jonathanbrooksauthor

Der Fusionist is available in German!

The 1st book in the Magical Fusion series, Der Fusionist, is now available in German in the Amazon.de marketplace!

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0FNKD1PFY

Ein junger Mann und seine Axt, zusammen mit einem magischen Leben, um das er nie gebeten hat ...

Larek Holsten ist anders als die meisten Menschen. Er lebt im Königreich Androthe, wo seine zwei Meter große Statur von den kleineren Bewohnern mit Misstrauen und Wut betrachtet wird. Aber solange es ihm hilft, der beste Holzfäller zu werden, der er sein kann, stört ihn das nicht sonderlich. Er und sein bester Freund, eine Axt mit einer mächtigen Fusion, die sie schärfer und stärker als ein normales Werkzeug werden lässt, werden von den Bäumen im magischen Wald nördlich seiner Heimat gefürchtet, denn er kann die schnell wachsenden Monolithen schneller fällen als jeder andere in der Gemeinschaft

.
Unglücklicherweise gerät Larek nach einem Besuch im Dorf durch ein absichtliches Missverständnis in Schwierigkeiten, was dazu führt, dass er seiner Familie und dem einzigen Zuhause, das er je gekannt hat, weggenommen wird. Auf dem Weg dorthin wird sein schlummerndes magisches Potenzial von jenen entdeckt, die mehr wissen als er, und er wird dazu verdonnert, eine Art Akademie für Magier zu besuchen.

Das Problem dabei? Im Gegensatz zu vielen anderen, die die Chance ergreifen würden, mächtige Magie einzusetzen, um die Monster zu bekämpfen, die die Dörfer und Städte des Königreichs bedrohen, hat Larek absolut keine Lust, ein Magier zu werden, vor allem, wenn er keine Wahl hat. Alles, was er will, ist, nach Hause zu seiner Familie zurückzukehren und die Bäume im Rushwood-Wald zu fällen.
Aber als er ein einzigartiges Talent entdeckt, das aus seiner neu entdeckten latenten Macht herrührt, muss er vielleicht einfach bleiben, um zu sehen, was er tun kann ...

Diese Geschichte rund um den Protagonisten, der sich von einer schwachen zu einer starken Persönlichkeit entwickelt, enthält LitRPG-Elemente wie Charakterentwicklung und Statistiken sowie einen Schwerpunkt auf Handwerkskunst. Keine expliziten sexuellen Inhalte oder Liebesdreiecke.

Plans for Aug 31-Sept 5

Keeper Book 2 is well under way now! I have some fun stuff coming up for it, so get ready for it within the next 10 chapters or so.

Speaking of chapters, Chapter 15 is the final chapter for my $2 Patrons until the book is finished; at that point, I'll be releasing chapters for them leading up to the book's release on Amazon. The same thing will happen at Chapter 30 for my $5 Patrons, but that is still a bit of a ways down the road.

Next week, I don't have anything other than writing on my plate -- at least for now. There may be a day I do something with my wife, but that isn't set in stone right now.

I'm hoping to get another 8-10 chapters done next week!

Plans for next week:

Sunday-Friday: Writing Keeper Book 2

Have a great weekend!

Massive LitRPG sale!

I forgot to post this earlier :)

There's an unbelievable free and $0.99 sale going on with LitRPG books written by numerous authors from August 22-24, and I have a bunch of them included for FREE!

www.jjthornbooks.com/massive-litrpg-sale

These are my books that are included in the sale/giveaway (there are a few extras I added that aren't on the site):

The Fusionist
Dungeon World
The Dungeon Fairy
The Station Core
Core Establishment
Dungeon of Chance: Even Odds
Core of Fear
Christmas Core
Dungeon Player

Plans for Aug 24-29

The Unbelievable Healer release went amazing! I'm finally done with all of the promotion, so I can get back to focusing on Keeper Book 2. I'm shooting for another 10 chapters done next week, as I'm looking forward to being able to concentrate on it without any other distractions.

The Colorado Springs Comic Con last weekend was awesome, but tiring. I'm glad that I went, but I only wish I got more sleep :)

Coming up next week, I don't have anything planned, so I should be able to write all week! My next convention isn't until the second week of September, which will be the Colorado Festival of Horror.

Plans for next week:

Sunday-Friday: Writing Keeper Book 2!

Have a great weekend!

Unbelievable Healer is now available!

The 6th and final book in the Earthen Contenders series, Unbelievable Healer, is now available on eBook, KU, paperback, and hardcover!  

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FJDJGVZX

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FJDJGVZX

Amazon DE: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0FJDJGVZX

The audiobook is in production by Miles Meili, and I'm hoping that it will be out in October.

________________

The final Developmental Phase is thrust upon the Contenders, whether they like it or not…

After inadvertently triggering the start of Developmental Phase 4 with the destruction of The Citadel, Thaden learns from his squirrel companion, Sadia, what the Wildlands has in store for him and the other Contenders.  Unfortunately, despite his incredible power as a largely solo healer, he quickly discovers that in order to succeed in the final Phase, numerous additional people will need to participate.

In other words, he cannot do it alone.

The problem that arises is, sadly, an obvious one.  While Thaden is powerful and more than capable of tackling many of the challenges that Phase 4 presents, the other Contenders in Region #1, let alone all of the other Regions on Tarth, are far behind the required Level to even have a chance of succeeding against the monsters in the Wildlands.  And if he doesn’t find a way to get them to that point, then the deaths of not only every person in Region #1, but the entire world, will become an inevitability.

Will Thaden persevere when the odds of success are slim to none?  Or will he do something unbelievably stupid and put the lives of everyone on Tarth even more at risk?  Find out in the thrilling conclusion of the Earthen Contenders series!

This story contains an overpowered MC with a normally non-offense-based Class, LitRPG progression mechanics and stats, and isekai/portal fantasy elements.  Contains no sexual content or harems.  

Unbelievable Healer chapters taken down

I've taken down the Unbelievable Healer chapters to comply with Amazon's Kindle Unlimited rules. If anyone was still reading them, message me and I can send you a google doc that you can read.

Book 6 comes out tomorrow!

No chapter today

I'm back from the convention, and it again kicked my butt! I was too mentally exhausted to finish a chapter today, but I should be back to it tomorrow.

Also, as a heads-up, I'll be taking down the Healer Book 6 chapters starting tomorrow night to get everything ready for release on Wednesday. If anyone is still reading the chapters at that point, message me and I'll send you a google doc you can read :)

Plans for Aug 17-22

I was hoping to get another chapter done today, but my focus was pulled in way too many directions today! This is my last day of writing this week, as tomorrow through Sunday I'll be at the Colorado Springs Comic Con! If you're going to be there, you can find me in the Ice Hall :)

Coming up next week, I'm hoping to get even more written for Keeper Book 2, but I also have Unbelievable Keeper coming out next Wednesday, August 20th! That means there will be a bit of promotion that I'll be doing, so I won't get as much writing done as I normally would like -- but I'm hoping for a great release! After next week, my writing should be getting back to normal.

Plans for next week:

Sunday: Colorado Springs Comic Con

Monday-Tuesday: Writing Keeper Book 2

Wednesday: Release of Unbelievable Healer/promos

Thursday-Friday: Writing and Healer promos

Have a great weekend!

Plans for Aug 10-15

I managed to finish the paperback prep for the new Healer book, as well as putting together the box set collections for the Magical Fusion series, including their paperbacks. The first collection (Books 1-4) is available for pre-order here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FL9MJ6BR

The second set (Books 5-8) will probably be out by the end of the year, but I'm not quite sure yet. I'll also probably be having the audiobook come out near the release of the eBook, so that they can be bought together.

I also put together the box set collections for Earthen Contenders, which will be in two volumes (Books 1-3 and Books 4-6). I'm not sure when they are releasing, but I have covers for them and they are essentially ready to go, other than any revisions for Book 6 that I get from beta-readers.

Speaking of Healer Book 6, I'll be working on beta-reader edits and revisions this Sunday so that I can have it ready for publication. I'm still working on releasing chapters for my $2 and $5 Patrons, but keep in mind that I'll be taking them down on the 18th to comply with Kindle Unlimited rules.

On Monday, I have an interview I'll be doing with a German translation/audiobook publishing company that is handling the German translation and audiobook production of Magical Fusion, Earthen Contenders, and Dungeon Crafting. After that, I'll be working on packing for an upcoming convention.

As for that upcoming convention, I will be heading to the Colorado Springs Comic Con next Friday through Sunday, so there won't be anything next Friday. Come see me in the Ice Hall, where you can get some signed paperbacks!

As a result of these few projects and the convention, writing will be a little erratic as I finish up random things next week, but I'm hoping to get another 3-4 chapters for Keeper Book 2 written and posted for my Patrons.

Plans for next week:

Sunday: Beta-reader revisions for Healer Book 6

Monday: German translation interview and packing for Colorado Springs Comic Con

Tuesday-Thursday: Writing Keeper Book 2

Friday-Sunday: I'll be a the Colorado Springs Comic Con!

Have a great weekend!

Plans for August 3-8

Unbelievable Healer is complete! I've already been releasing chapters for my $2 and $5 Patrons, and I'll continue releasing them until all of them are available.

I finished editing and revisions before sending them off to beta-readers, so it is complete until I get feedback from them.

Next week, I'm taking a few more days off at the beginning of the week, and then I will be working on Fusionist compilations and the Healer Book 6 paperback, before I start on Keeper Book 2. The goal is to get at least a chapter of the new book done, but we'll see :)

Plans for next week:

Sunday-Monday: Off

Tuesday-Thursday: Compilations and paperback

Friday: Keeper Book 2 writing

Have a great weekend!

Plans for July 26-Aug 1

Healer Book 6 is getting so close to completion! Because of how close it is, I'll likely be working on it over the weekend, and I'm hoping that I'll be done by Monday at the latest. After it's complete, I'll start releasing chapters for my $2 and $5 Patrons, until they have all of them before it publishes on August 20th on Kindle.

For next week, once the story is done, I'll be spending a few days editing and revising, before I send it out to beta-readers.

Then I'll be taking off the rest of the week.

The week after, I'll be spending a few days getting Books 1-4 of Magical Fusion together as I'll be releasing a compilation in September, as well as putting Books 5-8 together for a later release (potentially December or early January 2026). Once that is done, I'll be starting on Retrogression Keeper Book 2, which will be my next new release (probably in October).

After that is done... I'll probably start the second arc of the Healer story in a secondary series, of which there will be a little preview at the end of Unbelievable Healer.

Plans for next week:

Saturday-Monday: Finish Healer Book 6

Tuesday-Wednesday: Healer Book 6 editing

Thursday-Friday: Off

Have a great weekend!

Unbelievable Healer is on pre-order!

The 6th book in the Earthen Contenders series, Unbelievable Healer, is now on pre-order for an August 20th release!

www.amazon.com/dp/B0FJDJGVZX

Delayed chapter today

I'm back from LitRPG Con -- which was awesome -- and took a bit of the day off to recover, as I was exhausted after all of the panels, socializing, and manning the vendor table. I won't have a chapter today, but my plan is to have 2 to 3 chapters a day for the rest of the week, as I finish up Healer Book 6.

Sorry for the delay!

Plans for July 21-25

I nearly finished Chapter 31 for Healer Book 6, but I had to stop so that I could get ready to set up my vendor table at LitRPG Con -- which starts tomorrow! As mentioned last week, I'll be there Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, so I won't have any other chapters written during this time; chapters will resume on Monday, July 21st. My tentative goal is to have the book complete by July 25th, but it could take another day or two to wrap it up. My hope is to have it officially published on Kindle on August 20th, which is the week after the Colorado Springs Comic Con (which I'll be attending); I'll likely be putting it up on pre-order sometime next week.

As a further heads-up, Chapter 30 was the final chapter for my $5 Patrons until the book is finished, at which point I'll be gradually releasing chapters for my $2 and $5 Patrons leading up to its Kindle publication.

Plans for next week:

Monday-Friday: Put Healer 6 up for pre-order/write more of Healer 6! Hopefully finished by Friday

Have a great weekend and I hope to see some of you at the LitRPG Con!

Unbelievable Healer Cover Sneak Peek!

I finally picked a title for Healer Book 6 and my cover designer is finishing up the last details on the cover, but I thought I would show it off to you all before I put it up for pre-order next week!

Plans for July 13-20

Phew! Got some more written this week, though it took me a little to recover from Fan Expo Denver last weekend. Speaking of conventions, the LitRPG Con is next weekend, from July 18th-20th, and I'll be setting up on the 17th as a vendor there. If you're in Denver, I'd love to meet all of you along with all of the other awesome LitRPG authors that are going to be there.

litrpgcon.com

On Sunday, I'll be working on the cover for Healer Book 6 with my cover designer, as well as packaging The Lone Keeper paperbacks for my Beta-Readers. After that, I'll probably be packing for LitRPG Con on Tuesday, but otherwise I'm planning on doing as much writing as possible before the con.

As a heads-up, I'll probably be reaching Chapter 30 on Healer Book 6, which will be the last chapter for my $5 Patrons; once the book is complete, I'll be releasing the rest of the chapters before it is published on Kindle.

Plans for next week:

Sunday: Cover and beta-reader paperbacks

Monday: Writing Book 6

Tuesday: Writing/Packing for LitRPG Con

Wednesday: Writing

Thursday: Writing/set up at LitRPG Con

Friday-Sunday: LitRPG Con! (No writing)

Have a great weekend!

Independence Core is FREE!

Starting July 3rd, the 4th book in my Holiday Dungeon Core series - Independence Core - is FREE on eBook!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B3TWNX8X

__________________

Red, white, and blue are the best colors to use in the defense of a dungeon….

After a harrowing experience with a Soul Manipulator after he created his Easter section, Elmer Robbins is back and developing a brand-new area based on another holiday.  With enough Life Force gained from the Adventurers perishing throughout his dungeon over the last few months, the Dungeon Core decides to implement the holiday of Independence Day as his newest addition to his dungeon defenses. 

Cooking on a grill, playing with water during hot summer days, and setting off fireworks are some of the best things about the Independence Day holiday he remembers from back on Earth, and he wants to translate those experiences into his dungeon.  At the same time, he needs to discover a way to prevent the same thing that happened with the Soul Manipulator from occurring again, because the last thing he wants is his soul captured and used against his will.

However, the danger to his Core won’t come from another Soul Manipulator.  Instead, it will present itself in the form of an old enemy, as well as from an entirely unexpected direction….

Independence Core is a short, 37k-word novella set in a unique universe that contains LitRPG and Dungeon Core elements such as stats and character progression.  Contains no foul language, explicit sexual content, or harems.

Plans for July 7-11

Well, I got 3 chapters done this week, though each of them is a bit bigger than my norm, so there's almost a full other chapter in between them.

I'll be off in about an hour to start setting up for Fan Expo Denver, and I'll be there the rest of this week all the way through Sunday! If you're in the area, come visit me at my table in Artist Alley, and pick up a signed paperback or two :)

I'll be back writing on Monday, so there won't be any additional chapters this week -- sorry!

Plans for next week:

Monday-Friday: Writing more of Healer Book 6

Have a great weekend!

Plans for June 29-July 6

The release of The Lone Keeper has gone pretty well! The rankings were screwed up for a day, which put it a little behind in sales like I expected, but they're working now :)

Coming up next week is FanExpo Denver, which means that I'll be setting up Wednesday afternoon, and then I'll be there all day Thursday, July 3rd, through Sunday, July 6th! I'll probably be packing for the convention on Sunday, so I won't get any writing done that day, but my goal is to get 2 chapters written on Monday and 2 on Tuesday; if I get the chance, I'll try to squeeze one in on Wednesday morning, but there's no guarantee.

If anyone is going to FanExpo Denver and wants to see me, I'll be in the Artist Alley in booth A1914. I'll have signed paperbacks for sale and a bunch of free stuff to give away, so be sure to stop by!

I'll try to update you on the week after next Wednesday, as I'll probably be too busy next Friday to get on Patreon.

Plans for next week:

Sunday: Packing for FanExpo

Monday-Tuesday: Writing Healer book 6

Wednesday: Set up for FanExpo

Thursday-Sunday: FanExpo Denver!

Have a great weekend!

Healer Book 6 -- Chapter 15

(Just a heads-up, this is the final chapter for my $2 Patrons until the book is complete; after that, the rest of the chapters will be gradually released leading up to its publication on Amazon)

Chapter 15

“There you are!  Hurry, Corinna needs to see you!”

Thaden had just exited his room and made it down to the lobby of the Coalition building when he had been accosted by an unfamiliar individual.  They were in Guilded Glory, but he had to admit that he’d been around so many people in so many different Guilds over the last few months that all of their names and faces had turned into a blur; he might have met the man before, but if he had, then for the life of him, he couldn’t remember.  Given that the Scout Class was Level 301, it was entirely possible that he had even been in one of the Raid Parties that he’d run through a Maximal Difficulty Intermediate Dungeon, but he couldn’t recall.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, even as he rushed out behind the man.

Thaden barely heard him as he passed the Guilded Glory member, feeling a sense of urgency that he couldn’t pinpoint exactly.  “I don’t know!  I’m just the messenger!”

The pre-dawn light was no hindrance to him as he was used to navigating his way through the city to the Guilded Glory headquarters by this point, and he was at the bustling entrance in seconds.  The fact that it was so busy that early in the morning was a bit worrying, as it was usually fairly quiet before the sun came up, and the sense of urgency he’d felt since he’d seen the messenger redoubled.  He did his best to avoid crashing into anyone as he pushed his way inside, before he eventually decided that it would be easier to simply jump over the crowd all the way across the bottom floor, and he landed on the stairs leading up to Corinna’s office.  A second later, he knocked briefly before opening the door, and he saw a half-dozen people clustered around Corinna’s desk, frantically scribbling things on paper as the rapid-fire speech of the Guild Leader overrode everything else.

