"…Wake up, Tom."
"…Why do you fight?"
"..For who?"
"For your Patron?"
"For your friends?"
"Or are those all different variants of the same lie?"
"For your God never fights for you."
"Your friends fight with you, saving your life far more than the other way around."
"You fight for yourself, having no one left to fight for."
"So why do you fight?"
"Wake up, Tom."
"Wake UP, Tom."
"WA-"
"-ke up, Tom. We need to clear out rubble in this area." Cassi said, tapping my shoulder with her boot. My eyes fluttered looking up at her, adjusting to the sun having fully set already.
Shit, I must've dozed off.
"You can head to your quarters for some rest, but expect me to pay visit later." Cassi continued, my feet clambering under me as I stretched out with a big yawn. My body felt completely renewed, and checking my resource pools confirmed it was no pain induced delirium as I immediately suspected.
Health: 158/158
Mana: 77/77
Stamina: 497/497
A pleasant surprise accompanied my fully rejuvenated state, in the form of a small boost to my maximum mana capacity. Apparently, I'd been flexing whatever muscle made your mana pool rise without any intelligence stats, now 2 higher than my starting total mana pool. It probably should've occurred to me this would be at least a way to progress your resource pools, though the realization of the effort that would be involved trying to 'earn' a higher stamina pool was daunting to say the least.
"You sure? I can help out around here too?" I offered, not seeing a point sleeping anymore than I already had.
"No, but you can go check on Steve. He's been with Becky and Phoebe, but they were all looking pretty banged up before they headed to the healers." Cassi recommended, subtly shooing me away. I took no offense, I'd prefer hanging out with my friends while others picked up after my messes anyhow. Still, Cassi's morose tone worried me a little. Typically, she'd be the most keen among the troop after a significant loss. This time around though, she just looked flat out pissed about it.
Not wishing to poke the bear, I followed her suggestion and headed to the healers building. I'd spent quite some time there already, making it the easiest to locate even with the scattered rubble and shattered buildings along the path. All 3 were sitting outside of the building receiving mana imbued treatment from the healers, Phoebe the only one in a chair as the snakes just sat coiled up extra close to one another.
"Hey team! Great work out there, especially handling that crazy spider mandrill. You guys really showed out." I said, peering over the ragged faces of my team. Apparently they hadn't got to take any naps yet, or else they'd feel way better by now.
"Hi, Tom. Glad to see one of us doesn't hurt literally everywhere." Phoebe answered, wincing as she rolled her shoulder around.
"Sleep is the best medicine. Ain't that right, Steve?" I asked, patting my serpent companion who fittingly hadn't emerged from his coiled rear yet. His head slowly rose as his glowing eyes fluttered open.
"Yeah, that's why I was doing that just now. You do realize she can't hear me, right?" Steve asked in a tired voice.
"Just nod for me." I said, smiling outwardly while pleading internally. Steve exaggeratedly nodded his head up and down. His head quickly slipped right back between his coiled body to resume his well deserved slumber. After all, he leveled us up today.
*Congratulations!* You've upgraded your Profession!
[Beast Tamer (Level-7)]
->
[Beast Tamer (Level-8)]
+1 wisdom +1 willpower
Now having the stupid head splitting effects of the Randy contract behind me for an unknown but warmly welcomed reason, I could fully enjoy the wonderful benefits of having a soul pact with a flying snake without any painful side effects. Considering how strong the foes he assisted in slaying, his single level up must mean he was at least close to level 9. The Intangible Harpyja was level 12 after all, sitting 3 levels higher than my class.
Thinking on it, I'd killed a lot of strong foes myself as well, yet I hadn't eclipsed level 10 in my class. Frankly, I didn't mind too much assuming the same theory for my own closeness to leveling up. Phoebes laughing snapped me free from my deep consideration of less than optimal gains all around.
"Ahh, I love it when snakes get sassy. It's so human, or maybe we're just as animal as they are." Phoebe said, her eyelids drooping as the healer stopped her casting of bright red mana. Clearly, she overdid the healing due to Phoebe not speaking up, leaving her a little 'silly', like Barry had. Speaking of the devil..
