Most of us hadn’t recovered from the shock delivered from that declaration, that is, until the system sounded out for me.

[Emergency Quest]

[First Quest Overridden]

{Quest 1: Strength in Numbers

Difficulty: Young Dragon

Description: An army is heading your way in 3 days. You have 2 days to create your own army to counterattack.

Requirements: Create a team of awakened that works for you

Progress: (8/30)

Duration: 45 Hours Remaining

Reward: Epic Weapon, 70 Skill Tokens

Penalty: Death}

…well, that took quite the extreme turn. Either way, I was still planning on defending this place to protect my family and new friends. I needed to start rushing everything now, and the first step was bringing my family to a safer space. Namely, here.

****

As I headed home, I found mom and Ella waiting with a small amount of luggage. Surprisingly, father was finally awake, but he needed Mia’s support to actually stand properly. I gave everyone a small nod, and we headed towards the base. Since Matthew had remained there to get things in order with what little instructions I gave, I was the only one able to move swiftly against any threats. Honestly, I have no clue what that guy, Gluttony, did. All the monsters’ levels rose by about 5, and many more “mutations” were around. That’s how I started referring to those stronger goblins with different titles.

Just as we crossed the last intersection before the base, a squad of goblins showed up, not just any squad, either. They consisted of 3 level 24 goblin assassins, and 2 level 26 goblin warriors. Granted, they weren’t that difficult to beat, but I needed to use every opportunity I had to train and get stronger to fight off that army. I locked all my most used skills other than navigation.

I had Mia and my family stand back while the goblins charged at me. The 2 warriors charged towards me, clearly trying to cause a distraction, while the assassins stayed back to find any openings. I held my sword in my left hand, and suddenly, a fire blazed from the blade.

That was one of the skills I gained, [Dragon’s Left Fist]. It’s elements; bestowal properties were way too confusing for my current understanding. It seemed like it fused the properties to each and every particle on the outside of the blade, rather than just igniting the surrounding air.

After 1 second, my blade and their stone club slashed, creating a stalemate. However, that didn’t last for long because in the next moment I managed to melt their clubs and slice through. For my next move, I gripped the blade with my right hand too, making the fire shine brighter. I executed a side slash and cut the two goblins in half, but that wasn’t all. As if stripped straight from the sword, the fire launched in an arc towards the three assassins. Two managed to escape, but the third wasn’t so lucky and had their legs split from the rest of their body.

That was my other skill, [Enchanter’s Right Hand]. While simply fusing mana into an object didn’t seem too impressive, it was the principle behind my Power Strike skill. Even more, when combined with my former skill I was able to launch elemental attacks without having to chant, however it did cause a heavy amount of fatigue, finally giving the endurance and stamina stats some more usage.

Meanwhile, The two assassins tried fusing with the surrounding darkness, however I managed to use my new trick on them. I sent a pulse of Lumis particles to the surroundings and lit up the entire area. The shadows in the area were banished for a moment, and the two goblins were blinded, holding wrinkly arms to their beady eyes. I moved in swiftly and cut them down, thereby ending the battle.

[2 Goblin Warriors Eliminated]

[3 Goblin Assassins Eliminated]

[Experience Gaines]

[LEVEL UP]

As I was revelling in the level up, Mia seemed to be whispering something behind my back.

“You really are too strong…”

****

As we arrived at the base, the gate was already being opened. Seems like one of the people inside recognized me and decided to head out and help me. A man who looked to be in their 40s and a few others moved out to help in our two bags and my father, while Renei and 5 others, 3 men and 2 women, who I didn’t recognize stepped outside and headed towards me. One was a man in his late 20s with blonde hair and green eyes. The other was a woman who had similarly blonde hair, but much darker this time. Standing next to her was another man, clearly blessed with large muscles and a tall figure. He had black hair and brown eyes, while wearing a professional smile. Next to him was the second woman who had…silver hair? It didn’t seem to be dyed, which was even weirder to be honest. The final man was tanned to a bronze crisp and wore the smile of a playboy.

I gave Renei a light greeting and then quickly glanced towards the others, waiting for an introduction. It seemed Renei didn't have to hold the intros because the blonde man stepped out first.

“Hello, My name is Leo, I’m the leader of one of the Big 5, The Knights”

I gave him a curt nod as the next person stood up. This time it was one of the two women. She was the one with the natural silver hair, and dark eyes that didn’t seem to fit any of her features.

“I’m Sophia, Leader of The Witches,” she said hurriedly, as if not wanting to be here. Afterwards, the remaining 3 stepped out and did their introductions one by one.

“I’m Layla, Leader of Team Huntress”

“Hey there, my name’s Chase. I’m the leader of Team Berserk”

“Yo, I’m Ryder, leader of The Astrals”

All five of them didn’t seem like pushovers. In fact, they could all beat the first floor of the dungeon on their own. I didn’t use analysis this time because I had a plan. I gave each of the leaders a handshake before proceeding to introduce myself.

“Hello and thank you for coming. My name is James, and I guess you could call me the ‘Newbie Leader.’ I came here to ask of you one thing….join my team.”

All five of them thought I was joking at first, but when they saw how serous I was, they directed steely gazes towards me. The first to speak up was the blond man with green eyes.

“Why should we listen to you? You just said it yourself, you’re the ‘Newbie Leader’ over here.” He ended off with a smug expression, thinking he’d stumped me. Truly, I only had one reply to his question.

“The reason you should listen to me. I guess one reason is because I’m….the strongest one here.” I chuckled while giving them a solid stare straight to the eyes. That statement seemed to light a fire under them, because after gazing at each other they seemed to come to an agreement. The blonde man spoke up again, seeming to be the sudo representative. However, this time he pulled out a sword that was placed on his waist.

“I hope your words can be backed up with actions. If you can beat me, then The Knights will follow your commands from now on.” This was what I’d been planning for from the beginning, however fighting them one at a time would waste many valuable seconds.

“How about this, if I manage to beat all of you at once, then can I take charge of all your teams?” That was my final proposal, one that sounded utterly ridiculous.

They gave me incredulous looks for a while. However, seemingly having believed that I had no chance, they got into a battle formation. Three of them, the man and two women, stayed behind, while blonde boy and the berserker-dude remained at the front. Renei wanted to help me out, however I just told him to do the countdown.

“Are both parties ready?” He asked, through gritted teeth. They gave a serious nod while I simply gave a leisurely one.

“Alright, we will start in…”

“3….”

“2…”

“1…”

“GO”