He once again admired how easily she took charge of others, the natural confidence she displayed at odds with how he knew she could be when things weren’t quite hectic.  Over the last few months, with the both of them spending so much time together once he was done with his dungeons runs for the day, he had become to know her a little better in a bit more… intimate setting – making the last month or so some of the best days he’d every experienced.  Killing monsters, helping power-Level other Contenders, and getting to share some private time with someone else at the end of the night made each day quite pleasant.

Corinna {Guilded Glory}

Human

Level 351

She, similar to most of the Guild leadership among the other Guilds in Region #1, had participated in slightly more than their share of power-Leveling over the last 15 weeks – but no one complained.  The reason they were the in their positions in their Guild leadership was typically because they were some of the best of the best, so it only made sense that these individuals were a little bit higher Level than the others.  It wasn’t as if there were many Contenders that hadn’t participated in one of his Raid Parties left in the Region, after all, so no one had anything to worry about. 

Originally, he was only able to handle power-Leveling 12,000 Contenders a week as he brought them through Maximal Difficulty Intermediate Dungeons, but that expanded to about 40,000 a week once they learned that they could expand the Raid Party numbers to 300 to 400, depending on what was allowed in each specific dungeon.  It also helped that they managed to discover that 4 additional dungeons had monsters that just barely qualified for PICK and they were added to his normal rotation.  In fact, he had delved through all 13 dungeons so many times that the only reason that some of them took more than 30 seconds to complete was because some of the Contenders in the Raid Parties weren’t able to keep up with his speed.  He’d run the same route around the Region every day that he’d worn a path in between dungeons, allowing him to travel even faster with fewer obstacles in his way. 

He'd even maxed-out his PICK-enhancing Growth set at Level 450 and had to swap to another new set, which was nearing Level 400 already.  Even with the amount of PICK he was acquiring, he found that after Level 300 or so, it took forever for each one to gain a Level; it required even more PICK than he expected, but it was certainly worth it.

Experienced Leaching Robe of the Grand Shepherd (+5 AMP)

Rarity: Artifact

Imprinted User Restriction: #32599999-E

Level Restriction: 450

Physical Damage Resistance: 301 (+1,505)

Magical Damage Resistance: 645 (+3,225)

Durability: Indestructible

Special Properties: Growth

+225 Physicality (+1,125 Physicality)

+142 Celerity (+710 Celerity)

+156 Mentality (+780 Mentality)

+125 Personality (+625 Personality)

+137 Fortuity (+685 Fortuity)

+50% (+250%) increase in all spell effectiveness while in a party

+0.5% (+2.5%) decrease in all spell Mana cost, cooldowns, and casting times for each current party member

+0.25% (+1.25%) increase in all PICK earned by all party members

Set Bonus (2): +35% (+150%) to all damage you inflict while in a party, Fortuity/500 % chance for all damage to be doubled (+5 times) (AMP set 5)

Set Bonus (5): All previous Set Bonuses; +90 (+450) to Physicality, +60 (+300) to Celerity, +60 (+300) to Mentality, +60 (+300) to Personality, +60 (+300) to Fortuity (AMP set 5)

Set Bonus (8): All previous Set Bonuses; with each consecutive party member, each member of your party automatically heals for and gains damage mitigation equaling 0.01% (+0.05%) of the damage you do inflict (AMP set 5)

Set Bonus (11): All previous Set Bonuses; each instance of PICK accumulation for you and each member of your party has a Fortuity/6,000% chance to be tripled (Chance triggered +4 times) (AMP set 4)

While the stat bonuses of the Level 450 items hadn’t improved all that much, and were objectively worse than his solo-focused Growth set even at about half the Level, the bonuses to PICK accumulation made it worth it.  The base 0.25% increase in PICK accumulation, when multiplied by his AMPs and all of the items he possessed, meant that everyone was getting a 16.5% increase in all PICK that they received.  Then there was the final Set Bonus, which had about a 4% chance at every instance of PICK accumulation to have it tripled, and that chance triggered an extra 4 times.  Thankfully, even though it affected everyone, it was based on his Fortuity; if it was based upon the other Contenders’ Fortuity, it would rarely trigger; unfortunately, even if someone got lucky at each chance for it to trigger, the PICK only tripled once instead of multiple times.  It would’ve been even better if that hadn’t been the case, but it was still amazing enough that he didn’t complain.

Thaden listened in to what Corinna was saying before she looked up and saw him after he entered.  “—have to send at least two 100-Contender Raid Parties to the Wall and—Thaden!  Good, you’re here!”  She turned to the others and shooed them off after giving a few brief orders, and they took off with a rush.

“What’s going on?” he asked as soon as they closed the door behind them.

Corinna gestured to something on the desk, and he quickly moved to it and picked it up.  As he began reading, he nodded, understanding immediately what was going on.

“As you can see, that’s the official Scouting Report from the dozen Scouts we had keeping an eye on activity in the Wildlands.”  Thaden knew that the Guilds had dispatched some individuals who were adept at moving around without being seen, and were also fast enough to escape if they were.  He thought it was prudent to keep an eye on the Wildlands while the Omenic Drifter was down in the Region helping to power-Level people.  “Long story short, it’s time.”

“Already?  I was hoping that we would have another month, at least.”  That was even earlier based on what Sadia had mentioned, as his companion had expected that they might have 6 months or so before things got complicated in the Wildlands.  Still, that was just an estimate, so he couldn’t be too disappointed that she hadn’t accurate.

“I have a feeling the timeline has sped-up because there is no one in the Wildlands culling the monsters.  Not anyone’s fault, of course; it was either you stay up there and be largely ineffective, or you come back to the Region to power-Level everyone.  I have a feeling that this would’ve occurred even sooner if you hadn’t spent a few days killing thousands of monsters up there a few months ago.”

I wonder if I could’ve delayed it longer if I went up every few days to cull them?  Or would that only have made a little bit of difference?  It was going to happen no matter what, this is just happening faster than I expected.

“I did, too, but we probably have another few days before it’ll start to be a problem.  The scouts are telling us that the density of monsters up there is only just now reaching a critical point; it’ll take a little time for the first monsters to be pushed out toward the Wall, and we’ll be mostly ready when they do.”

That’s good, at least.  “How is the Wall, by the way?  I haven’t seen it in months.”

“I was only able to visit once about 2 weeks ago, but they’ve made enormous progress,” she answered, her hands on her hips as she stared at her desk.  Thaden slipped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, looking at the Scouting Report next to the map of the Wildlands that the Scouts and Thaden had helped to fill in, as well as the half-dozen other stacks of paperwork scattered all around.  Corinna sighed as she placed her hands and arms over his as she leaned back into him.  “It’s really happening, isn’t it?”

“Seems like it,” he said, not seeing any point in denying it.  “But we’ll be find; you and those you’ve worked with have done an amazing job preparing for it.”

“Me?  Don’t you mean you?  I’m not the one who helped to raise the overall Level of over a half-million Contenders by more than 100 Levels in less than 4 months, after all.”

He chuckled.  “Well, when you put it like that,” he said, kissing her briefly on the neck.  “But seriously, that was the easy part; the logistical mind that you possess blows me away with how you can seem to keep track of everything behind the scenes.”

She spun in his arms, wrapping her own around his neck as she looked up at him.  With a smile, she moved in for a kiss by pulling him close, but they were interrupted when someone barged in after a quick knock.

“Guild Lead—Oh!  Sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

Corinna pulled away from him, beckoning the woman who had entered forward.  “It’s alright, Trista.  We were, unfortunately, just finishing up.” 

Thaden wasn’t going to leave it like that, especially since he didn’t know when the next time he’d be alone with the Guild Leader again in the near future.  They had spoken many times about what would occur when things started moving in the Wildlands, but each of them had thought they had more time.  He held up his hand in front of Trista and moved in front of Corinna, as he bent down slightly to give the Guild Leader a long kiss, cupping her face in his hands, before pulling away with what was probably a cheesy smile on his face.

“Now we’re done,” he said, enjoying and feeling the same longing he saw on Corinna’s face.  “I’ll just be on my way, then.”

“Wait—oh, never mind,” Corinna said, reaching out to him, before smacking him on the butt with a surprising amount of force.  “Get out of here.  I’ll hopefully see you soon up north,” she said, and he moved through the open office doorway with a spring in his step.  He wished they had more time for a proper goodbye, but he would take what he could get.

Less than 5 minutes later, he was racing away toward the gap in the mountain range where The Citadel Dungeon used to be; while it was still gone, the Wall had replaced it, or supposedly it had.  He hadn’t been up there since he left the Wildlands months ago, so he could only rely on Corinna’s account that it had been constructed and was prepared to repel any monsters that might seek to invade the Region.  Fortunately, he didn’t really have anything to prepare, as he had all the equipment he needed, and he’d been steadily adding food to his Inventory every day, until he had enough stored away to last him for years.  Even if he wouldn’t have the best accommodations in the Wildlands, he would have some good food for some time to come.

When he arrived at the gap in the mountain range a few hours later, he nearly thought he was in the wrong place.  First, the “gap” that had been there before was no longer there, which he obviously knew about, but he wasn’t expecting what he saw in its place.  A massive barrier spanning two miles in length crossed between the remaining mountains to either side, stretching up to over 500 feet tall.  Instead of just being wall of stone like he was expecting, it instead appeared to be a mixture of stone, wood, and dark metal bands.  The wood comprised the overall structure of it, which were large logs that reminded him of the construction of Darkwood Vale, while Stone seemed to flow over the structure and filled in all the cracks, as if it had been fluid at one point and then solidified once it was in place.  Over all of that were thick bands of a dark metal 5 feet wide stretching both horizontal and vertical, giving the entire thing the appearance of a large cage.

In other words, it looked quite strong and formidable.  Unfortunately, it was still under construction, which was how he could tell how it was put together; the top 10 feet or so was only about half-done, which was where a wide walkway was being installed. 

However, that wasn’t what surprised him the most, as there were also walkways at different levels lining the backside of the Wall, which seemed to lead to hundreds of small tunnels that led the entire way through the barrier, each of which appeared to be just large enough for a Human to walk comfortably down, but that was about it.  Once he was close enough, he could see that on the opposite side of the wall where the tunnels let out, there appeared to be a grate that he could only assume was made of strong steel or some other metal, and it was in front of a slightly larger space which could likely fit a half-dozen people or so. 

It took him a second to figure out why these were in place, as it seemed stupid to compromise the structural integrity of the Wall with these holes, but then he realized that the wall was likely strong enough even with the holes to hold against just about anything that attempted to get through it.  His experience with the Defensive Fortifications in the Wildlands told him that this barrier was strong, and nothing he’d seen thus far on the other side of the Wall would be able to pass through it – not even a Wraith, as he also saw a subtle glow that enveloped the metal strips.  His sense of the spiritual, thanks to his Spiritual Spellcasting Competency, hinted that even Undead phantasms would be stopped by the enormous barrier.

As for why these holes in the wall were there, they were simply a way for the defenders to attack the monsters as they approached, which would be somewhat difficult from the top of the Wall – given that it was about 500 feet tall.  He also assumed that there would likely be some sort of defensive weapons inside some of these, which would be easier to aim and actually hit something when it was closer to the ground.  The tunnels were a vulnerability, of course, but their benefit most likely outweighed those vulnerabilities; he sensed that there were also methods in place to close them off if it was needed – or, at least, that was what he would do if he was in charge of the defenses.  He doubted those who actually were in charge would allow them to exist without a way to shut them off, so he expected there to be so.

The second thing about the Wall that made him question if he had the right place was the sheer number of people around the area.  Instead of just a few hundred Contender defenders, which was what he was expecting, he counted tens of thousands of people scattered around the area, with a good 85% of them being the native Charee.  A small portion of them appeared to be crafters, who were frantically working on different defensive weapons such as familiar ballistas and catapults similar in function – if not appearance – to the ones that the Defensive Fortifications supplied, but also others that he wasn’t expecting to see.  What appeared to be cannons of some sort were the initial weapons he saw, but instead of gunpowder, they were likely powered by some sort of magic.  There were also strange telescoping towers that reminded him of the Obelisk on the top of the Central Keep in the Fortifications, but instead of being upright, they were laid on their side.  He could only assume that these were some sort of beam-firing weapons, but none of them were active at the moment, so he couldn’t be sure.

Finally, the reason why he felt like he was in the wrong place were the flags and banners hanging around all over the enormous camp that had been created on the Region side of the Wall.  They weren’t flags or banners depicting any sort of Guild or political affiliation; no, that would have been much more preferable than what they actually were.

Somehow, a depiction of Thaden – an admittedly quite flattering rendition – was plastered all around the camp, so that wherever he looked, he was looking at himself standing proudly with his shoulders back, his chest puffed out, and his hands on his hips while he looked up toward some distant view.

“Holy—  I love it.  I absolutely love it.  Do you think they have any extra that we can take with us?  Can you imagine planting a flag with your picture on it when you subjugate a NEST—?”

“Shut it.  This… this is a nightmare,” he murmured, unable to tear his gaze away from the hundreds of flags and banners he saw everywhere.  “How?  Why?  What is going on?”

Unfortunately, his arrival hadn’t gone unnoticed, and like a rippling wave, the Charee laboring away at various tasks seemed to home in on his location and turned toward him and his faltering steps like some sort of fanatical zealots.  The cheering that started up only seconds after he came to a stop was entirely too much, and he just wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear. 

He was about to run away as quickly as he could, perhaps even climb the nearby mountains to make his way past the Wall, when a semi-familiar voice called out to him over the cheering of the crowd.  It was difficult to place where the voice was coming from, but as a small group of Contenders pushed through the ecstatic Charee to his right, he reeled back in shock as he immediately recognized the owner of the voice, along with the others with her.

“Long time, no see, Thaden,” Sarah said with a wide smile.  “Seems as though you’ve really come up in the world, haven’t you?”

Healer Book 6 -- Chapter 14

Chapter 14

As he exited behind the other members of his Raid Party, he couldn’t help but see a mixed bag of emotions upon the faces of the Contenders he’d run through the Maximal Difficulty Intermediate Dungeon.  Thankfully, for the most part they were ecstatic, and even the ones that were visibly disappointed were still relatively happy.  The only disappointment came from the negation of the Quest or Achievement rewards that they’d completed; fortunately, it was only a few of them that had run afoul of his Omenic Drifter’s chance to eliminate rewards entirely.  The rest of the PICK and loot that they’d received throughout the dungeon had largely made up for these unfortunate individuals who had the larger reward taken away. 

“How many Levels did you earn?” he asked Steven as he caught sight of him, the familiar face from Guilded Glory having come along on the exploratory delve.

“Thaden!  That was amazing!  I got… hold on, let me check.”  Thaden watched as Steven’s nametag quickly changed from Level 203 – which was already quite high compared to many other people in the Region – to Level 225, a 22-Level increase in just an hour’s worth of work.  “What?!  22 Levels?!  That’s insane!” he shouted, and he wasn’t the only one that was checking to see how many Levels they had earned from the singular dungeon delve. 

He saw smiles all around as he watched as some Contenders rose 15, 20, or even – in one instance – 31 Levels; he could only assume that they had been quite lucky and had many of their PICK rewards doubled, especially if it had been an Achievement or the Quest that he had created specifically for this instance.  It also helped that the one that had gone up so many Levels had only been Level 191 to start with, as it didn’t require nearly as much PICK below Level 200 to raise it up.  If they doubled their Quest reward, that was 700,000 PICK all by itself (plus any bonuses), and considering that someone around Level 191 only needed around 57,000 PICK to get to the next Level, it made a lot of sense.

Obviously, the experiment to see if the Contenders he ran through dungeons in order to power-Level them would be able to raise their Perceived Level up high enough was a success.  As he looked at Steven again, he saw that his fellow Guilded Glory member had an even higher Perceived Level than before – thanks to his recent Level-up.

Steven {Guilded Glory}

Human

Level 225 (Perceived Level: 473)

In fact, it was almost too high to earn PICK from many of the monsters that he’d just killed inside the Cloven Hills Dungeon.  The lowest-Level monsters inside the Cloven Hills Dungeon had been Level 375 with a Perceived Level of 488; if Steven or the others were a much higher Level, then they would be over the Level where they would end up getting PICK from Thaden killing the monsters.  They would have to play with the Indecent Proposal Advancement ability he gave them to convert their temporary bonuses to Perceived Level; thankfully, the Advancement allowed them to choose how much of their bonus stats they converted. 

Apparently, Thaden provided enough bonus stats that when they threw all of them into Perceived Level, it equaled an 80% increase in Perceived Level; the Level 191 Contender who had gained 31 Levels from the delve had just barely been a high enough Level to count, as a 110% Perceived Level was at Level 401.  Technically, the way it worked was that the 50-Level cutoff was based on the average Level of everyone in the Raid Party, but just in case, they had determined that the cutoff should be Level 191; it also ensured that the Contender had already achieved their Class Evolution at Level 189, so that they could take full advantage of the PICK that they would be receiving.

“That was amazing, Thaden – can we go again?” Steven asked, the eagerness in his voice quite clear.

The Omenic Drifter shook his head.  “Sorry, Steven; I’ll be doing rotations through as many Raid Parties as possible, even with other Guilds.  We need a lot more people than just those in our Guild to Level-up, otherwise we’re going to lose before we can even get started.”

