《System imposed Universal constants》 Prologue governmental abuse It has been four years since the Australian government began overtly and aggressively cracking down on its citizens. Taxes have increased year by year, and now many businesses, big and small, have closed. Even the major banks did not escape. The economic downturn started slowly with the introduction of the net-zero plan and the new Cold War. This all happened as the government sat back and watched tent cities pop up in rural towns, and crime rates skyrocketed. The only areas not affected by the crime were the major cities, such as Melbourne. At the steps of government house Three black unmarked cars pulled up in front of Government House as a middle-aged, slightly balding man and a young woman in her mid twenties walked amongst the crowd of government employees towards the main entrance. The lady lent over to her husband, pushing her way through the chaotic kindergartners masquerading as adults. ¡°Maybe we should consider what our son said.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t rock the boat, dear. Plus, he¡¯s only 12 years old. What would he know about this government and the needs of the people maybe once stop codling him and he actually grows a pair I will listen to him but if your asking me to take the words of him to the premiere, then you can forget it that man is-¡° the man was interrupted before he could finish what he was saying just like always. Jack never got to finish when it came to this subject, his wife would always stop him before he got to far and began asking he wanted to know but also didn¡¯t, his son even at the age of twelve had no features that resembled anyone in his entire family. This was the last time he would bite his tongue, as tonight he would find out the answers one way or the other. ¡°He may only be 12, but Jake is my baby boy. He¡¯s very smart for his age and maybe we should consider his plan. Reducing the taxes on the citizens. Might help reduce the support that has been growing as of late then there¡¯s those in opposition to the Australian government. Do you think we could-¡° ¡°Dear, just stop. For once, just stop. Do you want to live in one of those tent cities out in the boonies? Were young ladies like you are attacked constantly or go live up in those hills with all the inbred farmers?¡± ¡°Yeah, you are right, Jack,¡± the lady said in a dejected voice. Jack began opening the door to the building, his hand grasping the cold steel, as he pulled hard on the handle? BOOM! The interior front fissured of the building was gone. In the rubble there lay a severed hand still clutching at the steel door handle, and beside it was the pale face of the once vibrant young lady. In a private school exclusively run for the children of government employees, children were being rushed back to their homes or, like some of the unlucky ones, such as Jake, rounded up as if they were just cattle waiting to go to the slaughterhouse. It began slowly with one or two but then the rush began as the kids were shipped off to one of the government-run orphanages known for their cruelty to the kids they were supposed to be caring for jake was unaware of what was happening to him till it was too late if he had known he would have run but no he was a good little boy and put his trust in those older than him, the same people that refused to even inform him of his parents deaths. A new life begins After four years have passed since the attack on the Melbourne government and his escape from the orphanage of hell and the rejection of his pleas to his much older step sister for adoption. Jake had finally found a place in his life he could call home. It was in a rundown back alley in the centre of Melbourne; it used to be a tattoo shop in its day that was before the government cracked down on them, stating that health was their reason. This was when people that still trusted their government, but now it is home to some of society¡¯s outcasts and drifters. In the back corner of the former shop, there was a portion of the room sectioned off by plastic tarps. This is the current home of Jake Everval and his partner, Mia Cho. Jake had a string of good luck when he found this place the lady that once used this room sold it to him for just one night¡¯s use of his body jake had nowhere else to go so he accepted the lady¡¯s offer in the hope she wouldn¡¯t hurt him. This was the night Jake began losing his way even after going through all the torture at the orphanage and being rejected by his own family jake had still held value in his life but after that night the only thing that brought him any form of happiness was his partner Mia she entered his life a few weeks after Jake¡¯s acquisition. Mia was lying on the mattress Jake had bought for the two of them with the money he had saved up after working at a coffee shop for months. It could have even been a year. Jake wasn¡¯t all that good at keeping track of dates. The shop was in one of the newly established government facilities. It housed the local enforcers and their intelligence division. The thing Jake found out quickly while working there was that the enforcers couldn¡¯t keep a secret, even if their lives depended on it. Many times, Jake overheard the itineraries of high-ranking government officials just by serving coffee. Jake had found a way to make a few extra dollars by selling this information to other unsavoury members of the public this allowing Jake to live a relatively stable life till the point he could actually support Mia¡¯s unwavering spending habits. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°Don¡¯t leave yet,¡± Mia said in just that little flirtatious way Jake couldn¡¯t resist, her dark long wavy hair draping over her natural curves, as she lay in his bed, her glistening tanned skin reflecting the morning light. ¡°You know I want to stay, Mia. I just can¡¯t. We need money so I can buy you that ring you wanted,¡± Jake said with a look of shame on his face. ¡°It¡¯s okay, my love. I can wait. You don¡¯t need to buy it yet.¡± ¡°I must. I promised you I would, so that is that. See you tonight and I will even bring back dinner for us, so you don¡¯t need to worry about that.¡± Jake said as he closed the plastic flap he used as a door to his plastic palace, his heart heavy with worry. He knew she was using him for money, but deep down, Jake truly loved her. Even if he had to sell himself, he would, just to give her a happy life. As the night was falling Jake ran home so he would be back before lockdown, he had been court out many times before only being able to bribe his way out of detention by giving the enforcers everything he had of monetary value may times he walked home naked and penny less after a long day at work. Jake had a plastic bag in each hand full of leftovers he had scrounged up from one of the takeaway shops still catering to a particular clientele. As he approached the entrance to his plastic palace, he could hear a strange noise coming from his room. Looking at the floor as he began removing his shoes, he noticed two sets of shoes, one belonging to his soon to be fianc¨¦e and the other a set of army boots, ones that could only belong to his best friend, Adam. Adam and Jake met in the orphanage before Adam was picked up by a family that had lost their son in the explosion that killed Jake¡¯s parents. It was only when Jake got his current job the two of them reconnected with him. Adam was an enforcer for the government. Jake had told Adam about everything that had happened to him after Adam left the orphanage from his many attempts at escaping but there was one thing jake had never told him and that was how he sold information about his fellow enforcers to a man belonging to the resistance movement. Mia, Adam and Jake would spend many hours together, just the three of them from going out for dinner, all at Jake¡¯s expense, of course. Then there was even the hunting trips they went on for deer on Adams vacations this was of great help to the people living in jakes building as Adam could hunt as with government approval he could sell off any meat he hunted and actually go hunting for it in the first place. People like jake on the other hand, could only hunt the rats that infested their homes. Jake was delighted that his good friend paid him a visit, as he had informed him about being away on a training exercise for a week. He pulled back the flap with a smile, ready to greet his friend. Only to see his friend and his fianc¨¦e naked as the day they were born in his bed. ¡°What the fuck are you looking at?¡± Adam said, a smile plastered on both of their faces. ¡°It¡¯s okay, husband. He might as well get one last look before you kill him and all of these rats,¡± Mia said as Adam reached for the gun on Jake¡¯s side table. Jake dropped the two bags and ran for the back door as fast as he could, his heart pounding, knowing if he stopped or even looked back, he would be dead. After all, Adam was an enforcer he could kill everyone in this building and still walk out with no repercussions. That night, people across the city could hear screams and gunfire. It wasn¡¯t just jake¡¯s building that was affected as it seems there was a big operation going on, one that Jake had not even heard about and that was saying something as enforcers liked to brag about their upcoming operations. Resistance Three years had passed since that night, and Jake found himself fighting in a resistance group based out of the Strzelecki Ranges, the same one he sold information to and also the one the one that lost so many personal on that night jake escape the city. Jake was currently leading his team in the biggest operation the resistance group had done. It was in its final phase. Jake¡¯s team of five received the task of escorting the prisoner back to a safe house, a safe house that Jake remembered well. He should because it was once the place he called home. Everything was going so smoothly until they got to the safe house. Bang! They heard a shot before one of his men¡¯s heads exploded. ¡°Contact rear!¡± Jake¡¯s team hit the ground. ¡°Fuck, boss, we¡¯re in deep shit now.¡± ¡°What is it, trooper?¡± ¡°Boss, they¡¯ve got us surrounded high and low.¡± Jake took a quick look at the situation and immediately picked up the radio. ¡°Everval Actual requests immediate Dark Night support.¡± Only static came back over the radio. ¡°Dark Night, this is Everval Actual, come in,¡± Jake repeated, but all he heard was more static. ¡°Those fucking assholes have hung us out to dry, boss,¡± the trooper said, frustration evident in his voice. ¡°Nobody is coming for you, Jake,¡± a voice echoed down the alley, chilling the air. The voice was one jake recognised as it was the same one that had hounded him every time he and his men went on a mission. ¡°Is that you, Adam? I haven¡¯t seen you in years. Are you actually going to show yourself this time or run like the bitch you are.by the way, how¡¯s your wife? Do you think she¡¯ll be up for a bit of rough and tumble like we used to do?¡± Jake shouted over the gunfire, trying to maintain some sense of bravado in the face of danger. As time passed and bullets began hitting their targets, Jake found himself with only one trooper left. ¡°Boss, it¡¯s been a blast working for you,¡± the trooper said, his voice resigned. In an instant, tragedy struck as he took a round to the neck, severing his carotid artery. At the same time, Jake was hit by three rounds, one in the shoulder and two in the stomach. He slumped over a stack of pallets, the sounds of gunfire fading into the distance. Jake watched as his last trooper died right beside him. All that could be heard was the crackling of the radio. ¡°Everval Actual, hold on. One minute out, Dark Night Actual.¡± Wind gusted down around him as Dark Night Actual finally arrived on the scene just before everything went dark. Chapter 1 picking a class Jake found himself standing in a white void with nothing but a seat and a desk in front of him. As he sat down at the desk, a voice rang out in his head, and text appeared in front of his face. [Notification Welcome to the Universal System. As you are new to the system, would you like to run the tutorial? Yes/No. Note: If you pick no, you will be required to wait in this room for your universe to finish its preliminary integration.] "What the fuck is this? I''m sure I just died, didn''t I?" He looked over the prompt again, still not comprehending what was going on. "Um, so have I been isekai''d like from one of those cheesy anime, or what? And what''s with the option to not do a tutorial? What kind of dumbass wouldn''t do a tutorial to something as messed up as this? Now, how do I select yes? Oh, a randomly placed screen." Jake reached out to touch the transparent screen, his hand going straight through it. "Well, of course that didn''t work. Just imagine all the people walking around poking at the air in front of their faces. Let''s try something else." Jake started to think of what he wanted to happen. [Notification You have selected yes. You have five minutes to select a class. After five minutes are up and you haven''t selected a class, one will be randomly picked, and you will be assigned the grade TG with stats relevant to your race.] "Okay then, what classes can I pick from? Oh, random voice in my head." [Starter class options list: Light Trooper Hunter Brawler Light Mage Trooper Shadow Mage] "Well, let''s do this scientifically." Jake closed his eyes and pointed. "So that shall be." [Notification You have selected Trooper Shadow Mage. The starting knowledge of your class will be imprinted on your true soul upon integrating into the tutorial. Your starting gear.] Jake saw a flash of light out of the corner of his eye. Moving to inspect what it was, Jake noticed it was a set of clothing in colors of greens and black. Beside a table, there were two wooden-handled knives and what looked like a muzzle-loading rifle. Beside that, there were two small satchels, one with powder and the other with bullet-shaped objects. [Notification Equip your gear before the tutorial begins in 30 seconds.] Jake grabbed his gear and quickly put them on, tying the two satchels to his belt. The moment he took off his old tattered clothes, they vanished. "Ha, it was a good thing I didn''t need them anymore," Jake laughed. The next moment, Jake''s head started to ache, forcing him to close his eyes and wish for the pain to end. After what felt like hours had passed, he slowly began opening his eyes, finding that the environment had changed once again. In his mind, some instinctive knowledge had been deposited. With a little experimentation, he figured out how to open and close his stat windows, and with some effort, he felt like he could modify the look and feel of the interface. "Now what? Maybe I should have a look around." He found himself in a corridor of sorts and decided to investigate his surroundings. He noticed that the walls were made out of metal. As he moved down the corridor, flashes of light could be seen up ahead. Moving to where the lights seemed to originate from, the corridor opened up into a large atrium with glass windows all around. "I''m in space? How is that possible?" was his first thought, followed by sheer panic as he noticed large spaceships firing even bigger streams of light at each other, causing utter chaos. Objects from the destroyed spaceships were colliding with other objects, creating big clouds of what he assumed would be his certain death. "There has to be something I''ve missed. No, I''m sure I read it correctly; it just said explore, right?" He stood there for a minute, just looking out at the chaos happening just outside. "Screw it, Jake, stop being so stubborn and just have another look at the interface." [Welcome to the Universal Constant Interface. All of your stats are laid out in a simple-to-understand format. Your unspent stat points are located at the top of your stat page, any skills that you earn, and start multipliers titles will be located underneath your stats. This is the end of the welcome tutorial introduction. Go forth and explore, Jake Everval. Universal Constant Interface Name: Jake Everval Race: Human Grade: TG Level: 1 Class: Trooper Shadow Mage Class Level: 1 Profession: None Profession Level: 0 Free Stats Available: 0 Mana: 100 Arcane: 0 Stamina: 100 Health: 100 The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Strength: 15 Agility: 15 Intelligence: 10 Wisdom: 10 Perception: 15 Integrity: 10 Skills: Steady Aim (Common) - This is a basic trooper skill that gives a passive stat boost of 5 to agility, strength, and perception. Summon Projectile (Common) - As a mage, you can use mana to summon projectiles. Note: Summon Projectile does not include any ability to launch the projector. The mana cost is determined by the projectile size. Transmute Powder (Common) - Requires pre-existing object to be turned into powder before transmuting can commence. Transmuting the powder requires knowledge of what you wish to be transmuted into. The mana cost is determined by the quantity of powder being transmuted and the rarity of the power. Shadow Strike (Common) - To strike from the shadows is your business. Gives 5% damage if the target is unaware of your attack. Universal Translate (Common) - as being newly integrated, you were given the skill to understand the language of all humanoid life forms. Identify (Common) - The ability to identify basic information on objects and other life forms. Titles: None] "Yeah, that''s what I thought; it only said explore. Wait, wait a minute. It said stat page; does that mean there''s more than one page? Possibly even an objectives page?" Jake thought, and then instantly, a new page opened up in front of him. [Objectives Main Objective: Do not die Secondary Objective: Escape the ship and travel to the third planet in this system. Bonus Objectives Available] "Okay, so that''s pretty stupid. Of course, the main objective is not to die. So, Jake, what do we need? We need a way off this ship without dying, and we need a way to navigate to the third planet." Jake thought for a moment about his dilemma and then came up with what he thought was a brilliant idea. "Okay, so ships have escape pods, right? I just need to blast myself off into the void, and Bob''s your uncle, job done. Yeah, that should work." Jake looked at his equipment, rolling his eyes at the muzzle-loading rifle. "Is this for real? This looks like a muzzle-loading rifle, but there''s something odd about it. For starters, what is with this ornate design? Who puts an engraving of a dragon eating what looks to be a spaceship? And why is the muzzle length being shortened to about half the usual length of muzzle-loading rifles? I wish I had my F88 instead of this ancient piece of crap. I don''t even remember how to load it. Well, obviously, I get the powder and the projectile, and they go down the barrel, but how much powder do I need? If I remember correctly, if I put too much powder in, I will just blow my face off." He looked at it for a good 15 minutes before he remembered something. "Identify," he thought, and instantly, a screen popped up in front of his face. [Item: Stick of Thunder (Common) Can be used to frighten weak-willed enemies or bring death. Enchanted with a self-loading function. Enchantment Requirements: Must have appropriate materials on your person for enchantment to work. Enchantment uses mana to gather materials from your person.] "I should really start identifying things more often. Maybe I should have a look at some of the other stuff I''ve got, like this cloak and those knives." [Item: Enchanted Daggers (Common) A set of two daggers usually used by those in trade professions, enchanted with the skill Raise Edge, gives 2% damage multiplier. Item: Minor Cloak of Shadows (Common) You may not be able to hide in plain sight, but you can hide in the shadows. Increases stealth by 10%. Items: Simple Clothing (Unranked) What do you expect? They cover your body.] "Ha, that last description. I like it. Anyway, let''s load this thing and find a way out of this place." As Jake was just about to leave the atrium, a cracking noise came from behind him. Looking back, he could see the dome had started to crack. His heart was pounding as he took off running for an exit. As he got through the doorway, he slammed his hand on what looked to be a switch mechanism. Red lights started to flash, and a siren started to wail as the door started to close. Jake didn''t stop as he ran, looking for an escape. Turning a corner, he ran directly into a group of humanoid creatures. [Identify Race: Humanoid Lifeform (Unknown) Grade: Unknown Level: Unknown] Jake pulled up his rifle, poured mana into it, and jumped to the side. The three creatures started yelling, "Surrender, human." Jake didn''t hesitate, squeezing the trigger before pushing more of his mana into the weapon and repeating the process once more until all three of his enemies were on the ground. Jake moved over to the three dead unknown lifeforms. "I wonder why Identify didn''t work on them," Jake thought as he started going through their pockets for anything good. "I probably should check how much mana it cost me to kill them." [Mana: 40 Stamina: 60] [Ding!, experience gained plus 3 points. Class level increased. Race human level increased.] Seeing the notification, Jake checked his stats page again. [Universal Constant Interface Name: Jake Everval Race: Human Grade: TG Level: 2 Class: Trooper Shadow Mage Class Level: 2 Profession: None Profession Level: 0 Free Stats Available: 5 Mana: 40 Arcane: 0 Stamina: 60 Health: 100 Strength: 15 Agility: 15 Intelligence: 10 Wisdom: 10 Perception: 15 Integrity: 10] ¡°Let''s run a few tests. I''ll add one point to strength to see what happens.¡± [Stats points Available: 4 Mana: 40 Arcane: 0 Stamina: 70 Health: 100 Strength: 16] ¡°So my guess is if I add a point in 2 Wisdom and Integrity, I should also get an increase in health and mana.¡± [Stat points Available: 2 Mana: 50 Arcane: 0 Stamina: 70 Health: 110 Strength: 16 Agility: 15 Intelligence: 10 Wisdom: 11 Perception: 15 Integrity: 11] ¡°It doesn''t seem like adding in wisdom has made an instant genius, but it does seem that adding points in strength feels a little stronger, so I am thinking adding points in Agility would make me quick and nimble. Let''s add the last points into Perception. I would like to see what is trying to kill me before it does. I wonder what I need to increase the arcane stat.¡± [Stat points Available: 0 Mana: 50 Arcane: 0 Stamina: 70 Health: 110 Strength: 16 Agility: 15 Intelligence: 10 Wisdom: 11 Perception: 17 Integrity: 11] ¡°Yes, it does work as I thought. It feels as if I can sense everything around me better. I should add more points to that stat when I get a chance. But I shouldn''t neglect the other stats. Ha, maybe should test out Intelligence next time, maybe that will make me an instant genius that I totally already am.¡± After searching the three dead humanoids, Jake found a necklace and six potion bottles: two red, two blue, and two green. Reading the labels, they said "Product of the Scarlett Emporium of Potions," and under that, it said "Health, Stamina, and Mana," one for each color. It was starting to sound like rain was hitting the spaceship, so Jake continued his search for a way out of this death trap of a ship. He searched corridor after corridor, the rain sounds getting louder, and then... Bang! The air started to hiss out of the corridor. Jake took a chance and pried open a locked door. As Jake squeezed through, the door slammed shut behind him. Looking around, Jake found what he was hoping for. ¡°Fuck yes, it''s a ship. It''s not pretty, but it''s still a ship. It kind of looks like one of the shuttles from the NX-01 Enterprise, except for this one is clearly armed with some kind of weapon pods on either side of its nose and more rust than any spaceship should ever have. Oh well, if it''s all I''ve got, it''s all I''ve got. Let''s just find out if this thing can fly.¡± Chapter 2 space or bust Jake walked up to what he assumed was the cargo hatch to the shuttle pushing the hatch released the door opened upwards the same way the doors on a DeLorean opened. Light mist rolled out along the floor of the shuttle. Walking inside it looked in as much disrepair as the outside, there were three seats on the right side of the cargo hold, one having half rusted away. what looked to be a Hammock was on the left with a little more room at the rear of the cargo area. walk up to the cockpit and swinging the chair around with a creak sitting in the chair was a human-shaped figure with what looked to be the same type of cloke Jake was wearing draped over it, pulling back the cloke. ¡°Ah¡± Jake screamed in Startlement ¡°you scared me, is this your shuttle my dear friend skellington do you mind if I borrow it from you.¡± Jake started to shift the bones out of the shuttle. ¡°I think I might just be going insane I''m talking to myself a lot, which is not a good sine but what is even worse than that I seem to be in what looks like a game but definitely doesn''t feel like a game. And now I''m removing a long-dead man from the cockpit of a rusted out space shuttle. Oh. And there were those three random creatures that I killed and looted, I think I really might have gone insane. Ah. But how gives a fuck its not like it won''t be fun seeing where this goes right. Just give in to the madness Jake and let''s see if we can get this rust bucket going.¡± After removing Mr skellington as Jake liked to say. Jake went back to the cockpit and had a look around the setup looked pretty simple it was set up much like a plane. its throttles yes more than one, it also had two joysticks and what looked like rudder pedals, and what was best of all it had a little dancing toy the same as what used to be put on a car dash. ¡°Push to start. Well, here we go.¡± Bing! After Jake pushed the starter one of the displays in front of him lit up with an image of the shuttle. There were three red sections and everything else was yellow and orange. Looking at the locations of the red ones it was the cockpit console, and what looked to be a small port located at the back of the shuttle near the engines, and the last one was located at the cargo door. Jake turned to look at the door. ¡° you idiot Jake. You left the door open, that would of been a quick end to the escape.¡± Jake taped the screen at the red locations doing the cockpit console first. A system dialogue box appeared in front of his face. Do you wish to claim this soul shuttle yes/no selecting yes will bined this item to your soul. warning only one soul shuttle can be bound to you. Jake thought for a moment before using identity on it Item (Soul shuttle of shadows uncommon) binds to your soul space and can be summoned. cost of summoning Mana and Stamina. Soul shuttle has a slow repair function when in your soul space. Jack checked the last two red sections one was as expected the door was open and the other was that one of the thrusters was offline. So Jake got out to check, walking around the back of the shuttle Jake notest that one of the pipes to the engine was disconnected looking around the hanger he found a tool kit. Using the tool Jake fixed the pipe and re-entered the shuttle closing the door on the way in. ¡°That''s right Jake, what were you born in a tent? Ok, one last thing to fix.¡± Do you wish to claim this soul shuttle yes/no ¡°Yes,¡± Jake confirmed the moment he did his body felt as if it was being torn apart at the fundamental layer. This went on for what seemed like hours but in reality, it had only been thirty seconds. After the pain had stopped a new one started but at least Jake knew what this pain was. The knowledge of how to operate the shuttle Jake had a smile that would swear a baby. ¡°Now I just need to rename it because Stan is not a good name for a ship no matter what anyone tries to tell you. I think I will call it rusty.¡± Jake knew if he wanted to get out of here he would need a full supply of mana and then some, so he chucked back a mana Potion and just waited for the cool-down timer to end. An hour later Jake was finally ready to give his plan a shot. His plan was to fire one of the mana rounds located at the nose of the shuttle at the hanger door then instantly chuck back another position and blast out of the hole made as fast as the shuttle could go to try and prevent being shot at by one of the ships out there. Jake reached for the button to start up the shuttle. After activating the shuttle started groaning as if it was an old wooden ship battling a ferocious storm on the high seas. Grasping the trigger on one of the joysticks Jake engaged the weapons system, mana drained out of him at a shocking rate, he went from full mana down to zero with just one shot. His head throbbed from mana starvation popping the stopper off of the potion bottle and chugging it back. As it only gave him back 100 points of mana Jake was still not at 100% so there was no way he could fire that weapon again any time soon. As looking over his mana issue the area around the shuttle started to be shredded. Projectiles the same shape and size as ones from a World War Two battleship''s main canon were ripping everything apart. Jake knew he was in the shit and without thinking pushed the throttles to 100% and activated the ship''s mana shield. Jake was pushed hard back in his seat. ¡°I''m going to be turned into a puddle if this keeps up for much longer,¡± Jake grunted out. Reaching for the throttles to try to reduce the G-forces on his body as notifications kept popping up in front of him. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Warning Stamina low Use of Stamina extremely high, health will be affected if Stamina hits zero. Warning Mana level zero The shuttle will start to break down if excessive force on the hull continues. Warning Stamina zero Use of Stamina exceeding system parameters Health and environmental Arcane energy is being used to give you a momentary burst of power. Jake felt a rush of energy fill his body and the environment around him seemed to slow down and his perception of everything around him was heightened, jake could see every rust Particle floating in the cabin air. He pulled the throttles to 0% releasing the pressure on him. ¡°That wa-¡± Jake didn''t get to finish what he was saying before everything went black. Waking up Jake couldn''t move his body at all his muscles felt on fire and his head was Aking. ¡°I think I might just rest here for a bit.¡± Jake lost consciousness again It took Jake 24 hours before he attempted to move again. Jake tried to move his arm to get the potions that he kept in his pocket only then did he realised his pocket was rather wet. All but one of his potions had smashed. ¡°It may be my bad luck or good fortune as you are the only one that survived.¡± Looking at the red Liquid Jake brought it up to his lips pulling the stopper out with his teeth and sipping down the liquid being careful not to spill a drop. The precious liquid slowly fixing some of the major damage to Jake''s body. After the health potion had taken effect Jake decided to check his notifications. Warning health low Warning health extremely low Warning health at 1% Any more damage and physical and spiritual break-up will begin. Arcane awakening has occurred as you don''t meet the minimum requirements to use Arcane energy your body will slowly brake down when Arcane energy is used. New skill gained (Arcane boost Rare) Provides a powerful boost to your physical body. Uses Arcane energy to keep operating. A backlash will occur when deactivated. New skill gained (Arcane Time dialation Unique) Slows time in the localised area around the caster this skill will only activate in times of the caster''s greatest need. A backlash will occur when the skill deactivates. ¡°So almost killing yourself is a way to get new skills. I don''t think I will be doing that to often, I hope.¡± Jake''s health increased just enough that he could start moving around, he started by looking around his new shuttle. There looked to be some built-in Cupboards on both sides of the cargo section of the shuttle. Opening up the one above the seats there was a small cauldron. ¡°This better not be some kind of Alchemy bull shit, shore the potions are grate but really spending hours just sitting in front of a pot just seems boring as bat shit to me.¡± Jake put it back and decided to check the other side. Removing the Hammock and reaching over to open the Cupboard. Jake started to pray. ¡°no alchemy please.¡± ¡°A book it''s a fucken book wh-.¡± Reading the title of the book it said Tomb of the Wondering Arcane Smith. And beside the book was a ring. ¡°Yes, yes it''s not Alchemy.¡± Jake picked up the book. Sitting down on one of the seats he opened the tomb A light shone from the pages blinding Jake momentarily Then once he could say again he noticed the book had vanished. Quickly scanning over his stat page he read the new section for his profession. Profession You now start your new journey down a path that many have failed in there is no way to change professions after it has begun good luck. Jake everval. Here is your system hint for your path look at how alchemists work and find a good cauldron. ¡°Ok, now that is just depressing I get a profession that said it was smithing but it turned out to be related to alchemy. Well, I might as well use identify on the ring and that cauldron, Oh there also was that necklace from when I looted those three back then as well.¡± Item (Inferior necklace of breathing common) Creates a weak bubble of air around the user. Can be broken if impacted hard, lasts one hour. Item (Ring of holding common) Can store non-organic items, has limited space can''t store large items. Item (Cauldron of the smith redacted) This cauldron once belonged to a renowned smith his journey took him through the integrated universe his end is unknown to the system. +20 to intelligence +10 to Perception +10 to wisdom +10 integrity upgradeable. Requirements soul bound Jake put on the necklace and ring, before having another look at the cauldron. Do you wish to bind this item to your soul yes/no ¡°Yes, I would say yes just for the stats but the story has me interested.¡± Universal constant interface Name Jake everval Race Human Grade TG Level 2 Class trooper shadow mage Class level 2 Profession Arcane Smith Profession level 0 stats points available Mana 210 Arcane 300 Stamina 100 Health 210 Strength 16 Agility 15 Intelligence 30 Wisdom 21 Perception 27 Integrity 21 ¡°That felt good, it not only increased my stats but also filled them back up to full again.¡± Jake decided to have a look in the storage ring to see if anything was left in there. Inside was one bit of paper with writing on it there was also a stack of ingots and two barrels of powder using identify, Jake saw that the powder was iron powder and the ingots were also iron with a couple of unidentifiable ones mixed in. Jake decided to read the note that was left in the ring. Some call me the wondering arcane smith. But to you, I will be your guide to gain my guidance on something related to smithing just send arcane energy into this paper and we shall meet. Chapter 3 to become the tradesmen Back in the cockpit, Jack had plotted a course to his destination planet with the help of the navigation computer. He pushed the power up as high as he could handle before taking damage and set the computer to autopilot. If everything worked as it was meant to, it should put him in a stable orbit. The only problem was that at this speed, it would take Jake three months to get there. ¡°Well, since I have some time and not much else to do, I suppose I could rethink the whole sitting and staring at a cauldron for hours on end if the whole space travel thing is like.¡± Jake went to the back of the cargo section of the shuttle, sat down, and pulled out the cauldron, placing it in front of him. Then he pulled out the scrap of paper. ¡°Okay, let''s get this started, shall we?¡± Jake pushed some of his mana into the scrap of paper. At first, nothing happened, but in the next minute, Jake was in a dark valley on what looked to be a planet similar to Earth, but with some differences, like the fact that there were two moons, one of them as red as Mars and as big as it as well. The other, well, that was normal, at least for a moon of a different planet. Walking down the valley, Jake came across a small cottage with what looked like candlelight flickering out of the windows. Jake approached the door and started to knock. The door cracked open with a slight groan. Jake called out. ¡°Excuse me, is anyone home? I seemed to have been summoned here when I used some paper I found. Hello.¡± Jake pushed open the door, and as he did, cobwebs, the likes of which a person with arachnophobia would nope the hell out, filled the room. Jake picked up a stick and started swinging it around like a kid playing with a wooden sword, cobwebs flying everywhere. As Jake got deeper in, the cobwebs started to clear, leading to a room with bookshelves filled with scrolls and one bookshelf with an ornate crystal embedded in a shelf. Looking more closely, the shelf with the crystal was the only one that didn''t have a silver glow over it. On the shelf with the crystal, there was some writing. "Test of eligibility to the path, place your hand on the crystal and all will be revealed." Jake reached out his hand, placing it on the crystal. ¡°Um, was that smart, Jake?¡± The crystal glowed for a second before Jake was teleported deep underground somewhere. And as on cue, a message appeared. ¡°You have met the minimum requirements of the wandering arcane smith. The second test, the test of death, will commence in ten seconds. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. Time to die, haha just messing with you. The real test will begin now.¡± At Jake''s feet were a cauldron and a ring the same as the one he was wearing before he was teleported underground. Jake picked it up and used Identify. Item: Test Ring of the Wandering Arcane Smith. Holds materials to complete this test. Note: this ring will be destroyed on completion of the test scenario. Item: Test Cauldron. Note: this cauldron will be destroyed on completion of the test scenario. ¡°Test scenario: There is a time-delayed explosive charge that is set to explode if a specific key is not inserted in ten days. The key specifications can be found on the wall of the next chamber. This is your last chance to turn back. Just say ''There''s no place like home'' and back you go. ¡°Well, Jake, do you want to be a wimp, or do you want to do the hard thing? All you have to do is take one step forward, just one step.¡± In Jake''s mind, a memory of him standing in front of his men before he asked them to accompany him on that fatal mission. ¡°You all know the stakes on this one, so I will not order you to do this mission with me. So anyone who is willing to follow me jus¨C¡± Jack was cut off as all of his men stepped forward at the same time. ¡°Just one step.¡± They all yelled. Thinking back on that time, a tear rolled down his face. ¡°Well, boys, here we are.¡± Jake''s body moved on instinct, and he screamed. ¡°JUST ONE STEP!¡± Jake stepped into the next room. In the center of the room was a box with a lock on it, and on the wall was a picture of a key. Looking around the rest of the room, there was a bed and a cabinet filled with potions. There were the three that he knew and one more, its color was black as night. Using Identify on it. Item: Arcane Potion of Rejuvenation, Common. Helps to rejuvenate arcane energy for 24 hours. ¡°You have decided to push headlong into certain death. Good luck, junior wonder. I hope you live long enough so we can meet. To move forward on this path, you need to have the guts to do the hard things. Warning: Time remaining 09:23:58:34 ¡°Well, a little fucking help in knowing how to start to make the bloody key would be good, don''t you think?¡± Jake said as he walked over to look at the wall. ¡°Actually, I take it back, this might work.¡± Looking under the key, there were three sets of words: Arcane Flame, Arcane Hammer, and Mana Shield. Under each set was a picture: the first one was a man sitting down with his hand on his cauldron, with black clouds entering his body while it looked like they were mixing with something else and then being pushed out into the cauldron. The second image was basically the same, only the color of the second energy coming out was green. The third one was a man pushing out energy from all over his body. Thinking about it for a while, Jake decided he would start with the third one, Mana Shield. Sitting down, he thought back to how the shuttle used his mana to make a shield. The way it worked was it pulled the mana from deep inside of me, from what felt like my brain, then put it in an accumulator, drawing in more from outside of the shuttle before releasing it and repeating the process. It did this multiple times a second, which created a physical shield. ¡°Okay, Jake, let''s think this through. If the mana is stored in my head, which begs the question, how does so much mana get stored there? You know there''s only so much room after all. Back on track, there''s no time for tangents, to copy the pictures the mana needs to go throughout all of my body before I release it in a burst. Let''s give it a try.¡± Warning: Time remaining 09:01:01:13 ¡°All this time and all I managed to do was spread the mana throughout my body. Maybe I''m thinking about this all wrong. If I am working with a cauldron, shouldn''t I be just trying to shield the top of the cauldron? That would help keep it at a constant temperature, right?¡± Jake sat down, putting one hand over the cauldron. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Now let''s try this again.¡± Warning: Time remaining 08:09:03:02 ¡°Not bad, about two days to get this to work.¡± Ding! Profession level increased +1 point New skill (small mana shield common) You can produce a small physical shield of mana anywhere on your body. Crackling sounds were coming from underneath Jake''s hand, a barrier covering the top of the cauldron. Jake went back to the images. ¡°Let''s try the second one, as it is the only one with color I''m guessing the green is referring to Stamina as green is the color of the stamina potions.¡± Jake put his hand on the cauldron and, after a moment of thought, attempted to summon the image of his skill, Steady Aim. Though he couldn''t recall using it in his previous fight, he now didn''t have a firearm to test it. Instead, he focused on visualizing how the skill might work, trying to understand its relationship with Stamina. Hours later, Jake was shadowboxing his way around a ticking time bomb. His plan was to use his perception to look at how his Stamina moved through his body. ¡°I feel like I''m getting closer to figuring this out.¡± Warning: Time remaining 06:00:60:54 Sweat was streaming down Jake''s face as he sat on the floor with his legs crossed and a hand on his cauldron. Ding! Profession level increased +1 point New skill (Arcane hammer rare) Use your Arcane energy to reshape items. Jake got up and walked over to the cabinet to grab a potion. Chugging back the potion, Jake came to a realization. ¡°I''ve been taking these potions for days now, and this cabinet doesn''t seem to have any less than the first time I took one. It''s truly a pity I can''t take them with me when I leave this place.¡± Jake sat on the side of the bed, his eyes heavy as he drifted off. Warning: Time remaining 05:13:59:07 ¡°I may have napped a bit longer than I intended.¡± Getting up, Jake walked over to the images again. ¡°I think I''ve got this one. I''ve already figured out half of it; I just need to figure out the rest and make this key so I can get the hell out of here.¡± Jake brought in the arcane energy from around him and forced it through his body, similar to how he used the Arcane Hammer skill. This time, he attempted to add in his own arcane energy. Just as it seemed like it was going to work, Jake''s hand exploded, blood and bits of fingers flying all around him. Jake screamed as he grabbed his wrist and rushed over to the potions. Feeling weaker and weaker, he finally drank down the potion, relaxing and letting go, collapsing into his weakened state, sleep taking him away from the endless pain. Warning: Time remaining 04:00:00:01 The first thing he noticed upon waking up was the time remaining, then the other messages. Ding! Class level increased +15 points Ding! Grade level increased +20 points New skill (rebirth of the exploding body unique) Will passively heal the user. Stamina is converted into temporary units of integrity to provide healing at a 100 to 1 ratio. Warning: the system recognizes that you have a tendency for self-harm; the system recommends you seek medical advice. ¡°Well fuck, I don''t want to do that again. Let''s think this through. My hand was destroyed the moment the two arcane energies touched. So maybe it''s as simple as not combining them until they have left the body. I think I should have another look at the image.¡± Looking at the image, it was obvious what had gone wrong. The two arcane energies didn''t touch; they were released at the same rate and only touched when they were inside the cauldron. Jake sat back down at the blood-covered cauldron and tried again. At first, it started to work, but the flame couldn''t hold its form and exploded up out of the cauldron. Jake tried for two days to get it to work. He tried increasing the amounts, and varying the amounts, all to no avail. With only two days left, he had one last idea. If the problem is that it keeps exploding, maybe that is what it is meant to do. So what he did was to form a barrier over the cauldron and try that. Ding! Profession level increased +1 point New skill (Arcane flame rare) An explosive flame contained within a mana barrier. Stats at the end of chapter 3: Universal constant interface Name Jake Everval Race Human Grade TG Level 4 Class Trooper Shadow Mage Class level 17 Profession Arcane Smith Profession level 3 stats points available 38 Mana 210 Arcane 300 Stamina 100 Health 210 Strength 16 Agility 15 Intelligence 30 Wisdom 21 Perception 27 Integrity 21 Items: Skills: Titles: Chapter 4 to become the tradesmen (continued) Warning: time remaining 01:22:19:30 Jake sat in front of the cauldron with a chunk of twisted metal in his hand. ¡°This is harder than I thought it would be. I can''t seem to split my concentration three ways. I need to control the flame''s heat by constantly changing the amount of arcane energy, also control the mana shield matching it to the flame''s power, and finally control the arcane hammer to form the shape needed to make the key.¡± Grabbing a fresh ingot out of the ring, he tried again until all the time he had left was two hours. ¡°Only enough time left for one more go. I need to relax. I need to clear my mind. Instead of trying to control everything, I need to go by instinct. I can''t see everything at once, but I can feel it. Maybe I should put all of the free points into Perception. No, Jake, that would be stupid. Be smart. While it would give me a better feeling of what is going on around me, that''s not going to help me now. Putting points in the others is not going to help much right now either. So, just clear your mind, Jake.¡± As Jake got into forging the key, he looked like a mindless robot just completing its task. As the key started to form, Jake pushed and squeezed the metal, finally forming the key. It popped out of the cauldron and landed in Jake''s hand. Identify: Ding! Profession level increased +2 points New skill (Empty Minded, Common): Enter a state of meditation to help regenerate lost stats and to split your focus on multiple tasks. Warning: time remaining 00:00:01:10 Reading how much time he had left, Jake ran and put the key in. Once he did, the key started to disintegrate. Jake thought he had screwed up, but then a welcome message appeared. ¡°Congratulations, you have completed this part of the test. Keep up the good work. The next test will begin shortly.¡± Jake sat down to meditate while he waited for the next test. ¡°Welcome to part two of the test. In this test, you will need to make a simple firearm of common rarity. Time duration 90 days. If you are unable to complete this task, you will be forcibly removed from the test, sent back to your true body, and you will receive permanent soul damage from the removal of all knowledge of the Wandering Arcane Smithing path. May your path rule supreme.¡± In the room, Jake noticed that a bookshelf had appeared. It had a range of information on the art of smithing and alchemy. Then there were a few books on the general knowledge of newly integrated universes and the like. Warning: time remaining 89:23:58:03 With time ticking away, Jake set forth on his new long journey to recreate his beloved F88 but with some advancements like a self-loading feature, increasing the damage output, and much more. But to get to that, Jake needs to be able to create a basic firearm. Maybe even just a blunderbuss would be a good starting point. Jake went over to the bookshelf and picked up the first book on smithing, "The Beginner''s Guide to the World of Smithing." The image on the cover was a short, long-bearded man hitting a piece of metal on an anvil with a large hammer. "The Beginner''s Guide to the World of Smithing," written by Garok Stormhammer of the Rock Eater tribe. Chapter One: "The Hammer is Mighty, So Wield it with Pride." To shape the metal, you must use precise pressure. To do this, we must first forge our bodies to wield our tools. For a smith, this means strength is the name of the game. Our tools are heavy." The book went on like this for quite a while. It did go over some useful stuff, such as temperatures and the fact that the traditional smiths really didn''t like arcane smiths at all. Arcane smiths, it seemed, were outcasts in the eyes of the smithing and alchemy paths. ¡°So, I''m basically on my path with little to no information to guide me. I did find it odd that none of the books on this bookshelf have anything to do with arcane smithing, and it seems this wandering arcane smith never decided to make any.¡± Jake spent all his time in between smithing and reading books. One of the things he learned from the books was that strangely enough, he had the requirements to do some alchemy. He just couldn''t do any advanced stuff. He should be able to make the potions that he has been using the whole time he had been in this test, but that would be it. And he couldn''t even make them any better than they are. One of the reasons for this is that due to him using an arcane flame, he was no longer able to create a soul flame. Jake didn''t care much about this information, as alchemy is not a path he wished to follow. He may dabble in it, but that is all. As for normal smithing, he could still do that for now, but why would he? He would need to put basically all his points into strength, and that just didn''t sit well with him at all. So, Jake continued on his path with even more enthusiasm. Unlike the paths he read about in these books, Jake''s path was not written. It was truly his path to write. There was no right or wrong way to do anything on the path of the arcane smith. Other than that, there was some information on the person who set up this test. It seems that this person once came from a planet where arcane energy was in abundance. When their universe was integrated into the system, powerful forces descended upon the planet to harvest its resources. The planet was strip-mined and left a dead, dry wasteland. All of the people were taken as slaves. The creator of this test, being the only one who did the tutorial on her planet, had just enough power to escape and hide on the dead planet. She stayed there until she could build a shuttle, then she set out into the cosmos. There were also some statistics on how many people have passed this test. Out of one million, 10 people have passed the second test, being able to keep the knowledge they acquired, and 0 people have passed the third and final test. This just made Jake want to succeed even more. To do that, he would have to push his smithing to the limits, and then he will need to keep going. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. After some deliberation, Jake had changed his plans a little bit. He had decided to still go with the Broomstick 0.1; this is what he was calling his design. But what he would do was add auto-reload, making it into an automatic shotgun, and he would upgrade the power if he could. And as there is no point in having a firearm without ammunition, he would make some of that as well because if his guess is right, he is going to need it for the last test. Warning: time remaining 30:00:01:09 ¡°It''s time. I''ve made all the preparations I can. I have leveled up and allocated most of my points. I just need to do this last big push.¡± Universal Constant Interface Name: Jake Everval Race: Human Grade: TG Level: 6 Class: Trooper Shadow Mage Class Level: 17 Profession: Arcane Smith Profession Level: 13 Stats points Available: 18 Mana: 360 Arcane: 500 Stamina: 200 Health: 360 Strength: 16 Agility: 25 Intelligence: 50 Wisdom: 36 Perception: 27 Integrity: 36 Jake sat at the cauldron, his arcane energy blazing inside the metal. He formed the metal into the barrel, then the stock, and finally, the trigger mechanism. This process went on for days as part after part was formed. No breaks could be had, as all of the parts needed to be made together so that they could be put together into the final form. Also, Jake needed to lay enchantments on the appropriate parts as they were being made. If Jake did it in parts, the final item wouldn''t be seen by the system as a whole item, therefore not being able to get that common tag at the end. As more time passed, Jake was approaching the deadline. Warning: time remaining 02:00:10:56 Bang! The cauldron exploded. Jake was scared; he messed up. But then his item floated into his hands. Item: Broomstick 0.1, Common. Broomstick 0.1 is the first common rarity item forged by Jake Everval. With its wide-spreading projectiles, it will blow your enemies away. Enchantments: auto-reload and a damage multiplier at the rate of 1 to 1.2. ¡°So, the multiplier is not great, but at least it''s there. Now for that beautiful sound I''ve been wanting to hear.¡± Ding! Profession level increased +2 points Ding! Grade level increased +10 points Title: Initiate Arcane Smith. You have opened the path and taken the first steps on your journey. +9 points to all non-grade level advancements and +20 points to grade level advancements. ¡°I don''t mean to complain, but couldn''t I get the levels after I get the title? It just seems as if I''m getting ripped off. Like I could have just got what, 40 points then? But no, I got 12. It just seems wrong.¡± Congratulations, you are the eleventh humanoid to pass the second test. The third and final test will begin in three hours. Use your time well. Jake decided to meditate and take potions when the cooldowns would allow. Jake got up and loaded the Broomstick 0.1, ready for what he thinks is to come next. ¡°The next test will begin in one minute.¡± Jack looked at the cooldown timer, then grabbed one last mana potion and popped the cap, ready to drink it three seconds before the next test starts. He drank it just as he was getting teleported away. The moment he felt solid ground again, a green, hairy, spider-like creature attacked him. Swinging the broomstick around to meet its face, Jake pulled the trigger, blowing its head to bits. After the first attack, he scanned the room. It was bad. He was backed up against a wall deep in some kind of cave, and cobwebs were everywhere. In the distance, he could hear the chittering of spiders. And at least he knew now what had happened to the others, as bones could be seen scattered all over the ground. Test objectives: Escape the nest. Bonus objective: Kill the mother spider. Information on the mother spider: She has five guardians that you will need to slay before you can reach her. Also, be wary of the shadows. Rewards will be allocated at the end of the test scenario. ¡°I don''t believe it. So, she now wants me to play pest control and eradicate all of these spiders. I won''t say no, but really, pest control? That was what Aaron did before he joined my team and got killed on that mission. Man, did he use to go on and on about that shit? Maybe I should have listened to him. It might have just come in quite handy right now, or maybe it wouldn''t. Now I will never know, and that is what''s bugging me the most.¡± Jake started setting up a defensive position so that he could hold off the onslaught of spiders that were heading his way, he stacked boulders up in front of himself to try and funnel the spiders towards himself. Chapter 5 into the spiders nest "Fuckin'' spiders." Jake stood on top of a dead spider, Broomstick 0.2 pointed at its head, smoke coming out of the barrel. He sat directly on top of it like it was his throne. ¡°This nest needs to be set ablaze,¡± Jake muttered under his ragged breathing. After a while, Jake closed his legs and entered meditation. When he got up, he reloaded his weapon, ready for round two. ¡°Well, there is one good thing coming out of this. My levels are progressing at an astounding rate. I''ve gained 100 class levels and 10 grades levels in just this one fight. I think while I have the chance, I might use all of those free points.¡± Universal Constant Interface Name: Jake Everval Race: Human Grade: TG Level: 16 Class: Trooper Shadow Mage Class Level: 117 Profession: Arcane Smith Profession Level: 13 Stats points Available: 0 Mana: 3360 Arcane: 3500 Stamina: 3200 Health: 3360 Strength: 116 Agility: 225 Intelligence: 350 Wisdom: 336 Perception: 157 Integrity: 336 ¡°Well, that''s just what I needed. Now I should be able to put up a halfway decent fight with these bloody spiders. On that note, I don''t think I have used Identify on them yet. I don''t know what they''re called. I do know the levels must be low, as they die really quick when they''re shot in the face. Oh, speak of the devil.¡± Identify Web Spider Baby Level 5 ¡°Oh, that kind of makes me feel bad. I''ve been killing babies all this time.¡± Jake took off at a sprint, jumping into a flip just before he reached the baby spider and blowing its head off. Ding! Jake continued down the tunnel the baby spider came from, walking slowly, using his newly boosted perception to try to see in the darkness of the cave system. The ground Jake was walking on loosened as he started to fall down a tunnel, only to be caught in the grasp of a spider. Jake instantly used Identify on it. Identify Trapdoor Spider Guardian Level 40 ¡°I''ve got to get out of here now. I can''t fight it here.¡± Jake fired his weapon into the spider''s front legs, using up quite a few rounds before the legs gave out and the spider fell back down in its web. Jake may have gotten free from the spider''s grasp, but he still had a big problem; he was still stuck in the spider''s web. Jake struggled for a bit, only to realize he was stuck firm. ¡°Only one thing to do about it.¡± Jake stopped struggling as the spider regained its composure and headed back up its web to take its revenge on its attacker. As it got in range to strike, a flash of light filled its vision, followed by what could only be described as a catastrophe for the spiders in the cave: flames ripped through the cave with an area reaching at least 50 meters. Everything was charred black with soot. In the middle of all this was a man as black as the area around him. Groans could be heard coming from the body. Ding! Class level increased +100 points Ding! Grade level increased +30 points New skill gained (Arcane Bomb, Uncommon): A bomb of arcane energy, destruction output equal to the amount of energy put in. Warning: in this form, the bomb cannot be thrown, so the same destructive force will impact the user. ¡°Arr, that hurt.¡± Jake was lying on the ground almost as naked as the day he was born, his skin burned and cracked from both the explosion and the blowback from using a skill well above the level he should be able to. It was a skill he came up with after reading about how alchemists could do a similar thing with their soul energy, but there was a big difference between the two. The one that alchemists could use did not impact the user, as it was literally part of them; it was the soul. But Jake''s version was not. It was pure arcane energy that had been compressed inside his body and released in a physical form. Once it had been released, there was no turning back. It would explode the moment any external influence hit it. Jake, sadly, had not overcome this limitation, so he really didn''t want to try it. If he had tried it before he upgraded his stats, he would be a dead man. Jake couldn''t move. If any spiders came to see what had happened, Jake would be easy food for them. So Jake decided he would try to regain some health by doing a quick round of meditation before finding a safer location. Five hours had passed, and finally, Jake could move his body once more. He was still in pain, but at least he could move. He headed back down the shaft for about 20 meters before he found a crack just big enough for him to fit in. But Jake first had to drag out the corpse of a spider. Climbing inside, he dragged the spider corpse over the entrance and sat down. Jake had lost everything but his weapon. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡°I need to figure this out. Well, it''s going to be an odd sight, but who is going to be here to see it?¡± After three or four days, Jake had regained enough of his health to put his plan in motion. He remembered when he entered the cave, there were two small bags the same as the ones he had for his ammo. So he decided to sneak back there and quickly grab them before heading back to his hiding hole to make some ammo. Then his true plan would begin.
