Healer Book 6 -- Chapter 12

Chapter 12

“This feels like it’s cheating, but you said it should work?” Thaden asked as he sped toward the nearby NEST containing a whole bunch of Wraith of Shadows. 

Sadia bounded along next to him as she answered.  “For anyone else, this wouldn’t be possible,” she said.  “But, as you like to prove that impossibility is just a state of mind, I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t.”

“Well, if everything works as it theoretically should, then this could change everything.”

He glanced back at the Defensive Fortification he’d just left a few seconds ago, seeing it still there in all of its glory.  He’d received a notification that it was in the process of being abandoned once he passed a certain distance threshold from its walls, but he still had nearly 60 minutes before that happened.  He’d experimented a few times over the last 24 hours, finding that the countdown to abandonment reset to 60 minutes whenever he physically touched the walls of the Fortification again after leaving the area.

For Thaden and his insane speed, as well as the ease at which he killed monsters, 60 minutes was a very long time; he could get more done than any 1,000 other people in the same period of time, after all.

For the restless Omenic Drifter, he was just glad to be finally be doing something, as the last 24 hours or so had been rather boring.  First, he watching the Fortification repair itself after the Skeletal Giants had attacked was like watching paint dry, but after 3 hours all the damage had been undone.  What that told him was that, at least at that current Stage of his defenses, frequent assaults on the Fortification wouldn’t show much in the way of repair in between attacks.  Sadia also stated that repairs didn’t occur while the Fortification was being actively assaulted, though she said it in a way that made him think that that statement wasn’t absolute – which he discovered the truth of later on.

After that, he took a nap for about 8 hours while Sadia stood watch, and he woke up feeling greatly refreshed from the break.  Once he was fully awake and ready to go, he’d spent all of his accumulated SP, which hit a little over 2,300 at that point, as he upgraded everything, including the Resurrection Well two stages, which cost 100 SP for Stage 2 and 300 SP (after his discount) for Stage 3.  The upgrades to the Well reduced the resurrection timer from 6 hours to 4 hours, taking off an hour per Stage increase.  The rest of the defenses all managed to just reach Stage 6, when the costs started to add up.  To raise everything (other than the Well) up to Stage 4 (and the Guardian to Stage 5), it cost him 250 SP; Stage 5 took another 495 SP; Stage 6 required 990 SP, and with the 400 SP needed to upgrade the Resurrection Well up to Stage 3, he spent 2,260 SP of his 2,300 SP.

The 3 extra Stage upgrades made a huge difference, as everything became stronger and more durable, and likely able to inflict even more defensive damage.  The walls were wider and had a reinforcing metal framework similar to rebar in concrete, the steel bars of the gate had doubled up were thicker, the walkways had covered, overhead protection and extended to protect the Ballistas and Catapults, which were even more impressive and deadly than before.  The Perimeter Pit had been upgraded to be deeper and have shifting stone shards all along the bottom, which acted like industrial shredders, and the Repulsive Barrier had extended upwards like a dome, and would now cause any flying monsters to slow down nearly to a stop as they passed through the barrier.

As for the Keep, it had only grown upwards and now had 4 floors, with each subsequent floor adding things like a kitchen and storage, as well as more beds for additional people to sleep, and the existing floors only improved in the quality of the accoutrements.  For instance, the barrack portion on floor 2 and then floor 4 now had upgraded beds, which nearly matched the quality one could find in the Coalition buildings.  The Guardian and Autonomous Defender were the only ones that didn’t have any obvious physical changes, but they did go up in Level for each upgrade.

But that was just the start.  Over the next half-day, he accumulated another 1,200 SP from his normal accumulation, just in time for the next wave of monsters to attack at the 24-hour mark.  It turned out that the next-closest NEST was the same one that he was headed for right now, and a wave of 80 Wraith of Shadows attacked the Defensive Fortification.  He practiced with the Ballista and the Catapult again, and after seeing that they didn’t do much to the incorporeal Undead, with only the slightest magical affect from the projectiles doing the slightest bit of little damage, he watched the Mage and the Scout Autonomous Defenders he’d upgraded took down two of the Wraiths as they worked together, unlike when they were at a lower upgrade Stage.  Unfortunately, because the Wraiths were incorporeal, they could pass right through the walls, though the Repulsion Barrier did slow them down enough that the defenses could at least target them well enough, but they weren’t enough to stop the incoming tide of Wraiths.