“Ah.  Makes sense, I suppose.  Well, thanks anyway – I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around!” he shouted as he took off along with the other 98 members of the Raid Party as Thaden disbanded from the Party.

The Omenic Drifter took off, as well, though he was headed straight back to Darkwood Vale and Corinna to report on what happened.  As he did, he checked his own messages, seeing that the PICK that he’d earned went straight into his Growth equipment.  It was actually a brand-new set that he was wearing rather than his solo or his other Party-based set, as he hadn’t been using it to heal.  Instead, after learning that his new title allowed him to use his Wild Health Leach combination of damage-dealing spells without having to worry about inadvertently hurting his party members, he was now developing a new set specifically for the purpose of power-Leveling others.  He pulled up a piece of his equipment to see that it was already being influenced by his fighting style.

Leaching Robe of the Shepherd

Rarity: Artifact

Imprinted User Restriction: #32599999-E

Level Restriction: 91

Physical Damage Resistance: 45

Magical Damage Resistance: 115

Durability: Indestructible

Special Properties: Growth

+45 Physicality

+27 Celerity

+25 Mentality

+15 Personality

+14 Fortuity

+4% increase in all spell effectiveness while in a party

+0.05% decrease in all spell Mana cost, cooldowns, and casting times for each current party member

+0.01% increase in all PICK earned by all party members

The stat increases were a bit lackluster compared to his other set and there weren’t a lot of effects on the equipment yet, but he was surprised to see that it actually gave an increase in earned PICK for all party members.  At the moment, it was only a 0.01% increase, but when his AMPs were applied, that rose all the way up to 0.66%; even that didn’t sound like a lot, especially when someone only received 100 PICK or so from a monster, as that might round up to 1 extra PICK.  But when it was applied to something like a Quest reward, especially if it was doubled to something like 700,000 PICK, then that 0.66% would be an extra 4,620 PICK.

And he was sure that the current 0.01% increase would only go up as the equipment gained Levels. 

Apart from a very promising start to his new Growth set, Thaden also got his own Achievement, as the dungeon they’d just completed had been a new one for him.

Congratulations for completing the Cloven Hills Intermediate Dungeon on Maximal difficulty!

Achievement received: Cross The Divide

Bonus reward: 100,000 PICK

Omenic Drifter Class trait activated!

Bonus reward: 150,000 PICK

Unkillable I Achievement activated!

Bonus reward: 300,000 PICK

Army Of One I Achievement activated!

Bonus reward: 900,000 PICK

Overachiever II Achievement activated!

Bonus reward: 4,950,000 PICK

Contender World First Achievement: 200,000 PICK, Free Stat Points (20)

Omenic Drifter Class trait activated!

Bonus reward: 300,000 PICK, Free Stat Points (30)

Unkillable I Achievement activated!

Bonus reward: 600,000 PICK, Free Stat Points (30)

Army Of One I Achievement activated!

Bonus reward: 1,800,000 PICK, Free Stat Points (90)

Overachiever II Achievement activated!

Bonus reward: 9,900,000 PICK, Free Stat Points (90)

The Overachiever II effect of a 450% increase in PICK accumulation really made a difference to the amount of PICK he received from something like an Achievement; he’d seen it from the normal PICK he received from killing monsters, of course, but this was the first Achievement he’d received since the start of Developmental Phase 4 that had PICK as a reward component.  It also explained how the others had obtained so many Levels from the dungeon, as everything that they obtained from kills – even if it was split in between 100 party members – was increased by 300%. 

This could really work.  I better let Corinna know how this went.

A half-hour later, he was being escorted through the gates of Darkwood Vale again, and soon enough after that he was walking through the Guild Leader’s office.

“Success, huh?” Corinna asked as she saw his happy face.

With a nod, he sat down in the chair across from her.  “Yep.  And even better, I have some equipment that will add even more PICK to how much they’ll be receiving while in a party with me,” he told her, before he began to explain about the effect of his Growth set.  She then asked about the Level gains of those who’d come with him, his discovery that he could essentially go all-out in the dungeon without having to worry about killing anyone, and how that allowed him to speed through the dungeon so quickly.

“Well, that changes things a little, but I somewhat expected as much,” she told him with smirk as she made some notations on a piece of paper in front of her.  “All that means is that we’ll be able to add some locations each day…” she continued, murmuring to herself.  After a few more notes, she addressed him again.  “Now, let me tell you what I’ve done and you can determine whether it would work for you.”

He nodded again and gestured for her to go on.

“Alright.  As you know, I’ve been in communication with the Leaders of many of the other Guilds all throughout the Region, and I’ve already begun setting up a rotation for different Raid Parties—numbering 200, including you—to accompany you into Maximal Difficulty Intermediate Dungeons.  Now, take a look at this map,” she told him, and he leaned forward to look at the map of Region #1 that she turned toward him, “and you can see that we’ve mapped out 9 dungeons that are likely to be in your Level range to maximize PICK generation.  Some of them we know are acceptable based on what you’ve told us of them, while the rest are estimates based on the Medial difficulty; if they don’t work, we’ll eliminate them from the rotation and search for more to add.  In fact, while we’ll keep looking for more, there is a good possibility that, because of your high Level, there might only be a dozen dungeons in the entire Region that are in the acceptable range even at Maximal difficulty.

“Now, as to this rotation I mentioned, you’ll notice that you’ll start with the Destitute Cliffs here,” she said, pointing toward a location to the southeast of Darkwood Vale, which he estimated would take about 30 minutes for him to run there.  “Via communication with the other Guilds, a Raid Party of 199 Guild members – which will likely be different each time – will meet you there at just after dawn, ensuring that you don’t have to wait on them to arrive or have to travel with them.  Once you’ve run them through the dungeon, you’ll head slightly northeast here,” she continued, pointing to a second location, “where you’ll meet yet another Raid Party of 199 Contenders and then run through the Sweltering Sands Dungeon.  After that, you’ll head north to the…”

He listened to her recount the itinerary she’d put together for him, starting around dawn and lasting until the evening, hitting 9 dungeons in a row, one right after another.  Essentially, he would run to the first dungeon, complete it and then disband from that Raid Party, run to the next and join another Raid Party, complete the dungeon, and then run to the third dungeon.  If he was able to complete each dungeon as quickly or faster than he did the Cloven Hills, which was also on the itinerary, then he could finish up with the ninth dungeon in time to run back to Darkwood Vale, where he could get some sleep and unload the Gold and loot that he’d acquired. 

Then, he would do the same thing the next day.  It was a brutal schedule, and one that he wasn’t sure he could keep up for too long, but he was willing to give it a try.

“I’m not sure if I can complete all 9 dungeons in one day – at least not yet.  Since I haven’t been in most of these,” he said, pointing to the map, “I don’t know how complicated they are or if they will take longer simply because of scale or other unknown reasons.  Once I complete them once, though, I’ll have a better gauge on how long they’ll take in the future.”

He couldn’t help but feel, at least in the back of his head, that he was being taken advantage of with all of this power-Leveling, but he snuffed out that feeling.  After all, he had volunteered to do this, as it was necessary to their overall survival in the future.  More importantly, it wasn’t like he wasn’t getting anything from this, as he would be acquiring a whole lot of PICK from the process, which could only benefit him as it contributed to his equipment’s Growth. 

In the end, though, he was more than aware that this was being done so that he could take advantage of them once they moved on to the Wildlands.  He needed competent and higher-Level people to defend the Defensive Fortifications that he would be obtaining from subjugating NESTs; as they were now, even with some improvements to the Fortifications that he could add to them via spending Subjugation Points, they wouldn’t be able to hold off a single horde of monsters.  Sure, he could upgrade the hell out of hundreds of Fortifications as he accumulated more SP, to the point where even Level 200 Contenders could defend the place, but that could take years to accomplish if he concentrated on only ones that they had acquired.  All that time, however, the monsters would apparently be getting stronger and stronger, so it was overall a losing battle; he would have to upgrade each Fortification more and more so that they could keep up with the stronger monsters, which meant that he couldn’t really push forward.  He would spend so much time trying to maintain what was already subjugated that pushing forward would be difficult, as a new Fortification would be difficult for any Contenders to defend.

Unless they were also a higher Level, of course.  That was what it came down to, in the end; Thaden needed tens of thousands of Contenders that could defend Fortifications as he made a push across the Wildlands, as not all of them would be like his Stage 9 or Stage 10 Fortification he’d recently abandoned.  If they were lucky, they might just be basic Stage 3 or perhaps Stage 4 to begin with, and the Contenders that stepped up to defend it had to be able to use those weaker defenses and survive.  Once they were established, they could use the SP they earned from Defensive Kills to start upgrading it further, but they needed to be able to get to that point. 

“Alright, then I guess that’s settled,” Corinna said, wrapping up their meeting.  “I’ve got to finish coordinating all of this so that we’re ready to go tomorrow.  Get some sleep, and be ready to go shortly before dawn, if possible.”

Thaden left shortly after that, heading toward the Coalition building again to see about the room that the Vice-Leader had mentioned earlier.  It didn’t take more than 15 minutes for him to walk into a room that was smaller than the Diamond-Ranked room he’d gotten used to; while it was smaller, it was also more richly decorated, as everything seemed to have accents of gold and gems, and the craftmanship was off the charts.  He ignored the ostentatious appearance as he took a long shower and then collapsed into the large—but not obscenely so—bed, as the thought of the days to come exhausted him just by considering the work he’d be putting in.  He just hoped that it would all be worth it in the end.

“I have faith that you’ll be successful, Thaden.  You have a lot of people counting on you, but you also have the world’s support behind you.  All you have to do now is be your natural impossibly strong self for all of the Contenders of the Region, and you can’t lose.”

As his eyes closed and just before he passed out, he murmured, “Thanks, Sadia.  See you tomorrow.”  It didn’t take long for him to fully fall asleep after that.

The Lone Keeper is now available!

The first book in my newest series, The Lone Keeper, is now available on eBook, KU, paperback, and hardcover! I'm really excited for everyone to check this one out -- if you like overpowered MCs, then this is the book for you!

Amazon US: www.amazon.com/dp/B0FBR43P4D

Amazon UK: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FBR43P4D

Amazon DE: www.amazon.de/dp/B0FBR43P4D

________________________

The Retrogression System made a mistake when they forced Humans to join them…

At first, when Bax suddenly found himself transported from Earth to an organization of powerful, universe-spanning races, he was thoroughly confused.  After he learned that his world was being forcefully inducted into something called the Retrogression System, which would introduce monsters to the Earth while eliminating all of the technology of the Humans living there, he understandably panicked.

Unfortunately, there was nothing that Bax or the Keeper Recruit program that he suddenly found himself being enrolled in could do about it.  Instead, he was told that he had to learn how to be a Keeper, which was a powerful protector of the worlds included in the System in which the Earth was now a part.  More than that, he was to become a Keeper Guide, a teacher of sorts for future Human Keepers once the Retrogression cycle began anew.

The only problem was that he had been transported from Earth while he was in the early stages of the flu he’d contracted from a co-worker.  Bax’s experience being ravaged by the virus was unpleasant, to say the least, but he eventually recovered with enough rest.  However, when he finally emerged from his room, ready to really start his learning as a Keeper Guide, he quickly discovered that the rest of the Cooperative seemed to be abandoned.

Now, what is a Keeper Guide recruit to do when there’s no one left to teach him?

This story contains an overpowered main character, LitRPG progression mechanics and stats, and isekai/portal fantasy elements.  Contains no sexual content or harems.  

Healer Book 6 -- Chapter 13

Chapter 13

As he walked into her office, Corinna appeared surprised to see him.

“Thaden?  What are you doing all the way back here?” she asked, looking up from the paperwork she was working through on her desk.

Traveling without his flying cloak was annoying, as he had to concern himself with terrain again, but thankfully his stats were still high enough that he could tear through the environment at hundreds of miles per hour without harming himself or anyone else.  He was thankful that his Mentality was so high, otherwise he might not comprehend obstacles in his way, but with his greater Physicality and Celerity, he was able to adjust his direction on the fly, avoiding what could otherwise be an ugly collision with a tree, a boulder, or even a person.  Such a collision wouldn’t necessarily harm him, but the same couldn’t be the same for whatever or whoever he ran into. 

When he’d arrived at Darkwood Vale, he changed into his Party-based Growth set of equipment, which gave him a much higher Personality – so he didn’t have a problem getting into the city.  In fact, his reception by the Charee City Guards had been so pleased to see him that they practically fell all over themselves to invite him into the city, nearly fawning over him until it became uncomfortable.  It also didn’t help that one of the sharp-eyed Guards had seen him waiting in line to enter and called out for an escort to bring him straight inside without having to spend the few minutes it would take waiting in line for his turn.  The other Contenders visibly and audibly wondered what was going on, calling even more attention to him, and to see the deference the Charee showed him was unusual enough that it caused a stir.

The only good thing about the escort into the city was the fact that he entered quickly, removing himself from the crowds that had quickly gathered at the sudden occurrence.  It could also be because the other Contenders recognized him or noticed his Level, but for the most part, the attention was because of the Charee reacting to him.

Of course, he quickly realized after being singled out by the Guards—in a positive way, at least—that his new title, Hero of Tarth, was having an effect on the locals.  Apparently, “All citizens of Tarth will now instinctively recognize your authority and act accordingly, regardless of your current Level or stats,” meant that they treated him with deference, no matter what his stats were; he had been tempted to test that assumption by quickly swapping out his Growth equipment to his solo set, where his Personality stat would take a dive, but he decided not to take the chance that they would turn hostile.

Once inside the gates, he wasted no time traveling to the Guilded Glory headquarters, and after being immediately recognized by dozens of people in the busy lobby, he was sent up to the Guild Leader’s office.  He felt relief at getting away from the crowds despite only being inundated by so many people for a short time, as the attention – both by the overly deferent Charee and Contenders who tended to look at him with awe – was already too much for him, especially with his recent self-imposed solitude in the Wildlands.  He found that, even after all this time in Tarth, he still didn’t really like being around too many people, and while he thought he'd become better at working with many different people in Raid Parties, he was still uncomfortable being around large crowds – especially when he was the center of attention.

“I thought I would deliver a bunch of stuff to you myself,” he responded with a smile, as he practically collapsed in the chair in front of her desk.  He’d been running at full speed for hours to arrive at the city, after all, and it felt good to sit down.  “I know that it’s only been a few days since we saw each other, but how is everything going?”

When passing through the hole in the mountain range where The Citadel had been, he had seen a few teams of Charee working with a few random Contenders beginning to fill the large crater there, but there wasn’t a lot of other progress on the wall they were going to be creating.  Whether it was the fact that he’d gotten used to purchasing upgrades to a Defensive Fortification or his awareness of time lapsing was all screwed up, but he figured more work would’ve been done in the few days he’d spent in the Wildlands.

Corinna smiled back, leaning away with relief from the paperwork she’d been working on.  “Construction is going well, though we’re still organizing teams to work on it.  Our funds are depleting quickly, however, as we’ve started a number of crafters on rapidly boosting their abilities, so I hope you’ve brought some with you,” she pleaded, and he nodded.  “One strange thing happened, however, which my intuition tells me you might know something about.”

“And what is that?”

Corinna leaned forward, putting her arms on her desk as looked him straight in the eyes.  “At first, when we started the process of recruiting the Charee to work on construction at the gap, they were highly reluctant to work on such a project, even with more than sufficient monetary incentives.  At one point, though, when were getting desperate to find anyone that could start immediately, one of our Guild’s representatives off-handedly mentioned you and the part you were playing in this project, and the Charee changed their tune instantly.  It was as if someone had flipped a switch in their heads, and we started to be flooded with volunteers.  Not just paid workers, but honest-to-goodness volunteers, who were willing to work for no pay at all.  Sensing something was off, we didn’t accept workers on a voluntary basis, but instead agreed to pay all that we hired; it would’ve saved us some Gold, of course, but the feeling of unnatural wrongness that came from the fanatical volunteers was something we couldn’t take advantage of.

“Do you have any idea what that was all about?” she finally asked.

Thaden sighed as he rubbed his fingers against his temples with his eyes closed, feeling a headache coming on that was instantly healed by his passive Natural Regeneration.  “Wow, really?” he whispered to himself, before he opened his eyes and looked back at the curious expression on Corinna’s face.  “For good or bad, I think I know what that’s all about.”

He then proceeded to tell the Guild Leader about his confrontation with the Wardens and how they had essentially forced the title of “Hero of Tarth” on him.  “…and I honestly think that they believed what they were doing was what the System wanted, but the consequences of their forceful action nearly killed me.”  Corinna passively listened to him describe the way the title was supposed to control him and how it backfired, and then described the benefits that he did receive from the title, which included the bit about the citizens of Tarth recognizing his authority and acting accordingly.

Every once in a while, especially when he was speaking about the System itself, her eyes glossed over as if she wasn’t paying attention, only for her full focus to come back to him a moment later when he finished that part of his telling.  He began to see the tell-tale sign that the System was actively manipulating the thoughts and memories of the Contenders in real-time; he usually just saw the end-result, such as when the people involved in the destruction of the Coalition Meeting Hall hadn’t seemed to be aware of what exactly happened with the Adversarial entity, but now it seemed as though the System was actively monitoring and “fixing” any references to Thaden’s title trying to manipulate him through the System’s direct influence.

“That’s great!” she eventually exclaimed when he was done, having heard—or retained—nothing he’d mentioned about the System trying to control him.  “I still don’t think we should take advantage of the Charee through the use of this title, but it certainly makes a lot more sense, now.  What I’m most interested in, however, is what the title said about Perceived Level affecting Quests and Achievements, as well as your supposed ability to create Quests for other Adventurer Coalition members.  Have you tested that yet?”

