I did it. Halfway through the night, with concentrated effort, I managed to clear my eighth and final meridian. I was glad we had access to bathrooms and shower facilities. The results of clearing the last meridian were far more… intense than any previously. Add that to me pushing to clear it as fast as possible and, let’s just say, it was messy.

Thick black gunk poured out of my pores, eyes, and just about every hole I had. I barely managed to get myself undressed and into the shower before it all began. By the time it was finished and I managed to clean myself up, I was exhausted and felt like I had just been through the wringer. I stumbled my way to my bed and passed out until dawn’s early light fell through the window and pierced through my eyelids.

After waking up, I could feel my body humming with energy. The pure vitality flowing through my veins was more potent than any fancy cup of coffee downed by a hipster in Seattle. I passed my senses through my body and found everything suffused with Ki. Every cell in my body was enhanced and was working at greater than normal human capacity. I only had two more steps to take before I entered the Energy Cultivation realm. I only needed to take the potions Stephanie would have ready today and expand my Lower Dantian until it connected with my Middle Dantian.

Once I could accomplish that; my soul’s element would interact with my Ki pool causing a cascading effect, converting it all into jade flame Ki. I didn’t know how that would happen exactly. But from everything I read, my Ki would be at least five times more potent and would have intrinsic properties associated with jade.

As I cycled my Ki through my Meridians, I could feel my Dantian shift with the flow. The plasticity of it had already increased. It was ready for me to use my meridians to force it to expand.

Not wanting to be a drain on the resources of the Village, I pulled out a piece of snake meat and had that for my breakfast. The Ki in the meat didn’t feel as potent as I cycled it to my body, but that was to be expected. I was now three ranks higher than the python was. The Bear meat would give me greater benefit in the future, but it still needed to be cooked.

As I made my way out to the living room, I noticed Kiara on the couch, chatting with Rowan. Out of habit I used Identify on them.

Kiara Jones

Level 10 Herbalist

HP:90/90

Stamina: 192/192

Mana: 432/432

Defense: 28

Rowan Jessup

Level 11 Summoner

HP: 90/90

Stamina: 180/180

Mana: 522/522

Defense: 37

I had to do a double take. Kiara was a level ten Herbalist now?

“When did you get your advanced class?” I asked.

Kiara looked up from her conversation and said, “Right after the Spider fights, I got enough experience to jump to my advanced class.”

“That’s awesome. Grats. What other options did you have? I’m just curious. Having an herbalist will make everything a lot safer getting to Colorado.”

“Oh, it’s no problem. I had four options to choose from. The Herbalist class I chose, obviously, a Plant Mage, which gave bonuses to plant magic, of course. The Chef Class, which would have given better food buffs and Survivalist. It gave me the last one since I survived by myself for a week in the wild. It gave a lot of stuff, but mostly it would have helped me to live on my own, instead of with a group.”

“How did the scrying go? We were asleep when you got back,” Rowan asked.

I took a deep breath. The image of my son being stabbed in the gut by a monster flashed before my eyes. Followed by the sight of my wife using magic to heal him. It was still extremely dangerous, but they were together and they were surviving.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” Rowan said. Sorrow filled his voice and reflected in his eyes.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and managed to say, “He’s alive. They are all alive.”

The sadness left Rowan’s eyes, and he exclaimed. “Oh my god, that’s amazing!”

“They are struggling, but my wife, my son, his sister, his mom and her husband are alive and fighting.”

“What about Magnus’s dad?” Kiara asked.

My eyes fell to my feet. I felt bad for the relief I felt at my family being alive while his father died. “He didn’t make it. Magnus’s dad died protecting others from monsters. He died a hero’s death.”

The room fell silent as they processed the news. It was a miracle that my family survived when seventy percent of the world died already, probably more by now.

“As soon as we get everything we ordered, we’re heading out. We need to make better time. They are alive right now, and I want them to stay that way when I get there.”

“I would too in your…” Kiara started saying when she was interrupted by a window pop up, one that appeared in front of everyone in the village.

Settlement Defense Quest

A tribe of Orcs are invading, Protect your homes.

This quest cannot be denied.