"Hey, where's Barry? Or Derrick for that matter?!" I asked aloud to just about anyone conscious enough to answer. Luckily, the healer leaving from healing Phoebe had my answers.
"Those two are at the training area. That Barry fellow isn't fully healed, but I've never seen him lose to someone weaker than him before. Derrick didn't like the sound of that." The healer said nonchalantly. Clearly the nature of our negotiations with Garrin hadn't spread across the rest of giants yet. Making a mental note to give Barry shit for that, I headed for the training area leaving the sleeping serpents to snuggle with Phoebe.
I struggled looking the giants and our soldiers alike in the eye making my way through the settlement. Some families of the citizens that were whisked away by the Harpyja were mourning their losses openly, standing amongst the rubble. Those who fought? They were tasked with cleaning the remnants of their fallen comrades. Meanwhile, their leadership who'd failed to protect them strolled casually to the training grounds. Even having made strides in keeping my calm and staying aware of others in combat, I'd still fallen miserably short at protecting our settlement.
Bottom line, the boss beasts were my squad's job. Regardless of circumstance, we had to be ready. It was never a choice in the first place. I struggled to corral my boiling frustrations rounding the building toward the training area. Barry and Derrick were in the midst of active sparring as I strolled up.
"Looks like you two are the only ones who didn't get their fill of fighting today." I said, standing outside of their sparring area borders marked on the ground. Neither bothered to acknowledge me, both honed in on their fight. Barry's arm was still scabbed up from the shoulder down, but it didn't appear to slow him down any. His demeanor was confident, however the heavy breathing implied they'd be at this for some time now.
Derrick on the other hand looked sharper than ever. His old chest piece must have been damaged by the bullet ants' deathly dark blood, as he now adorned a jet black metallic armor that looked much better fitted to his body shape than the prior piece. Outside of his spiffier appearance, his combative improvement's were doubly as impressive.
Within the first few exchanges I'd seen, Derrick used his teleporting skill far more effectively than he had before the wave defense in training. Rather than bailing himself out of a tough situation with it, he utilized this skill to counter Barry's wide swinging punches. It was no surprise Barry fought disarmed the same way he had with his massive Cleaver. After all, most unarmed martial arts derive from armed forms. It was only natural they'd bleed into one another, my Lightning Strike being an example of the potential carry over.
Because much like our near perfect defenses today being utterly thwarted by the supreme power of flight, fighting was never so simple. Barry's large swings lacked the range his Cleaver provided, making Derricks teleport the perfect countering catalyst. Surprisingly, his punches did enough damage to make Barry wince with each cleanly landed blow, regardless of their insane disparities in class levels. Curious, I used Identify on Derrick to check his class level and, well…
[Human (Level 5)]
Derrick had himself a day. Fighting creatures that are 10 levels higher than you all day for the very first time providing an exorbitant amount of experience shouldn't be all that shocking. Especially considering I'm only able to see his race level, which factors one's profession as well. Meaning, it's quite possible he only leveled twice, and his high profession made up the difference in his race.
Of course, I have zero confirmed evidence to back that besides what I'd gleaned from my own experience leveling, as well as some information shared to me along the way. However, there's really no sneaky way to know, I'd have to ask Derrick his level after they were done.
Their fight continued for another solid 8 minutes, neither getting an upper hand on the other. Even when Barry grabbed hold of Derrick, the teleporting was just too quick to beat for him. Of course, the time between Derrick's blipping increased drastically as time progressed. He had to rely on his defense now, something he hadn't practiced without a weapon yet.
Eventually, after a couple solid blocks against Derrick's surprisingly sturdy arms, Barry landing an open palm smack to Derrick's face, sending him spiraling into the air like a tornado before crashing to the floor. Being 7 class levels higher than Derrick was sure to play a role in the disparity in damage output, but that also paid further homage to Derrick for keeping up so long.
Derrick sat up on the floor, his hands atop his head as he caught his breath. Barry leaned over holding his knees, laughing through deep exhales before he regarded Derrick.
"You fight well, for someone so pathetically behind in levels. Far stronger than any Enchanter I've met." Barry said, smiling his massive toothy grin. Derrick nodded in appreciation, still huffing for air.