Internally sighing at the active manipulation of her memories and thoughts, he pushed past that as he considered her question.  “No, not yet.  Do you think it could help?”

“I have no idea, but it couldn’t hurt to try.  It depends on just how much customization you can put into those Quests; it could give us another way to Level-up quickly, which will be important to survival, as you know.”

“Speaking of that,” Thaden said, sitting up straight again, “With the title benefits also came an increased in my Emboldened Leadership Competency.  With the Advancements I got from it Leveling-up so much, I think I have a way to allow those that join a Raid Party with me to earn PICK.  I need to test it, of course, but if it works, I can help to power-Level a whole bunch of people again.”

“Really?  How so?”

The Omenic Drifter described his new Advancements and how he thought they could manipulate the Contenders’ Perceived Level enough that they’d be within the 50-Level threshold.

She was silent for a moment after he finished his explanation.  “Hmm.  I’m not exactly sure how the Perceived Levels work, but have you thought about the 150-Level gap for Intermediate Dungeons?”

“What 150-Level gap?”

She looked at him in confusion for a moment, before she seemed to remember that he hadn’t gone through Training.  “Intermediate Dungeons won’t allow those with a 150-plus Level gap between them into the same dungeon.  I could be wrong, of course, as Perceived Level might bypass this, but I just thought you should know.”

“I didn’t mention this rule before, because I’m confident that proper Perceived Levels should allow you in with them.”

Thaden thought about what Sadia told him, and as she seemed fairly sure that it wouldn’t matter, he figured he should trust her; she had been right enough about things that he would give her the benefit of the doubt.

“We’ll just have to see, but Perceived Levels should help get us all in,” he stated, and she smiled in relief. 

Looking excited, she said, “If that’s the case, then I can look into getting you some volunteers to try.  When you prove that it works, we’ll set up a rotation with the Guild members—”

Thaden held up his hand to stop her.  “Not just Guilded Glory,” he interrupted.  “We’ll need everyone’s help to survive this Phase, so I need to party with as many as possible from all the Guilds.  We’re in this together, so we can’t just build up a single Guild and hope to succeed.”

“But—” she began to protest, before her jaw clenched shut.  With a sigh, she seemed to deflate in her seat.  “You’re right.  It would be selfish to hog your abilities for just Guilded Glory, when a crisis like this is endangering everyone.  I’ll speak to the other Leaders and see what we can arrange—that is, of course, that things work out with the Perceived Level.”

“Of course.”

She smirked at him, arching an eyebrow.  “Now, enough talk; show what you’ve got for me.”

Chuckling he started handing her Gold, materials, and even thousands of different equipment items that he couldn’t use and that he’d picked up while in the Wildlands.  Her eyes grew wider as he kept going, until she had to put up a hand to stop him with a laugh.  “I’m actually full; I can’t fit any more.  Let me unload some of this downstairs and then we can finish up.”

The entire process took about a half-hour, but eventually he’d given her everything extra that he’d had in his Inventory.  Over a million Gold accompanied piles of other items, and she was very thankful for his contribution toward their survival efforts.  “I should have a Raid Party ready to go with you in a few hours, if you’ll be around town for that long?” she asked as they finished up.

“Yes.  I’ll be at the Coalition looking into these Quests.”

She nodded before wrapping her arms around his neck and gave him a long kiss.  “Then I better see about getting this done,” she said once they separated.  “The quicker we figure this out, the sooner we can have people out in the Wildlands helping you with Phase 4.”

On Cloud 9 as he left the Guild headquarters, Thaden made his way over to the Coalition building and the moment he walked inside, the uncomfortable feeling that he’d had with the Guards at the gate was repeated – and then multiplied by 10.  “Thaden!  I’m so honored that you deigned to visit our branch,” the Darkwood Vale Coalition Vice-Leader said as he approached, after the Omenic Drifter had only taken a single step inside the building.  “May I show you to the room that we’ve prepared for you?” the Charee further asked, practically radiating excitement and nervousness in equal amounts.  “How about a refreshment?  Or would you like to inspect—”

“No, wait, hold up,” Thaden interrupted as he held up his hands for the Vice-Leader to stop talking.  “I don’t need a room or, uh, anything else like that for now.  I came to learn about, uh,” he began to say, before he realized that the entire lobby was silent and was watching him and the Vice-Leader.  “How about we go to your office, instead?”

Less than 30 seconds later, he was sitting down in the Vice-Leader’s comfortable chair inside of his office, despite his protestations that it wasn’t necessary.  “No, you are the premier authority in the Coalition, so you deserve all the comfort that we can provide to you,” the Charee insisted, taking his own seat across from where he would normally do business. 

Highly uncomfortable, he did his best to shrug off the feeling as he turned to business.  “Right, uh, well, I’m here because I was informed that I could create Quests?  How do I go about doing that, and what exactly does that mean?”

“Yes, absolutely, you can certainly create Quests for other Adventurer Coalition members.  All you need to do is access the Full Access Quest Supervisor, or FAQS as we call it for short, and you can create any Quest that you can think of.”  The Vice-Leader pointed to a button on his desk that glowed with a vivid green color, indicating that it was what he was talking about.

“FAQS?”

With a nod, the Charee continued.  “Before you start, there are a few restrictions that are in place that you need to be aware of,” he said as he began ticking things off on his fingers.  “First, Quest Rewards are entirely set by the System and cannot be altered, though they can be influenced.  For instance, if you would prefer that the rewards after completing the quest are only PICK, or only additional stats, you can dictate that when you are creating the Quest; it is the amount of the reward that is determined by the System, itself.

“Second, the Minimum Recommended Level, Minimum Recommended Party Size, and Quest Difficulty for any Quest are also determined by the System based on the parameters of the Quest Description, Completion Requirements, and any potential Quest Failure Penalties.  In other words, the only way to alter something like the Minimum Recommended Level is to change something like the Completion Requirements, as that is the only way to influence those aspects of the Quest.

“Third, while you can dictate Quest Time Limits, they cannot be set for more than 900 days or for less than 48 hours.  Only certain SPECIAL Quests issued directly by the System can violate those rules, though it happens rarely.

“Fourth, there are a few things in the Description and Completion Requirements that are restricted.  Directing Contenders to harm or kill each other or any citizens of Tarth, for instance, is something that isn’t allowed; the same goes for imprisoning or deliberately taking action to limit the development of a Contender through nefarious means is also forbidden, as that would go against the main purpose of this world and the Coalition in general.  Destruction of private property owned by any Contender or native to Tarth is also not allowed, and any description that names a certain person or group of people, like one of your Guilds, in the Description or Completion Requirements is automatically cancelled upon creation.

“Fifth, Contenders that accept one of these Quests you create can only complete 1 of them per 24 hours.  This prevents any potential abuse of them—not that you would create something that would be abused, of course,” the Vice-Leader quickly rushed to assure Thaden, before he continued.

“Lastly, and I apologize profusely for this one – as it isn’t my rule but the System’s – is that you cannot accept or complete any Quest that you create.  They can only be accepted by other Contenders in the Coalition, as they are meant to help develop the Contenders and not… you, unfortunately.”

Thaden waved off the apology, as it wasn’t necessary.  While it was slightly disappointing that he wouldn’t be able to constantly create and accept hundreds of Quests that he could complete quickly, that wasn’t really the point to creating these Quests in the first place.  They were meant to help the other Contenders, after all, especially at this critical moment when they had some time before Phase 4 started to kick their butts.

The Omenic Drifter had a question for the Vice-Leader before he got started seeing what he could create.  “You didn’t mention any restrictions on the Rank Requirement.  Does that mean there isn’t any?”

“Correct.  At least for what you create.”

“What do you mean by that?”

The Charee across from him spread his hands in helplessness.  “The System restricts the Quests that the Coalition can actively create even more than the restrictions I told you about.  For the most part, the Quests that we create are based upon the average Level of Contenders in the Region, the average Coalition Rank of Contenders, and the Developmental Phase that the Contenders are currently in.  For instance, even though we have access to Developmental Phase 4 NEST SUBJUGATION Quests now, the average Level and Coalition Rank of the Contenders in this Region aren’t yet high enough to begin issuing those types of Quests.  You, on the other hand, can certainly create a NEST SUBJUGATION Quest or something else that involves the Wildlands and Developmental Phase 4.”

Thaden had been wondering about the exact mechanism that prevented the Coalition from creating the Quests that would’ve benefited him the most while he had been delving through higher-difficulty Intermediate Dungeons, and now he got at least a little clarification.

“Does that also mean that I can create Maximal Difficulty Intermediate Dungeon Quests, then?”

The Vice-Leader nodded.

“Great!  Alright, let me play around with this, and I’ll let you know if I have any questions.”

Without waiting for confirmation, Thaden touched the button that initiated the FAQS, and a new window popped up in his vision. 

Full Access Quest Supervisor

Choose Quest Type: (options)

Choose Quest Time Limit: 48 hours – 900 days

Quest Difficulty: (varies)

Minimum Recommended Level: (varies)

Minimum Recommended Party Size: (varies)

Quest Description: (add description)

Completion Requirements: (add requirements for completion)

Quest Failure Penalties: (optional)

Quest Rewards: (standard reward or PICK, gold, stats, Rank Progress, spell/ability selections)

As the Vice-Leader had told him, there were only a few things that he could actually dictate in a Quest.  The first thing he did was create a Quest that involved the NESTs out in the Wildlands.  He kept it fairly simple, as he didn’t need it too complicated.  As he finished the Time Limit, Description, and Completion Requirements, he selected Wood Rank from the Rank Requirement options, and then selected PICK as the reward.  It took a second for it to complete once it was done, and he was able to see the results once the System added in the other details.

[Quest Type: NEST SUBJUGATION

Rank Requirement: Wood

Quest Time Limit: 180 days

Quest Difficulty: High-Maximal

Minimum Recommended Level: 375

Minimum Recommended Party Size: 50

Quest Description: Venture into the Wildlands and participate in Subjugating a NEST

Completion Requirements: Subjugate (1) NEST in the Wildlands

Quest Rewards: 500,000 PICK]

Thaden looked at the result and was shocked at the Quest Reward.  “500,000 PICK?  That’s nearly as much as a single Level for someone at Level 375!”

“Actually, the PICK requirements at Level 375 to reach Level 376 was 587,500.”

“Close enough,” he mumbled in response to Sadia in his head.  The Vice-Leader couldn’t hear her, and he spoke over her words.

“Did you prioritize only a PICK reward for a NEST SUBJUGATION Quest?  That seems about right, then.”

He nodded, knowing that this was exactly the thing he needed in order to Level-up a bunch of Contenders.  Now that his title allowed Perceived Level to affect Quests and Achievements, as it previously only affected dungeon access and loot rewards from monster deaths, he could take advantage of these Quests to boost the Levels of the Contenders up like crazy.  It was a shame that they could only complete one of these Quests he created per 24 hours, but he could rotate between quite a few parties to maximize the amount of PICK they could obtain.

With one successfully created, he quickly designed another one focused on the Wildlands – but this time, it dealt with the Defensive Fortifications.

[Quest Type: FORTIFICATION DEFENSE

Rank Requirement: Wood

Quest Time Limit: 180 days

Quest Difficulty: High-Maximal

Minimum Recommended Level: 385

Minimum Recommended Party Size: 80

Quest Description: Defend a Defensive Fortification in the Wildlands for a full 24 hours

Completion Requirements: You must stay within the bounds of a Defensive Fortification for (24) hours while preventing any monsters from killing the Fortification Guardian

Quest Rewards: 150,000 PICK]

The reward for this Quest, which was based on defending a Defensive Fortification for 24 hours, was much less than subjugating a NEST.  He guessed that made sense, as it wasn’t quite as hard to defend a location that had defenses to help with the process, but he changed it up a little.  Instead of 24 hours, he made it 72 hours—or 3 days—and was pleased at the change of reward.

[Quest Type: FORTIFICATION DEFENSE

Rank Requirement: Wood

Quest Time Limit: 180 days

Quest Difficulty: High-Maximal

Minimum Recommended Level: 400

Minimum Recommended Party Size: 100

Quest Description: Defend a Defensive Fortification in the Wildlands for a full 72 hours

Completion Requirements: You must stay within the bounds of a Defensive Fortification for (72) hours while preventing any monsters from killing the Fortification Guardian

Quest Rewards: 600,000 PICK]

The minimum recommended Levels and Party Size had gone up as a result of the lengthier time, but instead of the reward simply tripling because of it being 3 days instead of just 1, it quadrupled.  An extra 150,000 PICK didn’t sound like a lot, but it made a difference in the long run.

Lastly, he simply made a Maximal Difficulty Intermediate Dungeon Quest that worked for any Maximal Difficulty Intermediate Dungeon; there were a limited number of them that he could still gain PICK from, but he didn’t want to restrict himself in trying to select one ahead of time for each party he helped to power-Level.

[Quest Type: DUNGEON MAINTENANCE

Rank Requirement: Wood

Quest Time Limit: 180 days

Quest Difficulty: Low-Maximal

Minimum Recommended Level: 250

Minimum Recommended Party Size: 200

Quest Description: Investigate and complete any Intermediate Dungeon on Maximal difficulty with a Raid Party

Completion Requirements: Completely clear any Intermediate dungeon on Maximal difficulty

Quest Rewards: 350,000 PICK]

It wasn’t quite as much PICK as a reward as the ones he’d created before for the Wildlands, but it was a good start.  He had some ideas for some more in the future, but for now, he had created all of the Quests he needed to help the Contenders Level-up. 

“Thank you,” he told the Vice-Leader as he got up to leave.

“I’m very happy to have been of service,” the Charee said.  “If you need anything else, please don’t hesitate to let me know.”

He left the Coalition building shortly thereafter, and he began to wander around the city while he waited for Corinna to organize a Raid Party for him.  With the Quests he’d created, he was ready to start the process of power-Leveling as many people as possible; the last test to see if would actually work out was ahead of him, though.

It was time to see if he could boost Perceived Levels high enough to gain PICK when they were in a party with him.

(Note: I ended up adding this to the benefits of his title to the earlier chapter, so that Quests could actually be functional for other Contenders when in a party with him: Perceived Level of your party members on Tarth now influences Quests and Achievements)

The Lone Keeper chapters down

Just as a heads-up, I'm taking down The Lone Keeper chapters just after this post goes up, to comply with Kindle Unlimited rules. If anyone was still reading them, let me know and I'll make sure you have a copy you can read.

As a reminder, the book releases on Wednesday this week!

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.

Healer Book 6 -- Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The choice of where to stick his extra stat points, thanks to the 450 Consumable Free Stat Stones he had left over from completing the SPECIAL Quest with the Warpath Dungeon breakout, was a fairly easy one to make.  The two stats that he relied on the most to do damage to almost all monsters he encountered was Physicality and Fortuity – at least while solo; there was something to be said for a higher Mentality stat when he was in a Party, but it was already high enough—and the cost of his spells were low enough—that he could cast as much as he wanted to right now even without wearing any equipment.  Therefore, he split the 450 stones in between Physicality and Fortuity; overall, it wasn’t that big of a difference, but every little bit helped.

When he looked at his stats, now that his solo-focused Growth set of equipment was at Level 242[1], he felt like there wasn’t too much improvement that could be had from that point.  With his unique spells and fighting style, there wasn’t much that could stand up to him – unless he encountered another Director or a monster that didn’t take any magical damage at all.  In those cases, it was unlikely that having higher stats would even make much of a difference.

Physicality – 15,746 (85,955)

Celerity – 11,558 (68,376)

Mentality – 23,566 (48,088)

Personality – 1 (-597)

Fortuity – 15,567 (32,023)

With his stat choices done with, he turned to his Competencies, or more accurately, his pending Advancements.  The first one he looked at was for his Natural Regeneration Competency, which he’d acquired a little while ago but hadn’t had time yet to make a decision.

Please select (1) Advancement for your Natural Regeneration Competency:

Quicker Regeneration – Natural Health regeneration is now 50% faster

Firmer Regeneration – Natural Health regeneration now toughens the skin, reducing further damage by 25% for 30 seconds

Deeper Regeneration – Natural Health regeneration now heals major injuries at double the normal regeneration rate

Softer Regeneration – Natural Health regeneration is 75% faster, but max Health is temporarily decreased by 33% for 10 minutes after being fully healed

The Little Death – Natural Health regeneration is increased by 333% for 10 minutes after being resurrected

Pain Is Pleasure – Natural Health regeneration rate is increased by 3% for each consecutive incidence of damage to Health within 30 seconds, with the time resetting at each damaging incident (max 300%)

Seeing as Thaden didn’t take direct damage to his Health very often, he didn’t think the new addition to the options, Pain Is Pleasure, would necessarily be of much use to him.  In the end, he thought about the times when his Natural Regeneration actually came in handy, which was typically after his Death Ward had activated; in those cases, he had typically taken so much damage that he ended up passing out, so something that would help prevent him from dying again as he recovered would be appropriate.  Therefore, while it wasn’t a flashy Advancement, he chose Firmer Regeneration, which would reduce damage taken by 25% for 30 seconds after his natural Health regeneration kicked in.

Next, he looked at his 2 Advancement options for his Emboldened Leadership Competency.  Looking at his selections, he somewhat felt like he hadn’t earned them, given that he had been essentially been given 1,000 points in the Competency from his <Hero of Tarth> title, but he wasn’t going to pass it up even if it wasn’t earned the normal way.