Orcs Slain or Driven off: 0/62

“What the absolute fuck?” I said. We don’t need this kind of shit right now. Gods damned it.

An alarm sounded from the direction of the admin building, and I ran outside. Cony staggered out of the room he shared with Rowan, tightening the buckles on his leather armor. Rowan and Kiara exited right behind me; Rukia was already out the door.

As I got outside, I saw the entire village gathered in front of the admin building and could hear the High Priestess speaking to the crowd.

“It’s just another monster wave. We’ve dealt with them before. Everyone knows what to do. Noncombatants gather in the Administration building’s basement; Combatants gather at the south wall. They are approaching our main gate. MOVE OUT!” she said, the last part with a shout that echoed between the buildings.

The majority of the villagers scrambled past the High Priestess and scurried underground. Out of over three dozen people, only fifteen made their way towards the gate, the Laura included.

I took a deep breath. While we could make it out around the back and avoid this fight all together, I couldn’t just abandon these people to a four to one fight. “MAGNUS?” I shouted over the alarm. He hadn’t been in our room when I woke up and we needed him here.

I saw Magnus stagger out from behind a greenhouse, a large bottle of liquor still clutched in his hand. His eyes were red and bleary and he had a sway to his movement. Great, he’s drunk. Understandable given the news from last night, but it wasn’t what we needed right now.

“What’s goin’ on?” Magnus slurred out.

“There is a large band of Orcs invading this village. They need our help to hold them off,” I said.

Magnus gulped and shook his head slowly. He took a deep breath and I could feel his Ki moving through him. It was sluggish at first, but he cycled his Ki through one of his meridians. Based on how his posture straightened and his complexion cleared, it was probably his Spleen Meridian. Alcohol was a poison after all, and cycling that meridian would increase his poison resistance.

In less than a minute, Magnus opened his eyes. They were still bloodshot, but his stance was solid and the slur left his voice. “Well, let’s go lend ‘em a hand.” His eyes flicked over to where the combatants were gathered, and he set off in that direction. The rest of us followed closely behind. I tightened my straps as we went and pulled my spear out of my inventory. Rowan was already summoning his flying Aeons and Cody brought out his Paladin’s armor and dented shield.

Kiara must have made good use of her time shopping for new spells. After a few seconds of green light flickering over her fingers as she made arcane gestures, her amber brown skin lost its smooth texture. It formed ridges and cracks as it thickened and its color shifted from an amber-brown to a brownish steel grey. As soon as her spell finished its changes, she pulled out her soul-bound hatchet.

I used Identify and saw what the effect was.

Kiara Jones

Level 10 Herbalist

HP:90/90

Stamina: 192/192

Mana: 432/432

Defense: 28

Status Effect: Ironbark

Ironbark: a nature magic effect that transmutes the skin, making it thicker and harder. This effect increases defense by 42. Duration: 10 minutes

By the time we reached the gate, everyone finished their preparations. We were as battle ready as we could be.

“Good. I was hoping you would be willing to help while you were still here,” Laura said. She breathed a sigh of relief before continuing. “This is the biggest force we’ve had to deal with yet. The majority of the Orcs are level ten, but the Shaman and the Chief are both level fifteen. With you here, we are only outnumbered three to one. So, if everyone manages to kill three of them, we’ll be all good.” She finished the last bit with a sardonic chuckle.

I looked at the walls. They made it out of wooden logs stuck deep in the ground and reinforced with boards nailed in and ropes binding them together. It was ten feet tall and had a six-foot-tall platform on the inside going all the way around the village. Every twenty feet had a rough looking set of stairs that looked like a cross between a step ladder and stair case. It wasn’t pretty, but it would let us fight from the walls with a bit of cover.

The residents climbed up the steps to the platform and readied themselves for the enemy’s approach. I didn’t bother with the steps and easily leapt onto the platform from the ground. From my new vantage point, I caught my first sight of the enemy. The orcs were jogging forward and were still close to a thousand feet away, so I cycled Ki through my eyes to enhance my vision and I could make out their details.

They stood close to seven-feet tall and had a dark olive-green coloring to their skin. Jutting up from each of their jaws was a pair of tusks. Each one sported their own scrimshaw designs, flowing and looping lines carved in and dyed various colors. On the Chief and Shaman, though, they seemed to have inlaid gold into their scrimshaw lines and studded with tiny jewels.