A month had passed since Jake began his rampage through the spider''s nest. In the cabin of a battleship was a lady with a white complexion, fiery red hair, and freckles on her face. She was dressed in a reversible black and red cloak with a black corset-style mini-dress with purple lacing, the same as her knee-high boots. She looked as if she was in her mid-twenties. She had a set of displays open in front of her. One display showed a playback of Jake Everval going through the first two tests, and beside that display was one showing Jake and his naked body, using his agility to outmaneuver the last of the guardian spiders. He flipped over the back of the spider, landing just behind its head, pulling out his weapon and sending round after round into its head until it stopped moving. ¡°My lady, Aaliyah LaFlame, it''s time. The fleet is ready.¡± The man stood there, staring at the naked man on the screen before commenting. ¡°Does he not have shame? What kind of person would just walk around in the nude like that? If he was here, I would slap him so hard he would never walk again, so shameful.¡± Aaliyah looked directly at the man. ¡°And I suppose I am shameless as well, as I am watching it. Is that what you meant?¡± ¡°No, no, my lady. I would never imply that,¡± the man said, shaking from fear. ¡°Well, enough of this. Let''s show these foolish divine-level gods why you should not mess with the Wandering Imperium.¡± She strolled up to the bridge of the battleship, looking over the enemy fleet. The bridge was crowded with people sitting at consoles. She looked over at the weapons officer. ¡°Aron, how are the fleet''s weapon systems?¡± ¡°All operating at 100%, my lady.¡± ¡°Well, tell the fleet to start the battle with a bang.¡± The bridge''s activity increased as the weapons officer began to give orders to the fleet. Outside of the ship, the enemy fleet had sent out fighters, and behind the battleships, there were slaver fleets and a transport fleet. In the bridge of the enemy flagship, the commander was red with anger. The men and women on the bridge were in shock. ¡°The audacity of those slaves to rise up and follow the order of that bitch. They deserve what is coming for them. For fuck''s sake, we have nine divine-level gods here in this fleet, and what does she have? None, not a single one.¡± ¡°Sir, something''s happening with the enemy fleet.¡± ¡°Ha, you call that a fleet? That''s nothing but a bunch of rubbish transport ships. The only one that is any good is that one in the middle, which I recommend you start firing at.¡± A moment later, as the commander of the flagship was still pointing at Aaliyah''s ship, the space in front of him turned into a cloud of debris. As this was going on, Aaliyah''s fleet had split, half of the fleet heading to one side, while half were on a collision course straight into their enemy''s fleet. With nobody having any time to maneuver out of the way, the ships collided together, debris going everywhere. ¡°To the heroes!¡± all the people in Aaliyah''s fleet chanted. ¡°It''s time to beat the dogs,¡± Aaliyah said. As she said this, her ship started to glow brighter until she said one word, ¡°fire,¡± and then everything and everyone was absolutely silent. The only noise was haunting laughter that was transmitted out of Aaliyah''s ship, followed by a statement. ¡°Now you know what it''s like to face a real smith, and soon there will be two of us.¡±
Jake stood at the entrance to the mother spider''s nest. She was the only one left, and she knew it. She was waiting for him to come in. Jake, on the other hand, had one or two things to do before he started that fight. One of the things he had to do was have a good, solid nap. The other was to fix his stats; he now had a lot more points to deal with. Universal Constant Interface Name: Jake Everval Race: Human Grade: TG Level: 49 Class: Trooper Shadow Mage Class Level: 427 Profession: Arcane Smith Profession Level: 13 Stats points Available: 130 Mana: 6360 Arcane: 13500 Stamina: 13200 Health: 13360 Strength: 616 Agility: 725 Intelligence: 1350 Wisdom: 936 Perception: 457 Integrity: 1336 Jake got up from his nap and checked his supply of ammo. Knowing he had a rough fight ahead, Jake made as much as he could. Starting off down the walkway to the mother spider, Jake looked at his companion. ¡°You''re not looking too good, Broomstick, my old mate. I don''t think you''ve got much more in you. I''m sorry it''s come to this after what we''ve been through, but can you give me just one more kill?¡± In a large cavern, there was an eight-legged monster, not a human and not a spider. It had the body of a spider, but where the head would be was the top half of a human from the waist up. Her head was mostly human, all except the eyes, as there were eight of them. ¡°Why does the human come and kill my offspring? I don''t believe that the treaty with the Hunters Guild has been broken. So, who sent you, human?¡± ¡°I was sent here as a test, a test I intend to win.¡± Jake launched himself forward, firing his weapon as he dodged a spear strike. ¡°You can''t win this fight, human. You''re not strong enough to put me down like you did those weaklings.¡± ¡°So, you think I can''t kill you. Well, I guess I will just have to test that.¡± Jake rounded on one of the spider''s legs, firing five rounds into her leg, only to have them bounce off, not even leaving a scratch. ¡°Ha ha ha, you really thought that a peashooter could harm me? You really don''t know what you''re up against. Go on, Identify me. I will let you.¡± Jake was about to say something back, only to stop as he just realized he really did forget to Identify the spider. Identify Funnel-web Spider Queen Evolved Level 105 ¡°Oh fuck,¡± Jake thought. ¡°You now know the folly of fighting me. So just surrender and become a slave.¡± Chapter 6 strange encounter "Not going to happen," Jake shouted. Moving into the shadow of the spider queen, Jake tried to think of a way to win this fight. "Running now, are you?" the spider said. To Jake''s surprise, it just so happened that this spider''s evolution had an effect that the other spiders didn''t have. She simply couldn''t see behind herself, and if she couldn''t, then Jake had an opening that he could abuse. Jake looked over the spider and with some hesitation, once he found an opening, he launched out of the shadow, his arm made into a fist rammed deep inside the spider''s abdomen. The spider queen let out a blood-curdling groan. "Get that out of me, you-" Before she could finish her sentence, Jake activated a skill that almost killed him the last time he used it. The arcane bomb blew the spider to bits; only her human half survived the explosion. Jake surprisingly was not as badly injured as he was last time he used the skill. He assumed it must have been because his arm was isolated inside the spider. That being said, Jake was still badly injured; his arm was blown off, and the left side of his body was burned. But he could stop the bleeding from his arm with the string from his ammo bag. And with some meditation, his injuries will heal in time. What he needed to do now was to end this test so that he can get out of here and back to his shuttle, which by now would have made it to the planet if all went well, and Jake wasn''t holding his breath that it would have. Jake walked over to what was left of the queen. The queen was looking at him with rancor in her eyes. "You, you''re one of that bitch''s puppets, aren''t you? How else could you use one of her techniques?" "I am no puppet, and as for that technique, I may have not been the first to create it, but it is my skill, not someone else''s." Jake put his weapon up against her head. "Don''t kill m¨C." Bang! Ding! Class level increased +100 points Ding! Grade level increased +30 points "Oh, did you want to say something? Sorry, I couldn''t hear you over the sound of your head exploding." The moment Jake made it to the entrance of the cave, there was a flash of light, and Jake found himself standing in front of a beautiful lady. He just stood there for a minute before remembering something he had forgotten. "Oh," His hands went down to cover his private parts. "Sorry for my indecency, but, well, you know when you blow your clothing off and you have no spares." The lady just stood there for a while as she stared at him. "Um, why am I here?" "Because I have a gift for you." She threw Jake a set of clothing and a new cloak; they looked to be in the same colors as what she was wearing. "May I ask what your name is and why it took you so long to hand me some clothes?" Jake said as he put on the clothing and for once used Identify on his clothing and the lady standing in front of him. New item (Clothing of the Wandering Imperium pants and top rear) Self-repair function and +1000 points to intelligence when equipped Soulbound New item (Boots of the Wandering Imperium rare) Self-repair function and +1000 points to agility when equipped Soulbound New item (Belt of the Wandering Imperium rare) Self-repair function and +1000 points to wisdom when equipped Soulbound New item (Cloak of the Wandering Imperium epic) Self-repair function and +1000 points to all stats when equipped Soulbound Race Human Level ??? "For the first question, you may know me as the Wandering Arcane Smith, but you can call me Aaliyah. As for the second question. Well, I don''t have to tell you. Oh, but I can tell you it was fun watching you kill all those spiders," she said with a grin. Jake just looked at her with horror. "You, you were watching me." "Yes, I was, and I would like you to join the Wandering Imperium as a junior officer under me, and I will teach you everything I know about the path we both follow." "I''m sorry; I can''t do that. I have my path to follow and my own aspirations. I won''t say no to working with you in the future, but I won''t work for you." This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Aaliyah smiled at Jake as she raised her hand, white light coming from it, and said, "It shouldn''t be enough the other way," before Jake felt an insignia being burnt on his hand as a token was floated into Jake''s hand. Then he found himself back at the entrance of the cave. The first thing Jake did was identify the token, then he tried identifying the mark. Item A token that grants unrestricted travel for the owner of this token in the Territory of the Wandering Imperium. Soulbound to Jake Everval Identify (The Wanderer''s Mark unique) This mark was given by Aaliyah La Flame, and it is a symbol of [redacted]. It will help with [redacted]. Only one can hold this mark; it will provide a [redacted] link to Aaliyah La Flame. Provides +10 free points to grade level advancements and reduces levels needed to get the next grade level by -5 "Man, that woman can''t take no for an answer. She even forced some kind of link to her, but at least it helps with my grade stat, which is slow." Congratulations! You have completed the Wandering Path dungeon. Calculating Dungeon rewards. All levels cleared side quest cleared Top score earned Title Dungeon master first to complete Wandering Path dungeon +10 points to all profession and class levels. Item received Transport token locked to Aaliyah La Flame¡¯s home world cottage. Can transport 10 lifeforms Soulbound to Jake Everval Item received Upgrade token Upgrades an item one rank "That''s odd." The next moment, he was back in the rust bucket of a shuttle. "Well, that just happened, teleported in the middle of saying something. Anyway, what was I saying again? Oh yeah, the teleport token can take more than just me; well, I suppose that could be useful." Jake moved up to the cockpit, hoping he would be orbiting a nice big planet. Looking out the window, he was utterly astonished; there it was, the third planet in the system. Jake sat down in the cockpit seat and checked over the console; he scanned the planet for civilization only to find the planet''s surface had nothing but ruins and monsters. So Jake set up for a deorbit burn. But thinking of something, he pulled out the Upgrade token. "If I can upgrade this rust bucket, I might make it through this." Use upgrade token on soul shuttle yes/no "Yes." Warning: To upgrade the soul shuttle, it must be unsummoned. Unsummon the soul shuttle to complete the upgrade. Jake let out a deep breath. "At least it didn''t just unsummon the thing; I would be dead for sure." Jake started the procedures to deorbit. The shuttle fired its engines, and gravity took it. Jake was now on a course for what used to be a city. As he reached the atmosphere, the shuttle started to heat up. Jake activated the mana shield, and instantly, the shuttle started to cool down, although Jake''s mana was draining fast. Jake kept going until finally, the pressure on the outside of the hull had gone. Jake deactivated the shield and started to prepare for landing. The ship was coming in hot; Jake had to counter the shuttle''s velocity by firing the landing thrusters early, and he still landed a bit heavier than he would have liked. Checking the console, the atmosphere was breathable. Jake opened the cargo hatch and walked out. "Ah, fresh air and solid ground; I love it." Objective update: Survive till the end of the tutorial Bonus objective: find your fellow earthlings and destroy the invading fleet. Humans found 0/4 Time till end of tutorial 365:00:00:00 Jake turned back to the shuttle and grabbed his equipment before, with a thought, unsummoning the shuttle before walking into the ruins to find a good place to set up a base camp. Looking around, an old-looking office building with access to the roof and good views in all directions. Checking his notifications, it seems the upgrade would take some time to complete. So, Jake spent the rest of the afternoon setting up makeshift defensive positions that he could use if he needed to. The final thing Jake did before it got dark was set up a bed in the stairway leading to the roof and blocking the path up. As the night fell, Jake went up on the roof to one of the defense positions, looking out with his enhanced perception; he could see clearly for about 150 meters down the street with only the moonlight. Off in the distance, Jake saw flashes of light coming from down the street and then lots of shouts and gunfire, then silence; the light had gone. There was a scent of gunpowder on the wind followed by the scent of blood. Jake quickly checked his notifications. Humans found 0/3 "It seems to have gone down by one. I will have to check what happened down there in the morning." Jake moved to a different defensive position. After which he noted movement in the street below him; it looked a lot like a wolf''s but much larger. Its lower back was covered in scales, and its tail had foot-long barbed spikes, which were making a metallic sound as it hit the ground. Identify Barb-tail Wolf Level 100 More information gathered by tutorial system The barb-tail wolf, unlike its earth counterparts, is a lone hunter; the barb produces a toxic compound that puts its targets to sleep. Be wary as it is very nimble for its size. "That''s a lot more information than I usually get." As Jake said this to himself, the wolf looked in his direction. Jake quickly ducked down behind the brick ledge that surrounded the rooftop he was on. "I hope it didn''t see me. There''s no way I can fight that monster yet." Jake looked up into the sky and thought to himself, maybe it was actually safer up there. As he thought this, a large spaceship moved in front of the moon; it was launching lots of smaller objects from the front. As these objects left, the moon''s beautiful glow, and dancing flames could be seen in the night sky. The clinking of the wolf''s tail started getting quieter, so Jake decided to peek over the ledge once he did, he instantly regretted it because just in front of his face was a drooling wolf''s face, its blue and red eyes staring directly into Jake''s eyes. "Oh, fuck," Jake screamed as he fell backward. Finding a bit of composure, he swung his beloved broomstick 0.1 in front of him and fired. Bits of broomstick 0.1 flew in all directions. Jake scrambled back towards the roof entrance. The only thing that was going through his head was the same thing over and over, run, Jake, run. Once he made it to the entrance, he went to open the door, only to come to a sudden realization. "You cheeky fuck, you''ve been manipulating my mind. Why should I run from you? I killed a queen of higher rank than you." Jake pulled out one of his daggers and threw it at the wolf as he darted to the left, firing his rifle into the neck of the wolf. The wolf swung its tail at Jake, but Jake blocked it with a mana shield; he then fired two rounds into its abdomen as he moved in closer. The wolf then twisted, lunging for Jake''s neck. Jake ducked under its attack and stabbed his other dagger between the jawbone and spine of the wolf. Jake let out a cry as the tail of the wolf hit him in the back. He staggered back; the sleep toxin taking effect. As he scrambled to gain his footing. Side story transforming earth It has been over half a year, and the Earth that Jake once knew has changed. The once cities of the world had been overgrown by plant life at a size and rate unimaginable to those who were once from this world. The planet had grown to three times its original size, and the wildlife had also grown in accordance. Some even gained sentience and began to fight for dominance over their new world. Without the oppression of humans, new lifeforms began to evolve, such as the squid men of the Pacific and the demon snake people of Australia. And then there were, of course, the Beastmen, who were now the dominant species on Earth. They consisted of what the humans used to call their pets, like dogs, cats, and even some others. The Australian Eastern Grey tribe was part of the Beastman tribe. All the Beastmen had two forms: one was their original format, and the other was a humanoid form. Each species'' appearance varied; they had some human-like parts, but they were all distinctively beasts. For example, a cat in their humanoid form might have a face and body just like a human, but it would be covered in fur, and its most distinctive features would remain. The new species could roam almost all of the world; there were just a few locations where they could not enter. One example was the capital city of Victoria, of which the zone''s size around it reached all the way down to Phillip Island. This included all of Port Phillip Bay, but it didn''t extend north beyond the edge of Melbourne itself, so no suburbs north were included. When these zones were established, all the wildlife in these areas was forcefully pushed out. There was a civil war going on inside Australia. The cat tribes had a split on their place once the humans returned. One side took the position of total domination, and the other wanted to take on a position similar to what they were. Back when humans ruled the world, cats took on the role of a pet in the humans'' eyes, but to the cats, they ruled over the humans through coercion. A cat would get everything they wanted just by giving the humans the idea of authority over them. On the side of domination, there was a cat that went by the name of Greymore; she was the leader of the localized battle group. She had a scar that ran down over her eye and across her mouth, and she was missing one of her ears. Her tail was also cut off, leaving only a small stump. In an old rundown farm shed north of Shep in rural Victoria, a meeting was being held between two opposing commanders. One of them was the cat Greymore; the other was a fluffy white cat named Madz. ¡°Humans will never change; we cannot live with them unless we dominate them. We must make them our slaves. The system has given us the means to do it if they sign a soul contract that will make them ours to do with what we will till the end of time,¡± Greymore said. ¡°We can''t do that. It is better if we continue to control them in the shadows. That way, when the time comes for us to leave this world, we can use the humans as the mouthpiece of our movement.¡± ¡°So you''re happy for more of our kind to be tortured by their hands,¡± Greymore said. ¡°No, we are not how we used to be. We are not weak anymore; we can defend ourselves against them. We are just here to use them, get what we want, and in the end, kill them like our prey.¡± ¡°I don''t like this, but at least it''s better than those mutts. Who would have thought they would want to continue serving the human race as guardians after all they have done? What a joke,¡± Greymore said. It was silent for a while before Greymore got up, and as she was about to leave, she said, ¡°I may be able to control the cat tribe in this area, but I can''t control the others.¡± Thirty minutes after Greymore left, a young female short-furred black cat named Kiki walked in with a plate of food. ¡°It''s getting harder for you to deal with these crazy ones, isn''t it, Mum?¡± Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°Yes, it is--" Madz''s sentence was cut short as her head was thrown across the room. Her daughter stood there, covered in her mother''s blood as she saw the figure coming out of the shadows. It was none other than Greymore, her mother''s blood dripping from her nails. Kiki looked into Greymore¡¯s sinister eyes. ¡°Run, little kitten; it will be no fun if you don''t.¡± The cat started retracting her nails. Just as Greymore''s nails were almost fully retracted, Kiki ran. She ran faster than she had ever run before. In the pack in the Strzelecki Ranges, there was a young male black kelpie with a white patch of fur on his chest and another patch over his left eye. He was named Erin by a human soldier he worked with back before the army was forced into policing its own citizens. He was going about his normal daily routine of patrolling the ranges for any invaders. He patrolled from one end of the ranges to the edge of the rundown military camp. As he got to the camp, his heightened sense picked up the scent of blood coming from within. Changing into his humanoid form, he began a search of the camp. As he reached one of the damaged buildings, he smelled the distinct smell of the enemy. ¡°It''s a cat. Why is there a cat here? They know they''re not welcome.¡± Erin walked up to the door; there was a bloodstain on the handle and a bloody handprint on the wall. Erin pushed the door open and moved inside, sniffing the air. Erin could tell that the cat was deeper in. Moving further into the house, the smell of blood grew stronger until he reached the room the smell was coming from. He looked inside and saw a young female cat with black fur, its stomach torn open. Erin looked down at her. Her eyes were shut, and her breathing was ragged. Erin thought about waking her up but then thought better of it. ¡°You idiot, Erin; she would be in so much pain she wouldn''t even begin to be able to start answering questions. Just stem the bleeding and wrap the wound. I can take her back to the pack for answers when she can walk again.¡± Two days later, the cat finally woke up, not knowing how she ended up in a bed. She tried to get up, but as she put weight on her legs, she hit the ground as if she was a marionette with its strings cut. Erin walked in after hearing the noise. ¡°What, were you trying to kill yourself? You might have just wrecked all that healing you managed to do over the last two days.¡± Erin walked over to the cat, offering a hand up. The cat, being stubborn, slapped his hand away and tried to stand once more, but she couldn''t even make it to her knees. She slumped over, her hands raised to her face. ¡°Can I have some help, please?¡± Erin extended his arm once again, wrapping it under her arm and around her back, lifting her to her feet, then placing her back in the bed. Erin pulled the blanket up, tucking her in. ¡°May I ask what your name is and why you have come to this place?¡± ¡°I... I was being chased. This was the only place left that I could turn to. I needed to escape. That crazy bitch would play with me for a while, like I was a mouse. Then lock me up till she gets bored and lets me escape, so she can hunt me for fun.¡± ¡°How is it that she is hunting you?¡± ¡°Her name is Greymore.¡± Erin looked shocked for a second before he frantically said, ¡°When was the last time she found you? And how long does it normally take her to capture you?¡± ¡°Three days ago, and thirty days, give or take.¡± Erin started to be even more frantic as he quietly said, ¡°How many days has it been so far?¡± ¡°Twenty-nine days. I''m sorry.¡± Erin looked at her for a minute, then looked at the door, then back at her. ¡°Oh, fuck it.¡± He moved in close to the cat, picking her up, turned to the door, and kicked it off its hinges and into the face of a catman. The cat man''s face caved in as Erin used the door as a launchpad for his escape. As Erin ran, strikes came at him from the shadows, tearing gashes in his sides. Erin ran as fast as he could in his humanoid form, which sadly was not as fast as his animal form, but it was still faster than a stupid cat. Chapter 7 kids Jake stood in front of the wolf, his body weak and his eyelids heavy. He knew that if he fell asleep now, the wolf would win, and he would be no more. Jake circulated arcane energy through his body with stamina, pushing his physical body to the limits. Jake rushed forward, rifle in hand. The wolf struck at him with its claws. Jake stuck his rifle into the wolf''s mouth and fired. The claw dug into Jake''s side as brain matter painted the sky. Ding! Class lev¨C Jake lost consciousness as the notifications started coming in. ¡°Come on, Matt, this way.¡± ¡°Why, Jess? Didn''t we have a good spot to hide until the end of this so-called tutorial ends? We''ve already lost ten to that wolf from hell.¡± ¡°I told you I heard gunfire last night. There has to be someone still alive,¡± a female voice said. ¡°But I don''t get it. Why should we go to where the gunshots came from? If we are going to do anything, we should be heading away from them, not towards them.¡± ¡°Stop being a wimp, Matt. Just because you were disillusioned by all those games you played and thought you would be some kind of powerhouse just because you picked mage as your class. Just shut up and follow me.¡± Unbeknownst to Jake, two people were closing in on his position. ¡°Hey, Matt, look up there.¡± A long tail with a barb on the end was hanging off the edge of a building. ¡°That''s not right. It only comes out at night. Jess, we should go. If it''s still alive, we''re dead. And if it isn''t, I don''t think we want to see what killed it.¡± ¡°OK, Matt, you can stay here. I will go look by myself,¡± Jess said before walking off. After Jess had entered the building, Matt decided it would be safer for him if he stayed with Jess. So he ran, following her into the building and started up the stairs. As he caught up to her, she was in the middle of tearing down a barrier someone had erected. There was no way Matt could have moved any of the stuff. Jess was easily shifting out of the way. As the barrier was removed, they noticed there was a hammock set up, but no one was in it. ¡°What do you think, Matt?¡± Jess was pointing at the door leading onto the roof. ¡°OK, Jess, it''s your call. Just don''t get us killed.¡± Jess opened up the door. The first thing she saw was the wolf. Its head had a big hole where its brain used to be. But then she noticed its claw piercing the side of the person who had killed it. Jess walked quietly over to Jake, and once she got there, she was surprised. She knew this person well. Well, "knew" wasn''t quite right. She had never met him, but her brother was his radio operator, and anytime her brother would get back from a mission, she would be there to welcome him back. Until that last mission. She had regrets about it. She had an argument with her brother just before he left, as she found out that it was basically a suicide mission to capture the Victorian premier and ransom him back for the safe release of captured resistance members. She argued that if she knew of the mission, their enemies would too. All he said to her was, "We know the risks. But when we were given an out by the boss, we all stepped forward. Not a single step back," he said. She knew what happened to their team. Her brother set up a radio for her to listen to. So when she saw that man there, she was confused. Part of her wanted nothing more than to see him dead. But another part of her remembered the way he treated her brother and what he would want her to do. When Jake woke up, he was in a bed in a dimly lit room. He looked down to see that he was naked once more. Looking around the room for his clothing, he found them in the corner of the room. He got up to put them on, but his weapons were nowhere to be seen. So, while no one was around, he pulled out his cauldron and started creating a small, simple knife he could hide in his clothing and use in case of an emergency or if the people who brought him to this place were less than friendly. Two hours later, footsteps could be heard coming down the hall. Jake put his cauldron back in his storage space and waited for the person to arrive. The door opened, and in strutted a kid no older than 16, with a body like a rake and a complexion as if he had never seen the sun. Jake looked at what he was holding. The kid just stood there, trying to look domineering, like he was playing some game or something. ¡°So, can you speak or not? And do you mind giving me my rifle back so I can get on with my objectives?¡± ¡°You''re not in control here. I am,¡± the kid snapped back. Identify: Race: Human, Level: 5 Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Jake was about to laugh when the stupid kid pointed Jake''s rifle at him. Jake dodged to the side as the rifle went off. Then he rounded on the kid, his concealed knife in his hand, stabbing the knife towards the kid''s neck. Just as his knife was about to slit the kid''s throat, a second person entered the room. Jake looked at her for a second before pulling back the knife edge. ¡°Jess, it''s good to see you out of your wheelchair. I just wish James was here to see it. He would... I''m sorry, Jess. I failed to bring him home to you,¡± Jake said, his emotions all over the place. ¡°It wasn''t your job to do that,¡± Jess said. ¡°Thank you, Jess. But we all know that''s not true. I was the commander. It literally was my job to complete the mission and to do that, I needed all my men back safe.¡± Jess just looked at him, as Matt was standing in a puddle of his own piss. Jake looked at the kid and grabbed his rifle back before saying to him, ¡°Just a piece of advice: try identifying the person before trying to kill them, or you might just find yourself dead next time.¡± Jake went to leave the room before Jess stopped him. ¡°Where are you going?¡± ¡°To get stronger.¡± ¡°Can I come with you?¡± ¡°No, you''re not strong enough yet. Though I might have an alternative for you and even piss pants over there.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Jake pulled out his teleportation token to show them. ¡°This token will take you to a place only I have access to. There are still dangers there, but the place I wish to take you should give you an opportunity to gain levels in a profession. But there are only two professions that have enough information on them for you to progress relatively quickly. What do you say? Would you like to give it a try?¡± ¡°What are the two professions that are there?¡± Matt said. ¡°The one I would recommend for you is alchemy. As for her, it would probably be smithing.¡± ¡°OK, that sounds fine. I just would prefer if you would stop calling me that name.¡± ¡°And I would prefer that you didn''t try to kill me. But we don''t all get what we want.¡± Jake took a deep breath. ¡°OK, what''s your name?¡± ¡°Matt.¡± ¡°OK, Matt. Can you get your stuff ready? How about you, Jess?¡± ¡°I don''t know. It''s not like I can kill anything here, so why not? Let''s go.¡± Five minutes later, Jess and Matt were ready. ¡°Just a fair warning: I don''t know how this will work.¡± With a thought, Jake and the two others were inside the cottage on Aaliyah''s home world. ¡°So, just to let you know, this is another world. It is outside the tutorial, as far as I''m aware. As for getting a profession, come with me.¡± Jake and the two others walked into what Jake called the study. There were books everywhere. Even more than the last time he was here. ¡°The books on the first bookshelf have general information on the system and the universe. You are welcome to read anything on that shelf. The other books, you can read anything related to alchemy or smithing. But if you find anything about arcane smithing, you are to put it on a shelf by itself, and don''t read them. They will only distract you from your path. You are also allowed to use anything in the cottage. I will warn you before I leave. The spiders on this planet are big. I will be back before the tutorial ends. I will probably need your help, so try to get stronger as quickly as you can.¡± Before Jake left to go back to the tutorial, he checked to see if his shuttle was finished upgrading. Item (Soul shuttle of shadows uncommon): Binds to your soul space and can be summoned. Cost of summoning: Mana and Stamina. Soul shuttle has a slow repair function when in your soul space. Item upgraded to (Arcane Soul shuttle of the wandering path rare): Binds to your soul space and can be summoned. Cost of summoning: Mana and Stamina. Soul shuttle has a slow repair function when in your soul space. Can use arcane power or mana to operate weapons systems. After checking that it was done, Jake returned to the tutorial. On his return, he left to find a location big enough to summon his shuttle. Using up over half of his Mana and Stamina to summon, looking at the outside of the shuttle, it looked the same as it was the first time. ¡°Great, it''s still a rust bucket. I hope the inside is better and not as rusted.¡± Going inside, Jake took a deep breath. ¡°Yes, it has fixed the seats. Of course, it didn''t fix anything else, but you''ve got to take every win.¡± Thinking back to the objectives, one was to destroy the invading fleet. Moving up to the cockpit, Jake started the shuttle to use its scanner to see what was happening in orbit. The other reason he went up to scan was because of what he saw in the sky before the fight with the wolf. In orbit, there were five ships. Two of which were smaller in comparison to the others and looked to be in a bad state. They seemed to be unmoving, and their weapons fire had stopped. The other three ships seemed to be leaving towards the second planet in the system. Jake decided to go up and check the condition of the spaceships and see if there were any survivors on either of the ships. If there were, then Jake would see if he could help them. If there was no one left alive, then he would figure something out if that happened. Taking off, Jake flew over the land, taking note of any interesting things to look at when he comes back. One of the interesting things was a structure built into a mountain. It had large hangar doors, one of which looked to be slightly open. After spotting this, he marked it in the shuttle''s navigation system and then pushed the throttles up. As he did, the shuttle started to rattle until the atmosphere thinned, reducing the pressure on it. Jake put the shuttle into a low orbit as he attempted to do something he probably shouldn''t. Jake set the radio to broadcast in the clear. ¡°Unknown spaceships, unknown spaceships, this is the rusty bucket. Requesting communication.¡± Static! ¡°Unknown spaceships, unknown spaceships, this is the rusty bucket. Requesting communication.¡± ¡°Rusty bucket, this is the destroyer Jaxxen. Requesting frequency change to 122.1.¡± Chapter 8 jaxxen class destroyer Jake changed the radio frequency and sent out a message. ¡°Jaxxen, this is the Rusty Bucket. Do you hear me?¡± ¡°Rusty Bucket, this is Jaxxen. We hear you. We would like to know your intentions.¡± ¡°I would like to offer you support if it is required.¡± ¡°Rusty Bucket, we are currently having issues with our power systems. We would like to send an expeditionary team down to the planet, but we have no shuttles left after the battle. We humbly request transport down to the planet to collect resources to fuel the reactor. We have deactivated the weapons in the fighter bay. You are welcome to enter.¡± Jake changed his orbit to match the two spaceships. As he got closer, Jake could see that one of the ships had been broken in half, but the other ship was still in one piece. It bore a resemblance to a bird, with a thick main body, a long thin neck, a bulbous head, and two forward-sweeping wings. The place Jake was heading to was at the bottom of the main body. Jake was having issues with the landing bay lights; they kept turning on and off. Just as Jake was lining up for final approach, the lights on the Jaxxen shut off and didn''t come back on. Everything went dark, and the only lights were the glowing of the shuttle''s console. As Jake was closing in on the landing bay, he switched on the landing lights. To his horror, the Jaxxen had shifted, and on his present course, he would crash into the side of the landing bay. Jake jerked on the controls, and the shuttle veered to the right just before it flipped onto its back. Jake could see the painted yellow deck markings seemingly inches from his face. He slowed his forward momentum and raised the shuttle away from the deck before flipping it over and landing as close to the airlock as possible. Jake got back on the radio, hoping for a response. ¡°Jaxxen, Rusty Bucket has landed. Requesting permission to board.¡± Looking outside the shuttle, Jake noticed movement. He activated his necklace of breathing, and there was a knocking at the hatch door. Jake walked back to open the hatch, and one person walked into the shuttle. Jake hit the button to close the hatch again as a gust of air blew over the two of them. The newcomer was wearing some kind of exosuit with a helmet with a darkened visor. As the oxygen finally filled the shuttle, Jake deactivated his necklace and gestured for the newcomer to remove their helmet. A hissing sound and a burst of oxygen came out of the bulky-looking helmet. As the helmet was being removed, the first thing Jake noticed was the color of its skin; it was pale blue with a slight green tinge. The next thing he noticed was her face; it was distinctively female. Following that were the long Medusa-like tentacles that floated down like they were in slow motion. ¡°I see why this shuttle is called the Rusty Bucket,¡± the lady said. Jake decided to identify her. Race: Nordicless Level: 52 More information provided by the system: The Nordicless race is a miner race of the universe; they are commonly seen as slaves to the Grand Empire of the Warring Path. ¡°That it is. Do you have any more Nordics that are coming down to the planet with me?¡± The Nordic''s mouth dropped into a frown as she said, ¡°Sadly, that last power loss caused an explosion that opened up the hull. Only I survived as I was down here waiting for you to land. On that note, nice landing; I haven''t seen a landing like that before,¡± she said with a smile. ¡°I''m sorry to hear about that. What are your plans for now then? I can still bring you down to the planet if that''s what you want.¡± ¡°I don''t know. The Jaxxen is wrecked, and I don''t have a ship capable of some form of FTL to get out of here. So I was thinking maybe I can come with you?¡± ¡°My objective is to destroy the invaders of this planet. So if you would like to help with that, I would be happy to have you come with me.¡± She looked at him with a grin. ¡°I would love to help you destroy these home invaders. This planet and the other two used to be the home planets of my race and our cousin race, the Jentie. They actually looked a lot like you.¡± ¡°What surprised Jake was that there are so many species that are of the humanoid type. The idea just seemed odd to him.¡± ¡°I would be happy to have your help. That brings the team up to four.¡± ¡°There is more than you down on that planet. I was told that the planet was overrun by beasts.¡± ¡°That it is, and no, at the moment there is no one else on the planet. My plan is once we get down there, I''m going to go on a hunting spree to level up. There is also a place down there I would like to check out; it looked like a hanger, so my hope is there might have been something left behind.¡± ¡°That''s probably the best idea.¡± The Nordic sat down in one of the shuttle''s seats and buckled in. Jake guessed that was a cue that the conversation was over. He went back up to the cockpit and lit the engines, shooting out of the Jaxxen before lowering his orbit until he could start the deorbit burn. As he was doing this, the Nordic asked a question. ¡°Is this a soul shuttle?¡± ¡°Yes, it is. Why do you ask?¡± ¡°Well, it''s nothing.¡± ¡°You''ve got me interested now. What is it?¡± ¡°It''s just that a soul shuttle is linked to your soul, so its form and look are representative of what you are.¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°So, you''re saying I am a rusty piece of junk, or at least my soul is?¡± Jake said in a dejected tone. ¡°No, don''t take it too seriously. It is still at a low rank, and so are you, so your connection to it is not as solid to give an exact representation of your soul.¡± ¡°Oh, I didn''t introduce myself. I am Jake Everval. It''s nice to meet you.¡± Jake said this as he looked back at her, hoping for a name because thinking of her as the Nordic is getting annoying. ¡°My name is Erica Blake. I am pleased to meet you too.¡± ¡°We''re coming up on the deorbit burn,¡± Jake said as he flipped the shuttle around and burned the engines before flipping it back. On cue, the shuttle started to shudder, and the sounds of the Rusty Bucket re-entering the atmosphere reverberated throughout the compartment. As this was happening, Erica reached down and put her helmet back on. Jake tried to start a conversation, asking Erica about the Jaxxen, but when he looked back, he saw that she had put on her helmet. Chuckling to himself, he looked back outside to find a good place to land. Jake found his landing site, but the only problem was that it was infested with bugs. ¡°We''re coming in hot, and the landing site has been overrun by bugs. I''m going to try and level the playing field a bit.¡± Jake launched a salvo of mana missiles, and his weapon system lit up the nose of the shuttle. A second later, hell rained down on the bugs. Ding! Class level increased +3000 points Ding! Grade level increased +1200 points Jake fired the landing thrusters as Erica opened the hatch and started firing what looked to be a grenade launcher out the door. Jake grabbed his rifle and exited the hatch after Erica. On the other side of the hatch, bug corpses could be seen around the door, and past that, only dust could be seen. Over to his left, Erica was ripping through bugs with her grenade launcher, and when it came to close range, she would switch to a battle axe. She looked as if she was dancing with the bugs. Jake crouched down behind a bug corpse, firing his rifle as fast as he could, bringing down bugs left, right, and center. Ding! Class level increased +4000 points Ding! Grade level increased +1600 points After an hour had passed, the bug waves started to thin. Jake left his potions and went out to start hunting. Erica saw that Jake was leaving and followed. ¡°What''s the plan? Where are we heading?¡± ¡°There''s a mountain up ahead. That''s where I saw the hanger, and if what I think I saw was right, we might just have the beginnings of a plan to strike back at the¡ªwho exactly are we fighting again?¡± ¡°The Grand Empire of the Warring Path. They are occupying one of the planets. If we knew which planet it was before entering the star system, we would have just bombarded them from space before they had time to counterattack.¡± ¡°I know which planet it is. I was watching as they left orbit. They are based on the second planet.¡± ¡°Really? If only we could send a message back to the main fleet, we could have our revenge on those bastards.¡± ¡°We will see what we can do once we get up there.¡± Jake pointed at the mountain. About halfway up the mountain, there was the hanger entrance, and flying around the entrance were a lot of very large dragonfly-looking bugs. ¡°Up there?¡± Erica said, pointing at the dragonflies. ¡°Yep. Just a few more bugs to kill before then.¡± Jake was looking directly in front of him. ¡°Erica, you take the left flank.¡± Then, Jake started firing at the cockroach-looking bugs that were heading for them. Ding! Class level increased +500 points Ding! Grade level increased +150 points One of the cockroaches got past Jake''s fire and stabbed one of its legs through Jake''s thigh. Jake smashed down with the butt of his rifle, breaking its leg off before stabbing it in between the joints in its armor. Then, the roach fell on top of Jake as he was lying there, he could hear the chittering of more cockroaches coming for them. Over on Erica''s side, the roaches were starting to overwhelm her. Then, she saw Jake go down, so she decided that she would shift her fire to block the enemies heading towards Jake''s position as she moved towards his position. Jake was still lying under the roach as his leg was stuck. Jake was pulling hard to release his leg when Erica came over, standing over Jake, firing her weapon madly, sweating profusely from the overuse of mana. She looked down at Jake, and Jake looked up at her. ¡°Erica, retreat, save yourself. There''s no winning here.¡± Erica looked at Jake and with a swing, she chopped off Jake''s leg and dragged him with her back to the shuttle. Getting back to the shuttle, she dropped Jake inside and turned and fired her weapon until she couldn''t fire anymore before closing the hatch. ¡°I think we''re done for unless you can find a way to save us because I can''t fly this shuttle.¡± ¡°I can teach you the basics. Just get us up there.¡± Erica picked up Jake and moved up to the cockpit. She put him down on the floor and sat in the seat, looking over the controls. ¡°I can''t do this. There''s just too much to do. I can''t, I¡ª¡± ¡°It''s okay. It''s not that hard. First, toggle the two switches on the top rear of the navigation cluster, then push the red button in front of you. Yes, that''s right, those two. Now, the red button.¡± The console lit up, and the engines started to whine. ¡°Okay, now here comes the hard bit. The computer is going to be in landing mode. You need to select the third drop-down on the main display. Yes, that''s it. Now, select the bottom one. That will let the computer take off by itself. Once it has taken off, you will need to take manual control of the throttles. Yes, those two. Push them forward to 10%, no more than that. After that, go to the navigation console and select the orbit button. Yes, you''re doing good. Just one more thing to do. On the main console, select the third drop-down and select the top one. Now, select the right button that popped up. That''s great. We are now on our way to orbit. The shuttle will take us there by itself. So just have a rest and gain your strength.¡± ¡°I''m sorry about your leg,¡± Erica whispered. ¡°Don''t worry about it,¡± Jake said unfazed. Stats at the end of Chapter 8 Universal constant interface Name: Jake Everval Race: Human Grade: TG note in the training grade each kill gives 1 class level Level: 92 Class: Trooper Shadow Mage Class Level: 502 Profession: Arcane Smith Profession Level: 13 Stats points Available: 10,580 Mana: 160 Arcane: 3500 Stamina: 200 Health: 60 Strength: 116 Agility: 225 Intelligence: 350 Wisdom: 336 Perception: 157 Integrity: 336 Chapter 9 The huntress A few hours had passed as Jake meditated, healing some of his injuries. He decided to try something he didn''t believe would work, but he had to try. He decided to take Erica back to the cottage where Matt and Jess were. Jake let out a long breath as he asked, ¡°If I can take you out of this system, would you want to go with me?¡± ¡°I don''t get what you''re saying,¡± Erica replied. ¡°Well, I can''t explain it until I see if we can do it. If we can, I will explain what happened. But if I can''t, there''s no point in saying anything. So, it''s your choice.¡± ¡°Okay, I''ve trusted you so far. Why not just a little more? Let''s do this then.¡± Jake pulled out the token and willed Erica to come with him for a moment. There was a bit of rejection from the token, but Jake willed it to happen, and the next moment, Jake was standing in the cottage. ¡°I guess it didn''t wor¨C.¡± A flash of light happened, and before Jake was Erica. ¡°Ha, It worked. I can''t believe it.¡± ¡°What happened? That felt really odd. It was like my whole body was torn asunder and then remade. What did you do?¡± ¡°I said I would explain if it worked, so here it is. I''m new to the universal system. We were just in a tutorial set up by the system, and you were, from what I could figure out, a part of the scenario. But now we are outside of the tutorial. We are on a planet that was the home of the wandering arcane smith Aaliyah La Flame.¡± ¡°So, does that mean I am not real?¡± ¡°No, you are real. I have a theory about the tutorial. I believe that it was based on an event that happened in the past, and the moment I got involved with it, the old timeline changed, at least in the tutorial. In reality, I believe that the real battle happened, and, well, you... well, you can guess that. As for what I did, I forcefully pulled you out of the scenario and into reality. You could think that you have been given a second chance to do whatever you want.¡± ¡°So, if I am outside of the tutorial that you mentioned, what does that mean? If I try re-entering, will I be just a simulation again? And the knowledge I gained here is gone? Or will I be initiated into the system with your universe?¡± ¡°I''m sorry, I don''t know.¡± Jake sat on the ground beside Erica for a good day before Matt walked in through the door. Jake was in a state of meditation, unresponsive to any outside influences. ¡°How and what are you? And what happened to Jake?¡± ¡°My name is Erica, and what happened to Jake was a mix of bad luck and this.¡± Erica pulled out her axe and placed it beside her. ¡°What do you mean, this?¡± Matt said before jumping back, pulling out a wizard-style staff, and summoning a mana shield in front of himself. ¡°Okay, I''m not your enemy, young man,¡± Erica said as she put her hands up. Erica let out a long breath. ¡°We were in a fight with a lot of bugs, and Jake was stuck under one. We were being overwhelmed, so I chopped his leg off so we could escape, and then he brought me here.¡± Matt was still on guard as he said, ¡°Can you wake him up to verify your story?¡± ¡°Sadly, no. He entered this state after he dropped a bombshell on me. That would have been about a day ago now.¡± ¡°That sounds like him. Did you know after bringing us here, he just turned around and left?¡± Jess said as she walked in. ¡°My name is Jess, and this fool is Matt. It''s nice to meet you. Can you tell us about yourself?¡± Jess said as she sat down beside Erica. Hours passed before Jess decided to take Erica to her study as she wanted to show her a book she had found. ¡°So, that''s how we lost. I wonder if we can use this to complete your objectives.¡± ¡°I think we should bring this up with Jake when he is healthy again.¡± ¡°What do you mean, healthy again? I chopped off his leg. He will need healing potions to heal from that much damage.¡± ¡°I read a book that explains what is happening to Jake. Just know that he will heal, and in time, he will be stronger than anyone out there in the universe.¡± Jess said with absolute certainty. Matt came into the study later that day with three bottles, one of each Stamina, Mana, and Health, for them to try. Matt was lucky; he was well-adept at alchemy. Jess, on the other hand, didn''t have such a good grasp of her profession. She was stuck, as she needed to use the objects she made to gain a better understanding, but so far, the only thing she could make was a bayonet for her rifle. To use it, she would have to go out and hunt, but she couldn''t hunt alone, and Matt had no intention of hunting when everything he needed was here. She told this to Erica, and the two of them came up with a plan. Matt would make potions to get Erica back up to full, on all three stats, then the two of them would go out and have a look around. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Erica and Jess were hiding in the forest about two kilometers away from the cottage. Erica looked over at Jess with a slight grin and gestured to a single spider. Its level was only at level 5. Erica gestured for Jess to move to the right and down behind a rock that led out of the valley while Erica left. Once Erica and Jess were in position, Erica jumped down towards the spider, swinging her axe just missing the spider, making it flee in Jess''s direction. Jess was shaking with excitement as the spider closed in on her position. Erica and she had used this same tactic five times already. The spider''s front legs had just passed the rock as Jess lunged her rifle straight up into its head before pulling the trigger, splitting open the spider''s head, colorful brain matter covering the forest. Erica walked over to Jess and said, ¡°I don''t think we can keep doing this. We''re having more issues finding isolated spiders for you to kill.¡± ¡°What do you think we should do?¡± Jess said. ¡°I don''t know, but what if we try to take on a bigger group? I know the whole point of coming out here is to help you level up your understanding of smithing, but with a bit more combat, you should start being able to take some of these without me watching your back. Then you can start tasting your creations by yourself.¡± ¡°I think we probably should do that. After all, what will happen when you''re not around?¡± The two ladies set off deeper into the forest, stalking their next prey. Jess was now in the lead, using the knowledge Erica had taught her, following the slight remnant trace of mana signatures left behind by the spiders. As they followed, Jess was on high alert, as this was the first time she was meant to do it all by herself. Jess stepped as quietly as she could, making sure not to step on any leaf litter. As Jess got closer to the prey, she started to notice that the traces of mana started to separate¡ªa group of five separated from the main group. She decided to follow the group of five. She followed for about ten minutes before giving the signal to stop. As she did, Erica moved up beside her. ¡°What''s your plan?¡± Erica asked. Looking a little further down the path, Jess saw the five spiders spread out in the trees. ¡°I will handle this. I''m going to draw them in and confuse them into fighting each other as I pick them off one by one.¡± The next moment, Jess was gone. Then, a flash of light came from behind one of the spiders before a knife hit a web. Jess moved to a different location, repeating the same actions three more times before she hit one of the spiders with a knife, hitting it in the abdomen. The spider went nuts and charged the spider in front of it. The three others were just watching until Jess fired her rifle, killing two in quick succession before disappearing again. The two spiders that were fighting each other stopped and looked at the two dead spiders and then at the third one standing over the other two and charged it. The three remaining spiders were in a group when a loud bang rang out from one of the corpses, and all three spiders were blown apart by Jess''s new creation, a timed explosive charge. A moment later, Jess walked out of the tree line and stood beside Erica. ¡°How did I do? Was I good enough to pass? Can I come back with you and Jake?¡± ¡°You have passed; you are now a true huntress. But as for if you can come back, that''s up to Jake, not me.¡± Back in the cottage, Jake was sitting at his cauldron. He had been working on this new item for a long time. The item he was working on was the F88 broomstick. Jake had almost got it right with his last try, but there was a major problem with it; he couldn''t attach his under-barrel grenade launcher called Room Shaker 1.0. New item: Room Shaker 1.0 (common) - Throws a small arcane bomb to a maximum distance of 30 meters. Will explode on impact with any target. Splash damage multiplier 20%. Damage radius 10 meters. Jake pushed the last bit of his energy into the cauldron, hoping for it to work. The cauldron started to crackle. This was the sign that the item was as good as it was going to get. Jake removed it from the cauldron and assembled all the parts, using Identify on it. New item: Broomstick 1.0 (rare) - This item has a self-loading function. Item will gather ammo off of the operator and store them directly into a magazine. Impact damage multiplier 5%. Has the ability to have under-barrel attachments. Ding! Profession level increased +200 points. Ding! Grade level increased +160 points. Jake looked at his new creation. ¡°I think I need to test this out,¡± Jake said with a grin. He walked out the front door and loaded an arcane-infused grenade into Room Shaker 1.0, then loaded Broomstick 1.0. ¡°Matt, come out, I''ve got a new test item,¡± Jake called out, and a moment later, Matt came out, standing beside Jake. ¡°Are we going with the same test scenario as last time?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Matt replied. Matt walked about 30 meters away and formed a bubble shield around a bush, then walked back. ¡°Is that the strongest shield you can make?¡± ¡°Yes and no. The bubble shield only has the amount of mana that the caster puts into it when it is made. But the good news is I have a good amount of mana, so I put about half of what I''ve got in it.¡± ¡°Nice,¡± Jake said. Jake raised his rifle, lining it up with the target. ¡°Clear the range, test in progress,¡± Matt yelled at the top of his voice. Thump! Bang! ¡°Holy fuck,¡± Matt exclaimed. ¡°That was powerful. How did your shield hold up?¡± ¡°It didn''t. It blew apart the moment the grenade hit.¡± Jess and Erica were on their way back to the cottage. They were just about to leave the tree line when a voice could be heard coming from the cottage. ¡°Clear the range, test in progress.¡± Jess and Erica were processing the words when... Bang! Both of them were blown off their feet, landing on the ground as the air was sucked out of their lungs. As they gasped for breath, a ball of blue and black flames blew over their heads. Luckily, they were outside the 10-meter range, but unlucky for them, they were 3 meters outside of it. All of the ground in front of them was burnt black, not a single bit of life remaining within a 10-meter radius around ground zero. ¡°What the fuck was that?¡± Jess screamed. Chapter 10 gifts, strategies and the grand hunt begins Jess was sitting up with Erica lying beside her. As Jake and Matt approached, Matt pulled out two health potions and handed one to Jess before heading over to Erica and pouring it down her throat. A moment later, Erica woke up with a gasp and let out a little moan. ¡°Thank you, Matt,¡± she said, looking at the weapon in Jake¡¯s hand. ¡°Was that what did it?¡± Erica said. ¡°Yes, Jake threw a grenade.¡± Erica caught it with slight trepidation on her face. ¡°It is one of my creations. It¡¯s called an arcane grenade. Sadly, I don¡¯t have many as they are rather hard to make. It employs a combination of arcane energy that has been sealed inside a mana shield of sorts. ¡°Would I be able to use them if I put them in my grenade launcher?¡± ¡°No, the design of your launcher is different from mine. But take this.¡± Jake pulled out a single-shot grenade launcher and a handful of his previous attempts at making grenades. ¡°These are not as destructive, but you can have them as an apology for almost blowing you up.¡± ¡°What do I get?¡± Jess said, looking at Jake. ¡°What do you want?¡± Jess thought over her options. ¡°Well, too bad you took too long. You got nothing.¡± An object was thrown towards Jess, causing her to look shocked for a second. She looked at what it was, a grin on her face. ¡°This is my second-best attempt at my version of the F88. It is called Broomstick 0.9. This one is only semi-automatic because it has a heating issue. The ammunition is the same as the ones that you make for your rifle, so that shouldn¡¯t be a problem for you.¡± ¡°Thank you. I would like to go directly out there and test it out, but I really need to rest.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good, because we need to talk.¡± Sitting at a table with books on it, Jake sighed as he picked up the last book, the name on the book being ¡°The End of the Nord System.¡± Jake was told to read this book first, but he had forgotten the moment he saw the cover of one of the other books. The book had the title ¡°The Will of Aaliyah La Flame and the Fall of an Empress.¡± Jake thought it was going to have some good information, but no, it turned out to be just some erotic fan fiction. Jake would have preferred not to have read it, but for completeness, to be honest, the plot wasn¡¯t bad. But back to the book in his hands. Let¡¯s quickly summarise: after destroying the scout ships, the Nordic fleet forcefully entered the Nord system to investigate, but they got caught in an ambush. The point of the ambush just so happened to be directly over the planet the tutorial had sent Jake and the others to. Jake had come up with a plan to disrupt the ambush by blowing up the Jaxxen and the Pristine Rose at exactly the time the ambushes were moving into orbit. As they will be on the other side of the planet, the debris will take time to reach them, meaning a distraction must take place to keep them from checking their sensors. If it works, they should take enough damage that the Nordic fleet should be able to wipe them out. The only problem is destroying the two ships. It will all come down to what they can find on the planet. Jake was still in the belief that the bug-infested hanger would have something in it; he doesn¡¯t know why he feels that way, but if that¡¯s all he¡¯s got, that will have to do. But what was really bugging Jake was the fact he was terrible at leading people. After all, he got his entire team back on earth killed, but even now, he didn¡¯t want to lead anymore. Jess, Erica, and Matt are still making him do it. Even making him come up with a plan by himself. The words they used were, ¡°Me and Jess are just fighters, and Matt, well, he¡¯s more of an alchemist than a mage, so you will need to make the big decisions for us.¡± Jake went over the plan once more before getting up and walking over to see Erica and Jess. Jake came to a halt at the door. ¡°Knocking on the door before entering is definitely the right thing to do.¡± Jake had been standing there for longer than he would like to admit, then finally, he pushed back his anxiety and reached out his hand. Just as it was about to reach the door, suddenly it opened, and his hand, expecting a door to rest its momentum, fell upon Jess¡¯s head. ¡°Argh, what the fuck? What did you hit me for?¡± ¡°Sorry,¡± Jake muttered. ¡°I was just coming to see you. I think we are ready to go back to the tutorial. Matt has also said that his alchemy has hit a wall, and he needs class points to improve his stats.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good, because that¡¯s what I came here for. I have a plan. I will say it¡¯s not the best plan, but we¡¯re running out of time, so it will have to do. Can you go get Matt? He will need to hear this, too.¡± As Jess left, Jake walked over to Erica and sat down. ¡°You know that if you go back to the tutorial, I don¡¯t know what will happen to you. So if you want, you can stay here. Then, after the tutorial has finished, we can go to Earth.¡± ¡°Thank you, no, I have read what happens to my people after this battle, and for that, I would really love to kill them all. Even though it is only a sim, I would still love to see them burn.¡± ¡°If that¡¯s what you¡¯ve chosen, I won¡¯t stop you.¡± Jess and Matt left the meeting with Jake and Erica. ¡°What the fuck kind of plan is that? The objective is to survive, not to go on some kind of vendetta against some overpowered race that could wipe us out with a wave of their hand.¡± ¡°His plan sucks, yes, but at least it¡¯s not yours. What was it again? Let¡¯s go hide in a hole for a year. We couldn¡¯t even kill that wolf, and how many people did we have then? Oh, that¡¯s right, we had over a hundred people. He killed it by himself. I think if we are to live in this new system, we need power, and if we can¡¯t be powerful enough by ourselves, then we need to find powerful people to grow stronger with. As my brother used to say, he got stronger with his team. And the leader of his team was Jake.¡± ¡°Okay, so if we follow him, we will just end up like your brother, right? Oh, where is your brother now? Could he be de¨C.¡± He never got to finish his sentence. Matt woke up an hour later; he couldn¡¯t figure out what had hit him. He couldn¡¯t reconcile in his mind that even though they were both the same level in grade, Jess could so simply pass through his always-present mana shield. ¡°How is it possible? I have to figure this system out.¡± Jake and the three others were standing at the entrance to the cottage. ¡°Has everyone got everything they need? Because once we get down to the planet, it¡¯s going to be one hell of a fight.¡± ¡°What do you mean, once we get down? Where exactly are you taking us¨C?¡± Jake and the three others appeared in the rusty bucket as Matt finished his sentence. ¡°Erica, are you well?¡± Jake asked. ¡°I am still here.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± Jess asked. ¡°It means that not only am I still here with you, Jess, but I have also achieved an objective.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the objective?¡± Jake asked. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°I think it¡¯s kind of like yours. The first is to survive, the second one is to help the humans through the tutorial.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great. It makes me wonder what will happen to me at the end of the tutorial. Do you plan to send me to earth with you or something else?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t know what will happen to you at the end of the tutorial, but if you want, you can go back to the cottage before the end of the tutorial.¡± Giving Erica an option, Jake moved up to the cockpit and plotted a course. ¡°We have five minutes before we start re-entering the atmosphere, and by then, I would recommend everyone be sitting down and buckled in. Otherwise, you are not going to have a fun time.¡± Jake minutes later flipped the shuttle for the de-orbit burn, and in the cargo section, a banging noise could be heard. Looking back, he saw Matt bouncing off the roof of the shuttle, the inertial dampening system not working the best in this case, as Jake had turned it off to save on the mana drain so he would have more mana on his final approach. He also refused the shielding to cover only the bottom of the shuttle. ¡°I told you to buckle up; now it¡¯s too late.¡± Jake flipped the shuttle back around, and Matt slammed into the floor hard. ¡°You better not have damaged my shuttle with your stupid face; next time when you are told to do something, just do it.¡± Matt let out a groan as he tried to get up from the floor, only to collapse a second later. ¡°Jake, Matt has fainted.¡± ¡°There¡¯s nothing we can do about him till we get down; just hold on and try not to freak out.¡± Plasma ripped past the shuttle¡¯s windows as the shuttle shook and groaned as it entered the atmosphere. ¡°Jake, where are the shields?¡± Erica yelled. ¡°I have reduced the shielding to only protect the crucial parts of the shuttle.¡± The moment Jake said this, Erica swiftly put her helmet on, and they didn¡¯t engage in any further conversations as the shuttle hurtled through the atmosphere. Jake was vigilant at the controls as warning sirens blasted in everyone¡¯s ears. Well, almost everyone¡¯s; there was one person who passed through the atmosphere without being aware of anything. ¡°We¡¯re coming in as we did last time; I will blast the area before landing, but this time I will extend the shuttle¡¯s shields to give us a foothold to fall back to. Once Matt wakes up, he will maintain the shuttle¡¯s shield and provide whatever help he can. Erica and you take the left flank; I will take the right, and Jess will provide Overwatch for us both. So let¡¯s get this grand hunt started.¡± As Jake said the last words, the front of the shuttle lit up like the sun for a good 5 seconds. On the ground, in the midst of burnt bug corpses and smoke, the rusty bucket flew down, blasting the smoke aside; the hatch door opened as it did, grenades launching out the door. Just before it landed, two people jumped out the door, landing on the ground before moving out. Once the shuttle landed, a bubble extended to cover an area of about 100 meters around the shuttle. Jake got out of the cockpit and tapped a piece of paper with instructions on Matt¡¯s face. Before Matt stirred, a whole 10 minutes had gone by before he left through the door. Moving his hand to his face, Matt ripped off the paper. ¡°What the fuck is this? Instructions for the idiot who can¡¯t follow simple orders.¡± List of orders:
  1. Maintain the shuttle¡¯s shield.
  2. In the cockpit, sit in the seat.
  3. Push the button that says mana connection.
  4. Push your mana into the shuttle when required.
  5. Stay within the shuttle¡¯s shield. Yes, now you have been downgraded to a battery.
Provide assistance where you can. Stats and skills at the end of Chapter 10. This part can be skipped. Universal constant interface Name Jake everval Race Human Grade TG Level 100 Max cap for this grade 32 unused Class trooper shadow mage Class level 702 Profession Arcane Smith Profession level 13 stats points available 4,580 Mana 23360 Arcane 23500 Stamina 23200 Health 33360 Strength 1116 Agility 1225 Intelligence 2350 Wisdom 2336 Perception 1157 Integrity 3336 Item Transport token Locked to Aaliyah La flame¡¯s home world cottage. can transport 10 lifeforms Soul bound to Jake Everval Item Upgrade token Upgrades an item one rank Item (Soul shuttle of shadows uncommon) binds to your soul space and can be summoned cost of summoning Mana and Stamina. Soul shuttle has a slow repair function when in your soul space.< Item upgraded to. (Arcane Soul shuttle of the wandering path rare) binds to your soul space and can be summoned. Cost of summoning Mana and Stamina. Soul shuttle has a slow repair function when in your soul space. Can use arcane power or mana to operate weapons systems. Item A token that grants unrestricted travel for the owner of this token in the Territory of the wondering Imperium. soul bound to Jake Everval Item New item (Clothing of the Wandering Imperium pants and top rare) Self-repair function and +1000 points to intelligence when equipped Soul bound New item (Boots of the Wandering Imperium rare) Self-repair function and +1000 points to agility when equipped Soul bound New item (Belt of the Wandering Imperium rare) Self-repair function and +1000 points to wisdom when equipped Soul bound New item (Cloke of the Wandering Imperium epic) Self-repair function and +1000 points to all stats when equipped Soul bound (Enchanted Daggers common) A set of two diggers usually used by those in trade professions, enchanted with the skill, raises edge and gives a 2% damage multiplier. Item (stick of thunder common) can be used to frighten weak-willed enemies or bring death. Enchanted with a self-loading function. Enchantment requirements Must have appropriate materials on your person for enchantment to work. Enchantment uses mana to gather materials from your person. Item (Inferior necklace of breathing common) Creates a weak bubble of air around the user. Can be broken if impacted hard, lasts one hour. Item (Ring of holding common) Can store non-organic items, has limited space, can¡¯t store large items. Item (cauldron of the smith redacted) This cauldron had once belonged to a renowned smith. His journey took him through the integrated universe. His end is unknown to the system. +20 to intelligence +10 to perception +10 to wisdom +10 to integrity upgradeable. Requirements soul bound Skills (Steady aim. common) this is a basic trooper skill gives a passive stat boost of 5 to agility strength and perception. (Summon projectile. common) as a mage, you can use mana to summon projectiles. Note, summon projectile does not include any ability to launch the projector. The mana cost is determined by the projectile size. (Transmute powder. Common) requires a pre-existing object to be turned into powder before transmuting can commence. Transmuting the powder requires knowledge of what you wish to transmute into. The mana cost is determined by the quantity of powder being transmuted and the rarity of the power. (Shadow strike. Common) to strike from the shadows is your business. Gives 5% to damage if the target is unaware of your attack. (Universal translate. Common) has a newly integrated you were given the skill to understand the language of all humanoid life forms. (Identify. Common) the ability to identify basic information on objects and other life forms. New skill gained (Arcane boost Rare) Provides a powerful boost to your physical body. Uses Arcane energy to keep operating. A backlash will occur when deactivated. New skill gained (Arcane Time dilation Unique) Slows time in the localised area around the caster this skill will only activate in times of the caster¡¯s greatest need. A backlash will occur when the skill deactivates. New skill (rebirth of the exploding body unique) Will passively heal the user. Stamina is converted into temporary units of integrity to provide healing at a 100 to 1 ratio. Warning the system recognises that you have a tendency for self-harm, the system recommends you seek medical advice. New skill (Arcane hammer rare) Use your Arcane energy to reshape items New skill (Arcane flame rare) An explosive flame contained within a mana barrier. New skill (small mana shield common) You can produce a small physical shield of mana anywhere on your body New skill (empty-minded common) Enter a state of meditation to help regenerate lost stats and split your focus on multiple tasks New skill gained (Arcane bomb uncommon) A bomb of arcane energy. destruction output is equal to the amount of energy put in. Warning in this form: the bomb can not be thrown, so the same destructive force will impact the user. Titles Title (Budding smith) As a budding smith, your path has been opened +1 point to all level advancements but not grade level advancements to (Initiate arcane smith) you have opened the path and taken the first steps on your journey +9 points to all none grade level advancements and +20 points to grade level advancements. Title (The wanderers mark unique) This mark was given by Aaliyah La flame and it is a symbol of redacted and it will help with redacted. Only one can hold this mark it will provide a redacted link to Aaliyah La flame. Provides +10 points to grade level advancements and reduces levels needed to get next grade level by -5 Title Dungeon master first to complete Wandering Path Dungeon +10 points to all profession and class levels. Chapter 11 shuttle renovations Jake fired his rifle like a madman, bugs falling to the ground around him as the three attackers moved forward in a leapfrog pattern. Jake and the others had pushed forward, clearing a path halfway up the mountain. Behind them were the shuttle and Matt. Every 15 minutes, one of the three would return to the shuttle to regain their strength before returning with more potions provided by Matt. One of the other things Matt could do was provide each of them with a weak mana shield. The only issue with the shield was it could only take one good hit before it would break. Matt also used his staff to kill anything getting close to the shuttle. ¡°Erica, move up and clear the building. We need a new base of operations. Jess, move into Erica¡¯s former position.¡± Jake said this, then moved to clear the next wave of bugs that were coming in on their position. Peeking around the corner, Jake noticed what appeared to be a rhinoceros beetle but on a much grander scale, as he crouched at the corner of what resembled a fish and chips shop. Jake looked at Jess and gestured to her to take up a position on the roof of the building Erica was clearing. Jess jumped up to the building¡¯s escape ladder and climbed to the roof. Once she was in position, Jake stepped out into the street and fired his grenade launcher. The grenade flew and struck the rhinoceros beetle on its back. A loud explosion rang out, flames everywhere. The flames subsided, and still crawling forward was the rhinoceros beetle. Jake fired his rifle while running to cover. ¡°Jake, what do we do now? That thing is just too strong!¡± ¡°Keep its attention on you. I¡¯m going to try and find a weak point.¡± Jake climbed up to the roof of the fish and chip shop and headed towards the beetle. Getting closer to the beetle, Jake could hear gunfire going off behind him. Jess had fired at the beetle. Jake looked over the edge of the building. ¡°That beetle is fully armoured. There are no weak points o¨C.¡± The beetle opened up what looked to be wings and, with a buzzing noise, lifted off the ground and flew directly at Jess¡¯s position. ¡°Get down!¡± Jake yelled. Jess jumped off of the roof just as the beetle hit. The beetle took out half of the wall, dust clouds blooming out. Jake quickly ran back to the building. As he got there, he could see Jess on the ground. She wasn¡¯t moving, and above her, the beetle. Jake was trying to figure out a way to save her when the beetle opened its wings and took off towards the hangar. ¡°It¡¯s leaving, just like that.¡± Jake jumped down off of the building, landing in the street, and dashed over to Jess. He jumped over the rubble of the building to land beside her, leaning over her to see if she was breathing. Jake could hear a gurgling sound coming from her lungs. Her lungs were filling up with blood. Jake had little time left to save her. He pulled out one of Matt¡¯s health potions and poured it down her throat before calling out for Erica. On the second level, Erica was standing there, looking out of the giant beetle-shaped hole that was once been a wall. ¡°What the heck was that?¡± After she had regained some of her composure, she left out of the building and landed close to where Jake was. ¡°Erica, can you help bring her back to the shuttle? We¡¯re going to have to rethink our strategy. I¡¯m thinking of teaching Matt to fly the shuttle. He has a large mana pool, so he should be fine with most of the systems. The only problem is arcane energy; he doesn¡¯t have any, so he can¡¯t use it to its full power.¡± ¡°What happens if he takes it and flies away?¡± ¡°You should know the answer to that. It¡¯s a soul shuttle. I can simply unsummon it, and if he is in the air, I hope he¡¯s got wings because, if not, the ground can be really hard.¡± ¡°Fair point. I just didn¡¯t think you could do that to a kid.¡± ¡°Kid or not, if someone steals from me, then they will get what¡¯s coming to them.¡± Jake and Erica walked back to the shuttle, Erica carrying Jess in her arms. As they were approaching the shuttle, Matt came running out. ¡°What happened? Where is Jess?¡± As Matt said this, he looked over at Erica, then down at her arms. ¡°Is she alive?¡± Matt whispered. ¡°She will be fine, thanks to you. Your potion saved her from death, but it¡¯s going to take time for her to fully recover. And I have a job for you. Come with me.¡± This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Jake moved up to the cockpit and told Matt to sit down. He then went through the basics of flying the shuttle, firing the weapon system, and how to modify the shuttle¡¯s shields. What he didn¡¯t teach him was the navigation system and the autopilot. The only reason Jake didn¡¯t teach him these systems was that there was no time left. Jake gave the command to Matt, and a moment later, the shuttle took to the sky. Matt was basically a natural at this. His only issue was the immense mana drain on his body. Jake may have miscalculated the mana cost, so using the weapons system was out of the question; it would drain him dry. Jake started thinking of alterations he could make to the shuttle. But first, they needed to get back to the crumbling building to set up a new fallback position. Once they were getting closer to the position, Jake pointed out the window. ¡°That¡¯s the building there. Land on the roof, just don¡¯t land too hard.¡± Matt lined up for landing, his palms sweaty. ¡°You¡¯re doing good. Just bring it down slow and easy. That¡¯s right, two meters to contact.¡± Grinding sounds could be heard as the shuttle landed. Upon landing, Matt had inadvertently given the shuttle some lateral translation. This shifted the shuttle¡¯s position from being in the centre of the roof to the edge. Jake looked over at Matt. ¡°That¡¯s a landing, I guess. Expand the shields and help defend the area. I will start working on a kinetic weapon for the shuttle that you should be able to use.¡± Jake went to the nose of the ship and removed one of the two weapons pods. Looking at how it worked, the pod itself had no physical wiring connecting it. It seemed like they had built the firing mechanism directly into the pod itself. The main issue Jake was trying to figure out was how it integrated into the shuttle¡¯s system. Stumped, he reattached it to the shuttle, and once he did, a notification showed up in front of him. ¡°Would you like to integrate a weapons pod into the shuttle¡¯s system? Yes/No. Warning: The shuttle¡¯s system can only accommodate three weapons systems at a time. ¡°Well, that¡¯s handy. No wires required, just plug and play. I¡¯m sure there are ways to abuse this, but that¡¯s not what I need. All I need is a method to affix a honking gun to it. I¡¯m thinking, some kind of rotary cannon would be good. The problem with that will be ammunition. Maybe if I take down the sleeping area and put in an ammo rack instead, it can be self-loading. This could work. The next issue is whether we would classify multiple barrels as one weapon or more. No, it said weapons system, so what is a system? If I look at the weapon pod I took off, that was classified as one system even though there are two pods. So if I put a rotary cannon in a pod with a grenade launcher, will that work as one system? I¡¯m going to have to test this out.¡± Jake sat down outside of the shuttle, pushing out his cauldron. He began working on the ammo rack first. He kept it as simple as he could. There was no requirement for the rack to be built in one piece, so Jake built it in parts. The rack was a simple open cage and a closed box for the powder. It took Jake a day to make the rack, but once he did, he took a break. Erica walked up to him and stared at his cauldron. ¡°What is it? Do you have a question or something?¡± ¡°Um, how does that work? You created a full-sized rack from such a small cauldron?¡± Jake laughed. ¡°It¡¯s actually an interesting question. It seems that when I am working on something, the cauldron helps me calculate the size of the actual object. Once I remove the object from the cauldron, the cauldron sucks arcane energy from the air around it and transforms the size from its smaller version to the full-size version. The problem with this is that, if the object is big, it requires more arcane energy to transform. This leaves a deserted space that will take a long time to recover. So, I¡¯m sure you could guess what would happen if I made a ship in the cauldron.¡± ¡°The area would be enormous, right?¡± ¡°Oh, yes. To make a ship the size of this shuttle would drain the arcane energy of around a quarter of a planet¡¯s energy.¡± Erica looked at him in shock. ¡°I see. So, did they make the ships in the Wandering Imperium this way?¡± ¡°Yes, if you base your judgment on what was written in those books.¡± ¡°So, how big an area would Aaliyah La Flame¡¯s have drained of energy, and how long would it take those areas to recover?¡± ¡°Well, the book said Aaliyah made around 100 ships the size of the Jaxxen and 20 twice that size. So, my guess would be around about a galaxy¡¯s worth of energy. And about the recovery time, well, the larger the area, the longer it will take to recover. So that galaxy will have no arcane energy for over a million Earth years.¡± Jake started laughing hysterically. ¡°What are you laughing at? That is horrible. All the people living there won¡¯t be able to advance past F grade; they can¡¯t leave the home system and travel the cosmos.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. She drained that place dry. But what you don¡¯t get is that the place she did that in had already been destroyed. That entire galaxy was turned into slave labour.¡± Jake opened his arms wide. Erica looked at him oddly. ¡°Yes, your home galaxy was the one that was drained dry. The same thing that happened in your galaxy, the slavery, and the destruction of cultural heritage, has been happening to every new universe that gets integrated into the system. The system only gives us newly integrated. A planetary shield that will only protect us from orbital bombardment, and it gives us the option to take part in a tutorial. That¡¯s right, it is an option, it¡¯s not mandatory. So, I can tell you many people will decide not to take part in it.¡± Erica got up and walked off. ¡°I don¡¯t think I set her mind at ease there.¡± Jake got up and entered the shuttle and walked up to the cockpit. Looking out the windscreen, he looked for a suitable location to put a weapon sighting system. ¡°It would be nice to have a heads-up display, but how would that work? I would need the system to help with the display. I can create the housing, but I don¡¯t know how to make glass. Maybe I should talk to Jess about it when she gets healthy again, or maybe Matt would be best to ask. Oh, well. I should just start working on the things I can do.¡± Jake left the shuttle and sat down in a new location to work on the cannon. Chapter 12 air support or lack of In Jake¡¯s hands, there was a large, three-barrel rotary cannon protruding from a slender box, with two tubes on the box. New item (Shuttle weapons pod common): This pod has a fast-firing cannon and two grenade launchers. The self-loading system requires ammunition to be within the shuttle¡¯s storage. The cannon has a 10% damage bonus, and the grenade launchers¡¯ bonuses are contingent on the ammunition used. Low mana is required to operate the weapons pod. Jake decided that after making this weapons pod, he would speak to Matt and Jess to see if they could make glass. So, he started with Matt first. Walking up to Matt, Jake asked, ¡°How are things going? Are you gaining levels in your class?¡± Matt looked at him for a second. ¡°No, not as much as I need, but I am making some progress, so at least that¡¯s something, I guess.