The Land: Monsters

by Aleron Kong

  Richter’s eyes continued to take in the list of dead. For a moment he thought he’d just gained about a million War Points. With that, he could become the most powerful ruler in the history of The Land. Of course, The Land had to crap on his ice cream and call it sprinkles. There was a cap to the number of points he could earn in a single battle.

  Know This! As a Battle Captain serving beneath a Battle Leader, you are only entitled to keep 75% of the total War Points earned. Total War Points Gained (Adjusted): 117,933

  Congratulations! You have destroyed enemy War Parties. The highest War Leader’s rank was Apprentice. For killing a War Leader of the third rank, all War Points gained are tripled.

  Total War Points Gained (Adjusted): 353,799

  That all would have been fine if not for this one last irritating line of text.

  Know This! At your initiate rank in War Leader, War Points gained in a given engagement are capped at 2,500. Total War Points Gained (Adjusted): 2,500

  Total War Points: 3,612

  Richter had gained less than 1% of the total War Points he could have gotten. That was so annoying! It also wasn’t wholly unexpected. The Land always had checks and balances built in to its paths to power. If it didn’t, the entire planet would most likely have been ruled by some almighty dictators by the time he even arrived. No point complaining about it now either way. It wouldn’t change anything.

  Richter had the option to trade in his points for new War Badges, but decided to hold off for the moment. There was no time limit on when he had to spend his War Points. Seeing as how he didn’t have anyone to follow him right now, it could wait. Sadly, his Army of One subskill let him use a small percentage of any War Party Promotions he obtained, but not any benefits from the badges War Points could buy. There were more notifications to read.

  There were substantial dividends from having killed such a massive number of undead. The next series of prompts would have bothered him once. Now, he merely accepted them as his due. They were gone, he wasn’t. No use wringing his hands about it.

  SLAYER COUNT

  ENEMY

  SLAIN

  TITLE

  Goblins

  1, 134

  Goblin Slayer V

  Bugbears

  42

  Bugbear Slayer I

  Undead

  348

  Undead Slayer III

  Living Dead

  59

  Living Dead Slayer I

  It was quite a butcher’s bill. His slayer count only included those he’d personally slain, not deaths resulting from the Mausoleum’s destruction, but it was still a large amount. Richter had originally founded his village to preserve life, and he supposed that would include the living dead like vampires as long as they didn’t cause a ruckus, but the numbers did not lie. He may have helped hundreds to live, but he had slain thousands. He searched his feelings, but found that it was indeed true. The deaths of so many sapient living dead just didn’t bother him. He didn’t really need to worry about ill feelings from killing the skeletons and zombies. Those guys were dicks. Fuck those guys.

  The next prompt showed that there were benefits to the slaughter.

  Congratulations! By slaying 250 undead, you have gained and advanced a new Title: Undead Slayer III.

  +15% attack and defense bonus when fighting undead.

  Kill a total of 500 undead to reach next level.

  Your spirit has been colored by the deaths of so many undead. Undead will attack you more ferociously

  Congratulations! By slaying 50 living dead, you have gained a new Title: Living Dead I

  +3% attack and defense bonus when fighting living dead.

  Kill a total of 100 living dead to reach next level.

  The living dead will be made slightly uneasy in your presence

  The prompts showed that as time passed, he was only getting deadlier. Richter spared a glance at Xuetrix, who was flapping his wings in irritation. The imp had warned him months ago to not let people know about his potential. That they might kill him just so he wouldn’t get stronger, like strangling a baby in its crib. The chaos seed’s eyes turned cold. If the demon tried anything, he’d soon regret letting Richter grow in power.

  That particular story would unfold in a few minutes one way or another. For now, he turned his gaze inward again. He’d completed a Quest!

  Congratulations! You have completed the Quest: Sakeru I

  Three of Elora’s four missing children were returned. The fourth, the Life pixie, has died. You did not slay the pixie, but neither did you decide to save her. This is within the bounds of your quest, if only barely, as Elora charged you with slaying her children if they were too corrupted to be reclaimed. It is your choice to tell the whole truth to Elora when you see her next or to keep your peace.

  Reward for ending the threat of her fourth sakeru child: 3,750 (base 3,000 x 1.25) Experience Points. +1,000 Relationship Points with every celestial pixie of the Quickening.

  Reward: You have removed the threat of abyssal energy corrupting the lands around your settlement

  Bonus Reward: See Elora to claim this Reward and unlock the next link in this quest chain

  A scene replayed in Richter’s head. A golden blur flying toward the Singh. He didn’t know why she’d attacked the lich. He only knew that the pixie child had saved his life and the lives of everyone in the village. He doubted the tiny winged child had even known what she was doing. Sakeru pixies were almost feral. What he did know was what had happened when she’d bonded with Singh. She had distracted the undead lord for a crucial second. He also knew what he had done. Without even hesitating, he’d decapitated Singh and let the undead’s head fall into the abyss with her attached. Once upon a time he wouldn’t have done that, but he wasn’t that bright-eyed child anymore. He was a leader and a Master of a Place of Power. Sometimes sacrifices had to be made.