Please select (2) Advancements for your Emboldened Leadership Competency:

Rubbing Off – In addition to Physicality, Celerity, and Mentality bonuses, each member of your party also receives an equal amount of additional Personality

Lucky in Love – In addition to Physicality, Celerity, and Mentality bonuses, each member of your party also receives an equal amount of additional Fortuity

Groupies – The more allies in your party, the higher their Perceived Level, up to a total of 60% of their base Level, while their temporary bonuses in Physicality, Celerity, and Mentality are reduced by an equal amount

Indecent Proposal – All allies within your party can choose to have their temporary Physicality, Celerity, and Mentality bonuses converted into Perceived Level, and vice versa, every 3 hours

Perfectly Paired Posse – If the number of living party members in your party, including yourself, total an even number, their Physicality, Celerity, and Mentality bonuses are increased by 66%; if the total number of living party members in your party is odd, their Physicality, Celerity, and Mentality bonuses are reduced by 66%

Selective Aphrodisiac – You may now selectively choose which targets are affected by your Visible Charisma Advancement; the more selected, the lower their additional Perceived Level, starting at 69% of their base Level at 1 selection and reducing 9% with each additional target selected, with a minimum of 18%

Exhibitionist – The higher the number of hostile targets within 270 feet, the higher the Physicality, Celerity, and Mentality bonuses, as well as additional Perceived Level, your party members will receive; while these bonuses and the additional Perceived Level start at 20% for the first hostile target and scale up by 30% with each additional target, these bonuses only affect those who are wearing or holding any equipment that do not provide bonuses to stats or grants any effects or abilities; in addition, all of these bonuses are negated if you are wearing or holding any equipment that provides bonuses to stats or grants any effects or abilities

The choices for Emboldened Leadership were a lot more difficult than Natural Regeneration.  In them, he saw the potential for allowing party members to earn some PICK if he were to group up with them, but he would have to consider it carefully to ensure it would actually work.  Going down the list, he immediately disregarded Rubbing Off and Lucky in Love, as they simply provided Personality and Fortuity in addition to the Physicality, Celerity, and Mentality bonuses that came from being in a party with him.  Unfortunately, the other 5 Advancement choices could be combined together to make a difference in the Perceived Level of his party members.

First, the Groupies Advancement seemed like a no-brainer, as it would increase Perceived Level up to 60% with more people in his party.  Therefore, if he maxed out the Perceived Level of a Raid Party of Level 200 Contenders, they would essentially be Level 320 with a 60% Perceived Level increase; that wasn’t quite enough to ensure that everyone would get PICK, as he needed to be within 50 Levels of the average Perceived Level of the Raid Party.

To boost that Perceived Level even further, there were a few options.  The new Selective Aphrodisiac Advancement allowed him to selectively choose which targets were affected by his Visible Charisma Advancement, and the fewer the targets, the higher the additional Perceived Level.  The biggest difference between Groupies and Selective Aphrodisiac was that Groupies simply affected the base 30% Perceived Level that Visible Charisma gave, while Selective Aphrodisiac clearly said that it gave additional Perceived Level.  Therefore, even at the smallest bonus, with both of them active and with enough people to satisfy the maximum 60% Perceived Level for Groupies, he was looking at 78% Perceived Level – which still wasn’t enough for his purposes. 

If he only selected a single party member, however, that person would be at a Perceived Level of 458 – which was more than enough to earn some PICK; a quick calculation told him that he could get this to work for a small party of 4 in addition to himself, as their Perceived Level would be Level 404 – just within that 50-Level range to earn PICK in a Raid Party.  However, a Raid Party had to have at least 6 people in it to qualify for the 50-Level difference, and it took the average Perceived Level to determine if it would work.  If he had a Raid Party of the minimum of 6 Level 200 Contenders, the average Perceived Level for the whole party would be approximately Level 397, which wasn’t quite enough to allow any PICK to get through to them. 

Of course, if the Contenders were a higher Level to start with, such as Level 205 or higher, then he would be able to take 5 Contenders with him in a “Raid Party” of 6 and allow them to make some PICK.  Unfortunately, with Selective Aphrodisiac, ensuring his party had enough extra Perceived Level meant that he wasn’t targeting monsters with his Visible Charisma, meaning that they wouldn’t be a high Level.  As his current Level stood, if none of the monsters in the Wildlands had their Perceived Level boosted by his Advancement, then they wouldn’t give any PICK even if his party was within 50 Levels of him.  As time went on, as Sadia had informed him, the monsters’ Levels would gradually increase, meaning that they would eventually be within range of granting PICK without their Perceived Levels being boosted, but from what he understood, that might not happen for a couple of months to a half a year.

So, therefore, he disregarded Selective Aphrodisiac for now.  The other new option he looked at was Exhibitionist, and it seemed perfect for boosting the Perceived Level of people in his party.  With higher numbers of monsters within 270 feet, everyone in his party would have not only their Physicality, Celerity, and Mentality stats increased, but additional Perceived Level, as well.  The only caveat?  Everyone had to be naked.

Well, not exactly naked, but the only clothing, armor, or weapons that could be used were essentially mundane items without any stat bonuses or effects.  He considered if there might be a way to cheese the process by swapping out equipment just before a monster was killed, but a quick question to Sadia disabused him of that notion; apparently, checks for these kinds of requirements when it came to calculating PICK and loot rewards were assessed constantly during a battle, and it was highly unlikely that such a thing would be possible.

Still, it was something to consider, though he had to consider if he took a party of any size through a NEST to clear it, then once he got down to only a few or a singular monster – such as a Boss, then they might miss out on any PICK or loot because the bonuses wouldn’t be high enough to hit that 50-Level threshold. 

Then there were the Advancements Indecent Proposal and Perfectly Paired Posse.  The first one was a bit nebulous, as it converted the stat bonuses that his party members received from the Emboldened Leadership Competency into Perceived Level; unfortunately, there wasn’t a conversion rate listed with the Advancement description, so he wasn’t sure how effective this would be.  If, say, a party member received a +200 bonus to Physicality, Celerity, and Mentality because they were in his party, would the conversion of that be 1:1, so a 200% increase in Perceived Level?  Or was it more like 5:1, which would only a 40% increase – which wasn’t enough to make a difference in what was needed to earn PICK.  Without knowing exactly how effective it was, he was hesitant to pick it. 

By itself, Perfectly Paired Posse wasn’t directly related to Perceived Level, but the 66% bonus to the stats he imparted on his party members when there were an even number of people in his party could be used in conjunction with Indecent Proposal to increase Perceived Level even further.

The problem he needed to work through with Indecent Proposal was that the Groupies Advancement, which he previous thought of as a no-brainer as a choice, also reduced the Physicality, Celerity, and Mentality bonuses as Perceived Level went up.  If he combined that with Indecent Proposal, then even if the conversion rate was favorable, there might not be a high enough of a stat bonus to make a difference.

The way he saw it, he had two methods of allowing party members to reach a high-enough Perceived Level to gain some PICK when partying with him.  The first was to go with the Groupies Advancement and then Exhibitionist, which would certainly work when facing multiple monsters – with the caveat that they all had to be wearing none of their good equipment.  The second was to take a chance with Indecent Proposal by converting the stat bonuses they would receive into Perceived Level, along with Perfectly Paired Posse to boost that even further – with the requirement of having an even number of party members. 

In the end, he went with the second option, as there were fewer requirements needed to achieve a boosted Perceived Level – as long as the boost from Indecent Proposal was enough to reach that 50-Level threshold with larger Raid Parties.  What really solidified the choice, however, was the fact that he wouldn’t be able to wear any equipment himself with Exhibitionist; when he accumulated PICK by killing monsters, he would have to absorb it into his reserves rather than into his Growth equipment.  If he was forced to do that, then he would quickly hit his limit and have to Level-up, furthering the gap between him and other Contenders.

His deliberations took long enough that once he finally selected the 2 Advancements for Emboldened Leadership, there was a loud, tinny chime that seemed to come from the crystal pedestal.  Standing up, he glanced at Sadia, who nodded at his unspoken question.

It seemed as though the 60 minutes of safety after subjugating the NEST was up.

Jumping toward the top of the walkway above the gate, he looked out at the nearby landscape outside of the town ruins.  It didn’t take long for him to see dozens of Skeletal Giants moving rather swiftly, for their size, toward the Defensive Fortification.  They were coming from all directions, even from where the gap in the mountain range was located, which made him slightly worried for those working on constructing the defenses.  He had only seen a single Giant on the way from the Region to the Wildlands after his meeting with Corinna and the other Guild Leaders, but apparently there were quite a few more.

Even though they were coming from pretty much every direction, as they got closer to the Fortification, he could see them migrating toward where the Steel Gate was located.  Just as an experimentation, he jumped on the Arcane Ballista nearby and shot a large, glowing bolt toward one of the Giants as it lumbered into range.  His aim was amazingly accurate, and he saw the projectile slam into its rib cage, tearing through its bones and leaving a large hole where the ribs used to be.  He just barely missed hitting its spine, though he nicked it and took a chunk out of it – but that didn’t seem to affect it all that much.  Even missing a portion of its chest, the Skeletal Giant wasn’t fatally injured, though it did stumble slightly and slow down a little after it was hit by the bolt.

Not too bad, I suppose.  A critical hit, such as to its head, might kill it in one shot, but something tells me it won’t be that easy. 

As if to prove that assumption correct, he used his Celerity and Physicality to quickly load and ready another bolt, before firing it at yet another Giant that was getting close.  He aimed for its head but it ended up being a little low, but even a neck-shot could potentially decapitate the monster.  That didn’t happen, however, as the Giant seemed to react quickly enough to raise its bone club and smack the projectile out of the air, deflecting it harmlessly away.  Thaden saw that the club had a portion of its length chipped off from the deflection, but it was still relatively intact.

Trying the Catapult next, he was pleased to see that his first launch of an exploding projectile was nearly a direct hit, though even the close hit was sub-par in the amount of damage it did.  As it detonated only a few feet away from a Skeletal Giant, the explosion only cracked some of the bones that were closest to the detonation – though it did knock the Giant down on its back, so that was at least something. 

Multiple strikes or even a direct hit might have a more impressive result, but at least it can stun them a little.

The Omenic Drifter didn’t use any of his spells to kill the Giants as they approached, as he wanted to see how well the defenses held up under the assault.  As the first dozen arrived, they gathered around the gate and started beating at it – and the surrounding stone – with their clubs; almost immediately, he saw cracks forming in the stone, and the Steel Gate was beginning to deform.  After about 10 seconds, he could see that if the Giants that were there weren’t stopped soon, he didn’t think that the walls or the gate would hold for more than a minute.

Thankfully, the Horizontal Cutters along the outside walls were already taking a toll on the attacking Giants, and he watched as one of the Cutter emplacements got lucky as one of the Giants was pushed from behind by another and ended up stumbling straight into the upgraded defense.  While its bones were cut apart in multiple places, the Undead monster fell apart and collapsed in front of the wall, blocking and further damaging the Cutters located there.

He quickly checked his messages as he saw the Giant die. 

Defensive Kill [#32599999-E] – SP Earned: 9 SP

A quick calculation told him that the Skeletal Giant was worth, at its base, 2 SP points – which wasn’t a lot, but with how many of them there were, those numbers would add up.  When he applied his SP accumulation bonus, he was earning 9 SP per kill – a substantial increase compared to the base value.

“Huh.  So, I could kill all of these attackers and only earn about, hmm, 400 SP or so?” he asked Sadia, who was standing next to him, looking down at the Giants battering their way inside.  He estimated that there were about 45 Skeletal Giants converging on the Fortification.

“I believe that’s just what you earn from the defenses here,” she clarified, without explaining what she meant by that.  However, Thaden immediately understood what she was implying.  A quick cast of Exceptional Full Heal on one of the Giants killed it in one shot, and he looked at his messages again.   

Defensive Kill [#32599999-E] – SP Earned: 23 SP

“Whoa!  That’s a big difference,” he said as he did another rapid calculation.  “Not a huge difference without my bonuses, going from 2 SP to 5 SP for a kill I made myself, but that’s another 14 SP per kill.  If I kill all 45 of these Giants instead of letting the defenses do it, then I’ll earn just a little over 1,000 SP.”

When he considered that he’d initially upgraded most of the Fortification to Stage 3 for less than 200 SP, he figured he could upgrade it all again up to Stage 5 or 6—or perhaps further—with 1,000 SP.  Plus, since it had been an hour since he subjugated the NEST, he had another 106 SP from his hourly accumulation, so he would be practically swimming in SP to spend.

At this point, the Autonomous Defenders that were stationed on the walls and down below near the gate were starting to have a slight effect on the Skeletal Giants.  The Fighter had jumped down and was slicing at the Giants through the bars of the gate, its sword glowing with ability-enhanced strikes, and bones were cut through with each attack.  The Mage was up top and was sending fireballs and basketball-sized stones at the gathered Undead, setting them on fire and shattering bones as if they were kindling.  The Scout had a bow which released charged arrows down on the attacking Giants from the murder holes, each of which exploded once they struck.  The Control-Class Defender was using the dirt and stone of the pit outside, which the Giants were too tall to really be hampered by much, to bind one of the attackers, keeping them from moving.  The Support hung back and… did nothing, as far as he could tell.

Despite the wounds the ADs inflicted, there was no real coordination between the autonomous constructs, so they didn’t actually kill anything.  At least a dozen of the Giants were wounded, and given another few minutes Thaden was sure that some would eventually fall, but he was beginning to see that Sadia was correct about their limited usefulness; they weren’t a replacement for a party of Contenders, only an additional source of damage that would simply aid in killing attackers that assaulted the Fortification.  Or, at least, at their current numbers and Stage, they weren’t very effective; if they were at an upgraded, higher Stage, or if there were dozens of them defending the walls and the gate, that could make a difference.

As he spent some time watching the Autonomous Defenders do their best, the damage to the wall and the gate was becoming critical.  He estimated that they would start getting through within a few seconds, especially as the other Giants that had been further out started to arrive.  With a nod toward Sadia, he started casting healing spells like crazy, absolutely annihilating every single Giant in range within seconds.  It took another 15 seconds for the stragglers to arrive, but they fell quickly once they were within his spell-casting range.

“Easy enough to earn some more SP, I suppose.  But now we have some more waiting to do,” he said, jumping down from the wall along the outside.  As he began to extract loot, he thought about the information he would be gathering next. 

First, he needed to see how long it took the Defensive Fortification to repair itself, as it was quite damaged by this point and looked like it was near to falling apart near the gate.  Second, he needed to see when they would be attacked again; Sadia had mentioned that nearby NEST would start sending groups of monsters at different intervals to take the NEST back, but he wanted to see if any other monsters randomly wandered by. 

And finally, he wanted to see just how strong he could make a Defensive Fortification after fending off the initial attack and then waiting 24 hours.

There were more experiments after that, of course, but for now, he was planning on taking it easy for the next day and get some much-needed sleep with his companion watching over him.  After 24 hours passed, then the real work would begin.

[1] Deadly Crimson Robe of the Lonely Annihilator (+5 AMP)

Rarity: Artifact

Imprinted User Restriction: #32599999-E

Level Restriction: 242

Physical Damage Resistance: 106 (+530)

Magical Damage Resistance: 442 (+2,210)

Durability: Indestructible

Special Properties: Growth

+448 Physicality (+2,240 Physicality)

+362 Celerity (+1,810 Celerity)

+155 Mentality (+775 Mentality)

-131 Personality (-655 Personality)

+242 Fortuity (+1,210 Fortuity)

+40% (+200%) increase in Support and Defensive spell effectiveness when targeting caster

+40% (+200%) reduction in Support and Defensive spell effectiveness when targeting others

+21% (+105%) increase in damage done to all hostile targets while solo

+0.04% (+0.20%) decrease in all spell Mana cost, cooldowns, and casting times for each consecutive target killed within 45 seconds of each other (Max Override to 99.3%); this bonus will only reset when no further targets are killed within 45 seconds

Set Bonus (2): +30% (+150%) to Support and Defensive spell effectiveness when targeting caster, Fortuity/350 % chance for all Support and Defensive spells targeting caster to be cast twice (+5 times) and all Support and Defensive effects to trigger twice (+5 times) (AMP set 5)

Set Bonus (5): All previous Set Bonuses, +126 (+630) to Physicality, +108 (+540) to Celerity, +60 (+300) to Mentality, +121 (+605) to Fortuity, and a +16% (+80%) increase to all damage done to hostile targets while solo (AMP set 5)

Set Bonus (8): All previous Set Bonuses; with every hostile target within 300 feet while solo, you automatically heal and gain damage mitigation equaling 0.1% (+0.5%) of your maximum Health every second (AMP set 5)

Set Bonus (11): All previous Set Bonuses; the Omenic Drifter Class trait of a 1% chance of instant death with single target spells and effects is increased by Fortuity/5,000 % (Chance triggered +4 times) (AMP set 4)

Plans for June 22-27

I got more of Healer Book 6 done this week! It wasn't quite as much as I wanted to write, as it really took me a bit to get into the groove of this new book, but I was already starting to really feel it over the last few days.

Next week is the release of The Lone Keeper, so there will be a few days during the week where I'll be promoting it, so my writing will be a bit affected by it. Still, I'm hoping to get another 8 chapters done despite the release.

As a heads-up, as I approach 15 chapters in this new book, my $2 Patrons will have to wait until the story is completely written before I begin releasing more chapters. Along those same lines, I will have all of the chapters for The Lone Keeper available today for all of my Patrons, so you'll have some time to read them before it releases. As a reminder, those chapters will be coming down on Monday night, June 23rd to comply with Kindle Unlimited restrictions.

Plans for next week:

Sunday-Tuesday: Writing Healer Book 6

Wednesday: Release of The Lone Keeper!

Thursday-Friday: Keeper promos and Healer writing

Have a great weekend!