¡± ¡°Well, I might have a solution for that. But first, do you know how to make glass? I need it to make a heads-up display for the shuttle.¡± ¡°I know it requires sand and a lot of heat. The heat I can produce in alchemy is not enough, but I do have sand.¡± Matt gave Jake a jar of sand. ¡°Why do you have sand?¡± ¡°Well, when I got to this planet, I picked it up. I never wanted to leave the ground again. Yeah, I know, it was a stupid thought.¡± ¡°Not that stupid, considering what I went through to get here. I don¡¯t blame you for that thought. To be honest, I would rather never go up there again. Just look at my shuttle. Did you know it¡¯s connected to my soul? So, that it looks like it¡¯s going to fall apart is because my soul makes it that way. Take that as you will. Thanks for the sand; I¡¯m going to check on Jess now.¡± Jake left and walked down the stairs from the roof and into the building. On the top floor of the building, Erica had set up a room for Jess. Knocking on the door before being invited in, Jake saw Jess lying in bed with Erica in a chair. ¡°Still not awake yet?¡± ¡°She only just went back to sleep about 15 minutes ago.¡± Jake thought about it for a minute, then said he would handle it and left. Jake walked back to the shuttle and sat in the cargo section with his cauldron in front of him. With a hand on the side of it, he heated it up, putting a bit of sand in it to see if he could get it to work. But try as he might, it just wouldn¡¯t do anything. ¡°I just can¡¯t get it to work. Sure, I can achieve a temperature in the cauldron way hotter than what is needed to melt the sand, but there¡¯s just no way to form it. My attention needs to shift to a different idea. Someone must have used a different material for these windows; I don¡¯t think they are made of glass. It¡¯s possible that someone used some kind of stable mana to make them.¡± Jake pulled out some metal and put it in the cauldron, forgetting he already had sand in there. Jake started working on the frame for the display, but just as he was about to finish, something odd happened. The sand rushed into the centre of the display¡¯s housing, then turned to liquid, filling the location where the display should be. Jake felt a tug on his mana, so he released more mana into the cauldron, keeping all the energies separate so they wouldn¡¯t explode. It was extremely difficult. Jake couldn¡¯t keep going like this for too much longer, as his mana drained faster and faster until suddenly it stopped, the item being complete. New item (HUD common): Can be integrated into a shuttle or similar vessel. Jake moved into the cockpit and placed the HUD on top of the console, waiting for the message. ¡°Would you like to integrate this item into the shuttle? Yes/No.¡± As soon as Jake selected yes, the HUD fused with the console, becoming one. Jake then went out to the nose of the shuttle and installed the weapons pod under the nose of the shuttle. ¡°Would you like to integrate the weapons pod into the shuttle¡¯s systems? Yes/No. Warning: only three weapons systems can be installed at one time.¡± After setting up the system, Jake decided to dedicate more time to making ammunition for the weapons. Three days had passed, and Jake had finally finished the ammo rack and the storage cupboards on both sides of the shuttle. The grenades were of three different types: smoke, fragmentation, and high explosive. Jake was happy with the upgrades to the shuttle; he couldn¡¯t wait to show it off to everyone. Jake found them relaxing at the other end of the roof. The three of them turned and looked at him as he approached. ¡°It¡¯s time to get back to work clearing out these bugs. But first, let me show you our additional support.¡± The three of them followed Jake back to the shuttle. ¡°This is the new weapons pod. It has two grenade launchers and one rotary cannon. The cannon fires around 500 rounds a minute, while the grenade launchers fire 4 rounds a minute. There are three different types of grenades: smoke, fragmentation, and high explosive.¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Jake and Matt went up to the cockpit. In helping Matt with the controls, Jake showed him how to select the different weapons systems and ammunition types. Jake explained the weapons system and then told Matt to orbit them at a high enough altitude where he wouldn¡¯t be attacked, while also instructing him to monitor their movements. If he found targets of opportunity, he could attack them, but he was to keep enough ammunition left to help them if required. ¡°So, I¡¯m to take on an air support role for you three. That seems like a fun job.¡± Jake and the two ladies watched as Matt took off and orbited their position. ¡°Can he even see us from up there? And how are we supposed to call him for help?¡± Jess said. ¡°Well, in terms of seeing us, the shuttle has a zoom camera, so even if he¡¯s in low Earth orbit, he should be able to see us. And as for communicating, there really is no way to do that, so it will be up to him to keep track of us and predict if we need help or not.¡± Jake and the others left the building and started moving down the street. The environment had changed once again; they were now moving from a suburban area to a city with skyscrapers on each side of them, with narrow streets. ¡°It looks like Matt won¡¯t be able to get down to us. We will need to fight our way to him if we need to fall back,¡± Jake said. The three moved down the street, their goal to reach the centre of the city by the end of the day. Jake turned to check behind them; to his surprise, the street behind them was full of cockroaches. ¡°Not again. Contact rear!¡± Jake yelled, his voice cracking a little, before opening fire on the incoming enemies. Erica pushed forward into the midst of the oncoming enemies, her axe cleaving roaches left and right, as Jess fell back to get to a higher position for over-watch. Jake opened fire with his grenade launcher, blowing apart the rear ranks before switching back to his rifle, just before the cockroaches got too close to his position. Gunfire rang out as Jake moved, using his higher agility to dodge a strike from one cockroach. Another strike came in from the right; Jake went to duck the strike, only to have the cockroach lift up on its back legs and strike down at him with consecutive strikes. Covered in his own blood, Jake rolled out of the way. Jake, knowing time was not on their side, moved forward once more, but this time, his mind was blank; he had no thoughts other than to kill his enemies. He pulled out his daggers and lodged one between the armour of the cockroach, then brought up his rifle, placing it under the chin of the cockroach and pulled the trigger hard. In an instant, Jake fired round after round until the cockroach¡¯s headless corpse was left on his dagger. Jake pulled out his dagger and charged the next enemy, sliding underneath it and firing on full auto, tearing open the cockroach from head to toe, bug guts covering him as he continued. As he started running low on mana, he switched to just using his daggers, flashing across the battlefield like a flickering shadow, taking one enemy down then moving on to the next, his mind in a complete state of bloodlust; he could no longer tell friend from foe. Jess looked on in shock as she noticed some actions that Jake took were the exact same ones her brother would do when he would practice unarmed combat. This would not be odd since Jake was in the same team as her brother, but for the conversation she had with him about it. Before the tutorial: Jess was watching her brother in the training area he set up at the back of their house. His movements were like he was in some kind of anime, fighting against giant monsters, using only the nimbleness of his body and the razor¡¯s edge of his blade. He swiftly moved from one position to the next, sweat dripping down his face as his breathing was slow and steady. After an hour of watching her brother fight an invisible monster, she finally spoke up. ¡°What kind of fighting style is that you¡¯re using? It kind of looks like you¡¯re from an anime.¡± Jess¡¯s brother stopped mid-swing, only now noticing that he was being watched. His face turned red with embarrassment. ¡°How long?¡± ¡°How long what?¡± Jess replied. ¡°How long have you been watching me for?¡± ¡°Not that long¡­ only about an hour or so,¡± Jess said with a grin. Jess couldn¡¯t hold back any longer and started roaring with laughter. ¡°You should have seen your face. Priceless, just priceless. But seriously, what were you doing fighting some monster or something?¡± ¡°It is a training technique I¡¯m working on. It helps me be more nimble and frees up the tiredness in my joints.¡± ¡°So, it¡¯s not some kind of fighting style that your commander is teaching you?¡± ¡°No, God, no. Jake would never engage in such a practice, even under extreme circumstances. He is a serious kind of man, one of those people who struggles to interact with others. But a man you can rely on when times get tough.¡± Present day in the tutorial: Jess watched as Jake went on a rampage, slaughtering everything in front of him. His eyes turned red, and blood flowed out of them like tears. Jake carried on, killing more and more, until the cockroaches decided to cut and run, scattering in all directions to escape the demon of death that had slaughtered their kin. By the time the cockroaches left, Jake had killed over five hundred of them. Among the cockroach corpses stood a man holding a dagger in one hand and a cockroach corpse in the other, standing in the middle of the street with the moon rising behind him. ¡°He¡¯s a fucking demon, a demon of death.¡± New skill (Voices of the past unique): Tap into the experience of those who have died. New skill (Berserker form common): Once activated, you will enter a state of mindlessness. Only the death of your enemy will concern you. New skill (Fighter¡¯s sight common): Your enemy will cower at your sight. Cost of use health points in proportion to the targeted. Race upgrade demon of the past. Unique. This is a unique race in the integrated universe. As such, the system has no information on its abilities. Universal constant interface Name Jake everval Race human, demon of the past Grade TG Level 100 Max cap for this grade 166 unused Class trooper shadow mage Class level 1000 Max cap for this grade 372 unused Profession Arcane Smith Profession level 13 stats points available 11,480 Mana 23360 Arcane 23500 Stamina 23200 Health 33360 Strength 1116 Agility 1225 Intelligence 2350 Wisdom 2336 Perception 1157 Integrity 3336 All unused levels and grades will be converted to points at a 1:1 ratio at the end of the tutorial. Chapter 13 the cavalry has arrived Jake was standing there, covered in blood and guts, his body drained of Mana and Stamina. He felt as if he was paper blowing in the wind, looking at the sky, and muttered, ¡°Thank you, my brothers.¡± Blood was still dripping from his eyes. He lost what strength he had left. As he collapsed, Erica caught him, saying, ¡°You did well, Jake. You saved us.¡± As she said this, a roaring noise went off over her head. She looked up to see the rusty bucket spitting flames from its nose. The quick burst of fire mowed down what was left of the escaping bugs as she looked in the direction the shuttle was facing. ¡°All be praised. The cavalry has arrived,¡± Erica said with a face full of sarcasm. She picked up Jake and communicated with Jess to follow her up to the roof of the closest building. Erica came to the entrance to the building; the spinning door had long since broken, jamming on an angle with what looked to be a hole about the size of a humanoid. Erica looked over at Jess. ¡°Can you get through? I will pass him to you, then I wi¨C.¡± Erica looked down the street as a screech rattled their eardrums. Thousands of bugs of all sizes were approaching their position. ¡°Get in there.¡± Matt was overhead and noticed the bugs coming out onto the street. Once he reached a certain part of his orbit, he began his attack run, coming in hot, loud, and fast. He opened up with everything he had left; fire erupted from the shuttle, and explosions rattled the bugs. The only ammo left that Matt could use were smoke grenades, and he couldn¡¯t see a use for them at the moment. With explosions going off behind her, Erica pushed Jake through the gap and started following him through. Just as she had got halfway through, she felt a searing pain in her left buttock. She screamed at Jess, ¡°Shoot this fucker.¡± Jess swung her rifle up and deep into her shoulder, squeezing the trigger, letting off a single round over the back of Erica and into the bug¡¯s little head, blowing it to bits. After that, Erica slipped through the gap, blood seeping out of the new hole she had, which started on one side of her buttocks, then exited on the other. ¡°This fucking hurts,¡± she roared. Jess picked up Jake and headed towards the stairs up to the roof, Erica limping behind her. They were halfway between floors when they heard glass shattering. Erica looked at Jake, then at Jess, and said, ¡°Get to the roof. I will only slow you down.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not leaving you behind, so just shut up and move.¡± The two continued up the stairs, passing by the fifth floor. The chittering had gotten much closer. Erica turned and lobbed a grenade down the stairway. It bounced off the wall and down two levels before exploding. The building shook as the explosion took out the stairs from the second floor to the fourth, frying everything in the area. Erica was standing at the edge of the stairs, looking down the shaft. Thousands of bugs were below her. She swung her launcher over the guardrail and fired three rounds in quick succession before running up the stairs after Jess. Some climbing later, Jess was around halfway up to the roof. Erica was a little further down, firing grenades down the now stairless shaft. She would fire three grenades around every five levels, blowing the stairs away, which was slowing the bugs down, giving them the precious time they needed to reach the roof. Five floors later, Erica was getting ready to repeat her actions when she suddenly yelled. ¡°Last one.¡± The grenade that she launched last was one of the ones Jake had made. As it flowed down the shaft, the bugs let it pass by them, some even moving out of its way. It fell further and further until finally¡­ Ting, ting! Boom! The entire building shook. Then, loud cracking sounds reverberated throughout the building from the ground floor up before it leaned slowly. Erica and Jess looked at each other before Jess yelled over the noise. ¡°We need to bust through the side of the building and hope Matt can pick us up before this building collapses on us.¡± Jess busted through the door and found her way to the closest window. As she got closer, she pulled out her rifle and blew the window to bits. Climbing onto the ledge behind her, Erica was just entering the doorway. The building was now leaning over so far it was butting up against its neighbouring building. As the building was now leaning over so far, Erica had to use her strength to make handholds in the floor as she climbed to the window. Once she got there, she climbed outside the window. As she was about to say something about Matt not even noticing, a skyscraper falling over. The shuttle swooped down and hovered just in front of them. Jess reached out for the door switch. She almost dropped Jake as she reached. ¡°Fuck, I can¡¯t reach it.¡± ¡°Let me give it a try,¡± Erica said. As Erica reached out for the switch and hit it, she tried to duck out of the way as the door swung open and knocked her back into the building. In the process, she accidentally fell onto a small, possibly a baby caterpillar, and squished it as she was slammed into a structural pillar. Erica started her climb once more back up to the shuttle, one punch at a time, till she had finally reached the window once more. Jake and Jess were already on the shuttle; they were just waiting for her. The shuttle slowly drifted away. Erica jumped with all her strength, only just catching the doorway with her hands. She just hung there helpless as she couldn¡¯t pull herself up, and she couldn¡¯t let go as the building had crumbled underneath her when she jumped. She was now just hanging there over a hundred meters up. Jess reached out her hand and grabbed onto Erica¡¯s wrist, bracing her legs on either side of the door; she pulled with all her strength. Erica was now halfway in and out. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°A bit of help would be great about now, Matt,¡± Jess yelled. Matt switched off the dampeners, and, following Jess¡¯s request, flipped the shuttle on its side. The two ladies tumbled across the floor and smashed into the opposite wall. Matt reactivated the dampeners and pushed the throttles forward, gaining altitude. They flew up and landed on top of a skyscraper that Matt had scouted out as a possible landing site. Once they landed, Matt extended the shield to cover the roof of the building. Then he ran back with a handful of potions, giving the two ladies enough to get back to full-on all their stats in time. Then he sauntered over to Jake, looking him over, and asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with him?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t know. He may have just used up all of his Mana and Stamina. Or there may be something else wrong with him,¡± Jess said as she approached them. ¡°I¡¯ll just give him a health potion. If we don¡¯t know what¡¯s wrong with him, I don¡¯t want to make him worse.¡± Jess and Matt left the shuttle together, walking over to the edge of the building. Jess turned to Matt and said with some hesitation. ¡°I think you might be right. We should have just found a safe place to hide out till the end of the tutorial. Like we may be getting stronger, but our enemies just keep coming. You saw what happened back there; we nearly died to a building landing on us. I think when this tutorial is over, we should find a place far away from Jake. He seems to bring only more danger to us.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, Jess. Maybe we shouldn¡¯t.¡± ¡°What? You are the one who was saying from the start that we should leave, but now you don¡¯t want to. What¡¯s wrong with you?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just that we¡¯ll look at this.¡± Matt pointed at the shuttle and the place they were. ¡°Did you ever think that people like us could ever be able to fly around in a spaceship and even land on top of the highest building in this city?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t stay with him.¡± ¡°Why not, Jess? You didn¡¯t seem to have a problem earlier. Did something happen when you were down there that you¡¯re not telling me?¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s odd to explain, but I will try. When we were in the fight and we were getting overrun, Jake changed. It wasn¡¯t just an emotional change, but from what I saw, his body had a shimmering glow about it. He kind of looked like a demon from the old stories. And what was even odder than that, he could do things only two people on earth knew. One was my brother, and the other was me. He used my brother¡¯s fighting style,¡± she exclaimed. Matt stood there for a minute, just looking out into the distance. ¡°So you¡¯re saying he knows things he shouldn¡¯t and also turns into a demon or something?¡± ¡°Yes, he is a demon. I know it.¡± ¡°Do you know how weird that sounds?¡± Jess just pointed around at their surroundings. ¡°Okay, I get your point. But what if he is? Has he ever done anything bad to us?¡± ¡°Not yet,¡± Jess said. ¡°Maybe we should bring this up with Erica. You and her seem to get along, right? And if that dosen¡¯t work, we will leave together. Hopefully, with something of value.¡± ¡°She may not be the best to ask, but okay?¡± The two of them headed back to the shuttle. Upon entering, they saw a sight that made them both blush. Erica was lying next to Jake with no clothing on, her arms wrapped around Jake¡¯s naked body. Looking closer, Jess noticed that there was a strange blue glow coming from Erica¡¯s body and where she had her hand, the glow was more intense. A moment later, after Matt was told to leave by Jess, Erica removed her hands from Jake and got dressed. ¡°What were you doing to him?¡± Jess asked. Erica looked embarrassed as she said, ¡°Forming a kind of contract with him.¡± ¡°What kind of contract and why?¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s, let¡¯s just say in my society, it is common for someone of my low standing to do this for someone like him. You saw him, didn¡¯t you? You saw his power, the power is similar to the stories from history. He has the god¡¯s power.¡± As Erica was saying this, a strange tattoo appeared below her left eye. It was in the shape of a heart with two chains crossing and a lock in the middle. Erica felt it appear, her mouth turning into a smile. ¡°It really worked. I was right; he is one.¡± ¡°One what?¡± Jess said. ¡°A chaos bringer. He has a power so similar, so I had to try it, and I¡¯m not regretting my actions at all.¡± ¡°What do you mean by chaos bringer?¡± ¡°That¡¯s just what my history called them due to what followed them. Everywhere a chaos bringer went, the influential and powerful would suddenly have a rash of bad luck, of sorts.¡± ¡°So, his bad luck then. That¡¯s settled it; I will be leaving as soon as we get back to earth.¡± ¡°That¡¯s your decision to make; you must follow your path. My path is set now,¡± she declared, indicating her face. ¡°I don¡¯t get it, Erica. If you knew he was likely to be one of those chaos bringers that you mentioned, why would you do that, from my point of view, it looked to be very intimate? It just doesn¡¯t make sense.¡± Erica blushed and looked over at Jake. ¡°If only.¡± Erica walked out of the shuttle and sat on the edge of the building alone. ¡°That poor man; he will never know friendship. No one will help him, and if people find out what I did, they will hunt us both down. He needs to get stronger, or we will both die.¡± Erica opened up her interface. Universal Constant Interface Name: Erica Blake Race: Nordicless demon bound Grade: Temporarily reduced to TG original grade D grade Level: 100 Max cap for this grade 1500000 unused Erica brought up the description of her race: Nordicless: A race that can form contracts with others providing the other party with stat boosts. Can form soul-binding contracts these contracts, after integration, will be system-enforced and system-assisted. Demon Bound: You have bound your soul to Jake Everval, the unique demon of the past. Jake will gain +50 to all levels and grades, and you will receive +10 to all levels and grades. You will also receive permanent soul damage if Jake dies. New Skill (Demon¡¯s Servant Unique): You can provide assistance to Jake Everval without any luck debt transfer being paid by you. New Skill (Soulbound Demon Form Unique): Take on the form of a demon to eradicate Jake Everval¡¯s enemies. Uses the connection between you and the demon of the past to copy any form that Jake Everval has taken. New Skill (Soulbound Common): Can detect the general detection of your master and can sense if your master is in danger. Chapter 14 Im your soul servent Erica spent most of the time by Jake¡¯s side; she wouldn¡¯t leave him for more than a couple of hours as she hunted bugs with Jess and Matt. This was one of those times. Waking up, Jake looked at the roof of the shuttle, his interface flashing in his face. Universal constant interface Name: Jake Everval Race: Human Grade: TG Level: 100 Max cap for this grade: 366 Unused Class: Trooper Shadow Mage Class level: 1000 Max cap for this grade: 1372 Unused Profession: Arcane Smith Profession level: 13 stats points available: 37,480 Mana: 23360 Arcane: 23500 Stamina: 23200 Health: 33360 Strength: 1116 Agility: 1225 Intelligence: 2350 Wisdom: 2336 Perception: 1157 Integrity: 3336 All unused levels and grades will be converted to points at a 1:1 ratio at the end of the tutorial. Title: Demon Master As a new demon, you can have up to one soul servant. Soul servants give their free will over to their master for a boost in stats and new skills to assist their master in their goals. As the master, you receive +50 to class, profession, and grade levels. Warning: soul servants cannot be dismissed. ¡°You know, it¡¯s a little odd and I¡¯ve said this before, but why does it always calculate the free points before it gives the bonus for new titles? And on that note, how the fuck am I a demon? I¡¯m human, aren¡¯t I? And who the fuck is soul bound to me? Sure not complaining about the bonuses, but it seems to sound a lot like slavery. I¡¯m just not into that stuff. I think I will have to get to the bottom of this.¡± Jake went to get up, but his head was still hurting for some reason, and his eyes felt as if someone had kicked sand in them. Jake sat on the edge of the mattress he was on. ¡°Which is another thing. Where did the mattress come from?¡± Jake thought. Jake pushed through the pain and walked out of the shuttle; to his surprise, the city they were in was now behind him and in front of him right now was a forest. ¡°Did they give up on the idea of gaining levels by pushing our way to the hangar on foot? Well, I don¡¯t blame them if they have. I was thinking the same thing; I just didn¡¯t want to lose them due to having low stats.¡± As Jake was contemplating the matter, Erica rushed up behind him. Jake noticed her with perception and turned around just as he saw it¡ªErica was on one knee. ¡°Servant greets master, does master have any jobs for me to do?¡± Jake was in a state of shock. ¡°Well, I guess now I know who formed a contract with me. Erica, get up and don¡¯t call me that; it doesn¡¯t fit me. I don¡¯t own you or anyone else.¡± ¡°But you actually do.¡± ¡°What, no I don¡¯t except I don¡¯t own you, and I never will. I didn¡¯t agree to this.¡± Erica was physically upset. She had hoped Jake would be like the stories and bring her to new heights; in the stories, the demons would always accept their servants, and as such, they would become gods in their own right. But what Jake just said shattered that dream completely. She started to cry. ¡°Erica, I¡¯m sorry. Please try not to cry. I accept you and I know that you did what you did voluntarily, and it can¡¯t be undone. I just don¡¯t accept the whole slavery thing. How about this: you can work for me, and as such, I will do everything in my power to support you in whatever endeavours you have in the future?¡± Erica hesitantly said, ¡°may I ask you what your goals are?¡± ¡°Ha, of course, you can, and my goal is to see how far I can go, how powerful I can become to find the limits and see if it is possible to surpass them.¡± Jake laughed. Strangely enough, Erica stopped crying and said with a grin, ¡°my payment will be that you shall take me with you in seeing what the limits are.¡± Jake was stunned; all he had to do was bring her along as he completed his goal. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°Ok, if that¡¯s what you want from me, then that¡¯s what you will get, and I won¡¯t just bring you with me; we shall break those limits together, so we will need to get much stronger.¡± The two of them sat and talked for a long time, which was something Jake normally was not the kind of person to share so much or even just talk to a person outside of giving commands to them; sometimes a bit of light banter is okay, but to talk for that long with someone he hardly knew was something else. One thing Jake found out was that Matt and Jess had decided to leave him the moment they got back to earth, and another thing was that Jake had been asleep for longer than he would have thought. Jess, Matt, and Erica cleared a path out of the city a week ago, and they were now just down a little from the hangar. And there was one more thing: Jess had been able to make ammo for the cannon, but she wasn¡¯t able to recreate the grenades. After talking, Jake got to work making grenades and other things that might just come in handy. Ding! Profession level increased +350 points Ding! Grade level increased +90 points New item (hand cannon ¡Á2 common): A cannon that can be used by anyone with the strength and mana stores to use it; fires an explosive mana bolt at your target. Uses mana to operate, with explosive potential dependent on mana bolt size. New item (Arcane handgun ¡Á2 rare): A weapon created by a friend as a gift to provide the user with a weapon to fall back on when all seems lost. Infused with a limited supply of arcane energy. Requirements to refill reach E grade and infuse with arcane energy. Soulbound. New item (Scope of mana common): Uses a mana-infused metal to provide sharpened vision; magnification increases depending on perception stat. Fits F88. ¡°That¡¯s all I can give them; I hope these items help them out.¡± Jake waited at the shuttle for the two of them to get back from their hunt. Erica was off to the side of the shuttle sharpening her axe. ¡°We¡¯re running out of time; we need to make a run on the hangar. If he is not awake soon, we need to do it without him; you saw what was at the door; that was clearly a spaceship, maybe even a fighter or something. If we are going to go our own way, we need to possess the firepower to do it.¡± ¡°I would agree with you on that one,¡± Jake said, scaring the young man. ¡°On that note, I have a kind of going away gift for you both.¡± Jake handed the two of them two weapons each and the scope to Jess. ¡°These gifts might be the last gifts I can give you, so I hope they treat you both well on your journey. But for now, let us talk about what you saw up there.¡± The three of them met up with Erica and talked over the details. Matt came up with a plan that suited Jake because Jake really had no intention of leading anyone ever again; he had finally made his decision: he would preferably just be a mercenary and fight for others than lead ever again, and if he ended up in a position of power over someone, he would just let them do what they want. Being self-sufficient and having his own path, plus now he wasn¡¯t even a human anymore¡ªat least he didn¡¯t feel like one. His interface might say he is, but Jake knew he wasn¡¯t¡ªat least not what he thought of as a human. He was more humanoid than human. Matt¡¯s plan was that Jake would fly them close to the hangar¡¯s entrance, and then the three of them would jump out and dash for the hangar. Erica and Jess would put up a defence while Matt would get the spaceship up and running. Matt was under the assumption that he could operate the ship; after describing it to Erica, she told him it was an old light fighter. That was the plan to get in; the plan to get out was oddly even more lacking. Supposedly, Jake was meant to fly in and pick up Jess and Erica after Matt had escaped with the fighter; in Jake¡¯s mind, there were several problems with this plan, but to be honest, Jake believed Matt needed experience, so he said nothing while the plan was being planned. After they had talked over the plan, Matt and Jess left together. ¡°I¡¯m not a fan of this plan; it has too many holes in it, and I can¡¯t figure out what is going on with those two. They have been acting strange ever since they found out about our connection.¡± Jake sighed, ¡°Yeah, I think they might be up to something; did you see Jess¡¯s face when I asked how many ships were in the hangar? She knows something, but they¡¯re not telling us; we can only go along with it for now. But once you get in there, do whatever you need to keep yourself safe. Here, take this; it¡¯s a smoke grenade. If you need my help, throw it and I will be there.¡± ¡°But I don¡¯t get it; we have been fighting and living with them for a long time. Did we not become friends?¡± ¡°Sadly, Erica, this is a great example of true human nature; humans will do anything to get what they want. For example, back in my home world, we had rich and poor people. The government saw this, and the plan at the time was to make the poor people more wealthy, so what they did was raise the taxes on the rich and give the money to the poor, like they were some kind of Robin Hood. But in reality, when you raise taxes on a company that provides food or other staples that people need to survive, what do you think will happen?¡± ¡°The price of the goods increased to cover the tax, leading to the poor paying more for the goods they need.¡± ¡°And without ever looking at the problem they were causing, the government repeated the same thing again and again. But you see, the government wasn¡¯t giving all the tax money back to the people, so government employees¡¯ wages were increasing every year, but the poor people just got poorer till even the rich people couldn¡¯t afford to pay their workers, leading to the poor people getting even less money till all the people who were not part of the government had nothing left to lose and started fighting the government to strip them of the money and power. So in the end, humans went to war with each other over something each side wanted, leading to thousands dying on both sides for a cause that in the end didn¡¯t matter; and as for those rich people, well, since no one could buy their products, their companies went bankrupt.¡± ¡°So Matt and Jess don¡¯t see us as friends.¡± ¡°No, not when it comes to profits they could gain; we are just collateral damage to them.¡± After talking all night, Jake and Erica decided to just roll with it, and if an opportunity presented itself, Erica would act like a human and collect some profits. When the sun rose, Matt and Jess returned to the shuttle; both of them just sat down in a seat and waited for Jake and Erica to arrive. As Erica and Jake walked in, Matt snapped at them, ¡°Where have you two been? I guess you were up all night serving your master.¡± Erica just walked past him and sat down, but Jake grabbed the scrawny little shit by the collar and put his fist into his jawbone, shattering it, before sitting in the cockpit and starting the engines, blasting the shuttle into the air. Chapter 15 Erica class corvette Jake yelled back to them, ¡°30 seconds!¡± He lit up the area, blasting as many bugs as he could before swooping in and hovering in front of the hangar door. ¡°Go, go, goanna!¡± Jake yelled. Three individuals rose to their feet. Erica was the first one to exit, with Jess right behind her. Next, it was Matt¡¯s turn, but before he departed, he placed a timed explosive in the doorway and made his escape. In just half a minute, Jake was at altitude when the bomb exploded, causing shrapnel to rip off the back of the shuttle. On the ground, seconds earlier, Erica was blasting apart bugs when she felt a sense of wrongness overwhelm her. She couldn¡¯t place it. Then she saw it - the wicked smile on Matt¡¯s face. She looked up at the shuttle amidst the flying bugs, and then there was an almighty explosion. The shuttle disintegrated, with debris scattering in the air. Matt looked over at Erica and started laughing. Erica went to swing her weapon towards him, only to feel a thud ring out from the back of her head. She crumpled to the ground, Jess standing over her. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but once we knew he was a demon, he had to die. And there was no way you would let us kill him, so we had to do it this way. I¡¯m sorry, but we can¡¯t take you with us.¡± Jess pointed her rifle at Erica¡¯s head. ¡°Goodbye, Erica.¡± Bang! A round flew into the hangar and hit Jess in the shoulder. Her rifle flew from her grasp as she stumbled back, and she quickly dashed for the nearest fighter. She jumped into the cockpit and closed the canopy, activating the flight system and launching out of the hangar. Behind her was another light fighter, piloted by none other than Matt. Once the two fighters left, Jake walked out of the smoke, not a scratch on him. Erica looked at him with astonishment. The Jake she knew, the human, was gone, and what was walking towards her was a demon - with black scaled skin and two small horns protruding out of his forehead. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s get to work. We¡¯ve got a lot of clearing to do before we can use this place for what¡¯s to come.¡± As he said this, his demon form vanished, returning him to his human form. Jake bent down beside Erica and held out a hand. ¡°Come on, get up, Erica. That¡¯s an order.¡± ¡°How did you do that?¡± ¡°Do what, the demon thing? Well, it turns out I¡¯m not human, so I have a few new tricks.¡± Erica got to her feet and walked over to Jess¡¯s rifle. ¡°She was going to kill me. That bitch tried to kill me.¡± Erica got angrier as she looked at the rifle. Then she picked it up and fired it over and over, blowing bugs away. She kept this up until the rifle¡¯s action stopped working and the barrel bowed. In an act of aggression towards those bugs, she removed the scope and threw the rest into a bug¡¯s face, then proceeded to go ham with her axe. She pictured every bug¡¯s face as if it was that bitch and pummeled them to dust before she knew it. There were no bugs attacking her anymore. She looked over at Jake as he just pointed at something outside. What shocked her to the core was what it was. It was the rhinoceros beetle, heading toward the hangar. In the hangar, there was what looked to be a door leading deeper into the facility. Erica ran for the door, and the two of them ran deeper into the facility until they got to a big red double door. Jake kicked the doors open, and with a gasp, Jake looked up at what looked to be a spaceship, not like a shuttle, but a real spaceship. ¡°What type of spaceship do you reckon it is?¡± Jake said as he looked over at Erica. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s the lost class of Corvette that was just about to go into production before the evacuation. It¡¯s the Erica class. They named it after one of my ancestors. They, unlike me, were great at space battles. She was the commander in the great battle of the twin planets of Garox. She lost her life in that battle, detonating a bomb that took out the enemy¡¯s flagship, which allowed our fleet to regroup and take on the enemy¡¯s scattered fleet. That battle was the last battle we fought until the system integration happened 150 years later.¡± ¡°Well, I guess this should belong to you. Let¡¯s see if we can get it to fly, as my shuttle is going to be out of commission for a while.¡± Looking over the ship, Jake would describe it as blocky. But luckily for him, Identify helped with the details a little. Item: Erica class corvette A ship designed for escorting civilian cargo ships from pirates Can be equipped with 12 weapons pods and two shield emitters Requires a crew of 16 mana-based users to function at full power Can run on minimum power with one user if soul bound Has a low-grade FTL drive. Note: This is the largest soul-bound ship a person can have. Description: blocky shape with no rounded edges. One blocky primary hull with two decks and a short neck extending out with a control bridge with antennas jutting out. There are two engine nasals that start skinny at the top and larger at the bottom; they are on each side of the primary hull. They start ? of the way down the ship and extend beyond the rear of the ship. The rear of the ship has a small landing bay for two fighters and one shuttle. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Well, doesn¡¯t that suck? They took the two fighters, and my shuttle¡¯s pretty much fucked until I can find a way to fix it, that is.¡± Jake said. ¡°It looks like I should be able to operate it going by the details Identify gave,¡± Erica said as they entered the ship¡¯s primary hull through the landing bay. The interior was a mix of green and gunmetal grey. The inside was spacious in comparison to Jake¡¯s shuttle. Although, if Jake thought about it right now, his shuttle would be more spacious. Moving through the ship towards the bridge, coming up the neck, they came to a split sliding door with a rounded top. Opening the door, Erica and Jake stepped onto the bridge. The crew had laid out the bridge with standing consoles around the wall and a half-circle rail with console screens on it. In front of the rail, there were three consoles with chairs. One of which had flight controls, one of the others had a navigation system, and the third looked to be made for the ship¡¯s commander. Erica walked over to the commander¡¯s seat, rubbing her fingers on the armrests. She looked back at Jake. ¡°Take the seat; it¡¯s yours now.¡± Erica sat in the seat, and in an instant, she had begun the process of soul-binding the ship to herself. While Jake checked out the weapons systems and shields, he noticed that it was fitted with four forward-facing weapons pod slots and three on each side. The last two were on the centre-line of the ship, one on top and one on the bottom. Out of all the weapons pods, only four had weapons on them. There were two rocket launchers under the bridge, and the two on the top and bottom of the ship were point-defence six-barrel rotary cannons. To Jake¡¯s surprise, the installation team placed only one of the shield emitters, which provides coverage for the front of the ship. That would mean this ship would not be able to re-enter an atmosphere; the heat would tear it apart. There was just no way one emitter could cover the hull, even if it were modified to stretch over only the bottom of the ship; it would just be too thin. The next thing Jake really wanted to look at was the FTL system. His hope would be to add a similar system to the shuttle when he rebuilt it. As he looked over the FTL console, he noted its connection to the impulse engines, the navigation console, and finally, the FTL energy. It seemed like a buffer slowly stored the FTL engine power over time. Then the buffer would release the power in a burst to force the space in front of the ship to compress and the space behind the ship to expand. This would help the impulse engines to move the ship forward at a speed faster than light. Jake went down to engineering to look over the FTL engine design. ¡°This is huge; I can¡¯t fit this in the shuttle. Wait, maybe I don¡¯t have to fit it all inside the shuttle. Maybe I can place the buffers on the outside of the shuttle and the engine in the cargo hold. But I¡¯m still going to need to extend the length of the shuttle a little, and it¡¯s going to need to have the bottom pushed out further. If I do that, landing is going to become an issue; it¡¯s going to need landing legs. While I¡¯m at it, I might as well make some changes to the door design, widening it and lowering it to serve as a ramp. I guess I will have to start working on this back on earth. It would also be good to have more weapons pod slots, maybe two like point defence systems like this ship. To be honest, I think if I do all this to the shuttle, I don¡¯t think it would be right to call it a shuttle anymore; it would be more like a gunship or something.¡±
Jess landed her fighter around five hundred kilometres away from the hangar. She opened the canopy and climbed out, falling to the ground, her arm red with blood. Moments later, Matt landed beside her, jumping out and landing beside Jess, who was now sitting up against the wing of her fighter. ¡°What the fuck? You said this would be worth it.¡± ¡°It was; look, we have the fighters now.¡± ¡°And I have a fucking hole in my shoulder. What did you get for your troubles?¡± ¡°I got a broken jaw.¡± ¡°That was your own fucking fault. Are you stupid or something to say what you said in front of Jake? You deserved what you got.¡± ¡°Ha, I got the last laugh, though. That demon is definitely dead now.¡± ¡°Dead? You think he¡¯s dead? You may have blown up his shuttle. But he¡¯s not fucking dead. How do you think I got this fucking hole in my arm?¡± ¡°He¡¯s still alive? What about his slave? Did you at least kill her?¡± ¡°No, I fucking didn¡¯t. Because some jackass didn¡¯t provide the cover he was supposed to.¡± The two of them went on like this for a while before Jess brought up the elephant in the room. ¡°Does your fighter have any weapons on it?¡± ¡°No, but I haven¡¯t used Identify on it yet.¡± Matt used Identify on the fighter. The Pickle class light fighter, Soul bound, can fit two weapons pods and one small shield emitter. Currently, there are no weapons or shield emitters installed. Description: one small blocky one-person cockpit with three engines in a blocky engine bay. It has two downward-sloping forward-sweeping wings with room for a weapons pod on each wing; the shield emitter pod slot is located under the nose of the fighter. ¡°Oh, fucking hell,¡± Matt yelled.
Stats at the end of the chapter Universal constant interface Name Jake Everval Race Human Grade TG Level 100 Max cap for this grade 666 unused Class Trooper Shadow Mage Class level 1000 Max cap for this grade 2872 unused Profession Arcane Smith Profession level 13 stats points available 169,480 Mana 23360 Arcane 23500 Stamina 23200 Health 33360 Strength 1116 Agility 1225 Intelligence 2350 Wisdom 2336 Perception 1157 Integrity 3336 All unused levels and grades will be converted to points at a 1:1 ratio at the end of the tutorial. Chapter 16 getting ready for flight Jake and Erica were standing outside of the Corvette, looking up at the bridge. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can,¡± Erica said. ¡°It¡¯s okay. If you can¡¯t summon it back, we will just have to find a different way.¡± ¡°Maybe we should just use it as is until we finish the tutorial.¡± ¡°That won¡¯t work. You read the description; it needs 16 people to operate if it hasn¡¯t been soulbound to you. Just give it a try.¡± To complete the soul-binding process for a ship of this size, it requires a person able to summon it. That is the way it tests the capabilities of the one trying to bind it. If the person cannot summon it, they also wouldn¡¯t have the ability to operate its systems solo. With a flash, the Corvette was gone. Once it was gone, Jake looked around the hangar area and noticed some boxes in the corner that were only revealed now that the Corvette was gone. Jake walked up to them, pulling his dagger out. He popped the lid off the closest box and found thousands of rounds, likely for the point defence systems on the Corvette. As he opened the rest of the boxes, he found one million rounds of ammo, one thousand rockets for the Corvette, twenty-five repeating rifles, twenty-five handguns, and over one hundred thousand rounds of small arms ammunition. In the last two boxes, there were twenty-seven exosuits made for space and ground battles, equipped with life support, a thruster pack, helmets that could communicate through all radio frequencies, and a HUD with many functions. There were also sixteen space suits with mana accumulators in them. In the last box were the complete blueprints for the Erica-class Corvette and blueprints for the weapons pods already installed. Out of everything there, Jake took the blueprints and one of the exosuits, putting it on. He looked at himself in reflection. ¡°I look like a strange knockoff of Master Chef and an Asgard from Stargate Atlantis,¡± Jake muttered. Just as he put on the exosuit, a notification popped up. Would you like to soul bind this battle exosuit? Yes/No. New item (Battle exosuit rare): This suit will protect the user from minor explosions and small arms fire. It provides a safe environment for the user in inhospitable environments. It can broadcast and receive on all frequencies. Can be summoned and unsummoned at will. Limited self-repair. Soulbound. New items: Blueprints of Erica-class Corvette and other miscellaneous blueprinted items. As Erica was summoning back the Corvette, Jake sat down and allocated his stat points. He thought that what he needed most right now was mana, stamina, health, and arcane. He didn¡¯t really need perception right now, so he decided to only put a little into it for now. This was his idea on how he was going to spend his points: 60,000 for integrity, 9480 for perception, 30,000 for the rest with nothing in strength, as he needed to be more nimble, not strong, and finally, 10,000 extra for intelligence to give that much-needed boost in Arcane energy. Universal constant interface Name: Jake Everval Race: Human Grade: TG Level: 100 Max cap for this grade: 666 unused Class: Trooper Shadow Mage Class level: 1000 Max cap for this grade: 2872 unused Profession: Arcane Smith Profession level: 13 stats points available: 0 Mana: 323,360 Arcane: 423,500 Stamina: 323,200 Health: 633,360 Strength: 1116 Agility: 31,225 Intelligence: 42,350 Wisdom: 32,336 Perception: 10,637 Integrity: 63,336 All unused level and grades will be converted to points at a 1:1 ratio at the end of the tutorial. ¡°That is much better. I don¡¯t know why I keep forgetting to do that. You know, thinking about it, I am curious about the calculation of levels after the tutorial. It can¡¯t be the same, right? If it is, that would be incredibly broken. I think I remember a help function, so maybe I should have a look.¡± ¡°Tutorial help function.¡± ¡°Can you explain the process of gaining levels outside of the tutorial?¡± ¡°Yes, your class levels are determined by the difficulty of the fight and the number of enemies you defeat. As for profession levels, they are calculated by the rarity of the item you create. For example, unranked would get you one point, where common would be five, and uncommon is ten, then it is rare at 25. This is as far as the help system will confirm. Do you need help with anything else?¡± Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. After looking at his new stats for a while, Jake got up and stood beside Erica. She was perspiring profusely. Maybe it was pure determination or just plain old luck, but there in front of them was the newly summoned Corvette, looking just the same as it did before, with only one minor change. On the roof of the bridge and both sides of the hull, there was a new emblem. It was the same as the one Erica had; it was a heart being crossed by two chains and a lock in the middle. ¡°Well, that could be a problem,¡± Erica said. ¡°What¡¯s the problem?¡± ¡°The emblem is your mark.¡± ¡°What do you mean by my mark?¡± ¡°This is your demon mark. It was imprinted on me when I made the contract with you.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re saying that is me?¡± Jake pointed at the ship. ¡°I don¡¯t see the issue.¡± ¡°The issue is that all the demons before you had similar marks, and they were all hunted down.¡± ¡°What were they hunted for?¡± Well, individuals seeking power hunted some, while others were targeted out of simple hatred, and many were pursued for a myriad of reasons. ¡°Now for the million-dollar question, how do you know all this? As far as I¡¯m aware, demons didn¡¯t appear until integration happened, so where did you get all this information?¡± ¡°Throughout my people¡¯s history, people would come from outside of our universe; those people were demons like yourself. They would live with us and help us advance our space-faring knowledge, and in return, some of my people would sign contracts with them. My people would take down notes, and over time they cobbled together this information.¡± ¡°Well, what¡¯s done is done. We will just have to fight harder in the future. On that note, if we end up being separated after the tutorial, go find Aaliyah La flame. She is in charge of the Wandering Imperium. Take this item with you; you may not be able to use it as it¡¯s soulbound to me, but you should be able to use it as proof that you know me.¡± Item: A token that grants unrestricted travel for the owner of this token in the Territory of the Wandering Imperium. Soulbound to Jake Everval. ¡°Okay, with that out of the way, let¡¯s get this stuff loaded and figure out how to get out of here.¡± Jake and Erica loaded the boxes onto the Corvette. Then Erica went up to the bridge to see if she could start the engines, but she couldn¡¯t, not because there was any issue with the engines, but because she had depleted her mana. So she instead ran a scan of the area to see what enemies were out there. ¡°Oh yeah, we¡¯ve got bugs, and lots of them.¡± She went down to the cargo area to talk to Jake. Jake was sorting out the ammunition and weapons, putting them into the loading rack and weapons lockers. He had already put the exosuits away; the cargo area was as clean as it was when they first saw it. ¡°Jake, I am out of mana. I can¡¯t start the engines, and outside of this hanger, we have bugs, so many that they have covered the mountainside. It looks like a giant swarm of bugs.¡± ¡°Did you figure out how to open the hangar roof by chance?¡± Jake was hopeful they could just open it from within the Corvette. ¡°Yes, I have, but the controls are back in the hallway we ran through to get here. Supposedly, there was a door that we ran past; it leads into a control room that overlooks this hanger.¡± Jake and Erica left the ship, looking around the hangar¡¯s walls. ¡°There it is.¡± Jake pointed up at a set of windows; they were almost at the roof¡¯s height, but what was more worrying was that there was movement up there. ¡°Well, it looks like I¡¯m going to have to go on a solo hunt.¡± ¡°No, let me do it.¡± Erica tried to interject, but instantly Jake shut that thought down; she was the only one who could fly the Corvette for now. ¡°So, how do the controls work up there in the control room?¡± ¡°It seems that I should be able to open the roof from here. It¡¯s just the controls up in the control room seem to be in an deactivated state, so all you need to do is turn them on again. Then get back here so we can leave. If you can, try to sneak; don¡¯t get into unnecessary fights.¡± Jake found himself surprised by her concern for him; it seemed there was more to that contract than she told him. The two of them went into the Corvette again to rest before the big event. While waiting for Erica to regain her mana, Jake had an idea and took the initiative to go out and summon what remained of his shuttle. The sight of the shuttle brought back memories of what happened back then. As he looked at his poor shuttle, he observed that it no longer had a door; everything aft of the cockpit was blown to bits. Without the shield, the rest of the shuttle would have blown Jake apart with the rest of the shuttle. What was even worse was the fact Jake didn¡¯t have any materials left in his storage ring to even begin fixing it. He probably had only enough to make around a thousand rounds of ammo. Jake still had plenty of powder, but he was lacking in metal. He could probably use scrap metal. Without the time to try it out, Jake didn¡¯t dare try. Jake went to the front of the shuttle and removed the two weapons pods, leaving only the one he created there, as it wouldn¡¯t be of any use for what he wanted to do. Going over to the front of the Corvette, he said, ¡°Erica really should pick out a name for that ship. I can¡¯t keep going around thinking of it as the Corvette the whole time.¡± Using the scaffolding that was in the hangar, Jake attached the two pods and returned to rest as he thought of how he was going to get to the roof console. Looking through his skills list, he noticed one that he had completely forgotten about. Skill (Shadow strike. Common): To strike from the shadows is your business. Gives 5% to damage if the target is unaware of your attack. ¡°If I can find a way to upgrade this skill, maybe it will allow me to sneak through the darkness. It won¡¯t be a perfect stealth technique; but it just might let me be overlooked, at least while I¡¯m in the shadows or something.¡± After Jake had a good rest, he tried something else he had forgotten he could do. He sat down with his cauldron, pulling out the herbs he needed to make a mana potion, and tried making one. After quite a few failures, he finally made one. What disappointed Jake was not only did he use more resources than he would get back from the potion, but he also didn¡¯t receive any levels in his profession. Jake had enough of that alchemy bullshit. So he decided to use the time he had left to work on his skill upgrade. For hours, Jake was jumping into shadows while Erica watched him, giving feedback on each different technique he tried. Finally, one technique seemed to work. Jake let out a constant trickle of arcane energy. Using his high agility stats, he dashed forward. His body vanished from Erica¡¯s view for a second until she began looking directly at the shadow Jake was using to hide. As she did, the shimmer that covered Jake dispersed from her view, revealing Jake standing there. ¡°How was that one? Did it work? It felt like it did.¡± ¡°Kind of. You vanished for a bit until I focused on the spot you were hiding. That is.¡± ¡°I will give it a second go. It takes a bit of energy to keep it active, but if it works, that is better than nothing.¡± Jake tried it again, and to his delight, he got it: the notification he had wanted. Skill upgraded (Shadow strike. Common): To strike from the shadows is your business. Gives 5% to damage if the target is unaware of your attack < (Path of Shadows rare): You hide in the shadows and strike fast. Cost of use: arcane energy and stamina. Create a barrier around yourself to hinder vision and dash from shadow to shadow. Gives 5% to damage if the target is unaware of your attack. ¡°Fuck yeah.¡± Chapter 17 to space Jake was standing at the door to exit the hangar, his heart pounding as Erica gave him a sneaky peck on the cheek. ¡°For good luck,¡± she said before walking back to her ship, The Retribution. Yes, she had chosen a name for it, and its description displayed it. She had actually chosen the name when she first started binding it to herself; Jake just hadn¡¯t checked or asked if she had. This led to an awkward situation when Jake asked if the ship had a name and started rambling off names, each one worse than the last. He even tried to call it the Rusty Bucket II, thinking that in time, he could have his own scrap iron flotilla. ¡°Well, it¡¯s time to go. Brothers, keep me safe.¡± Jake cracked open the door and dashed to the nearest shadow. ¡°Leaving the door open isn¡¯t a problem right now, Jake. Erica has her ship to protect her.¡± Jake moved from shadow to shadow as he weaved his way through the bug-infested base. ¡°This is going too good. It¡¯s got to go pear-shaped soon.¡± Jake reached the door that led to the control room. As he opened the door, hanging from the roof were some kind of flying insects. They looked to be sleeping, but to Jake¡¯s eyes, they just looked like head-cleaving devices waiting for a stupid sap to walk in. And that stupid sap, of course, was Jake. He had to crouch as he climbed the stairs, squeezing past the insects, trying desperately not to touch them. Jake reached the door to the control room without waking any of the insects. But as he pushed the door a little more open so he could get through, a groaning sound reverberated down the stairway. All the insects shuddered and twisted their heads in unison to look directly at Jake. He quickly slammed the door shut. The insects were now slamming on the door, trying to get in. ¡°That¡¯s not going to last long. I better get this all working again,¡± Jake muttered, turning to look at the controls. Jake muttered, ¡°Oh, shit,¡± as he turned to look at the controls. He carefully sneaked over to the controls. There were three small levers and one big one. ¡°I couldn¡¯t possibly get this wrong,¡± he said as he pulled the big lever down and locked it in place. Looking around at the controls, which were still all dark, he dashed over to the other three switches. Starting from the left, he flicked them one by one. As he got to the last one, all of the consoles lit up like a Christmas tree, and the room shook as outside the windows overlooking the hangar, bugs fell from the sky. ¡°Holy fuck, the roof is opening up.¡± The roof started splitting in two, and down below, The Retribution¡¯s point-defence weapons started ripping through the bugs as they fell on top of it. ¡°Retribution, come in, Everval Actual is pinned down in the control room, requesting emergency extraction point at my position.¡± The Retribution started lifting off as Jake blew the glass out and stepped on the edge. As the Retribution rose to his location, it spun around so its rear bay was facing towards him. Jake jumped as it got closer. Once he landed in the rear bay, he sent out a message. ¡°Go, I¡¯m onboard.¡± The Retribution exited the hangar as Jake ran to the bridge and went directly to the weapons station. ¡°Firing a barrage of missiles.¡± The nose of the ship glowed white for a second before the missiles launched into the facility. After that, Erica forced the ship¡¯s power up and blasted out of the mountain as she set a course for space.
The three days before the Retribution launched into space, Matt was doing the usual alchemy while Jess was working on their fighters, which she had been doing ever since they got them. ¡°I can¡¯t do it. How the fuck did he create weapons pods for that shuttle?¡± Jess thought before she yelled at the top of her lungs. ¡°Matt, get over here. I¡¯ve got a job for you.¡± Matt walked over with a grumpy expression on his face. ¡°What do you want now? Have you called me over just to tell me you still can¡¯t do your profession and still need more time? Because I don¡¯t see any weapons yet. You haven¡¯t even made a replacement weapon for yourself.¡± ¡°Would you like me to break that jaw of yours again? Just shut up and listen. I can¡¯t make weapons for these fighters yet. So I have an idea. If we go back to the hangar, we should be able to find some parts for them. Also, the bugs should have calmed down by now.¡± This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Matt was pissed that after he had come up with the plan to take the fighters, Jess had been acting as if she were the boss. If it wasn¡¯t for his alchemy, she would have died countless times already, and that was after they took the fighters. If you count the times before that, Jess¡¯s life should belong to him, but yet she is the one acting like the boss. It took them two days to get back to the foot of the mountain as they decided to walk instead of fly, as flying might alert the bugs. But once Jess and Matt arrived, they wished they had never left their hideout. Looking up at the mountain, Matt¡¯s face was aghast as he watched the bugs swarm over every inch of it. ¡°What¡¯s your plan now?¡± Matt snapped at Jess. ¡°What do you mean, my plan? I¡¯m not in charge of you, so why is it my plan?¡± Matt looked at the hangar entrance. ¡°Well, well, look at that.¡± Matt pointed at what looked like four crates. Two of them said ¡°weapons pods,¡± and the others said ¡°shield emitters and rifles.¡± But what was hilarious, at least for Matt, was the rifle on the ground. Jess¡¯s F88 rifle was on the ground, and it was damaged. Someone had bent the barrel and crushed the stock. ¡°I found your rifle. It¡¯s next to the boxes we need,¡± Matt said with a smile. ¡°You found--¡± Jess went quiet as she looked at her rifle. It was in such a state she was uncertain that she would be able to fix it. She was thinking maybe she would be able to salvage the scope, but then noticing it was gone. ¡°They took my scope. They destroyed my rifle and took my fucking scope. What kind of bullshit is this?¡± She stopped halfway through her rant as the top of the mountain started to shake and split down the middle. The bugs that were on the top of the mountain started rushing towards the gap that was getting bigger. ¡°What the fuck is going on?¡± Matt exclaimed. ¡°How the fuck do I know? Although, with that many bugs flooding into that hole, we should be able to--¡± A spaceship arose out of the hole in the mountaintop. Its nose began to glow so brightly that Jess lost her eyesight for a second. With an almighty bang, the spaceship fired into the hole it exited from, blowing the entire mountain complex apart, with chunks of the mountain flying for kilometres. After that, the spaceship fired its main engines, blasting a great crater into the ground. The aftershock lifted Jess and Matt off the ground and flung them back, smashing through the forest. After an undetermined amount of time, Jess woke up. Looking in front of her, the mountain had completely vanished. Where it once stood, there was a hole, a hole as deep as the mountain was tall. ¡°I think we fucked up,¡± she said before she started coughing up blood with chunks of tissue.
Jake was standing there, looking at his notifications with disbelief. All members of the ship¡¯s crew received a share of the available points, with 80% of all points going to the one the ship is soulbound to. Ding! Class level increased by +1,000,000 points Ding! Grade level increased +1,285,650 points ¡°Well, that settles that question. The system seems to round down when calculating points.¡± Erica looked over at Jake in disbelief. ¡°That¡¯s too much. I think we may have messed up this tutorial¡¯s primary function. There¡¯s no way it was meant to give out that many free points to just two people.¡± Jake brought up his interface. Universal constant interface Name: Jake Everval Race: Human Grade: TG Level: 100 Max cap for this grade: 3523 unused Class: Trooper Shadow Mage Class level: 1000 Max cap for this grade: 2872 unused Profession: Arcane Smith Profession level: 13 stats points available: 2,285,650 Mana: 323,360 Arcane: 423,500 Stamina: 323,200 Health: 633,360 Strength: 1116 Agility: 31,225 Intelligence: 42,350 Wisdom: 32,336 Perception: 10,637 Integrity: 63,336 All unused levels and grades will be converted to free points at a 1:1 ratio at the end of the tutorial. ¡°Yeah, you might be right, but I¡¯m not going to complain.¡± Jake was thinking about how he was going to distribute his free points when Erica said, ¡°We¡¯re coming up on the wreckage of the Jaxxen. How are we going to do this without your shuttle?¡± ¡°Well, about that, I may just have a plan brewing.¡± ¡°Well, are you going to keep me in suspense or what?¡± ¡°It¡¯s going to involve a leap of faith for me. I¡¯m going to have to board what¡¯s left of the Jaxxen and find some kind of explosive that will do the job. Do you know where I could find some?¡± ¡°In the armoury, there is a planet buster in there. Why do you ask?¡± ¡°Well, you will be the distraction while I blow the ships. Just remember to stay out of the orbital plane; the debris will be tracking.¡± Erica let out a sigh. ¡°Are you really going to do that? How are you going to escape the explosion?¡± Jake shrugged. ¡°It will all work out.¡± Erica moved the Retribution into close proximity with the Jaxxen. Jake and Erica walked to the landing bay. ¡°The planet buster should be at the aft of the ship. If that section is still intact, that is. Remember, don¡¯t overuse your thrusters; they run on hydrogen, and we don¡¯t have a way to refill them. If you run out in space, you will orbit this planet forever. Good luck, ma--¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, Erica; you can say it if that¡¯s what makes you comfortable. I will just have to get used to it.¡± ¡°If I¡¯m allowed, can I say it, please?¡± ¡°Yes, like I just said.¡± ¡°Master¡­¡± With that, Jake jumped into the void of space, floating across the five hundred meters to the ship¡¯s hull. As he got closer, he clipped onto the hull with a carabiner so that he didn¡¯t float away. He pushed his perception out as he looked for an entry point near the rear of the ship. Jake unclipped from the hull and started climbing over it. As he reached what he thought was the top of the ship, he noticed a bit of a problem with his plan. The complete rear section of the ship was gone, scattered into the void. Jake looked over at where the Retribution was last. He sent a quick radio message to Erica. ¡°Rear section of the Jaxxen gone; going to search the Pristine Roses¡¯ remains for a way to finish the job.¡± Knowing that the radio signal would take time to reach Erica, Jake took a deep breath and, with a push, left the hull of the Jaxxen, floating out into the void. He activated his thrusters and started speeding through space. Chapter 18 lost out in the void Erica¡¯s radio crackled to life as a garbled voice spoke, ¡°Rear ¨C Jaxxen go¨C; going to search ¨C ship¡¯s remains for ¨C finish the job.¡± ¡°Repeat the last transmission,¡± Erica requested. Receiving no further communications from Jake, she realised he was now out of radio range. ¡°I will just have to hope he gets the job done. I will just complete my mission and see what happens.¡± Jake was hurtling through the void of space, headed for the Pristine Rose. However, he noticed he was off course by a few degrees, which would send him out into space instead of the hangar bay. If Jake didn¡¯t correct his course soon, the void would swallow him up. Jake used his thrusters one last time, using up the last of the gas. He slammed into the hull of the ship, bouncing back out into space, out of gas. He threw his safety line at the ship¡¯s communication array as if he were lassoing livestock. His safety line hit the array, the clip catching on one of the support wires. Upon reaching the end of his safety line, Jake experienced a sudden jerk that slowed his movement, prompting him to tug on the line and shoot back toward the hull. He grabbed the array just as the support wire that his safety line was attached to snapped, sending his safety line clanging off the hull and out of Jake¡¯s sight. Jake looked down the hull and saw an entry point just a short distance away. The only issue was that there were no handholds between him and the airlock. ¡°So it¡¯s a leap of faith. I don¡¯t like this; my luck is so fucking bad. I just know something¡¯s going to go wrong.¡± Jake counted down from five and once he reached zero, he yelled, ¡°Lift off!¡± As he pushed himself off towards the airlock, his safety line trailed behind him, scraping along the hull. Click! The line went tight as Jake slammed into the hull, knocking him unconscious. ¡°Time remaining 00:23:20:10,¡± Jake groaned before muttering, ¡°Twenty-three hours left, 365 days, and we¡¯re down to twenty-three hours, right down to the wire. I hope Erica is doing well.¡± Jake grabbed the rail in front of the airlock, pulling himself in and closing the external hatch. Once he grabbed the rail in front of the airlock, Jake noticed the red light rapidly flashing, indicating the absence of air. Then, a blast of air emanated from a ventilation port and continued until the airlock was fully pressurised, accompanied by a flashing green light. Jake cranked the handle, and as soon as he released the door locks, the pressure in the airlock blasted the door off its hinges, shooting Jake out and down the hallway. He screamed the whole time as he hit the end of the hallway, scoffing at his incompetence. ¡°It was so obvious that the inside of the ship would have vented as it had been in a battle,¡± Jake thought to himself. He let out a deep breath before beginning his grand search of the Pristine Rose. He followed the hallway in the hopes that the Pristine Rose¡¯s weapons room would be in a similar location as the Jaxxen. As he kept moving towards the aft of the ship, he came across a set of doors that looked a lot like a cafeteria. Jake opened the door, and to his surprise, a Nordicless without a spacesuit floated into his peripheral view. Jake spun around by pushing off of the wall and noticed just what it was, immediately feeling vomit bubbling in his throat. He struggled to hold it down as he looked across the room, seeing over a thousand Nordicless, each with different types of injuries. The room contained crystallised blood and dismembered bodies, with some Nordicless, like the first one Jake noticed, having been decapitated. But what was really disturbing was the expression of shock on all of their faces. ¡°They didn¡¯t even have a chance.¡± Jake closed the door, saying, ¡°I will avenge your sacrifice.¡± Jake kept on with his search, moving from room to room. After three-quarters of the day had passed, Jake finally found the room he was looking for. In it, there were over a hundred missiles of all different sizes, but one caught Jake¡¯s eye. ¡°That thing is huge, as big if not bigger than the Tsar Bomba. That¡¯s got to do the job.¡± He floated over to it, grabbing hold of the display on the side of the bomb and navigating what looked to be the arming system. Jake found himself in a bit of a predicament; it seemed that the device¡¯s arming sequence was damaged, and he was unable to change the time limit, which was set at ten minutes. Jake had a feeling that there wasn¡¯t enough time to escape the maze of a ship. He had gotten lost on his way to this room and came up with a really stupid plan. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Jake pushed the big red button on the display and ran as the timer started counting down. He ran as fast as his legs would let him, trying to get as far away from ground zero as he could. With only a minute left, Jake stood at the airlock. He pulled open the hatch and immediately hit the door override. The outer door swung open as Jake pushed himself out into the void. As he floated away, he summoned his busted shuttle, swinging himself into the cockpit seat. He activated its shields at 100%, with all of its power facing forward at the oncoming shockwave.
Erica Three hours before the explosion, Erica was watching the location where the ambush was supposed to happen from behind a moon. The space in the area started to warp, giving off a sense of wrongness that made anyone unprotected by an arcane barrier violently sick. Erica was one of those unlucky ones. She picked herself off the floor and wiped her face. Bang! One ship after another popped into real space until there were around twenty medium-sized ships and one large flagship, which looked to be of the dreadnought class. Each of the medium-sized ships had a minimum fighter force of ten light fighters, and the dreadnought-class ship had around twenty light fighters and ten heavy fighters. A heavy fighter can go up against a light fighter three to one, equipped with two close-in weapons systems, commonly rotary cannons, and one rocket pod, usually of the mana bolt type, along with an upgraded shield. As for the dreadnought itself, it had over a hundred close-in weapons systems, fifty rocket pods, and one planet-busting energy weapon mounted through the length of the ship. The enemy ships didn¡¯t go with the Nordicless design aesthetic, preferring a more rounded aesthetic. The dreadnought comprised multiple elongated, rounded tubes within what looked like an old World War II battleship¡¯s bridge tower section in the centre of the ship. It also had two nasals slightly lower than the primary hull, fitted with two fly-through flight desks and close-in weapons systems. The medium-sized ships had a similar design to the dreadnought, but were much smaller. They did not have planet-busting weapons, but instead, they were equipped with mana-based repeating cannons in the location where the dreadnought¡¯s planet-busting weapon was situated. Erica let out a startled cry when she saw the size and power of the fleet. ¡°How am I supposed to be a destruction to them?¡± Erica sat and watched them for hours until she decided that there was only one way to do it, and that was to be like Jake and take a bold, daring approach. She pushed the throttles forward, blasting herself directly at the flagship. Erica put her shields to maximum forward protection and turned on the point defence systems. Finally, she put on her helmet, sealing it with an audible hiss. ¡°I hope this works,¡± she muttered to herself. As she left the moon¡¯s gravity well, she appeared like a spotlight on the enemies¡¯ radar system. The entire enemy fleet rounded on her position, all of their weapons pointing at the Retribution. Erica sent out a repeating radio call, blasting it on all frequencies, blocking radio communication. It was a simple call that her people said when they went into a battle that would most likely be their death. ¡°To the heroes, we give our lives to the heroes.¡± She maneuvered the Retribution in a way that she hoped would throw off the enemies¡¯ firing computers. As the enemy ships opened fire on her, she commanded the Retribution to begin a roll so that the point defence system would protect her valuable sides. She plowed through the enemies¡¯ fleet as if she were a drill; her target the flagship¡¯s impulse engines. Her plan needed it to be dead in the water for when the destruction comes, but she also needed them to be facing in the opposite direction of the oncoming attack from Jake. The Retribution closed in on the flagship, and Erica placed her ship on a collision course. Just as she was about to hit, she fired the nose weapons and hit the reaction control thrusters, lifting the nose of her ship. The Retribution took a glancing blow as it scraped past the destroyed impulse engines of the flagship. Erica flipped the Retribution around 180 degrees and went into full military power, forced back into her seat as she shifted the shields¡¯ focus on protecting the aft of the ship. She blasted out of the enemies¡¯ formation once she was clear, cutting thrust and flipping the Retribution again, using the ship¡¯s momentum to continue on its course. ¡°I can¡¯t believe that worked. I¡¯ve definitely got the devil¡¯s luck,¡± Erica thought as she looked out at the enemy fleet. Most of the fleet stayed in the ambush zone, right on the same plane as the Jaxxen. However, five medium-sized ships with their fighters were heading after her at maximum thrust. Erica could only think of one way out, but it was extremely risky. She flicked the switch for the FTL power. A loud hum rang through the ship as the FTL systems came to life. The charge was at a scant amount, probably just enough to make a quick hop, but there lay the problem. An FTL jump must be greater than a system¡¯s length; otherwise, it could drop you out inside a gas giant. The navigation computer just can¡¯t calculate in such a short time, so a short jump won¡¯t use the computer. The jump would have to be done manually. Erica quickly checked the star charts, moved the ship 15 degrees off her original course, and then activated FTL, jumping out of the planet¡¯s gravity well and out of range of the enemies¡¯ sensors. Once she figured out her location, she plotted a course for the dark side of the moon and went into full thrust. On her way back, she saw a space ripple above her as the five ships passed her by, chasing the wake of the Retribution. Surprisingly, once they reached the point where Erica dropped out, they just kept going. Erica let out a breath she didn¡¯t know she was holding before focusing her thoughts back on the task at hand. Chapter 19 on my own till the end As she was still far enough out, Erica ran a scan of the Jaxxen, and what she saw was just beautiful. Jake had done it; now it was up to her to keep them in place, and to do this, she would need to move fast. The Retribution screamed past the moon and directly into the formation. She made it look like she was doing another attack run on the flagship. A minimum of half of the fleet moved to form a perimeter around the flagship. With weapons fire coming in at all angles, the Retribution was taking some damage. Erica couldn¡¯t simply focus the shields because of the differences in the fleet¡¯s tactics. Unlike last time, where the fleet wouldn¡¯t fire at her once she had passed due to not wanting to hit their own ships, this time they threw caution to the wind and blasted at her from all sides. ¡°Time¡¯s up,¡± Erica muttered. She flipped the Retribution and pushed the engines up to full military power, rocketing out of the formation. Just as Erica broke free of the fleet, explosions started erupting throughout the fleet. Once the Retribution got away, Erica spun the ship around to watch the carnage. Erica was delighted to see the flagship cracking in two and noticed that at least five other ships were badly damaged. The fleet was dead in the water, as they say. Moments later, space started to warp, and she threw up in her helmet. ¡°Fucken FTL,¡± she cursed through chunks of vomit. Checking the ship¡¯s life support, she took off her helmet, vomit splattering across the floor. As she watched her fellow Nordics enter the system, to her surprise, they jumped in with no formation. In her mind, it finally made sense how they could be so easily destroyed; her people had a traitor in their midst, and one in a prominent position at that. Erica stopped the radio broadcast and headed back to the moon¡¯s location to watch the battle. The Nordic fleet was out of position at first, taking many casualties from that, but with time, they gained momentum, pushing back the enemy fleet. Then, a radio call rang out through Erica¡¯s comm. ¡°Unknown vessel, identify yourself,¡± the voice demanded. Erica didn¡¯t reply, as she didn¡¯t want to get further involved in the fight. She was struggling with the fact that she was no longer a part of this tutorial, at least not as one of these Nordics. The voice repeated, ¡°Unknown vessel, identify yourself, or be destroyed.¡± Erica raised her shields to maximum as she replied, ¡°This is Retribution, and I am Erica Blake, former member of the Jaxxen, requesting that you hold your fire. I have taken heavy damage.¡± It was silent for a minute, until finally, the radio crackled back to life. ¡°We do not have a ship in our records named the Retribution, and due to the fact you raised your shields before communicating, we must treat you as a hostile threat. Lower your shields and prepare to be boarded. If you do not comply, we will open fire.¡± Erica¡¯s point defence system picked up the gunship moving closer and swung around onto the gunship¡¯s position. ¡°Gunship, gunship, you are entering the range of the Retribution¡¯s point defence system. If you proceed on your present course, the PDS will open fire.¡± ¡°We will proceed on our present course. Power down your systems immediately.¡± Seconds later, the PDS roared to life, shredding the flimsy mana shielding around the gunship. ¡°Gunship, reverse course now, reverse course now.¡± The gunship continued forward; the only reply she got was a clear and confident one. ¡°To the heroes, we give our lives to the heroes.¡± A tear rolled down Erica¡¯s face as she reoriented the Retribution and fired a full salvo of rockets at the small and feeble gunship. The explosion lit up the darkness of the void for a second, causing the remaining fragments of the gunship to vanish into the night. ¡°You idiot why, why did you keep coming?¡± Erica yelled through the radio. The entire battlefield seemed to stop for a second as they all noticed the enormous explosion. Both sides sent ships in Erica¡¯s direction, firing at each other all the way. Erica saw she had garnered a bit too much attention, so she engaged full thrust, blasting out of the range of the fleets.
On an enemy ship: A man in his early 20s stood on the bridge of one of the enemy ships. He was the commander of the warship Polaris. His name was Eldres Knight, the only son of the founder of the Crimson Crown, a small noble house. ¡°It¡¯s the demon¡¯s hand again. Why won¡¯t it just leave us alone?¡± ¡°Commander, the corvette is getting away.¡± ¡°Chase it down. After what it has done, we can¡¯t let it escape.¡± Ceasing its firing, the light cruiser commanded by Eldres began to give chase. Following the command to hold the line, the rest of the fleet stayed back. The lumbering Polaris let out a groan as it tried to keep pace with the much more nimble Corvette. ¡°Sir, we can¡¯t keep this pace. We will start breaking up soon.¡± ¡°Fuck, get me a radio.¡± One soldier on the bridge gave Eldres a radio. ¡°Corvette, this is the Crimson Crown warship Polaris, commanded by none other than Eldres Knight. We demand your surrender.¡± The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Erica instantly replied, ¡°Warship Polaris, go fuck yourself.¡± Eldres threw the radio across the bridge, bouncing it off the back of the helmsman¡¯s head. He threw it so hard that the helmsman¡¯s brain splattered across his console. As he did, he must have inputted a command, as he slumped over the controls, starting a sharp turn so sharp it overpowered the artificial gravity, throwing everyone that wasn¡¯t strapped in against the hull.
Jake: Jake was sitting in what was left of his shuttle, even less now that it took that explosion head-on. He was now sitting in a seat with a console in front of him, and that was it. He was floating through space in his cockpit chair. ¡°My poor little guy, what have I done to you? If I get out of here alive, I will make you better.¡± Jake placed his hand on the console and switched on the communication unit. To his surprise, he heard a voice he recognised. ¡°Corvette, this is the Crimson Crown warship Polaris, commanded by none other than Eldres Knight. We demand your surrender.¡± ¡°Warship Polaris, go fuck yourself.¡± Jake giggled, then it turned into a full-on laughing fit. Between his fits of laughter, he tried to communicate with her as he looked at the time and the notifications that poured in. Ding! Class level increased + 70,735,420 points Ding! Grade level increased + 18,189,108 points. Notification: For completion of the secondary objective, you will receive a reward at the end of the tutorial, plus you will receive a point conversion upgrade to all unused points. Objective bonus: you receive 100,000,000 points split between all survivors. Time remaining 00:00:01:00 ¡°Retribution, this is the Rusty Bucket. How far out are you?¡± ¡°Too long. I won¡¯t be able to make it to you in time. I will have to go with your alternative plan. We will meet again, master.¡± The world shifted, and Jake found himself back in the white void that he was in when he first entered the tutorial. Notification: For surviving the tutorial, you receive 100 levels in one of the two: class or profession. Please choose which you would like. ¡°Profession.¡± Jake didn¡¯t think about it for a second. Ding! Profession level increased + 7000 points Notification: All unused levels and grades will be converted to points at a 1:20 ratio at the end of the tutorial. Notification: Bonus. Taking into account the outcome of the tutorial, the system has come up with three bonus prizes.
  1. Item upgrade token: Upgrades an item one rank.
  2. Race Skill master of the lost (unique): Those who have lost their way in life can get a second chance. By following the demon of the past, they can find hope in what was once lost.
  3. Item settlement token: Claim a plot of land on your home world. Size 870 km2; the area picked will be protected from bombardment and unauthorised entry, limited to those with hostile intent. You can pick up to five lifeforms to run your settlement. Any profession-related activities will have a 20-point bonus for each level gained. This only applies to the owner and the five managers. Items crafted will require 30% fewer materials to form a finished product while in the settlement.
