It’s hard to wash the blood off the pavement.”
I shrugged and sat at his desk and waved at Linda. “Can you get me a drink? I’m thirsty.”
She gave me a smirk that only I could see, and nodded. I waited until I had a full glass and what remained inside the bottle in front of me before I turned toward the general.
“Are they allowed to leave?” he asked with a nod toward the four, who stood huddled against each other.
“No, let them stay awhile. My fingers might get itchy if I’m unsatisfied with your answers.”
“I see. What would you like to know, my friend? We are still friends, I assume?”
“Maybe. Why have you pulled most of your people out of my rift? And why did someone cut power to the elevator?”
“It was the mayor’s decision. After all, the military serves the public, not my agendas.”
“Oh? Since when? Since when would those who had their heads stuck up their asses know better than us?”
“Oh, I agree with you wholeheartedly, Viktor, but it wasn’t up to me to make the decision. As for the elevator thing, you can thank that woman over there, the blonde.”
I turned around and nodded slowly as I sipped on my drink. “Will you jump by yourself, or should I throw you?”
“Please! Don’t hurt me! I will do anything you want! Just don’t hurt me!”
I made a sour expression and turned to Kade. “I guess I could spare her. What do you think?”
He nodded slowly and bowed lightly. “Thank you for your generosity, Lady Semira. I appreciate your wealthy donation to our cause.”
There hadn’t been any donation, but there would be one now.
“Yeah, thank all of you for sharing your wealth with us. I really appreciate it,” I added calmly. “Unless you want to—”
Crossroads: A LitRPG Cultivation Series (Towers & Rifts Book 3) Page 5