Healer Book 6 -- Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Killing the Skeletal Giant Champion once again, Thaden looted the corpse and then walked out to the crystal pedestal which controlled the soon-to-be-created Defensive Fortification.  Smiling at Sadia as he sat down for what felt like the first time in days, he kept one hand on the pedestal as the NEST filled in around him and pushed him upwards.  The difference between his first visit to NEST #18, which was the closest NEST to the gap in the mountain range where The Citadel used to exist, was extensive. 

What used to be mostly plain grey stone tunnels and caves, with just a little bit of what looked like crudely carved gravestones, now contained matte-black stone corridors with flickering torchlight, decrepit spiderwebs, and a faint howling within a constant breeze that was just barely on the edge of his hearing.  The crude gravestones of before were now converted into a full graveyard in a few caves, while others simply had large piles of bones where the Skeletal Giants would hide and attempt to ambush him from.  Overall, it was a huge difference in the overall atmosphere, but Sadia mentioned that this was just the beginning; the general layout of the NEST hadn’t really changed from what it was before, which she claimed would start to alter as time went on.

“Ready to start some experiments?” he asked her.

The squirrel nodded with a smirk.  “The better question is: are you ready for some experiments?  I know that you’ve been chomping at the bit to get started.”

“I definitely am.  It’ll probably be a bit boring at times, but this will give us a good baseline for the future.”  That the next week or so was going to be boring was probably a bit of an understatement, but it was necessary to learn some things.

While he waited, he finally looked at his messages that had accumulated over the last day and a half, as he’d saved them up rather than keep checking them as he subjugated NEST after NEST.  As soon as he opened them, massive amounts of PICK flowed into his Growth gear, pushing them all the way to Level 242; for the amount of monsters above his Level that he killed, it didn’t seem like all that many Levels, but he’d noticed that after Level 200 or so, they came slower and slower – just like his own Levels did.  Still, it was good progress, and he wasn’t going to complain about the extra stats and slight increases in the effects that his solo-focused Growth gear provided.

His trio of Spellcasting Competencies all rose in Level, but nothing had hit the next threshold to earn another Advancement.  Looking at all of the loot he extracted throughout all of his time in the Wildlands, in addition to all of the materials and relatively useless gear that he would be passing along to Corinna, he had a little over 500,000 Gold pieces to contribute towards improving the crafters in the Region.  It was a little less than he was used to acquiring, especially from Intermediate Dungeons where his rewards were multiplied quite a bit by a few Achievements, but it was actually a respectable influx of cash.  Plus, it was almost laughingly easy to acquire, given that the NESTs were relatively straightforward and similar enough right now that he could essentially run in and get out in only a few minutes, compared to the hours it might take for an Intermediate Dungeon. 

More important than PICK, Competencies, and loot, Thaden had picked up two more Achievements.

Congratulations for destroying and subjugating 81 NESTs in the Wildlands!

Achievement received: The Final Frontier III

Bonus reward: +50 to all stats 

Omenic Drifter Class trait activated!

Bonus reward: +75 to all stats

Contender World First Achievement: Earn 30% more SP for each subjugated NEST and increase SP accumulation by 8 SP/hr

Omenic Drifter Class trait activated!

Bonus reward: Earn 45% more SP for each subjugated NEST and Defensive Kill and increase SP accumulation by 12 SP/hr

Congratulations for solo destroying and subjugating 81 NESTs in the Wildlands!

Achievement received: Impressive But Futile III

Bonus reward: Permanent 40% reduction in SP costs for all Defensive Formation purchases 

Omenic Drifter Class trait activated!

Bonus reward: Permanent 60% reduction in SP costs for all Defensive Formation purchases 

Contender World First Achievement: Earn 70% more SP for each subjugated NEST and increase SP accumulation by 30 SP/hr

Omenic Drifter Class trait activated!

Bonus reward: Earn 105% more SP for each subjugated NEST and Defensive Kill and increase SP accumulation by 45 SP/hr

Thaden had mapped out a little less than 100 NESTs by that point, and after subjugating 81 of them by himself, he managed to acquire the third stage of The Final Frontier and Impressive But Futile.  He was excited to see if he would get something for eliminating 263 NESTs, but for now, the bonuses to his SP accumulation would be enough for at least his first experiments.  Based on his calculations, he was now receiving 360% more SP from subjugating a NEST and defending it against monsters, and his hourly SP accumulation was all the way up to 106 SP.  If he was correct, then he also had a 145% reduction in SP costs for any purchases – which he somehow doubted that was the case.  Instead, he suspected it was capped just like his Mana Cost reduction, though what the cap was yet, neither he nor Sadia knew.

The question was answered a short time after that, as the NEST completely disappeared and a short wall appeared around the former pit’s perimeter.  

NEST #0018 subjugation complete!

Subjugation Points (SP) [#32599999-E]: 230 SP

Current (SP) Accumulation [#32599999-E]: 106 SP/hr

Purchasable Defensive Fortification Options (Permanent Discount Cost):

Siege Wall Stage 1 – 10 (1) SP

Wall Walkways Stage 1 – 5 (1) SP

Steel Gate Stage 1 – 5 (1) SP

Murder Holes Stage 1 – 5 (1) SP

Defensive Spikes Stage 1 – 10 (1) SP

Repulsion Barrier Stage 1 – 20 (2) SP

Arcane Ballista Emplacement Stage 1 – 10 (1) SP

Explosive Catapult Emplacement Stage 1 – 10 (1) SP

Horizontal Cutter Emplacement Stage 1 – 10 (1) SP

Perimeter Pit Stage 1 – 10 (1) SP

Autonomous Defender Stage 1 (Fighter) – 2 (1) SP

Autonomous Defender Stage 1 (Mage) – 2 (1) SP

Autonomous Defender Stage 1 (Scout) – 2 (1) SP

Autonomous Defender Stage 1 (Control) – 2 (1) SP

Autonomous Defender Stage 1 (Support) – 2 (1) SP

Upgrade Fortification Guardian to Stage 2 – 30 (3) SP

Resurrection Well Stage 1 – 100 (10) SP

Central Keep Stage 1 – 20 (2) SP

Additional options will be made available once certain prerequisites have been met

Remaining NESTs still active… 8,999/9,000

Based on the costs that he saw for all of the defensive options, it appeared as though his discount had capped out at 90%.  That was still incredible, especially given that he received 230 SP instead of just 50 SP for subjugating the NEST; as it was, he could easily purchase at least the first Stage of every option since it would only cost him 31 SP, which even included the Resurrection Well, and likely even the second Stage of everything was within reach – depending on how much they all cost.

“That’s ridiculous,” Sadia said, seeing what Thaden was seeing.  “But I can definitely see how you were confident in creating a Defensive Fortification that could be virtually invulnerable within a few days.”

“Exactly.  Now, let’s see what we can do with my current SP total,” he said, even as the Fortification Guardian materialized behind him.  Without even getting up, as he still wanted to rest his feet a little bit, he started purchasing all of the options available to him at Stage 1.

The Siege Wall he’d seen before was first, as well as the Steel Gate, but he finally saw the Wall Walkways appear on the top of the walls, giving not only a way for people to walk across what was previously tapered on the top, but a stairway was added in one spot that would allow defenders to actually reach the walkways.  The Murder Holes he purchased appeared as 4, 1-foot-wide holes in the wall, with 2 of them on either side of the gate, angled so that someone could cast a spell or release a projectile at whoever was trying to assault the gate itself.  The other 2 were a little higher up above the gate, pointing downwards at an angle, and a pair of stone ledges emerged from the wall near those holes that were just big enough for someone to stand on them so they could cast or send an arrow through the hole at the monsters outside.

Defensive Spikes – which he couldn’t see from where he was sitting, but he saw them later – appeared as sharp, stone projections approximately 6 inches wide and a foot apart that ringed the outside of the entire wall, angled downwards at a 45-degree angle and were positioned 10 feet from the ground.  Below the outside perimeter of the wall was a Perimeter Pit, which was essentially an 8-foot-deep hole surrounding the Fortification, extending 10 feet out from the walls.  Beyond all of these things, just past the pit, was the shimmering wall of the Repulsion Barrier, which he understood helped to reduce the speed and impact of incoming physical and magical projectiles from beyond the barrier to the defenders inside the Fortification.

After these wall and barrier upgrades came the defensive weapons.  On top of the walls near the gate, a stone platform appeared with a simple wood-and-rope ladder leading to it, which held a large ballista with a 6-foot-wide bow, and a stack of glowing bolts that were each 3 feet long and 6 inches wide appeared near it.  The Arcane Ballista was relatively crude-looking, and his first impression of it was that it would fall apart after a few firings, but apparently it was better made than that.  More than that, though, while it wasn’t fixed in position, it only had a field of fire of about 180 degrees at 2 different elevations, with one of them pointing upwards at an angle and the other pointed down at the ground outside the walls.  What that meant was that hitting a monster with it would have to rely on the target hitting that exact elevation that the Ballista covered. 

In other words, it absolutely sucked as a defensive weapon, unless the defender got lucky and the monsters traveled exactly where they could be hit.  It also wasn’t an autonomous weapon, which meant that someone would have to be operating it during the defense of the Fortification, so its usefulness was relatively limited.

The Explosive Catapult was similar in respect to the Ballista, but as it appeared on another stone platform set away from the gate, he saw that it could at least release its payload outside the walls, which were glowing boulders that would explode upon contact with the ground or a monster.  The compact Catapult was about 8 feet long and its arm was only 6 feet, which meant that the glowing boulders weren’t very large – about the size of a basketball – but the tension on the arm could be altered to change the distance the projectile was fired.  It could also be rotated 180 degrees, essentially covering a large arc outside the walls, but there was still a large swath of the outer approach that wasn’t covered.

The last defensive weapon was a Horizontal Cutter Emplacement, which appeared in two places right outside the gates and along the walls.  From what he could observe, two large, spinning steel discs with sharpened edges could be extended 3 feet out from slits in the wall on either side of the gate, which acted as deadly cutting implements.  They weren’t very strong, and it was doubtful they would do much to hurt a Level 400 monster, at least not seriously, though it wasn’t exactly something that could be easily shrugged off, either.  They also weren’t very durable, so they would likely break if they tried spinning into something that was highly resistant to damage.  From what was told, damage to the Fortification or its defensive weapons would slowly regenerate, or SP could be spent to speed up the process.

Apart from the wall and the defenses, five Autonomous Defenders appeared, one of each Class type, and he watched as the Fighter, Scout, Mage, and Control immediately moved to the walkways above the gate and took defensive positions.  The Support Defender, however, stayed down below, out of sight of the gate so that it couldn’t be attacked easily, but also within range of the other Defenders so that it could heal when necessary. 

Behind the walls, and in the middle of the Fortification, a stone building appeared around him and the crystal pedestal.  It was cubical in shape with 30-foot-wide walls and the roof was flat without any sort of decoration.  The Fortification Guardian moved to one side of the Central Keep, opposite the massive opening that led outside, which was 20 feet tall and half that wide, as if it was made for any monsters that might appear to be able to get inside.  Speaking of the Guardian, he saw it glow for a moment as he purchased the Stage 2 upgrade for it, and it rose in Level from 400 to 410.

Fortification Guardian – Support

Defensive Fortification #0018

Level 410

It wasn’t a vast improvement, but it was certainly better than it was before.  However, given that it was basically a poor copy of Thaden, he didn’t think it would be able to put up much of a fight, though killing it would take a little while because it was likely able to keep itself alive with its healing and protective spells.

Lastly, in the corner of the Central Keep, a short stone well approximately 5 feet across was situated on the ground.  A transparent white beam shot out of the well straight upward in a column, stopping a foot or so before it hit the ceiling; there was a strange energy that emanated from the light that seemed both familiar and dangerous.  He resolved to look into it more later, but he still had some SP to spend.

With his hand still on the crystal Fortification controller, he looked at the updated list of options.

Purchasable Defensive Fortification Options (Permanent Discount Cost):

^Upgrade Siege Wall Stage 2 – 30 (3) SP

^Upgrade Wall Walkways Stage 2 – 20 (2) SP

^Upgrade Steel Gate Stage 2 – 20 (2) SP

^Upgrade Murder Holes Stage 2 – 20 (2) SP

^Upgrade Defensive Spikes Stage 2 – 30 (3) SP

^Upgrade Repulsion Barrier Stage 2 – 50 (5) SP

Arcane Ballista Emplacement Stage 1 – 10 (1) SP

^Upgrade Arcane Ballista Emplacement Stage 2 – 30 (3) SP

Explosive Catapult Emplacement Stage 1 – 10 (1) SP

^Upgrade Explosive Catapult Emplacement Stage 2 – 30 (3) SP

Horizontal Cutter Emplacement Stage 1 – 10 (1) SP

^Upgrade Horizontal Cutter Emplacement Stage 2 – 30 (3) SP

^Upgrade Perimeter Pit Stage 2 – 30 (3) SP

Autonomous Defender Stage 1 (Fighter) – 2 (1) SP

^Upgrade Autonomous Defender to Stage 2 (Fighter) – 6 (1) SP

Autonomous Defender Stage 1 (Mage) – 2 (1) SP

^Upgrade Autonomous Defender to Stage 2 (Mage) – 6 (1) SP

Autonomous Defender Stage 1 (Scout) – 2 (1) SP

^Upgrade Autonomous Defender to Stage 2 (Scout) – 6 (1) SP

Autonomous Defender Stage 1 (Control) – 2 (1) SP

^Upgrade Autonomous Defender to Stage 2 (Control) – 6 (1) SP

Autonomous Defender Stage 1 (Support) – 2 (1) SP

^Upgrade Autonomous Defender to Stage 2 (Support) – 6 (1) SP

^Upgrade Fortification Guardian to Stage 3 – 90 (9) SP

^Resurrection Well Stage 2 – 1,000 (100) SP

Central Keep Stage 2 – 50 (5) SP

^Central Keep Stage 2 Required

Additional options will be made available once certain prerequisites have been met

Looking at the costs, he saw that it would cost a total of 149 SP to upgrade everything he had already purchased to Stage 2, other than the Fortification Guardian, which would increase to Stage 3.  The majority of that cost came from the Resurrection Well, which had a base cost of 1,000, and even with his discount it still cost 100 SP – a significant expense.

“Do you know what changes with the Resurrection Well at Stage 2?  Is it worth it?” he asked Sadia, hoping she would have the answer.  He could afford to purchase it, but he’d rather see how far his current SP would go if he ignored Stage 2 of the Well. 

“It has a further range in which the souls will be absorbed, and it speeds the resurrection up from 6 hours to 5 hours.  They are worth it in the long run, especially if you keep upgrading it, but it isn’t worth getting right now.”

That made his decision quite easy. 

The upgrades, as he got up to see what they all looked like before and after, weren’t exactly impressive, but they were noticeable.  The Autonomous Defenders and the Guardian each gained another 10 Levels, which he expected would be the norm for each up upgrade, but the other physical changes in the defenses were more obvious.  The walls grew slightly wider and a little bit taller, and the stone it was constructed of seemed to be a little more durable.  The Steel Gate had thicker bars and where it connected to the wall appeared to be further reinforced.  There were even more Murder Holes, some with more platforms, and the Defensive Spikes along the outside were thicker and appeared more durable, as if they wouldn’t be destroyed within a second or two against a monster – more like 5 or 6 seconds, instead.

The Walkways now had small merlons along the edge to allow those defending from up top to duck behind slightly, though they were only about waist high, so it wasn’t complete coverage.  The Repulsive Barrier out beyond the Perimeter Pit, which now had jagged rocks lining the bottom of it and was about a foot deeper than before, appeared to be more substantial and more visible than before, so he expected it would do a better job than Stage 1. 

As for the defensive weapons, they had morphed into something that looked better constructed, but the main difference was that they had a much better range of movement, meaning they could target monsters better than Stage 1.  He couldn’t tell if they would do any more damage than before, but he suspected that was also the case.  Stage 2 of the Horizontal Cutters had the steel blades becoming thicker and wider, allowing them to take more abuse, as well as being able to extend out a little further from the walls.

The Central Keep gained a second floor, with an internal set of stairs that led up to it.  Inside the new floor were sets of bunkbeds which he counted could hold 50 people, so he assumed that it was supposed to be some sort of barracks for the Contenders stationed there.  There wasn’t much else in the way of comforts, but it was better than having to sleep on the floor with a sleeping bag. 

What was also interesting was that he could also purchase additional defensive weapons and Autonomous Defenders at Stage 1; he didn’t try it now, but he wondered just how many of each he could get before he hit a max – if there even was one.  Eventually, the walls would likely run out of room for any more weapons, but he could imagine thousands of Autonomous Defenders filling up the Fortification – though space would be a bit tight.

For now, though, he simply looked at his options again, seeing that everything went up in cost – as expected – to upgrade them to Stage 3. 