Matt and Jess: Matt was sitting beside his fighter, looking up into space at the fireworks display going on in orbit. ¡°What a show. Do you think they will win?¡± Jess was in her fighter, watching the space battle on her radar. ¡°Not a chance. The size of the fleet is well above what I predicted it would be. Oh, wait, here they go again; they¡¯re coming in for another run at that big one.¡± ¡°Do you think they¡¯re going with the original plan or something else?¡± ¡°Definitely something else. You destroyed the shuttle, so all they¡¯ve got left is that ship, right? So, how would Erica get away from the explosion?¡± ¡°What is that constant talking on the radio?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but it is on all the frequencies. Oh.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°I think they did still go with the original plan. An enormous cloud of objects just impacted the enemy fleet. An enormous cloud of objects just destroyed the biggest ship.¡± Jess looked up after saying that. ¡°That is amazingly beautiful. The sky was full of shooting stars, well, they¡ªit was really bits of the spaceship burning up in the atmosphere, but still a beautiful sight to behold.¡± ¡°Do you think whoever blew up the wreckage got out alive?¡± Matt asked. ¡°It would have been Erica, and no.¡± ¡°Why do you think that it was Erica and not Jake?¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? Why would Jake, the man who got his complete team killed back on Earth¡ªnow we know why it was because he is a demon¡ªwhy would he get out alive? Just if my brother didn¡¯t fall for that demon¡¯s honeyed words, maybe he would still be alive. I¡¯m just grateful we found out what he is before he got us, too.¡± ¡°Yeah, a demon is a demon in this new world. Humans should stick together, you know, humanity first and all that.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. If it wasn¡¯t for needing her help, there wouldn¡¯t have been a need to even speak to that Medusa.¡± ¡°What was her race again?¡± Matt asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know, some kind of slave race or something.¡± ¡°I actually thought you liked her.¡± Jess laughed. ¡°That was hard to do, but thank you for the compliment on my acting skills. I had to use them all the time for my brother so he wouldn¡¯t be upset when he got back from his missions with that demon.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure if you truly think that way. If you were an actor, you would have won an award. Are you sure you are not acting now?¡± Jess¡¯s face went red with anger as she screamed at Matt, her words unintelligible. Matt stood up and quickly jumped into his fighter, taking off as fast as the little fighter could fly. ¡°That crazy bitch. I swear she has a split personality or something. One minute she¡¯s all friendly, the next she wants to kill y¨C¡± Alarms started to sound in Matt¡¯s cockpit. ¡°What the fuck? She really has lost it.¡± Matt looked behind his fighter to see where she was, but what he saw wasn¡¯t what he was expecting. ¡°The fuck is that?¡± Behind him was a Nordicless gunship, sent down to see what was constantly using its radar on them, only to find an old-style light fighter running from its approach. Matt shit his pants when the gunship opened fire on him. He activated his shield and started evasive maneuvers, then he conducted radio calls for help. ¡°Jess, I¡¯ve got an enemy attacking me. I can¡¯t hold on for much longer; I need help.¡± It felt like a lifetime before he got a reply. ¡°Thirty-five seconds out.¡± Matt looked at his interface to check the remaining time in the tutorial. Time remaining 00:00:00:30 ¡°Looks like I¡¯m on my own till the end.¡±
Stats at the end of the chapter Universal constant interface Name Jake everval Race human Grade TG Level 100 Max cap for this grade 205,624 unused Class trooper shadow mage Class level 1000 Max cap for this grade 1,013,378 unused Profession Arcane Smith Profession level 113 stats points available 116,217,178 Mana 323,360 Arcane 423,500 Stamina 323,200 Health 633,360 Strength 1116 Agility 31,225 Intelligence 42,350 Wisdom 32,336 Perception 10,637 Integrity 63,336 Chapter 20 home coming day Jake found himself standing over the decaying bodies of his former team, looking down at the one with the radio in his back. He said, ¡°I''m sorry, brother. I tried to keep her safe for you, but like I told you when you asked me, I''m just not good with people.¡± ¡°What the fuck are you mumbling about?¡± came a voice from behind. Jake looked over at the man he once called a friend. ¡°Adam, ha. I truly had forgotten about you.¡± ¡°What do you mean forgotten? I know a year was a long time to be stuck in a room, but come on, my hatred for you only got stronger.¡± Adam pulled out his sidearm and shot Jake in the head. Adam started to laugh hysterically. ¡°I thought it would feel better killing you, but it''s just made me more angry. If it had just bee¨C¡± Adam stood there, staring at Jake, or what looked like Jake. No, this was a demon from the biblical realm. The next moment, the demon was on top of him, its long nails digging into his face. ¡°Ha, you really just sat in that room for a year. I''m surprised your right arm isn''t the size of a house by now.¡± Jake said before he ripped off the skin on Adam¡¯s face, then rammed his fist through his chest and squeezed his heart into paste. Looking around the alley he was in, he saw the scared faces of the Australian government''s enforcers. ¡°Run,¡± Jake said in a quiet voice, but it was like everyone in the area could hear him as they all dropped their weapons and ran for their lives. Jake was glad they ran because, after the tutorial, the system didn''t refill his stats. What was a little disappointing to Jake was that after killing Adam, Jake didn''t gain any levels. Jake made his way to an abandoned building as he looked for a quiet place to recover. Looking down at his body, he realized he was actually in his old clothing, including his combat webbing, something that has become unneeded now as he also still had his storage item. Looking into his storage ring, there were all the things that he acquired. List of items in the storage ring: Misc items: Weapons items: Protection items: Profession items: Clothing items: Jake quickly changed out of his old clothes and back into his other outfit, minus the battle exo suit, as Jake decided to forgo it, for now, to save it for when he really needed it. After Jake put on his clothing, he sat down and started a long meditation session. After a week and a half of meditation, Jake was back at full strength, and as such, he divided up his stat points. Jake knew he didn''t want to be a strength-based fighter, and it''s not like he had to lift anything heavy, so letting that stat lag behind the others was okay by him. Perception was the other stat that Jake didn''t have to worry about right now, so he just put a little 100,000 into it. That left him with 497,218 points for emergencies. Universal Constant Interface: Class: The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Quest: Profession: Stats points available: 497,218 Jake''s body felt more nimble; he felt as if he could avoid a bullet if he saw it coming. And if he did get hit, he had enough health points to just tank the damage and keep going. ¡°So, I wonder how that teleport skill will work. I can see myself chaining skills together with that one. Just think, hiding in a shadow, only appear and attack the enemy, then teleport into a different one to hide again. Fuck, there are so many options that could come available.¡± Jake was pondering over the options when he heard talking from outside. ¡°We saw him over here last, sir. He was some kind of demon with horns and all. He crushed Adam''s heart with his bare hands, not to mention ripping his face off and laughing at him.¡± ¡°Just tell me where he is, soldier. Just leave the rest to me.¡± ¡°That building, sir.¡± ¡°It was Adam''s fault anyway. Imagine getting the chance to become a literal God, but then turning around and saying no, I am too good to do a stinking tutorial. What an idiot.¡± Jake got up, walked out the front door, and instantly used his identify on the two individuals. Human: Human: ¡°Well, that sucks, I thought you would be stronger, seeing how you were all confident a second ago.¡± The man on the right was the weakest of the two and seemed frightened, his face physically pale, while the man on the left was clearly an idiot. ¡°Ha, you think you can scare us? I''m level 50 and have put all my points into strength. I''m by far the strongest out of the three of us, so just die for me.¡± He said before rushing at Jake and throwing his strongest punch at Jake''s face. The impact sound was loud enough that it broke the glass behind them. Jake just stood there with a grin. To him, everything seemed to be in slow motion. If Jake wanted to, he could have simply moved out of the way, but Jake wanted to know just how strong someone at level 50 could be. ¡°Um, was that your strongest punch?¡± ¡°Are you fucking with me? Of course, that wasn''t. Why would I use my full strength on some weakling like you?¡± ¡°Hey mate, do you even know how to use your identify skill? If you can''t, just ask the man beside you. But I would hurry, as it looks like he is going to have a heart attack any time now.¡± The man looked over at his companion, then quickly shot his gaze back to Jake. ¡°Demon, let him go. If you don''t, I will not hold back my power anymore.¡± The idiot yelled. Jake just looked at the man in disbelief. ¡°Are you a fucking idiot? I haven''t done anything to him yet.¡± Jake, having enough of this fool, decided to shut him up. With one flick of his finger, he sent the man flying across the street and through a shop front window. ¡°Fuck, he really did just put everything into his strength. If he kept going that way, he would have been the world''s biggest glass cannon.¡± Jake looked over at the cowering young man. ¡°So what is the political environment now, and what is the situation outside the city?¡± Jake asked. ¡°Don''t kill me.¡± ¡°I''m not going to kill you, just answer my question, then you can go.¡± ¡°The Victorian government has regained its power in the capital. They''re recruiting powerful people to enforce their new rules, and most of the people have agreed with the government''s rules.¡± ¡°Is the resistance still around?¡± ¡°The resistance has been either destroyed or left the city to find their deaths in the wilderness.¡± ¡°What do you mean by their deaths?¡± ¡°The government enforcers swept the city two days ago. That''s why it took so long for them to send one of the enforcers here to deal with you.¡± ¡°Get back on track. Tell me about this dome that looks to be encompassing the city, and is the city larger than it was?¡± ¡°Yes, the city is larger, and the dome, as you called it, is a barrier that keeps enemies out.¡± ¡°What do you mean by enemies? Is there a faction or something outside the dome?¡± The man went paler than he was. ¡°Out there, there are monsters, very powerful monsters. It looks like the wildlife on the planet got a boost in their stats, at least more than us humans.¡± ¡°Okay, one last thing. How is in charge of the government right now, and are they aware there is a fucking armada sitting up there?¡± Jake pointed at the sky. ¡°What do you mean by that, an armada?¡± ¡°Yes, there is a fleet of ships up in space. I wouldn''t have noticed them, but one just tried to enter the atmosphere. It didn''t go well.¡± ¡°Okay, so no, not that I''m aware of. But as for who is in charge, well, it''s the same old, same old.¡± ¡°So, he survived then.¡± The man stood there, waiting for Jake to say something, but nothing came for a good couple of minutes before he mustered up the willpower to speak. ¡°Is there anything else that you want to know?¡± Jake was stunned for a second as he had totally forgotten about the man. ¡°No, you can go. Oh wait, before that, who is the strongest leveled person in the city, and what''s their level?¡± ¡°The leader of the enforcers, and her level is 100. She just broke through to 100 two days ago. Can I go now?¡± the man said with hope in his eyes. ¡°Yes, fuck off, and don''t let me catch you again.¡± Chapter 21 idiots and fools Jake stood there, looking up at the sky. ¡°Who are you, and what do you want?¡± ¡°I don''t see any point in hanging around in the city anymore; there''s no good fights here.¡± Jake put his hood up and left for the city limits. The journey was relatively calm; only one group of enforcers was spotted patrolling the streets. What Jake found strange was that from the city center to the city limits, he didn''t see a single car or anything mechanical working. Jake even stopped to look at one of the cars. He got in and turned the key, but nothing happened. Opening the car''s bonnet, to his surprise, he found only a large chunk of metal. Jake came up with the idea that if all the car engines were turned into chunks of metal, then he would collect them like Pok¨¦mon, storing them in his storage ring for later use. There wasn''t a lot, but it was enough to help him with his plans. Jake planned to use the token to make a settlement in the Strzelecki Ranges and, if possible, find some like-minded individuals to assist in its creation. Once it was set up, Jake would be able to work on his grand plan to rebuild his shuttle into something grandiose. After that, Jake would probably venture out into the galaxy, maybe even become some kind of mercenary, like he was thinking back in the tutorial. But all of this would be dependent on who and what was up in space. And, of course, he would have to find Erica someday, but she should be fine; she did say she was going to the Wandering Imperium, right? Jake was about to leave the city when he turned to walk down the street that led out of the dome when he saw the large queue of people waiting there. Jake ducked into the back of the line, and the person in front of him turned to look. ¡°Hi, how are you? What are we all queuing for, may I ask?¡± ¡°You don''t know. They found a safe settlement not far from the city. It has water, food, and even electricity. But they said that they''re only going to let one hundred people go there, and the people that go have to sign some kind of contract. I just hope I meet the requirements, as my family has already gone there, and I would really like to rejoin my wife and daughter.¡± There was a lot that sounded odd to Jake, but he didn''t mention it to the man. As Jake looked at the start of the line, he noticed something off, only young people and females were being taken aside. But not all the females, just the young and bountiful ones. Jake decided to do a little recon on what was going on, so he put his hood back up and stepped into the shadows, vanishing out of direct view. The man who was just talking to Jake stood there, his mouth agape in shock, as Jake disappeared from his sight. Jake was now at the front of the queue, hiding in the shadow of an adjacent building''s entranceway. The group of enforcers at the front were looking over the crowd. One of them walked over to a teenage couple, a young girl and a boy. Jake heard a snicker from one of the female enforcers as she walked over to the person who was picking who got to go or not. She whispered something to the man, and then the man looked at the two teens with a look of pity before saying, ¡°You two follow the lady here.¡± The man pointed at the hooded woman before continuing his job with the enthusiasm of a sloth. ¡°I hate this fucking job,¡± the man grumbled before yelling at the next group. The next group consisted of two old men and one old woman in her late 60s. The group was possibly office workers before the universal system came, and as Jake used Identify on them, he noted that two of their levels were 0, and the oldest one of the three had a level of 10. Two of them didn''t even do the tutorial, and the other one must have hidden somewhere safe or something. The enforcer looked at the group and yelled for the next group to move forward, but then one of the old men from the group snapped at the enforcers. ¡°Do you know who I am? A young kid like you thinks he can tell me I was the prime minister of this country, and you are some no-named pup.¡± BANG! The old man stood there, an old-style muzzle-loading pistol in his hand, smoke lingering. ¡°I created this just for a time like this, where a pup like you would get in my way. This is the culmination of all my hard work, you stupid pu¨C¡± The old man''s rant was cut short by a knife slicing across his wrinkled neck. ¡°Fuck you, you old fool. Now you three fuck off,¡± the enforcer, now known as pup to Jake, said. Jake was watching the show when the hooded lady walked past. ¡°It''s her. Why does it have to be that bitch, and what does she want with some teen kids?¡± Jake thought. Jake followed the three into the building. ¡°Are we going to the new settlement?¡± ¡°Yes, you did hear that you will be required to sign a contract, right?¡± ¡°Yes, we will sign. It''s just, what is the contract for exactly?¡± The boy said. ¡°Oh, it''s nothing to be worried about. It''s just a simple contract that states that you will follow the rules and work on the settlement.¡± ¡°If that''s all it is, I will sign.¡± ¡°That''s good because we are going to sign the contracts together now, then we''ll go up to a waiting room until all the others have been picked.¡± This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. The three walked over to a table with some papers on it. The young man picked up the pen and without reading, signed his name on the paper. ¡°What are you waiting for? Sign it so we can go to the settlement already.¡± ¡°I don''t know. I''ve never signed anything before, and I remember being told to read something first before I sign it.¡± ¡°That''s that old person mentality you''ve got coming through again. Just sign it; it will be alright, trust me.¡± The young girl signed the paper and said, ¡°Fine, are you happy now? I signed it. Let''s go.¡± The lady in the hood picked up the two pieces of paper with a smile that didn''t quite reach her eyes. ¡°Let''s go upstairs to the private room I had prepared.¡± The three went up two levels and down a corridor until they reached room 669, but the 9 had become unstuck and was now upside-down. As soon as they entered the room, the two excited teens went pale as they looked at all the leather and chains hanging from hooks on the roof, walls, and floor. There were even bloodstains on the bed. The lady pulled out the two pieces of paper and mumbled something under her breath. The two contracts glowed bright red, then vanished. The next words that were spoken were from the lady. ¡°Now, slaves, it''s time you do your jobs and no more stupid questions.¡± Jake was still down in the entrance hall where the two signed the contract. Jake had one of the contracts in his hands. ¡°Those poor kids, if they signed this contract, their life is over. There are only two ways to get out of that bitch''s grasp: one is to die, and the other is to have someone else take on the contract. The contract is binding a bit of their souls to that crazy bitch. If she dies, her slaves will too, unless they are taken up by another individual. But the only problem is that the competition outside had drawn Jake''s attention for too long, and he couldn''t use his perception to find them. But that would also be an issue, as it could alert everyone to his presence in the building. Jake might be higher in levels and stats, but just like back when he was fighting the bugs, he could be overwhelmed by sheer numbers, and these were humans, not bugs. A human could find other ways to deal with him, and Jake couldn''t think of a counter to every possibility. So stealth is the key to surviving for now. Jake moved up the stairs to the first floor. The building looked to be an old apartment or office complex. Jake walked past one of the rooms on the first floor, and as he did, he heard moaning from a man. Jake quickly passed that door and moved on to the next door, opening the rooms that seemed safe to open. Most of them were full of people happily waiting for their turn to go to the settlement. Jake tried to tell them that it was a lie, but that only caused a commotion, so Jake ducked out of the room and hid down the hallway a bit. As he hid, an old, chubby Mediterranean-looking man wearing only white underpants and socks shuffled out of the room Jake thought of as the moaning room. ¡°What the fuck are you all carrying on about?¡± The room went quiet until one lady in her 30s said with a bit of distress. ¡°Where is my son? You said you were going to take him to a place where he could have fun. But you have come back dressed like that.¡± The lady said, breaking down into a sobbing cry by the end. The man looked down at his clothing, then at the lady, and said with a straight face, ¡°Oh, my clothes. Well, I was just sleeping, and I normally sleep like this. Your son is on a different floor in a room playing some computer games. Don''t think I''m some kind of man like that; I actually take offense at your allegations towards my character.¡± One of the other people in the room spoke. ¡°Why are you questioning this good man? He even took pity on your son and let him play a computer. Do you know how rare that is? My son only played a computer once before this weird system became a thing.¡± The old man left the room once the others started taking his side. As he closed the door, his face turned into that of a sadistic man. Jake saw this and quickly jumped out of the shadows, wrapping his hand over the man''s mouth and plunging his dagger into the base of the man''s neck, severing his spine but leaving him alive, as his death would most likely kill all those in that room as well. Jake dragged the fat man into a different room before covering his mouth with a cloth and closing the door on his way out. The man''s eyes were staring at Jake with a stunned look the whole time as he closed the door. Jake thought about seeing if he could help the people again, but just as he was about to walk down the hallway, he heard the sounds of footsteps coming up the stairs. So Jake kept climbing up the stairs. He got to the second floor when he heard a voice talking downstairs. ¡°Man, I was an idiot to think it would be any different after the universal system came. To think we once were fighting this government, but now what are we doing? Just because we were in the same tutorial as these fuckers and got captured by them right at the beginning, we are now their slaves. What kind of shit is that?¡± ¡°Look, just do what we have to do to survive. We can''t save them; just let it be.¡± ¡°Let it be? You saw the age of those two teens. That bitch is going to do the same thing to them as what she did with the last ones she took. We had to put that poor girl out of her misery after what she went through. And that bitch isn''t the only one who likes to do that shit. Just look at how many people we have sorted through in the last few days. Fuck this, I''m going up to the roof for a break from this.¡± ¡°She will kill you if you are not there. Remember what she said last time.¡± ¡°Fuck her; she can come kill me then. I''m going to the roof; tell her that.¡± While the two people were talking, Jake had gone past the second floor and had made it to the roof. The building only seemed to have three floors. Jake pushed the door open and hid beside the door, waiting for the enforcer. Chapter 22 the demons hand The door swung open, revealing the man who shot the old fool on the street. Jake jumped out of the shadows and grabbed the man, twisting his arm behind his back and lifting it up. "What''s your call sign?" "What? Who are you?" "I''m asking the questions. What was your call sign before the universal system?" Jake said this as he lifted the man''s arm higher. "Ah, fuck. Common man, I''m Dark Night Actual. Well, at least I was." Jake released some of the pressure on the man''s arm. Just as Jake released the pressure, the man swung around, his hand clenched into a fist about to hit Jake with it. "Sir, it''s you! I thought you were dead." "Not dead. Who told you I was?" "The bitch down on level 2 in room 66 upside-down nine. She enslaved my flight crew." "I''m sorry to hear that. You and your crew were always there for us when we needed you." "Not always, sir. Not the last time, and that''s what counts." "That''s not your fault, Dark. That mission was fucked from the start. We were sold out by our own command. Anyway, could I have a look at your slave seal? I might be able to do something about it for you." "Yes, sir." Dark pulled up his shirt, revealing an image of a man tied up with his legs and arms strung out like a star. "That''s a little odd-looking." "Yeah, she really does like this kind of stuff. Can you do anything about it, sir?" Jake placed his hand on the seal, and a notification popped up. Warning: This slave is currently owned by the Dominatrix Queen. If you forcefully remove the seal on the slave, the Dominatrix Queen will be aware. Do you wish to remove the slave mark, freeing the slave from his master? Yes/No. "I can remove it, but she will know. It seems your slave mark is different than the ones that are being used on the others. Yours can be removed while theirs can''t. Do you have any idea why that is?" "She tricked me into it during the tutorial. I thought she loved me, but she was just a honey trap set to capture us. It was when we were having sex. One minute, I was free to act as I saw fit, and the next, my back was on fire, and this stupid mark was on me. If it''s possible to remove it, do it. Don''t worry about her knowing. It might just bring her up here and away from the two she just took." "Okay, Dark. Just don''t die. I will check on the two kids for you." Jake selected yes, and in an instant, the mark on Dark''s back was gone. "She will probably be up here soon, so you better go, sir." "After I''m done here, I''m going to the Strzelecki Ranges to start a settlement. I hope to meet you there." Jake said his final words before vanishing into the shadows. Dashing from shadow to shadow, Jake had made it to the second floor. But before he could open the door, he heard rushing footsteps in the hallway. Jake ducked into a shadow cast by the door as it opened. The lady he remembered ran through, followed by a man Jake remembered being part of the headquarters team back before the universal system came. As far as Jake remembered, he was one of the commander''s sons or something. He never did any field work or manual labor; he just delivered coffee to the generals. From within the room, sobs could be heard. Jake quickly had a look in the room. The sight was worse than Jake had thought it could be. The walls and floor of the room were painted with blood stains. There were torture devices scattered around the room. But what worried Jake the most was the naked man, or really a boy, strung up in the same manner as the tattoo on Dark''s back, except he was currently impaled on a very big wooden spike. It entered his body in a place between his legs and exited out of his neck. The sobbing sounds were coming from the young girl who was with him. She was covered in blood, but none of it belonged to her. It seemed that the crazy bitch made this poor girl do everything while she watched. The poor girl wouldn''t have even been able to refuse due to the slave mark she had on the side of her face and down her neck. "I don''t know if I can help her. She needs a psychologist, not a demon with the tendency to act with violence. And would it be right to enslave her to me? I really don''t want slaves. Erica is already too much for me to deal with. And now I have two options: enslave this poor girl or just kill her. Honestly, I''m leaning toward the killing option more and more." Jake pulled out his rifle and walked over to the girl, raising his rifle into his shoulder and lining up a clean shot. Jake was about to squeeze the trigger when he heard her muttering between her sobs. "I will find a way. I will live for you. I shall find a way to be free of her." Jake knelt down behind the girl and was about to place his hand on her shoulder when he heard it. It was clearer than all the rest. "I will kill them all." Jake pressed his hand on her back, and in an instant, a notification entered Jake''s view. Notification: Use the race skill Master of the Lost (unique) on the slave owned by the Dominatrix Queen. The slave mark will change to match yours, but the mark will not limit or hinder the marked. The marked will receive a skill named after you and will grant the marked the ability to enter a semi-demonized state. This state can be activated or deactivated by the marked at any time, and it will not use any resources to keep it active. "Does this mean she won''t be my slave? That is great." Jake used the skill. Jake''s body turned into a demon as all his stats started to drop. The skill seemed to use up stat points to work. Strangely, it didn''t seem to use unspent points and only took them from the stats that give Mana, Health, Stamina, and Arcane. It took 30 million from all of Jake''s highest stats. Pain racked Jake''s body as his stats were drained away. His breathing became rapid as perspiration poured down his face. The young girl turned around and looked into Jake''s demon eyes. "Who are you?" Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Universal Constant Interface: On the roof, Dark was waiting for his former master to arrive, standing in front of the door leading to the roof. The door burst open, and Dark was blown back off his feet, landing against the rails running around the roof. Following his collision with the rails, Dark looked up to see his fellow slave and friend standing over him with a knife in his hand. "Mandi, are you really doing this? I know she can''t control you like the others, so you have a choice here." "Ha, a choice. I chose which side I was on before the universal system came. And I have been working on that side the whole time." Dark just looked at the man he called his friend and shook his head. "So it was you. You were the one that sold us out." "No, you should talk to those generals of yours. They were so easy to convert, as always. A human will be a human." "Mandi, would you stop with this reminiscing and just kill him." Mandi stabbed his knife into Dark''s chest, puncturing one of his lungs. "You just couldn''t be a good slave, could you? Now you get to be my toy as I play you to death." Mandi laughed hysterically as he brought his knife back up for a second go. As the knife came down again, Dark picked up a loose chunk of concrete, slamming it into Mandi''s face, knocking the man off his feet and sending him flying across the roof. Dark pulled himself to his feet and shuffled toward Mia, the chunk of now bloody concrete in his hand. "You think you, a slave, can scare me? I order you to stop, slave." Dark was now in front of Mia. He raised his arm to slam it into her face. "Don''t, don''t do it. I don''t like pain. Please, don''t hurt me." "Did all those young boys beg you for mercy too?" Dark swung his arm down, but just as it was about to hit, Dark was sent flying into the rails again. A fist repeatedly pummeled his face. Dark couldn''t move under the constant bombardment, his mind becoming blank. After some time had passed, Dark woke up to the sight of Mia curled up on the ground, screaming in pain as the backlash from Jake''s actions hit her. Her abilities to control her slaves had been stripped from her for good, and all of her stats were reduced to zero. "Ha, take that, you bitch! That is the pain of going up against Everval Actual. He is going to bring you all down." Dark was laughing hysterically right until he breathed his last, Mandi standing over him, blood covering his arms and face. Jake looked down at the girl and simply said, "You are free now. What is your plan?" The young girl just looked at Jake curiously before saying, "Am I in hell?" "No, what would give you that idea?" The girl just pointed at Jake''s face. Jake, thinking something was on his face, brushed his hand over his face. "Oh, that''s my race thing." Jake deactivated his demon form and said, "Is that better?" "To be honest, I prefer the other. This one is a little plain, no real definition, except those eyes." "What''s wrong with my eyes? Wait, did you just say I was plain-looking with no definition?" The young girl started laughing. Jake thought to himself, "She seems to be doing a good job cheering herself up. That''s a good thing because I have no idea how to help her." "Shall we leave this place together, or would you like to find your own way?" The girl stood there for a minute, then turned to the dead boy. "I''m sorry I can''t put you to rest as you asked. I wasn''t in control of my own body. I''m sorry for what I did to you." She turned back to Jake, tears flowing down her face. "We can go now," she said. Jake and the girl left the room and out onto an emergency exit. Then, they both heard loud screams of pain coming from the roof. "Sounds like that bitch is getting what she deserves," Jake said. "She deserves much, much worse than that." "Yeah, you''re right. I just hope Dark can make it out of there alive. He would make a great pilot." Looking down on the street, Jake noticed that all the people who were lining up for entry into the fake settlement were now littering the streets with their blood. The enforcers that were sorting them had gone. "What happened here? And where are all the enforcers at?" "The only enforcers left outside are on the roof." "What''s your plan exactly, demon man?" "Well, that''s rude. You do know you have a skill that turns you into one, don''t you?" "Wait, what? Do I?" She stood there for a minute, then in an instant, her body changed color. She was now dark grey, and her eyes changed in appearance as well, more like cat eyes. Despite the small horns on her head and her new mark that took the same location as her old one but looked more like the one Erica has, only having a snake instead of chains and there was no lock. Her looks amplified her physical appearance; she looked more like a young lady instead of a girl in her teens. Some other things that changed were that she now had a tail, and her fingernails were like small daggers. "I think this suits you more than your natural form. Does it have a name by chance?" "Here, I will show you." A notification popped up in Jake''s face. Race Skill: Hand of the Demon of the Past (Unique) As the Hand of the Demon, you will gain the ability to take his form. The cost of summoning this form will be half of your total mana. There is no upkeep cost to this skill. While activated, you will receive +50 stat points to all profession, class, and grade levels. Universal Constant Interface: Class: Healing Monk Profession: Demon''s Hand Information: To gain levels, you need to complete tasks given to you by the Demon of the Past. Levels will be granted based on the difficulty of the task given. Long-term tasks will be divided up into parts. "I''m sorry. I didn''t realize it would give you a profession like that." "Don''t worry about it. I would rather serve you than her. Plus, it doesn''t say that I''m a slave, so I don''t have to do anything I don''t want to do, right?" "No, you don''t have to do anything for me." "I have a question, but your answer can wait until we get out of here. Can you do what you did for me to others?" "That''s actually easy to answer. No, not for a very long time. And even then, I don''t think I would." "Why is that?" "The cost is too high. It cost me, in total, 120,000,000 stat points to do." "Do you have any left, and what is your level?" Chapter 23 journey Jake stopped at the edge of the dome, looking at the new demon lady standing beside him, then back at the dome protecting the city. ¡°Are you sure about this? If we get in trouble out there, I may not be able to save you.¡± ¡°I have made my decision. Where you go, I will follow. After all, I owe you at least that much.¡± ¡°You don''t owe me anything. I did what I did because I could, nothing more. So please don''t think you owe me anything.¡± ¡°And I am doing this for myself, so just accept it.¡± Emma said this before walking through the dome. ¡°Ok, so I guess we''re going.¡± Jake followed her through. As Jake popped out the other side, he noticed Emma standing there, staring at the sky. ¡°What are you looking at? Wow.¡± The two stood there, just staring at the sky. Identify Race: Pterosaurs Level: ??? ¡°It''s a fucken dinosaur, how is that a thing? Didn''t they go extinct?¡± Emma said. ¡°I''m more worried about its level.¡± ¡°Why, what is it?¡± ¡°That''s the problem. I don''t know. That only happens when the level is well above your own.¡± ¡°Um, didn''t you say you were level 100? So does that mean it is above that, I mean, like well above?¡± ¡°Well, yes, it does.¡± ¡°Oh, I think we should go now,¡± Emma said, before stepping behind Jake and giving him a nudge. Jake and Emma were now after seeing those pterosaurs moving at a slow and steady pace. Jake was teaching Emma about how he upgraded his stealth skill, and as a result, she had been working on a skill of her own. She had decided to improve her understanding of her unarmed combat skills. She had three skills, one of which used Mana, the other two were just Stamina. She was hoping to combine her most destructive one, Mana Punch, with Flurry of Blows to make a new skill that would use her Mana Punch as the backbone to Flurry of Blows, making it more destructive. Her last skill was a movement skill, Step of the Wind. It worked well in a combo with Flurry of Blows. The only issue Jake had with Step of the Wind was that his normal dash was quicker than it. But seeing that her skill was unranked in rarity right now, Jake had a feeling that when she finds a way to upgrade it, possibly even more than once, it will outstrip him, even if he had a lot more stat points in Agility than she had. The two continued on as they passed through the old farmland on their way to their final destination. On their way, they ran into a group of weak rats, although the rats were twice the original size. Speaking of things being bigger than they used to be, the Earth was at least four or five times its original size. But what stumped Jake was that the gravity on the planet didn''t change. So in Jake''s mind, he came up with what seemed like the dumbest conclusion: the Earth was hollow. But this really didn''t make any sense. ¡°Hey, have you felt hungry since before the tutorial? I haven''t felt hungry or even eaten at all, have you?¡± Emma asked. ¡°Now that you mentioned it, no, I haven''t.¡± ¡°Do you think the system has something to do with it? Like once we start gaining levels, the system takes away those needs?¡± ¡°I''m guessing it does, otherwise, we would be dead by now. Not sure about you, but I haven''t eaten for over a year, and before that, I didn''t eat for two days prior.¡± As Jake finished saying that, he had a strange thought: if the system took away the need for food, does that also mean he won''t ever poo again? But then what would happen if he ate something? Would he need to poo? Then would it be converted somehow into his stats or something like that? ¡°That really needs testing,¡± Jake said. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Oh, nothing. I was just thinking, what would happen to food if we ate it?¡± ¡°That''s gr¡ª you know what, that''s a good question. You should do it and tell me if anything strange happens to you.¡± As they were talking, Jake had come across a group of bugs. It really reminded Jake of the tutorial. ¡°Okay, Emma, do you think you could handle the small fry while I take on that one?¡± Jake was looking at a bug identified as a cockroach at level 105. ¡°If you can''t, that''s fine. Just stay out of the way.¡± ¡°I can try. At the very least, I can hold them off for you.¡± ¡°Okay, that should work. If you can hold them off for a bit, I should be able to have a good shot at that one. Then I will know my limits better for when I take on my class quest. I have a feeling it''s going to be a lot more difficult than it was during the tutorial.¡± The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Emma launched herself forward and activated her skills one after the other. She used Step of the Wind to get closer to her opponent, then activating either Flurry of Blows or Mana Punch. Then she would activate Step of the Wind again to escape the bug''s counter, only to repeat the sequence. She was slowly making progress, but what worried Jake was the possible overuse of her mana and stamina, leaving her vulnerable to a simple attack from one of the bugs. Jake, with no hesitation, dashed towards the cockroach with his F88 in his hand, firing from his hip as he ran. The projectiles seemed to just bounce off of the level 105 cockroach. ¡°Oh fuck, they really were nerfed in the tutorial.¡± Jake kept dashing forward, raising his rifle up to his shoulder and in quick succession fired off ten rounds at the cockroach''s head. After ten well-aimed shots, the last one cracked its exoskeleton a little. It had a group of five hairline cracks spidering out from the center point of its skull. Jake fired five more rounds, but all five bounced off. Only now did Jake realize how nerfed the tutorial was. Jake and Erica were playing through hordes of bugs like these, but now Jake couldn''t even take one down by himself. Jake fired a grenade at the bug, having it explode underneath the cockroach, severing one of its legs just before Jake got into close-quarters fighting. Pulling out his knife, Jake plunged it in between the cockroach''s armored plates, between its head and torso. The knife penetrated but then snapped the blade just above hand. Dropping the remains of his dagger on the ground, he swung his rifle up and fired at point-blank range, expanding the hole before he attempted to duck the cockroach¡¯s counter. Only Jake wasn''t quite fast enough to dodge it completely. One of the bug''s legs penetrated Jake''s lower leg. He screamed as his lower leg was ripped off, struggling to escape the bug''s bombardment, rolling over. Jake noticed the hole he had made earlier, reaching up with his hand, Jake rammed his fist inside it before saying. ¡°You may have taken my leg, but I give you my arm.¡± Jake activated a skill he had actually forgotten he had. Skill (Rebirth of the Exploding Body, Unique) Will passively heal the user. Stamina is converted into temporary units of integrity to provide healing at a 100 to 1 ratio. Warning: the system recognizes that you have a tendency for self-harm. The system recommends you seek medical advice. Before he blew up his own body, just like he had with the mother spider or whatever she was called. To Emma''s horror and astonishment, Jake was one minute under the cockroach, being trampled to death as he screamed in pain. Then the next second, Jake''s scream went silent, and everything went silent as his voice echoed around them. ¡°You may have taken my leg, but I give you my arm.¡± Followed by a loud bang and a flame that shot into the sky. The bugs that she was fighting scattered as they fled into the distance. Emma ran over to Jake''s side and began to use her healing skills to mend Jake''s leg back together, but his arm was out of her healing ability. As she couldn''t regenerate limbs, she could only reattach them and stop bleeding. So she did both. After a day, Jake woke from his injuries. His arm was growing back slowly, but his stamina was now down to what Jake would call the red. He had only 500 points left. ¡°I need to deactivate the passive skill,¡± Jake thought. Jake had read the information on passive skills once he noticed it said passive. Jake thought it would be on all the time, but no, the information given to him by the system about it was on the lines of: yes, you can activate and deactivate a passive skill. A passive skill that drains your stamina forever would be really stupid, and you wouldn''t want to have passives like that on all the time, you idiot. Go find mental help. Jake was pretty sure the system liked to fuck with him. It sometimes felt like it had a personality, and other times, it was so obvious it was a system with no emotions. Jake looked over at Emma. She was asleep, leaning up against a rock. Jake pushed himself to his feet, moved over to her, and sat back down before falling asleep. Emma awoke to a blood-covered man living beside her. Her mind flashed back to being trapped in her own body as she whipped her friend, as he screamed for her to stop. The whipping continued until blood was pooling under him, and then a man entered the room, holding a long sharpened log covered in what looked a lot like Vaseline, and a lot of it. The man said with a smile to the lady in the room. ¡°I''ve brought it for you this time. I''m sure it will excite you, my queen.¡± The lady replied, ¡°Let''s get her to do it this time.¡± The man started walking over to her as a scream filled the room. With a startled jump, Jake woke up, his last remaining dagger firmly grasped in his hand as rain bounced off his cloak. ¡°What is it?¡± Jake asked, before looking at Emma''s pale and sweat-covered body. She was curled up in a ball, shivering. Jake put away his dagger before heading over to her. ¡°Get away, get away from me. I didn''t have control of my body. Please leave me alone. I didn''t want to hurt you,¡± she yelled before crying into her hands as she covered her face. Jake, realizing she was remembering what happened to her, changed his form into a demon and wiped the blood off of his face with his sleeve before he spoke in a soft voice. ¡°Emma, you are okay now. No one is going to hurt you anymore. If anyone comes for you, I, the demon of the past, will send them away.¡± Emma looked up from underneath her hands, looking at demon Jake as she would say. ¡°Thank you for helping me. I''m sorry I''m like this,¡± Emma said as she started shaking again. ¡°I should have just died.¡± Jake reached out his hand and brought Emma into an embrace, shielding her from the rain. ¡°I''m not good at many things, but there is one thing I know for sure. You, Emma, are a very strong lady, and as such, I expect you to reach heights of power that no one has even thought possible. So it would be a disservice to your friend if you were to think that your life is not worth living,¡± Jake said with determination in his voice. ¡°But I did so many horrible things to him, and what''s worse is that he loved me, and I didn''t even get to tell him that I loved him too. We were always together; we even acted like a couple, but I never told him. I never told him.¡± Emma went quiet at the end as she pressed her head into Jake''s chest. ¡°This may sound odd, but can you read what my race is?¡± Jake said. Emma looked up at him and then used identify. Jake Everval Race: Demon of the Past, Unique This is a unique race in the integrated universe, and as such, the system has no information on its abilities. ¡°What was the point of making me do that?¡± ¡°Read this,¡± Jake said, bringing up an ability for her to read. Race skill (Voices of the Past, Unique) Tap into the experience of those who have died. Emma just looked at Jake, even more confused. ¡°You don''t understand, do you? If I can tap into the dead experiences, then there has to be some kind of afterlife. And since the system doesn''t know what my race can do, why can''t I just contact the dead? If I could find a way, would you like to talk with your friend one last time?¡± Jake said. ¡°I don''t know, maybe. It''s just, what if he hates me for what I did to him?¡± ¡°What if? That''s an odd grouping of words. If you go down that path, there will be no coming back. Try doing this instead: when you get the what-ifs creeping into your thoughts, just take one step forward. All of your what-ifs will then be behind you, and the road ahead will be clear for you to travel. Remember, just one step is all it will take.¡± Chapter 24 Erica After the end of the tutorial, Erica was given back her original grade, and all of the unused levels she earned were converted into points. Erica was given two items at the end of the tutorial. Item: Upgrade token - Upgrades an item one rank. Item: Settlement token - Claim a plot of land on any celestial object, size 3000 km2, and will extend out into space by 1000 km. The area picked will be protected from bombardment and unauthorized entry. You can pick up to five lifeforms to run your settlement. Any profession-related activities will have a 20 point bonus to each level gained, this only applies to the owner and the five managers. Items crafted will require 30% less materials to form a finished product while in the settlement. Erica also received a new skill related to her master. New skill: The Right Hand of the Demon (Uncommon) - As the right hand of the demon, you are given the ability to recruit followers in his name and claim land on his behalf, limited to system-acquired tokens granted from quests and dungeons. Anyone you recruit will receive a stat increase of 30% in their lowest stat. Merchants will be required to pay a 5% tax on any profession materials sold within any claimed zone. Tax will be paid in the form of arcane power. Arcane power will be stored within the claimed zones. As the right hand, you can use the stored Arcane energy as you please, be it for weapons or to release it back into space to increase the density of the area over time. ¡°It seems that this skill at the moment is more for me than master. If I wanted to fix my home galaxy, I could with this skill. But I don''t know what to do. Maybe I should find Aaliyah and ask her what I should do. I just don''t know where to start looking.¡± Erica ran a scan of what was happening around her Corvette, noting where she was. It was no surprise to her that she was still orbiting the same planet as she was in the tutorial, but there was one major difference. The planet was now occupied by some kind of powerhouse, as in orbit, there was a space station constructing what looked to be battleships. Erica activated her impulse engines and left the orbit of the planet, moving out into an orbit around the moon. ¡°Unknown vessel, you have entered the Territory of the Grand Empire of the Warring Path. Power down your systems and prepare to be boarded.¡± Erica increased her impulse power as she spun up her FTL drive. ¡°We are registering a buildup of power in the unknown vessel''s FTL system, sir.¡± ¡°Fire a round past the vessel''s nose and repeat the transmission.¡± A flash of light shot across the corvette''s nose. Erica looked down at the FTL display. ¡°It won''t be ready in time. I need more time. I will have to do something stupid.¡± Erica spun the Retribution around and went to full impulse, blasting towards the ships tailing her and opened fire, blowing one of the ships to bits. She then spun the ship and activated her point-defense system; the cannons opened fire as she drilled her way through the ships. As she passed between the two largest ships, the space around her warped, and behind the ships that she was fighting, fifteen small cargo ships popped out as her radio started to crackle to life. ¡°Erica class corvette, retreat towards the moon; we will take these cretins for you.¡± ¡°I can assist you,¡± Erica replied in her native tongue. The only reply she received after that was all of the crew from fifteen ships repeating on all radio frequencies, ¡°To the heroes, we give our lives; to the heroes.¡± The fifteen ships roared to life and began moving at full impulse directly at the Grand Emperor of the Warring Path''s ships, their impact shattering the enemy ships to bits. It was all over before Erica could even do anything. She flipped the corvette and retreated back to the moon only to come into view of a ship even bigger than the battleships that were being made in the planet''s orbit. ¡°Erica class corvette, this is Aaliyah La Flame. My scanner says you are in possession of a token produced by me. I request that we meet in neutral territory. I will be taking a shuttle down to the moon and would appreciate your attendance.¡± Before Erica could reply, a shuttle launched from the huge ship heading towards the moon. ¡°Well, I guess I have no choice, do I?¡± Erica lowered the ship''s orbit till she could make a controlled landing on the surface of the moon. Looking out the window, she could see three people; two in space suits of the fighting type a lot like the one she was wearing, and the last one had no suit on at all; she was as Jake described. Erica put her helmet on and exited her ship; in her left hand, she had the token Jake gave her, and in her right was her grenade launcher Jake gave her; she was not taking any unnecessary risks, if she could avoid it. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Was that weapon created by Jake?¡± Aaliyah said. With a smile, Erica said, ¡°Yes, master created it for me as a gift.¡± The two Nordicless scoffed at the word master. ¡°A slave, she''s a slave we lost fifteen ships and their complement for a slave.¡± ¡°What do you know about me? Yes, technically I''m a slave, but to a master of my choosing.¡± ¡°A slave trying to justify the fact she is a slave, how laughable. Don''t worry; the lady will remove your slave mark.¡± Erica jumped backward and lifted her grenade launcher, aiming it directly at the man''s face. ¡°Come any closer, and I will blow your face off.¡± Aaliyah stepped over to the man and with a solid slap, the man''s helmet came off. The man started gasping for oxygen, his face going white as the coldness of space crept in. ¡°You really are a fool.¡± Aaliyah cast a spell on the man, and he breathed in deeply. ¡°Don''t ever do something like that again, or next time I will kill you.¡± The man just looked up at her. ¡°What, have you got nothing to say now? You were all talkative before,¡± Aaliyah said before turning to Erica. ¡°So maybe we can start over again; I''m Aaliyah La Flame, and yes, if you wanted, I could remove that mark for you, but I won''t. So don''t worry; you clearly chose your path. But I would like to know the man who created that weapon; do you know where he is right now?¡± ¡°Why do you want to know where my master is?¡± ¡°He is an arcane smith, and people will try to hunt him down for that; I just want to help him out a little so he can have a safe place to go to if he gets into too much trouble.¡± ¡°I don''t see any harm in telling you; he would be back on his home world by now. I don''t know where that is; I only know it is in that direction.¡± Erica pointed in the direction of the Milky Way galaxy, but neither Erica nor Aaliyah knew that was what it was called. ¡°There are a lot of new galaxies integrating into the system now; I won''t be able to search them all. What should I do now? Lady Aaliyah, maybe we could set up a safe zone here. The battle for this solar system is going well. If we set up here, he should be able to find it.¡± One of Aaliyah''s men said, ¡°It''s a good idea, but there is no arcane energy here anymore.¡± ¡°There might be a way to fix that.¡± Everyone looked at Erica with curiosity. ¡°How?¡± Aaliyah finally said. ¡°If I claim this as my territory and start recruiting people, I should be able, in time, to turn this area back into what it was.¡± ¡°You said ''claim,'' so you have a token,¡± the man who had his helmet smacked off said. ¡°Ye¨C.¡± The man lunged at Erica, his hand grasping for her throat. Only an inch before he would have had her in his grasp, the arm the hand was attached to fell to the ground. ¡°A fucken spy, one of my kind turning out to be a spy for the same people that enslaved us.¡± Erica let out a deep breath before saying, ¡°If you are going to hang around in this solar system, I would like to claim this moon as my territory if that''s okay with you.¡± ¡°Are you sure you don''t want a planet? If you can do what you said, I would even give you the whole solar system if you wanted.¡± ¡°No, just the moon will be fine, though I would appreciate some help with building a trading hub and settlement here.¡± ¡°That can be arranged. From this day forth, this moon will be yours. If you don''t mind, I would like to watch as you claim this land of yours.¡± ¡°I would like that, but he will have to leave, and I do mean that he will need to be 1000 km away from the moon; otherwise, I can''t promise he will live.¡± ¡°Jack, send him back with the shuttle and keep him away from here.¡± Thirty minutes later, Jack and the man were back on the ship and had moved over two thousand km away from the planet. ¡°It''s time; they''re out of range now.¡± Erica activated the tablet, and as she did, the sky went red as a bubble formed around the moon. It reached out to 1000 km above the moon; once that bubble was formed, a second one formed; this one was blue, and stopped about 100 km up. The second bubble activated, and oxygen started to be produced by the bubble. Notification: You have claimed a land. Would you like to activate the skill yes/no? The Right Hand of the Demon (Uncommon) - As the right hand of the demon, you are given the ability to recruit followers in his name and claim land on his behalf, limited to system-acquired tokens granted from quests and dungeons. Anyone you recruit will receive a stat increase of 30% in their lowest stat. Merchants will be required to pay a 5% tax on any profession materials sold within any claimed zone. Tax will be paid in the form of arcane power. Arcane power will be stored within the claimed zones. As the right hand, you can use the stored Arcane energy as you please, be it for weapons or to release it back into space to increase the density of the area over time. Erica said yes as another notification showed up. Notification: You have claimed a settlement. What would you like to call it? Erica thought over the possible names before she decided on the name of Harbour. A notification popped up in Aaliyah''s face. You are now in the Territory of the Demon of the Past. The settlement you are in is called Harbour, and it has a tax of 5% on all profession materials sold within the claimed zone. Tax will be paid in the form of arcane power. ¡°It looks like it worked,¡± Aaliyah said before hugging Erica, ¡°and what''s more, they are here now. I will have to get some people started on the construction efforts this place will need.¡± ¡°If you can, I would also like five people to run this place. It would also be good if I could recruit them; they would receive a 30% increase in their lowest stat and would have full control over the governing of this settlement. I will only give them some ideas that I would like done.¡± ¡°That could take a little time, but I think I can do it.¡± ¡°That''s okay; I''ve got some things to do. For one thing, there are a lot of those Grand Empire of the Warring Path ships out there, so I''m going hunting.¡± ¡°Would you like a flight crew to assist you?¡± Chapter 25 Demons hand mercenary group Emma and Jake had been walking their way closer to their destination for a week now. They had gotten into small fights at least three times a day; most of the time, Emma would take on the enemies by herself, with Jake only providing support if things went sideways for her. Emma had managed to gain quite a few levels in her class; as a result, her grade level was at 45. It seemed the system would award more levels if the fight was more intense. So, Jake had held back on stepping in where Emma was in danger and let her take injuries so that her levels would rise quicker. Emma knew he was doing this and agreed with it, even going so far as to tell Jake to let more enemies attack her as it was also helping her understand her skills better. By the time they entered the Strzelecki Ranges, Emma had finally combined her skills, creating a new skill at epic rarity. She also gained 20 levels in her class and somehow gained 5 in her profession as well, bringing her grade level to 47. This gave Jake the idea of sitting down and going through his skills later. ¡°So, this is where the resistance fighters were before the system changed everything.¡± ¡°Yes, but I''ve been thinking about that. I have a bad feeling that the whole resistance movement was orchestrated by the government at the time. I think we were all being played by those who were in charge at the time.¡± ¡°What makes you think that?¡± ¡°The last mission I did, everyone knew from the start that the government knew about it before we did, and when I brought it up with my commanders, they just told me to shut up and do my job. That mission took the life of my whole team.¡± ¡°I''m sorry about your team.¡± ¡°Don''t worry about it,¡± Jake said. ¡°Where are we going to set up this settlement? I was thinking if it is going to be a settlement, maybe it would be good to have it at the edge of the ranges so there''s some flat space to make building easier.¡± ¡°That sounds fine by me. I think if I place it here, it might just reach the old resistance camp. I would like to have that within my territory.¡± ¡°Maybe we should go a little bit further in to be certain. We don''t need a lot of open space.¡± ¡°No, this will do just fine. I''ve had enough of walking, so here we shall stay, with bushland behind us and farmland in front.¡± Jake decided that now was a good time to set his plan in motion. Jake first needed a safe place to return to, so he took out his settlement token and infused his will into it. As it activated, a red bubble appeared and began expanding. In Jake''s mind, he felt some unknown pressure push back on it, but to its detriment, it failed. Jake could pinpoint its location, so looking over at Emma, he said, ¡°About 50 km in that direction, there is something that tried to push back against the bubble. Could you go and scout it out? If it is friendly, bring it back here, and if it''s not, do what you think is the right thing.¡± A notification popped up in front of Emma: Quest from the Demon of the Past Find the suspicious creature and bring it back. If it is friendly, reward: +10 profession levels. Bonus reward for receiving your first actively given quest: +5000 points on completion of the quest. ¡°Holy shit, I just got a quest,¡± Emma said before leaving to complete her new quest. Jake was stunned for a bit before concentrating back on the bubble. It had finally reached its full size, and then a second bubble expanded out, pushing out to the full size in an instant. Notification: You have claimed a territory. Number of territories claimed: two¡ªone in the newly integrated Delta Quadrant and the other is in the desolate zone of the Zaider Quadrant. Title gained: Lord ¡°What the fuck, how can I already have a territory, and where is this desolate zone?¡± Jake thought about it for a bit before realizing it had to be Erica who made the territory; she must have got a token as well. Jake continued reading the notification, not thinking more about the issue. Title: Lord As a lord, you have the first and last word on any dispute within your territories. You gain the ability to found a new galaxy power in your galaxy. All new members of the galaxy power, minus the founder Jake Everval, will receive the skill and the title: Path of Shadows (rare). You hide in the shadows and strike fast. Cost of use: arcane energy and stamina. Create a barrier around yourself to hinder vision and dash from shadow to shadow. Gives 5% to damage if the target is unaware of your attack. Title: Member of the (enter name) +10 points to grade level advancements and reduces levels needed to get next grade level by -5 You will receive the ability to increase the mana and arcane energy within your territories by drawing in the energy from the surroundings. Warning: This could turn the area into a desolate zone if your territories are set to continuously drain energy. ¡°As you already have an active territory, would you like to implement the same taxation system? Yes/No¡± ¡°That could be useful. I think I should let someone else pick the name. And I suppose if it was Erica that made the taxation system, it should be fine to implement it.¡± Jake selected yes, and a new notification appeared. Notification: Merchants will be required to pay a 5% tax on any profession materials sold within any claimed zone. Tax will be paid in the form of arcane power. Arcane power will be stored within the claimed zones. As the lord, you can use the stored arcane energy as you please, be it for weapons or to release it back into space to increase the density of the area over time. As this is a newly integrated zone, the tax will be paid in mana if the merchant doesn''t have arcane energy. ¡°As the lord of your territories, the new taxation system will be implemented in all of your territories. And if you create your galaxy power, it will be implemented in all of your territories.¡± ¡°That seems fair, I guess.¡± Some time passed before Emma got back, followed by a small group of cats in humanoid form and a larger group of dogs in humanoid form. ¡°Who are these people, Emma?¡± ¡°They were wanting to speak to you about something.¡± ¡°And what about the two you have tied up?¡± ¡°I found them unconscious on my way back. They were probably the ones you sent me out for.¡± ¡°Release them; there''s no need for this oppression.¡± Jake knew by the fact that the territory wasn''t trying to harm them that they were no threat to him. But on that note, he could tell that one of the cats was definitely wanting to cause him harm, as his territory was trying to attack her. If it wasn''t for Jake holding it back, she would be in big trouble right now. Jake pointed at the cat lady and said, ¡°I suggest you leave, as I am sick of holding the defense system back from killing you.¡± The cat lady just looked at him. ¡°Do you take me for a fool? You can''t kill me; I''m at least 20 grade levels above you.¡± Jake just looked at her. ¡°Fine.¡± ¡°I knew you were bluffing; you humans are all the same. The only thing you''re good for is to be our slaves¡ª¡± The cat lady didn''t get to finish what she was saying, as all of her bodily fluids exited her body, followed by all of her mana. She now represented the power that they were dealing with. ¡°I would suggest if any of you hold any ill intent towards me or my companion, to leave now and don''t come back.¡± The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. To Jake''s surprise, not a single one of them left, not even the two that were tied up. ¡°Now that that''s dealt with, shall we proceed with the decision? What brings you here?¡± An old-looking dog man stepped forward and spoke. ¡°We are asking for asylum in your territory. We have no demand or requests other than to be able to live free.¡± ¡°Your asylum has been granted. Now, let''s get to the real business. Which of you would like to be part of the ruling council? There are five seats, and I am willing to give two seats to you.¡± The old man was astonished. He just wanted to keep his people safe, but this was too much for him to take in. This man, in the time it takes to scratch a flea, had not only given them safety by removing their biggest threat but also gave them a new home and political power. Holding two seats of five would put them in good standing in the future. Jake, on the other hand, didn''t even realize he had done any of that. He just wanted to get someone to do all the boring work for him, and this group''s arrival was just a perfect opportunity to palm off some of his burdens. ¡°The old man looked at the old cat lady beside him and said, ''We will accept your offer.''¡± The next moment, a notification popped up in front of the two elders. Notification: Do you accept the role of temporary members of the ruling council? Yes/No The two selected yes and were surprised by the information they received on the settlement and the taxation system, the bonuses they would receive, and the ones others would get. ¡°May I ask, what is the settlement called? It just says ''Settlement of Jake Everval'' in the place of its name.¡± ¡°I haven''t given it a name yet,¡± Jake said. ¡°Do you have a name in mind? It''s just it really needs a name.¡± ¡°I don''t really care about a name; you can pick, just don''t put ''new'' in front of anything.¡± ¡°Okay, we will get to work on that for you. And we will start making shelters for everyone to rest.¡± ¡°I would like to set up a defense unit. Do you have any ideas on who would be good to talk to in your group about that?¡± Emma said. The old man pointed to the two that she captured earlier. ¡°This is Erin and Kiki; they are our best scouts and should be able to help you with that.¡± Before Emma left, she looked at Jake and asked, "Do you have anything else you need from me?¡± Jake was about to say no, but then he remembered he did need her help with something. ¡°Yes, actually, I need those two as well, and you two. I''m going to set up a mercenary group, and I will need your help with the specifics of the group. I only have a few rules that I would like to add, so I really need your help with that.¡± As they were talking, Jake got a notification he wasn''t expecting. Ding! Evolution quest complete Universal Constant Interface Name: Jake Everval Race: Demon of the Past. Unique Grade: G Information on G grade: G upgrades to the next grade at level 300 above previous. You get 1 grade level per 20 class or profession level. This is the starting grade for all humanoid life forms in the open universe; there are no grade skills granted at this grade. Level 100. Levels required till next grade evaluation: 400 total Class: Trooper Shadow Mage (common) Class level: 0 Profession: Arcane Smith Profession level: 113 Stats points available: 497,218 Mana: 50,323,360 Arcane: 50,423,500 Stamina: 50,323,200 Health: 50,633,360 Strength: 1116 Agility: 5,031,225 Intelligence: 5,042,350 Wisdom: 5,032,336 Perception: 110,637 Integrity: 5,063,336 Jake mumbled under his voice as the others were arguing, ¡°Not a single level.¡± After a lot of back and forth, Jake and the others decided on a complete breakdown of the role and limitations of the mercenary group and a name for the settlement. Settlement name: Freedom. This was not what Jake would''ve picked, but he gave away his option on the matter. The name gave the connotation that the land would be open to all, and there would be no overbearing rules to restrict the inhabitants from living their lives. Of course, there would be rules, as no society would continue to exist without rules. As for the name of the mercenary group, that was picked by Emma, with no objections after she threatened them. But the rest of it was agreed upon by all present. Demons Hand Mercenary Group Rules: Ranking system: Ranking for non-combatants: Members will receive: Motto: Freedom through adversity Bio: This Group was created by a group of beastmen and humans. After forming a base of operations in the Strzelecki Ranges in the safe zone created by Jake Everval. The main branch is located on the planet known as Earth, with branch locations in all territories belonging to Jake Everval and sub-branches to be founded in other locations throughout the universe. Chapter 26 diplomacy Jake was sitting at the edge of the safe zone, having been informed by Eric and Kiki that there were monsters located 5 km northeast of their position. He was eager to go out and fight them, but he knew there were other pressing matters to attend to. Reports had indicated that the creation of the safe zone had been reported to local government officials, who had arrived with what appeared to be a full brigade of enforcers, all around level 50. Jake was currently busy crafting weapons for anyone willing to fight. While they could simply stay behind their barrier like a turtle in its shell, it wouldn''t benefit them in the long run if they wanted to eventually leave the safe zone. On a positive note, the mercenary group had its first members. Emma was the first to join, followed by Eric and Kiki, and surprisingly, Erica also joined the group as soon as it was available. After spending some time at his cauldron, one of the young dog beastmen approached Jake with a surprisingly deep male voice, informing him, ¡°Sir, the council members require your presence for the diplomatic negotiations.¡± ¡°Okay, tell them I will be there in a moment.¡± The young beastman bowed before running back to the newly constructed log meeting hall. Jake sat back down and continued with his crafting session, knowing he was close to leveling up his grade. After an hour, it finally came. Ding! Profession level increased: +70 points Ding! Grade level increased: +90 points In total, Jake gained 1140 points, 15 profession levels, and one grade level from this crafting session, which had taken him three days to complete. Crafting had become increasingly difficult towards the end, but at least he had made plenty of weapons for those who wanted them. Jake got up and walked over to the meeting hall, stopping at the door to listen to what was being said from within. ¡°We demand you hand over this settlement, as the land it is on belongs to the Australian government. Any refusal will be met with extreme force. We will also be taking any beasts like yourselves as compensation for our troubles.¡± Jake kicked the door off its hinges, sending it flying across the hall. ¡°You come into my territory and start making demands? Don''t give me that crap about this land belonging to the Australian government. It was originally settled by the First Nations people, and now, under the same manner, it''s my land. If you want it, send your troops in to take it back.¡± Jake grabbed the old man by his throat and walked him over to the barrier. With a kick to the man''s groin, he sent him flying through the barrier. ¡°Was that a good idea, sir? I don''t think they will even attempt to stop this diplomatically anymore,¡± the old dog council member said. ¡°They were not here to negotiate; they don''t even know how to do it anymore,¡± Jake replied. ¡°What''s the plan, boss?¡± Emma asked. ¡°We let them come. I''m deactivating the defenses so they will come in, then we will kill them all. Emma, use the weapons I created and set up a defense line outside the barrier. When the enemy starts to attack, put up a token resistance, then fall back. Make it look like your lines have crumbled and you''re fleeing for your lives. That will draw them in.¡± Emma left the hall and gathered a group of people, bringing them to the armory to hand out weapons. ¡°Gather around me. I''m only going to tell you the plan once. We will be the bait to draw those idiots in. Once they''re in, we will regroup and attack with our full force. Jake will activate the defense and kill them all. But we don''t know how long that will take, so we will be the first and last line of defense. Keep that in mind in our fight.¡± Jake was in the meeting hall when gunshots could be heard coming from outside the barrier. This continued for five minutes. Emma''s defense team had taken casualties, but they were still holding the line, waiting for the best moment to start falling back. Five minutes later, Emma sent out the command, and the lines started to crumble from the center out. Emma was the last to retreat, making it look like she had lost any semblance of command over her soldiers. She ran as fast as she could without using her skills, making it look even more precarious as the enemies were snapping at her heels. Emma ran deep into the territory before calling out to form up on her. As she did, hundreds of beastmen popped out from all around. They opened fire, and the enemy soldiers were getting cut down as more and more entered the barrier. Emma and her beastmen were engaging the enemies at close range when suddenly, the enemies collapsed, grabbing at their throats as their mana and body fluids were sucked out of them in a slow and horrific way. Emma had to close her eyes, as the sight brought back memories she wished would go away. Two days later, a group of five old government officials walked up to the barrier, waving a white flag. ¡°They think that flag will save them from me,¡± Emma said, her eyes red with black rings under them. Jake found it strange that she could get so tired, but then he realized it might be mental exhaustion, something he didn''t know how to fix. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Emma, you can stay here if you want. I will go deal with this,¡± Jake offered. ¡°No, boss, I will accompany you,¡± Emma replied. ¡°Okay, if you are certain about it, I won''t stop you. Just keep yourself safe.¡± ¡°Eric and Kiki, you''re with me,¡± Emma ordered as the group of four left toward the edge of the barrier. A minute later, the group of four was standing in front of the government officials. ¡°What brings you to my front door today?¡± Jake said in a snarky tone. ¡°As a representative of the Australian government, we require all humans to serve in the armed forces. You have been drafted by the Australian government. Here is your notice. Report to the nearest city for training.¡± Jake just stood there, looking at the man. ¡°Are you for real? You couldn''t force your way in, so you try this crap? Just fuck off.¡± ¡°We are in uncertain times; us humans must stick together,¡± the man said, looking sideways at the beastmen. ¡°Like I said, fuck right off, you piece of crap. I will not support your racist agenda.¡± ¡°You are an Australian citizen; you don''t have a choice. Just do as you''re told like a good boy already.¡± ¡°As you have come under a white flag, I will let that comment slide once. But if you test me any further, you will die here.¡± ¡°It seems negotiations have broken down. Shall we kill them, boss?¡± Emma asked. ¡°A bitch like you thinks she can talk her¨C¡± ¡°Shut the fuck up. If you open your mouth again, I will let her kill you. Have I made myself clear? You are not in control here; I am. This is my land, and I am not a human. As it stands, I don''t care if this planet burns.¡± Jake said, turning into his demon form, scaring the government officials. ¡°Go back to where you came from and tell the ones in charge that I will be accepting any refugees as long as they have no ill intent towards us. Also, tell them that if they attack me or my people again, the full force of the Demon''s Hand Mercenary Group will wipe them out of existence. Tell them, or who cares, they''re not going to listen. Just fuck off out of my land. I am setting in place a 10 km exclusion zone around my territory. If we see any of your government forces in that zone, we will kill them on sight. You have two hours to exit the exclusion zone, or you will die. Emma, get the hunters ready.¡± ¡°Yes, boss,¡± Emma replied, leaving with a smile on her face. Five minutes later, Jake entered the barrier and found Emma. ¡°Do you think I oversold it?¡± he asked. ¡°No, that was funny. But I don''t think they will leave,¡± Emma replied. ¡°Do we have anyone capable enough in stealth to follow them?¡± Jake inquired. ¡°Sadly no, I can give it a try if you want,¡± Emma offered. ¡°No, I will go. You go tell the two council members that I will be leaving for a bit, and they are to keep the defenses up on full alert no matter what happens.¡± Jake left through the barrier and teleported into the nearest shadow. After five teleports, he decided to revert to using his original method of moving through shadows. The mana required to teleport was high, but Jake could handle it. It was the sickening feeling he got each time he used it, it felt as if his body was being ripped apart atom by atom. Jake just couldn''t handle it for any longer. It''s not like he wouldn''t use it, but he really didn''t want to use it. After some time, Jake had gotten within range of the camp the government was using as a staging point. It appeared that the earlier battle had wiped out almost all of the fighters, but Jake hadn''t gained any levels from those killed by the barrier. The camp now had a total of ten fighters and the five government officials, making fifteen people left. Jake teleported into the camp in the shadows of the largest tent and started listening to the conversations inside. ¡°That brat thinks he can refuse us and even demands that we stay 10 km away from what he called his territory. That''s bullshit. This land all belongs to us, the Australian government, not some upstart who thinks he''s a demon. What a load of crap,¡± one person said. ¡°We just need to get him away from that barrier. I bet he just figured out how to use it, and if he can, I''m sure we can,¡± another suggested. ¡°Just kill him. That''s the way to deal with these kinds of people, after all. The universal system hasn''t changed the fundamentals of ruling over these stupid idiots,¡± another chimed in. ¡°What if he''s not bluffing? We are getting really close to his deadline for leaving,¡± someone else pointed out. ¡°Mike, shut up. We already know what you used to do before the system bullshit came. You are and will always be a low-life piece of crap. How did you even get this job? Oh, yeah, you sold your body to that bitch who was in charge of the enforcers before this bullshit. Just stay in your corner and let the grown-ups handle this.¡± Jake sat there, listening to them argue until their time ran out. ¡°Your time is up,¡± Jake said in a deadpan tone. Jake decided to start it off by telling them the time before teleporting away. The people in the tent started to panic as they ran outside, screaming at the guards. To Jake''s surprise, one of them was still in the tent. Curiosity got the better of him, so he teleported back into the tent, where he found a man in his thirties holding his head in his hands, mumbling to himself. ¡°Alright, my dude, there is something fucking wrong with you. And that''s coming from a man that the system keeps telling to seek mental help,¡± Jake remarked. The man didn''t even look up as he said, ¡°Just finish me off already.¡± Jake just looked at the guy. ¡°Okay, as I have said before, Freedom will take any refugees,¡± Jake said before teleporting back out of the tent and into the shadow of a tree. ¡°It''s time to start.¡± Jake looked down on the camp and picked his first target, an old man trying to escape from the mess he created. Chapter 27 getting things in motion The old man had just reached the tree line when Jake popped out of the shadows in his demon form, grabbing the man by his shirt to ensure he could yell as loud as he could. Before Jake ripped out his heart, he lay it and the old man on the ground before teleporting away. A group of enforcers and officials ran over to the scream, but all they found was their dead comrade. As two more screams rang out, one enforcer yelled, ¡°Stay in groups, don¡¯t move around alone.¡± From the shadows beside the man, a hand grabbed his throat and ripped the man¡¯s jugular out, along with the rest of his throat, before teleporting away once more. ¡°Stay away from the shadows; the demon uses them to move around.¡± As the group huddled together, one of them made a break for it and bolted. Jake stepped out from the shadow and struck at the man¡¯s neck, blood splattering everywhere as Jake looked directly at the survivors and smiled. The group stood there for five minutes until one of them found the motivation to move. He moved out from the group, walking past the position where the last person died, and continued out of sight of the others, only for the others to hear his mournful crying as his life became one with the soil. After another five minutes passed with nothing happening, another survivor spoke up and said, ¡°We can¡¯t just stay here and let ourselves be picked off one by one.¡± There is no way he can take us all out with his powers. He seems to be the assassin type, so we will be fine if we just push through together.¡± The group moved as one until they reached the point where the last man had died. His body hung from the trees, with his hands holding his ripped-off head and a hole in his chest where his heart had been. ¡°This man is a demon; he has no morality at all.¡± ¡°How could someone do this to a fellow human?¡± The group felt shaken by Jake¡¯s callous behaviour, but the old men from the government were determined to ensure their own survival, even if it resulted in the deaths of those around them. The group moved forward at the command of one of the old men. That man stood in the middle of the group, theorizing that being in the centre of the group gave him the best chance of survival. Jake thrust a dagger through the man¡¯s back as his shadow came to life. When the others looked around to see what had happened, all that was there was the old man and a dagger in the centre of his back with a note attached to it. One of the younger enforcers picked up the note. He opened it, as everyone else was just looking at him. The man¡¯s face went white. ¡°Well, what does it say?¡± The young enforcer dropped the note and ran. The others tried to stop him, but he slipped through their grasp. ¡°Where are you going? You¡¯re just playing into his han¨C¡± Bang! The young man looked back in the direction he came from, and what he saw scared him to the core. Standing in his demon form, with a roaring flame behind him, was the demon, in the location where the young man¡¯s comrades used to be. The demon¡¯s mouth moved as if mouthing the word ¡°run.¡± The young boy took off running as fast as his little human legs could carry him. Jake let the man go to send a message to the government not to mess with him. After the young man left, Jake emptied his stomach, which was a surprise to Jake as his stomach shouldn¡¯t have anything in it. What was worse was that the colour of the vomit was bright blue. ¡°I don¡¯t like this; I really don¡¯t like this,¡± Jake said before more vomit bubbled in his throat. After some time, Jake regained control of his bodily functions and walked back to where the largest tent stood. Jake pushed open the flap to see if the man was still there and if he wanted to return with him to freedom. ¡°Oh, he¡¯s gone. Oh well, that¡¯s his choice.¡± Jake left the camp and started heading back to the settlement. It was taking a longer time to return than it did to get there, as Jake refused to use his teleporting skill. About 1 km away from the settlement of Freedom, Jake was hiding in the bushland. In front of him was a group of humans and humanoids, talking about how to enter the new safe zone. They wanted to enter, but there were people outside the barrier telling any of the new arrivals that they weren¡¯t taking in anyone until their leader returned from his hunt or something. Jake listened for a while before he decided to show himself. Jake walked up to the group and asked where everyone came from. ¡°What¡¯s it to you, stranger?