[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 121: A New Challenger Approaches!

“We are nearly upon the Skyshard, Gray.”

“Thank you, Sila,” Gray said without turning from his view atop the lookout tower at the center of his fledgling town. It afforded him a perfect view of the surrounding Tiles and best of all, it was located toward the leading edge.

From here, anybody could see what was in directly in front of their Skyshard.

“Preliminary scouting reports suggest that the Skyshard is mostly uninhabited,” Sila said, keeping her shoulders back and her posture straight. She did well to emulate Gray’s stature of command and power. There was a reason she was his second-in-command.

“There are people down there, Sila,” Gray said calmly. The wind whipped his neat platinum blonde hair about, but somehow it never seemed to get that messy, windblown look that so many others did when up on the lookout tower.

Tucking a strand of black hair behind one ear, Sila consulted the tablet in front of her. It had the written reports of three separate scouts, all of them confirming that this Skyshard had less than a dozen inhabitants.

The current count suggested even half that.

It hardly seemed worth the effort to track them down and gather them up, but Gray was insistent on giving every person a chance.

She still considered it uninhabited. Five people? That’s nothing. Relagia’s own numbers were reaching into the 40s, with several people already at Copper, and many more close to their Ascension.

Sila looked at Gray’s back again, wondering what he was thinking as she thought over whether it was prudent to bring up the cost of chasing down these small fries one last time.

Gray, however, seemed to catch on to her thoughts before she voiced them. “Every person deserves the chance to flourish, Sila. We do not do this because it is easy, but because it is necessary. There would be no challenge otherwise. And we will never complete the Ascension quest if we do not gather enough people to push through the Maelstrom and into the Tower.”

Sila swallowed and held the tablet close to her breast. It was a thing of stone and magic, but in every other respect was very much like a tablet back on Earth. She had used one constantly in her daily life and she was happy to have one back in her life.

That Gray could make one with his Inventor Profession was astounding. Only the officers of Relagia had access to them, and they stored a plethora of information that they could share at a moment’s notice.

It was one of the first things Sila had missed when the apocalypse had hit Earth. The sudden and unremitting loneliness. No internet. No phones. No communication whatsoever.

Her first cohort had been a bunch of greedy slimy backstabbers who turned on each other the first moment things got tough. She ran the first chance she got and never looked back.

Gray had called it a tactical withdrawal, but Sila knew that he would have managed to talk the others around to his point of view.

He was very good at that.

Not because he used magic or some slithery sort of suggestion, but because he had good, honest ideas. Things that you could believe in because, once he explained them to you, it was as if your eyes had been opened for the first time.

To think how far we’ve come, she thought to herself.

The door to the top of the lookout tower opened and a young man in light armor pressed his fist to his heart. “Commander, we’re nearing the Skyshard now. The hooks await the order.”

Gray, lost in his own thought, spoke absently, “See to it. Oh, and Harvey?”

The young recruit looked poleaxed that Gray knew his name. Sila smiled to herself. That was one of his charms. He cared. Or at the very least, he took an interest. That was better than most could say.

“Yes, Commander?”

Gray turned and smiled at the man, putting him at ease. “I just wanted to congratulate you on getting your Second Order Job. Very well done. How are you liking Bladedancer so far?”

The youth’s eyes lit up. “It’s extraordinary, sir! I can dual wield now. I was always left-handed before, never any good with my right hand, but now I can write with two pens at the same time! Of course, I can also use two weapons too,” he added rather hastily.

Gray approached the man and put a hand on his shoulder. “Well, if I ever need anything written twice as fast, I know who to go to, don’t I?”

“Yessir!”

The Commander gave Harvey another friendly pat on the shoulder and then resumed his stance. “Thank you for all you’ve done, Harvey. I can see great things in your future. Keep up the excellent work, but don’t forget to take care of yourself. Downtime is just as important as training and monster hunting.”

Harvey’s bird-like chest expanded with every dollop of praise until he looked like he was about to burst. He stood straighter, looked keener, and practically radiated eagerness.

Gray gave him a nod, then turned back to look out over the edge of the Skyshard. “Do not let me detain you any further.”

Harvey hustled out as fast as decorum would allow.

Sila shook her head. Gray had that effect on people. On anybody else, perhaps it would have felt… cheap or rehearsed. But Gray knew people, knew them better than some knew themselves.

And there was a reason for that. One that Gray only allowed a very select few know about.

It was his bloodline.

“What did you see?” Sila asked after she double-checked that the stairwell was truly empty. You could never be too careful.

“He’ll go far,” Gray said vaguely. “With the right encouragement and training, of course. See to it that he gets placed in Dragon Squad.”

“Of course.”

“I would like you to accompany me on this outing,” Gray said to the blue sky beyond.