Thaden, however, was more than capable of handling them all on his own.

With another 1,826 SP earned from the deaths of the Wraiths, along with his hourly accumulation, he had enough to upgrade not only everything up to Stage 7 (and the Well to Stage 4 for 600 SP, with a resurrection timer of 3 hours), but to purchase two new options that appeared at Central Keep Stage 5 and then at Central Keep Stage 7.

Repair Battery Stage 1 – 500 (50) SP

Autonomous Obelisk Emplacement Stage 1 – 1,000 (100) SP

The Repair Battery, which was available at Central Keep Stage 5, was a small, shack-like building attached to the Central Keep that apparently charged up over time and acted as an instant-use repair of the walls and the other defenses, and it could be used during an attack.  It took a full 24 hours to charge to capacity, and when it was used, all of the power contained within it would be used up.  He ended up upgrading it to Stage 3 with his extra reserves, taking another 200 SP, and the recharge time decreased to 18 hours and at Stage 3 he discovered that the energy inside could be split in half, so that it could be used twice – though with only half of its effectiveness.  Still, a full charge could repair everything completely, so if the walls and other defenses were only partially damaged, then having two half-uses of it was more valuable than a single full-use charge.

The second option he unlocked at Central Keep Stage 7 was different than the Repair Battery, but also quite useful.  On the roof of the Central Keep, an obelisk-looking pillar glowed with a red tint to it, and it thrummed with energy.  From what Sadia told him about it, the Autonomous Obelisk Emplacement concentrated volatile energy and released it into a laser-like beam that would automatically attack monsters that reached within 300 feet of the Defensive Fortification.  Apparently, it would target the closest flying monsters first, which worked with the Repulsion Barrier to slow them down, and while she said that – at Stage 1, at least – it likely wasn’t strong enough to kill anything in one shot, it could potentially damage it enough that any Contenders stationed in the Fortification would easily be able to finish it off.  Repeated hits could probably kill a monster, however, which made it a valuable asset for the defense.

Unfortunately, at Stage 1, it took 10 seconds for the Obelisk to charge up enough energy to fire, and with how fast a battle tended to be, it might not be able to fire on the same monster more than once.  He ended up using pretty much the last of his SP to upgrade it to Stage 2, which took 150 SP, and the firing rate was reduced to every 9 seconds instead of 10 seconds – and it apparently was able to do even more damage.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to test any of it yet, because the Wildlands surrounding the Defensive Fortification was pretty much empty of any monsters.  He’d already wiped out all of the Skeletal Giants from the original NEST, and nothing yet had pushed out from the nearby NESTs to attack it; if he was planning on using the Fortification as a way to power-Level Contenders as it was constantly attacked, that wasn’t going to happen.  It was possible that might change as the monsters started to evolve inside the NESTs and pushed out even more monsters to fill up the Wildlands, but until that time came, the only ones that attacked were hordes of monsters that came from nearby NESTs every 24 hours or so. 

At least, that was what Sadia told him, which was why he had temporarily “abandoned” the Defensive Fortification and was running toward another NEST.  According to her, the Fortification should be relatively safe at the moment, as there weren’t any monsters around to attack it; if some miraculously showed up, then that would simply be another data point in how things worked out there in the Wildlands. 

But if it was, indeed, safe, then his current experiment would hopefully pay dividends.  It didn’t take him long to travel the couple of miles toward the Wraith NEST, killing a few of them on the way that were wandering around the area, and he immediately threw himself down the pit, eliminating everything on the way down.  Thaden wasted no time tearing through each of the tunnels and caves with Sadia by his side, taking out the Mini Bosses before he sped back to the Boss room and immediately killed it, as well.  In all, from the moment he left the Defensive Fortification and killed the boss, and then waited for the NEST to fill in so he could officially receive the notification that it had been subjugated, therefore receiving his Subjugation Points, was a total of 8 minutes.