¡± one human said, trying to peek under Jake¡¯s hood to see if he was human or not. Seeing this, Jake pulled back his hood, revealing his human form. ¡°That¡¯s not what I would call a welcoming encounter,¡± Jake said. ¡°Why should I welcome you? You are just some fool, like the rest of them. You just want a safe place to live,¡± the human retorted. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°Well, if I just want a safe place to live, what do you want by coming to this safe zone?¡± ¡°I came here to reclaim this land for the humans.¡± ¡°So if you were in charge of this safe zone, what would you do with the beast folk that are living there?¡± ¡°Well, those who don¡¯t serve humanity shouldn¡¯t have a place in the safe zone. Of course, I would offer them first, as free manpower is always welcome.¡± ¡°So you would turn them into slaves, then?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m not a slaver. I would offer them to work for us and pay them in a place to live and safety under humanity¡¯s rule.¡± Jake turned to the group and, without hesitation, said, ¡°Eric and Kiki, come out.¡± The dog and cat pair jumped out of their hiding spot and landed on either side of Jake, speaking in unison. ¡°At your command, boss.¡± The crowd looked shaken. Even those who had high prosecution didn¡¯t even notice that the two beast folk were there. Jake said to them, ¡°You heard what this man said. Would you agree to him taking command of the safe zone?¡± The man was hopeful, for some strange reason. As he said, his voice infused with mana, ¡°You will agree with me.¡± A wave of mana swept over the group. Jake instantly pushed out his mana as he felt the stranger¡¯s mana enter his body. Jake¡¯s mana washed over the crowd, pushing back the man¡¯s attempt at influencing the answer with his power. ¡°If you try that again, you will die,¡± Jake said. ¡°What are you accusing me of? There is no proof of anything. All I did was say five words, then you attacked us all with your mana. Why would you need to blast us all with your mana? Were you trying to force those two behind you to go along with what you want?¡± the man retorted. ¡°As you have influenced those two servants behind you, maybe we should just enter the safe zone and ask what they think about it, and this time, don¡¯t try to trick us.¡± Jake just looked at the man and said with a smile, ¡°If you want to enter the safe zone, go right ahead. Maybe you will do better than the government did.¡± Jake stretched his arm out and pointed at the barrier. Then he said to Kiki, to go get Emma. The man didn¡¯t hear what he said to Kiki as he was more focused on his goal. He just wanted to get inside, then he could use his skills to take over the people inside and finally have the power back, like what he had before the system happened. He walked into the barrier, followed by most of the humans. Around five of the humans stayed behind, not wanting to follow the man. ¡°So, did you not want to follow him to his death?¡± Jake said. The group of humans shook their heads. ¡°So, do you agree with his statements that humans are the only race that matters?¡± ¡°The man is an idiot. In the system, the only thing that matters is strength, and he didn¡¯t even check your level.¡± ¡°I see. So what if I said I was a demon?¡± ¡°That wouldn¡¯t matter to us,¡± the group said, including the beast folk. ¡°Okidoki, you are welcome to enter my territory. There are rules that will be told to you by the person who will arrive soon. If you follow those rules, you will be safe inside the barrier. But I will warn you now, if you are hostile towards anyone in the barrier, you will activate the defence system, and that is not the way you want to die.¡± Emma arrived a second later. ¡°Emma, can you take these people through the barrier and inform them of the rules?¡± Jake turned back to the group and said, ¡°If you are looking for work, we are recruiting people into the Demon¡¯s Hand Mercenary Group. Just speak to Emma or these two nice people here.¡± Jake pointed at Eric and Kiki before he left to tell the two council members that they will have more refugees to support and to give them a promotion to add employees to the council if they need to. They just need to compensate the workers. Inside the meeting hall, the two old council members stopped Jake before he left to ask him a question. ¡°What is the plan with the new arrivals, and if we are going to have humans in the safe zone, would it be wise to have a human in the council as a member? Our choice would be Emma.¡± ¡°It can¡¯t be Emma as the human representative. But if she wants to join the council as my representative, I will allow her to do that. As for the human representative, I will go talk to them and get them to pick amongst themselves. I might even speak to Emma about you.¡± ¡°Thank you; we will await our new colleagues.¡± Jake walked out of the meeting hall and had a look around at the growing settlement. There were now streets and log cabins instead of tents. He poked his head back in the hall and said, ¡°Make sure they don¡¯t build in the area surrounding the old army camp. I plan on using that area for myself. And send some people out to look for metal for me to use.¡± Then he went to find Emma. After looking around for longer than he would admit, Jake asked one of the beast folk for help to find her. Surprisingly, she was only five buildings down from the meeting hall. The building was maybe three-quarters the size of the meeting hall and was full of people. Jake walked in and headed towards the outer area where there was a young cat girl serving the customers. ¡°Do you know where Emma is?¡± Jake asked the young girl. ¡°Yes, boss, she is upstairs in the meeting room.¡± Jake then asked the cat girl, ¡°Who are all these people, and what is this building used for?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know? This is the main building of your Demon¡¯s Hand Mercenary Group, and these people are new members. We¡¯re actually just waiting on approval for the design for the membership badge; that is what Lady Emma is working on right now.¡± After talking to the rather talkative young girl named Isla and getting a rundown on the happenings around the settlement, Jake went up to the meeting room that he was told about. In addition, he spotted a second door at the end of the hall with a sign that read ¡°director¡¯s office,¡± and another door on the other side of the hall with a sign that showed it was the ¡°testing staff room.¡± ¡°He left you to do all the work again, Emma. Why do you let him dump all this work on you?¡± Jake was thinking to himself, ¡°I don¡¯t remember telling Emma to do anything for me except help the people that just arrived. Have I been taking advantage of her somehow?¡± Jake pushed the door open and walked in. Emma was sitting behind a desk with a stack of paper in front of her and her face buried in them. The lady that was talking to Emma, a dog folk Jake hadn¡¯t seen before, turned around and, without batting an eye, said, ¡°Boss, welcome to the new jobs hall. Do you like i Chapter 28 stat building begins maybe ¡°It¡¯s more than I could wish for. Now, who are you, might I ask?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Rood, but fear. I¡¯m the one who made the designs for all the new buildings. It¡¯s my profession, after all.¡± ¡°Thank you for that, but what exactly is your name? I don¡¯t want to keep thinking of you as the cute little dog girl.¡± ¡°Thank you for calling me cute. I¡¯m almost thinking of not telling you my name just so you¨C¡± ¡°Her name is Ann, and yes, she does talk a lot.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not nice, Emma. I was just having a bit of fun.¡± ¡°You were being an idiot.¡± ¡°Now that we have reached an agreement, there are a few more things I need to burden you with.¡± The first is a question I was asked. Would you like to be part of the council as a representative for me? Second, do you have an idea on which of the new human members would be a good pick to join the council? And the last one, I think I may have forgotten more things. But what is with all the people downstairs? ¡°They¡¯re prospective members of the Demon¡¯s Hand Mercenary Group. And yes, I will join the council. You need a voice there. As for the last one, no, I have no idea. I have a problem with a few things here that I need your help with, though. First, you need someone to run this branch. Second, I need your approval for the badge design. And third, we need to find them jobs to do.¡± ¡°Well, the third one is relatively easy to do. There should be a stockpile of weapons in storage. Use them as payment and make job postings for settlement defence, monster hunting, and resource gathering. After making those postings, don¡¯t forget to leave a note for the next person to assign tasks to the members. Once the members get stronger, send them out to spread the word that the Demon¡¯s Hand Mercenary Group is looking for work, and the payment will be in whatever material gains the client can afford. We don¡¯t work for free, but we aren¡¯t here to rip people off. Now, for the second, I approve, Jake. Finally, for the first one, that¡¯s a tricky one. I¡¯m going to have to ask you: who is the strongest in the settlement other than yourself and me, and who is most politically minded?¡± ¡°Eric is probably the strongest, and Kiki has a good mind for politics.¡± ¡°Then there it is. From now on, I want two people to run a branch: one with the power to stop trouble fast, and one with the knowledge on how to stay out of trouble. Done. What¡¯s next? Oh yeah, I need to find someone for the council.¡± As he said that, a notification popped up in front of Emma, asking her to be part of the council. Jake left just before she accepted. ¡°Bloody hell, so that¡¯s why.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Emma showed the bonuses the settlement gets and what she will get for doing her job, not to mention, as the job request came from Jake himself, her profession will be increasing.¡± ¡°That¡¯s too good to pass up. Can you ask him if I can be a part of the council, too?¡± Jake had left the building and was heading down the street when he heard a voice he couldn¡¯t forget. It was a man that tried to kill him once. Jake turned the corner to see Matt helping out with manual labour. ¡°What are you doing here, and where is Jess?¡± ¡°I¡¯m here, and we¡¯re here because it¡¯s safe, nothing more.¡± ¡°Well, as the rules state, as long as you are not here to cause trouble, you can stay. Actually, you two could be a good pick to even out the council. First, I need to know, would you stand up for the humans in this settlement so that they wouldn¡¯t get mistreated by the other races? And would you stand your ground if I wanted something done that would harm the citizens of the settlement?¡± Matt and Jess looked at Jake like he had grown a second head or something. ¡°Yes, we would. But what has all this got to do with us?¡± A notification popped up when Jake said, ¡°Will you accept?¡± The two were stunned even more so when they accepted the offer. As Jake smiled and went to leave. ¡°We¡¯re sorry for what we did to you in the tutorial.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid. You both meant what you did back then. We¡¯re not friends, and we never will be. Regarding offering you this job, well, other than my desire to make the politics in the settlement fair, I simply can¡¯t find the motivation to do it myself. Jake walked back to the meeting hall, telling the two old council members about their new members and that they would most likely go against anything Jake wants, so it would be best if the two of them and the two humans do the governing of the settlement and only use Emma if there is a tie in the votes. After telling them all that, Jake decided to go hunting to see if he could gain some levels, as killing all those people only gave him one class level. ¡°Taking on those humans was just too easy for me, I guess.¡± Jake was creeping through the bushland, looking for an adequate target for his tests. Jake had felt ever since his class evolution that he had cheated by using the safe zone to pass the quest, so this hunting journey¡¯s goal was to defeat a monster ten levels above his own. So Jake was looking for targets with ranks higher than his to fight and leaving the rest for the mercenaries. Jake passed off a large group of level 90 birds, as going up against something that could fly seemed like a bad time. Jake continued with his hunt as he dashed from shadow to shadow. Two hours went by without Jake finding anything of note. Jake sat down as he had enough of randomly searching for prey. Clearly, Jake was no hunter, but he couldn¡¯t go back empty-handed now, could he? So Jake sat there as he thought over everything he knew about hunting from when he was younger. Back then, Adam was the one that tracked the prey, not Jake. So Jake thought about the actions that Adam took. ¡°I remembered him checking the ground for footprints in the soft undergrowth as well as broken branches and rub marks on the trees. And once he found what he was looking for, he would use the terrain to his advantage. Instead of walking through the valley, he would take the Ridge line or something, making sure the wind was blowing in his face the whole time.¡± Jake put what he had remembered into practice. Slowly and methodically looking for tracks left by animals. Once he started looking, Jake noticed that many different animals had passed through this area. Jake caught on to one that looked familiar to him and started following as he looked for fresh signs. As Jake continued, he heard it: a deep chest-rattling honk. It was a deer, and to Jake¡¯s dismay, it had spotted him. But what really surprised Jake was the notifications he got. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. New skill Hunter¡¯s eye (common) A hunter must be able to find their prey. Illuminate the pathway to your target. uses mana to enhance your eyesight and your perception stat to find your prey. After Jake got this new skill, he realised something that he had been doing that was severely hindering his fighting potential. Jake simply had too many skills to use them all he needed to find a way to combine them or expand his ability to remember things. Which he had never been good at from the start. Deciding on what he had to do, Jake sat down and brought up his skill list. System skills skill (Universal translate. Common) as newly integrated, you were given the skill to understand the language of all humanoid life forms. skill (Identify. Common) the ability to identify basic information on objects and other life forms. skill Hunter¡¯s eye (common) A hunter must be able to find their prey. Illuminate the pathway to your target. uses mana to enhance your eyesight and your perception stat to find your prey. Profession skills skill (Arcane hammer rare) Use your Arcane energy to reshape items skill (Arcane flame rare) An explosive flame contained within a mana barrier. skill (small mana shield common) You can produce a small physical shield of mana anywhere on your body skill (empty-minded common) Enter a state of meditation to help regenerate lost stats and help split your focus on multiple tasks class skills skill teleporting shadow (common) Teleport from shadow to shadow. Shadows must be in visual range. Will cost mana to use. skill (Bezerka form common) Once activated, you will enter a state of mindlessness. Only the death of your enemy is your concern. skill (Fighter¡¯s sight common) Your enemy will cower at your sight. Cost of use health points in proportion to the targeted enemy. skill (rebirth of the exploding body unique) Will passively heal the user. Stamina is converted into temporary units of integrity to provide healing at a 100 to 1 ratio. Warning the system recognises that you have a tendency for self-harm. The system recommends you seek medical advice. skill (Shadow strike. Common) upgraded To strike from the shadows is your business. Gives 5% to damage if the target is unaware of your attack < (path of shadows rear) you hide in the shadows and strike fast cost of use, arcane energy and stamina. Create a barrier around yourself to hinder vision and dash from shadow to shadow. Gives 5% to damage if the target is unaware of your attack. Skill (Steady aim. common) this is a basic trooper skill that gives a passive stat boost of 5 to agility strength and perception. skill (Summon projectile. common) as a mage, you can use mana to summon projectiles. Note that the summon projectile does not include any ability to launch the projector. The mana cost is determined by the projectile size. skill (Transmute powder. Common) requires a pre-existing object to be turned into powder before transmuting can commence. Transmuting the powder requires knowledge of what you wish to transmute into. The mana cost is determined by the quantity of powder being transmuted and the rarity of the power. Arcane skills skill (Arcane bomb uncommon) A bomb of arcane energy. destruction output is equal to the amount of energy put in. Warning in this form: the bomb can not be thrown, so the same destructive force will impact the user. Skill (Arcane boost Rare) Provides a powerful boost to your physical body. Uses Arcane energy to keep operating. A backlash will occur when deactivated. skill (Arcane Time dilation Unique) Slows time in the localised area around the caster this skill will only activate in times of the caster¡¯s greatest need. A backlash will occur when the skill deactivates. Jake came up with a list of skills he could merge as they seemed to complement each other well. Jake thought that combining Hunter¡¯s eye (common) with Fighter¡¯s sight (common) was the obvious choice because he wasn¡¯t much of a hunter. He hoped that his target would be frozen in fear by the word ¡°cower¡±. But if it made them flee, that would be a pain, but the risk was worth it. path of shadows (rear) with teleporting shadow (common) this one was hard for Jake to come to terms with as Jake really didn¡¯t like the effect teleporting had on him but the outcome of not combining them would mean Jake would lose the bonuses from path of shadows if he kept using teleporting shadow. Arcane boost (Rare) with Arcane Time dilation (Unique) and Bezerka form (common) the last one was a combination of skills that Jake didn¡¯t want to use because of the side effects so his theory was if he combined the two arcane boost and Bezerka form with a skill like arcane time dilation it would activate by itself only when he needed it the most. This Jake could live with. After figuring out what he was going to combine, Jake had one more thing to do with his skills and that was to make a note to activate. skill (rebirth of the exploding body unique) Will passively heal the user. Stamina is converted into temporary units of integrity to provide healing at a 100 to 1 ratio. Warning the system recognises that you have a tendency for self-harm. The system recommends you seek medical advice. Any time he was entering combat as not activating it would be a waste. ¡°I wish it would remove the word passively as it gives the constitution that the skill is passive, which I misunderstood even when the system was trying to help explain it. The skill is not passive, but rather, once activated, it works without my input, so yes, I guess it can be considered passive. ¡°As for the 100 to 1 the live test told me the answer to that 100 stamina to 1 integrity. This with the current conversation into health points, 100 stamina would be 10 health not a great conversation but enough to keep a person alive.¡± Chapter 29 special attack vomit star It had taken Jake a month to combine the skills Arcane Boost (Rare), Arcane Time Dilation (Unique), and Berserker Form (Common). To do this, Jake had found a lot of low-rank monsters and used them to get used to his skills. Once he had a good grasp of them, he focused on the direction he wished them to merge, and after hundreds of failed attempts, it finally happened. Skill Upgrade: Boosted Arcane Berserker of Time (Epic) Time belongs to no one; slow time in a localised zone outside of your body. As time is slowed outside, the time inside has been increased, boosting your reaction speed as your mind focuses on destroying your enemies. The skill will only activate in times of the caster¡¯s greatest need. A backlash will occur when the skill deactivates. The maximum time the skill can be active for is 20 seconds before complete atomic breakdown of the caster¡¯s body will begin. ¡°That worked out better than I expected, and it meets all my expectations. Not bad.¡± Jake took a break for a day, just sitting back and going through his notifications that he had put off while he was working on his skills. Ding! Class level increased +4200 Ding! Grade level increased +360 ¡°In one month of fighting low-rank monsters, I got four grade levels. I really need to fight stronger monsters so I can get the joy of the numbers climbing again.¡± Jake got up, and instead of going after the weak enemies he had been fighting, he used his Hunter¡¯s Eye to find a new group of monsters, ones that didn¡¯t scare easily, as Jake was now ready to work on combining both skill combinations: Hunter¡¯s Eye (Common) with Fighter¡¯s Sight (Common) and Path of Shadows (Rear) with Teleporting Shadow (Common). Jake found a group of twenty-three level 99 drop bears. They were at least one and a half meters tall, and their claws could rip apart trees, while their teeth were more like those of dogs. ¡°This might be a bad idea, but let¡¯s give it a try.¡± Jake shadow teleported behind one of the drop bears and stabbed it before dashing to the next shadow, waiting in the shadow for the right moment. Jake activated Fighter¡¯s Sight on another drop bear before shadow teleporting away, then dashing in behind another drop bear, firing 30 rounds into the back of its head before once again shadow teleporting away and waiting. ¡°That could work if everything goes right, but it¡¯s going to take a lot more monsters than what we have here.¡± Activating Fighter¡¯s Sight on the one he just shot, Jake caused it to start fleeing. Jake finally started to worry about his plan. If the skill made them run, that would destroy his plan. Jake needed to perform more testing, so he continued his harassment of the group of drop bears. He continued his harassment on and off for two weeks before he had run out of targets in the area, so Jake moved deeper into the Strzelecki Ranges, finding more drop bears and many snake monsters, even a few spiders. One and a half months later, Jake was standing in front of a gloomy cave. Jake looked over his gains from the fighting so far. Ding! Class level increased +16,800 Ding! Grade level increased +1440 ¡°240 class levels and 16 grade levels; that is much better than the last time. Now, do I enter or not?¡± Jake was looking at the entrance where the fresh tracks of a very large monster had entered, and by the looks of it, it was a monster in the form of a blue-tongue lizard. Jake had a feeling if he entered this cave, he wouldn¡¯t be coming out again. ¡°Maybe I will come back to this one.¡± Jake went to walk away, but a sound brought his attention back to the entrance; it sounded human but with a slight hiss at the end. It repeated once more. ¡°Help me, please.¡± It was definitely male, but of an unknown age. Jake looked into the darkness. ¡°How do I hide in shadows or teleport if there are no shadows? There¡¯s no light in there.¡± ¡°Help me, please.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can. Oh, fuck it.¡± Jake walked into the cave; using his perception, he knew what was around him by a strange sixth sense type of thing, but he couldn¡¯t see any further than the length of his arm. While walking through the cave, Jake rubbed his hand along the walls. While venturing further into the cave, Jake was unexpectedly struck in the face by a large flat-headed lizard with a flicking blue tongue. Jake looked around for the sound that brought him in, but there was nothing, no one but Jake and the lizard. Jake froze as he identified the lizard. Race: Blue Tongue Lizard (Evolved) Level: ??? ¡°Fuck my curiosity,¡± Jake said as the lizard chuckled. ¡°You humans are so stupid, falling for the same trick every time. ¡®Oh, help me, please, help me.¡¯¡± The lizard said as one of its legs lashed out at Jake, hitting him against the cave wall. As his internal organs suffered severe damage, Jake pushed himself off the ground, coughing up blood. Checking his skill, Jake changed forms and moved to attack the lizard. The lizard just laughed at his feeble attempt at harming him; the lizard simply swatted Jake away as if he were an irritating fly. Jake picked himself up from the ground, his chest cavity dented in, as he grasped for oxygen. Looking back at the exit, it seemed so far away but yet so close and just out of reach. Jake pushed himself up and with a coughing fit said, ¡°see you later, big guy.¡± Jake raised his arm into the sky, and with a loud explosion from the skill Arcane Bomb, he lit up the cave and dashed towards the exit. Jake was almost at the exit when he felt it; pain ripped through his lower body as he started falling to the ground, no longer having the legs he once had; there was a loud crunching sound coming from behind him as he hit the ground right at the exit. ¡°Don¡¯t run anymore. Oh, wait, you can¡¯t.¡± The lizard said as he laughed hysterically. The lizard¡¯s mouth was right over Jake¡¯s head, just about to snap shut, when Jake vanished from beneath him. ¡°Where did you go, little human?¡± The lizard started roaring. Jake fell out of the tree¡¯s canopy; it was the longest shadow teleport Jake has ever done. He hit the ground hard, fainting upon impact. Days passed into night; Jake lay there on the ground, his limbs slowly growing back as his stamina was dropping, and rebirth of the exploding body slowly brought Jake back from the edge of death. A group of monkeys came down from the heights of their trees and sat by Jake¡¯s side. If Jake had been awake, he would have realised what the monkeys were doing to him as his body healed from the powers being used on him by the monkeys. Every 5 minutes, a new monkey would take the place of one of the others, then it would do one of three things: heal Jake¡¯s injuries, provide Jake with a stream of Stamina, or reduce the pain Jake was in. After six and a half months of constant vigil over Jake, the monkeys stopped what they had been doing and climbed back up the tree just as Jake regained consciousness. Jake awoke to notifications blaring in his head. Warning: Stamina critically low Warning: External forces have infused you with Stamina Warning: External forces have imbued your body with the skill Calming Wave Warning: External forces have imbued your body with the skill Healing Hands Because of the continued external assistance, your body has undergone a fundamental change. Title: The Monkey that Fights. You were noticed by the Monkey King and given the abilities to continue on your path. As a defender of the weak and lost, you gain the skills Stamina Drain, Healing Hands, and Calming Finger. Skill: Stamina Drain (Rare) Drain the residual life force of your fallen enemies and convert it into Stamina. This skill will activate automatically on the death of your enemy. Limited to enemies you kill. Skill: Healing Hands (Common) Place your hand on a wound to seal the affected area. Cost of use: mana. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Skill: Calming Finger (Common) Press a finger on your target to numb the senses in a limited area. Cost of use: mana. A voice spoke into Jake¡¯s mind, ¡°this is a gift for helping my monkey tribe, by defeating our sworn enemy. Thank you, Jake Everval.¡± The voice said before silence once more entered his mind. Jake sat at the bottom of the tree, deactivating his skills and activating the skill Empty-Minded as he started working on combining his skills. Time passed by, as Jake worked tirelessly on his skills. Just as three months passed, Jake received two notifications. Skill Upgrade: Fighter¡¯s Eyes (Rare) Your enemy will cower at your sight. Illuminate the pathway to your target. Uses mana to enhance your eyesight and your perception stat to find your prey. Uses a burst of mana to attempt to immobilize your target; there is a 50% chance the target will run. ¡°It¡¯s taken away the bit about using my health points to work, and 50% I¡¯m happy with that.¡± Skill Upgrade: Shadow Step (Rare) Teleporting from shadow to shadow is as easy as taking a single step. Shadows must be in visual range. Cost of use: arcane energy, stamina, and mana. Create a barrier around yourself to hinder vision and dash or teleport from shadow to shadow. Gives a 10% damage multiplier to all unseen attacks. ¡°It¡¯s good I can still use dash to get around; I was getting worried that I would be stuck with just teleporting from shadow to shadow. Imagine that, special attack vomit star,¡± Jake said as he pulled back an imaginary slingshot. When he let go of his imaginary projectile, to his astonishment, a small round ball of pure destructive Arcane energy shot out of his hand, tearing off into the sky. ¡°I really hope that doesn¡¯t hit anyone.¡± Jake wanted to test out his new skills, but with no suitable targets around after his killing spree, and Jake would not attack his new friends or that lizard. That lizard can just stay there and wait for Jake¡¯s return. Jake looked up at the tree¡¯s crown and, with a gesture of thanks, he said, ¡°if you ever need a place to stay, you are all welcome to come to my settlement in the new safe zone.¡± Jake stepped into the shadows and was gone in an instant, teleporting from shadow to shadow as he bounded his way closer to the settlement. After a day of teleporting, Jake couldn¡¯t take it anymore and vomited just as he exited from his last teleport. The speed of his exit made it so the vomit covered him from head to toe. With all three energies depleted, Jake lay on the ground, coughing up vomit and blood. Jake dragged himself out of his vomit one inch at a time as he moved towards his target, a small waterfall with rock pools at the bottom. Jake slipped into the pool, stripping off his clothing as he began taking his first proper bath in over two years. Though Jake wasn¡¯t aware of how much time had passed as he was unconscious or he was single-mindedly working on his tasks, relaxing in the pool, Jake lost track of time. Stats and skills at the end of the chapter. Universal constant interface Name Jake everval Race demon of the past. Unique Grade G Information on G grade G upgrades to next grade at level 300 above previous, you get 1 grade level per 20 class or Profession level. This is the starting grade for all humanoid life forms in the open universe; there are no grade skills granted at this grade. Level 121. levels required till next grade evaluation 400 total Class trooper shadow mage (common) Class level 301 Profession Arcane Smith Profession level 128 stats points available 521,228 Mana 50,323,360 Arcane 50,423,500 Stamina 50,323,200 Health 50,633,360 Strength 1116 Agility 5,031,225 Intelligence 5,042,350 Wisdom 5,032,336 Perception 110,637 Integrity 5,063,336 Skill list System skills skill (Universal translate. Common) as newly integrated, you were given the skill to understand the language of all humanoid life forms. skill (Identify. Common) the ability to identify basic information on objects and other life forms. Profession skills skill (Arcane hammer rare) Use your Arcane energy to reshape items skill (Arcane flame rare) An explosive flame contained within a mana barrier. skill (small mana shield common) You can produce a small physical shield of mana anywhere on your body skill (empty-minded common) Enter a state of meditation to help regenerate lost stats and help split your focus on multiple tasks Healing skills Skill Stamina drain (rare) Drain the residual life force of your fallen enemies and convert it into Stamina. This skill will activate automatically on the death of your enemy. Limited to enemies you kill. Skill Healing hand (common) Place your hand on a wound to seal the affected area. Cost of use mana. Skill Calming finger (common) Press a finger on your target to numb the senses in a limited area. Cost of use mana skill (rebirth of the exploding body unique) Will passively heal the user. Stamina is converted into temporary units of integrity to provide healing at a 100 to 1 ratio. Warning the system recognises that you have a tendency for self-harm. The system recommends you seek medical advice. class skills Skill Fighter¡¯s eye¡¯s (rare) Your enemy will cower at your sight. Illuminate the pathway to your target. uses mana to enhance your eyesight and your perception stat to find your prey. Uses a burst of mana to attempt to immobilise your target. There is a 50% chance the target will run Skill Shadow step (rare) Teleporting from shadow to shadow is as easy as taking a single step. Shadows must be in visual range. Cost of use, arcane energy and stamina and mana. Create a barrier around yourself to hinder vision and dash or teleport from shadow to shadow. Gives a 10% damage multiplier to all unseen attacks. Skill (Steady aim. common) this is a basic trooper skill that gives a passive stat boost of 5 to agility strength and perception. skill (Summon projectile. common) as a mage, you can use mana to summon projectiles. Note that the summon projectile does not include any ability to launch the projector. The mana cost is determined by the projectile size. skill (Transmute powder. Common) requires a pre-existing object to be turned into powder before transmuting can commence. Transmuting the powder requires knowledge of what you wish to transmute into. The mana cost is determined by the quantity of powder being transmuted and the rarity of the power. Arcane skills Skill Boosted Arcane Berzerka of Time (epic) Time belongs to no one slow time in a localised zone outside of your body. As time is slowed outside inside, Time has been increased, boosting your reaction speed as your mind focuses on destroying your enemies. Skill will only activate in times of the caster¡¯s greatest need. A backlash will occur when the skill deactivates. Maximum time the skill can be active for is 20 seconds before complete atomic breakdown of the casters body will begin. skill (Arcane bomb uncommon) A bomb of arcane energy. destruction output is equal to the amount of energy put in. Warning in this form: the bomb can not be thrown, so the same destructive force will impact the user. Race skills Race upgrade demon of the past. Unique This is a unique race in the integrated universe. As such, the system has no information on its abilities Race skill Master of the lost (unique) Those who have lost their way in life can get a second chance. By following the demon of the past, they can find hope in what once was lost. Race skill (Voices of the past unique) Tap into the experience of those who have died. Chapter 30 couldnt take her eyes off of the man Somewhere within the Strzelecki Ranges, a group of new, unranked members of the Demon¡¯s Hand mercenary group were conducting a simple, open-ended job request that all new members must contribute to before being able to commence their progression through the fighting or official ranks. Within this group, there were two unranked officials and three unranked fighters. The group¡¯s job was to find minerals and other precious items. They were also to look for a suitable location to set up a mining site for future operations. The prize for finding an appropriate site would be a rank upgrade and a full set of weapons created by the demon himself. And for officials, it would be an offer of a junior rank level 1 official position in the Freedom Settlement Council. One official in the group was only a level 1 unranked official, and the other was a level 3 official. The other three members of the group were all level 3 unranked fighters; one of them was female. In her early 20s, she had long dark hair tied up into a bun. Her short and sturdy figure complemented the shape and form of her battle dress. The two men with her were identical twins, both with long blond hair and the looks of 80s surfers. Their skin was tan, smooth, and glistening in the sun¡¯s morning light. And then, finally, there were the two officials. They bore a resemblance to your average neckbeards in their looks. The group had taken this job now, as the territory they were heading to was supposed to have relatively high-level monsters, but the group would still be well within their safe leveling range, set up as a guideline for all new members of the mercenary group. ¡°I was told by one of the iron rank members that there was a rock pool in this direction.¡± ¡°We know that already, Lewis Walker.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not Lewis, I¡¯m Dave. He¡¯s Lewis. Why do you always get my name wrong, Mary?¡± Dave said as he pointed at his brother. ¡°I don¡¯t really care. It was your choice to come here, and it makes no sense. If our goal was to locate a mining site, why would we choose to go to a place that someone has already searched?¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be nice to have a wash? We¡¯ve been out here for a week now. What¡¯s your opinion about the situation? Do you two think we stink or what?¡± The two older gentlemen looked at each other, then back at the younger man. ¡°Yes, we stink. But I think we men should find a different place to wash downstream and let the young lady here have that place to herself. Don¡¯t you, Harrison?¡± ¡°Yes, Joel, I think you¡¯re right.¡± ¡°Fine, fine, I won¡¯t argue. We will go downstream.¡± The four men turned and left just before they reached the waterfall. Mary watched as the men left. She felt like she needed a wash after getting covered in mud from fighting that odd-looking bug monster that kept throwing stuff at them. ¡°Why did they even bother? I don¡¯t care if they washed in the same area. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m shy about my body or anything. It was probably an old man thing,¡± she said before moving to a rocky outcrop to get undressed. She started removing her clothing, folding them neatly and placing them on a rock outcropping before removing a towel from a storage ring she had got from the tutorial. Sadly, it was the only thing of worth she got from that whole tutorial, wrapping the towel around herself as she walked out onto the flat, dew-covered stones. Mist washed over her body as she entered the water and swam closer to the waterfall. She stopped instantly as she saw the shape of a man standing underneath one fall that was spreading off to the side. Staring at the man¡¯s outline as he washed his long hair and toned muscles, his collarbones slightly poking out, they gave definition to his model-like body. Mary couldn¡¯t take her eyes off of the man.
Jake ¡°If you¡¯re going to continue staring at me like that, I¡¯m going to get embarrassed,¡± Jake said as he continued washing himself underneath the waterfall. Mary snapped out of her daze and said with a grin, ¡°No, I think I will continue.¡± Jake smiled before giving a little chuckle as he replied, ¡°Thank you for the compliment.¡± Before exiting the waterfall and jumping down into the rock pool a meter below where the lady stood. ¡°Nice to meet you. I¡¯m Jake and you are?¡± ¡°Mary Jones, and it¡¯s nice to meet you too,¡± she said as she continued to look Jake up and down. ¡°Now, if you keep doing that, I¡¯m going to have to bring it up with the human resources department,¡± Jake said as he continued laughing. Mary went pale as she said, ¡°That¡¯s not fair. I wasn¡¯t doing anything that bad, was I? Please don¡¯t bring this up with Lady Kiki; she¡¯s a demon when it comes to... Oh, you¡¯re joking, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Wait, there¡¯s really an HR department. And did you say Kiki? You¡¯re talking about the cat girl, right?¡± ¡°Haha, you¡¯re a brave man calling Lady Kiki a girl. I have never seen someone so brave. I would really like to see you call her that to her face next time,¡± Mary said as she laughed. ¡°Oh really? I might just do that for you.¡± ¡°You really are crazy, aren¡¯t you? As you know of Kiki, you must be a member of the Demon¡¯s Hand mercenary group. May I ask what rank you are? When I identify you, I get a strange result.¡± ¡°I would rather keep my rank a secret for now. And you said you get a strange result. Can you show me the result you got?¡± Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Mary identified Jake and shared the results with him. Identify Race redacted, human Level ??? ¡°Interesting. What is your level?¡± ¡°Level 29, why do you ask?¡± ¡°Have you ever identified Kiki before?¡± ¡°No, that would be inappropriate, and would be against the rules of the settlement.¡± ¡°Well, if you did, you would know why that is. As for the redacted, well, your guess is as good as mine,¡± Jake lied. Obviously, the redacted was his actual race. ¡°So, I¡¯m done. I¡¯m heading back to the settlement soon. Where are you heading to?¡± ¡°Oh, why don¡¯t you stay for a bit longer? The least I can do is, well, you know.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that will be necessary,¡± Jake said as he started swimming towards the edge of the rock pool. Mary leaned over and grabbed hold of Jake¡¯s waist from behind, bringing him in closer to her warm and curvy body and kissing him on the cheek before saying in a soft voice, ¡°I really wouldn¡¯t mind if you stay,¡± before letting Jake go. Jake¡¯s face turned a slight shade of pink as a part of his body reacted on instinct. ¡°I would love to, is what I want to say, but we have guests to welcome,¡± Jake said before summoning his soulbound clothing onto his person and exiting the water, walking directly over to a bush and said in a deadpan tone, ¡°Come out before I kill you and feed you to the monsters.¡± Two young identical men left the bushes with their swords raised at Jake. Identify Race human Level 20 Race human Level 21 ¡°What the fuck, people actually use swords on Earth?¡± Jake laughed. ¡°What are you doing here? Are you trying to do something inappropriate to our teammate?¡± The man said, trying to make himself out to be the hero of this encounter by accusing Jake of reprehensible behaviour. Little did the man know, Jake is a demon and, in the eyes of most of the world, Jake is reprehensible and would be subject to summary execution on the grounds of just existing. ¡°Really? That¡¯s the way you¡¯re going to try and swing this,¡± Jake said. ¡°Really, the man that was clearly trying to take advantage of a pure young lady like Mary.¡± Mary was in the pool watching as her two idiot teammates tried to accuse Jake of being reprehensible when it was clearly them that were spying on her. What¡¯s worse, she had thought back on her team¡¯s previous missions and a pattern appeared. Every time there was a fight, she would somehow be the one that got the dirtiest out of the group, and then those two would have just the perfect place to have a wash in mind. Mary was getting angry at the thought of those two spying on her. It wasn¡¯t as though she cared if they bathed together. But those two boys didn¡¯t even have the guts to approach her; they just found as many ways as they could to see her naked, like they were just a bunch of teenage boys. Mary dashed out of the pool at full speed and, with a mana-infused kick, smashed through Dave¡¯s mana barrier and landed a foot right on his now flat nose. Her towel blew around her as it showed a slight glimpse of her inner thigh as she moved. Dave was rolling around on the ground, crying in pain. Mary looked over at his brother. ¡°If you ever try this again, I will do more than just break a nose or two.¡± Mary lunged at the young man just as he reacted, raising a hand to block his face from her inevitable kick. If only he had thought his actions through. Lewis Walker was rolling around on the ground, holding his groin with both hands. ¡°Why? Why did you attack us? We were just, ah-¡± Mary kicked the man in the stomach. ¡°Just shut up already. I know what you two have been doing. Do you really think I wouldn¡¯t notice your stupid tricks? Just don¡¯t do it again. Oh yeah, and I only like real men, not boys.¡± After some time of the two boys crying in pain, Jake and Mary were sitting on the water¡¯s edge, talking about a few locations they could check for a suitable spot to set up a mining site. She also told Jake that if they found an excellent site, its profits for a year would belong to them. Mary slipped back into the water again and looked back at Jake as she kicked her way back over to the waterfall, her chest slightly bulging out of her towel. She smiled as she jumped up to the ledge Jake was on earlier and washed her body, her towel falling off and floating to the centre of the rock pool.
The Neckbeards ¡°They did it again.¡± ¡°Yeah, I warned them last time that we wouldn¡¯t keep quiet about their behaviour anymore. This time I¡¯m going to Kiki; she can fix this problem.¡± ¡°That¡¯s for the best. It¡¯s a pity, though. I really liked this team. It would have been nice to stay with them for a bit longer. You know how hard it is for us to get into a team.¡± ¡°I know, but what¡¯s the other option? Let them continue until one day they get tired of just looking. You know as well as I do that is going to happen. They have the hormones of a bunch of teens. The best time to stop this is to do it now.¡± ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go tell Mary. She deserves to know what we¡¯re going to do once we get back.¡± Walking back up the river, the two men began their journey. The water was getting noisier the closer they got to the waterfall. The two men got to a clearing, and before they walked into it, one of them called out, ¡°Mary, it¡¯s us. Is it okay if we come and talk to you about something?¡± ¡°Yeah, come on over, and we can talk,¡± Mary said. The two men walked into the clearing and instantly noticed Mary wasn¡¯t alone. She was sitting next to a man, both of them still having wet hair, and they seemed to be talking about something funny, as Mary had a smile unlike the two of them had ever seen on her before. ¡°It seems you have met someone out here. Let us introduce ourselves.¡± The two old men introduced themselves to Jake, and Jake did the same back, leaving out some details. After that, the old men had a conversation with Mary. One of the two men looked at Mary and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. We tried to stop them, but we couldn¡¯t. So, we have decided to hand them over to the HR department to deal with. By the way, have you seen them?¡± Jake pointed at a tree, and the two boys tied up to its trunk lay. ¡°Good, you caught them. We should take them back to the settlement for their punishment.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no need to. They have had enough punishment for now, and they know what will happen if they try this crap again. But thank you for your concern.¡± Chapter 31 its teaching time It had been a day since the waterfall incident, and Jake decided to stay with the group to assess the competence of a group of unranked mercenaries and to guide them to the best locations he had mentioned to Mary. ¡°So, you say there is a good site about a day¡¯s walk from here, but didn¡¯t you say that yesterday it was only a day away?¡± Dave said with an irritating tone. ¡°On my way to the waterfall, I was using a skill that lets me move much quicker than you.¡± ¡°Mary, is he always like this?¡± ¡°Yeah, he just doesn¡¯t like you.¡± ¡°Okay, I can deal with that. He can just join a rather large club. He will have plenty of company there.¡± ¡°What the fuck are you two talking about now? And if you have such a skill, why don¡¯t you find the site¡¯s location by yourself? That makes little sense. Or is it that you don¡¯t have a rank because you couldn¡¯t even pass the entrance test?¡± ¡°You know, mate, you¡¯re getting on my nerves. Just shut the fuck up and do your job, Mr. Swords guy.¡± ¡°My name is Dave. Dave, already. Get it right.¡± ¡°Okay, Bob, don¡¯t blow your top. It¡¯s just a name.¡± Dave¡¯s face went as red as a beetroot as he yelled, ¡°I will fucken kill you!¡± and ran at Jake with his sword in his hand. Jake teleported behind the man, grabbing one of his arms and twisting it so hard that it broke in three places. Dave¡¯s brother, Lewis, started to move, but Jake just looked at him, and he froze in place. ¡°Teaching time for you idiots.¡± Basic rule:
  1. always use ¡®Identify,¡¯ no matter the circumstances.
  2. If your target¡¯s info comes back as a ¡®?¡¯, their true level is much higher than your own.
  3. Under no circumstances should you attack an enemy in single combat if you are unable to identify them.
¡°What do you know? You¡¯re just some arr¨C¡± Jake broke his other arm. ¡°Now let¡¯s continue.¡±
  1. When you attack an enemy above your level, do it as a team.
¡°And finally, for those of you who don¡¯t seem to be able to listen,¡± Jake stood in the centre of Dave¡¯s back, pulled his head back, and spoke directly into his ear,
  1. Don¡¯t telegraph your attacks. So, don¡¯t be a fuckhead.
Jake rammed Dave¡¯s head into the ground with just enough force to render him unconscious. As Dave lay unconscious, Jake was a nice person for once and helped by sealing the idiot¡¯s wounds on his arms with the skill Healing Hand, but stopped short of fixing his face. ¡°So, you¡¯re all going to do a bit of training now,¡± Jake said, then released his new hunting skill to find a target for the team. ¡°This way, follow me and keep quiet.¡± The group didn¡¯t say a word and followed Jake. Lewis picked up his brother as he followed behind the group. An hour later, Jake was crouching behind a bush, looking down at a monster he would never have bothered with at his current level, but this wasn¡¯t for him to fight. ¡°So, do you know what this one is?¡± Jake said to Lewis. ¡°No.¡± ¡°My fucken God, are you as stupid as your brother?¡± Jake looked at one of the neckbeards, ¡°Harrison Lopez, wasn¡¯t it. Do you know the answer I want?¡± Harrison identified the monster. Race: Rattling Level: 40 ¡°It¡¯s a level 40 Rattling. It¡¯s above the guideline¡¯s level for our ranks.¡± ¡°That it is, and yet you are going to kill it today.¡± ¡°But the chance of failure is too high. What if one of us dies?¡± ¡°Then one of you dies. The world has changed; you either change with it or get destroyed by it.¡± ¡°But me and Joel are only officials.¡± ¡°Correct again, but as officials, do you not need to protect yourselves?¡± ¡°Yes, we do.¡± ¡°Then it¡¯s time for you all to start working as a team and not as individuals. What are your profession, class, and skills?¡± Mary brought up her skills and showed them to the team. Class: Magical Fighter Profession: Builder¡¯s Apprentice Skills: Class: Mana-Infused Impact Light Weapons Fighter Mana-Boosted Speed Heavy Weapons Fighter Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Profession: Builder¡¯s Sight Mana Hammer Conjure Item The two neckbeards went next. Class: Light Trooper Profession: Tech Engineer Skills: Class: Steady Aim Hard Impact Transmute Powder Profession: Micro Sight System Coding Blueprinting Heated Hand The last to give his information was Lewis, as he did it only because Mary threatened him with a silent glance towards his genitals. ¡°Me and my brother have the same class, skills, and profession.¡± Class: Magic Knight Profession: Smith¡¯s Apprentice Skills: Class: Mana Barrier Swords of Justice Light Weapons Specialist Light Footwork Profession: Smith¡¯s Sight Muscle Mass Smithing Flame ¡°We¡¯ve told you ours; now it¡¯s your turn,¡± Lewis said in a snarky tone. ¡°I¡¯m not part of your team, and as such, I won¡¯t be taking part in your fights. But I can tell you one of my skills: you¡¯ve seen part of it in action already. It¡¯s called...¡± Skill: Shadow Step (Rare) Teleporting from shadow to shadow is as easy as taking a single step. Shadows must be in visual range. Cost of use: arcane energy, stamina, and mana. Create a barrier around yourself to hinder vision and dash or teleport from shadow to shadow. Gives a 10% damage multiplier to all unseen attacks. Unlike the group, Jake gave a full description of the skill, showing that he wasn¡¯t afraid of anyone here. ¡°Does that satisfy your curiosity? I might even give you one more; you know this one first hand.¡± Skill: Fighter¡¯s Eyes (Rare) Your enemy will cower at your sight. Illuminate the pathway to your target. Uses mana to enhance your eyesight and your perception stat to find your prey. Uses a burst of mana to attempt to immobilize your target; there is a 50% chance the target will run. Lewis¡¯s mouth dropped in shock. ¡°Yes. From the start, your chances were set - you had a 50% chance to either run like a chicken or freeze in place.¡± ¡°And these skills are not even my real combat skills, so if you want to keep acting like a spoiled little brat, I can just kill you. I really don¡¯t mind.¡± Lewis said nothing and just listened. ¡°Now, shall we get started on this fight? Quick question. How are you going to handle this monster?¡± The group talked amongst themselves for a bit. Then the four said, ¡°Mary and Lewis will attack the monster at close range while Harrison and Joel provide oversight for the fight and alert us if something goes wrong.¡± ¡°Shall I point out the stupidity of what you all just said, yes or no?¡± ¡°What was wrong with our plan?¡± Mary said. ¡°Well, let¡¯s see, cutting your power in half by leaving two people on the sideline while two close-range fighters attack alone.¡± ¡°But those two are only officials, and they don¡¯t have any ammunition to fire,¡± Lewis said. ¡°Are you a smith or not? Can you make projectiles or not?¡± ¡°I¡¯m an apprentice, not a smith.¡± ¡°Tell me, do you have the skill to make a flame and the strength to shape the metal? Hell, you even have the skill to create a barrier. So, the answer you should have said is yes. And as for removing them from the fight because they have no ammunition, well, can you make something like this?¡± Jake threw a simple flash bomb over to them; it was one of Jake¡¯s first attempts, severely lacking power, but it should be within the capabilities of the two light troopers. ¡°And as for you, Mary, you are lacking in weapon combos. You can use both light and heavy weapons, right? Try using different weapon types and combine them with your mana skills.¡± Jake handed over ammunition to the troopers, then said, ¡°Have another go at planning, then act on it. If it fails, you will die. I will not help you with this fight.¡± The group took Jake¡¯s words to heart and went over their group¡¯s makeup and skills, not leaving anything out. After an hour of talk, Jake finally asked, ¡°Do you have your plan?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± they all said. ¡°That¡¯s good. Just don¡¯t forget that your plan won¡¯t survive first contact, so be ready to improvise,¡± Jake said, before vanishing into the shadows. ¡°I am your hidden enemy, so be careful,¡± Jake laughed from the shadows. Jake watched from the shadows as the group of mercenaries got into position for their first strike on the rattling. Jake hoped it would at least survive for a bit. The mercenary group¡¯s first actual fight Mary waited for the opening salvo from the two troopers before it would be her turn to act. Her first job was to stun the enemy with the grenade Joel gave her. The surrounding area lit up as the two troopers fired their muskets at the enemy. She went to throw the bomb, but just as it was about to leave her hand, her legs buckled under her, and she hit the ground, the bomb falling and rolling toward her fellow close combatant. Bang! The grenade went off between the two, blinding them and removing their best advantage. ¡°What the fuck was that?¡± Lewis yelled, his hearing affected by the loud explosion. Mary yelled back, ¡°Watch the shadows! He can be anywhere.¡± The only ones in the group unaffected by the explosion were the troopers, and as they had fired their first round, they were working on loading their second. It seemed that their weapons lacked the ability to summon the powder and projectile straight into the chamber. Jake laughed and said from the shadows, ¡°Load faster; your teammates are going to die.¡± Just as the two troopers got their muskets loaded, they had to fire them again, as the rattling was just about on top of Mary¡¯s position. ¡°Faster, faster, faster,¡± Jake yelled from just behind the two troopers. After the third round, Mary and Lewis had regained their senses and closed in on the rattling from both sides. It was now time for Jake to make his next move. He teleported behind Lewis and kicked his legs out from under him; he hit the ground hard before rolling onto his side. Mary¡¯s first strike hit, but her second failed, and she took a claw to her stomach, sending her flying backward. Jake let them recover for a bit while the two troopers fired a few more times before he attacked them, knocking one out and sending the other flying. The gunfire went silent as the rattling began its charge at Lewis. This time, Lewis pulled out his sword and stood his ground, knowing that if he fell, everyone behind him would die as well. He activated the skill Mana Barrier and launched forward with the skill Light Footwork. Using his last two skills, a wall of replica swords formed in the air, and as he swung the sword in his hand, all the swords moved together, turning the poor little rattling into an echidna. The rattling dropped to the ground, dead, and Lewis dropped to his knees, resting on his sword. Jake popped out of a shadow behind Lewis and said, ¡°Good job. You protected your team. You should feel proud of your actions today.¡± ¡°Thank you for the training you have given us. I¡¯m sorry for what we did and said.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. But try to get your brother to see his path as well,¡± Jake said before collecting the rest of the team and bringing them over to rest as he sat guard for them high in the trees, where no one could see him. Chapter 32 the settlement Hours passed with Jake sitting in the tree¡¯s crown, watching the goings on down below him. The two troopers were resting or making copies of Jake¡¯s bombs. Mary was practising with her weapon and skills and Lewis was talking to his overly aggressive brother. ¡°They¡¯re going to need to sort him out or he is going to either get himself killed or he will get someone else killed. Sadly, I¡¯ve done all I can for them. They need to find their own way to live in this world.¡± Three more hours passed before Jake came back down and said the site was located around ten kilometres north of their location, but he gave them a warning not to go any further north than that. The four people who fought the rattling nodded while Dave just stared at Jake, his eyes full of hate for the man. Jake walked over to the two troopers and said to them, ¡°when you get back to the settlement, come see me.¡± Then he walked over to Mary. ¡°I¡¯m leaving now, so take care of yourself and don¡¯t drop your guard around him.¡± Jake walked over to Lewis and was about to tell him to look after his team, but his brother couldn¡¯t keep his mouth shut for five seconds. ¡°Just fuckoff already. We don¡¯t need a piece of shit like you. If it wasn¡¯t for you, using that skill, I would have killed you ten times over.¡± Dave yelled. ¡°Okay idiot, I¡¯ve had enough of babysitting you and your temper tantrums.¡± Jake said before teleporting away Mary looked over at Dave with disappointment in her eyes. ¡°I really did like you, but your personality just sucks. Never come near me again and when we get back to the settlement, you are quite welcome to leave this team.¡± ¡°Shut Up bitch. Just because you wanted to bang the man doesn¡¯t mean we need to like him. Am I right, bro?¡± ¡°This time you''re wrong, Dave. You are very wrong. I love you brother, but fuck, you really are an idiot, and one that keeps getting his brother in shit for it.¡± ¡°Oh grate, so he used some kind of magic on you as well. Do you want to fuck he too? What about you two? Are you all his little bitches as well?¡± The next moment four people in unison attacked the man two shot a round each seeding them passed each ear Mary punched him in the stomach making him hunch over as his brother elbowed him in the back of the head sending him back to the land of the unconscious. ¡°It¡¯s time to go. Lewis put a note in his brother¡¯s hand, then left with the others. Five hours later, Dave woke up. ¡°Those fucken idiots think they can do that to me, fuck them.¡± Dave started walking north. ¡°he only gave us that warning because his hiding something up there and I¡¯m going to find it. I¡¯ll show them which one of us is more powerful. Then they will come crawling back to me.¡± After some time, Jake stood outside of the settlement. There was now a wooden wall that incompetence the perimeter. It was at the edge of the barrier that protects the settlement on the outside of the wall they had cleared the trees and in their place was clusters of buildings some of which were over five stories high and in the centre of one the clusters There was an Australian flag flying and the building looked a lot like a government embassy. The other clusters were also clearly embassies from other countries, one of which was a United Nations facility. It seems Jake¡¯s hunt had taken a lot longer than he realised. Jake walked towards the entrance to the settlement. Only to be stopped by a man wearing a badge on his chest it was an image of two black hands, one of which was holding a bloody heart and the other was holding a pair of broken shackles. ¡°Holt, this is the freedom council¡¯s territory. To gain entry, you are required to pay a toll of one item; it must be of at least the common grade. Once you enter the settlement, we recommend you follow the rules. Jake looked at his items. He pulled out one of his daggers and handed it to the man with the handle facing the guards men. ¡°Do you mind if I ask what is the symbol you have on your badge?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the symbol of the settlement guards. The hand holding the heart represents the fight for freedom, while the other hand represents the freedoms that were granted to all citizens of the settlement.¡± ¡°May I ask one last thing?¡± ¡°As long as it¡¯s quick, I¡¯ve got to go on patrol soon and I want to have a break first. What seems to be the Australian government, have been trying to get in lately.¡± ¡°My question is, who does this safe zone belong to?¡± ¡°That¡¯s an easy one. It belongs to the settlement council.¡± ¡°Is that so? Are you saying that it doesn¡¯t perhaps belong to a man named Jake everval he also might go by the demon of the past?¡± ¡°No, if I am hiring you right, you''re talking about the fonder of the mercenary group that was doesn¡¯t matter, anyway. The safe zone doesn¡¯t belong to him.¡± ¡°Thank you for the information. I¡¯ll let you get some rest now.¡± Jake walked directly into the settlement, then checked if anything was wrong with his connection with the settlement. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong with it except one thing.¡± There had been a deliberate weakening of the barrier. Its weakening was to limit the damage that would happen if someone tried to harm the settlement owner¡¯s interest. Before Jake decided he would find Erica, Kiki, and Emma before he changed the barrier back to the way it should be. Jake teleported into the shadows of the newly constructed building that now reached from the meeting hall to the city gates and back to where the bushland started. Jake was hoping they didn¡¯t go any further into the bushland, then he could see because if they went back too far, they would be within the old military camp and Jake wasn¡¯t ready to let go of his last connection to his fallen teammates. As jake got closer to the location, he had remembered the mercenary hall being there was a new building there that had settlement guards posted at the entrance and above the door the sign said. Home and business of the council members, Sir Matt Iron, his wife Jess Iron. Underneath that sign there was one more. It was small, but when Jake read it, his anger skyrocketed. It said in all capital letters ¡°humans only¡± this was an open attack on all the non-human races and it was also an attack directly pointed at Jake as well. The two of them knew full well that Jake was a demon, not a human. Jake found it strange as he teleported through the settlement. He didn¡¯t see a single non-human race on the streets and the ones he saw were in the homes of humans serving them like they were their slaves. Jake had seen enough of this and he sped up His teleportation as he headed out towards the bushland, thinking if the people he was looking for were not in the settlement, then they must be in the bushland. ¡°I really shouldn¡¯t have given them any power. I was so stupid. Why did I do? it they tried to kill me once but then I just see them working in my settlement, then what I just give them the highest level of power in the settlement. Yer I¡¯m an idiot.¡± Jake rambled on like this till he reached the bushland. Stopping at the edge, he read one of the many signs those fucken assholes doing this in my territory. I¡¯m going to kill them all for this. Sign This territory is governed by the rules of the Australian government and all non-human races are to comply with all rulings to the Australian government. All non humans must report to their local government officials for a tracking mark to be established. If a non-human does not have a tracking mark applied to them, the local government auctions will enter them into an indentured service contract to the highest bidder. The settlement has expelled the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group, and they will treat anyone working with or for them after the designated time as if they belong to non-human stock. The founder of the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group is to be executed for crimes against the Australian government. Jake passed the signs and walked into the bushland, not even bothering to hide his presence anymore. Fury emanated from his body as he walked through the bushland, tearing apart all the signs around him with both stable and unstable arcane energy and leaving deep gashes in the trees. A minute had passed as jake walked deeper till someone he knew appeared before him. Old cuts covered Emma, and her arms bore the scars of shackles. ¡°Boss, you''re finally back. We need your help.¡± Emma stumbled over to jake and fell into Jake¡¯s arms. ¡°What happened?¡± Emma told Jake about how the two he appointed council members recently showed their true colour as they changed the barriers parameters without all the council¡¯s permission to do so. Jake then asked about Eric, Kiki, and the two old council members. Jake was delighted to find that all four of them were in the camp they were headed to. But then Jake''s happiness faded as Emma said that the two old council members were in a terrible state and that if they didn¡¯t get a healing potion soon, they would die. While Emma and Jake were talking over a few things, Emma told him that she no longer had any control over the barrier and neither did the two old council members. Emma and the others didn¡¯t even have the bonuses that came with their positions. Jake opened up his interface and checked something he should have when he first knew something was wrong. assigned to freedom settlement council Matt Iron Jess Iron Alan Blake Harry Berg Jeff Sands Would you like to remove members from the list yes/no? ¡°I can remove them all from the council and reinstate you right now. But I would like to check one thing first.¡± Jake looked over his interface again Change council assessment rules make a council member of the owner¡¯s choice the only member that can make assignments other than the owner. ¡°Okay, so I can also change it so you and I are the only ones that can assign a new member of the council.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t do that yet. We need to find out what information they have been selling and what damage they have made. ¡°Do you have a way to find this information out?¡± ¡°We have people in locations around the settlement gathering information. I think we should have what we need soon, maybe a day, maybe two.¡± ¡°That¡¯s exactly. What about those two assholes? Are they in the settlement? I would like to give them a brief visit.¡± ¡°Sadly, no, they left for the US embassy the moment they changed the barrier. My guess is they knew what was going to happen once you got back.¡± ¡°Fucken he¡¯ll know the US has two spaceships to copy. I¡¯m going to have to speed up my plans.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the plan to counter this new threat?¡± Emma asked. ¡°I¡¯m going to rebuild my shuttle into a gunship and build copies of a light fighter design I have. I¡¯m going to need help from a lot of crafting professionals to accomplish this. And later, once we know what we can handle, I have another design that we could use. On that note, there are two unranked officials from the mercenary group named Harrison Lopez and Joel Spencer. They have a profession that will be of grate use to us. They are out at a mining location I told them about. Also, make sure they get their records for finding it.¡± ¡°Yes, boss, I will have some people go out and protect them.¡± ¡°That won¡¯t be necessary. I spent some time with them and the team they were in. They should be able to protect themselves against most threats.¡± Jake said. Jake stood in front of a cluster of tarps strung up in the trees under them were humans and beast folk working together on surviving this mess. The children were playing with each other. It didn¡¯t matter if they were human or beast folk, children could always adapt to changes quicker than adults. Chapter 33 am I even needed here It took five days before Emma came back to see Jake to tell him he could now change the barriers parameters and reinstate herself as a council member sadly within those five days the old council members had died from their injuries obtained from Matt and Jess when they took over the council Jake had spent those last five days by their side trying to help them as best he could but no matter how hardy tried he couldn¡¯t upgrade his healing skills to help in any meaningful way Emma even used her healing skills on the but the damage was far to grate. ¡°Okay, but not until after we send off the dead.¡± A group of twelve people, humans and beast folk, came into the tent where the two council members lay in coffins and lifted them up over their shoulders as they waited for the signal to proceed with the ceremony of the fallen. Jake gave a nod to the dogmen standing at the front. Jake walked out of the tent and stood to the side where all the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group stood making a continuous path to the Funeral pier. As the coffins exited the tent, Jake shaped to attention and saluted the coffins draped in flowers as he saluted every member of the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group followed suit, shaping to attention and raising their hands in salute to the fallen heroes. The coffins rested high on the top of the pier. One by one the mercenaries surround the pier, guarding the fallen as jake and Emma packed up a burning stick each out of a nearby fire pit, walking over to the pier. Jake and Emma lowered their arms, lighting the pier. Jake turned to the crowd and said in a loud and clear voice, ¡°To the heroes they gave their lives, as such now they have become our new heroes and we honour their passing. Demon¡¯s hand mercenaries, keep vigil.¡± Jake and his mercenaries stood guard all night and into the next day as it rained on them. Not a single person moved the whole time. As the fire petted out, Jake gave the command they had all been waiting for. ¡°Move out and take back our home.¡± all the mercenaries started marching out of the bushland and headed straight for the main gate. Jake opened up his interface and instantly removed all the council¡¯s members, then changed the parameters to the barrier and finally added Emma as a council member and gave her all the permission she would require to manage the settlement. ¡°It¡¯s done let us Join the battle.¡± Jake said as he changed into his demon form. Looking over at Emma, he noticed she had also changed forms back to the one she preferred. ¡°That look really suits you.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Teleporting away, Jake moved towards the main gate as he bypassed the miserable screams echoing through the air once he reached the main gate. The guard that was on duty when he arrived was on duty once again. Jake stopped in front of the man. ¡°We meet again.¡± ¡°Have we met? I don¡¯t remember you.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t.¡± Jake deactivated his demon form. ¡°It¡¯s you. What have you done? Why are you attacking the embassies?¡± ¡°Just taking back what belongs to me.¡± ¡°Your the demon of the past. After our conversation the other day, I asked about the question you asked me. You were right. It belongs to you.¡± ¡°Are you going to get in our way?¡± Jake asked ¡°No, I am here to guard the settlement from outside threats, not to get involved with internal issues.¡± ¡°Good. Do your fellow guards feel the same?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t speak for them.¡± ¡°Well, if they don¡¯t, tell them not to try and enter the settlement or it will kill them.¡± Jake said this, then teleported into the shadows and vanished. Jake stood outside the embassy of the Australian government pulling out his F88 he fired five rounds directly into the men at the gate putting to down fast before the mercenaries arrived making their assault Jake took up over-watch firing in support of the main assault once the group entered the building Jake shifted his attention to his next target the mercenaries were being held back over at the US embassy so Jake shifted his attention over there this time jake teleported behind the gate guards and fired at near point blank range blowing away five guards before he retreated to the mercenaries and began lobbing grenades into the embassy. After fifteen minutes, the gate guards fell, and the group of mercenaries stormed the embassy. ¡°And now it¡¯s time to play,¡± a voice behind Jake said with a distinctive cat tone. ¡°Kiki, I haven¡¯t seen you for ages. Were you at the funeral? I didn¡¯t see you there,¡± ¡°No, boss, I was gathering intelligence on our enemies. It seems the UN is only interested in protecting humanity¡¯s freedoms and is actively rounding up beast folk for some unknown reason.¡± ¡°Good work. Shall we dance?¡± Jake asked as he held out his hand to the embassy ¡°We shall.¡± Kiki said leaping into the air changing into her cat form and ran at full speed into the embassy she targeted the first soldier jumping at the man changing back into her humanoid form as she ripped out the man¡¯s throat as she pirouetted onto the next man. Jake watched as she ripped apart soldier after soldier. ¡°She really does like to dance.¡± Eric said as he too dashed past jake and into battle. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Are you going to just stand and watch, boss?¡± Emma asked Jake just looked at her before saying with a grin, ¡°you took your time.¡± ¡°Well, some of us don¡¯t have that ability.¡± Jake smiled and did just that. Popping out of the behind a man as his dagger lodged in the man¡¯s neck he then dashed across the square firing his rifle ripping apart the feeble defence the soldiers could erect in time to top it off Jake launched a grenade into the back ranks of the enemy blowing them apart and giving him a clear line of sight to his target. Erupting from the shadow a hail of projectiles flow into the backs of his enemies, tearing them apart. Matt and Jess Matt looked down at the chaos going on just outside his window on the top floor of the US embassy¡¯s main building. ¡°This is worse than I thought it would be,¡± Jess said A demon appeared from a shadow in the distance, orchestrating an attack on the Australian embassy. ¡°It fell two quick.¡± An American officer said before running out of the room yelling commands to his men. The shape of a demon appeared outside the embassy¡¯s walls. Beside him stood a cat lady that could only be one of the two directors the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group had. After Jake gave her the command to attack, the limited stability that was established vanished as the cat¡¯s first target was the officer in charge of the embassy¡¯s defence. After The cats attack a dog man entered the battle, then Matt¡¯s face went pale as Emma was the next to arrive. Looking over at the two demons, Jess let out a startled cry as she covered her mouth. ¡°Didn¡¯t we look her up?¡± Jess asked the next moment Jake entered the battle as the building they were in shook ¡°Why did we let them talk us into this?¡± Matt asked ¡°Um, I think we should run.¡± ¡°Where they have us surrounded?¡± ¡°Are you an idiot? We have spaceships, just get to the roof.¡± Jess said as she left the room and ran to the roof. Emma ¡°Am I even needed here?¡± Emma asked herself as she watched Jake and the two directors tear apart the enemy ranks. Looking at the building roof, she saw two people moving around up there. Her eyes opened wide as she saw their faces. ¡°They¡¯re trying to run.¡± Emma ran down, using her movement skill to pass by the enemies as she headed straight for the roof. Kicking open the door she noticed the two small spaceships on the roof Jess was sitting in one of the as Matt struggling to climb up into his cockpit Emma ran as fast as she could come up behind Matt and kicked his knees out sending him to the ground Jess was looking down from her cockpit as her husband''s body was being brutalised by one of the demon¡¯s people. Jess looked down at Matt, water in her eyes as she mounted the words I¡¯m so sorry. Then, without trying to assist, she started her engine and blasted off, blowing half of the roof apart while leaving Emma and Matt on what remained. Emma was on top of Matt as she pulled his face into the shape of a hamburger, but she stopped just before his death as she didn¡¯t know what would happen to the spaceship if he died. To make sure he didn¡¯t run, Emma Broke his legs and arms, leaving him a whimpering mess waiting for scavengers to pick over his bones. Jake Jake watched from the ground as one of the light fighters from the tutorial took off, sending shrapnel plummeting down on top of them. Jake essentially gave the command for the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group to take cover as he teleported into the crumbling building. Moving up to the roof, he encountered a group of people wearing suits hiding in a conference room. Kicking the door off its hinges, he looked inside then said in a deadpan tone, ¡°If you move from this room, you will die. If you try to fight, you will die and if you are from the Australian government or work for them, your life will be very miserable till you eventually die.¡± Jake really didn¡¯t have any intention of killing anyone that didn¡¯t harm him or his people. But he needed them to not try to fight back. After encountering the people in the room, Jake vlined it on the roof. On the roof, he saw Emma dragging what appeared to be a sack of meat across the roof, heading back towards the entrance. ¡°Hay Emma, what that?¡± She looked up at Jake and pointed to the light fighter, then back at the meat sack. Only now did Jake realise that the meat sack was actually a human and it looked to be still breathing. Walking over to her, he asked if it was Matt or Jess. Erica replied to Matt and gave him a little kick, making him awaken from unconsciousness, coughing up blood. Matt yelled for his death. Jake knelt down beside and whispered in his ear. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t let you die so easy.¡± Placing his hand on Matt, Jake activated his healing skills to seal the wounds and numb the pain. Matt¡¯s eyes shot open as he realised whose voice that was. ¡°Jake, I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to do any of that to you. It was all that Jess, she just couldn¡¯t put aside her stupid ideas of rolling over people.¡± Jake just looked at the man. ¡°Believe me, she.¡± ¡°Just stop. No one here believes a word you say. It was you that killed and betrayed us, not your wife,¡± Emma snapped back at him. ¡°You know what I¡¯m going to ask you?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t me¨C¡± Jake kicked him in the leg ¡°Just do as you¡¯re told and you will be fine. Remove your soulbond from the ship.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know ho¨C¡± Emma kicked his other leg ¡°It¡¯s very simple. You can do it.¡± Matt, not wanting to be in any more pain, removed the soulbound from the light fighter, then felt a finger poke him on the forehead before his eyes got too heavy to keep open. Jake looked over at the light fighter and said, ¡°it¡¯s yours. Go figure out how it works and fly it back to the camp-site in the bushland. I¡¯m going to make that area into a construction site just for building more of them later and having one physical version and the blueprints will make it much easier for profession users. I hope you don¡¯t mind. To make it up to you, I¡¯ll give you some weapons for it.¡± Emma got into the cockpit and began to soul bind the light fighter. Once she was done, she gave the signal to Jake. Moving overtone edge and down on the battle raging below, Jake yelled, ¡°demon¡¯s hand mercenary group, fall back to the staging area.¡± After he said this, Jake teleported off of the roof and out of the embassy. Standing atop a hill, Jake could see into the embassy. The demon¡¯s hand mercenary group had just left the embassy gates when the building the soldiers were guarding collapsed, covering the enemy. ¡°Oh shit, I forgot about them.¡± Chapter 34 demons hand mercenary groups fleet (Erica) Erica. Erica had figured out were her masters home would be but to her disappointment it was on the complete opposite side of the universe even using the fastest ship in Aaliyah¡¯s fleet it would take them over a thousand years to cross and that was only calculating only travel time she would have to add on extra time for the logistics to travel that far. For now, she would just have to wait and see if there is another option that will present itself to her. But for now, she had a job to do. Erica stood on the bridge of the retribution. All the positions filed and a full complement of ground assault troops waiting for their deployment on the battlefront. The assault troops were all members of the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group. Aaliyah had helped with the creation of the small group and helped with implementing a training program making what would have been a very weak, mercenary group into a small but strong group consisting of three ships including the retribution they were all suitable for planetary landing and each had a compliment of ground assault troops the only issue was that the ships that were given to her were old clunkers with weak shielding and only a set of rotary cannons meant for point defence similar to the ones on the retribution. The new ships were capable of limited FTL, but could never leave the galaxy they were in. They looked a lot like converted cargo ships that matched the asterisks of the retribution. Only with obvious differences for example the bridge was not at the front of the ship but on top of the ships main structure, the bridge was also low profile only sticking up out of the main hull by one level at the front of each ship was a large cargo hatch that would lower once they landed. Aaliyah hired the mercenaries for the mission of making a breach in the enemy line and securing a landing zone on the surface for her people to conduct a landing on the planet. She also promised the payments for this job to be a fleet career with a complement of 15 light fighters; the only issue was that the new ships didn¡¯t come with weapons or shields, so it was up to Erica to gather the equipment and the mercenaries to crew them. I total the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group had two hundred people in its ranks and of those fifty were non-combatants and it took another fifty to just crew the ships they had so in total Erica had only one hundred troops to take and hold the landing site. Erica gave command of the retribution over to her second as she left the bridge, heading for the aft of the ship to talk to the troopers. ¡°Lady Blake, it¡¯s nice to see you down here with us ground pounders.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t miss such an occasion. This is our first large-scale mission and your first command. I¡¯ve just come to check that everything is going well for you, commander Estella?¡± ¡°What¡¯s the situation Mark?¡± Estella asked ¡°Everyone is raring to go, sir.¡± ¡°all ready and accounted for, my lady.¡± ¡°Good, now run over the plan with me one last time. What will your men be doing and will you have support?¡± ¡°The retribution will be our fire support; it will be in the atmosphere giving close in support provided by its solitary belly mounted point defence cannon. The other two ships, after dropping us off, will return to home base. We are to clear the landing zone and set up defence systems on the perimeter and hold till relieved.¡± Over the intercom, one of the bridge officers said, ¡°coming up on the first line of defence.¡± ¡°activate magnetic locks.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± ¡°All teams report in.¡± Estella said through his command line to his troops ¡°Ship one set.¡± ¡°Ship three set.¡± The command line went quite fat a second before cracking to life. ¡°Ship two set.¡± ¡°Ship two, what was the problem?¡± ¡°A Minor issue with the one of the men¡¯s magnetic locks.¡± ¡°Is it all fixed now?¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± Estella opened up a channel to the ship¡¯s bridge ¡°all troops secured and set to conduct damage control.¡± ¡°Good hunting command Estella.¡± Erica said before she left for the bridge.