Purchasable Defensive Fortification Options (Permanent Discount Cost):

^Upgrade Siege Wall Stage 3 – 90 (9) SP

^Upgrade Wall Walkways Stage 3 – 60 (6) SP

^Upgrade Steel Gate Stage 3 – 60 (6) SP

^Upgrade Murder Holes Stage 3 – 60 (6) SP

^Upgrade Defensive Spikes Stage 3 – 90 (9) SP

^Upgrade Repulsion Barrier Stage 3 – 150 (15) SP

Arcane Ballista Emplacement Stage 1 – 10 (1) SP

^Upgrade Arcane Ballista Emplacement Stage 3 – 90 (9) SP

Explosive Catapult Emplacement Stage 1 – 10 (1) SP

^Upgrade Explosive Catapult Emplacement Stage 3 – 90 (9) SP

Horizontal Cutter Emplacement Stage 1 – 10 (1) SP

^Upgrade Horizontal Cutter Emplacement Stage 3 – 90 (9) SP

^Upgrade Perimeter Pit Stage 3 – 90 (9) SP

Autonomous Defender Stage 1 (Fighter) – 2 (1) SP

^Upgrade Autonomous Defender to Stage 3 (Fighter) – 18 (2) SP

Autonomous Defender Stage 1 (Mage) – 2 (1) SP

^Upgrade Autonomous Defender to Stage 3 (Mage) – 18 (2) SP

Autonomous Defender Stage 1 (Scout) – 2 (1) SP

^Upgrade Autonomous Defender to Stage 3 (Scout) – 18 (2) SP

Autonomous Defender Stage 1 (Control) – 2 (1) SP

^Upgrade Autonomous Defender to Stage 3 (Control) – 18 (2) SP

Autonomous Defender Stage 1 (Support) – 2 (1) SP

^Upgrade Autonomous Defender to Stage 3 (Support) – 18 (2) SP

^Upgrade Fortification Guardian to Stage 4 – 270 (27) SP

^Resurrection Well Stage 2 – 1,000 (100) SP

Central Keep Stage 3 – 100 (10) SP

^Central Keep Stage 3 Required

Additional options will be made available once certain prerequisites have been met

When he added up all of the upgrades to Stage 3 (and Stage 4 for the Guardian), other than the Resurrection Well, it only added up to 125 SP; with 150 SP left to spend, at least until his hourly accumulation came in, he didn’t hesitate to upgrade everything but the Well immediately.  As he watched the changes flow over the Defensive Fortification, each element of its defensive properties became sleeker and more deadly than it was before.  It wasn’t enough for a bunch of Level 200 Contenders to face off against a small group of Skeletal Giants, but it might be adequate enough to kill one of them. 

Regardless, the fact that he was able to upgrade everything to Stage 3 immediately upon subjugating the NEST was incredible, and it boded well for the future.  Now, though, came the waiting game as he needed to see what would happen once the hour-long subjugation phase was over and the monsters came back to attack.  It would be good to see exactly how strong they were compared to the defenses – and there were a few more experiments he needed to try out once it got to that point.

In the meantime, while he waited, he turned to his Character Report and started looking into some things that he’d been neglecting while he’d been on the move.  He had some Advancements to pick and some Consumable Stat Stones to spend, after all, and now was as good of a time as any.

Healer Book 6 -- Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The original idea that Thaden had to get everyone through Developmental Phase 4 was a rather simple one.  After learning about Subjugation Points and the various defenses he could purchase for a Defensive Fortification, his initial thought had been to subjugate the NEST closest to the Region, defend it against all manner of monsters that attempted to take it back, accumulate tens of thousands of SP to build an impregnable fortress, and then have the lower-Level Defenders participate in the defense so that they could Level-up like crazy against the high-Level monsters. 

As he completely subjugated his ninth NEST, that idea was looking even more like it was going to work as he saw the bonuses that he received from another pair of Achievements.

Congratulations for destroying and subjugating 9 NESTs in the Wildlands!

Achievement received: The Final Frontier II

Bonus reward: +20 to all stats 

Omenic Drifter Class trait activated!

Bonus reward: +30 to all stats

Contender World First Achievement: Earn 20% more SP for each subjugated NEST and increase SP accumulation by 4 SP/hr

Omenic Drifter Class trait activated!

Bonus reward: Earn 30% more SP for each subjugated NEST and Defensive Kill and increase SP accumulation by 6 SP/hr

Congratulations for solo destroying and subjugating 9 NESTs in the Wildlands!

Achievement received: Impressive But Futile II

Bonus reward: Permanent 30% reduction in SP costs for all Defensive Formation purchases 

Omenic Drifter Class trait activated!

Bonus reward: Permanent 45% reduction in SP costs for all Defensive Formation purchases 

Contender World First Achievement: Earn 60% more SP for each subjugated NEST and increase SP accumulation by 20 SP/hr

Omenic Drifter Class trait activated!

Bonus reward: Earn 90% more SP for each subjugated NEST and Defensive Kill and increase SP accumulation by 30 SP/hr

From what he could tell, he was now receiving 210% more SP whenever he earned it from subjugating a NEST or defending it against monsters; in addition, while he was defending the Defensive Fortification, he was also earning 49 SP per hour.  When he added this to the SP cost reduction that was now at 75%, in a few days of work, he could imagine decking out a Fortification to the point where Contenders from Region #1 could succeed in defending it even without his help.  It would be even easier if he was there to help out, but he figured that if he was present, the Level difference would mean that none of the other Contenders would receive any PICK.

“That’s exactly right; if you’re there, none of them would receive any PICK, regardless if they’re in your Party or not.  Unfortunately, there’s another aspect of Defensive Fortifications, Subjugations Points, and earning PICK in Developmental Phase 4 that I never got a chance to share with you,” Sadia told him, which ended up raining on his parade.

“What do you mean?”

His squirrel companion took on a lecturing tone.  “The objective behind Developmental Phase 4 is, as stated in the announcement, to accustom the Contenders to working in real-world scenarios so that they’ll have a better understanding of what they will be facing once they’re done with Tarth.  This includes hunting down NESTs and subjugating them, closing off the spawn gates that form inside of them, and then defending these areas while the rest of the NESTs are wiped off the world. 

“What isn’t expressly mentioned in the announcement is the secondary purpose of this Phase.  While in the various Regions, the Contenders had to learn how to work in small Parties in relatively limited areas, before their attention was turned toward the entire Region in Phase 2.  Phase 3 saw the introduction of Raid Parties, meaning that Contenders had to adapt and learn how to work within even larger Parties, up to 400 or 500 people at once.  The Guilds helped with this immensely, making the Raid Parties that were developed more successful than most other Contenders.

“But now, with the introduction of Phase 4, not only does the entire Region have to get together and coordinate in a singular defense, but once the other Regions enter the Phase, there will have to be a central leadership that can coordinate the entire assault on the NESTs throughout all of the Wildlands.  This focus on leadership is imperative to success, because otherwise the only thing that the Contenders will achieve in the Wildlands is disorganized chaos.”

Her lecturing tone disappeared as she continued.  “How does this relate to what we were talking about, you ask?  Well, it has to do with how PICK is distributed based on that idea of leadership.  In this case, whoever originally subjugates a NEST, those Subjugation Points are distributed between those who accomplished the subjugation; it is these individuals who are then nominally ‘in charge’ of the Defensive Fortification that is built to replace the NEST.  And whoever is in charge of the Fortification is always considered to be present, even if they aren’t physically in the location.  The SP generated from any activities, therefore, are distributed to those in charge, and they—and those they delegate to—are able to spend those points in any way they desire.

“More importantly, at least in your particular case, is that because you are ‘present’ at all times, no one inside the Defensive Fortification will receive any PICK because of the Level difference.”

Thaden was flabbergasted at such stupidity.  “Who the hell thought that was a good idea!  That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!”

“The Assimilation System, of course.  And it was designed to encourage small leadership groups to lead the charge ahead into the Wildlands, subjugating NESTs while coordinating the defenses of those that have already been subjugated, as all of the SPs would be in the hands of these relatively few people.  The idea, which has worked spectacularly in the past, is that these few people would come together with a few chosen individuals from each of the Regions, forming a leadership team that could work together as a cohesive whole, each of them bringing resources with them.  By working in tandem with others who have consolidated the Subjugation Points of their conquests, they could then develop a comprehensive strategy leading to success and the completion of Developmental Phase 4.”

He thought about it for a moment, trying to see the situation from the perspective she was presenting.  Ultimately, he understood the point behind it all, as it would be much easier to have someone in charge of hundreds of Defensive Formations rather than hundreds of different people in charge of just one or two, but that didn’t really help him right now.  It ruined his entire plan, not only of essentially power-Leveling the Contenders by having them in an almost impenetrable Defensive Fortification, but once they were ready for it, he would slowly expand across the Wildlands, subjugating NESTs and then having the Contenders from Region #1 come in behind to defend them.  While he could theoretically still do that, there would be extreme danger involved in simply moving through the Wildlands without him as an escort.

Still, it was an option that they could pursue if it came down to it; the Contenders would unfortunately have to stay an extremely low Level, but if they were careful and methodical, then there shouldn’t be any problem—

“Oh, and one last thing,” Sadia said, interrupting his thoughts.  “There is simultaneous subjugation limit of 500 NESTs by any individual Contender.  This is to prevent a single person or small group from gaining control of every Defensive Fortification and to foster cooperation between the leadership of every Region.  Most times, it is rare for any one person to have subjugated more than 100 NESTs, even toward the end of the Phase; you, however, could probably hit that limit in the matter of a few days.  Fortunately, that 500 NEST limit only applies to those that are being actively held in Defensive Fortifications, so you don’t have to worry about it while you’re busy subjugating one NEST right after another.”

Thaden was silent for a moment before he asked, in an admittedly annoyed tone, “Anything else you want to share which will make my life even more difficult?”

“Of course,” she replied, shooting him a deliberate smile.  “First, the good news: you can transfer the authority of your Fortifications and even give away Subjugation Points!  Now, the bad news: you can’t give control of any Defensive Fortification and your stockpile of SPs to anyone unless they already have control over a Fortification and have SP of their own that are unconnected to yours.  What that means is that even if you take some Contenders with you as you subjugate a NEST, while they share joint authority over that Fortification and will start to accumulate SPs, as well as have access to your SPs if you allow it, you cannot transfer full ‘authority’ over the Fortification to any of them.  Only someone else—or a Party of Contenders—that has subjugated a NEST separate from your own actions can have SP and authority over a Fortification transferred to them.”

One loophole after another seemed to close up on him, until there were very few other options left.  He grunted as he considered more avenues of attack.  “So, I know you said there is a limit to how many Defensive Fortifications I can have authority over, but what if on the 501st NEST I subjugate, I take along a Party of Contenders so that they can possess the Fortification?”

Sadia cocked her head to the side as she thought about it for a moment; unfortunately, once she was done thinking, she reluctantly nodded and then shook her head.  “I think this would get past the maximum limitation, but as you participated in the actual subjugation, this would prevent the other Contenders from having ‘full’ authority.  Still, this method could eventually work to subjugate every NEST, though you’ll be stagnating the development of the rest of the Contenders by doing this, as they’ll gain nothing from defending the Fortifications.  It is entirely possible that the System will see this happening and hamper your efforts in some way; the entire point of this developmental world is to develop the Contenders so that they can survive outside of Tarth, and if you deliberately keep them low-Level by gaming the system, it wouldn’t surprise me if the System initiated some new restrictions.”

Thaden nodded, having seen evidence of the System reacting to certain things he’d done or events that happened.  For instance, Achievements such as Overachiever were reactions to the Phases starting earlier than planned, and it had sent in the Wardens when the Adversary was poised to harm the development of the Contenders by infiltrating various dungeons.  Even if it wasn’t guaranteed to happen, he thought that there was a good chance that Sadia was on the right track when she mentioned the System getting involved if he did something that would deliberately prevent the Contenders from developing any further.

“So, you’re saying that the only way to succeed during this Phase is not only to subjugate all of the NESTs, but to find a way that the other Contenders aren’t prevented from developing?”

“Essentially, yes.  While it isn’t a given that the System will react to what you’re doing, it would be better to plan for that ahead of time than be surprised later.”

She was right; he had the time to plan right now, before everything became chaotic and dangerous in a few months, and he’d rather figure out a different solution than have his last-ditch effort be kneecapped halfway through the process.  Unfortunately, he was running out of methods in which to take advantage of his unique situation. 

As he ran toward the next NEST, Thaden wracked his mind for a way to combine the two requirements: Subjugate all NESTs and Level-up the Contenders.  He had a fairly decent plan to create impenetrable Fortifications with all the SPs that he could accumulate, but that didn’t include developing the Contenders.  Developing the Contenders first inside the Region ran the risk that, once they managed to max out their Levels from the Intermediate Dungeons that could be found there, that they would still be quite behind the average Level of monsters in the Wildlands.  As the announcement and Sadia had mentioned, the monsters weren’t static in their Levels and evolutions; they would become stronger and higher-Level as time went on, so it wasn’t a race that the Contenders could win – even with their bonus to PICK they were receiving right now due to the Overachiever II Achievement.

Desperately searching for something, he remembered his recent Title acquisition and the benefits that accompanied it.  “What about Quests?  Are there any Quests from the Adventurer Coalition that are normally associated with NESTs or being stationed in a Defensive Fortification?  If so, are they available now?”

If he couldn’t get the Contenders PICK from the monsters, perhaps he could have them do Quests for the PICK.

“Yes, but you’d have to check to see if they are available yet.  If they aren’t, your new Title might allow you to create them, though there are some criteria that cannot be altered for certain Quests, even with your special benefit,” she replied.  “If you managed to make some that the Contenders could take, you’d still run into the problem of your authority eliminating most, if not all, of the rewards associated with a Quest completion.”

Great.  Yet another door to success closed before I even had a chance to step through it.  He was nearly at the next-closest NEST when he idly asked, “Hey, what happens when one of those part of this ‘leadership’ dies?  Do all of the Defensive Fortifications they have authority over suddenly revert back to NESTs or something?”

“Not at all.  If they’re still being actively defended, then nothing would happen to the Fortification itself.  However, as I mentioned before, it is extremely rare for anyone to die during this Phase because of the Resurrection Wells that can be purchased.  Those that die would simply be resurrected and nothing would change.

“However, while their soul is in the Well, their connection to the System is in a nebulous state; as a result, their authority is suspended until resurrection.  It can be a dangerous time when everyone with authority over a Fortification dies and is waiting to be resurrected, unless they’ve taken the precaution of delegating semi-authority to others to manage their SPs and purchase defenses; otherwise, the defenders are on their own without the ability to make any purchases.

“Now, if there is no way for those in authority to be resurrected, then authority will then pass to those who are currently defending a Defensive Fortification.  Along with the authority comes all SPs that were accumulated but not spent by those in authority, divided by all of the Fortifications that were being held by them.  They’d also receive the gradual accumulation that comes with ‘owning’ the Fortification.  Again, though, this happens very rarely, but when it does, it usually creates a bit of chaos since authority is then diffused throughout many people instead of just the previous leadership.”

Hmm… “So, ‘death,’ or at least a facsimile of it, might be an option,” he mused to himself.

“What are you talking—no, don’t even think about it!” Sadia admonished him.

He looked at her, wondering what she was referring to.  “Huh?  Oh, no, I’m not planning on doing anything that crazy.”

“Then what are you—oh.  I’m not sure that’s any better.”

“But do you think it’s an option?”

She sighed, but she didn’t shake her head to deny it.  “Possibly.  Dangerous in its own right, of course.”

“True, but I’ll take whatever I can get,” he acknowledged.  Regardless of whether his idea would work or not, he still had a long way to go before it became necessary to attempt something like that.  First, he wanted to continue mapping out the NESTs as much as possible, while obtaining the resources the Region would need to defend its border, and perhaps pick up some more Achievements while he was at it.  After he was done with that, it would be time for some experimentation and to see if his original plans of making a NEST impregnable – and determine how long such a thing would even take, if it was even possible.

(Let me know if you can think of any other loopholes or exploits that I might have missed, as I want to make sure to cover as many as possible. While they would certainly make Thaden's job easier, it wouldn't make as good of a story; with a loophole like the ones I already covered, I could probably finish the book in a few more chapters, and I want to avoid that.)

Healer Book 6 -- Chapter 8

Chapter 8

It only took a minute for the Wardens to arrive, and Thaden tried to let go of the tension that seemed to fill his entire body.  After all, he didn’t actually know that they were coming to fight him again; his preparations would be enough if they turned out to be hostile, but he didn’t have to display his own hostility. 

“It’ll be fine, Thaden.  I’m sure if they were going to attack, they would’ve brought a small army of Wardens instead of just 6 of them,” Sadia said by his side as they watched the powerful figures approach.  “They know who you are, after all, and they wouldn’t take you lightly.”

He wasn’t sure if he should be flattered that his companions thought that it would take a small army of full-strength Wardens to actually hurt or contain him.  Still, her reasoning was sound, and he relaxed a little bit more because of that.

“Still, it would probably be wise to change your equipment again,” she advised.  Thaden looked down and saw that he was still wearing his solo-based Growth gear, so he quickly switched it out for a set of Party-based Growth gear that didn’t have the severe Personality penalties his other set had.  It was a blow to most of his other stats and abilities, of course, but as Sadia had hinted, it probably wouldn’t come down to a fight – though with a Personality in the dumps, that could change.

Finally, he was able to see them more clearly as they approached, including their nametags.

Fer’la’vina – Warden of Tarth

Aelveen

Level 900

Che’ga’lera – Warden of Tarth

Aelveen

Level 900

Tac’fe’hodu – Warden of Tarth

Aelveen

Level 900

Ghareta – Warden of Tarth

Charee

Level 900

Batrite – Warden of Tarth

Charee

Level 900

Harbee – Warden of Tarth

Charee

Level 900

They were exactly the same Wardens that he’d worked with or met within Region #1, which was somewhat reassuring.  Even better, none of them—even the Charee—appeared to be harboring disgusted or angry expressions on their faces and they also didn’t appear to be ready for a fight.

Sadia seemed to be correct; they weren’t there to fight.

“Thaden!  How did you manage to survive that blast?” he heard coming from Fer’la’vina as soon as she was close enough to be heard easily. 