"You two have been at this for a while, I take it?" I asked, hoping now they'd be willing to engage in conversation. Derrick finally caught enough of his breath to speak again.
"Definitely. Ever since Cassi sent everyone to the tents, to be exact." He answered, clambering back to his feet.
"Why? Don't get me wrong, I'm never going to discourage some extra training. Just feels…unusually devoted. What changed?" I asked, not wanting to dance around the matter. Derrick was a quick learner, and avidly participated in training. Yet, he didn't show any external passion for the heat of battle during the wave defense. Plus, he'd purposely neglected any form of combative training up to this point. Regardless of leveling walls, this sort of behavior mirrored someone like Cassi, Korbin, and me.
Derrick didn't answer, instead dropping his head and avoiding eye contact at the question. Instead, Barry spoke up.
"Your old friend and I both feel a deep shame having served no purpose during that Harpyja attack. Especially when what held us back were self-inflicted handicaps." Barry admitted, mimicking Derrick's shameful posture.
"So, you both decided to start catching up right away. I like it. Does this mean you'll be ready for our next move, Barry?" I asked, curious at if we'd have two tenacious tanks on our frontlines.
"Not quite. Cassi informed me you'll be making a move on one of Jaia's kin's Pylon, however her timeline doesn't align with the healers, who are the only people my father would listen to. Until then, I'm training under his paranoid watch." Barry spewed angrily, projecting his frustrations with his fathers unwillingness to let his last son fight injured. I could understand Garrin's worry, however it only harms his son's growth and ability to survive in the long run.
Still, not my place.
"Sorry to hear that. I guess we'll have to do with our peekaboo tank, huh Derrick?" I teased, hoping to get a rise out of him. Instead, he laughed at the title, repeating it through heavy chuckles. For a guy using Violet warping mana abilities, he definitely shares the laid back personality traits of a water guy. For now, I'll take credit for that with the little training we've done.
After shooting the shit about who's better at what, and reminding Barry I'd won our bet for the wave defense fair and square with no evidence for either of our cases, we all agreed to head back to our quarters. Cassi apparently told everyone individually to be in their rooms and ready for her arrival. Not exactly uncharacteristic of her to schedule weird planning schedules, however telling everyone separately was strange.
Involving me in the scheming stage on the other hand was borderline uncanny behavior.
Once I'd returned to my quarters, I decided some active meditation was long overdue. This time, I placed my twinblade in my lap not wanting to toss it onto the bed where I intended on jumping head first onto if Cass never showed. Closing my eyes, I focused my thoughts on the 3 major encounters I'd had earlier in the day. Of course, the Harpyja stuck out the most in my memory, overtaking most of my attention.
Its use of icy mana was impressive defensively, creating ice shields she could eject to escape being caught out by stronger foes. The gust of frosty winds was impressive, but the wind mana carried much of the value in that skill. Come to think of it, the majority of her scariest abilities were air mana derivatives, in theory. Her incredibly oversized talons cut through the air eerily similarly to the wind warrior from the tournament. There was a severe lack of delayed projectile cuts of course, yet the way her claws ripped through the air with less than little resistance couldn't have been natural agility. Meaning the wind itself must've assisted in her movements, rather than dragging them as it had everyone else.
Her movement before one of her wings got bitten by Steve was the best example that came to mind. Each evasion looked damn-near involuntary, often her head reacted after her body did. Not to mention the unnatural speed her form would lurch away from danger, as if pushed to safety rather than chasing it. Cassi's incredible situational awareness earned Steve his opening by catching the bird getting too cocky fighting me alone, thank Perunious.
If the bird-lady had an inkling of how her arrogance would pan out, I'm not so sure any of us would be alive to celebrate. Sure, I'm confident I might've eventually killed the monster. That's not before she picked off every other survivor here, if she had so chosen. Thankfully, intelligence and common sense aren't inherently tied.
My hands began to tingle as memories of the end of our fight began playing through my head. My body was so drained. I'd effectively juiced myself dry of all mana on multiple occasions in one day, or at least to the brink of it. The reward of adding to my max mana pool was desperately needed, but measly compared to the cost all the same.