He now had an extra 230 points from subjugating the Wraith of Shadows NEST, and added to the 76 SP he had in reserve, that gave him 306 SP to spend.  What was interesting was that when he dug into his current SP total, it was divided between Defensive Fortification #0018 – which was his current, upgraded Fortification – and Defensive Fortification #0019, which was what he’d just subjugated.  While he could theoretically use SP anywhere, he hadn’t yet tested that theory as of yet.

He wasted no time running back to the Fortification, starting the abandonment of the NEST he’d just cleared; he arrived to find it exactly as he left it, without any sign of a monster having been there, and he stopped the countdown as soon as he touched the wall, with only about 10 minutes of the 60 having been used.  It didn’t take him long to reach the crystal pedestal where he could make purchases, and he deliberately funneled the 230 SP he’d received from the Wraith NEST, along with 58 from his other reserves, into upgrading the Wall to Stage 8 for 288 SP.  It was a successful purchase, and the wall widened slightly again, the stone color darkening a little as it appeared to condense upon itself slightly, becoming even more durable than before. 

“So far, so good,” he said out loud to Sadia, who only nodded. 

He was told that the reason the SP he had was divided into where it originally came from was because if he didn’t spend it and the Fortification was abandoned, then he would lose that SP.  That same thing happened when he’d gone on his subjugation spree and exploration of the Wildlands two days before, as all of the SP he’d gained from those subjugations had disappeared.  But now, he’d ended up using those Points before they could disappear, so theoretically, he’d acquired another 230 SP for about 10 minutes’ worth of work.

More than that, his current hourly accumulation had changed.

Subjugation Points (SP) Accumulation: 212/hr

SP Accumulation [DF #0018]: 106/hr

SP Accumulation [DF #0019]: 106/hr

He was now making 212 SP per hour, with 106 coming from both Fortifications – for another 57 minutes or so.  He’d learned from his time in the upgraded Fortification that he received the accumulation allotment every 60 minutes exactly, starting from when the NEST was first subjugated.  If he understood it correctly, then in about 57 seconds, he would acquire that accumulated SP from the Wraith Fortification for about 10 seconds, the time he’d stayed within range before he abandoned it, so if he was able to quickly use it up before the abandonment fully triggered…

…he’d be getting another 106 SP for free.

He didn’t leave again, as he wanted to be there right when his accumulation triggered for the other Fortification.  After another 49 minutes or so, he received his 106 SP from his upgraded Fortification, and 8 minutes later he was poised to purchase something from the pedestal.  He was aware of the 106 SP he received from the Wraith Fortification and he immediately spent it, along with an addition 36 from his other reserves to purchase the Stage 8 Wall Walkways for 142 SP, and it was still in the process of upgrading when he got the message that Defensive Fortification #0019 had been abandoned.  Thankfully, since the points had already been spent, the process didn’t revert, and his experiment had proven to be successful. 

Essentially, for about 10 to 15 minutes of work, which meant traveling to a nearby NEST and subjugating it, he received 336 SP.  If he was able to subjugate 2 or even 3 NESTs and then head back “home”, resetting the abandonment clock, he could obtain nearly 1,000 extra SP every hour or two, allowing him to upgrade his Fortification even faster.  It was a shame that he didn’t get any SP for killing the monsters themselves, otherwise the accumulation of points would’ve been even faster; unfortunately, only monsters within range of the Fortification’s defenses counted as a “Defensive Kill” worth of SP.

Even without that, he was planning on upgrading the Fortification as far as he could by the time another wave of monsters coming from local NESTs attacked.  That was the last information he needed before he left for the Region again, both to drop off the Gold and loot he’d acquired and potentially to bring a large Raid Party of volunteer Contenders out to the Wildlands,  now that he found a way to potentially power-Level some of them.  He still had to test out his new Advancements, after all, which he’d probably do inside of an Intermediate Dungeon first, just to make sure it worked, before moving to the Wildlands. 

Time to get back to work; these NESTs won’t subjugate themselves, after all.