He shrugged with a small smile on his face.  “I’m really hard to kill.  But you knew that already,” he said in response, throwing in a wink for fun.  For some reason, he was feeling even more relaxed as the 6 Wardens touched down about 20 feet away from him.  Thaden couldn’t detect even a single whiff of hostility coming from them; if anything, the impression his Personality stat was getting from them was one of awe and intimidation, wrapped around a ball of sadness.  He hadn’t known that his stat, when it wasn’t being depleted by his equipment, could evaluate someone’s emotions like that; he hadn’t really noticed it when dealing with the other Contenders a short time ago, so he could only assume it was because the sheer power that these individuals gave off was easier to read.

But why sadness?  He could understand the awe and intimidation, as he’d already experienced that from them while they were in the Region helping to eradicate the Adversarial entities, but the sadness was new. 

“I’m well aware.  Still, we thought there was no way anyone could survive a blast like that, especially with the amount of Adversarial energy inundating that dungeon.  What exactly happened?” Fer asked, seeming to be genuinely curious rather than fishing for information.

Thaden debated about lying about being able to remember, or simply refusing to answer, but he decided to omit some details while still answering her.  There were some things he didn’t want to her know, of course, but he figured that she at least deserved some sort of explanation; while the Wardens had initially been hostile toward him upon their first meeting, he eventually came to understand that they were both following orders and were willing to give their lives toward protecting the world of Tarth.  That didn’t mean they were as dedicated to protecting the Contenders, of course, but he understood by now how strict the System was when it came to giving assistance to the people from Earth.

“A Director of some sort took over the Boss of The Citadel and tried to kill me after I essentially told it to go to Hell.  Unfortunately for it, the attack it used to try and kill me overloaded the energy contained in the area, which caused the explosion.”  He waited for a moment as the Wardens looked at each other in shock and some silent communication.  “From what I inferred by her annoyance at our—” he continued, gesturing toward himself and the Wardens, “interference toward cleaning up the corrupted dungeons, the Region was safe from the Adversary’s infiltrations once again.  Is that true?”

There was silence again as the Wardens continued looking at each other, until Tac’fe’hodu spoke up.  “It is.  The System even marked the Quest that we were given to investigate the Adversary’s corruption of dungeons as complete.  That was also the Quest that had us looking into you, as well.”

Pre-mature relief spread through him.  “So, I’m off the hook, then?”

“Off the hook?  If I understand you correctly, then yes, you are no longer under investigation.”

“Good.”  Thaden paused for a moment as the Wardens still seemed to be looking at each other after admitting to have seen and spoken to an Adversarial Director.  He was beginning to wonder if it had been a mistake to mention it, but what was done was done.  “Not that I’m not happy to see that you all survived that explosion as well, but what are you doing here?  Are you just stopping by to say, ‘Hello,’ or are you coming to help?”

Fer took a step forward while shaking her head.  “Neither.  We cannot help you with this Developmental Phase, as much as we believe you’ll need it.  The only reason we were somewhat assisting in your Region was because of the threat that the Adversary presented; now that the problem has been resolved, even if that resolution ended up with starting Phase 4 earlier than is prudent, our hands are tied.”

“So, if you’re not here to help, why are you here?”

“It’s because the Assimilation System has something for you, and since it has difficulty directly interacting with you, we were sent to deliver it directly.”

Thaden wasn’t sure he wanted anything from the System; the entire thing sounded entirely too suspicious.  That being said, he was curious what it was they had for him.  An item, perhaps?  Maybe a replacement for his destroyed flying cloak?  “What exactly is it?” he cautiously asked after a few seconds.

“It’s a Title.  Something called, ‘Hero of Tarth’.”

Sadia twitched in shock next to him.  Looking at her, he raised his eyebrow in a question, and she thankfully took his hint and explained.  “Titles are extremely rare, Thaden, as they are only awarded by the System when someone accomplishes a great feat.  From what I know about them, they provide some benefits in addition to being able to show them off.”

“What kinds of benefits?”

She shook her head.  “I don’t know.  Like I said, they’re very rare, and each one is apparently different; I don’t have any knowledge of specifics, unfortunately.”

Still wary of something that came directly from the System, especially something that wouldn’t be delivered to him directly such as an Achievement, he asked his companion, “Do you think it’s a good idea to accept it, then?”

The Wardens reacted to his question with confusion and a little bit of anger, as if just by asking something like that, Thaden was declaring that he didn’t trust the System – otherwise known as their boss.  He didn’t trust the System, though, so he ignored their reactions, while he waited for Sadia to respond to his question.  She tilted her head to the side in contemplation for a few seconds, before ultimately nodding.

“I think it’s safe, but it’s still up to you.  If you don’t feel like it would be worth the risk, then don’t—”

“But it’s a Title!” Fer’la’vina practically shouted, the incredulousness in her voice evident.  “I can’t believe you even have to think about this!”

Thaden sighed.  “I know that it might seem odd, but the System and I don’t necessarily see eye-to-eye, especially when I’ve inadvertently ruined its plans in the past.  While I don’t necessarily believe the System to be malicious, for something like this, I’m more than a bit suspicious.”

“But there’s nothing to be suspicious of!  The System is simply trying to recognize the role you played in eliminating the Adversary from Tarth; it’s literally called, ‘Hero of Tarth,’ after all!”

“I understand that,” he said, putting his hands out placatingly as Fer and the other Wardens seemed to be quite perturbed.  “But the fact of the matter is that the System essentially put a hit out on me when it couldn’t figure out who I was, and while it seems as though it has rescinded that order, I’m still a bit wary of something coming directly from it like this.”

“I’m sure it will be fine; the System only has your best interests in mind when it does anything, which applies to something like a Title,” the Aelveen went on, still trying to convince him.

Thaden thought about it for another second, before he looked at the Charee Wardens, who hadn’t said anything since arriving.  “How about this, then,” he said to Ghareta, specifically.  “I’m willing to accept the Title from the System, if you upgrade my Rank in the Adventurer Coalition to Platinum.  I’ve been sitting on enough Rank Progress for a while now, and this is the first real opportunity to get it done.”

The Charee Wardens seemed to be taken aback at the request, but Ghareta finally nodded.  “We can do that.  Hand me your Badge, if you would.”  Thaden took his Diamond Rank Coalition Badge from his Inventory and walked up to the intimidating Charee with it held out in his hand.  Ghareta then cupped her hand over his, and he could feel the Rank Progress draining from his reserve, converting the Badge inside their two hands into Platinum with a bright illumination of light that bled through their hands.

When the blinding glow began to fade, he started to pull his hand away, but the flow of Rank Progress started up again for some reason and wouldn’t let it go; the glow returned, as well, brighter than before. 

“What’s going on?” he asked, confused.

“I don’t… wait… how much extra Rank Progress did you have?” Ghareta quickly demanded.

Thaden shrugged.  “I’m not sure, exactly.  Something like an extra 1,400?”

“What?  How is that possible?” he heard Fer’la’vina ask with astonishment in her tone.

Before he could answer, Ghareta stared down at their joined hands and the glow coming from between them, before shouting, “This shouldn’t be possible!  Only an Assimilator can directly upgrade a Coalition Badge past Platinum; I don’t have the authority!”

Yet, that seemed to be what was happening – at least as far as he could tell.  The glow coming from their hands was almost bright enough to blind someone permanently, and he could see the bones inside of his hand as the light passed through his flesh like an x-ray.  There was a flash of heat that was only slightly uncomfortable, before the glow rapidly faded, leaving some afterimages in his eyes that disappeared after a second or two.

Ghareta yanked her hand away as soon as it was freed from the unnatural force keeping it poised over the Badge, and everyone could see the extraordinarily shiny badge that was sitting in Thaden’s palm.

“Platinum+,” Fer breathed, her voice barely audible.  “Only Wardens are supposed to be able to acquire one of those inside of a developmental world.”

As he stared at the badge in his hand, he flipped it around a few times to see it from all sides.  “It’s very pretty, but what exactly does it do for me?” he asked.

“You wanted it upgraded… but didn’t know why it was important?” Ghareta queried, shaking her head in disbelief.

“Pretty much, yes.  I knew that the Diamond Rank gave me access to some awesome rooms in the Coalition buildings, and there were some discounts with crafters or something, but that’s about all I know.  I just wanted the Platinum Rank Badge because it felt like I earned it, but I have no idea what it does.”  Even Sadia didn’t seem to know when he asked her.

“But your Training should’ve—” Ghareta began to say, but Thaden was distracted as Che’ga’lera and Harbee began to move.  He had been so distracted by his upgraded badge that he didn’t react fast enough, and the two of them managed to each land a hand on either arm.

“Now that you have your Coalition Rank upgraded, it’s time to take the Title as you promised,” Che quickly stated, and before he could break free from their grip – which would be quite easy with his Physicality – an energy seemed to flow into him.

His mind went temporarily blank as the energy seemed to overwhelm him with its intensity, and when he finally came to, he found himself on the ground, his body convulsing out of his control.  His defensive spells did absolutely nothing to help, as this wasn’t damage being done to him nor was it any type of normal attack; instead, this was pure Assimilation System energy wracking his body, trying to do something to him.  He struggled to regain any sort of control, striving against the incredibly powerful energy that flooded into him, but he wasn’t getting anywhere. 

What is this?  Is the System trying to kill me?

His mind was at least free of the temporary black-out that he’d suffered, but it did no good when his body and his spells were completely inaccessible.  He saw Sadia leaning over him and seeming to be speaking to him, but he couldn’t hear anything over the cascade of energy raging through him like an avalanche of supreme authority.

It seemed to last forever, but eventually Thaden felt a lessening in the inundation of energy, though he sensed that it wasn’t voluntary on the part of the System.  He wasn’t sure when its presence had invaded the area, but he could practically feel its annoyance that whatever it was doing was not working out in the way it planned.  He mentally smirked at it, and the System seemed to sense this, as the force of energy pressing in on him doubled, but that didn’t appear to make any difference. 

Fortunately for Thaden, as the Director had learned not that long ago, whatever the System was trying to do was attempting to interact directly with the Mana that infused the convulsing Omenic Drifter.  What exactly it was trying to do, he didn’t know at that moment, but whatever its plan, it wasn’t working out.  He sensed the confusion and frustration coming from the System at its failure, and after another tidal wave of energy that felt strong enough that he thought he would be splattered all over the ground, the System discovered exactly what happened in The Citadel when the Director tried to kill him.

Some critical threshold seemed to have been passed, and he vaguely witnessed the horrified faces of the Wardens, including on the pair that had forced this “Title” onto him.  He was only tangentially aware that they took off, flying away with even greater speed than they’d arrived, and the last thing he saw before his world was enveloped in a fiery explosion was Sadia disappearing into his AMPs, safe from being annihilated completely again – or so he prayed was the case.

Thankfully, Thaden didn’t go flying halfway across the world again, but was instead slammed downwards as a large chunk of the ground underneath him was obliterated.  His Death Ward worked perfectly to bring him back to life a short time later, lying in a hemispheric crater reminiscent of what happened at The Citadel approximately a mile in length across, though it was perhaps only 100 feet deep. 

Groaning, he picked himself up and made sure to recast all of his defensive spells, as well as some gradual healing to ensure he wouldn’t be caught off-guard by a surprise attack.  All of his protective effects had been blown through by the explosion, and while it hadn’t been quite as powerful as what happened with the Adversarial energy in The Citadel, it was still significant.

Shaking his limbs out to ensure that he had regained complete control of his body, he quickly swapped out his current weaker set of Growth equipment for his solo-focused one, as it made him much more individually powerful.  If the Wardens were going to attack him again, then he wanted to be ready.

“Thaden!  Are you alright?” Sadia asked as she popped up next to him.  “What happened?”

Thaden grunted, still trying to figure that out himself.  “I don’t know.  Hold on, let me check.”  So saying, he looked at his message feed to see if it had any answers for him.

Adventurer Coalition Rank upgraded!

New Rank: Platinum

Remaining Rank Progress: 1,425

Upgrade Authority unavailable—

ERROR_authority overridden_upgrading Adventurer Coalition Rank_

Adventurer Coalition Rank upgraded!

New Rank: Platinum+

Remaining Rank Progress: 705

Congratulations!  You have been blessed by the Assimilation System with a Title!

Title Awarded: Hero of Tarth

Bestowing Hero of Tarth Title now!

Thaden, you are now a Hero of Tarth!  With this Title, you gain a number of permanent benefits that will remain with you for as long as you hold this Title:

* All citizens of Tarth will now instinctively recognize your authority and act accordingly, regardless of your current Level or stats

* You are now the premier authority of the Adventurer Coalition on Tarth, which gives you the ability to create Quests for other members of the Coalition, as well as a few other tangible benefits

* Damage you inflict toward other Contenders, as well as damage you may receive from other Contenders is now completely negated while on Tarth

* Emboldened Leadership Competency +1,000 Levels

* Personality +500

* Direct connection to the System—

ERROR_unable to transfer control module_pathway destination untenable_

Rerouting additional resourcesconverting internal energy layer_failure_

Rerouting additional resourcesfailure_connection unstable_uneven energy fluctuations_

Warningenergy state reaching critical mass_withdrawing excess resources_failure_

Connection terminated

You have died!

Exceptional Death Ward activated!

Emboldened Leadership Competency has increased to Level 240!

>>>>>>> 

>>>>>>> 

Emboldened Leadership Competency has increased to Level 243!

You may now select an Advancement for your Emboldened Leadership Competency!

Emboldened Leadership Competency has increased to Level 244!

>>>>>>> 

>>>>>>> 

Emboldened Leadership Competency has increased to Level 729!

You may now select an Advancement for your Emboldened Leadership Competency!

Emboldened Leadership Competency has increased to Level 730!

>>>>>>> 

>>>>>>> 

Emboldened Leadership Competency has increased to Level 1,239!

There were a few other increases in his Competencies, but nothing other than Emboldened Leadership had gained any Advancements.  A quick check of his stats also showed that he now had a net positive Personality stat, as the benefits from his Title seemed to still be intact – at least as far as he could tell.  At the top of his Character Report, the evidence that it was likely active was clear to see.

#32599999-E <Hero of Tarth>

Omenic Drifter (Wizened Solitary Shaman)

Level – 450

Progressive Internal Combat Knowledge (PICK) – 2,189,500/2,189,500 (512,654,720)

Adventurer Coalition Rank: Platinum+ 705/810 RP

The most concerning thing, however, was the internal System errors that appeared to be based on the last benefit on the list.  Whether it was supposed to be the final benefit or if there were more afterwards was unknown, but apparently whatever it was trying to “bestow” upon him had broken something. 

He could somewhat guess what, “Direct access to the System,” actually meant.  From the errors that occurred after that benefit, especially as it referenced something called a control module, he assumed that it was the System’s way of controlling him.  Whether that was direct control, like a puppet, or some sort of subconscious orders, he didn’t know – but he was glad that it hadn’t worked.  Apparently, his unique nature blocked it from taking hold inside of him, which made the System try to force the issue – which was a mistake on its part.

Thaden didn’t believe that it was trying to kill him, unlike what happened with the Director; instead, it wrongfully attempted to control him and its method simply ended up causing the explosion.  That didn’t mean he forgave it for doing that in the first place, and he felt strangely sad and vindicated at the same time that he was right to be wary of the System’s “gift”. 

He couldn’t deny that he was happy about the Title’s benefits, though he would have to see exactly what the less tangible ones – such as “authority” over all of Tarth’s citizens and the Adventurer Coalition – really meant, but that would come in time.  The best benefit of them all, however, was that all damage to him from Contenders and damage he inflicted toward Contenders was nullified.  He could only assume that, as a “Hero,” this was supposed to make him untouchable and to prevent any potential abuse that he might inflict upon those weaker than him; he didn’t care about that, however, as what it essentially meant was that he could use his Leach combo while in a Party, and he didn’t have to worry about accidentally killing anyone he didn’t want to.  In other words, it would only hurt monsters.

He showed Sadia his message feed, and he saw her face darken at its contents.  “I… I’m sorry, Thaden.  I didn’t know—”

“How could you?  I have a feeling that even the Wardens didn’t know what it would do when they insisted on giving me the Title.  Perhaps the System urged them to do it, or they simply thought it was only for my benefit; either way, it’s done, and while I can’t say that I completely trust any of the Wardens of Tarth right now, I’m saving the blame for this on the System alone.”

The more he learned about the System and its relationship with the Adversary, the more questions he had – and the less he trusted either of them.  There were still so many questions that he wanted answers to, and he was beginning to suspect that he wouldn’t get them until he left Tarth completely.  That had been his original goal after learning about the competition between Contenders, after all, as he wanted access to as much information as possible once he was done with the developmental world.  That time was rapidly approaching, one way or another; either he would succeed and finish Developmental Phase 4, hopefully getting those answers due to his performance, or he would die, taking the risk that the Adversary’s agents and the Director were telling the truth about being “released” from the captivity that was Tarth and the System.

Either way, neither of those things were going to happen that day, despite how close it seemed to come, so he ran to the edge of the crater, jumping out of it and looking around.  He saw no sign of the Wardens that had fled shortly before the explosion, nor did he expect them to be there; they had done what they came to do, after all, and while he might have appreciated them checking on him to see if he was alright, he didn’t really want to see any of them right now.  While they had only been the delivery method in which the System had tried to control him, his trust in them had been—perhaps irrevocably—damaged. 

With a sigh, he took off toward then next NEST, knowing that he still had a job to do.  Putting thoughts of the System’s duplicity out of his thoughts for now was difficult, but dwelling on it further wouldn’t help him.  Throwing himself into exploration, monster-killing, and gathering oodles of loot would help act as a balm against the raw wound of betrayal that throbbed inside his entire body.