When I sat down after the battle with the Harpyja, meditating was the first activity that came to mind. That wasn't anything new per se, I'd done so 90 times in a row before the tutorial began. That was two weeks ago though, and I'd had plenty more pressing matters to ruminate as times progressed, diminishing my knee jerk response to meditate.
Yet, today I'd hopped right into it, regardless of how injured my dearest friends and comrades may or may not have been. It just didn't even occur to me. A tinge of guilt shot through my body, only to be quickly dismissed. After all, everyone I held near and dear ended up relatively fine in the end.
Still, something else was bugging me. It felt like I was missing a pressing detail, even though I had the entire battle imprinted into my brain like any other. It was the only way I knew how to learn from my mistakes, considering how difficult I found discerning them in real time. After the fight, all I did was meditate and doze off, really nothing special about th-
"Morning Tom!" Cassi announced bursting into my bedroom.
"..it's like midnight, Cass." I said, confused at her high energy.
"That's great, hey come with me. Everyone else is already on their way." Cassi urged, grabbing my arm and practically dragging me from my quarters before I could answer. It took a few paces for me to catch up and rip my arm free from her tightly clasped hand.
"You know I was full and ready to walk myself out, right?" I asked, offended at being manhandled like that for no conceivable reason.
"I'm sure you were. We have shit to do though, Tom." She answered, maintaining her fast paced walk toward the Pylon building.
"And what exactly are we doing?" I asked.
"I'm not explaining it twice, you'll have to wait like everyone else." Cassi retorted snidely as we appreciated the front door to the Pylon building. Cassi led me up a few flights of stairs before arriving at a large war room, similar to the one at the birdcage Pylon we'd captured from that dreadful False King. It was definitely smaller than Korbin's, however the continental map in the middle of a massive table was up to snuff with his.
Everyone stood around the map, quietly chattering amongst themselves as Cassi and I entered. Even Steve and Becky were here, snuggled up behind Phoebe.
"Hello everyone. In order for this to work, we're wasting no time, beginning right now. If you have any questions, save them. Ask a friend, then ask me. I want no interruptions until I provide time for them, are we clear?" Cassi announced, everyone nodding and mumbling in understanding. Cassie's face contorted angrily.
"I SAID, ARE WE CLEAR?!" She bellowed authoritatively, a jumbled collection of 'yes ma'am's out of unison our normally casual group of elites' response.
"Good, we start with the followers of Porphynae."
Cassi approached the table, placing her hand down onto the glass surface. A hologram of a massive map emerged from the center of the table. Two blips were marked, one blue indicating our settlement and the other red.
"This is where their settlements' positioned, according to our intel from the bird tamers. They sit upon an open field similar to ours, only the treeline is much further from their territory borders than ours. This gives them ample visual coverage to see any invaders coming out in the open, at all angles."
Cassi said, tapping the red glowing button. The image zoomed forward, now displaying a massive compound full of military barracks and buildings.
"Considering their lack in class diversity, it's fair to assume they do not possess any tamers, artificers, nor merchants of any high regard. They've been described as warmongers and 'damn near prolific' mercenaries by Garrin, reflecting the principles of their Giant Demigod, Porphynae. They will be more than likely unwilling to bend the knee to anyone, regardless of reason." Cassi explained, before touching the glass table a few times. The projection shifted around 180 degrees, revealing a smaller settlement filled with small homes.
"This section is the no kill zone. These people are basically slaves for the warmongers, often collected from their raids on other pylons. They use them for labor, necessity driven professions, anything that doesn't involve killing for gain." Cassi explained, looking mostly at me during the 'no kill' part.
"As it stands, Korbin can only afford to send another batch of fresh blood to us, but that will be the last of our access troops for at least a week until we can accrue enough confidence in the Elysium. Meaning we cannot be so liberal with letting our men die due to our lack of forethought, that includes myself." Cassi informed, her fist balling tightly. Her eyes shut as she inhaled a deep breath, composing herself before addressing me directly.
"Tom, you will be our first step in circumnavigating our numbers disadvantage. As it stands, they have us outnumbered two to one. Yesterday's wave brought far worse odds, so we should have little trouble adapting. Before I go any further though," Cassi walked over to me, leaning in my ear to make sure no one else could hear her speak through the side of her mouth,
"..you still got that land shark?"