While he hadn’t exactly shunned her, he rarely asked her to come along to his little recruitments. Mostly because it was unnecessary, they had more than enough people to protect themselves should fighting break out.

It was stupid that it ever did, but some people resisted the idea that another person truly wanted to help. Leave it to people—particularly those from Earth—who tried to fight the person only trying to help.

Those few people they encountered from Islegard were far more understanding. They could see the strength in numbers, and almost all of them accepted wholeheartedly.

A few stood back or even fled, but none had attacked.

While Gray was away, Sila was usually placed in command. It was boring without Gray around, but she kept things running smoothly so he could take the reins once more upon his return.

“I would be honored, Commander.”

Gray’s fingers twitched, like he was counting something. The ruby red bracer he wore on his left arm gleamed in the sunlight. She’d seen him block a blow from a massive greataxe without a scratch, then use the imbuement from the bracer to burn the offender to ash.

Rumor had it that Gray made a pact with a demon to turn into that bracer and that it grew with his own power. Level for level, it grew stronger with each defeated foe.

Nonsense, of course.

Sila had been there when he received it. They had been stuck in the same Dungeon, after all. But the reward was well worth it, and the rumors were… fun.

She enjoyed hearing all the crazy fairy tales people made up about the Commander.

Gray turned away as the hooks were expertly launched in unison. They flew through the air and caught onto the targeted Skyshard, biting deeply into its rocky soil. “Bring Teak, Kiron, Volsker, and… yes, why not, Harvey.”

“Are you sure, Commander? Harvey only recently attained his Second Job.”

Gray paused halfway to the door. “I have made my choice… however, I would request that you ask him to accompany us. If he chooses to stay, no harm. I think you will find him more than eager.”

Of course he’ll be eager, Sila thought to herself, anybody would trip over themselves to be let on a recruitment mission.

There was little more prestigious on Relagia than to bring in a suitable new member of the faction.

Following Gray down the tight, winding steps, Sila held the tablet to her chest and readied herself for the coming onslaught. Nobody would dare approach the Commander asking to be let on this mission, but Sila? She was fair game.

She took the duty as his shield from lesser matters rather seriously, and to her it was a great honor to allow Gray to get on with his day rather than deal with everybody’s problems.

Several heads whipped around when Gray exited the lookout tower, but many more pairs of eyes fastened on Sila.

Gray went toward the reelers. Five of the strongest men and women that Relagia had. They gripped the hooked grapnels and pulled the Skyshard in, much like a boarding party for a ship except with less murderous intent.

“How many slots are left in the party? C’mon Sila, tell us!” wheedled one of their newest recruits. “You can have my rations if I can go along!”

“I am sorry, Paul,” Sila said as gently as she could. “You know the rules. Second Order Jobs only.” She gave him a kindly smile. He was a good guy, a bit over-eager, but sweet. “This is for your own safety. If you stick to your regiment, you’ll get there. Both the Commander and myself have faith. Besides, he has already picked his party.”

“He has?” another voice asked.

“Who is it?” called out another.

“I’ve got a Second Order Job!”

“No, you haven’t Theo!”

“Do too. You just can’t examine it because it’s… hidden, yeah!”

Sila shook her head and smiled at their willingness to join. They wrongly thought it would give them a leg up in the hierarchy.

They would learn.

Relagia was based purely on merit. Perform well, do well, and you were rewarded. Simple.

Help the faction, and you rose. Hinder it, be selfish, hurt your fellow members, and you were punished or exiled.

Thankfully, only the lightest punishments have had to be meted out so far. But they were growing so fast… it would be hard to keep up with all the new recruits without additional officers.

And while Gray may not be very picky about who he recruited, he was extremely selective about anybody who wielded power above another.

Sila left the voices behind and gathered up those the Commander had picked out. It took less than a few minutes for them to form up as the drop bridges were placed across the taut lines and the party strolled casually down to the other Skyshard.

Gray, as always, took the lead.

Sila remembered a time when he had tried to stay back, to hide that he was the leader, to get a better read on people. It hadn’t worked very well. He looked too much like a leader, and the way his own people reacted to him made it clear who he really was.

Besides, Gray was rather terrible at lying.

Oh, he could deflect like the best of them, but an outright lie? Never. Sila couldn’t remember the last time she’d ever heard one from him, and she’d known him well over a decade by this point.

Gray led the march to the new Skyshard.

Most inhabitants were wise enough to meet them. More than a few ran and hid. The search used to last a long while until they had devised a method for communicating across long distances utilizing Wind mana and a simple linked cube.

A young man with a rather unfortunately pinched face came forward with a pair of equally young women in tow. Beside her, Harvey quivered with excitement.

Sila gave him a sharp look. “Keep a lookout. There should be at least a few more.”

“I don’t recall asking for people to come visit,” the young man said, “why have you intruded on my Skyshard?”