[NR] At Least Four Hours - Chapter 677

The trio of Jason, Rosha, and Siegfried soon arrive at Helina’s office, which is still closed right. Though Siegfried ignores this and just forces the door open. Though why is clear enough as they find the two asleep in their chairs.

Siegfried claps his hand, shocking them awake. “Okay ladies! What have you found?”

Helina stretches and yawns, “That I could use another hour or so of sleep?”

Siegfried scoffs, “I had people checking up on the two of you and know you’ve gotten at least four hours of sleep. It is more important that we know the pattern before tonight’s siege begins.”

Courtney, “Doesn’t mean we couldn’t use some more sleep. Anyway, we might have figured it out. Though I won’t guarantee it is accurate.”

Helina nods, “There is a pattern, but it is rough. This could be either someone on the other side with a habit or an actual limitation that we can’t fully determine because of a lack of complete information.”

Courtney, “Also, you, Jason, have personally affected the pattern. You forced a response from the other side, which made the math harder.”

Helina, “Also, keep in mind that even if there is a real limit, whoever is sending the undead doesn’t actually have to send the max amount. If they just hold back a small amount of the new potential wave each time? That could add up to a nasty last night.”

Siegfried claps his hands again. “Stop waffling. What did you find out?”

Helina sighs, “Now, obviously the number of undead and the quality of said undead is increasing every night. And given the ghoul rush Jason faced, those numbers are actually directly connected. However, the increase is not connected in that manner.”

Courtney nods, “Basically, the growth is broken into chaff and champions. I’d say bosses, but we’re both certain that there will at some point be actual bosses show up.”

Helina, “Or rather, enemies that the System tags as bosses to you travellers.”

Courtney pauses, “Oh right, before we continue I have a question. Obviously, as travellers, we can see when a monster is designated as a boss for us. You locals, though, don’t have set bosses like we do. What do you see for a traveller boss monster?”

Siegfried shrugs, “We just don’t see it. Boss is just a label.”

Helina nods, “We depend on travellers to point out traveller bosses. Though System created bosses tend to be easy to notice, even if we don’t see a boss label slapped on them.

“Anyway, whatever we’re facing is pushing the growth of chaff. When it sent the wave of ghouls, the number of zombies in the next wave was significantly less than we predicted. There still was growth, so it isn’t like the numbers aren’t growing overall.”

Jason, “So, is this good or bad for us?”

Siegfried shrugs, “Depends on how long this goes on.”

Courtney, “Also of note, it seems to be a pool of points they can use on their waves. As in, it isn’t the levels of the zombies going up each wave. Rather, they have a certain quantity and are spreading it out evenly. Though I doubt they could decide to send a horde of low-level zombies with a bunch of powerful zombies. That would break the chaff vs champion divide.”

Helina, “And now that the quantity of zombies has capped, all extra growth is going towards improving their strength.”

Siegfried, “So what is the growth rate? It is nice to have this confirmed, but if we’re just talking about a few extra zombies worth a night, that isn’t so bad.”

Helina, “It stacks. Early on, there might be only a few added to each wave, but like we said, it’s based on what is there and that includes the quantity.”

Jason frowns, “Well, that’s not good.”

Courtney shrugs, “It also isn’t the worst. This isn’t a simple addition of levels. Rather, we think it is based on an experience pool. So yeah, we’ll be facing a ton of dangerous undead by the end, but we won’t suddenly have level capped monsters pouring through.”

Helina, “We expect the zombies to all be third break not tonight, but it will be either tomorrow night or the night after that. Also, we do not expect to see fourth break undead except as rare champions and fifth break undead should only show up on the last night as wave bosses, if that. Well, that is unless we get some sort of reinforcement or the System is going to allow us to be destroyed without being able to legitimately stop things.”

Siegfried grumbles, “So I should expect to at least fight the last night.

“Well, that’s better than getting thrown into it early. At least this way I’ll be fresh.”

Helina, “Oh, don’t expect it to be that easy. While things have mostly been zombies so far, we’ve seen ghouls and skeleton archers. There will be more variety with time. After all, whatever is sending these undead don’t have to focus on spamming more undead.”

Siegfried rolls his eyes, “We both know I wasn’t expecting that. We’re at the edge of the Deep Wilds. Even if the System wanted to make things easy for us, we are in the one place where it isn’t 100% in control.”

Helina laughs, “Well, someone needs to keep your feet on the ground. We have a bunch of grinding ahead of us. Make sure to keep your people on their feet. We’ll probably need as all hands on deck for this. The System will try to keep things even, but that is only given our starting resources. Of course, with the caveat of if we’re meant to survive at all.”

Rosha smiles, “I’m going to assume we are meant to live through this. Given the fact that so many settlements are being targeted, we are probably being used to blunt an assault. If it was just us? That would be one thing. In fact, it would not be a surprise if we later find out that other kingdoms have faced a similar event.”

Courtney shrugs, “The System will be keeping any such information locked down so we’ll have to find out here.”

Helina nods, “I wouldn’t be surprised if we also had an information lock down as well. While inter-kingdom communication isn’t common, we are obliged to pass stuff like this on when it happens. That or we’re the only kingdom facing it. Never know with the System.”