All the orcs were wearing some kind of leather armor, except for the Shaman and Chief. The Chief Orc was still wearing Leathers, but it was a more comprehensive set that covered more of his body, and seemed to be of higher quality and in better repair. Most of the other orc’s armor had cuts, burns and other battle damage. The Shaman wore an elaborate headdress on his head, a fist sized skull on a beaded necklace and a leather kilt. In his hand, he held a seven-foot-long staff that was carved like his tusks.

Once Cody saw how far the Orcs were from the wall, he swapped out his mace and shield for his Radiant Bow and nocked an arrow before infusing the arrow with golden light.

Off to the side, on the ground, I saw Laura gesturing with her hands as she manipulated something in her interface. After a few moments, mounted weapons appeared along the walls. They looked like ancient hand cannons attached to a pivoting and swiveling mount so that whoever used it could aim it at anything outside the walls. One weapon appeared in front of me.

Mana Bolt Cannon

Quality: Above Average

Rarity: Uncommon

Durability: 50/50

Damage: 200

Weight: 20lbs

Magic effects: Launches mana bolts up to 500 feet. Twenty second recharge time between shots, power drawn from user or settlement.

These cannons had massive damage output. Even with my Dragon scale armor active, one shot from this weapon would nearly kill me. I would only have three hit points left. However, the amount of energy to launch each bolt was insane. It would cost me one hundred points of Ki in one attack to dish out that much damage, double that cost if for Mana users. Put in another way, if it uses the essence stored in the village, and with each point of essence being worth one credit, each shot costs five hundred credits. That’s some expensive ammo.

I looked around and saw there were five cannon emplacements on this section of the wall. I hoped they had deep essence reserves if they wanted us to use these weapons. The answer to how they were paying for the cannon costs came shortly.

The High Priestess pulled several items out of her storage device, including a three-foot-wide pentacle, five candles and several other ritual related things. After a short incantation, a fantom image of hounds rose from the circle and flowed into each of the cannons. I rechecked the stats of the cannon in front of me.

Mana Bolt Cannon (Blessed)

Quality: Above Average

Rarity: Uncommon

Durability: 50/50

Damage: 200

Shots Available: 1/1

Weight: 20lbs

Magic effects: Launches mana bolts up to 500 feet. Twenty second recharge time between shots, power drawn from user or settlement.

Her ritual gave each cannon a free shot before it would draw on the user or the settlement. We would have to make them each count.

Laura climbed up to the wall to address her people before the Orcs got fully into combat range.

“All right everyone. These bastards may look tough, but we have stood before monsters before. We will defend our homes no matter what this System throws at us. We are strong and the gods are on our side. With such might standing behind us, we will stand. The system may have taken our world from us, but we carved out our home. No one and nothing will take that away from us. Stand and fight, for these things are just fuel for our stores. Let us slay them and harvest their Essence. They brought war to us and they will pay in their own blood.”

Her people gave a shout, raising their weapons in the air. The High Priestess swept her long hair behind her and gave her last instructions, “Aim the cannons at their leaders, especially that Shaman. Take out their caster first and the rest will fall like wheat before the scythe.”

The Orcs managed to get within three hundred feet by the time Laura finished. They were close enough for me to get a feel for their stats.

Orc Barbarian

Level 10 Barbarian

HP: 234/234

Stam: 360/360

Mana: 120/120

Defense: 25

Orc Shaman

Level 15 Shaman

HP: 120/120

Stam: 240/240

Mana: 540/540

Orc Chieftain

Level 15 Barbarian

HP: 261/261

Stam: 414/414

Mana: 120/120

Defense: 30

I settled my hands on the cannon’s grips. As I did, a targeting reticle appeared before my eyes and it lined up with where I pointed the weapon. I zoomed my eyes in again with my Ki and the reticle remained. Between my Ki enhanced sight and the weapons targeting system, I had a functioning scope. Sweet! I aimed at the Shaman’s head, and at the High Priestess’s signal, I let loose the first shot. And thus, the battle began.