  The chaos seed nodded to himself. Elora was a powerful ally, and she deserved the truth about how her child had died. If… when, he firmly corrected himself, he made it back to the village, he would let her know. After that, he’d let the chips fall where they may. He didn’t regret his decision, only the loss of her young life. A man had to face his mistakes head-on. Any other option poisoned the heart and led to weakness. He could weather a great deal, but not weakness.

  Richter dismissed that prompt and finally saw the one he had been waiting for.

  CHAPTER 7 – Day 151 – Juren 2, 0 AoC

  Congratulations! You have completed the Quest: Unlock your Power III

  Against all odds, you have defeated the eldritch lich Singh. This undead user of foul magic has been a cancer eating away at the roots of the Forest of Nadria for centuries, if not millennia. An even greater threat than his corrupted magic was the hidden truth that the lich had been a worshiper of an Exile. These beings of nearly ultimate power seek the destruction of The Land itself. For destroying a cult of the Exile, you have gained Bonus Rewards!

  You have also fulfilled the Optional conditions of the Quest, greatly increasing the quality of the rewards:

  1) Deliver the Final Death to the Lich

  2) Destroy the Source of the Lich’s power (the monument to the Exile Rakshasha)

  Know This! You have fulfilled a Secret condition of the Quest and so are entitled to an additional reward:

  Secret Condition: Destroy the Mausoleum and at least half of the undead Army

  Rewards:

  3) 187,500 Experience Points (base 50,000 x 200% x 1.25)

  4) Unlocking 1-2 of the Powers of your Place of Power

  Bonus Rewards:

  5) 12,000 Fame Points. Total Fame Points: 43,582

  6) 250,000 Experience Points (base 200,000 x 1.25)

  Secret Reward: Your actions have proven your strength and ability to protect your people. You are merciless in their protection! Your people rejoice in your power and celebrate your rule!

  7) +500 Settlement Morale Points

  8) +500 Settlement Lo
yalty Points

  Richter was starting to see why he’d been able to power level so much. The quest had given him over four hundred thousand XP! That was enough to push him up several levels even without adding the experience from his high body count. The XP was great, but the Fame Points were equally impressive. Experience could be earned every day just by killing monsters after all, but Fame was extremely hard to come by.

  When he’d played the land as a game, having a higher Fame could open up new quests and opportunities. He’d actually doubted the usefulness of it in the real world until he’d spoken with Randolphus. According to the Spy, the effect of Fame was easiest to see in large cities. It affected how others treated you.

  Seeing as how Richter spent most of his time in what the people of Yves considered to be a monster-filled wilderness, the unseen hand of Fame was less obvious. The Spy had pointed out the fact that the willingness of several waves of colonists to move their families into such a dangerous area had most likely been due to him and his Fame. The same with his ability to co-opt the Troll mercenaries in the hidden goblin valley, or to convince the famously xenophobic sprites to consider him not only an ally, but family. Even the ease he had had in motivating his hundreds of subjects to bend the knee and call him their lord was most likely influenced by the nebulous stat. There was no way to actually prove any of that, of course, but Richter had definitely gotten more good breaks than even his high Luck could account for, so he didn’t discount his chamberlain’s words.

  He was even more excited about the boost to Loyalty and Morale. Loyalty and Morale were both village dynamics and improving them could increase Productivity, Fighting Spirit and even Population Growth. They were both useful, but Loyalty was much harder to increase. The fact that both got a boost of five hundred points would be an incredible boon to his settlement’s growth!

  Richter tried to see the overall rank of the village dynamics but got a warning prompt.

  You are not inside the boundaries of your Settlement. You cannot access your village’s interface!

  He had been pretty sure that would be the case, but he’d wanted to try anyway. The same way he’d tried using his Dungeon Transport spell a few times while forcing his way through some tight tunnels. It was Settlement magic and so would only work within the ten-mile domain of his Place of Power. The same went for Summon Mist Worker. He’d have loved to have been able to summon one of the faceless constructs to carry things for him. Hell, to carry him! It was a no-go though. It was an absolutely true statement that he was missing his Bag of Holding. Having to schlep things around by hand was seriously annoying. The only bright side to being away from his domain was that Futen could continue to pay the upkeep for the villager’s defensive enchantment, Confusing Mist, even while Richter was gone.

  Experience was great. Fame was great. Loyalty and Morale were great. While all of those bonuses were strong, there was only one that really changed the game though! After long months, he had finally unlocked a new Power! The next prompt showed him his options.

  Choosing a Mastery will give you a +50% increase to the spell power of that branch of magic. You will also have +50% resistance to spells of that Power.

  Unique to being a Master of a Place of Power, however, is your access to each Power’s specialized ability. You have already chosen:

  Mastery of Life Ability: “Bounty of Life” +30% growth for the physical manifestation of your Place of Power

  Mastery of Air Ability: “Fast Learner” All skill levels are obtained 30% faster.