Ground Pounders. ¡°Men, get ready. We will be touching down in three minutes.¡± As the ground got closer, antiaircraft fire of all kinds was being thrown at them. from mage¡¯s using spells up to rockets being launched from large crawlers they were big lumbering machines that move across the terrain using metal tracks connected a top the main hull of the crawlers was a giant metal humanoid shape with rocket pods on its shoulders and for area it had two rotate cannons flinging baseball size projectiles up at the lead ship. Upon approaching the landing zone, the two other ships had to fall in line with the Retribution in order to reduce the damage they were taking. At the last second, the two ships split their line formation and landed on either side of the retribution. The two troop ships unloaded the cargo of troopers and the six tanks they had. They fitted the tanks with large calibre cannons and short-range rockets. The Retribution ground pounders commander Estella ordered his men to exit the ship. Every trooper on the Retribution carried a storage device with assorted defence devices. These devices were designed to not require monitoring; they only needed to be set up and would automatically attack anything that moved in front of them. Running out of the back of the retribution with his weapon of choice, a simple wooden staff used to form magical attacks and defensive shields, commander Estella formed a five metre barrier and told his men to secure the area as he set up the command post. After three other members of the mercenary group entered the barrier commander Estella slammed his staff into the ground activating the skill battle sight, this skill displayed four images of the battlefield three of them at ground level and one of a top-down view with every combatant labelled blue for friendly forces, alleys were in green, civilians were purple and the enemy was red. The other three images were from the perspective of three different troopers; the images could be moved to any member of the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group personnel active on the battlefield. ¡°Keep those images moving, survey the battlefield, and communicate with your sections.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the status on the deployment of the defence systems?¡± ¡°One up on the west flank, two on the right, and one at the rear.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the holdup on the forward defence positions?¡± ¡°Heavy enemy presence. They have a crawler that is pinning them down.¡± ¡°Take a team of heavies from the right flank and tell them to flank the crawler. They have full authority to use the special weapons if required.¡± As the commands were relayed down the chain and the map image was examined, chatter went out over the radio, and a team of five broke off from the right group to head for the crawler. The team of heaves were moving in on their target they could hear the tracks clanking over the stones that covered the landing site, coming up to a large mound of rocks one man gave hand signals for the team to split one taking this mound and the other moving to a different firing location. Crawling up to the top of the mound and looking out over the battlefield. ¡°That¡¯s fucken huge.¡± ¡°Yer, we¡¯re going with new weapons on this one.¡± The team took out two shoulder mounted rocket launches, each with a high yield warhead. ¡°Are the others in position yet?¡± Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. As the man said that, the side of the crawler tracks lit up a small fireball. Expanded and rolled up the side of the crawler, leaving superficial damage. ¡°What are they doing? They need to hit it with something bigger then that.¡± Spinning its body around, the crawler lit up the area with rounds from its cannon. Ripping into the tree line. The three men were no more. Not even a trace remained for the once proud heaves. ¡°You fucken ass holes.¡± one of the final remaining heavy¡¯s yelled. The man then spread his legs out wide and opened his mouth as he launched the rocket at the crawler beside him. His teammate also fired, the concussion rattling the man¡¯s brain. Down range the crawler¡¯s left track exploded from the first rocket then the second hit its torso, ripping into its armour and detonated, causing secondary explorations to rip through the crawler blowing it to pieces, chunks of metal falling from the sky. ¡°Commander Estella, the forward team, destroyed the crawler and is now setting up the defence systems.¡± The forward team is now setting up the defence systems.¡± ¡°we have full deployment 5 up left right and rear waiting on forward confirmation.¡± ¡°We have a large group of enemy forces moving in on our forward positions, sir. It looks to be infantry and some light armour. The front is requesting urgent fire support on their positions. It seems the enemy has broken the first line of defence.¡± ¡°Retribution, retribution, this is commander Estella of 1st company, requesting fire support on enemy positions 30 metres forward of grid point alpha 5.¡± ¡°Fire mission denied, outside minimums,¡± the retribution¡¯s firing officer replied. ¡°If you don¡¯t fire, we¡¯re all dead.¡± The radio went silent for a couple of seconds before. ¡°Commander Estella, fire mission approved, round incoming, keep your heads down.¡± Erica said.
The retribution Erica stood on the bridge as the request came in. ¡°Fire mission denied, outside minimums.¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t fire, we¡¯re all dead.¡± Estella said ¡°Commander, what should we do?¡± With a worried expression Erica said, ¡°fire on the target location.¡± Then communicating back to the ground that the rounds were incoming. She turned her attention to her next problem. As the ships in orbit fired down on the retribution, impacts reverberated throughout the ship. The retribution¡¯s dorsal point defence system was being overwhelmed as the weapons fire came raining down. ¡°The shields are failing command.¡± ¡°Remove shielding on the lower hull and increase dorsal shielding power.¡± ¡°Yes, commander.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the ETA of Aaliyah¡¯s fleet?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t raise them.¡± ¡°Well, keep trying. We can¡¯t hold on for long.¡± Ten minutes later, the communications officer spoke up in a sobering tone . ¡°Commander, they¡¯re not coming. We¡¯ve been told to surrender and save our lives.¡± Erica looked around the bridge and said. ¡°If you wish to surrender to the enemy, I will drop you off on the planet¡¯s surface, but as for this ship, it will never fall into the hands of any enemy force. I plan to attack the planetary blockade to make a path for our ships to pick up the survivors. Does anyone want to leave?¡± After no one said anything for a long time Erica said, ¡°If no one wishes to leave, then Okay then. Communication¡¯s officer send a secure message to the ground forces and inform them of the situation. Also, contact our ships and tell them to be on standby for an emergency pickup. Engineering, we are going to be entering combat. Get your people ready, weapons once we break orbit. I want a full salvo on the closest enemy ship.¡± ¡°Commander Estella says good luck and they will be waiting for our safe return.¡± Over the ship wide intercom, Erica said. ¡°All hands, we will be braking into orbit and making an attack run on the enemy fleet. We must punch a hole large enough to allow access to the planet and hold position till all the members of the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group have extracted.¡± The retribution lifted its nose and with one last burst from its cannon on the enemies below, it went to full impulse, blasting towards space.
Aaliyah Aaliyah was walking down the corridor of her ship as she did. Confusion filled her as she wondered why her fleet had not entered the battle yet, knowing that the mercenaries should have secured a landing zone by now. She got to the bridge in record time. Entering the bridge, she saw it was under crewed. ¡°Where is the first offence and the others?¡± she yelled at the first person she saw. ¡°Don¡¯t know, my lady. He just told us to hold position and then told the mercenaries that we weren¡¯t coming and that they should surrender. Ordering a shuttle for himself and the bridge officers to leave.¡± The man said. A female that Aaliyah had not seen before said in a startled voice. ¡°My lady, half of the fleet just activated their FTL engines and left the system.¡± She said before vomiting on the deck. Aaliyah looked over at the lady and said, ¡°how much of the fleet remains and what ship classes are they?¡± ¡°We had 350 ships, and now there are only 50 left. All of them crewed by Nordicless, my lady. The classes of ships comprise five cruises, fifteen destroyers, ten corvettes, and the remaining are converted cargo ships.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the load out of the converted ships?¡± ¡°Capable of planetary re-entry but not equipped for full scale combat lightly armed with a single defence cannon and weak shields the same as the two we gave to the mercenaries, my lady.¡± ¡°Tell the converted ships to head to the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group¡¯s territory. Then communicate with the rest of the fleet that we will, be providing support for the evacuation of the mercenary group stuck on the planet¡¯s surface, and if any of them wish to leave, they can take the shuttles as compensation the same goes for any of you.¡± Not a single person left any of the ships. ¡°Get ready for an emergency jump to FTL in 3 2 1.¡± Every remaining ware ship jumped into FTL then a second later they appeared over the top of the enemy fleet below Aaliyah¡¯s flagship the retribution was engaged with multiple ships the retribution tossed and turned as constant streams of cannon fire came from its weapons its nose mounted weapons lit up every few seconds blowing apart ship after ship but no matter how hard it fought the enemy fleet captain sending in ship after ship. Aaliyah opened up a channel to her fleet ¡°fire all weapons on the enemy fleet. Make a path for the mercenaries to retreat.¡± As a path was cleared, two cargo ships swooped in at full speed directly for the planet. ¡°What are they doing?¡± One of the bridge crew said Aaliyah tried to contact them on the radio. ¡°Cargo ship cargo ship, this is Aaliyah. I order you to turn back now.¡± She repeated the message three times before an abrupt reply came back. ¡°This is the demon¡¯s hand vessel, Ranken. We don¡¯t work for you.¡± ¡°Aaliyah, this is the retribution. Thank you for the assistance. But we don¡¯t leave our people behind to be slaves.¡± ¡°What is going on with them?¡± Aaliyah lent back in her chair and sighed before grumbling, ¡°give me a full volley of fire on the enemy and bring the ships into formation Charlie 1.¡± Aaliyah¡¯s fleet made a circle around the retribution as they waited for the cargo ships to return. After five minutes of being bombarded by the enemy fleet, the two cargo ships returned and jumped into FTL followed by the retribution. ¡°Not even a single word before they jumped.¡± One of the bridge crew said, ¡°All ships jump to FTL. get us out of here set course demon¡¯s hand territory.¡±
Erica Erica was standing on the bridge of the retribution she was being briefed on the situation of the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group. ¡°What¡¯s our losses?¡± ¡°Out of the hundred and forty personal, we entered the battle with thirty died on the planet and ten died on the Ranken when a round ripped through its hull on extraction. We also have 29 wounded with nonlife-threatening injuries. They should be back in action soon.¡± ¡°What about damage to the ships?¡± ¡°The retribution needs its dorsal hull plating completely replace, and the two converted cargo ships require significant repairs to make them flyable again.¡± ¡°Get the Ranken and Jaxxen II to land in the moon¡¯s construction zone as, for us, we will be headed for the dry dock in orbit.¡± The dry dock, which the retribution was surrounded by, was a lattice structure equipped with everything necessary for a smith to rebuild a ship completely from the ground up. Once the ship was in dry dock, Erica finally relaxed. Only to be interrupted by the communications officer. ¡°Commander Aaliyah would like to talk to you about what happened and the payment.¡± ¡°Well, if she wants to talk, let her talk.¡± ¡°Well, the thing is, she would like to meet on the moon.¡± ¡°Send her a message. Tell her that the retribution is in drydock and we have no shuttle¡¯s but she is welcome to come here.¡± It took two hours before Aaliyah got to see Erica. ¡°What may I ask brings you to see me?¡± ¡°I would like to offer my apologies and to pay for your services.¡± ¡°What are you offering as clearly you can¡¯t pay the original fee?¡± ¡°I will offer you this token and two more converted cargo ships.¡± Item Transport token Locked to Aaliyah La flame¡¯s home world cottage. can transport 100 lifeforms Can be Soul bound to Erica Blake ¡°We are going to be pulling out of this sector of space, so I¡¯m hoping this will work as compensation. I will also upgrade the cargo ships you have with a better hull plating shield and a full set of weapons for them and also a set of six rotary cannons for this ship. That is the best I can offer you at this point.¡± ¡°Will you be coming back to this sector any time in the future?¡± ¡°Probably not. It is a long way from my territory and I was originally only here to raid the space docks around the planet.¡± ¡°Okay, we, the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group, accept your payment.¡± Chapter 35 make an alliance Jake was standing on a hill overlooking the complete destruction of the two embassies the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group destroyed but they didn¡¯t attack any of the other embassy¡¯s, only the ones that had overtly attacked them. For example, the UN embassy was not purposefully attacked by the Demon¡¯s Hand mercenary group. But some members were. ¡°We sent them a message here today, boss.¡± ¡°Yes, we did.¡± Jake said in a dejected tone ¡°Boss, is there a problem?¡± ¡°We just made enemies with one of the world¡¯s strongest nations. I also failed to protect the captured prisoners. I said I would come back, but then the building collapsed.¡± ¡°Leave that issue to Emma, me and Kiki, we will mend the fences. You just keep getting stronger and we will be fine. As for the people left behind, you can¡¯t protect everyone.¡± ¡°Thank you, Eric. You really are a good man. Just tell me if you need help with anything.¡± ¡°Boss, let¡¯s head back to the settlement. Emma said that there are some things to talk to you about.¡± ¡°Okay, if she wants to talk, then it must be important.¡± Jake and Eric were walking together back to the meeting hall. ¡°So I¡¯ve been thinking of taking some people to a planet with learning materials on alchemy and smithing. I was wondering if I should make it a thing just for our mercenary group or should I set up a school and send the best people there as a prize?¡± ¡°Well, I won¡¯t say it would be great if it was only the mercenary group but I think maybe you should go with the school option but only send the teachers there to learn then they can come back and teach the new techniques they picked up.¡± ¡°That sounds good. I will need to speak with Emma about that, or maybe yes. If the mercenary group sets up the school, it will still increase the mercenary group¡¯s political power. Can you speak to Kiki and set that up? Also, let¡¯s move the mercenary group¡¯s hall to a different place? The old building can be destroyed. I think Emma will need a bigger office soon.¡± Jake said ¡°yer, you''re probably right about that.¡± Jake entered the meeting hall, sitting in one of the chairs with a stack of papers in front of her. ¡°You needed to talk to me?¡± ¡°Yes, I need more workers for the council and the settlement guard might need to be increased and required to swear loyalty to the settlement and its owner. We cannot have another incident like last time.¡± ¡°So, for workers, what do you want?¡± ¡°I would like to put some people on the council as members, one to represent the beast folk, and for humans, one to represent the settlement guards and a member of your mercenary group.¡± ¡°Do you need me to find people, or are you happy to do that?¡± ¡°I will find them this time around. I just need permission to make them members of the council.¡± A notification popped up in front of Jake¡¯s Warning Give permission to council member Emma to grant membership to four new members to the council. Yes/no. Jake selected yes, and the said ¡°Done, now as for the settlement guards, do what you like. Also, I¡¯m starting a school under the mercenary group¡¯s name. It will teach alchemy and smithing at first, but I will need teachers. I¡¯m going to pull some from the mercenary ranks, but it would be good to have some that are not connected to the mercenary group but to the settlement instead.¡± ¡°I will get to work on that for you.¡± ¡°Yer, this office is too small. The mercenary group is moving out of the building next door, so do what you want with it.¡± Jake said ¡°I could use that area. I also landed the fighter over at the campsite and sent over some people to build a factory and labs. We have also moved materials out there for building new ships. The leader of the professionals goes by the name of Harry Bernette. He is a blueprinter and is looking forward to working with your blueprints.¡± Jake left and started heading for the bushland where the camp was he wanted to work on the new fighters and the eventual upgrades to his shuttle he really needed to bump it up in quality after its complete rebuild into a more powerful ship Jake was thinking a gunship with FTL capabilities and more shielding and weapons pods jake was thinking a full redesign. As Jake entered the camp, he was taken aback by the significant amount of activity happening around him. They had removed the tents and were creating new structures. One of the smaller buildings was already finished as people were rushing in and out, some with dejected faces and some with smiles. Jake walked over to the building. He opened the door to enter when a loud voice rang out from inside. ¡°Get out, no one is getting any more changes to the plan and if you¡¯re here to complain about the allocation of resources. Then go complain to the council members.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not here for any of those things.¡± Jake replied ¡°Well, then what the fuck are you here for? Don¡¯t tell me you''re here to make coffee. Or are you my new trainee, no your a bit old for that. Let¡¯s see, yes, you''re the janitor. Well, get to work. The shit is piling up back there. Go clean it up.¡± Jake just stood and looked at the man, thinking to himself, is this man for real? ¡°Hay janitor, get to work and stop wasting my time. I¡¯m a busy man.¡± Having enough of the man¡¯s rude behaviour, Jake asked, ¡°what is your name?¡± ¡°Harry Bernette. What¡¯s it to you? I¡¯m in charge and if I say you''re a janitor, then you do the job.¡± ¡°So you''re the one Emma put in charge.¡± The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Yes, now get to work.¡± This man took Jake aback for a second till he said with a grin, ¡°You''re fired. Go ask Emma for another assignment, or would you like me to make one that suits your character? I can think of one or two.¡± Jake looked over at the back room. ¡°What the fuck are saying? Just shut up and get to work.¡± Jake walked over to the man, grabbed him by the shirt and through the door, bouncing across the ground. Jake walked out of the door as Harry Bernette lifted his hand, pointing at Jake, and told the guards to kill him. The guard looked up to see what was going on ¡°Sir, that¡¯s the owner I mentioned to you. What should we do?¡± the guard said ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°100% Sir, that is the man.¡± ¡°Well, go assist him. I sure as shit don¡¯t want to get on his bad side.¡± The guard walked over to jake and asked if he needed any help. Jake replied with a simple ¡°can you take him back to Emma and tell her to send someone that I can work with, not a power tripping fool.¡± ¡°Not a problem, I will get that done for you.¡± the guard looked over at Mr Harry Bernette ¡°Come with me, Mr Bernette.¡± Jake walked back into the office and sat down. ¡°What the hell do I do now? The man I needed to work with was a pompous ass. Now there¡¯s no one to work with.¡± ¡°Excuse me, is it possible to get an increase to the footprint of lab b1? We are working on important research and the size of the lab is too small.¡± Jake looked at the man and asked, ¡°what research are you conducting?¡± ¡°We are conducting research into the fabrication of glass.¡± Jake just looked at the man for a good minute before saying, ¡°production of glass is this sand heat and mana. Now get the fuck out.¡± The man looked dumbfounded as he walked out of the office. On his way out, a woman asked him what was wrong. ¡°His an idiot. He just told me that glass is made from sand, heat, and mana. What kind of person could be that simple-minded?¡± ¡°You do know who he is, right?¡± ¡°No, who is the idiot? Or some rich kid and daddy paid for this position for him? I really don¡¯t care. If you don¡¯t know the basic formula for making glass, why bother pretending?¡± ¡°He is the owner of the settlement and the founder of the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group.¡± The man¡¯s face went pale as he looked back at the office. ¡°I think I should go.¡± ¡°Yes, you should, and fast.¡± The lady said ¡°Fucken idiot. Didn¡¯t even know who he was talking to twice in a row.¡± Kiki said as she walked into the office. ¡°Boss, I didn¡¯t take you for one to sit behind a desk.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not funny, Kiki. This job sucks. I don¡¯t know how you do it.¡± ¡°You get used to it after a while. Any way I¡¯ve come to tell you that the UN representative is hoping to have a meeting with you.¡± ¡°Where would the meeting take place?¡± ¡°outside of the barrier. I¡¯m putting together a security team to assist you. They should be ready in ten minutes.¡± ¡°So who am I representing in this meeting the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group or the settlement?¡± ¡°Both, the UN have struggled to stay together with a lot of the members not willing to accept best folk in. they are thinking of adding the settlement and its mercenaries of different races into its membership. It could sway the positions of some members to stop persecuting the non-human races. Which I have been finding funny as a cat lady that thought she could control the humans killed my mum.¡± ¡°Okay, are you sure we even want to be members?¡± ¡°It won¡¯t hurt us to try.¡± Jake walked out of the office and over to the settlement guards. He then asked for the commanding officer 30 seconds later a man came over. ¡°Lord.¡± ¡°No, that doesn¡¯t sound right. Just call me Jake or something.¡± ¡°Jake, what can I do for you?¡± ¡°Could you take on looking after the office till I get back or a replacement arrives? It should be easy. Just tell everyone you can¡¯t make decisions and to come back later, also use the office as your command post if you want.¡± ¡°I will do that,¡± the officer said ¡°Okay, Kiki. lead the way.¡± The two left the construction site and headed for the main gate. Upon reaching the gate, Jake let out a sigh. ¡°What is it Boss?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just that we are being watched and they¡¯re really crap at hiding.¡± Kiki looked around and gave a command to a person who was there to guard Jake. The next moment, they were gone. ¡°Was that a stealth skill she used and not the one you all get right?¡± ¡°Yes, boss.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not very good, but it¡¯s got potential. What is her name and her class?¡± ¡°She has an odd class. I¡¯ve never seen it before. It¡¯s called night stalker. It is a variant of the assassin class and her name is Annabel, but she goes by the nightwitch.¡± ¡°cool she has a nickname. So her weapons would be?¡± ¡°Depending on the situation, she doesn¡¯t seem to be restricted to a specific type.¡± ¡°That¡¯s cool. What did you send her to do?¡± ¡°Find and verify the enemies and dispose of them if needed.¡± ¡°That seems fair. If they can hide good enough, then they can live.¡± Jake said with a chuckle. The meeting point was halfway between the UN embassy and the settlement. The two groups of people sat at a table in the middle of what probably was some farmer¡¯s farm. ¡°So I¡¯m Jake. What¡¯s yours? At least that¡¯s how I was told introductions go.¡± ¡°Sir, we have lost contact with our teams,¡± a man that walked up behind one of the UN members sitting at the table said in an American accent. ¡°Are you talking about the people that were spying on us the moment we left the settlement? If so, I¡¯m so sorry they¡¯re probably dead now.¡± The man''s face went red as he started yelling, ¡°you think you can just go around killing whoever you want and not face repercussions?¡± ¡°Do you think you can enter other people¡¯s lands and steal their secrets, kill its people and enslave its citizens? Which I would think a country like yours would know better. Then you think you can get away with it, without consequences. Unlike before the system, you can¡¯t just enter an oil-rich nation with your army. Actually, I recommend you give it a try. We need the extra experience points.¡± Kiki yelled back at the man. ¡°Kiki, leave the man alone. His just the mouth. Don¡¯t bother with him.¡± The American man jumped over the table and grabbed Jake by his shirt collar. ¡°I suggest you release your hand,¡± Kiki said ¡°Or what I¡¯m going to kill your precious leader, then take you all as servants? Because as you said, we are a nation with a history,¡± the man said with a grin that didn¡¯t reach his eyes. ¡°Last warning.¡± Kiki said. The man just started laughing historically. ¡°Your leader has been captured, so you¡¯re not so powerful now,¡± one of the people sitting at the table said with an Australian accent. Jake finally spoke. ¡°so was this your plan from the start? Capture me, then threaten the citizens of my territory. If that was it, I think you need to get your head checked.¡± ¡°Shut up. You have no power here.¡± Another member of the UN delegation said this one was clearly not a native English speaker. ¡°What country do you represent?¡± Jake asked ¡°Why should I tell you?¡± ¡°Well, I just wanted to know what other nations I will be making enemies with.¡± ¡°Oh, you really are a tough man.¡± ¡°Kiki has this meeting broken down beyond recertification.¡± ¡°Yes, boss.¡± Jake¡¯s body turned into that of a demon just before he ripped out the man¡¯s heart, crushing it into pulp. ¡°Fuken idiot¡¯s use identify next time.¡± Jake looked over at the people sitting opposite and asked, ¡°what is the name of my mercenary group?¡± A person who had been sitting to the side with a shocked expression from the beginning replied, ¡°the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group.¡± ¡°Why do you think we picked that name?¡± All the people standing behind Jake said in unison. ¡°Demon¡¯s hand, mercenary group. Take out the trash.¡± Kiki said as the guards moved, slaughtering anyone that tried to resist but leaving those how didn¡¯t know what was going on alone. Jake sat back down in the chair and just waited for the commotion to calm down. Sitting across from the man that spoke earlier, ¡°so what¡¯s your name? You seem like a smart man.¡± ¡°Thank you. My name is Jared Moore I represent a coalition of ex-soviet countries. We don¡¯t want to go against anyone, but we can¡¯t just sit back and watch as people get enslaved by the former great powers. We would like to make an alliance with you and cooperate with the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group for protection from external threats.¡± ¡°The demon¡¯s hand mercenary group is always willing to take on new jobs. But Europe is a long way away from Australia. We could do it if we may set up a hall in one of your country¡¯s and recruit members. Are you willing to allow that?¡± ¡°Yes, the beast folk in our territory have been struggling and would appreciate the chance of a new life.¡± ¡°Then we have a deal. We will send people to Europe as soon as we can to start setting up the hall, and I will send a small group to accompany you on your return. Kiki, can you organise an expeditionary force to go to Europe? Make sure they have a good leader.¡± ¡°Yes, boss.¡± Kiki said before leaving to gather people. An hour had passed when Kiki returned, followed by a group of Twenty-three people. ¡°Boss, this is one of my trainees. You met her once before she will take up the position of lead official in the new hall, and these two will be her direct subordinates. As for the fighters, I have picked Frank here as their leader. He should be suitable for the position. The rest are all fighters. I¡¯m assuming these nice people have builders that can be hired to help build the hall?¡± ¡°Yes, we do. Thank you for your help.¡± After organising the expeditionary forces, Jake returned to the construction site to see how things were going. Chapter 36 your the founder Emma was in her office listening to the whining of a man she had thought was smart enough to not piss off the owner of the settlement. But here she was about being attacked by someone and dragged here by one of the settlement guards. ¡°I want that man killed for harming me and this man here locked up for his stupidity. To think you believed the ramblings of a janitor and not the person who was put in charge of that research facility?¡± ¡°Mr Bernette, I need you to be quiet for now.¡± Emma said. ¡°why should I? This man dragged me against my will here and I won¡¯t be quiet till I get justice.¡± ¡°Mr Bernette, if you don¡¯t be quiet, you will never get justice.¡± ¡°I will be quiet for now, but if I don¡¯t like the outcome, I will become the loudest voice in the settlement.¡± ¡°Whatever you want, Mr Bernette. Now, can you tell me why you have brought this man here?¡± ¡°The owner directed me to do so, and he also said tell you to send someone he can actually work with.¡± ¡°So it was Jake that sent you here?¡± ¡°Yes, I met him at the main gate. I could never not be able to recognise him.¡± ¡°Mr Bernette, do you know what you have done?¡± ¡°What I have done?¡± Mr Bernette asked, confused. ¡°If I got this right, you verbally abused the owner of this territory, then tried to make him your janitor. Did I get that right?¡± ¡°No, I didn¡¯t. That man clearly wasn¡¯t the owner. He was a janitor.¡± ¡°Mr Bernette, have you ever met the jake?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°The answer to that question is yes, Mr Bernette.¡± Emma yelled before making her voice softer and said, ¡°Mr Bernette, take a seat. I will talk to you about your next assignment after I find your replacement.¡± As she said this, a group of people walked in with Eric. Lady Emma, this is the team that found the mining site. ¡°Can you tell me your names and if I¡¯m not wrong, two of you can use blueprints?¡± ¡°Yes, my lady, our team originally had five members, but one didn¡¯t return. I am Joel Spencer, one of the two you just mentioned. This is Harrison Lopez, the other one, and finally our team¡¯s fighters, Mary Jones and Lewis Walker.¡± ¡°Your team will receive the rewards promised to you but I have a new mission for all of you Mr Spencer and Mr Lopez you two will work for the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group¡¯s founder and Miss Jones and Mr Walker you will work with the guards at the new construction site the nice man here will take you all to the site.¡± ¡°But, that¡¯s my job.¡± Mr Bernette said ¡°You lost that job when you fucked up and attacked the owner of the settlement.¡± ¡°But, I didn¡¯t know.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, so you treated him as you would one of the others, and might I say you shouldn¡¯t be in charge of a shita.¡± The man just looked confused at Emma. ¡°It¡¯s a fuken toilet, you idiot. Now go look after the new mining site and don¡¯t let me see you again till the job is done.¡± Emma turned to talk to the group. ¡°You four will be working directly under the founder, and his commands are the only ones you need to worry yourselves about. But you two.¡± Emma pulled Mr Lopez and Mr Spencer aside. ¡°technically you will work for the founder but he is going to leave the job to you. He will just do what he wants and won¡¯t think of any problems that may arise because of that. So here is a side job for you to clean up the mess he creates.¡± ¡°Yes, lady Emma.¡± ¡°Ok settlement guardsmen, take them back to the construction site please.¡± The group of mercenaries entered the site. ¡°Let me ask where the owner is.¡± The guard walked off toward the only fully constructed building. ¡°James, you¡¯re finally back.¡± The officer said ¡°Yes sir, I¡¯ve brought the replacements and two demon¡¯s hand mercenary fighters that will work with us under the command of the owner.¡± ¡°Well, where are they, then?¡± ¡°Outside, sir, I thought it would be wise to take the to the owner first. That could be an issue. He went out with some men for training his helping us work better as a team if you would like to take them out there. He said that they would be close to the old military camp. But leave me the replacement for Bernette. I really hate this job.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± James left the building and walked over to the group. ¡°you two can enter the building. The officer will get you organised. While you two can come with me.¡± ¡°Where are we going?¡± Mary said, ¡°to find the owner, he is said to be training some of our men.¡± The group left Walking through the bushland, the group of three walked in to the abandoned military camp. Sitting around a campfire, there was a group of guards. Their faces were as white as sheets. Walking up to them, James asked, ¡°where is the owner?¡± All the people at the fire shifted onto their feet and raised their weapons in unison, making a line with each guard watching another¡¯s shadow and the surrounding area. A voice came out of the tree¡¯s shadow behind them. ¡°it¡¯s okay, we are not in training right now. You can stand down your defence.¡± All the men lowered their weapons at the command. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°Sorry boss, we failed to detect you again.¡± ¡°Oh well, you will get there one day. Just keep trying.¡± ¡°Jake.¡± A female voice screamed, but before she could get to him, the team of guardsmen had already reached and had the lady pinned to the ground. ¡°Now that¡¯s some good reactions.¡± James said Jake spoke to the guards. "Let her go. She¡¯s not going to do any harm, are you, Mary?¡± ¡°No, I won¡¯t.¡± After the guards released her, she walked over to Jake and hugged him. ¡°Thank you for all the help.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t mention it, but I donate to ask what brings you out here?¡± ¡°They assigned us the job of working under the owner¡¯s command and helping the guards.¡± ¡°Really, that¡¯s interesting.¡± ¡°Yer, but he won¡¯t be able to compare to you.¡± Jake just laughed. ¡°So you think I¡¯m a good-looking guy and the owner isn¡¯t?¡± ¡°Well, I haven¡¯t seen him yet, but yes, you have to be better looking than a demon.¡± ¡°Now that¡¯s just mean.¡± One guard said before turning to the lady and saying in a censer tone, ¡°They''re the Same person. The man you are talking to is the owner of the settlement.¡± ¡°Now that was rood I was having fun.¡± ¡°You were just going to hurt the young lady once she found out about you, boss.¡± ¡°Wait, so you¡¯re the owner and founder.¡± ¡°Yes, I am. It¡¯s nice to see you again, Mary.¡± ¡°I, I¡¯m sorry.¡± She said as she released her hug and took a step back. ¡°What have you got to be sorry about? It¡¯s not like you have done anything wrong. So just relax. I won¡¯t bite.¡± Jake said But out of the blue, Mary muttered without thinking the word hard. The area went so silent you could have heard a pin drop. Until all the guards that Jake was training laughed loudly. ¡°Okay, if you¡¯re having this much fun, let¡¯s training again.¡± Jake said with in a voice that could freeze a man solid. ¡°No boss please, we just started our break.¡± ¡°What do you mean by just started? You have been resting for at least three minutes by my count. Now start running. Ill give you a head start.¡± ¡°Why did you have to say that?¡± the guards said to Mary as they ran as if their lives depended on it. ¡°Okay, so you came out here to do what exactly?¡± Jake said The two mercenaries were confused. ¡°Fine, see if you can hunt down those guards. It will be good practice for you all. And how about you did you wish to join in with the training?¡± Jake asked James. ¡°No, I think I will leave for now.¡± ¡°Oh, too bad. You could have joined your fellow guards in the fun.¡± James said to the two mercenaries as he left, ¡°good luck.¡± Ten days had passed with Jake and the two mercenaries hunting down the guards repeatedly. In the beginning Jake was working with the two mercenaries but as they got better Jake switched it up and began hunting them as well as they tried to hunt the guards. Jake popped out of a shadow behind Mary and Lewis and said, ¡°do you know what? This has been the most fun I have had in quite some time.¡± Bringing his hands down on their neck, both of them had been knocked unconscious. ¡°Well, I guess it¡¯s time for a break.¡± Jake said out loud. As soon as he rested his head, the group of guards jumped down from the treetops on to his position. Jake had been waiting for this moment just before they grabbed him Jake teleported away only to dash back at them kicking one in the back and throwing another into the tree trunk leaving four more to take down the guard regained their composure and regrouped ¡°formation 4.¡± Jake popped out of another shadow and grabbed the man that was giving commands. Once the commander was taken out, a group like this would normally crumble but it didn¡¯t ¡°formation 3.¡± Another guard said as the group moved to protect each other when Jake struck again making another man fall ¡°formation 2.¡± A man yelled. Followed by a crashing sound, ¡°formation 1,¡± the last guard yelled as he swung his body around every few seconds. Jake stepped out of his shadow as the man swung around, hitting Jake with his wooden practice weapon. Stepping back, Jake smiled ¡°well done, training is over. You win. What reward did your team decide on?¡± ¡°we have decided that we would like you to create a special operations group when you bring the guards under your command.¡± ¡°I can do that, but you are going to have to train the people and pick the people.¡± Joel Spencer was sitting in the office fending off the constant stream of angry scientists and smith¡¯s about how small there budgets are and issues of why they need more space for their specific areas there was one that came back every day to whine about how the research into glass was the most important factor in creating spaceships he would go on and on about it and today that man was here trying again to get more resources. The door swung open as a group of ragged looking people walked in. ¡°Mary, what happened?¡± Mary looked up at Joel. ¡°I lost.¡± ¡°Lost what?¡± ¡°My reward.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not making any sense. Why are you in this state?¡± ¡°She failed to win against us. She had plans for her reward, but since she failed, she didn¡¯t get it. Now she¡¯s moping around,¡± one guard said. ¡°What is this? I was here first, so why are you talking to these people and not answering my question?¡± ¡°No, your department will not receive any more resources. You have already received an increase to your budget and you will not receive any more.¡± ¡°But glass is the most important thing we need to figure out. It¡¯s not as easy as throwing sand in a fire.¡± The door cracked open and Jake walked in looking directly at the man and said, ¡°sit down. I¡¯m going to show you how to make it. Then the only job you will need to do is figure out how a profession user can reproduce the technique.¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s you again. I¡¯m not listening to the ramblings of an idiot that doesn¡¯t know what his talking about.¡± The man started to leave when Jake grabbed the man¡¯s long hair as he walked past and slammed him to the ground, making a crack in the floor. ¡°Jake, what are you doing? He is one of the settlements.¡± Mary walked over to Joel and spoke with him. Joel almost shouted his next sentence ¡°his, the founder.¡± Jake sat down beside the man and pulled out his cauldron. ¡°Just shut up and watch.¡± Jake heated the cauldron, then added sand and let it get to an appropriate temperature before saying, ¡°with the way I make things, I will be creating the housing for the glass to fit in, then I will make the glass. Making glass itself is a relatively simple process. It just requires heat sand with a high silica content. Then all you need to do is pour in a whole bunch of mana and you will get glass.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the stupidest thing I¡¯ve heard. Glass requires you to have at least these principal ingredients Sand (Silicon Dioxide), Soda Ash (Sodium Carbonate), Limestone (Calcium Carbonate).¡± ¡°Just shut up and watch.¡± ¡°I will not shut up when you are wrong and wasting my time.¡± Jake not listening to the man pulled out a simple window frame the same size as the one to the one the building has inside the frame sat a beautiful pane of glass with the image of the man sitting beside him with he was worshipping a cauldron and there was writing on the glass that said glass is heat, sand and mana. ¡°Is that proof enough for you yet we are in a universe where magic exists, not the old world you seem to be stuck in? Now go do your job and stop complaining, or I will personally take all of those resources you got away.¡± Ding! Profession level increased +70 points Stats at the end of the chapter Universal constant interface Name Jake everval Race demon of the past. Unique Grade G Information on G grade G upgrades to next grade at level 300 above previous, you get 1 grade level per 20 class or Profession level. This is the starting grade for all humanoid life forms in the open universe; there are no grade skills granted at this grade. Level 129. levels required till next grade evaluation 400 total Class trooper shadow mage (common) Class level 361 Profession Arcane Smith Profession level 159 stats points available 528,138 Mana 50,323,360 Arcane 50,423,500 Stamina 50,323,200 Health 50,633,360 Strength 1116 Agility 5,031,225 Intelligence 5,042,350 Wisdom 5,032,336 Perception 110,637 Integrity 5,063,336 Note Class Level increase is due to the year he spent fighting monsters and the Profession level increase is from making weapons for the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group from before he left to work on his skills. Chapter 37 to make an example Looking over his levels, Jake came to understand that for him right now, the easiest way to gain levels would be to work on his profession. So he asked around to find out what things people needed only for Joel to catch on to what he was doing and began getting a list together for items the construction site needed and gave them to Jake with an amount of materials. Jake sat in the bushland with countless people, watching him as they went about their day. It had been a month since he showed the glass man how to make glass. And now they redesigned every building on the site to include glass windows. ¡°Boss, how many items have you made?¡± James the guardsmen asked Yes, he and all the other guards now called him boss as Emma had made them all work for the settlement and, as such, make an oath to the owner of the settlement. ¡°950 glass windows for the buildings at common ranking, 2000 simple daggers, 500 self loading rifles and 32 sets of swords and shields for the mercenary group all with a rank of uncommon or higher. 900 sets of assorted tools for 90 different professions at common ranking and lastly 15 weapons pods for the new light fighters we will build when everything here has been built at common ranking.¡± ¡°Just wondering how many profession levels did you get? I¡¯ve been wondering if I should find a profession.¡± ¡°You should, otherwise you probably won¡¯t be able to get stronger when you reach your class cap and the levels I got were not grate but they will do. I got 100 levels.¡± ¡°Dose that mean you got 100 points to spend on your stats?¡± ¡°Ha, no. That¡¯s the base level you get per level. If you get titles, you will probably get a multiplier for the points. For example, I have a bunch of titles that give me 70 points per profession level.¡± ¡°So then you have 7000 points.¡± ¡°From just the profession levels, yes. But like I said titles give you multipliers and other things like reductions in levels needed to level up your grade for example if you had a reduction of 5 then at my grade with it I only need 15 levels per grade and without it I would need 20 levels.¡± ¡°how do I get a title?¡± ¡°the easy way is to join the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group as every member gets these two things first is the skill and the title.¡± Path of shadows (rare) you hide in the shadows and strike fast cost of use, arcane energy and stamina. Create a barrier around yourself to hinder vision and dash from shadow to shadow. Gives 5% to damage if the target is unaware of your attack. Title Member of the (Demon¡¯s Hand Mercenary Group) +10 points to grade level advancements and reduces levels needed to get next grade level by -5 ¡°But as for other ways to get them, you can complete a dungeon if you can find one, that is.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good reason to join the mercenary group. How come it¡¯s not spread? It would bring in lots more people to the mercenary group.¡± ¡°That information would bring in a lot of people but they would just be there for the title and not actual mercenaries, they wouldn¡¯t stand and fight if it was required they would just be bloating the ranks and that would take resources away from those that need it.¡± ¡°But if you had more people in the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group, then you could probably role the country.¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s not how we operate. It may seem that we are one big army but it¡¯s in the name we are fundamentally mercenaries that means any member can take on any job that is offered to them it could even be a job that goes against the groups goals for example if Jess and Matt were members of the group and they only decide to sell information to the US embassy because they were offered it as a job. I would have had no grounds to attack them. That is why, as the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group, we offer rewards to try and limit those potential issues from happening.¡± ¡°But that would leave your group members always watching their backs. How could they live like that?¡± ¡°If you''re not watching your back, then I would recommend you start to now. And on that note, talk to the group I trained. They should be setting up a training program. You need to join it.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°I will think about it. I should get back to work before my commanding officer sees me slaking off.¡± ¡°It¡¯s too late for that, isn¡¯t it?¡± Jake said in a louder tone. ¡°It most definitely is. James, you should take him up on that training program. The men he trained have become actual monsters in battle.¡± James left a minute later, after receiving orders from his commanding officer. ¡°So, what brings you out here on such a fine day?¡± Jake asked ¡°Well, I was going to ask you if you could help with the training, but after what I heard, you should really start working on gaining levels, you lucky bastard. How is it possible that you could have so many points when we have to go through so much just to get 1 point?¡± ¡°Tell me if I gave you the choice to join the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group, would you?¡± ¡°How would that work?¡± ¡°Okay, so I have an idea you already work for me kind of right.¡± ¡°Well, yes, the settlement council employs us.¡± ¡°Yes, so if I set up an open-ended job for you and your men to protect the settlement and its interests, would you take it? The reward would be the same as you get now and your ranking in the mercenary group would need to be worked out, but in time, you could end up with a lot more benefits.¡± ¡°That¡¯s too big of a decision for me to make alone. I will need to discuss it with my colleagues.¡± ¡°You do that. I was thinking of making a special forces unit for ground and one for space battles. Once we get there, would you be interested in that?¡± ¡°Well, that I can answer with a definite yes. But what would my position be in this unit?¡± ¡°It would be your unit to command. You have the right attitude for the job.¡± ¡°When do I start and who will be in it?¡± The team I trained and that man, James, for now. But I gave the team I trained the job of finding members and to train them. It is going to be a dangerous job. Are you sure you want it? ¡°Yes, sir.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to call me that. I¡¯m not a sir. Just call me Jake or if you must call me boss, that at least doesn¡¯t make me fill like an old English royal.¡± ¡°Yes boss. I will go talk to my colleagues about your offer and I will start working on putting together the special forces unit and tell you when it¡¯s ready for deployment.¡± Jake sat there for a bit longer, working on his long ass list of items he needed to make until the area¡¯s arcane energy drained, then he moved to a different spot. By the time he got to the end of the list, Jake had gained another 50 levels, but to get the levels, he had to do three times the amount then what it took to get the 100 levels. It had finally happened. Jake had drained an area the size of an Australian football oval. So he has started down the same path as Aaliyah. He would probably drain a galaxy soon enough. Jake opened up his interface and scrolled through the information it looks like he could fix it in time but doing any more work in this area would be detrimental to the research facility and production site being built so Jake got up and left the construction site heading into the settlement. Jake was looking around the settlement when he noticed a man selling some kind of cooked meat on a stick. Many people were interested as the line went at least for twenty metres. ¡°It¡¯s nice to see that businesses are opening up.¡± Jake said before continuing to walk to his destination. It took Jake longer than he would have preferred as on his way there wasn¡¯t just one stall selling stuff, it just so happened to be a market and Jake just so happened to walk straight through the centre. But at least Jake got to see what was being sold and for what prices they were being sold at it seemed to be that there was a new currency being used by those that lived in the settlement but those that didn¡¯t live in the settlement would pay with a different product. Looking closer at some of the strange currency, Jake noticed something very formal on the back of it. It was an image of himself in his demon form and it had writing going around the rim. It said freedom through adversity. ¡°Alright, that part¡¯s not bad. But why an image of me and why we¡¯re the people calling it demon credits?¡± Jake was saying as he entered the settlement hall to ask if they knew where Emma was. He wanted to get a quick rundown on what has been going on with the settlement lately before he went to see if the school has started yet. As he had time to take people to the other world. Jake walked up to the first person he saw and asked what he thought was an appropriate question. ¡°Excuse me. Can I ask where is Emma I would like to speak to here?¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± The man replied in an abrupt tone ¡°I said excuse me, so what¡¯s the problem?¡± ¡°That¡¯s got nothing to do with it. People like you should call her lady Emma. And for your rudeness, no I won¡¯t tell you where lady Emma is.¡± jake reached out and grabbed the man by the throat, lifting him into the air. ¡°Now, shall we start again? Where is Emma?¡± ¡°You dare attack a worker of this hall.¡± The man grunted out as jake slowly squeezed his wind pipe. The door to one room opened. ¡°What in the hell is going on out here? I¡¯m in an important meeting and you are causing such a commotion outside my fucken door. Explain yourself or I will kick you out of this settlement myself.¡± A man yelled. ¡°who the fuck are you to tell me what I can and can¡¯t do in my settlement? You will get Emma now. There is clearly an issue with the people she has been hiring.¡± Jake shouted back as he changed to his demon form to get the point across. The man in Jake¡¯s grasp shit himself while the man that was doing the yelling just stepped back in the room he came from and closed the door. Jake¡¯s anger rose to heights. He didn¡¯t think possible. Not only did this man threaten him, he also just ignored what he just said. Jake walked over to the door and with a solid kick blow the flimsy wooden door into tiny little splinters. Throwing the man he was holding into the room Jake stepped through as he looked around Jake noticed something he wished wasn¡¯t real in the room''s corner there lay a small bed made up of stacked chairs and tied to it was a beast folk of the feline type she was naked with bruises all over her body her hands tied above her head and her mouth covered but what was even more painful to see was the fact that she was not breathing the man had come back in to the room just to kill her. Jake dashed over to the man, knocking him to the ground. He placed his foot on the man¡¯s chest. Jake grabbed both of his arms and, with a solid tug, ripped one off, then repeated the action with the other one. The man was screaming bloody murder, but to Jake¡¯s blood filled ears it was just a whisper. After ripping off the man¡¯s arms, Jake reached down and used his healing skills to stop the bleeding. As he did this, he looked over at the other man on the floor. To Jake¡¯s relief, the man was still alive. It wasn¡¯t his fault for what happened here. He didn¡¯t deserve what Jake did to him. Jake was just getting sick of all the arrogant people he kept running into. But as for the piece of shit under his foot, Jake was going to make an example out of him. Chapter 38 thats a bear A minute had passed with the man screaming the whole time. Jake had done nothing else to the man, he just kept pinning him down with a foot firmly planted on the man¡¯s chest. ¡°Finally.¡± Jake said as a man walked through the door wearing a settlement guard uniform. ¡°My lord, what has happened here?¡± ¡°This man committed murder and is to be executed for his crimes as for the lady there, try to find her family if she¡¯s got any. Make sure no one enters this room other than Kiki, Eric and Emma, not a single other person. Now, can you help me find Emma, Kiki, and Eric?¡± ¡°Yes, sir, and Emma is currently at the main gate. She was just about to leave on a hunting expedition with her team. As for Eric, he is currently helping over at a settlement that propped up in what used to be the town of Wonthaggi. He took over fifty mercenaries and ten of the settlement guards with him. Kiki is the only one left in the settlement. I think she might be at the mercenary group¡¯s hall, which they relocated closer to the main gate. Then there¡¯s the secondary building that is used for training near the construction site back in the bushland. Or she could be at the new school that is just down the street in a newly constructed building. I¡¯ve actually been thinking of sending some of the guards there to learn new skills. It would be of grate use for us to produce our own weapons and potions, then we can spend more time out in the field without needing to return to the settlement for resupplies.¡± ¡°Thank you. Make sure you keep an eye on that fool that other guy can go. He was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Also, tell your men what I look like. I have noticed that people don¡¯t know who I am, and it¡¯s coursing a lot of issues or I could just go around in my demon form that would also work.¡± Jake said as he was walking out of the room. After jake had left, the guard that was speaking muttered, ¡°now that guy is scary.¡± Looking over at the man he was told to let go, he asked, ¡°now what the fuck did you do?¡± As he was walking over to him, the man spoke in a horse voice ¡°I fucked up didn¡¯t I?¡± The guard laughed and replied, ¡°oh boy, yes you did.¡± ¡°What the fuck happened here?¡± An angry voice yelled from the doorway. The guard turned to look, seeing it was some council official, the guard commenced his job. ¡°Sir, this area is off limits to all people, and I¡¯m going to have to ask you to leave.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t give me that crap. Do you know how I am? This is my brother¡¯s office and ¨C jack. What happened to you?¡± The man tried to run over to his disarmed brother, but the guard quickly responded and blocked his path. ¡°Sir, we are placing your brother under arrest for murder. If you move any closer, I will arrest you for obstruction of justice.¡± ¡°Bull shit, that¡¯s my brother. He wouldn¡¯t kill anyone. Someone must have framed him. Just open your eyes. They ripped off his arms and left him here to be found. Get out of my way now.¡± The man yelled. ¡°Sir, a witness caught your brother in the act. So I must again ask you to leave. And you can also go. Next time you meet him, I suggest you try to be a lot more courteous.¡± The guard said to the man on the ground. ¡°I will. Thank you.¡± The man went to leave when he was stopped at the door by the brother of the murderer. ¡°Where do you think you''re going, my brothers lying there on the floor and you think you can just leave? You will tell me right now who set up my brother and why?¡± The man that was trying to leave replied in the loudest voice he could manage with his damaged vocals ¡°I don¡¯t have to tell you shit and I will give you a peace of advice that I wish I had five minutes ago be courteous otherwise you may just piss off someone you really shouldn¡¯t.¡± the man pushed passed and walked away only to be hit in the head, he crumpled to the ground as his vision went dark. ¡°You idiot turning your back to someone you just made an enemy o¨C¡± the man¡¯s head hit the ground as his body was still standing. The man¡¯s blood stained the guard¡¯s blade. ¡°Are you alright?¡± the guard asked as he was helping the man up. ¡°Yes, thank you. What the fuck was all that about?¡± ¡°sir I think you may want to look over your actions before you ask that.¡± ¡°Well, thank you again. May I leave?¡± ¡°Yes, I will take care of all this. You can just leave, just keep out of trouble.¡± Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Jake was walking down the street to the main exit when he saw it. The building had five stories and at the door there stood a sign it said Jake¡¯s school of witchcraft. Working title. ¡°What kind of messed up joke is that?¡± ¡°Boss, like the name?¡± ¡°No. I definitely don¡¯t. And what¡¯s with those damned coins being used in the market?¡± Jake said to Kiki, ¡°did you by any chance come up with this idea?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not fair. It wasn¡¯t just me, and it does have a bit of a ring to it.¡± ¡°Ar, fuck it. Do what you want.¡± ¡°Okay, we will. The school will forever be known as Jake¡¯s school of witchcraft.¡± She said with a laugh. ¡°So have we got some people together for going to the other would. I have decided to go there to enhance my profession, and I thought I could bring along some of the teachers who have been selected.¡± ¡°How many people can you take because on the mercenary group side we have five people that would like to go and three more from the council?¡± ¡°That leaves me with two spots empty. wait I¡¯ve got two people that could use the experience. Could you find someone to get Mary and Lewis? There are plenty of things to kill over there, and it would be good to have some more fighters to help out.¡± ¡°What types of monsters are there?¡± ¡°Mostly spiders, but they are not like the monsters here there not as dumb there more evolved, some possibly above E grade.¡± ¡°And you only need two people as guards?¡± ¡°Ar, to be perfectly honest, I don¡¯t need them. The place we are going is kind of like a safe zone.¡± After talking with Kiki for a while, Jake was escorted into the school, where he sat down and waited for the people to arrive. Three hours later, Jake was still in the room, but now the room was void of any arcane energy. ¡°I should probably figure out how to fix that.¡± ¡°Fix what?¡± a man said. He was the spitting image of the chicken loving colonel. ¡°Nothing, it doesn¡¯t matter. I¡¯m assuming you¡¯re one of the others that will be going with me.¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯m an alchemist from the council. There will also be two black smith¡¯s going as well.¡± ¡°I believe they are called smith¡¯s, but ultimately yes, they do just hit something with a hammer.¡± Jake replied ¡°Is that so?¡± a lady said from behind the chicken colonel. ¡°Show me it¡¯s different, and I will retract my statement. ¡° The lady went quiet, not taking any action, as this would only prove his point. Jake had said what he did to put a fire under the smith¡¯s ass to prove to the alchemist that a smith is more than just a blacksmith from before the system. He just wanted to see the alchemist''s face when he realised that it was his profession that was limited the most. But this could all be just Jake¡¯s bias on the whole alchemy bull shit and his hatred at sitting for hours as right now his ass hurts. ¡°Yer, you blacksmiths are nothing but a bunch of hammer winding brutes.¡± ¡°Okay, that¡¯s enough.¡± Jake said. After the two people from the council arrived, the five teachers from the mercenary group entered, followed by the last smith from the council. Now they were only waiting for Mary and Lewis to arrive. Fifteen minutes passed before Mary and Lewis entered the room. The same old man spoke first. ¡°What took you so long? We¡¯ve been waiting for hours.¡± Jake took a quick look at the man, then back at the two latecomers. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you again,¡± Jake said before the old man spoke again. ¡°Now all we have to do is wait for the one who can supposedly can take us to a different world.¡± Jake looked over at the man with a bit of a frown ¡°alright I¡¯m starting to get a little fed up with your crap and before you try to say something I happen to be that person how can take you to a different world also I¡¯m the fucken owner of this settlement so if you wish to keep your place in this group then shut up for once in your life.¡± The other people that were picked by the council started clapping. "You idiot, you didn¡¯t even know that the man you were standing next to was Jake, the owner of this settlement. You are so far up yourself that you didn¡¯t even research who it was that was taking us. I even bet you thought you were going to be in charge of all of us,¡± one of the members of the mercenary group said while holding back her laughter. ¡°Okay colonel you can sit back down now and let the Boss tell you what we will be doing.¡± ¡°Thank you Mary. Now, shall we get started with some simple rules? rule once we get there. You eight are not allowed to leave the cabin. This is for your own safety. There are powerful monsters on the planet. Rule two, there are a lot of books there and you can read anything as long as it has nothing to do with a lady named Aaliyah or the profession of an arcane smith. Those two things are out and if I find out that anyone has broken that rule, I will kill them. The third and final rule is to use your time there wisely. Your time will be limited and, as such, you won¡¯t be able to read everything.¡± Jake walked up to the group and asked what everyone¡¯s name was. Council personnel Mark Ross also now as the colonel. Alchemist age 67. Rosabella White. Smith 53. Tristan O¡¯Neill. Smith 48. Demon¡¯s hand mercenary group Samuel Hobbs (Sami). alchemist age 55. Jeffrey Rasmussen. Alchemist age 29. Ibrahim Nunez. Smith age 20. Serenity Robinson. Alchemist age 68. Ebony Tapia. Smith age 19. And finally, there were the two Jake already knew. ¡°Last chance, does everyone have what they need?¡± no one replied. They all just looked at him oddly. Jake quickly activated the token and whisked them all away. Emma was out with her team they had hunted down quite a few low rank monsters since they had been out here she wished that there was more time than what she had for hunting but for now she had five days all for the progression of her class levels It was odd now that she looked at her levels she noticed the profession level was now twice as high as her class level. But for now, all her efforts would be all for her class levels. ¡°Emma, his coming around on your right flank. Hit him hard.¡± Thud! ¡°Yes, you got it.¡± ¡°Nice work Emma. that¡¯s one big ass monkey. also how are there monkeys in Australia?¡± ¡°They would have escaped from one of the zoos. What the fuck is that?¡± one of the team said ¡°That is a bear.¡± Emma said. Chapter 39 is it a betrayal When Jake and the group emerged from the cottage, a man stepped out of the shadows. ¡°Welcome back founder, lady Erica has given us orders to post a guard here for your return.¡± ¡°How is she? And how did you get here?¡± ¡°Lady Erica is doing well. She is currently dealing with a diplomatic issue in her home galaxy, so sadly, she¡¯s not here at the moment. As for how we got here.¡± the man pointed at the token in Jake¡¯s hand and said. ¡°She has one of them.¡± ¡°Really, how many mercenaries do we have on the planet at the moment?¡± ¡°Ten fighters for security and thirty profession users and ten officials to help run the construction project.¡± ¡°What are you building?¡± ¡°A research facility around two hundred metres north from here and a space-based shipyard with construction facilities on the moon and a space elevator from the moon¡¯s surface to the shipyard.¡± ¡°What ships are you producing?¡± ¡°Troop transport ships and copies of the retribution. We would like to make fighters, but we don¡¯t have blueprints for them.¡± ¡°I have blueprints, but I will need them back before I leave. Do you have someone that can copy them?¡± ¡°Yes, we do. I will send one of our blueprints over to you.¡± The man said excitedly. ¡°That¡¯s good. I will be here for a while. I¡¯ve got a lot of research to do, so will you leave someone around that can assist with odd jobs?¡± ¡°Yes, I can. I will send my brother Mike over.¡± ¡°One last thing. Why are you building all this infrastructure here and not in the claimed territory?¡± ¡°We are making this a fall back location as the Wandering Imperium has abandoned our home galaxy. This area is relatively safe, so we are going to build up our forces and retake our home.¡± ¡°Why did the Wandering Imperium abandon us?¡± ¡°It was internal issues with the Imperium. They betrayed us, leaving us on a planet surrounded on all sides by our enemies. If it wasn¡¯t for lady Erica¡¯s efforts, we would all be dead.¡± ¡°thank you. May I ask your name?¡± ¡°Commander Estella sir.¡± ¡°Commander?¡± ¡°Yes sir. We have made a ranking system for large group missions. A group mission requires leader is required to undergo a leadership training program.¡± Estella sent Jake a system message with the details of the ranking system. Notification Demon¡¯s hand leadership ranking system. Small group ranking officers Small group other ranks Medium group ranking Medium group other ranks Large group ranking Large group other ranks ¡°We needed this kind of structure for the cooperation of larger missions, but anyone can still leave and gain whatever they want. Even working for themselves and the military style ranking system has no physical power outside of combat missions or specific mission types like this one and the majority of the personal in the ranks were originally guards and the like so they don¡¯t really enjoy taking on jobs that don¡¯t a line with the mercenary group¡¯s goals.¡± ¡°I have some guards back on my home planet that look to be entering the mercenary group and some that I plan to form I to a special forces team could you find someone to teach these two all about how this new system works and I will implement what you have told me into the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group¡¯s system imposed information and rules. This will also make it clear what the group is for, so that it doesn¡¯t interfere with the original purpose of the mercenary group.¡± After talking with the commander and sending off Mary and Lewis. Jake took the rest of the people into the cottage, sending them off to the library room and giving them a last reminder not to read the restricted information. Before starting on his grand sitting journey, Jake brought up his interface and, with some effort, began modifying the information on the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group. To do this type of thing was a lot like merging skills. You had to know what you wanted to change and have an addiction understanding of what was being changed. Only then would the system help with the creation of what you wanted. But if you were lacking knowledge or misunderstood, the information you wanted to change the system might still activate and change the information anyway, causing an odd output. Warning. You are attempting to change the structure of an established group. Changes may cause unforeseen side effects. Do you wish to continue? Yes/No. Jake selected yes, then he looked over the prompt. ¡°That¡¯s cool. It¡¯s given out new titles, but what¡¯s that part at the end? Did I lose concentration at the end or what? Well, I guess if it¡¯s in the description, we are just going to have to do it. Ar, but it¡¯s good I can just leave that bull shit to someone else.¡± In a building on the surface of the moon Erica was working on a peace treaty with the Grand Empire of the Warring Path and the United Commerce Guild as this is the enemy that they made with the ill-fated mission the Demon¡¯s Hand Mercenary Group took on behalf of the Wandering Imperium. When to her surprise, a message appeared in front of her. Notification Jake Everval has changed information on the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group. Would you like to review the changes? Yes/No. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Erica looked up from the paperwork and said. ¡°He¡¯s back.¡± then she looked back down at the papers on her desk. ¡°Just if I didn¡¯t have to deal with this.¡± On the paper it listed a bunch of demands that the Grand Empire of the Warring Path and the United Commerce Guild demanded. The first demand was that the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group was to be disbanded the second was that all claimed territory was to be handed over to the United Commerce Guild and the third demand was that all the Nordicless in the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group were to return to the rightful owners. ¡°These demands are going too far.¡± A lady said from the other side of the table. ¡°Yer, we can¡¯t expect these demands.¡± ¡°What are we going to do, then? If we can¡¯t leave this moon and venture out into the galaxy, how will we get stronger?¡± the lady said. ¡°Plan B.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Erica pulled out the transportation token. ¡°Plan B is already in action. The plan is to transport our people to Aaliyah¡¯s home world and begin the process of retaking this solar system.¡± ¡°So we¡¯re abandoning this territory, then.¡± ¡°No, this territory is ours, and we will not give an inch away.¡± Earth Europe branch ¡°Eric, we have a problem.¡± ¡°What is it now? Did those idiots attack again?¡± ¡°No sir. The ships from space have landed. There have only been three ships so far, but they deployed some kind of weapon and a small group of soldiers. They landed in Kaliningrad.¡± ¡°Get this information back to Jake as fast as possible. Tell them we may need assistance.¡± Eric said in a rush as he stood up and left the office he was in just before a system message appeared. Quickly reading it. Eric said, ¡°just what we need, but a bit late.¡± Yelling at some passers-by to get their teams ready for an attack on the base. Eric left the camp with his team, heading directly for the sightings of the ships. It took them twelve hours to get there as they had to use their stealth skill to move through the terrain as in Europe there was a lot of strange creatures like ones from fairytales and some that belonged in horror movies there were even vampires as he could remember before the system he once spent the night with his family of humans watching horror movies and that night he couldn¡¯t get to sleep the next day he was so worn out he couldn¡¯t even get out of bed he even broke one of the house rules and peel his bed he was so impressed and ashamed that he tried to clean it up himself but that only made things worse as he was found out by the youngest of the humans he was ten years old then the boy yelled ¡°mum Eric peed inside and his cleaning it up with his tung.¡± Then the clattering of plates and heavy footsteps came down the hall. ¡°Sadly, my memories get hazy about the planet before the system happened. There are a lot of things I have just forgotten. I don¡¯t even remember the names of my family or even if they survived the system¡¯s integration.¡± Eric thought Standing at the border of Kaliningrad, Eric was looking on as three drop ships. ¡°Quite the similar design to the landing vessels from the starship troopers movie, right?¡± one person said from Eric¡¯s team said ¡°Hopefully it goes as good for them as it did for that reporter, right?¡± Eric replied ¡°I didn¡¯t know you watched that. Wait, you were a pet before the system. So you remember things, right? Did you ever see you now?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Eric replied. ¡°That¡¯s fucken wired. I had a pet dog, and he used to watch me in the shower. Do you think he still remembers that?¡± The only female member of Eric¡¯s team asked, ¡°Oh, definitely.¡± Eric said with a grin. Before going back to observing the situation. After observing the drop ships for a day, one of Eric¡¯s team members said, ¡°it looks like the Russians are rounding up any beast folk on their territory and handing them over to the invaders for something.¡± ¡°Yes, it does.¡± Eric said with a bit of anger in his voice. ¡°Eric, look, it¡¯s some of the parliament members of the country our recruitment hall is. What do you think there up to? Do you think they''re going to follow in the same path as Russia?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but we are going to need to find out. Let¡¯s get closer.¡± Eric and his team relocated from their location to a position approximately fifteen metres away from the landing zone. Once the parliament members entered the landing zone, they were escorted into one of the dropships, and all the invaders at the landing zone also followed them into the ship. ¡°What do you think? Do we try to steal one of them?¡± Eric said The team looked at him in surprise as this wasn¡¯t the usual approach Eric would take he would usually just gather information then if the situation presented itself he would attack but to sneak in without knowing even how to operate the ship was just odd but the team was a team for a reason. ¡°That¡¯s not like you, but I agree we should give it a try.¡± ¡°So do we,¡± the rest of the team said The group of mercenaries moved swiftly into the landing zone and headed towards the closest dropship. They reached the two front ramps of the ship and witnessed cages filling the lower floor. The cages, stacked two high, they contained unconscious beast folk. Climbing the ladder in the centre of the two doors Eric and the female member Ann entered the cockpit there was one person sitting in one of the flight seats Ann jumped forward Grabbing hold of the man¡¯s hands the Eric tied the man¡¯s hands and gagged his mouth before removing the man from his seat. Ann, being the only one on the team with a background in flying, sat in the seat and looked over the controls. ¡°I think I¡¯ve got this. This is the throttles for the rear engines. This one is for lifting engines and this set of controls is for manoeuvring. All I need is how to start it.¡± Eric looked over the controls and said, ¡°try the big red button.¡± Ann looked at where he was pointing and slammed her hand on the button for what seemed to be a minute nothing happened then the engines roared to life as Ann pushed the throttles forward everyone in the dropship felt their mana being drained away the more she pushed the engines. ¡°These things drain us hard and we can only just keep it in the air. We will need to put it down fast.¡± Ann said ¡°How far can we get in the lowest drain?¡± ¡°At the lowest mana drain we could make it back to Australia but the speed will be slow, not at the speed of a jet but the speed of an old DC3, but we will make it. What¡¯s your command?¡± We need to get this back to the settlement, but I need to stay here. Take us towards the new hall. You can take the non-combatants back to Australia while I will stay and fight. End of chapter demon¡¯s hand mercenary group information sheet. Demon¡¯s hand mercenary group Eath branch Eric and Kiki directors Moon branch Erica director Rules Ranking system Ranking for non combatants Members will receive Path of shadows (rare) you hide in the shadows and strike fast cost of use, arcane energy and stamina. Create a barrier around yourself to hinder vision and dash from shadow to shadow. Gives 5% to damage if the target is unaware of your attack. Title Member of the (Demon¡¯s Hand Mercenary Group) +10 points to grade level advancements and reduces levels needed to get next grade level by -5 Motto: freedom through adversity. Bio. This Group was created by a group of beastman and humans. After forming a base of operations in the Strzelecki ranges in the safe zone created by Jake Everval. The main branch is located on the planet known as earth. With branch locations in all territories belonging to Jake Everval. And sub branches to be founded in other locations. Throughout the universe. Demon¡¯s Hand Mercenary Group Military Guard structure. Demon¡¯s hand leadership ranking system. Small group other ranks Medium group ranking Medium group other ranks Large group ranking Large group other ranks The role of the Guards Title Member of the (Demon¡¯s Hand Mercenary Group Guards) +5 points to grade level advancements stacks with the title Member of the (Demon¡¯s Hand Mercenary Group) Special forces group. AKA space marines. Title Demon¡¯s Hand special forces +15 points to grade level advancements stacks with the title Member of the (Demon¡¯s Hand Mercenary Group) and Member of the (Demon¡¯s Hand Mercenary Group) No ranking system Role How to enter the special forces? Branch trial. This trial is to prove who is the best mercenary it will be scored on how many jobs have been completed and the difficulty of the job. The trial will also be open to profession users. Ten yearly ranking fights. These fights are to provide a ranking system for each branch. The main branch can not compete in the ranking fights. The fights will be conducted on the home planet of Aaliyah La flame and will be a battle royal and will run for one year and the last one standing will be the winner. Rules of the fight: Chapter 40 new way of the arcane smith Jake was reading some books on advanced smithing techniques when a man entered the room. ¡°You must be Mike.