Over the next 23 hours or so, he spent all but a few hours – which he used to take a brief nap – moving around the Wildlands near his Fortification, subjugating at first 2, then 3, then 4 NESTs before returning to home base.  He would then time his movements going out to clear even more NESTs with the points in time he needed to be back to acquire an accumulation before it disappeared, which Sadia thankfully helped him mentally schedule.  He ended up missing about a half-dozen accumulations because he took too long at one point or another, but that was barely anything compared to how much he actually earned over the day. 

After subjugating 73 NESTs and earning the SP from that process, as well as the accumulation he managed to snag and use before it disappeared, along with his normal SP accumulation from his upgraded Fortification, he managed to earn a little bit over 26,000 SP.  Along the way, he managed to upgrade all of the main defenses to Stage 9, with a few already at Stage 10; for context, upgrading everything but the Well, the Repair Battery, and the Obelisk to Stage 10 would cost nearly 15,000 SP.  He wanted to at least upgrade the Obelisk a little higher than it was, so he spent a few thousand SP to get it to Stage 6, reducing it down to 5 seconds in between each firing. 

A full 24 hours after the Wraiths had attacked the Fortification, another 80 Wraiths arrived with the monsters from the next-nearest NEST, which contained 80 Frost Wolves, another Level 380 monster.  The Frost Wolves were about 15 feet tall and were quick for their size; they could also use a magical affect that covered their claws with icicle shards, which they could use to cut through even stone – or at least normal stone, and not necessarily the stone that the Fortification was now made of.  When he allowed the monsters to approach the defenses, the upgraded Fortification showed its worth as the beam coming from on top of the Keep absolutely annihilated the Wraiths that were slowed and now minimally injured by the Repulsion Barrier, though its 5-second rate of fire was a detriment.  The other defenses closer to the ground, however – especially the Stage 10 Autonomous Defenders – wreaked havoc among the Wolves, who scratched at the walls and the gate and, while they did damage, weren’t ripping out large chunks of the defenses like Thaden expected.  Overall, the static defenses managed to kill nearly half of the monsters before they finally broke through and killed the Autonomous Defenders, which was a much better showing than the first real assault.  Thaden used the Repair Battery twice to repair the damage to the defenses during the attack, but ultimately it didn’t matter, as there were just too many monsters for the current defenses to handle.

Thaden held off on killing them all after they broke through, wanting to see how the Fortification Guardian performed.  Unfortunately, the Guardian – which was a copy of Thaden – wasn’t very smart and didn’t know how to do damage with Wild Health Leach, or else it wasn’t able to cast it; as a result, it lasted for about 2 minutes before it fell, despite being a much higher Level than them due to Stage upgrades, as all it could do was heal itself.

Once it died, the rest of the Fortification started to crumble apart, and the process of the NEST being rebuilt was underway.  Thaden immediately killed the surviving monsters, content with what he’d seen.  While the—mostly—Stage 10 defenses hadn’t been enough to stop the assault, it the result had still been phenomenal compared to where they started.  When he considered that the defenses were also supposed to have Contender defenders, who could operate the Ballista and Catapult – which he’d opted to leave alone to see how the automatic defenses did – and supplement the other defenders, he thought that 100 Contenders stationed there with them probably would’ve been fine.  He even considered adding even more Autonomous Defenders, as they had been quite effective once they were upgraded, and perhaps even more Ballista and Catapult emplacements if there were people to operate them.

Yes, I think that this could work.

“Not bad, Thaden.  While not impenetrable, what you’ve been able to upgrade this place to over just a few days is incredible.  I can’t even imagine you having a week or longer,” Sadia told him as they left the recovering NEST, heading toward Region #1.

“True, but remember, that was just one Defensive Fortification.  If we’re going to spread across the Wildlands, subjugating NESTs as we go, each of them are going to need to be just as strong.”

“At least until the Contenders can catch up in Level, of course.”

He nodded.  If those stationed in the Fortifications were a bit closer in Level to the monsters, they could easily handle defending against monster hordes even with sub-par defenses.  It was a balancing act that he’d have to navigate once they got to that point, but a lot more work would have to be done before that could happen.  Fortunately, he was about to take the first steps toward that outcome as he sped back toward Region #1.