  You may choose from the remaining two magic ley lines that comprise your Place of Power to unlock your 3rd Power:

  Mastery of Dark Ability: “Hidden Treasures” +30% yield from treasure

  Mastery of Water Ability: “Tranquil Soul” -30% mana cost for spells

  All of this was as Richter had expected it to be, but what came next on the prompt really made him stop and think.

  Know This! The difficulty of the third quest to unlock your power was extreme. That, coupled with your thorough completion of the quest, has given you a special opportunity. You may now unlock both of your remaining Masteries!

  If you choose to only unlock one, you will also be awarded 1,000 Settlement Points.

  You shall be given the opportunity to unlock your 4th Mastery when hidden conditions are met, if you choose this second option.

  What is your choice?

  Thoughts swirled through Richter’s mind. He couldn’t believe what he was reading. There were obvious benefits to obtaining Masteries. It increased someone’s spell power and spell resistance to a level that was equivalent to that of a master mage. Anyone else would have to reach skill level one hundred in a branch of magic, a feat that was literally impossible for most no matter how hard they tried.

  Better than becoming a master ranked mage though, there were bonuses to unlocking a Place of Power. That was the difference between a master of a branch of magic and someone who was a Master of a Place of Power.

  The Mastery bonuses he’d gained so far had changed everything. Bounty of Life had not only increased the Mist Village’s crop yields, letting him feed his people, but also the birth rate of both his villagers and the animals they kept. Herbs grew faster as well, allowing Tabia to make the potions that kept his soldiers alive.

  Fast Learner had affected him profoundly on a personal level. Coupled with his Limitless ability, he’d been able to skyrocket through skill ranks. His skills let him cast stronger spells, enchant more powerful weapons, and be more ferocious in battle. While abilities could be more powerful, skills were the lifeblood of The Land.

  He had picked those two Mastery abilities first because of his settlement and his Limitless ability. The other two were also attractive though. If he’d had the Water Mastery bonus, Tranquil Soul, in his fight with the ichorpedes, it would have allowed him to sling spells for another several minutes. More healing, more attack spells, hell, he could even cast double shields. It would greatly increase his fighting potential.

  The Dark Mastery perk, Hidden Treasures, was powerful as well. What made it even more attractive was the Barrow of the Chaos Serpent. He had his own personal Dungeon, something kingdoms would go to war over. Abrams and Whedon help him if a hostile power ever found out about it. In the meantime, The Dungeon could generate coins like it was his own personal mint. Hidden Treasures would greatly help the village’s economy. They were self-sufficient for now, but if the Mist Village wasn’t proactive about rejoining the rest of the world, it wouldn’t be ready when the world came knocking.

  Even more important than the money, the Dungeon could generate precious resources that Richter just wouldn’t have access to otherwise. The chance that a bar of elementum -- or even a chaotic shard -- could drop was enough to make him grind the Dungeon nonstop. The Dark Mastery would increase his yield by 30%. It was basically increasing the specialized resource production of his village by nearly a third.

  He’d originally thought that Hidden Treasures was a perk that would only really help himself. With his Dungeon though, it could mean stronger weapons and armor for his people, rare herbs to make wondrous potions, and other bonuses that could save the men and women he’d sworn to protect. Coupled with his new Mark of Blood and Chaos, he would drastically increase the precious loot he could gain.

  Just as was always true, however, power came with a price. He hadn’t known this when he’d awakened his first two Masteries, but each one he claimed had a measurable effect on his entire domain. The ambient mana surrounding his Place of Power would increase. That both attracted stronger monsters and allowed them to reach higher levels. According to Randy, the Dungeon refined that mana and absorbed it to a certain extent, but the increase with each Mastery was exponential. His first awakened Power had led to relatively weak creatures occupying his woods like bears, wolves and the like. They had been mostly level ten and below.

  The second Power he’d unlocked had brought lairs. Instead of solitary spiders, he’d had to kill
a massive nest of arachnids, ranging in size from an ox to a Humvee. And instead of a black bear, he’d fought a bear that could harden its fangs and claws to the density of tempered steel. The monsters’ levels had also risen to hover between level fifteen and twenty-five. He grimaced, thinking about how difficult it had been to kill the creatures. The dreemar, flying predators that could stun you with their banshee-like shrieks, had devastated one of his patrols.

  It might not sound like there was a large gap between levels ten and twenty, but monsters did not level like sapient races. Each level increased their attributes in a predefined way. While a monster’s Luck might only increase by a point every five levels, a mountain troll’s strength might increase by three points per level. Richter had personally illustrated just how important strength was in the past hour. Rather than being eaten by the ichorpede, he’d been able to rip parts of its body off with his bare hands.

  It also wasn’t just an increase in attributes that made monsters more dangerous as they leveled up. That same mountain troll might have had its health regen rise from ten points per minute to thirty points. Its claws might harden enough that it could leave furrows in stone rather than just wood. It might even get smarter or gain new abilities. Increasing the number of unlocked Powers from two to four wouldn’t amplify the danger his people faced from monsters by 100%; it could very well be closer to five times as dangerous. Maybe even ten times. That wasn’t something he could ignore just to get stronger.