Maxwell

Watching Aurora storm away, I was honestly left speechless. Heal a demon? How the hell was I supposed to do that. Hell, I didn’t even know what was wrong with the creature. How could I possible find a way to heal him? I groaned before teleporting back to the village.

The activities for the day had already started. I made note of the time since the next batch of newcomers would be arriving in a few minutes. With a bit of looking, I found Rowena eating breakfast. I took a seat next to her at the bench not holding back my grunt.

“So… how’d it go?” she asked slowly sipping her soup.

“Not… Not well,” I replied shaking my head. I was about to get up to get some food when the cook brought me over a dish. “Thanks!” I dug in enjoying the added flavors. The hunters and gathers must have found some spices to add to the meal. I explained what happened in between bites of bread and meat.

“It sucks, but we just have to stay the course. Prepare for the worst, but stay the course.”

“I agree.” We lapsed into silence for a while as we ate. “By the way. Do you know anything about healing demons?”

“What? No. You need a warlock for that sort of thing.”

“I feared as much. You’ve played for a bit longer than me. Any players you might want to invite here?”

“Funny. No. None of the people I had on my friends list are in the game. Must have been out when the transfer happened.” The thought of Earth seemed so distant. I couldn’t believe that it had already been almost five days. Each day grew weirder if I were being honest.

“Alright. You going to commune?”

“Yep. I’ll see you in a bit,” Rowena picked up her bowl and left. I finished my meal as well then teleported up to the Gate. I timed it just right as the transfer was taking place when I arrived. We got thirty people even this time. I had them group up before I teleported us back to the village and handed them off to the Commander. He would work with them to make sure they went where they were needed.

That was my main job for the morning, and I was suddenly left without anything to do. I could go over and help gather resources, but they were coming along nicely with the new mine and quarry. There was heading out to hunt so I could level up some. I’d rather wait for Rowena to do that. I rubbed the back of my head then decided to teleport up to my look out just to get some fresh air.

Looking down over the village and forest, I was pleased with how far we’d come in less than a week. A solid village with a decent wall carved its place in the world. It went without saying, that I wanted to do everything I could to protect it. The problem was the sight I witnessed last night.

We might have called a truce for the moment, but if something happened to her imp, we would have to contend with those monsters ourselves. Worse even as I had no doubt that she was working to increase her strength by the moment as well. I needed to go over my options and decide which path to take.

The NPCs could be improved. Because of my Magic-Works options, I only needed mana to make it happen. With over sixty dark elves arriving daily to the village, I could potentially raise a fairly decent army quickly. I just needed time and mana to make it happen.

The next option was to find more players and gather them in my village. Lordship couldn’t be directly taken from a player, but that didn’t mean my village couldn’t be burned to the ground. If another Lord attacked me that was when I would be in danger of losing my holdings. Besides, I doubted anyone would help us for free. I might be a lord, but I was flat broke otherwise.

Another option would be to head to a larger hub of civilization and gather items that might be able to help us. Higher quality materials or even a cart full of mana stones. I wouldn’t even have to worry about transporting them here since I could teleport back here in an instant. The Transcendence Teleportation didn’t appear to have a distance limit though the longer the distance, the more mana it cost.

Choices, choices… I would need to consult Rowena before I decided anything to permanent. For now, I would just keep working on the village. I stood up from the ledge and dusted my robe off when I glaring red notification popped up in my view.

Village under attack!

I groaned in anger. Surely, the imp hadn’t passed away! We weren’t ready for her if that was the case. I resolved to sacrifice myself to protect the villagers. I might have to die a few times, but as long as they were alive and well, it was worth it.

I teleported down to the village center where I asked where the attack was coming from. The informed the gate to the east which was near Aurora’s dungeon. I ground my teeth and teleported again. I had to admit, I was shocked by what I saw. A goblin force that had to be at least a hundred strong stood arrayed neatly outside the edge of my territory. A strangely dressed goblin rode a wolf toward the back.

“My liege. It is not safe here,” Commander Telmu warned at my appearance.

“If they breach the wall, it doesn’t matter where I am.”

He looked like he wanted to argue but stopped himself. I took the fact that they hadn’t attacked yet as a good sign. I stepped up to the edge of the wall and cleared my throat. “What is the meaning of this!?”

The strangely dressed goblin moved his wolf to the front. The more I looked, the harder it was to focus on him. He had on a plate chest piece, along with what looked like a tunic pair of pants. A dozen different pieces of jewelry decorated his neck and fingers. “Are you the one that attacked me last night!?”

His accent threw me for a loop. It was British. “No. We had no part in that assault.”

“If it wasn’t you, then who!?” he demanded.

I struggled for a moment then decided I had no reason to withhold the truth. “A dungeon near here sent her forces out against your village.”

His excitement flared but quickly faded. “A dungeon, you say. That could complicate matters.”

“Excuse me. I just have to ask. Are you from London?”

“You know about London. Then you are a player.” He moved his gaze over my wall and the people manning it. “Did you have to establish your village so close to me?”

“It was sort of an accident.”

He started laughing nearly falling off his wolf. “I’d heard rumors of players accidently using the Founding skill. I guess its true!”

“Yep.” My mind was moving a mile a minute. I had my one month protection. That was likely why he was holding his ground and not attacking in the first place. I needed to find a way to extend that. “Hey. Would you be open to talks?”

“Diplomacy…” he sighed. “I made a goblin lord for a reason. Diplomacy just doesn’t sit well with me.”