¡± ¡°Yes sir. My brother said you requested assistance with something.¡± The man said, standing at attention the whole time. ¡°Please take a seat and relax. I just wanted someone to do odd jobs while I¡¯m here. I really didn¡¯t expect someone of your calibre.¡± Jake identify the man Identify Race Humanoid lifeform (Nordicless) Name (Mike) Grade (F) Level (105) Information: member of the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group and a deputy to one of the five council members on the Nordicless home planet¡¯s moon. ¡°So I¡¯m guessing you joined as a noncombatant and are more adept at the political arena than Estella is.¡± ¡°Yes sir. My brother has all the ability when it comes to fighting, but I¡¯ve got him beat in politics.¡± ¡°That good do you work with Erica much?¡± ¡°No sir, I have never had the pleasure of working with lady Blake.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a pity. Any way what do you know about Smith or alchemy?¡± ¡°Nothing of value. But if you wish for me to find out some information, I can get to work on that right away, sir.¡± ¡°Man, you are good. Okay, I¡¯m looking for information that will let me reduce the mana and arcane energy needed to make items in my cauldron.¡± ¡°Sir, are you an arcane smith?¡± ¡°Yes, I am. Is that a problem?¡± ¡°No problem, it¡¯s just the only other arcane smith that I know is lady La flame.¡± ¡°That should be correct. She should be the only other arcane smith in the universe.¡± ¡°Then how come you haven¡¯t asked her for help?¡± ¡°My path is not the same as Aaliyah¡¯s and I must find my own way forward.¡± ¡°That¡¯s probably for the best. If you follow someone else¡¯s path, it will take you longer to get to the pinnacle. I¡¯ll get to work now, sir.¡± Mike said Jake set the Mike off to look through all the books and any information he could gather from the profession users on the planet. As jake was thinking of what to do next, he and everyone else from earth System event. Objective defend your planet from a full scale F grade invasion. begins in four years and the planet¡¯s inhabitants must defend it by themselves no external forces can be used in the battle. Prize. a planetary shield. Duration length is one era or one million years. Defends against planetary bombardment. Bonus reward for the organisation with the most impact on the planet¡¯s defence. The organisation will receive the title true defenders Title Staunch defenders Receive a stat multiplier of 10 times multiplier to health mana, arcane and stamina, plus 10 points to grade levels With the base 10 multiplier that he already has and this belief everyone else had because he didn¡¯t have any titles that said otherwise, that would give Jake a new base of 20 meaning for every one point spent it would equal twenty points in its given stat for example right now Jake had 539,608 stat points available to spend and if he spent them on integrity, he would get a total of 10,792,160 added to his health pool. And if he added it to his mana that would turn him into a great battery as that was what Jake come to the understanding that technology was the way to go so he had decided that he would turn himself into a big ass battery that could run for years with no need to be recharged. So doing that, Jake really needed that title. ¡°It might even solve the issue I¡¯m having with all was draining the arcane energy out of an area if I can make my stats high enough. But I won¡¯t be able to test that out till I get much stronger. Hell, after talking to Mike, I found out that people don¡¯t even get to use arcane energy in actual skills until they reach D grade. But at least he gave me a good rundown of the system rules that were pieced together by his people.¡± Stat rules Base sat for each grade. The base stat will increase by 10 points + grade stat multipliers earned. Level sat for each level in a given grade, class, profession. The base stat will increase by 1 point + level stat multipliers For every new grade, your level resets to zero TG upgrades to next tier at level 100 you get 1 grade level per 10 class or Profession level this grade is a training grade that the universal system sets up for all newly integrated universes TG levels will be changed to G levels on completion of the tutorial. G upgrades to the next tier at level 300 above previous, you get 1 grade level per 20 class or profession level. This is the starting grade for all humanoid life forms in the open universe. There are no grade skills granted at this grade. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. F upgrades to next tier at level 600 above previous you get 1 grade level per 30 class or Profession level anyone below this grade in the open universe will not survive unless protected by life-sustaining means such as planetary Shields and the like no f graders ever entered space and survived for more than two years. E upgrades to next tier at level 900 above previous you get 1 grade level per 40 class or profession level in e-grade. The rigours of space travel are reduced so that humanoids can survive outside of protected environments for a limited time. D upgrades to the next tier at level 1000 above previous, you get 1 grade level per 50 class or profession level. Arcane affinity suits can be summoned to protect a d grade from dangerous environments. C upgrades to the next tier at level 1300 above previous, you get 1 grade level per 60 class or Profession level c grades can impose arcane affinity over a larger area. This includes destructive affinities. B upgrades to the next tier at level 1600 above previous, you get 1 grade level per 70 class or Profession level. No information on grades higher than c. A upgrade to the next tier at level 1900 above previous you get 1 grade level per 80 class or Profession level. S upgrades to next tier at level 2000 above previous you get 1 grade level per 90 class or Profession level. No information on any further grades. Jake also got some good information on impulse engines and how the FTL system worked. Impulse engines FTL This vital information was what Jake needed to rebuild the engines for his shuttle and the fighters he had planned. Learning this information, Jake pulled out one blueprint of the smallest impulse engines. As Jake looked over the design, he noticed it was broken down into parts that could be made separately. Jake realised one thing all those books in the library were old and some of the information may actually be wrong or limited to only information that could improve the basic ability of an arcane smith so the information might actually be of limited use for the smith¡¯s and alchemist that Jake brought here. As Jake thought about this, one of the smiths came over to Jake. ¡°thank you for allowing us this opportunity. The information here is so far above what we put together on earth, this will advance earth¡¯s knowledge on smithing techniques by decades.¡± Jake was stunned. He had just discovered that the information had limitations, but to the people from Earth, it held a wealth of valuable information. ¡°That¡¯s okay, don¡¯t mention it.¡± Jake looked over the blueprints for some time before Mike got back to give Jake an update on his assignment from what Mike said Jake needed to reduce the amount of arcane energy he used and instead he needed to work on the quality this should also have the added benefit of having a higher chance to increase the rarity of the item. At least that¡¯s what the smith that Mike asked said. Before Mike left to ask the alchemist some questions, Jake stopped him and asked if it would be possible for a supply of the materials required for making an impulse engine or two. Jake really wanted more supplies, but he didn¡¯t want to take away from the construction materials. After an hour had passed, a person walked over to jake and handed him a ring before bowing and asking if he could copy his blueprints now. Jake nodded and handed over the blueprints before going back to the ring and moving the items in to his own storage ring to Jake¡¯s astonishment the amount of resources I the ring was at least enough to make two small fighters Jake came up with an idea he would attempt to make a small runabout it would be a simple cockpit with engines attached and instead of a door to get in he would make the top of the cockpit lift. It would be a wonderful goal for him while he¡¯s here. Jake Was sitting in front of his cauldron. He started by doing some small experiments by reducing the amount of arcane energy he used in his hammer skill, but the moment he refused the arcane energy, the skill would fail destroying the materials in the cauldron. Jake kept trying to modify the amount of energy for half the day. Before yelling, ¡°why won¡¯t you work? It¡¯s not like I¡¯m asking for a lot. Wait, I¡¯m an idiot. I should have started with refining my control over the energy before reducing the amount.¡± Jake spent the rest of the day slowly tightening up his control over his skill. Then he spent two more days slowly reducing the energy required to use the skill when, on the fourth day, the system took over and completed the skill for him. Skill upgrade (Arcane hammer rare) Use your Arcane energy to reshape items < (Refined Arcane hammer rare) use your refined arcane energy to reshape items in a more detailed manner. Reduces the amount of arcane energy required by 50% Ding! Profession level increased + 350 points ¡°Yes, it worked, and I got five levels for it, too.¡± Having rested for what felt like a minute, Jake sat back up at his cauldron and began working on the second arcane skill. Arcane flame. This one stumped him, as he didn¡¯t even know where to start. Jake just stood there staring at his cauldron in disgust at how this item has taken away his freedom of movement for so long. Five more days had passed when Mike returned as jake was staring at his cauldron with utter hatred in his eyes. ¡°Sir, are you okay?¡± Jake looked up at the man, his eyes bloodshot, as if he hadn¡¯t slept for years. what was once white is now red, Mike thought ¡°Sir, I have spoken to the alchemist and with a lot of diplomacy on my part. It appears that smithing and alchemy are closely connected. They said the same thing as the smith¡¯s, reducing the amount of mana you need to refine your use of mana.¡± Jake was only half listening as Mike rambled on about how alchemists were the worst type of people. ¡°That¡¯s it. Why didn¡¯t I think of that earlier?¡± ¡°Yer, those alchemists really do like to keep their secrets. The stuff I had to give them in return for that information.¡± Mike kept ranting about alchemists. Jake put away his cauldron and started to form a barrier out of mana. Then just before it would form, Jake would try to change its shape only for it to collapse in on itself and peter out, then Jake would try it again and again. Mike sat and watched as Jake repeated the same actions again and again, not changing a thing till one day had passed. Jake was still standing in the same spot. The only thing that was moving was the mana barrier. When finally the barrier reacted and changed forms, then once it changed, it collapsed. Mike couldn¡¯t hold back his joy and finally spoke. ¡°Good job sir, you got it to change forms. That¡¯s a skill only alchemists can do.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not done yet. This is just the start.¡± Time passed by as jake worked tirelessly on this one skill from one day to five then from five days to ten till finally Jake stopped on the twentieth day. A notification displaying in front of him. skill upgrade (small mana shield common) You can produce a small physical shield of mana anywhere on your body < (reactive mana barrier rare) a barrier is formed and changed at the unconscious will of the caster barrier size is limited only to the casters mana pool. Ding! Profession level increased + 700 points Ding! Grade level increased + 90 points Jake pulled out a chunk of steel and throw it in the air, catching it inside the barrier then using his not yet upgraded skill Arcane flame heated the steel till it was glowing hotel then the sun and finally without missing a beat forged the steel into its final form the steel changing before their eyes when finally it took it final form that of a dagger the engraving on the blade of the dagger was that of a dragon and in its claw was a broken set of shackles and on the handle was an engraving that said for a friend that helped when it was needed the most. Jake reached his hand out and plucked the item from the barrier. Identify Item Dagger forged by the demon of the past (growth item epic) This dagger will grow to match the strength of the one it is bound to plus 25 to piercing damage plus 15 to stealth attacks. Soulbound (¨C) Ding! Profession level increased + 2100 Ding! grade level increased + 180 Bonus points gained for creating your first soulbound item 1000 points earned Tittle The new path of the arcane smith Using arcane energy will require less focus and will draw less arcane energy from the surrounding area when forgoing. Skill upgraded skill (Arcane flame rare) An explosive flame contained within a mana barrier. < (Attuned arcane flame epic) a roaring flame of pure arcane energy that is attuned to the casters will. Ding! Profession level increased by + 1050 Ding! Grade level increased + 90 points ¡°This is a gift for you.¡± Jake handed the dagger over to Mike without any hesitation. ¡°I can¡¯t take this. It would be better if you kept it.¡± ¡°It would hurt me more if you refused. It was made for you, so if you don¡¯t take it, I will just have to destroy it.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Mike said as he bowed his head and took the dagger from Jake¡¯s hand, placing it on his belt before he asked if Jake had another task for him to do. Chapter 41 runabout Jake had asked Mike to find some smith¡¯s and alchemists to help with the training of the people Jake had brought with him, but Jake clarified they needed to learn their trades through adversity. Jake emphasised that they should not be spoon-fed information, but rather learn their trades through adversity. Then he asked for Mike to look after the training to make sure it goes smoothly. Jake stood looking at his enemy and the latest battle Jake won over its need to force people to sit and use it. ¡°I won, you piece of shit. You think you can force me to sit? Not anymore. You have lost the war, so just retire to the depths of this ring.¡± Jake put the cauldron into his storage ring, then pulled out his blueprints, which were returned some time during Jake¡¯s training. ¡°Okay, so it¡¯s time to give this the old college try.¡± Jake pulled out the materials needed to create three impulse engines and forged parts starting with the casings then moving onto the more tricky parts Jake failed to get the fuel system right five times before finally it just clicked into place the first engine was done and it only took a month and ten days. Surely the next one wouldn¡¯t take Jake as long to complete. Spoiler, it did, and Jake hated that fact. It seemed his new method of forging had some kinks that needed ironing out. On the third and final engine, it only took Jake one month to complete. As jake got used to his forging method, there were some good points such as being able to see the item at its full size but a con is the fact the system doesn¡¯t help fill in any blank spots Jake might have about the item Jake had to know every detail before he forged otherwise the item would fail and jake would be left with scrap. Now that Jake had made the engines he now started on the airframe and armour plating the little runabout was taking shape it looked a lot like a door stop with stubby wings and a glass canopy Jake made two rotary cannons and built the into the wings with an ammo box located behind the pilot¡¯s seat the only thing left was the controls and for that Jake was well and truly out of his depth he needed to find Mike to see if he knew a person who could help. Jake was surprised that the runabout actually worked when he put it into his storage, and then he left to find Mike. He first went into the cottage, but it seemed that the only ones in there were the group he brought with him. Then he walked down a trail towards the new construction site and asked around, only to be met with suspicion. Jake kept going till he saw someone he recognised. ¡°Estella, you wouldn¡¯t know where your brother is, would you?¡± ¡°Just down the path in the building on the right, his in a meeting at the moment. Is there something I could help you with?¡± ¡°Maybe I need someone with a good understanding of building flight controls.¡± Estella looked around then in a loud voice that drowned out all the construction noise said, ¡°we need a tech specialist to assist the founder of the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group. Do we have any volunteers?¡± To Jake¡¯s astonishment, only one person put up their hand walking to the front of the pack. "What¡¯s your name?¡± Estella asked, ¡°Harry sir and I¡¯ve got a good understanding about computer related items.¡± ¡°Good, you will go with the founder here and don¡¯t fuck up.¡± Jake looked at the man, then turned around and walked back to the cottage. Once they were there, Jake pulled out his prototype runabout the man looked at the little ship muttering the word how. ¡°How, what is there a problem with my design or something?¡± ¡°No, no, I was just wondering how you managed to store it in a storage ring. As far as I know, no one has accomplished that before.¡± ¡°Well, maybe it¡¯s because it¡¯s not finished.¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s not it. I identified it, and it¡¯s already recognised as a runabout. On that note, what is a runabout?¡± ¡°A runabout is a small ship that is used for zipping from one place to another, but this one also has two cannons in each wing. It¡¯s almost completed, but it¡¯s missing the flight controls.¡± ¡°Would you allow me to make some blueprints of the design? I think this will be of significant benefit to us.¡± ¡°Of course, once we complete it, we should hand over the plans to Erica so she can make a decision about them.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine. I will again to that shall we get started. What do you need my help with?¡± ¡°I need to figure out a way to contact up the flight system with an appropriate control interface. My particular method of smithing doesn¡¯t allow the system to assist me, so I need to do it all.¡± ¡°Does your method still allow for the system to operate as the wired interface or as a circuit board?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s just that I need to know how the circuit is supposed to work first and how it would connect without the system before the system will allow it to work. My biggest problem is that I don¡¯t understand how the circuit works to begin with.¡± ¡°I can give you a simplified version of a circuit that should help you out a lot. A mana current in a circuit transfers energy from the storage device to the circuit components. No current is ¡®used up¡¯ in this process. In most circuits, the moving mana particles are negatively charged and are always present in the wires and other components of the circuit. Then, multiple circuits can connect to make a whole with the input of the system. So I¡¯m assuming that if you can understand this, you should be able to make a basic circuit that can run a light. I think it would be a good idea to give that a go.¡± You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Jake pulled out the materials he needed and began to work on the mana light. Jake was working on his light when suddenly it lit up and he got a notification. New skill Circuitry apprentice (unranked) Learn the secrets of how technology works at a much improved rate. ¡°Thank you. Shall we continue? How do I make a circuit for a simple flight control? Let¡¯s say a side stick with roll and pitch, possibly even yaw capabilities with a trigger to fire the cannons. Then all I will need after that is the system diagnostics screens and the target model to aim the weapons. Then this thing is done.¡± Jake said as he installed the light just behind the pilot¡¯s seat. ¡°Well, that control interface should be simple enough, but you have forgotten one more thing.¡± ¡°What is that? Wait, let me think I have control and the weapons. Oh, I need to regulate the speed of the main engines and the lifting thrust.¡± ¡°Got it in one. Let¡¯s get started on that first. Do you already have a design for how you would like that to work? It seems you have three main engines at the back, if you don¡¯t mind me giving an idea I always wanted to try.¡± ¡°Go ahead, what¡¯s your idea?¡± Jake said ¡°By splitting the main engines up into three different controls, the in atmosphere performance might be increased.¡± ¡°It won¡¯t hurt to give it a try but there is one thing I will add the lifting thrusters instead of having them on a different control maybe we have them one could say slaved to the main thrust controls so if you are asking for full main engine thrust you won¡¯t be wasting mana on the lifting thrusters they will just shut off, that does mean taking off will be slower but once in the air the slow take-off will be negligible to the performance gains in forward speed.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good idea. I like it. It will also save on complexity.¡± Jake and his new fellow enthusiast of new ideas, Harry, worked together on the little runabout for two days, connecting all the individual systems. Harry even squeezed in a very weak shielding generator. It wouldn¡¯t protect the runabout from re-entry, but it would give it a chance against small arms fire and the like. On Harry¡¯s insistence, Jake performed one last test on the runabout and stored it in one of the storage ring that Jake received when he requested materials. It stood with no issues, only that it took up 90% of the storage space available. This was just more exciting to Harry, who now insisted on working on blueprints together. Jake didn¡¯t find any issue with this and additionally asked for a copy to be made for him to take back to earth, as they both realised that mass-producing this ship could enable every member of a fighting force to have light air cover constantly. Harry was so happy that he even gave Jake pointers on how to make blueprints, giving Jake yet another skill to his ever-growing list. New skill Skill (blueprinters apprentice unranked) You can produce blueprints at a rank level of unranked. To create blueprints, it required a constant stream of mana and a clear understanding of the item you wish to design. After completing the blueprints, Jake said, ¡°Would you like to give it a try?¡± With a grin, ¡°Not until you do this thing haven¡¯t been flight tested yet,¡± said back holding in a laugh ¡°Alright, I will be the guinea pig for you.¡± Jake said before getting into the cockpit and closing the hatch. ¡°Well, Jake, is this where you die from your own creation?¡± Jake pressed the big red button that said start on it and a nice quiet hum ragout from the engine Jake then flick the safety latch off of the throttles and knocked them into the first lift stage activating the lifting engines which then hovered the runabout at a steady three metres off of the ground Jake then nudged the throttle forward just a little around 2-3% moving the runabout forward at a good pace once Jake had cleared the tree line he pushed the throttles up to 20% he was forced back into the seat as the little runabout shoot off into the distance at a speed equal to that of around 60% of the top speed of the shuttle Jake knocked the speed back to 10% which brought the speed back down to a manageable level where Jake put the little ship through its passes he kept this up for two hours then he turned on his landing lights lighting up the forest beneath him as he came in for a landing reducing the throttles back down to 3% then into hover mode and finally to the deactivated position the runabout reduced its height till it landed safely on the ground. As the canopy opened, Jake looked around at the now larger crowd than when he left. ¡°Mike, Estella, what brings you out here?¡± ¡°We came out to see how you were going, only to find you were testing an unproven design. Why didn¡¯t you come get someone to test it for you instead of risking your life like that?¡± Estella said in an aggressive tone Jake yelled back ¡°because it¡¯s my fucken design, that why and if you don¡¯t like it, you can fuck right off. I thought highly of you before, but now you are nothing but a hindrance to me, so fuckoff back to your little camp.¡± Estella was about to say something else when his brother grabbed him on the shoulder and said something that Jake didn¡¯t catch ¡°Sir, I will take my leave.¡± Estella turned around and walked off into the darkness of the night. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for my brother¡¯s antics back then. He just takes his role as the camp¡¯s protector seriously.¡± ¡°That¡¯s all well and good but, what is our motto?¡± Mike stared blankly at Jake ¡°let me guess you don¡¯t know. Harry, can you answer the question?¡± ¡°Yes, I can, freedom through adversity.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. Do you think that your brother may have just tried to break that key part of my mercenary group? I give everyone the freedom to make their own fucken mistakes, even the Opportunity to get themselves killed as long as they make that decision themselves that also includes anyone that joins any group within the umbrella of the mercenary group. So what¡¯s your answer?¡± With a dejected look Mike said, ¡°yes sir, my brother broke the fundamental position of the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group.¡± ¡°Good. Now that we¡¯ve sorted that out, would you like to give it a try? After Harry, of course?¡± Jake said, looking over at the man looking into the cockpit with a grin. ¡°Harry, I¡¯ve got to tell you something before you fly. The Maximum percentage I got the throttles to was 20% if you are going to test it above that, remember we don¡¯t know the hull strength yet it might just break up on you.¡± ¡°Yer, I¡¯m not doing that if you tested it at 20% that¡¯s as gar as I¡¯m going. We will leave the higher speeds to someone else.¡± ¡°Okay then go ahead, just watch those split throttles your idea works.¡± Jake watched from the ground as Harry took off at a speed that was much quicker than 20% engine power. ¡°I think he may have slipped with the throttles.¡± The only thing that could be heard in the runabout¡¯s cockpit were Harry¡¯s terrified screams. Chapter 42 the hurricane Harry crawled out of the cockpit after what Jake would call a brief test flight. ¡°How was it?¡± Jake asked. Jake only heard a groan. ¡°That good, well, what power level did you get it to?¡± Jake said with a chuckle. ¡°30%.¡± ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°30%, and you could have warned me how easy it was to move the throttles.¡± ¡°Yer, sorry about that. It kind of needs a light touch. Well, it¡¯s your turn,¡± Jake said, looking at Mike. ¡°No, I think I¡¯ve changed my mind. I¡¯m not stepping foot in that thing.¡± ¡°That reminds me we should pick a name for the blueprint.¡± Harry said ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Maybe we should call it the death trap.¡± Mike jokingly said, ¡°That¡¯s fine with me. What about you, harry?¡± ¡°I think that name is quite fitting for that thing. It¡¯s clearly got way too much power for its size.¡± ¡°Okay, that¡¯s it then.¡± Jake used identify on the runabout Item Rank unranked Armoured Runabout Class death trap Discretion: A three engine door stop with stubby wings. Jake laughed as he read the description. After having a good laugh with Harry and what seemed to be a very nice alcoholic beverage. Jake grabbed his copy of the blueprints and said his fear wells to Harry and Mike before going to find the group he brought here as there time is up and Jake needed to get back to earth to begin the preparations and to do some epic diplomacy he needed to organise a fighting force out of earth¡¯s population his hope was to use the UN to get earth to fight the new threat but to do this he needed some good diplomats Jake had a simple set of goals
  1. Build up the strength of the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group and its military forces.
  2. Let it be known that swift action awaits anyone who dares to attack Jake¡¯s interests.
  3. Unite the beast folk under one banner.
  4. Get the UN to unite the power houses on earth.
  5. Distribute an inferior copy of the death trap that Jake and Harry had made called meat. It only had two engines, no shielding and only one centrally mounted cannon.
  6. Join the fight against the invaders under the name of the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group with a fighting force that includes his gunship, and another one constructed from the blueprints Jake will need to make.
entering the cottage, Jake headed straight for the library where his teachers were located. ¡°It¡¯s time to go back.¡± Jake said The smith¡¯s looked up at Jake and nodded as well as one of the alchemist but that one old man in the corner ignored Jake and kept reading the book he had in his hand Jake walked over to the man, reaching out Jake pulled the book from him and read the title out loud ¡°The first steps to becoming an arcane smith.¡± Jake sighed. "What was the rule I had? You were not to read anything about this profession. Now please tell me what did I say would happen if you broke that rule?¡± As jake said this, two people entered the room. One of them said ¡°death will come to those that break the rules of the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group¡¯s founder.¡± After saying this, Mary stepped forward and stabbed her knife into the man¡¯s throat before anyone could speak. Jake looked over at the rest of the group. ¡°Now, have any of you broken the rule?¡± every single person stayed silent, not even willing to utter a word. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°Good, let¡¯s get going then.¡± Jake pulled out his token and activated it the next moment they were back on earth within Jake¡¯s territory. ¡°Okay, you lot get to work on the teaching. As for you two, I am assuming you know what to do.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± The two combat mercenaries left in a flash, heading directly for the guards¡¯ training grounds. While Jake headed directly for the council members¡¯ office. He had a job for them to do and they better bloody do it. That alchemist put Jake in a terrible mood. Jake didn¡¯t want to kill him, but why couldn¡¯t he just listen? Jake stood outside the main entrance to the council office. ¡°Okay, it¡¯s time.¡± Jake took a breath and pushed the door open and walked inside. He handed directly for the council members¡¯ office as he was about to approach the hull way a man stopped him. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, sir, you can¡¯t go in there.¡± Jake looked at the man, anger in his eyes ¡°why have you stopped me?¡± ¡°The council members are correctly in session and they don¡¯t wish to be disturbed.¡± Jake just looked at the man ¡°If you don¡¯t wish to follow the council members¡¯ commands, I¡¯m going to have to ask you to leave the building.¡± ¡°Jake had had just about enough of this bullshit, so do the council members out rule the owner of this territory.¡± ¡°No sir. But I haven¡¯t actually seen the owner of this territory before.¡± ¡°Well, you have now, so get out of my way. I am in a bad mood right now.¡± As jake said this, he changed into his demon form just to get the point across. ¡°Sorry sir, go right ahead third door on the left.¡± The man said, panicking. Jake just walked off and pushed open the third door on the left as he walked in the room was full of shouting one group was saying that they should fight the alien invaders while the other was saying they should try to get a peace treaty with them. Jake didn¡¯t really care what anyone in the room thought as he said, ¡°there will be no treaty with any invader if we let them g¨C¡± Jake was interrupted by the only human out of uniform ¡°who do you think you are to interrupt a meeting of the council?¡± Jake simply shrugged and asked the man his name. The man promptly replied in the most pompous tone, ¡°my name is Hank Brightling and who are yo¨C¡± the moment the man said his name, Jake simply removed him as a council member. ¡°A council member that doesn¡¯t even know who the owner of this territory is clearly doesn¡¯t deserve to be on the council. Get out.¡± The man tried to speak but Jake cut him off once more ¡°this is a council meeting and you are interrupting it. Sir, if you don¡¯t wish to follow the council members¡¯ commands, I¡¯m going to have to ask you to leave the building.¡± The man left in a huff as jake sat down in one chair and asked, ¡°so what have I missed?¡± ¡°Sir, we have noticed that the Europe branch has encountered an enemy that could be the ones mentioned in the system message. They managed to steal one of the ships and flew it back here. However, they were delayed in delivering the message to us, so we do not have the full situation on the ground.¡± ¡°But what we do know is that they are significantly more advanced than we are and they have the power to wipe us out just sitting up there in space.¡± The other human said this human was a member of the guards. ¡°You are right at this point in time. We seem to be outclassed in many areas but.¡± Jake pulled out a blueprint and slapped it on the table ¡°This design, which I created, can be stored in a storage device and is cheap and fucking fast to make.¡± Jake pulled out a second blueprint of the same ship but with the modifications. ¡°this is the one I wish you to export. It is even cheaper to make. The jobs I have for you all to do to Unite the beast folk under one banner, then Get the UN to unite the power houses on earth, finally distribute that inferior copy of the death trap that Harry and I made its called meat. I recommend you do it quickly. Once I set things in motion at the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group. I will head to Europe to have a look at the situation.¡± After saying this, Jake simply left the room and walked off. ¡°What the hell was that?¡± The members said ¡°Well, you heard the man this diction is over. We should get to work on the jobs he has given us hank get back in here and help. I will try to get your position back later, but for now, we need your help. You and Joe will be dealing with the UN I don¡¯t care what you have to do as long as it doesn¡¯t affect us it is good also give them a hint that we will be producing ships for export soon and as for you two you now your job and the same goes for them to ships for export, just make sure they unite as for me I¡¯m heading for the construction zone to get the factory¡¯s pumping out these two designs as fast as they can.¡± Jake was now in Kiki¡¯s office talking about the issues that arose when he was gone the rundown was basically the same except it seemed unlike the council the mercenary group had already decided what they were doing the ship that was taken was sent back to Europe with as many mercenaries as it could hold Kiki stayed behind to inform Jake about the situation it was also good to now that most of the settlement guards had joined the mercenary group the moment the new structure had been made public. The new mercenary guards took over the old training grounds and housing of the old settlement guards. Once Kiki had gone through all the information, Jake said with a smile, ¡°well at least one group in the settlement knows what the hell to do. I have also sent Mary and Lewis to train the guards in the mercenary group they were trained by members from the second branches guards they should be able to whip them into shape relatively quick and the settlement will begin production of a simplified design of a ship it holds one person and is quick I recommend the mercenary group acquire as many as we can get also there are two designs you want the one named death trap not meat. The second one will get you killed while the other one might get you killed. If I were you, I would definitely take the might over the definite.¡± ¡°Will do boss, might I ask what you will do next?¡± ¡°Well, I only had two things for the mercenary group to do. One was to make it clear that anyone attacking Jake¡¯s interests would face swift action, and the other was to join the fight against the invaders under the name of the Demon¡¯s Hand mercenary group. So I think after having a quick look at the construction site, I will go directly to Europe.¡± ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I wanted to hear. Good luck, boss.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Jake said as he left the room. Jake left for the construction site; he got there in record time. The site now looked more like a factory there was one huge building that¡¯s footprint was bigger than the Holden motor factory but then there were two other buildings both with at least twenty stories high Jake was guessing they were the research building Jake entered the first building and asked the reception where the leader of this facility was located the reception person promptly responded with ¡°top floor Emma is already up there with them, sir.¡± Jake was a little stumped at how reception recognised him as no one else had. Jake walked to the elevator and got in, riding it all the way up. Only then did he understand how they knew, as he ran his hand over his head. ¡°I¡¯m still in my demon form now. That makes sense.¡± Opening the door to the top office, Jake said, ¡°do you think this could be any more ostentatious having an office on the top floor of a building?¡± Chapter 43 its flight time Just before Jake arrived, Emma was explaining to the two directors about the new production plans and even handed over the blueprints. Joel was looking over the blueprints when the door to the office swung open followed Jake and, of course, his statement ¡°do you think this could be any more ostentatious having an office on the top floor of a building?¡± ¡°I thought you said he was in a bad mood.¡± ¡°He was.¡± ¡°Well, his not now. Where did he go? If it works this quick, it must be fantastic, right?¡± Jake popped out of Emma¡¯s shadow. ¡°what are we all whispering about?¡± Jake whispered right next to Emma¡¯s head. ¡°Fuck. I didn¡¯t see you there, boss.¡± Emma said ¡°Well, it would make for a really crappy skill if I couldn¡¯t use it to sneak up on those people that are whispering about a man who is in the same room as you. Anyway, to answer your questions, I was at the only place in this settlement that seems to know what they¡¯re doing.¡± Emma said with a grin, ¡°at least you know where to go to relieve some of that built up anger you were carrying around.¡± ¡°What?¡± Jake replied ¡°Never mind, I do have a question for you. That man you removed from the council, can I reinstate him? He may be a pompous ass, but he does his job well. I¡¯m not saying we reinstate him immediately he should be made to prove himself worthy of the position first and on that I have sent him to deal with the UN with the other human member of the council.¡± ¡°You can do what you want with him, but if he does anything similar to what he did, I won¡¯t stop at just removing him from the council. Make sure he knows that.¡± After talking about the production Jake made it absolutely clear that only the meat class ship was to be sold to people outside of the settlement and the other ship was only to be sold to members of the mercenary group and the settlement guards for now at least till the production of new designs are available Jake also handed over all the modules he had made for the light fighters then he gave them a new blueprint of three different weapons designs for the runabout one was a rocket package that would replace the wing cannons then there was a centre line cannon that replaced the shields and the final one was explosive grenades that sat on each side of the lower canopy add could be dropped on a target. To install them into the system, the ship would need a new weapons display and trigger, which was to be added to the HUD. After making sure the production would begin smoothly, Jake said his goodbyes to the group of people, then, as he was leaving, asked if there was a way to the roof. Joel walked out into the hallway with Jake and opened up a hidden passage that lead to the roof Joel and Emma followed Jake up to see what he was going to do up there the moment Jake got to the roof he removed the runabout from his ring. Climbing in to the cockpit, Jake said, ¡°I¡¯m going to Europe. I will be back later.¡± The canopy closed and Jake activated the systems and then pushed the throttles up to 30% blasting off into the distance. After five minutes of skimming at treetop level at 30% power Jake pushed the throttles just a little more 35% was moving as fast as the shuttle did Jake waited for another five minutes with nothing happening, so Jack cranked the power up a tad more. 40% 45% 50% 55% the little ship shook and grown ¡°Just a little more.¡± Jake said as he rased the height he was travelling at, then nudged the throttles to 60% his mana drained away faster as the shield operated at 100% ¡°one more, just one more.¡± Jake said, giving the engines 5% more the moment the ship hit 65% an ear-piercing screech rang out, followed by the left engine shouting down. The ship took a sharp bank to the left. Jake only had seconds to recover before the ship would be ripped apart, Jack pulled the right engine back to idle and pushed the nose of the ship down while twisting the control stick to give him yaw authority to counter the initial control issue with Jake¡¯s enhanced abilities these actions took a lot less time giving Jake just enough time to pull out of his dive meters from the ground. ¡°Well, fuck me. That was close. So note to self 60% is the limit.¡± Jake may have been a little upset about not getting up to 100% but his little test had put him ruffly over Myanmar. He just needed to land and check out the damage before continuing his journey. Jake hovered over what looked to be a safe clearing, bringing the runabout down. Jake landed and exited the runabout and moved around to the rear to check the damage. ¡°This looks bad. The left engine blew out its thrust chamber and split the housing all the way back to the antimatter magnetic storage rings. Fuck, I was lucky there wasn¡¯t a breach other wise dust right now.¡± Jake looked over at the other two engines. In the rear thrust plate of the centre engine, there was a crack and a hole in the vacuum chamber. The engine is still operational, but there¡¯s no way it will be able to refill its antimatter storage with the vacuum chamber damaged. The right engine was absolutely fine. Jake could, if needed, swap out the two engines so he could just fly on one, but he would prefer to replace the two damaged engines with new ones. Jake took a gamble and put the runabout away, then changed into his demon form and headed into the jungle. He hoped to make contact with some of the local beast folk in the hope they would help. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. It didn¡¯t take long before two beast folk and one human spotted Jake. ¡°Greetings, my name is Jake Everval, and I would appreciate some help in finding a good source of metals. You wouldn¡¯t happen to know where I could find some.¡± The three men walked closer to Jake as the human said, ¡°you stranger, are coming with us.¡± ¡°Really, this is how it¡¯s going to go. You are going to strong arm me.¡± ¡°Are you kidding? Were not idiots, we can use identify.¡± One of the beast folk said. Jake just laughed and asked, ¡°well were are we going then?¡± ¡°To meet with the camp commander¡¯s we sore you land your ship and I think we could perhaps help each other out.¡± Jake thought for a minute, then said, ¡°You''re one of the anti-government forces.¡± ¡°Yes, but not one of. We all joined under one banner after the system. As for our friends here, they joined us when the government started rounding them up and executing them all.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry to hear that.¡± Jake said to the two beast folk. ¡°We didn¡¯t want to fight anyone, but if our lives are threatened, we will fight back,¡± one of the beast folk said in a determined tone. ¡°That¡¯s good. I actually have a safe zone located in Australia that is run by beast folk and humans. I also founded a mercenary group, that if offered payment will help but my guess is that what you really want is my ship and for that I can say you can¡¯t have mine but we have just started producing similar ships for export and I am willing to have your group as our first customers.¡± ¡°I shall bring this up with the commander¡¯s,¡± the human said. The group of four entered the camp and stopped at a fire where people were cooking food. Jake was quite interested, as he hadn¡¯t seen many people eating food after the system. Seeing that so many people were coming over, Jake identified them. All of them had levels between 10 and 60. There were less at level 60 but to at least have some was a good thing and the ones at 60 weren¡¯t all beast folk. Some were human as well, which was a pleasant surprise. ¡°You three can stay here. I will go talk to the commander¡¯s, then come and get you. Also, try the food. You will be in for a surprise.¡± ¡°I will. I haven¡¯t eaten since before the system.¡± Jake said Jake walked over to the cooked food and asked the cook, ¡°do I need to pay you anything for the food?¡± ¡°No, you eating it is payment enough.¡± ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± ¡°Sorry, my profession is a chef profession, so when you eat, my strength grows.¡± ¡°Now that is interesting.¡± Jake said as he grabbed a BBQ chicken leg. As he bit down and swallowed the meat, a notification popped up Item BBQ chicken has replenished 10 points of mana ¡°That¡¯s an interesting profession you¡¯ve got there.¡± ¡°Thank you for the strange compliment.¡± The chef said as he went to serve the next customer. Jake sat down with the two beast folk and began asking about their treatment amongst the humans here. ¡°The humans here treat us okay. I guess not as equals, but close enough that it doesn¡¯t hinder our goals.¡± ¡°And what are those goals, exactly?¡± Jake asked. ¡°To make a new nation ruled and operated by, as you would call us, beast folk.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry if that offends you, but in my defence, it is what the identify tells me when I use it.¡± Jake then asked, ¡°where are you thinking of making this new nation?¡± ¡°We were thinking here, but the issue is we don¡¯t wish to harm these nice people.¡± ¡°What about a different country? Let¡¯s say Australia if I give everyone you the weapons, I¡¯m sure you could scrape out a good stretch of land for yourselves. I would say maybe try taking the state of Tasmania. That way, you can separate yourselves from the mainland and be relatively close to my territory, so if you¡¯re in trouble, my people can help. I won¡¯t deny it. I would like to have a recruitment hall in your territory for the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group.¡± The beast folk sat there staring off in the distance for a second blank faced, then said, ¡°the leader of our group would like to speak to you about this subject. But it¡¯s going to have to wait, as it seems the camp commanders have sent someone to get you.¡± Jake looked over and saw a group of five people heading in his direction. Jake identified them Human Level 69 Human Level 67 Human Level 62 Human Level 60 Human Level 40 ¡°Who might they be and who is the low ranker?¡± Jake asked the beast folk. One of the beast folk lifted his head to look only for the low ranked one to yell. ¡°You dare look at me beast, I swear if we didn¡¯t need you for our fight I would kill you all just for the points your miserable lives would give that is.¡± ¡°I see, so he¡¯s a tosser. Are there many like him here?¡± Jake asked. The beast folk went to reply, but the low-ranking kid as Jake now referred to the man shouted again. ¡°Hay, demon looking fucker, get your ass over here. Don¡¯t make us drag you over here.¡± Jake was shocked. ¡°Try it then, kid.¡± Jake said one of the beast folk touched Jake on the shoulder and whispered, ¡°just go along with it for now. Our leader has been watching, and she has finally had enough of these humans. If you get my point.¡± ¡°Tell her I will go along with this for now, but I can¡¯t say how long I can put up with this tosser.¡± Chapter 44 Jayne Everval The one Jake called kid order his men to surround Jake and capture him. Jake didn¡¯t resist as they threw him on the ground and tied his hands behind his back. ¡°Not so tough now. Your face is in the dirt. Bring him to the cells. He will spit out everything he¡¯s got after I¡¯m done with him.¡± They took Jake to what appeared to be a transportation crate for a dog. As they opened the gate, they found the inside filled with faeces and it seemed that Jake wouldn¡¯t be alone. In the crate there was a Yong female beast folk. She had reptile features such as some patches of her skin where scales, while other parts were more humanlike, including some features that Jake didn¡¯t want to mention. Her hair was a beautiful scarlet colour with accents of blue coming through. The colour of her skin had patches of red that faded into black, the patches of red were located where her scales were. A big patch of scales that ran from underneath her collar bones, curving in-between her abundant chest then fanning out slightly. Once it exited from the valley, it slowly tapered to a point just below her navel. Jake was stunned at her beauty, possibly even rivalling that of Mary¡¯s. Even in the state she was currently in, Jake searched through his storage, looking for some clothing that could cover the sleeping snake lady. But as he expected, there was none in his ring. ¡°Throw him in with the snake, bitch. If he¡¯s lucky, she won¡¯t kill him.¡± The low ranking kid ordered before he left for the same building he had originally come from. Jake was through on top of the snake lady as jake landed. Her eyes snapped open, her mouth opened up as her fangs dripped with venom. ¡°sorry for the intrusion. May I share some of this space with you?¡± Jake said as he smiled innocently at their predicament. The snake lady slowly closed her mouth then with a smile said, ¡°sorry I didn¡¯t know I would be having a guest or I would have cleaned up for you.¡± Jake laughed before he saying ¡°Jake Everval pleased to meet you.¡± ¡°Jake Everval, what does that mean?¡± ¡°That¡¯s my name. May I ask what yours is?¡± ¡°Name, I don¡¯t have one.¡± ¡°What should I call you then?¡± ¡°Well, the people that keep me looked up here just call me that bitch snake.¡± ¡°No, I will not be calling you that. How about this for a name, Jayne? It¡¯s a good name.¡± ¡°I like it. Jayne Everval.¡± ¡°yer, wait Everval. That¡¯s my family name.¡± ¡°Family name?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s a name that gets carried on from pedant to their children or sometimes given to a wife.¡± ¡°What¡¯s a wife?¡± ¡°A wife is a title traditionally given to the female, and it is also someone you have decided to spend the rest of your life with.¡± ¡°Okay, I understand, so I shall be your wife then.¡± ¡°Um, that¡¯s not how that works.¡± ¡°But you said a wife is a title given to female, and I just got a title.¡± ¡°Wait, you got a title?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s called the wife of Jake Everval, the demon of the past. So that makes me your wife right.¡± Jake just lay there for a good ten minutes, not speaking or even blinking. Only once Jayne spoke did he move at all ¡°sorry Jayne, what did you say?¡± ¡°There¡¯s people coming.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Jake snapped the rope tying his hands behind his back, then took off his cloak, wrapping it around the beautiful snake. Before asking her if she could fight. ¡°No, not really, not in this form at least.¡± Jake quickly asked what she meant by form. Jayne quickly changed into a red belly black. ¡°How did you get here?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I remember being in a glass box, then I was out here in my human form.¡± ¡°Captivity.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°Never mind. How about this then? If you can¡¯t fight, then can you hide in my cloak? I will put it back on, then we can get out of here together.¡± If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Okay.¡± Jayne hissed as she wrapped her way up Jake¡¯s arm. Jake put his cloak back on and as the people arrived, Jake looked to see if there was anyone new. There were the usual five, but this time they were followed by three more one old beast folk lady and two humans of similar age looking as if they already had one foot in the grave. ¡°There he is.¡± the kid said to the two old men that followed him Jake let out a sigh before saying to Jayne ¡°I¡¯m going to listen to what then got to say then if I don¡¯t like it I will kill them all and leave.¡± ¡°Sound good to me husband.¡± Jake coughed as his mind slipped into how he was going to get out of this whole marriage thing. ¡°Demon, we are here only for you to hand over your flying machine and any other equipment you have.¡± One of the old humans said, ¡°I¡¯m not impressed.¡± Jake said, looking directly at the beast folk ¡°So you thought you could split us and not see any repercussions for it?¡± The lady said. ¡°I find it strange how people so inept could find himself in charge of a force of people who just want to be free to do what they want without being enslaved by the same people that they think are on their side.¡± jake was staring at the old lady the whole time on the back of her hand she had a slave mark. Jake had a filling. She experienced enslavement by one of these two old men not long ago. The old lady covered her face with her marked hand and said, ¡°just comply and hand over what they want. It will be much easier on you.¡± ¡°Is that what you did?¡± Jake asked ¡°Yes, I sold my people to save myself.¡± Jake had enough of this conversation and gave the gate a quick kick to see how strong it was. The gate shook, making the group of people jump back. The kid stepped forward and with what looked like a small trident jabbed it at Jake as it hit jake realised what it was as electricity ran through his body Jake just looked up at the kid as he slowly pulled his leg back then kicked it out blowing the gate off of its hinges and straight into the kids face Jake then teleported into one of the old men¡¯s shadow and slit his throat slowly from ear to ear as he look at the rest of the group. ¡°Kill him.¡± The kid ground out of his busted face. Jake quickly shifted to the next shadow as he stabbed the next man, followed directly by another, then Jake stopped for a second before popping out beside the old lady and said to her, ¡°don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t kill you yet.¡± Jake then fired one grenade at the group, taking them all out at once, then Jake stepped out of the kids¡¯ shadow and asked, ¡°Jayne, what should we do with him? Jake¡¯s sleeve moved as a snake struck out, hiding the one Jake called the kid in the neck seven times before she returned to her place in Jake¡¯s clothing. He then walked over to the old lady, who was now kneeling on the ground. She was muttering to herself as jake got closer. He picked up what she was muttering. ¡°What have I done?¡± ¡°Yes, what have you done? Don¡¯t tell me you really have sold your people out. Because if that¡¯s the case, I can¡¯t help you.¡± Jake said, as he picked up the old lady. ¡°Come with me you need to talk to your people and get them to leave tell them there is a safe place for them in my territory it is located in Victoria Australia at the foot of the Strzelecki ranges tell them it will be a hard and dangerous journey but once they make it, they will be free to do what they want they could even start their own settlement if they wanted.¡± Jake walked with the old lady back to the place he was happily eating chicken drumsticks. ¡°Well, it¡¯s time for you to tell them the truth.¡± ¡°My fellow beast folk I have done you harm for my own preservation and my last act for you will be to tell you that all tho your journey will be tuff but there is a place in this would for you. On the Australian continent in the state of Victoria, there is a place of safety for you at the foot-hills of a place called the Strzelecki ranges.¡± She stood there quiet for a good while before continuing. ¡°As for the reason, I cannot come with you. As I said earlier, I sold you all to the leaders of this camp and those leaders sold you to a group of creatures from the stars. You were all going to be enslaved and used, however, your master¡¯s sore fit. But this man¡¯s actions have granted you a reprieve from this. He is the owner of the safe zone I previously spoke of.¡± The old lady pointed at Jake. ¡°My name is Jake Everval, and in my territory you will be relatively safe, but there are rules. A council of five runs the settlement, not me. Four positions can be occupied by any citizen of the settlement; there is one position reserved for my representative. There is also a mercenary group where you could find employment, if that is your path. The settlement will be happy to take in any of you; this also includes any humans that wish to travel or those who have lost their way.¡± Jake said this before touching the old lady on the arm and flooding the slave mark with arcane energy, removing it. Then he just left the old lady standing there wondering what had just happened. ¡°Jayne, it¡¯s time to leave. We have a long trip ahead of us and most likely a fight waiting for us when we get there. So what do you say? Do you still wish to continue following me?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to follow, no matter where you go or who you are fighting.¡± ¡°Okay if you''re sure about this, but I must warn you, this ship of mine only has one seat.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need a seat.¡± The snake hissed. Jake left the camp, then pulled out his runabout and began rearranging the engines. He removed the two broken engines and put the right engine into the centre. ¡°This should get us to Europe. It will be slower, but I don¡¯t have a choice in the matter.¡± Jake climbed up into the cockpit and began a systems check. Warning bypassing engine safety parameters could be detrimental to the ship¡¯s airworthiness. Would you like to proceed with the startup sequence yes/no? Jake selected yes on the flight display. The little ship hummed to life, its single rear engine began creating up to its flight chamber pressure, then roared to life. He flicked the safety latch off and began slowly increasing the throttle till it started moving forward. Then he took off at a nice slow pace only once Jake was airborne and quite a good distance away from the camp did Jake crank open the throttle more, bringing it up to a stable 40% then Jake plotted a course and let the runabout fly itself. Jake laid back into his chair and said, ¡°would you like to come out? I¡¯m sure you could find a nice comfortable spot to curl up in.¡± Jayne slithered out of Jake¡¯s top and down onto his lap. ¡°Once we get to our destination, I really need a wash and you could use one, to husband.¡± Jayne said Jake may have been getting used to it because he didn¡¯t even notice what she had called him. ¡°Yer you¡¯re right, maybe I should look for a nice hot spring or something. Ar, but if we do that, it¡¯s going to take us longer to get there.¡± ¡°What a pity I could have used a nice wash and a sleep. I guess I shall just have to sleep.¡± Chapter 45 cleaning agent x Jayne was curled up in Jake¡¯s lap as the two flow over countless countries on their way to meet up with Eric so they could figure out the best actions to take when Jake noticed something on the ground he couldn¡¯t pass up Jake reached down and patted Jayne on the head as he said ¡°I¡¯ve found a location to clean ourselves up. And it looks like there might even be enough materials around to fix this slow ass runabout.¡± jake deactivated the autopilot and brought the runabout down landing it just outside the what worked to be a complex that was situated beside a river Jake deactivated his demon form then with Jayne wrapped around one of his arms he exited the runabout and began his search for scrap metal ¡°Husband, I thought you said we were going to have a wash.¡± ¡°You know you can just call me Jake, just like I call you Jayne, right?¡± ¡°Yes, husband, I am aware.¡± ¡°Okay, as long as you''re aware.¡± Jake said before opening up an engine bay of an old car and grabbing the metal from inside ¡°to answer your previous question. I am going to fix the ship first because it will make me dirty, so having a wash later would be more efficient, don¡¯t you think, my beautiful wife?¡± Jake felt Jayne wriggle when he said the last bit. ¡°So, Jayne, do you have a profession, by any chance?¡± ¡°Yes, but it¡¯s a little odd and I need some tools to do it.¡± Jayne hissed as her head popped out of Jake¡¯s shirt collar. ¡°Interesting. What tools do you need?¡± ¡°Something called a cauldron, but what¡¯s really strange is I only got this profession when I became your wife.¡± Jake was worried Jayne had somehow become an arcane smith, so he had to ask. ¡°Can you, by any chance, show me your system information?¡± Seconds later, the information Jake requested and more displayed in front of Jake. Universal constant interface Name Jayne Everval Race evolved red belly black snake Grade G Information on G grade G upgrades to next grade at level 300 above previous, you get 1 grade level per 20 class or Profession level. This is the starting grade for all humanoid life forms in the open universe; there are no grade skills granted at this grade. Level 59. levels required till next grade evaluation 400 total Class poisoning striker Class level 101 Profession demonic poison alchemist Profession level 0 Tools required one cauldron capable of folding a mana flame and corrosive materials stats points available 101 Mana 2950 Arcane 3000 Stamina 6000 Health 5000 Strength 100 Agility 500 Intelligence 300 Wisdom 295 Perception 800 Integrity 500 Race skill Skill Change form (common) Change into a form of your choice. costs mana to change from your natural state or your humanoid form into any state or form Skill Internal storage (common) Can store up to ten small objects. any equipped item on your person will be stored when changing forms. The items will be restored to the equipped state upon retaking a form System skills skill Universal translation (Common) as newly integrated, you were given the skill to understand the language of all humanoid life forms. skill Identify (Common) the ability to identify basic information on objects and other life forms. Class skills Skill Poison strike (common) Strike an enemy to inject them with venom of ether poison or neurotoxin Skill Hand of death (common) Tuch an enemy with your hand to inject them with venom of ether poison or neurotoxin Profession skills Skill Alchemist flame (common) Create a flame of mana that is used for refining alchemy ingredients Skill Poison injection (rare) Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Inject poison into your creations to give them new effects Skill Make bottle (common) Use mana to form a bottle that can hold alchemy potions Skill Infuse demonic energy (legendary) Infuse demonic energy into a potion to create unique effects cost of use arcane energy equal to potion quality and efficiency. Titles Title First Wife of Jake Everval, the demon of the past (Unique) As the first wife of the demon of the past, you¡¯re (redacted) will gain a boost in the stats equal to the level of the demon of the past at the time of (redacted). Title Two to one (Unique) Two lifeforms become one. When in close proximity to your husband, any class levels he gains, you will clone. Title Demonic stat multiplier (Unique) +9 points to all none grade level advancements and +20 points to grade level advancements. ¡°So I¡¯m guessing you want me to kill things more.¡± ¡°It would be beneficial for us both, but no, I¡¯m here for you, not the levels.¡± ¡°That¡¯s nice, thank you. I really needed that.¡± Jake said sincerely ¡°I actually have a cauldron, but I don¡¯t know if it will work for you since it was designed for an arcane smith,¡± Jake said as he pulled out the cauldron. Jake put the two on the ground as Jayne slithered out of Jake¡¯s top and over to the cauldron. Then the surrounding air shimmered before the cauldron vanished ¡°Will it work for you?¡± Jake asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know yet, but I will give it a try. By the way, this cauldron was yours, so you¡¯re an arcane smith.¡± ¡°Yes, I am. Shall we go checkout the house? Maybe they will have some clothing for you in there.¡± Jayne slithered back up Jake¡¯s arm before he walked into the house that was more like a palace. Entering the main hall, Jake realised where they were. ¡°This is one of the Russian oligarch¡¯s houses. Okay, then let¡¯s take what we want. They won¡¯t mind. After all, they got their wealth from the Russian people after all.¡± ¡°What¡¯s an oligarch?¡± ¡°An oligarch refers to an individual who gains political power from their wealth or business interests. At least that¡¯s what my parents told me it was.¡± ¡°You have parents.¡± ¡°No, had they died when I was young?¡± ¡°Oh, sorry.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Jake and Jayne walked up one of the two staircase leading to the second floor opening the large double doors to one room, it was as if Jake had just entered a BDSM movie only what was striking about this room wasn¡¯t all the leather but the photos on the wall they were all images of men. Jake looked around the room a second then said, ¡°yep I¡¯m out.¡± But just before he left the door, Jayne asked. ¡°Can you pick those up?¡± Jake was worried for a second till he saw what she was looking at. In the room with nothing but black leather, Jayne had found the only piece of colour. The dress she found was a gorgeous low-cut red and black dress, with white lace separating the black and red sections. Its waist tapered in, and the skirt had red lace underneath the black layer, giving it volume. The length of the dress stopped at knee height. He also picked up a set of black fishnets and some combat boots with red laces. Jake then had a second look around the room and grabbed a black cloak with red lining. ¡°Is that all you wanted¡± Jake said ¡°Yes, thank you. Now I might be able to fit in more when I¡¯m in my humanoid form.¡± ¡°Yer, I don¡¯t know about that. I¡¯m pretty sure that you are still going to stand out.¡± ¡°Really? Why, if I have clothing like humans do, shouldn¡¯t I be less visible?¡± Jake sighed then said, ¡°you are very pretty and trying to hide that fact will only make it stand out more. So just wear whatever you want.¡± Jayne jumped out of Jake¡¯s shirt and in an instant changed forms, giving him a hug he would never forget. Jake stood there. Shock in his eyes for a minute till he realised what was happening before he reciprocated the embrace. Once the two stopped their embrace Jayne got dressed Jake thought to himself ¡°she really does make those clothes look good. I wonder if I can make her something special.¡± Jake¡¯s thoughts ran wild for a bit till Jayne said ¡°shall we continue? We really should get going. You said we didn¡¯t have much time right and I still want that wash.¡± ¡°Okay, well, since you have what you wanted, we can go to the water and I will finish fixing the runabout while you wash. I will clean up before we leave.¡± Jake and Jayne went down to the river, pulling out the runabout before he got to work. While Jayne swam out in the river. It took Jake the rest of the day to fix the broken engine Jake had managed to fix the badly damaged engine so he installed it back in its original spot then Jake swapped the two other engines so the good engines were on the left and right and the damaged engine was in the centre, the centre engine could still operate if Jake needed it but only for a limited time as it would run out of fuel fast. Jake then looked over at Jayne to say something but he saw she was in the middle of practising her alchemy, so he went down to the water as the sun was going down and washed out all the grime that had built up on his body. ¡°I have to ask her.¡± Walking over to Jayne, Jake sat down and waited for her to finish. After ten agonising minutes, Jayne looked up Jake couldn¡¯t hold back his question and blurted it out, ¡°is there a way to use alchemy to clean a body, for example, a position that you can pour over yourself? Maybe a poison that does that. Please say yes, I really don¡¯t want to have could wash anymore.¡± Jayne looked up at him and laughed as she lifted a small bottle of black liquid from the cauldron. ¡°This is the best I can do. For now, the ingredients are the issue.¡± Jake used identify Item Potion cleansing poison (unranked) A bottle of poison that stripes away light filth from an area two metres by two metres squared. ¡°That¡¯s great. Is it safe to pour on human skin?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. This is the first one that worked.¡± Jake popped the cork and dipped his pinky into the liquid. Pain shot through his finger for a second, then a filing that could only be described as a tingle. Jake pulled out his finger. He hoped that the liquid didn¡¯t just eat his pinky. He rased his hand up and looked at what had happened. Counting his fingers he shouted, ¡°it¡¯s still there. Okay, now for the actual test.¡± before Jayne could say anything Jake poured the inter contents of the bottle over his head the pain he felt this time was countless times worse Jake buckled over and groaned it¡¯s worth it, then the tingling feeling began Jake stood back up and checked himself over he looked down his pants and said ¡°all present and accounted for.¡± ¡°That could have killed you. Don¡¯t ever do that again, or at least give me something first.¡± as she said the last bit, her voice got much quieter towards the end. Jake just nodded, only hearing the first half of what she said. ¡°You smell like flowers.¡± Jayne said ¡°Really, I smell nothing. Did you add flowers to the potion or something?¡± ¡°No, it was mostly my poison mixed with some other plants I found down by the river.¡± ¡°You should make some more. This stuff is good. The only problem I have with it is the pain at the beginning. Wait.¡± Jake checked his health. It had gone down 150 points. ¡°So, it does have a side effect. It eats away at your health points a bit.¡± ¡°How much is a bit?¡± ¡°Around 150 points, maybe more.¡± ¡°Is that okay?¡± ¡°That amount of damage won¡¯t affect me.¡± ¡°150 points won¡¯t affect you?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Jake sent her his stats Stats at the end of the chapter Universal constant interface Name Jake everval Race demon of the past. Unique Grade G Information on G grade G upgrades to next grade at level 300 above previous, you get 1 grade level per 20 class or Profession level. This is the starting grade for all humanoid life forms in the open universe; there are no grade skills granted at this grade. Level 145. levels required till next grade evaluation 400 total Class trooper shadow mage (common) Class level 361 Profession Arcane Smith Profession level 400 stats points available 547,443 Mana 50,323,360 Arcane 50,423,500 Stamina 50,323,200 Health 50,633,360 Strength 1116 Agility 5,031,225 Intelligence 5,042,350 Wisdom 5,032,336 Perception 110,637 Integrity 5,063,336 ¡°Fucken hell.¡± Chapter 46 leadership change Jake watched as Jayne made a new potion, watching the cauldron¡¯s actions. At the final stage, the cauldron replicated the same behaviour as it exhibits when utilised for smithing. At the final stage, the cauldron would start devouring arcane energy, but to Jake¡¯s amazement, it imbued all the energy into the potion. Jake didn¡¯t know its purpose yet, but he didn¡¯t see it causing any harm, so he said nothing. Jayne made another four bottles of what Jake called cleaning Agent X before she stopped. ¡°that¡¯s it, I¡¯m out of mana. It¡¯s not very mana efficient, but I think I have some ideas that could reduce the cost but that will have to wait. Let¡¯s get out of here. The air feels strange.¡± Jake felt for arcane energy in the air, only to realise there was none. ¡°um, what you''re feeling is the lack of arcane energy. Can you use arcane energy?¡± Jake asked ¡°I did get a new skill and a title recently that said something about arcane energy, I think.¡± ¡°Oh shit. Can you show me?¡± Skill Arcane infusement (Unique) Infuse external arcane energy into your creations to increase its effectiveness. Title Path setter As a new path is opened in the alchemy world, the path of the arcane alchemist has begun. + 50 to profession levels + 10 to grade levels. Title upgrades at D grade to path of the arcane alchemist. ¡°Okay, I guess you will end up being an arcane alchemist, then. Congratulations, you have found your path.¡± ¡°Thank you, I guess, but I don¡¯t really know what a path is, but what I do know is I don¡¯t like this system. It¡¯s like it meant to rip me off.¡± ¡°Let me guess, it calculated your points, then gave you the title.¡± ¡°Yes, how did you know?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what keeps happening to me.¡± Jayne handed Jake five potions, two with a rarity of unranked, two with the rank of common and one uncommon. Putting them away, Jake pulled out a gift he had created while he was waiting for Jayne to finish her great sitting journey of discovery. It was a necklace made from a storage ring, giving it the ability to store items and more. ¡°This is for you.¡± Item Necklace of bonding (rare) This Necklace was created as a token of his acceptance to his wife and companion. The item increases the health and stamina pool by 10,000 each at a loss to the creator¡¯s stat poll. Secondary functions can hold items up to medium size items. Soulbound to Jayne Everval Growth item. This Item must be reforged by Jake Everval. Can be upgraded once per grade rank of Jayne Everval. The necklace was designed to match Jaynes¡¯ clothing choice; it was of a black choker with a red dangling pendant made from one of the storage rings Jake had picked up when he was at Aaliyah¡¯s home. ¡°This is too much. It takes your stats away.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I would have liked to add more, but the system wouldn¡¯t let me.¡± Jake reached his arms around Jaynes and gently tied up the necklace. ¡°I made this for you and you alone. I hope it will help protect you.¡± Jayne grabbed Jake, bringing him in close, then kissed him on the cheek. She then whispered in Jake¡¯s ear, ¡°it¡¯s not me that needs protecting.¡± Jayne smiled, not refuting the comment at all. Jake and Jayne walked over to the runabout. Jake put one hand out for Jayne. Then he felt her warm hand hold on to his, their fingers interlaced with a feeling Jake would like to get used to, then it morphed into a snake wrapping itself tightly around his arm. Jake climbed up into the little runabout, closing the hatch as he did. "Okay, hold on tight.¡± Jake went thou the startup sequence before unlocking the throttles pushing the left and right up together the ship began to hover before Jake slowly increased the power to 40% holding it at that for a minute before increasing the power to 50% Jake decided 50% would be the safest power level with these low grade engines. He would have to work on increasing the engine¡¯s quality to improve its performance. But for now, this power would be more than sufficient. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Some time later Jayne was once again sleeping but this time she had stayed within Jake¡¯s top as the temperature had dropped significantly. She said to Jake before she wanted to sleep that her body was feeling slow, as if she needed to sleep. Jake told her to get some sleep while he kept her warm. For all the ships upsides one of its drawbacks was the complete lack of life-support, no heating, no fresh air other than external bleed ports that automatically open when the runabout is within an atmosphere. For Jake right now, this felt like a design flaw, but it was actually done on purpose. Bulky life-support hardware would occupy the space where the shield emitter is, that is, if the ship had life-support. Jake had a thought maybe he could add a heater to the bleed valves but then it would need to be turned off when he entered hot environments he would look into this when they got to their destination on the board of Belarus near Hrodna the location of the recruitment hall was picked by the local governments in the area. Jake wasn¡¯t a fan of the location, but it made for a suitable location if your aim was just to be a tripwire force, and that is exactly what his mercenaries were being paid to do. The only problem is that the enemy, the country they were worried about, got help of their own and simply bypassed the tripwire force with ships and aliens. The runabout rocketed across the countryside. If the people on the ground were to look up, the little runabout would look not much different to a shooting star. Night had fallen as Jake reached his destination. He orbited the location for a while before starting to descend, coming in opposite the dropship that they had stolen. Jake really wanted to have a look at the ship¡¯s design, but he had work to do. Outside of his runabout, a team of mercenaries waited with weapons drawn. As Jake opened the hatch, one man shouted, ¡°hands where we can see them sir!¡± Jake raised his hands not wanting to escalate the mightily twitch mercenaries. ¡°My name is Jake Everval, the founder of the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group. I¡¯m looking for a cute little dog that goes by the name of Eric. If you don¡¯t believe who I am, just get him to verify my identity.