“Sure. I get that, but that was before the world sort of became real. Couldn’t you reconsider just this once?” I felt like I was grasping for straws. I really couldn’t afford to have two players as my enemies before I even get established.

He crossed his arms and seemed to consider that. “You have a point.” He glanced behind me and I realized he was looking at the mountain rather than my village. Perhaps he needed something from the mountains. Resources? The metal nodes did spawn more often along the foot of the mountain.

“We can work out a trade deal or something,” I suggested.

He climbed down from his wolf. “We might be able to work something out.”

The flapping of wings accompanied by a shadow signaled Rowena’s arrival on Greavefeather. The giant bird landed and Rowena hopped off. “I’m here to help!”

“Thanks, but we’re not fighting.” I looked over to the player goblin. “Are we?” I knew I had my protection, but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t a way around it that we didn’t know about. It wouldn’t be the first time there was a glitch that allowed people to break things.

“No. I believe we have other problems.” He climbed back onto his wolf. “I will be back, but I have to go deal with something.”

Since the situation had calmed down, I asked. “What’s the matter?”

“Our mutual friend is attacking one of my outposts.”

“Damn. Good luck. I’m Maxwell. By the way.”

“Razz Skullhammer.” I nodded. He turned away to leave his forces turning skillfully with him. Thinking fast, I quickly sent a friend request to him. We could still talk over the friend system. Even if we eventually became enemies, we might be able to work out something in the future.

The goblin army was quickly out of sight. Just from the few minutes of watching, I was impressed at how skilled they were able to move through the forest without issue. Once they were out of sight, I leaned against the wall resting my head on my arms. “Son of a B.”

“It wasn’t so bad.”

“I thought the crazy vampire chick was going to be hard enough. Now there is another lord player in the area.”

Rowena reached out and patted my shoulder. “Hardcore mode, right.” I laughed and shook my head. “This has been fun, but we need to level up… a lot.”

“Not sure I want to risk leaving the village.”

“That Razz guy looked pretty high level, has an army, and was sporting some decent gear. It might be better to get your level up to confront the leader. Don’t forget the vampire.”

“How can I?” I asked with a groan. She wasn’t wrong though. I needed to get my level up as quickly as possible. I did have an advantage in that department. My Spatial Tear was basically an aspect free attack that did way more damage than a character my level should be able to get away with. If we moved to some high-level hunting grounds, we could really speed up the leveling process. More levels meant more mana for me to spend on my village. “Alright. Let’s get to work.”

Commander Telmu caught me before I teleported us away. “My liege. A few of us would like accompany you. We would have only held that army for a few minutes at most.” He ground his teeth as he made a fist. “We are maddened about our own weakness.”

I had already planned for Rowena to take some of the soldiers out on her hunting trips. Adding me to the equation only made their likelihood of survival better. Adding them to the equation, made sure that I came back alive as well. So, it was a win-win in my mind. “Sure. I would love to have you come with us. Chose ten soldiers that you want to accompany us and we’ll head out in ten minutes.”

“Right away, my liege!”

“He’s a good commander,” Rowena said as we watched him start to call for the individuals.

“Right! I was happy at how well he took to the position. Its only been a few days, and I have to say I’m impressed.”

“Speaking of leveling, I understand why the monster levels are so low in the area now. If that Razz guy has been culling the monsters for some time now, then of course the overall levels in the area would decrease. If his place is high enough level, he might have had players spawning there.”

“Shit.”

“What?” Rowena asked, surprised by my exclamation.

I rubbed the back of my head as another headache formed. “I didn’t think about other players! He could have an entire guild on his side.”

“Yeah. That certainly will make things harder.” Telmu didn’t use more than two minutes to call for the team. After consulting with Rowena, I quickly teleported us to the furthest location we’d been. After that, we headed deeper into the forest. I was impressed with how much she knew of the area. Even if she said she was scouting, there was still a difference between a good scout and a bad one. She led us to all the monster dens in the area without fail.

I was happy when the first location was another Greg den. I couldn’t use Void Discourse due to the soldiers with us. It wouldn’t make much sense if we brought them and then made them sit on the sidelines. Instead, we used our numbers to form a shield wall and attacked from the front. A few well-placed fireballs kept the Gregs from fleeing while my Spatial Tears did the heavy lifting of injuring the monsters. Greavefeather chased the few that managed to escape the enclosure.

Rowena and the other soldiers worked well together. I did note that larger shields would be a good upgrade as the wolf-type monsters were able to bite at the defenders ankles. It usually resulted in a shield bash or a sword jab, but it was something that could be avoided. The sound of barking, growling along with the grunts and yells of my soldiers filled the air for a good three or four minutes before the fight finally came to a close as I nailed the leader Greg in the face with a Spatial Tear.

Telmu helped a man up that had a good chunk of his leg torn out. After he removed the torn parts of the man’s pants from the wound and cleaned it, he called for a potion. I watched in a bit of fascination as the wound sealed up before my eyes. When I asked if the first part of the process was needed, it made perfect sense that healing a wound with dirt and pieces of pants in it would cause issues later. I simply nodded and tried to hide the fact that I wanted to hit myself.

“Alright. To the next one,” I said cracking my back once all the looting was done.

“Follow me!” Rowena called heading into the forest. If every fight took this long, we could potentially make a lot of gains today. Thinking about my troubles, I really hoped that we made a lot of gains today.