¡± ¡°Sir, we don¡¯t know who you are or why you¡¯re looking for Eric, but currently Eric is in no state to have visitors. So we¡¯re going to have to ask you to leave. If you wish to make a complaint, the Australian branch will be happy to take it for you.¡± ¡°Very polite. But I must see Eric, or whoever is in charge.¡± ¡°As I have said, Eric is not in a condition to see anyone.¡± Jake was getting irritated, but he kept his calm for once and repeated that he was the founder of the mercenary group they were part of. But in return all he got was stone cold silence. ¡°Jayne, what do you think we should do? I was trying to not do the same thing I normally do in situations like this.¡± ¡°What do you normally do?¡± ¡°Go off my rocker and most likely kill people if things don¡¯t technically go my way.¡± ¡°Just do that if people don¡¯t listen, make them. And if they still don¡¯t listen, put them down.¡± Jayne said with more confidence than Jake has never had. ¡°thank you. I need your guidance more than I thought.¡± ¡°Who the fuck are you talking to?¡± Jake stood up. ¡°What are you going to do? Just look at how many people we have. You will be dead before you reach the ground.¡± Jake changed forms and teleported in to the man¡¯s shadow. Before bringing his open hand down on the man¡¯s neck. Just before the man crumpled to the ground, he uttered the words ¡°the founder.¡± Jake was now standing over the crumpled body looking for his next, but every one that was present was nearing on the ground with their hands firmly pressed ageist the ground and their hands neatly above their heads. Walking over to the closest person and pulled them up to their feet. ¡°Where is Eric a d what is wrong with him?¡± ¡°he was out on a patrol yesterday when his team was ambushed by what we think was a group of local beast folk Eric was the first to go down he was bitten by a snake and is now in a coma the next were the three other men in his party, they all gave there life¡¯s so that Eric and Ann could escape it was Ann¡¯s command that no one was to be let in. She has been in there with him for two days now.¡± ¡°So has anyone seen to Eric¡¯s health, or are you all just sitting back and waiting for something to happen?¡± ¡°We. No, the only one that has been in there has been Ann and an ex medic from Ukraine she wand us that her skills probably wouldn¡¯t have much effect but she was all we had, and we couldn¡¯t go for help as none of us can fly that ship only Ann can and she won¡¯t leave his side.¡± ¡°Thankyou for that. Now we¡¯re exactly are they?¡± the man pointed behind him directly towards a small hut. Jake went over to the building and opened the door. And walked inside. The room had one bed and one chair. Eric was lying under white sheets in his dog form as Ann sat on the chair with her head resting on the bed Jake walked over and quietly checked Eric¡¯s pulse it was slow Jake then turned his attention towards the lady reaching out Jake touched the sleeping lady on her shoulder. ¡°Ann, you should go and get some rest.¡± Jake said in a soft tone. Ann didn¡¯t wake up; she only grunted. Jake looked around the room and saw that the fire had burnt down to embers. Jake spent the next minute stoking the fire. ¡°Jayne, can you do anything for him?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t even know where to start.¡± ¡°Can you use your alchemy?¡± ¡°I might be able to neutralise the venom, but other than that, I don¡¯t think I can do anything about that yet. My alchemy is poison based, so making a health potion might be an issue.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine. Let¡¯s start with that.¡± Jayne poked her head out of Jake¡¯s shirt when a Blood-curdling scream ¡°get out of here and take that thing with you or I will chop you both to bits.¡± Jake turned. ¡°Ann, I thank you for looking after Eric, but it¡¯s time for you to leave. You need to rest.¡± ¡°You think I¡¯m going to leave him to you? You demon looking fucker and your fucken pet snake.¡± ¡°Ann, I will let what you just said slide, but you must rest.¡± Jake calmly replied. ¡°Get out. I¡¯m looking after him. So just get out.¡± ¡°Shut the fuck up.¡± Jayne said as she slithered out of Jake¡¯s shirt and changed form. By locking yourself in this room, do you truly believe you are helping him? You are the only one that can fly that ship out there and instead of using it, what did you do? You fucken shut yourself up and didn¡¯t even try to go get help, ultimately if he was to have died in this place, it would have been all your fault. Now stop arguing and do what your founder has said.¡± Jayne shouted back at the women. ¡°And why should I listen to some snake bitch?¡± Jake stated, ¡°I said so, and she is the wife of your founder, which grants her the highest authority over the whole demon¡¯s hand mercenary group.¡± As Jake said this, a message appeared to everyone in the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group. Notification Leadership change Jayne Everval, the first wife of the demon of the past, has been given the authority to command and make changes to the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group¡¯s structure and personal. No authority other than the founder can overrule any decision made by her. ¡°Get out and go get some rest. We are going to need your help soon.¡± Jayne said Chapter 47 a vampiric meeting ¡°But I.¡± Ann muttered. Jake walked over to her and said, ¡°Go outside. I will be out to talk to you in a minute.¡± Ann¡¯s shoulders slumped as she left the hut, closing the door behind her. ¡°It¡¯s time to get to work. What will you need? And how long will it take?¡± ¡°If possible, I will need a fresh sample of the venom. If I can get that, it won¡¯t take long, maybe a day, maybe two. Without it, I can¡¯t estimate.¡± ¡°I will see what I can do. Do you need any help? I can send someone in to assist.¡± ¡°Unless you¡¯ve got someone who can ether us alchemy or can heal, then no, they will just get in the way.¡± Jake nodded and said, ¡°I¡¯ll go ask around.¡± Leaving the hut, Jake looked over at the lady standing beside the door. ¡°Ann, are there any healers or alchemists in the camp?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Okay then. Do you know where the snake that bit Eric is now?¡± ¡°Probably still at the entrance to whatever we found.¡± ¡°Do you know how to get there?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Well, where is it?¡± ¡°150 km north of the camp, the entrance is located inside a cave. Just as we entered, we were ambushed. I think it might be a dungeon.¡± ¡°Why do you say that?¡± Jake asked. Ann went silent for a second then said, ¡°system notification. Once we escaped the cave, I got a notification that I failed the level one cave dungeon and that I would be unable to re-enter the dungeon till five years had passed.¡± Jake was getting excited as she explained what they saw. From what Jake had read about dungeons in a newly integrated universe, they would start off at a low level and as the newly integrated universes people¡¯s power levels increase, the dungeon difficulty would also increase. Once you complete a dungeon, you won¡¯t be able to enter it for over a hundred years. Jake read that it¡¯s always better to clear a dungeon as soon as you can in your leveling journey, because the dungeon master title increases with each finished dungeon. This was the prize Jake was looking forward to the most. Sadly, the book he read didn¡¯t say what you would get from the increase in the title, but to Jake, even if it was just one more point in class or profession levels, it would be worth it. After being told about the dungeon Jake asked Ann to take some people with her to go find a healer or an alchemist to help Eric, he also told her that Jayne would work on neutralising the venom while he will go to the dungeon to get a sample from the snake. Jake was flying just over the location Ann said the dungeon was. Beneath him was a dense forest. There didn¡¯t seem to be any area he could put even the small runabout down, so he travelled further north until he found a safe landing zone. It was about 5 km north of the cave. A small clearing in mountainous terrain. One thing that constantly surprised Jake was how much the earth had changed. Not just that the size of the plant changed, but that everything got bigger and even mountains and forests appeared where originally there was none. Climbing out of the Jake noticed movement in the tree line, pushing out his perception. He could make out the shapes of at least two humanoid forms. One of them moved just inside the maximum range of identity Identify Race vampiric converted humanoid bat Level 125 ¡°Are you friend or foe?¡± One of the hidden vampiric converted asked. ¡°I don¡¯t believe I¡¯m your foe. I¡¯ve come to find a snake that injured one of my people and complete a dungeon. It would be nice to have a conversation face to face with no need to yell, don¡¯t you think?¡± Jake said, hoping he might get help locating the dungeon entrance again. Emerging from the small clearing, the bat man with vampiric qualities strode forward. The first thing Jake noticed was his pale complexion, then the bat wings. The bat man looked more like a demon than Jake did. ¡°Are you a human or something else?¡± the vampiric converted asked ¡°Bit of both.¡± Jake replied ¡°Are you part of the vampiric race then?¡± the vampiric converted asked ¡°No, I¡¯m a demon. But before the system happened, I was a human.¡± ¡°Demon?¡± the vampiric converted muttered, his head tilted with confusion.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°Yes, shall we get past these introductions? My name is Jake Everval, also known as the demon of the past. Pleased to meet you.¡± Jake said, reaching out his hand ¡°Franky Viss. Former low class member of the vampiric nation of Kaliningrad.¡± ¡°Former?¡± ¡°Yes, me and my friends split from them once we knew what they were planning on doing to us.¡± ¡°So, quick question: what do you eat? I mean, do you suck blood like in the movies?¡± the vampiric man started chuckling ¡°we can do that. In fact, it¡¯s the easiest way for us to gain levels. But no, me and my friends don¡¯t do that because it messes with our sanity if we do it all the time.¡± ¡°So how do you gain level, then?¡± ¡°We hunt beasts and drink their blood to survive.¡± ¡°Cool beans, now shall we get to the point? What is it you want from me?¡± The vampiric converted looked behind him then said ¡°we would like to complete the dungeon but we don¡¯t have the power to do it alone.¡± ¡°How do you know that?¡± ¡°We watched a group of humans and beast folk enter and only two of them came out alive and one looked to be in a terrible state.¡± Jake picked up on what the vampiric converted said. ¡°So you¡¯re saying that more came out, but they weren¡¯t alive? Does that mean they were more like you?¡± ¡°Not like us. We are vampires. We have a higher brain. Function, we are not much different from humans. Where they are just Ghouls, in normal circumstances, a commander like a necromancer would control them. Or possibly a very high level vampire.¡± ¡°When you say high level vampire, how high are we talking about?¡± ¡°A lot higher than we have on earth, that¡¯s for sure.¡± ¡°What is the highest level vampire on earth then?¡± Jake asked, his curiosity driving his questioning forward. ¡°To be honest, I don¡¯t know I¡¯m level 125 and the vampire that turned me was at the time level 250, but he was using the fast method. So yer, he didn¡¯t get to keep his sanity for long. But that being said, he is still out there. So I would say we probably have vampires in F grade, probably even a small number in early E grade, come to think of it.¡± ¡°And I thought I was a cheat, with all my titles and shit.¡± Jake thought ¡°So, can I ask you one more thing? How many points do vampires get per level and do you have professions like some other races? I wonder. It¡¯s unusual that I¡¯ve never come across anyone without a profession. I should also ask the beast folk about this,¡± Jake muttered the last bit to himself. ¡°I probably shouldn¡¯t tell you the secrets of the vampires, but if you promise to assist us in the dungeon.¡± Jake replied with a quick I will help. ¡°Okay then.¡± the vampiric converted named Franky Visssent sent Jake his information. Universal constant interface Name Franky Viss Race vampiric converted humanoid bat Grade G Information on G grade G upgrades to the next grade at level 300 above previous, you get 1 grade level per 20 class level. This is the starting grade for all converted life forms in the open universe; grade skill convert lesser creatures Level 125. levels required till next grade evaluation 400 total Class vampiric converted (common) Class level 2500 class evolution at F grade ¡°I¡¯m not going to tell you my stats, but I will say we get a base point multiplier 10 the same as humans, but we also get 30 points per class level and 20 per grade, and this is without titles. And as for beast folk, I can answer that two as I used to be one. The system sees them as humanoid, so the levels and multiplier are the same, but they do get more points per level, 10 points per class or profession and 20 per grade.¡± ¡°Now that is interesting. Well, shall we take on the dungeon? You might as well tell the other three to come out. I don¡¯t particularly like it when people use the same tricks as me.¡± Jake said a second later a low rank converted stepped out of a shadow. Jake looked at the converted bear and said, ¡°you need to work on your technique. It may hide you, but it does so only to the extent that no one has added any points into perception. Your skill flickers like crazy.¡± Jake put the runabout back in his ring, then continued. ¡°If you are going to use shadows to hide that flickering, which I must say as a person who uses shadows himself, I would like it if you incorporated the shadow into the skill. Try this: if my guess is correct, you use mana to form spacial distortions. Don¡¯t just stand there, am I right?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± the man replied with confusion. ¡°That¡¯s interesting. Have you tried feeling out the skill in a different environment to feel the changes in the skill? And what does it do when you¡¯re in a grassy area?¡± The man looked at Jake for a second, not saying a thing, then stepped into a shadow again and to everyone else vanished, but to Jake he was still visible, but just not as much as before. ¡°Nicely done. You have improved, but you¡¯ve still got a long way to go.¡± Jake said this, then vanished as he stepped into the shadow of Franky Viss. He popped out of the shadow behind the hidden man, scaring the man as he tapped him on the shoulder. ¡°I don¡¯t think your skill is ready to go up against me, but it is definitely good enough for them.¡± Jake pointed at the group of people watching the shadows. ¡°Thank you for your help.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t thank me you did it, not me. All I did was ask you questions.¡± ¡°Nevertheless, thank you.¡± Jake and the man rejoined the group and set off to investigate the dungeon together. As they set off, Jake identified the group. Identify Race vampiric converted humanoid bat Name Franky Viss Level 125 Identify Race vampiric converted humanoid rat Name Albert Level 100 Identify Race vampiric converted humanoid lizard Name Elizabeth Bay Level 99 Identify Race vampiric converted humanoid bear Name Harald Mar Level 110 ¡°So, have any of you completed a dungeon?¡± Jake asked ¡°Yes, I have. My former master took me into one when I was just converted. She said I needed to get the title that comes from it. Sadly, she died killing the last boss, and I was left to find my own way out,¡± Elizabeth replied to Jake¡¯s questioning. She then continued. ¡°This is also why I asked if these three would come with me. I told them about the title you get from completing a dungeon. I believe that the title will upgrade if you complete more dungeons.¡± ¡°It will. I have also completed one as well and read that is what will happen.¡± Jake said ¡°Well, I guess we will get to see if you and Elizabeth are correct or if I am,¡± Harald said ¡°And what do you think will happen?¡± Jake asked. ¡°He thinks we¡¯re all going to die,¡± Elizabeth said ¡°He might be right.¡± Jake replied. They all went silent after that. Only once the group got closer to the dungeon entrance did any of them speak. ¡°The team that entered last was ambushed at the entrance of the dungeon. I am aware of only one of the things that ambushed them. The survivor didn¡¯t give any details but what I do know is that one is a snake, and its venom sent the individual that got bitten into a comer and he hadn¡¯t awoken yet. Also, the people that entered were not much higher in levels than you, but what may have done them in was the fact that they didn¡¯t know what a dungeon was. One of my goals in coming to this dungeon is to collect a sample of that snake¡¯s venom so we can help awaken him. Now it¡¯s time to make your decision: will you enter this dungeon risking your life for small prizes and a title, or will you leave this place and hide for the rest of your life?¡± Jake said. Chapter 48 entering the depths The group stood at the entrance to the dungeon, Jake in the front with Elizabeth directly behind him followed by Albert with Franky and Harald on each side. The group was in the shape of a diamond, with the weakest in the middle. Jake had warned them that if a battle breaks out, he will be fighting the way he knows best, so this diamond formation would be of limited use to the group. The group walked into the cave, their bodies transported into a separate peace of reality where the rules of the system were much different. All of Jake¡¯s weapons had been taken and any equipment he had removed replacing his gear with a set of grey rags as replacement for his clothing. A notification popped up in front of them. Notification You have entered the level one cave dungeon. The level one cave dungeon is a place where technology and weapons of any kind have been removed. Objectives: Bonus Objectives: unknown Jake looked around, shaking his head as he pushed out his perception. "They said just at the entrance, well, my perception tells me that this floor has no fucken entrance. So how the fuck did they get out then?¡± Jake looked to the left and smiled, ¡°I¡¯ll be right back.¡± Jake flashed out of the group¡¯s sight and into the shadows cast down by the gumtrees canopies. Jake teleported from underneath one fern to another as he navigated the mountainous terrain. ¡°This terrain is so much like home.¡± Jake exited a second later, standing over the top of a chest. Identify Item loot chest (common) Jake opened it, his curiosity getting the better of him. Blinding light came out of the top seconds later. Jake could see what was inside Item braces of light (common) Emits a burst of pure light when activated can be used to stun your enemies. Most effective on the undead. Equipping the braces, Jake returned to the group. Exiting from Elizabeth¡¯s shadow. ¡°What was it? Was it an enemy?¡± Asked Harald In a tense voice. ¡°No, just a loot chest. It had a set of braces in it.¡± The group all instantly identified the item. They all shook their heads and said in unison. ¡°You can have those,¡± with a slightly apprehensive tone. Picking up on this, Jake asked, ¡°what¡¯s wrong with them?¡± Elizabeth spoke first. ¡°There is nothing wrong with your items. It¡¯s just they were specifically designed to kill us. The true light would burn us to ash depending on our level, that is.¡± ¡°Oh, no wonder none of you want them. It would be like holding onto a ticking time bomb.¡± ¡°That¡¯s an adept way of putting it.¡± Harald said. The group moved deeper into the dungeon landscape. Jake felt extremely bored as the group moved deeper into the dungeon landscape. In the past two hours, the only things he had seen were two small snakes, no bigger than a pre-system brown snake. Jake couldn¡¯t even bring himself to kill them, as it felt as if he would be killing babies in their crib. The only other thing the group found was a small chest. It wasn¡¯t even at the common rank and what¡¯s worse was when Franky opened it up, there lay an item so damaged it no longer resembled its description. Jake looked over at Franky and what he was holding in his hand. Item Staff of control (unranked) This staff can be used as a medium to influence the actions of small creatures. Item damaged to the point that it will require complete reforging from a smith capable of fixing ritual arrays. In its current condition, it will only be able to influence small creatures for five seconds. It has potential. If only I could make array¡¯s then maybe I could fix it. Jake thought. The group walked for a further three hours before Jake made a decision that he didn¡¯t want to. He asked everyone to stop as he sat down and opened up his interface and, with much hesitation, put all of his stat points into perception, leaving him with zero points left for emergencies. Universal constant interface Name Jake everval Race demon of the past. Unique Grade G Information on G grade G upgrades to next grade at level 300 above previous, you get 1 grade level per 20 class or Profession level. This is the starting grade for all humanoid life forms in the open universe; there are no grade skills granted at this grade. Level 145. levels required till next grade evaluation 400 total Class trooper shadow mage (common) Class level 361 This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Profession Arcane Smith Profession level 400 stats points available 0 Mana 50,323,360 Arcane 50,423,500 Stamina 50,313,200 Health 50,623,360 Strength 1116 Agility 5,031.225 Intelligence 5,042.350 Wisdom 5,032,336 Perception 5,585.067 above mortal capacity stat points limited to a maximum safe level for a G grade temporary perception level 500.000 Integrity 5,063.336 Jake felt like ripping out his eyes As a rush of information flooded into Jake¡¯s head evet the slight breeze through the gumtrees set Jake¡¯s mind into a spasm he tried closing his eyes but to his distress closing his eyes didn¡¯t have any noticeable impact on the flow of information flooding his mind. ¡°I need to stop this,¡± Jake groaned before his mind gave out and everything went black. ¡°What do you think he did? Do you think he¡¯s dead?¡± Albert asked the group. ¡°No, he¡¯s not dead. Look at his chest, he¡¯s still breathing.¡± Jake¡¯s body illuminated red with demonic runes, followed by an ear-piercing screech that only got louder as time passed. The screech didn¡¯t stop for what felt like hours, forcing the group of vampiric converted to their knees as they covered their ears. Some time later, Jake¡¯s eyes opened, and they were as black as a moonless night. There was no difference between the iris, pupil or sclera it was all black. Notification Race skills acquired Race skill Eyes of the lost (unique) Splitting your focus on multiple tasks is your new state of being. Identifying your target¡¯s information is as easy as a glance. Your sight is as true as an arrow, while your enemy will cower at a glance. You illuminate the pathway to your target. Open a path to view the afterlife for lost souls. Anyone who looks into your eyes will see the fate of the fallen friend, loved ones and if they are hostile towards the demon of the past, will see the fires of the deep as it slowly burns away at their souls. +100 all stats regeneration once per minute +5 points of damage to your enemy every minute 10% chance your target will run +10 points of soul damage to your enemy every minute This skill cannot be deactivated. Skills lost skill (Identify. Common) the ability to identify basic information on objects and other life forms. skill (empty-minded common) Enter a state of meditation to help regenerate lost stats and help split your focus on multiple tasks Skill Fighter¡¯s eye¡¯s (rare) Your enemy will cower at your sight. Illuminate the pathway to your target. uses mana to enhance your eyesight and your perception stat to find your prey. Uses a burst of mana to attempt to immobilise your target. There is a 50% chance the target will run Skill (Steady aim. common) this is a basic trooper skill that gives a passive stat boost of 5 to agility strength and perception. Notification Race skills acquired Race skill Demon strike (Unique) Stamina is converted into temporary units of integrity at a 100 to 5 ratio. All fallen lifeforms will be drained of their residual life force and converted into Stamina at a conversation rate of 100% with your newfound energy, every melee attack will be infused with destructive arcane energy as your attack power is now bolstered by the souls you protect. +50 damage per hit +50 soul damage per hit This skill cannot be deactivated. Skills lost skill (rebirth of the exploding body unique) Will passively heal the user. Stamina is converted into temporary units of integrity to provide healing at a 100 to 1 ratio. Warning the system recognises that you have a tendency for self-harm. The system recommends you seek medical advice. Skill Stamina drain (rare) Drain the residual life force of your fallen enemies and convert it into Stamina. This skill will activate automatically on the death of your enemy. Limited to enemies you kill. skill (Arcane bomb uncommon) A bomb of arcane energy. destruction output is equal to the amount of energy put in. Warning in this form: the bomb can not be thrown so the same destructive force will impact the user. Notification Race skills acquired Race skill Demonic hand (Unique) Seal physical wounds or soul damage with just a touch. Provide a calming aura that puts lifeforms at ease. Skills lost Skill Healing hand (common) Place your hand on a wound to seal the affected area. Cost of use mana. Skill Calming finger (common) Press a finger on your target to numb the senses in a limited area. Cost of use mana Notification Race skills acquired Race skill Demon dance (Unique) Sprout wings of shadows that obscure your enemy¡¯s sight as you teleport and dash your way to safety, you will be the bane of those who travel in the dark. +50 damage to unaware targets Skills lost Skill Shadow step (rare) Teleporting from shadow to shadow is as easy as taking a single step. Shadows must be in visual range. Cost of use, arcane energy and stamina and mana. Create a barrier around yourself to hinder vision and dash or teleport from shadow to shadow. Gives a 10% damage multiplier to all unseen attacks. Notification Ding! Grade level increased by 140 levels due to a race skill unknown to the system. 12600 points Jake groaned as he sat up. ¡°My fucken head.¡± Looking through all his stats and skills, Jake let out a louder groan. ¡°what the fuck happened? All I wanted to do was add some points into perception. I fucken new it perception has got to be the worst stat sure I some fucken how merged a shit load of skills but fuck why wasn¡¯t I warned about the grade cap bullshit?¡± Jake sat there looking at the four unconscious vampiric converted lying all around him, blood covering most of their bodies. ¡°Looks like they had some fun. I wonder what happened to them. I hope it wasn¡¯t a snake that would be a sucky way to go.¡± After ten hours, the first of the four woke up, followed shortly after by the rest. A minute later, all four of them asked at the same time. ¡°Are you by any chance the demon of the past?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Jake replied in a curious tone The four vampiric converted looked at each other, then nodded their heads. Seconds later, Jake felt his stats dropping like a stone. Followed with a notification Notification You have gained four blood servants. Each servant has given the loyalty to you as such, they have received 1,000.000 points from you and in return you will receive 4,000.000 stat points for each grade. They advance your blood servants can be summoned to your side at any time at the cost of 1,000.000 arcane points Your blood servants will receive from the system one uniquely tailored skill specific to them and the title of blood servant granting them the ability to transfer 10 grade levels to you per grade with an increase of 5 grade levels for each grade they advance. Race Skill Summon blood servants Summon your servants to fight by your side Ding! Grade level Increased by 35 levels because of race skill unknown to the system. 3150 points Ding! Grade level transfer +10 Ding! Grade level transfer +10 Ding! Grade level transfer +10 Ding! Grade level transfer +10 Ding! + 3600 Universal constant interface Name Jake everval Race demon of the past. Unique Grade G Information on G grade G upgrades to next grade at level 300 above previous, you get 1 grade level per 20 class or Profession level. This is the starting grade for all humanoid life forms in the open universe; there are no grade skills granted at this grade. Level 360. levels required till next grade evaluation 400 total Class trooper shadow mage (common) Class level 361 Profession Arcane Smith Profession level 400 stats points available 19,350 Mana 40,323,360 Arcane 40,423,500 Stamina 40,313,200 Health 40,623,360 Strength 1116 Agility 4,031.225 Intelligence 4,042.350 Wisdom 4,032,336 Perception 5,585.067 above mortal capacity stat points limited to a maximum safe level for a G grade temporary perception level 500.000 Integrity 4,063.336 ¡°I knew that perception is the fucken worst.¡± Jake grumbled, then he looked over at the four vampiric converted as he still held his head in pain. ¡°So what was that all about? Didn¡¯t even give me an opinion to refuse or what.¡± ¡°Sorry, we saw an opportunity and took it. We didn¡¯t even really look over what we were doing, we just sore what we could get and made the decision that it would be worth it in the long run. Again, we are sorry.¡± What could Jake really say if he had an opinion that looked so good, then he would probably do the same. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m fine with it. I guess I also get some good things out of it after all. But you four better work hard and advance grades so I can reap some of my benefits. Next time you transfer grade levels to me, do it when it is best for you, okay?¡± Chapter 49 dungeon diving Jake and the four vampiric converted spent around two more days walking around the first floor. Even with all the points Jake dumped into perception, he still couldn¡¯t find the boss or any snake that could have harmed Eric. At the moment Jake was thinking about how they were going to find a way out, a set of large doors appeared in front of them. Jake pushed out his perception, trying to penetrate the door. But all he got in return was a strange filling that the door didn¡¯t physically exist. Harald and Franky moved to look at the door from the side while Elizabeth and Albert studied the front. ¡°It has some kind of text that the system can¡¯t translate.¡± Albert said ¡°They look similar to the red runes that you have on your body,¡± Elizabeth remarked. Jake looked down at his body for the first time since the perception incident. ¡°Um, okay. So I can¡¯t read that.¡± Jake thought before looking at the runes on the door. ¡°Those I can read.¡± Jake said. ¡°Well, what does it say?¡± Harald said from the other side of the door. ¡°Enter at your own peril.¡± Jake said Jake walked around to the other side of the door and looked at the runes, then started to laugh. The group of vampiric converted just started at Jake. ¡°Okay, this is funny. It simply says exit.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just go to the boss¡¯ room already. This floor is absolutely stupid.¡± Elizabeth said. ¡°There¡¯s no logic to any of this. The door to the exit is the same as the one to go to the boss¡¯ room and what¡¯s worse, the door just appeared out of nowhere and for no reason.¡± Franky grumbled. Jake, on the other hand, came up with one link that was he was thinking about how to leave when the door appeared but what was bugging him about it right now was the fact he was the only one that could read the runes on the door. He would have to ask Eric about it once they get back. ¡°At least we know how your people got killed.¡± Harald said. ¡°How¡¯s that?¡± Elizabeth asked ¡°Well, they must have entered and this stupid door was already in front of them, so they entered, thinking it was the entrance to the dungeon or something.¡± The group stood in front of the gate. ¡°What¡¯s the plan?¡± Jake asked the group. ¡°Well, I think us four should work together and try to pin the boss down. While you use your skills to attack it when it¡¯s off guard.¡± Franky said. ¡°Just make sure no one gets bit and let¡¯s try to bring this thing down fast.¡± Jake said before reaching for the gothic door ring and pulling them open. The doors seemed to groan with disapproval. The moment the doors opened wide enough, the group dashed in behind Jake. They entered a dome with dense forest around the circumference and a pond in the centre. The space within the dome was at least six hundred metres high and three kilometres wide. The roof appeared to be made of crystal, and someone had painted murals of snakes on the walls. Jake quickly vanished, using his new skill Demon dance to slip into shadows on after the other as he pushed out his perception of locating his target. Then once he got into range, the skill eyes of the lost activated on the snake. The snake froze in place as it felt the eyes of death dig into its soul, wanting to rip it out. Race Snake King of the endless sleep. Level 120 Grade G Weak points a crystal at the base of the head. Strike it with as much power as you can so that it breaks the snake. It holds 70% of its power in that location. The group of four quickly entered combat with the ten metre long snake. The snake King had a simple attack pattern first it would strike at the closest opponent then its rattling tail would block the others from assisting the comrade only after watching it fight did Jake realise it was just playing with them, it had used no skills nor did it use mana it just used simple attacks. It also didn¡¯t seem that Jake was the only one that noticed this, as the looks on his fellow dungeon divers faces were that of pure outrage. ¡°Just fucken fight us already.¡± Franky yelled, followed by insults from the rest of the team. Jake watched from the shadows as this went on. After a minute, Jake saw the opening he was waiting for and dashed toward the snake, his fists glowing with arcane energy. He throw his punch just as the snake shifted, grazing it. His second fist was on target when it was about to hit the crystal. The space in front of him warped, taking the snake ten metres away. Striking at Jake the snake king used the same attack pattern as before, so Jake simply teleported to the location the sake tail would be and struck it head on with his full charged fist, the snake recoiled as the tip of its tail separated from its main body. The snake quickly teleported directly behind Jake, flashing forwards, its fangs dripping with purple liquid. As it lunged down, Jake smiled and teleported away micro seconds before the fangs hit him. The snake curled around, forgetting that Jake wasn¡¯t its only enemy Elizabeth and Franky hit the snake I its injured tail. There cursed energy flowing into the snake king, slowly rotting its body from the inside out. The smell of rotting flesh permeated the battlefield. The snake hissed in anger, then a crackling voice echoed out of the snake¡¯s mouth.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°How dear you pests harm me, the King. Now die.¡± The snake king launched a new attack venom spewing out of its mouth and covering the two vampiric converted, instantly sending them to sleep. ¡°Now is your last chance to run little rats.¡± the snake king arched its body up in the air as it began building up mana in its mouth. The remaining two vampiric converted looked at each other and attacked with everything they had at the same time. Jake teleported directly behind the snake, his fist an explosion as it ripped into the crystal, holding most of the snake king¡¯s power. Shards of tiny crystals cascaded down the snake¡¯s arched body as its attack was in the process of forming it backfired blowing the snake¡¯s lower jaw off at the same time the two vampiric converted landed their attacks sending a large amount of cursed energy into the snake rapidly advancing its demise. As the snake King fell to the ground it struck out with the last of its energy bringing its upper jaw down on the two vampiric converted piercing each of them through the neck and into their hearts Harald and Albert¡¯s body¡¯s went limp as they both crumpled to the ground there breathing laboured Jake rushed over to the two and used Demonic hand on the two. Slowly healing their wounds as he was doing this, he received a bitter sweet notification Notification First floor boss has died, all rewards will be placed within the first floor dungeon storage ring as the sole Conscious survivor Jake everval will be granted sole access to the storage ring. His hand glowed, then a ring appeared on his hand in the shape of a snake. Jake quickly looked inside the ring to see what items were inside his hopes were that there would be something that could help him and the other¡¯s. Items Items ¡Á5 sets of wind walking shoes (common) ¡Á5 grade level increase token (rare) ¡Á4 storage ring (common) Potions ¡Á15 Health potions (common) ¡Á15 Stamina potions (common) ¡Á15 mana potions (common) ¡Á5 anti venom potions (common) Jake pulled out two health potions and gave them to Albert and Harald, then went over to the other two while he waited for the potion cooldown to end and gave them an anti venom potion each then returned to continue healing Albert and Harald¡¯s soul damage. It was odd to Jake, but the soul damage that he was healing came from before the two ever stepped foot into the dungeon. Fifteen minutes passed before Jake could give the two of them anti venom potions. A minute after that, Jake had finished healing the two and looked over at the other two, who were still laying on the ground. They had regained consciousness but hadn¡¯t moved, so Jake went over to see what the problem was. Walking up to the two, he knelt down beside them. Reaching out his hand over Elizabeth¡¯s heart, he touched her as he began healing her damaged soul. After some time, Jake removed his hand and looked up to check if Elizabeth could now move. As he did, he noticed her face was very red for a vampiric creature. Jake thought nothing more of it as he turned to help the last member of the group. Harald and Albert were the first to say anything. As Elizabeth wouldn¡¯t speak to Jake for some reason, Jake couldn¡¯t put his finger on it at all. ¡°Jake, did you do something to us while we were unconscious?¡± Albert asked ¡°Other than healing your injuries and soul damage. No.¡± ¡°Soul damage.?¡± ¡°Yes, you all had soul damage. The soul, by the way, is close to the heart. Or at least in all of you, that is. Why do you ask?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just that my race has evolved to a true vampire. I am no longer a vampiric converted. I also received 10 grade levels for the evolution.¡± Jake shrugged and throw each of them a ring, then he split the items and potions, then handed them over to the four vampires. ¡°These belong to you all.¡± Jake then looked over his stats, but to his disappointment, he didn¡¯t gain a grade level. He only got 4 class levels, and the notification said his contribution to the fight was not equivalent to the amount of effort the four remaining members of his team put in. Jake grumbled when he read the message, but couldn¡¯t fault its logic. Out of the five of them, Jake was the only one that didn¡¯t really get hurt in that fight. ¡°Maybe the next boss.¡± Jake said before standing up to look at the new door. ¡°What does it say?¡± Franky asked. ¡°Level 2.¡± After saying that, Jake went over to the rotting corpse and, with an arcane infused punch severed the head from its rotting body and stored it in the ring. ¡°So, how long do you all need before we tackle the next floor?¡± Jake asked the group. ¡°We¡¯re good to go, we¡¯ve all recovered the stats we lost and the cooldown timer is about to end,¡± Elizabeth replied as she finally got past whatever was holding her back before. Jake and his group of fellow dungeon divers moved over to the door when Harald asked the group, ¡°what do you think the next floor will be?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I hope it¡¯s not something we can¡¯t fight that would suck.¡± Albert replied as the group stepped through the door with the new boot on. Notification You have entered the second floor. This floor is home to the undead and their leader, the undead servant. ¡°The fuck, you just had to jinx us, didn¡¯t you Albert.¡± Jake was confused and asked ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Can you not fight undead?¡± ¡°Yes, and now our class skills won¡¯t work on them, but we can at least use these to cut them up.¡± Harald replied. The group moved out slowly into a landscape that looked much the same as London in the 1700s. There were buildings running on each side of dirt and cobbled streets, with a large brown-coloured river running through the centre of the city. Stats at the end of the chapter Universal constant interface Name Jake everval Race demon of the past. Unique Grade G Information on G grade G upgrades to next grade at level 300 above previous, you get 1 grade level per 20 class or Profession level. This is the starting grade for all humanoid life forms in the open universe; there are no grade skills granted at this grade. Level 360. levels required till next grade evaluation 400 total Class trooper shadow mage (common) Class level 365 Profession Arcane Smith Profession level 400 stats points available 19,530 Mana 40,323,360 Arcane 40,423,500 Stamina 40,314,200 Health 40,623,360 Strength 1116 Agility 4,031.225 Intelligence 4,042.350 Wisdom 4,032,336 Perception 5,585.067 above mortal capacity stat points limited to a maximum safe level for a G grade temporary perception level 500.000 Integrity 4,063.336 Potions ¡Á3 Health potions (common) ¡Á3 Stamina potions (common) ¡Á3 mana potions (common) ¡Á1 anti venom potions (common) New Items (grade level increase token rare) Increase your grade level by 10 (dungeon storage ring common) A ring given to everyone that completes the first floor of a level one cave dungeon can store organic items and non organic items, has limited space and can¡¯t store large items. (wind walking shoes common) Let¡¯s the user move with ease over any terrain. Increases Stamina by +1000 points Attack skill wind cutter when kicking your enemy. A blade of wind will be released from the boots (Item braces of light common) Emits a burst of pure light when activated can be used to stun your enemies. Most effective on the undead. Side story The endless wars. (Founders alliance) The demon of death Millions of years before Jake everval entered the system imposed universal constants a lady was standing on what was left of her home would after the endless purges of her entire race her name was formerly known as Lady Emerant Vex but now she goes by the name the demon of death. She was once a doctor, but now after what had happened to her people, she put down her life saving ways and took up her newfound death giving powers. She only had one chance to escape this planet, and that was now she had to get aboard one of the invasion ships that entered the planet¡¯s atmosphere. Her goal was to get aboard a small ship and kill any and all members of the United Commerce Guild. She knows that this goal of hers may not be obtainable, but as the demon of death, she will make them suffer for what they did. The demon of death stood on top of a rocks outcrop overlooking the spaceport that the United Commerce Guild built on her planet her white dress blowing in the wind her demon form was that of a green dragon in a humanoid shape black lines ran from below her eyes down her face till disappeared below her blouse her skin was that of dragon hide and her hands and feet were claws. Her ethereal wings flashed behind her as she ripped through the spaceport, decapitating any who stood in her path. Beast folk kingdom There was a purple and red planet in a solar system squished between the wandering imperium and the united commerce guilds home territory the planet was home to a man named Berk Carr he founded his territory in his universes in the early integration into the system and now and now he is attempting to form a peace treaty with both of his neighbours but he hit a roadblock the absolutely ridiculous demands that was handed down by the countless members of the united commerce guild. They ranged from simple demands that on paper sounds feasible like reparations for damages to the Guilds fleet then there was the others like the complete dissolution of the beast folk kingdom and the enslavement of his people and any Nordicless people from his territory and the death of Aaliyah La flame and any people she is harbouring that know how to use her smithing methods. Clearly, this was beyond any possibilities of peace, so Berk only had one opinion left to him, and that was to seek help from other like-minded groups. The beast folk kingdom already had a defensive treaty with the wandering imperium. His next step was to find information on the demon of death, Freed slaves coalition and finally the attacking wedge. This Group of like-minded individuals had one very important thing in common and that put them all at odds with at least one member group of the united commerce guild. Freed slaves coalition The freed slaves coalition came into existence the day the planet, formally known as Miranda one, was created. It was a day every individual on that planet would remember for the rest of their lives. Ten large ships exited FTL and began an orbital bombardment of all military bases that had been constructed after the system became known to them after the bombardment ended a group of red humanoids came down and began rounding up anyone they could catch bringing them directly to the ships in orbit. On the opposite side of the planet, hidden on the dark side of the moon was the last of the planet¡¯s military most of which had once been slaves to the former emperor of the Miranda solar system now they have been freed when there former emperor died in the initial bombardment. The group only had one lightly armed battleship and a fleet of fifteen fighters the plans of which were made before the system then updated to allow for FTL travel the group of over six thousand military personnel, five thousand of which were former slaves and the final thousand where a group of officers that turned against their former employer and in the process took the battleship and its complement of fighters. In the moon base, two people were talking about their next course of act. One was a former slave named Frederick and the other a former admiral of the emperor¡¯s army named Aaron ¡°Frederick, what is your plan for the future? And the plans of your followers. I would like to ask if we could continue to work together so we can all get out of here alive.¡± ¡°The former slaves would like to form a coalition with you and your people. We would also like to run some missions with your assistance to free as many people as we can from these invaders.¡± ¡°I would like that, Alot, and if our coalition is based on freeing people from these invaders, then maybe we should call it the freed slaves¡¯ coalition or somethi¨C.¡±A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. A notification that he and Frederick simultaneously received interrupted the admiral. ¡°Well, I guess that¡¯s that then, a coalition. It is then, too bad about that name, though I didn¡¯t even get any input on that.¡± Frederick said with a grin. Wandering Imperium A young Aaliyah stood on her home world fifteen years after the fall now the only creatures left on the planet other than herself were a bunch of insects and arachnids she had been killing bugs non-stop for fifteen years till finally she managed to get to E grade here only goal was to get off of this planet and head out into the cosmos and develop her new profession seeking others like her for help in building a better future for those left in situations similar to her own. Her first course of action was to get off this dead rock. One thing that made Aaliyah want to leave her home would so much was its complete lack of arcane energy. when her planet was invaded, the invaders used some kind of machine to suck the planet dry the energy was slowly coming back but not fast enough for what Aaliyah needed to work on her profession she could make small and medium size items with the help of an object the system awarded her for being the sole survivor of her people. Setting her escape plan into motion she took another three years of moving around her lonely planet to find pockets of arcane energy to build one object and that was a spaceship of sorts, it would be better to say it was a rocket engine strapped to a wheelbarrow with small manoeuvring thrusters. Aaliyah didn¡¯t try this earlier because she didn¡¯t have the ability to survive in space without some form of life-support but now she is in E grade she could at least she could survive for a limited time that is and her goal was to steal one of the ships that have been in orbit for the last four years. She didn¡¯t know how they were, but for Aaliyah, this was her only option for escape, so she climbed into her wheelbarrow. Then, reaching behind herself, she activated the rocket engine, blasting her out of the atmosphere and into orbit. System imposed structure On the bridge of a ship orbiting a desolate planet recently sucked dry of arcane energy, stood a group of individuals they were watching a recording of an individual from the surface heading their way in what looked like a wheelbarrow as a group of fighters escorted her in. ¡°bring her in.¡± One individual said, shaking his head. ¡°You know if she is a survivor, and this is her planet, we must follow the system¡¯s instructions on this matter.¡± A female member said. ¡°Yes, I know. Establish the planet¡¯s energy recovery and provide security for the system in the form of self-sacrifice, then hand it all over to her.¡± ¡°And you are willing to do that?¡± ¡°I will follow the religion to the end.¡± The man replied ¡°Don¡¯t worry, our order will look after you and the children when I¡¯m gone, my wife.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not the point.¡± She shouted before storming out of the room. Moments later, the wheelbarrow flying lady entered. ¡°May I ask your name, miss?¡± The man asked as he invited her to take a seat. ¡°Aaliyah La flame.¡± She said ¡°Do you mind if I ask you a bunch of questions about what happened to this planet?¡± The man asked. Aaliyah nodded her head in response. ¡°First, are you a native of this planet? What drained the plant¡¯s energy, and who did it?¡± ¡°Yes, I am the last surviving native and the planet¡¯s energy was draining by some kind of machine and I didn¡¯t know who did it. We just called them invaders at the time.¡± The man looked over at one of the other people in the room. The individual nodded. A second later, the man Aaliyah was talking to handed her a tablet, then asked if he could be excused. Founders alliance In a room somewhere on a planet used only for the strict purpose of diplomatic talks between members of the alliance, known as the Founders alliance. An alliance founded to form a counterbalance to the local universal power called the United Commerce Guild and its allied groups. Aaliyah stood on a platform as she began to put her argument forward on why the Founders alliance should assist in the protection of a new organisation, only for her argument to be counted by one of her former commander¡¯s ¡°You have already lost half of your fleet to this idiotic idea of yours. The man you wish to protect may be similar to you, but he is only a low ranker. There is a high possibility he will die even before he leaves his home world. And you still want these fine people to put their lives on the line for him. This is why we had to leave.¡± ¡°The founder of the organisation is an arcane smith Yes, but it is not him that I want to protect but the organisation. The organisation is a mercenary group that is not affiliated with any major party. That means we will be able to use them to fight back against our enemies, and I also believe this mercenary group will become a major power in the future.¡± Aaliyah said. ¡°What is this mercenary group¡¯s name?¡± lady that looked like a demon asked, Aaliyah looked over at her and said, ¡°demon hand mercenary group.¡± The room went silent for a moment before one of the others in the room asked, looking over at the only demon in the room, ¡°is this yours?¡± Aaliyah jumped in before anyone could reply, ¡°no, this group has nothing to do with the demon of death, the founder of the group is himself a demon. I believe he goes by the name of the demon of the past. But we should not judge the man by his race, should we?¡± Aaliyah looked over at her former commander. The demon of death finally spoke as she said, ¡°as a demon it would be best if we don¡¯t get involved with the man but there may be merit in what Aaliyah said about this mercenary group. I will be going to look at this group to see if it measures up to its name and I will do this immediately after we have finished this conference. On that note, this conference will be suspended for now, with no decisions made until I get back.¡± After the demon of death said this, she left the room leaving everyone in the room but one shocked at her actions the only one that wasn¡¯t had a grin on his face that said I win and now your pet will die to one of his own. Chapter 50 level 2 undead ¡°Take the left flank,¡± Franky shouted over the top of the growling horde that was pinning the team down. The battle began fifteen minutes after Jake had left to gather intelligence on the location the boss would most likely be. Elizabeth ran to the left and started destroying undead beast folk one by one with the only weapons the group of vampires had. Wind blades sliced apart their enemies on three sides Franky had his team running in a relay with one of them always recovering in the rear ready at a moments notice to fill in a gap if a breakthrough happened this went on for over an hour before Jake got back. Looking over the battlefield, Jake played a support role in this fight, so he quickly jumped down to where Franky was recovering. ¡°Franky, what is the situation?¡± ¡°We have been fighting for about an hour or so and we¡¯re running low on mana. We have been holding off on taking potions. Our biggest issue right now is the left flank. The undead are focusing their attacks on that side. The enemy is not smart there, like zombies. We could use some help on the left flank, but don¡¯t go too hard. The enemies maybe weak, but there are a lot of them and they don¡¯t seem to be slowing down, so I believe the individual in command of them is trying to wear us down.¡± ¡°Just take it as an opportunity and grind some levels. I will do my best to support you when you inevitably falter.¡± Jake dashed to support Elizabeth. Jake began using the same techniques the others were using as he didn¡¯t know if the commander could somehow see the battlefield and, if possible, Jake wanted to keep some of his skills a secret for now. Jake dashed into battle, kicking off head after head. If it wasn¡¯t for his new boots, he would have slipped on the blood that covered everything. With Jake helping out on the left flank, Elizabeth could try to rest and regain her strength, but just five minutes later, a loud roar bellowed down the street Jake was on. ¡°Shit. Elizabeth, take up Jake¡¯s position. I will send Harald over once we have suppressed his and Albert¡¯s position.¡± Elizabeth ran back to Jake¡¯s location, her body dangerously low in stamina. Jake looked over at her and asked. ¡°Have you taken any positions?¡± ¡°No.¡± She replied. Only to have a potion placed in her hand a moment later. ¡°Take that. You are going to need it. I¡¯m going to take on that behemoth over there, so you will need to hold this position alone.¡± Once Jake said this, he turned his gaze on the creature. Race behemoth humanoid ghoul Grade G Level 360 Weak points. The behemoth humanoid ghoul lacks the understanding of pain and its height is a detriment to its reaction speed. Forgoing his earlier restrictions, Jake teleported directly behind the behemoth and, at Jake¡¯s full height, was only that of the behemoth¡¯s big toe. Jumping up and punching the back of the behemoth¡¯s knee, Jake was hoping to bring it down, but all he got in return was an earth shattering gong. His skin on his right hand had been rendered from his body the pain of the hit overwhelming his sense a second too long as the behemoth was now upon him its gigantic fist barrelling down towards him Jake desperately tried to move out of the way knowing the strength of the monster the behemoths strength stat far out weighed Jake¡¯s own. Jake never thought that the strength stat would be that important. Only now, when he was at his end, did he realise as the behemoth¡¯s fist inches away from his body just stopped in its track? No, it wasn¡¯t just the behemoth, but everything around him just stopped. Jake was wondering what it was when a timer appeared in front of him. Notification Skill activated Boosted Arcane Berzerka of Time (epic) Time belongs to no one slow time in a localised zone outside of your body. As time is slowed outside, inside Time has been increased, boosting your reaction speed as your mind focuses on destroying your enemies. Skill will only activate in times of the caster¡¯s greatest need. A backlash will occur when the skill deactivates. Maximum time the skill can be active for is 20 seconds before complete atomic breakdown of the casters body will begin. System recommends deactivating this skill immediately; atomic breakdown will begin in 20 seconds. 19 seconds. Jake quickly kicked off of the ground, running up the arm of the frozen behemoth as he charged his punch. Once he reached his destination, Jake launched his fist right into the behemoth¡¯s eye, followed by multiple wind blades courtesy of his new boots. Some form of sticky liquid covered Jake.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. 10 seconds. As the behemoth¡¯s eyeball explored, Jake entered the socket, still furiously kicking and punching his way deeper into the monster¡¯s skull, till finally he was standing upon his target. He began his plan. Jake¡¯s mind solely focused on his task. Bring down the behemoth. He kicked and punched at anything in sight. Till there was nothing left of the beast¡¯s brain, every receptor the behemoth had was now gone. He would have continued his rampage, but just as he was about to continue, his body collapsed in pain, a pain that Jake had never felt in his life. Jake looked at the clock. 3 seconds. He deactivated the skill as quickly as he could, watching the clock as his sight went dark. 0 seconds -1 second atomic breakdown has begun. Warning as a last ditch effort granted by system interference, stat points are being used to mitigate atomic degradation. These were the last notifications Jake received before everything went black. Elizabeth After throwing her the potion, Jake vanished and not even a second later was right at the behemoth¡¯s foot. He was no bigger than an insect to a human in her eyes. The next moment, this insect was attacking the behemoth only for the predicted thing to happen. The behemoth¡¯s fist was now coming directly at Jake. Elizabeth tried to break free from her battle to help save him but to her dismay she couldn¡¯t make an opening she watched as the giant fist came directly at Jake then everything around her froze her mind though was still firing at full speed only she couldn¡¯t move her body. Time ticked by as she was stuck in this state. Eventually, she was set free from her torment and the world resumed its movement. In the distance, a loud roar bellowed out, followed by an earth shattering crash that shook the entire 2nd level of the dungeon. Elizabeth looked over at the behemoth and saw it flat on the ground and, hanging half out of its eye socket, lay the one she wanted to help. A moment later Harald arrived before asking the million dollar question ¡°What the hell was that?¡± Elizabeth just shrugged and, with a gesture, pointed out what was in the distance. ¡°Is he still alive?¡± Elizabeth once again shrugged, then continued killing her enemies at a rate much faster than she was before. Only after a few minutes had passed did she notice that the density of her enemy had gotten to the point she was now searching for a target. Once she killed the last one she could find in her sector, did she regain her senses? Elizabeth looked over to where Jake was lying and noticed all three of her companions were already at his side. Quickly rushing over, she asked, ¡°Is he okay?¡± ¡°alive yes, okay I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Can we not just turn him into one of us that should fix whatever is going on with him, right?¡± Elizabeth said frantically. ¡°No, we can¡¯t. If we could, I already would have. He¡¯s got some kind of power that is trying to tear him apart. The only thing holding him together right now is his amazing recovery skill. If any of us tried to turn him right now, not only would we fail, but we would also become infected with whatever power is trying to kill him, and we don¡¯t possess his skill. Any way we don¡¯t have to as his actually getting better. He may need a health potion or two, but he should be out of the woods now.¡± Franky said before sitting down beside Jake as he leaned up against the behemoth. ¡°This thing is fucken huge, don¡¯t you think?¡± Harald said. Erica On a small moon, her fellow mercenaries know her as Lady Blake, but her enemies have given her the name of the ghost queen. To them, the ghost queen was the one that would strike their supply lines and capture their merchant ships, bringing them back to her lair situated on a moon. The forces now ageist her were the interior United Commerce Guild and the original enemy The Grand Empire of the Warring Path, a small enemy if you put them up against the interior United Commerce Guild. The Guild had so many members and its own armed force. Erica had been surprised to hear about an enemy that this force was set up to combat. Supposedly, this enemy took on the entire Guild alone, and she has been fighting them ever since. In the stories Erica had heard this woman would tear apart interior battle fleets with the flick of her finger and destroy solar systems like she was playing a gigantic game of Billiards but for right now Erica¡¯s biggest opponent is the Red Rock Slavers this group would normally only enter newly integrated universes but the moment they heard that the leader of a newly formed mercenary group was a Nordicless they rushed five full battle divisions to suppress the rise of the new mercenaries. They just couldn¡¯t have a place that their most profitable items could hide. But to their dismay, it wasn¡¯t them that were doing the oppression; it was the mercenaries that were ambushing any supply convoy they sent out. In the planetary space dock that orbited Erica¡¯s home would, a group of slavers were in a meeting with two representatives from The Grand Empire of the Warring Path and one representative from the Armed Forces of the United Commerce Guild. ¡°We have requested your support on this matter because the content raids on our fleet has been crippling our bottom line we can no longer make a profit in this sector as all of our best products are being stolen by this so called mercenary group even dears flaunt itself by taking on that name. Have we even figured out if it belongs to that demon bitch?¡± the red rock slavers said. ¡°While you may have argued that you can¡¯t make a profit in this area. Why did you invade our territory? We of The Grand Empire of the Warring Path will not assist you in this matter till every warship you have brought into our territory has even handed over to us as reparations for your continued interference in our matters.¡± ¡°We will never do that.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t think we don¡¯t know what you have been doing since you arrived. If you don¡¯t hand over our people that you have enslaved, we will have no alternatives but to start a crusade against your group.¡± The last member of the meeting finally spoke out on the matters. ¡°As a member of the United Commerce Guild, we are duty bound to assist you in the event that a war occurs.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great, so you will help us destroy this mercenary group, then.¡± The red rock slaves said ¡°No.¡± The slavers were stunned by the reply. ¡°What do you mean by no? We are at war.¡± ¡°No, you are not at war and no, we will not fight in a war that you may create by evading the territory of a neutral party.¡± ¡°Wait, you just said that your duty bound to fight.¡± ¡°No, I said assist, and our assistance will be the same as when you enter a newly integrated universe.¡± ¡°So you will do fucken nothing then.¡± ¡°We will provide a platform so that all sides of the conflict will get to talk and come up with a peace plan.¡± ¡°So like I said, fucken nothing. What¡¯s the point in having the Armed Forces of the United Commerce Guild if all you ever do is talk?¡± the red rock slaver shouted, spit flying out of his mouth, his red skin turning a darker shade as he raged on. Chapter 51 something worth the price Jake was still lying on the ground when his eyes opened in agony, his body convulsing as he screamed out in pain. To Jake, this was nothing, as he remembered the last message he received from the system before he lost consciousness. The screaming went on for ten hours till Jake¡¯s voice finally gave out, then a red tear round down his cheek. Notification You have been affected by atomic breakdown. The system has intervened on your behalf and limited the impact on your body and soul. New Skill Atomic degradation (unique) Begin the process of atomic breakdown on your target The level notifications and point reduction notifications went on forever, so Jake opened his stat screen to look. Universal constant interface Name Jake everval Race demon of the past. Unique Grade F Information on F grade Upgrades 600 above previous you get 1 grade level per 30 class or Profession level anyone below this grade in the open universe will not survive unless protected by life-sustaining means such as planetary Shields and the like no F graders ever entered space and survived for more than two years without adequate protection. Level 0. levels required till next grade evaluation 1000 total Class trooper shadow mage (common) Class level 960 Profession Arcane Smith Profession level 400 Stats points available 52,650 points. bones points for being the first of your spaces to getting to F grade 100,000 points Mana 1,000.000 Arcane 1,000.000 Stamina 1,001.010 Health 1,000.000 Strength 101 Agility 100,000 Intelligence 100,000 Wisdom 100.000 Perception 100.000 Integrity 100.000 The first thing Jake did after regaining a hint of composure was to invest his points. And knowing how far out matched he was in the last fight, he focused on increasing his strength, then to be safe, he added the rest into integrity. stats points available 0 Mana 1,000.000 Arcane 1,000.000 Stamina 2,001.010 Health 1,526.500 Strength 100,101 Agility 100,000 Intelligence 100,000 Wisdom 100.000 Perception 100.000 Integrity 152.650 ¡°Congratulations on reaching F grade,¡± Franky said. Jake just grunted as he tried to sit up. ¡°Don¡¯t move, your body is only just holding together. I don¡¯t know if you can change forms, but I would recommend you don¡¯t try.¡± Jake took another look at his notifications, searching for anything to do with his demon form. Notification Atomic degradation has occurred to your human form. Demon form locked active till your human form has recovered. ¡°Fucken hell.¡± Jake grunted through his cracked and ash flaked lips. ¡°I¡¯m never using that skill again.¡± ¡°What happened to you?¡± Elizabeth asked then in a soft voice, then followed it with the word sorry, but only she could hear that part. ¡°A skill activated, and I didn¡¯t deactivate it in time. I didn¡¯t realise it would also take time to deactivate.¡± ¡°How long was the skill active for? As for us, it seemed to be a short amount of time.¡± Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Jake looked over his notifications again and replied in an irritated tone, ¡°23 seconds. I was over the limit by 3 seconds fucken 3 seconds and I lost almost all of my stats and if it was a second longer, my life as well.¡± ¡°What the fuck? What kind of skill could do such a thing?¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t the skill that took my stats. It was the system it interfered to save my life but fuck so many points lost. I don¡¯t know if I can continue with this dungeon,¡± Jake said in a dejected tone. ¡°Have you looked to see if there are any changes to your titles or maybe a notification you might have missed?¡± Jake looked over his notifications one last time, looking for any glimpse of hope. Notification As the first of your species to evolve to F grade, you have been granted a new title Jake quickly checked his titles. Title Atomic man Your body can now handle a limited amount of atomic degradation before it will begin to be destroyed. Title Leader of his generation As the leader of your generation, you will receive +10 points to all profession and class levels and reduces levels needed to get next grade level by -5 ¡°I can¡¯t believe it. That¡¯s what I got for almost dying. All I get is a plus 10 points and a minus 5 to grade levels. Then there is that atomic bullshit. Fuck this system.¡± ¡°A minus 5 is a lot bigger than losing some points.¡± ¡°Some points, I lost over 40 million points in all but one of my stats, and you call that some.¡± Jake got a little too enthused when he started yelling about what he lost as his face cracked open from the side of his mouth to his left eye. ¡°Fuck, that hurt,¡± Jake croaked out. ¡°I will leave someone to watch over you while we look for the boss.¡± Jake gave him a nod before falling to sleep. Time passed as Elizabeth watched over Jake. She sat with him as night fell. There was a full moon that night, lighting up most of the street Jake was in. Elizabeth had thought about moving him into a building so that they would be safe but decided against it, as Jake¡¯s body was still in a weak state. She sat down beside him when he began shaking and muttering to himself. ¡°It must be a dream.¡± She said when suddenly Jake shot up to a sitting position with both of his hands out in front of him and said something in a language she couldn¡¯t understand she reached over to wake him when from each of his hands a brilliant black crackling orb emerged a second later Jake shouted a word in that language and the two orbs shoot from his hands spiralling through the air before smashing into a behemoth no smaller than the one Jake had already killed. The two orbs screamed as they hit, turning everything they touched to ash. Once the orbs did their jobs, the sleepwalking Jake curled back on the ground, not even realising what had just happened. ¡°What the fuck is this guy?¡± Elizabeth said while looking at what¡¯s left of the behemoth Three days later Jake¡¯s body was mostly back to normal, his skin returned to its normal state that is for a demon with runes all over it. Jake opened his eyes to a notification blinking in his face. Notification Jake Everval, the demon of the lost. unconsciously killed a behemoth in a way the system has no ability to monitor. As such, no class levels will be given as the occupant of Jake Everval¡¯s body was not himself at the time of the incident. Jake looked up from the message to a pair of eyes staring at him in disbelief. ¡°What did you do? How did you basically one tap that behemoth the other night?¡± Elizabeth continued her onslaught of questions. Jake only getting the first two before he zoned them out. ¡°I have no idea.¡± Jake replied ¡°What do you mean by that you used a skill I have never seen you use before? It felt like the world was going to end when I saw it. You also talked in a weird language I couldn¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°That makes sense, one of my race skills must have been activated while I was asleep. It¡¯s a bit scary, that while I¡¯m unconscious, I can be taken over but I suppose the knowledge that I can take down a behemoth in the future with one shot could be something worth the price after all if it was the skill I think it was it will be nice to see its final form in person.¡± Jake said as he looked at two of his skills, one new and one old. Race skill (Voices of the past unique) Tap into the experience of those who have died. Skill Atomic degradation (unique) Begin the process of atomic breakdown on your target ¡°That had to be what did it.¡± Jake muttered, then went silent for a long time. In his mind he began thinking over the possibilities and how he could get the atomic degradation skill to do something similar but without knowing what exactly happened there was just no way to replicate the actions again especially right now as he hasn¡¯t even used the skill yet. Jake looked over at Elizabeth and with a smile said, ¡°shall we go test out some skills?¡± Elizabeth stood up and said with a grin, ¡°definitely.¡± The two sneaked down one street after another till they found another demon door as Jake was calling them now after looking at the runes on the door again. Only he could read them. ¡°I¡¯ll wait here while you go find the others.¡± Jake said Elizabeth nodded and left after making sure Jake would be fine being left alone until she got back. The moment she left, Jake looked back at the door with a grin. ¡°What¡¯s it matter if I give it a try first? Who knows how a dungeon works? Maybe it won¡¯t let me. I need to at least test it right.¡± Jake walked up to the door, pushing it open and stepping inside. Inside a room stood a man with at least 100 undead in front of him. On seeing this, Jake¡¯s thoughts were limited to two things: one was the man¡¯s level, and the other was training. Race human undead servant Grade G Level 50 Undead servants control hordes of undead for a master. They are weak to physical damage. After checking the level of the boss, Jake then checked the other undead in the room. To Jake¡¯s slight disappointment, they were all under level 50. ¡°So, do you speak?¡± Jake asked, not expecting any reply only for the man to open his mouth as guttural sounds came out, followed by a husky voice. ¡°Ha. You have fallen into my hands now your death will come quickly at the hands of my Ghouls.¡± ¡°So then, nothing of actual value then like, I don¡¯t know. Some wise information on the system or, even better, how to defeat the next floor, boss.¡± ¡°You think you can talk your way out of this? No, you will die here, huma¨C. what exactly are you? Oh, doesn¡¯t matter, anyway. I will just find out from your rotting corpse.¡± Jake looked at the man incredulously before he teleported into the man¡¯s shadow and laid a hand on his shoulder, than he activated Atomic degradation. A strange energy passed through Jake¡¯s body and entered the undead servant. Not even a second later, Jake watched as the man¡¯s arm disintegrated into ash and slowly expanded into the man¡¯s torso. Jake placed his other hand on the man¡¯s back, trying to repeat the same actions, but in return, all Jake got was a notification. Notification Target has already been inflicted with atomic degradation, a target cannot receive further instances of atomic degradation. Jake sighed as he charged his fist. Plunging it into the man¡¯s skull, pushing his brain out of his eye sockets, the undead servant crumpled to the ground just as Jake received the kill notification. Notification Level two boss defeated. prizes allocated for this level will be stored in the appropriate storage items. Jake looked at the storage ring he got. ¡°There better be something good in here.¡± New items Potions ¡Á3 Health potions (common) ¡Á3 Stamina potions (common) ¡Á3 mana potions (common) ¡Á1 portion of purge undead (common) Item bracelet of power (common) This item will increase any physical damage dealt to the wears target by 10% Item Tomb of the ritualist¡¯s apprentice After reading the information, he remembered where he was and began a wholesale slaughter of the remaining undead, using atomic degradation on all that he could with a smile plastered on his face. Ding! Class level increased +1600 points Ding! Grade level increased +90 points ¡°Well, that was kind of a letdown. The snake on the first floor was much harder than this so-called level two boss.¡± Stats at the end of the chapter Universal constant interface Name Jake everval Race demon of the past. Unique Grade F Information on F grade Upgrades 600 above previous you get 1 grade level per 30 class or Profession level anyone below this grade in the open universe will not survive unless protected by life-sustaining means such as planetary Shields and the like no F graders ever entered space and survived for more than two years without adequate protection. Level 1. levels required till next grade evaluation 1000 total Class trooper shadow mage (common) Class level 980 Profession Arcane Smith Profession level 400 stats points available 1690 Mana 1,000.000 Arcane 1,000.000 Stamina 2,001.010 Health 1,526.500 Strength 100,101 Agility 100,000 Intelligence 100,000 Wisdom 100.000 Perception 100.000 Integrity 152.650 Chapter 52 loss and loneliness Elizabeth was running down the streets towards the sounds of a fight. She had left Jake on his orders to find her other companions. As she approached the fight, she scaled a building and observed the ongoing fight. It seemed Franky was directing a group of small rodents with his staff while Harald and Albert were holding back the enemy to give Franky more time, for what Elizabeth didn¡¯t know. Seeing that there was no real danger, she sat back and watched from a distance. Five minutes later Franky shouted, ¡°let the many become whole.¡± As he said this, the rats merged into one monster three times the size of anyone on the battlefield. Elizabeth quickly identified the monster. Identify Race wererat Level 300 ¡°He made a bloody wererat.¡± Elizabeth gasped as she said this. The wererat turned towards the horde and launched itself straight into the centre of it, tearing apart more enemies than Harald or Albert could in the same amount of time. After a minute, she went down and tell them about the door to the boss¡¯ room. She jumped off of the building, landing right beside Franky in a hero pose. ¡°I always wanted to do that. We have found the boss room Jake is waiting for u¨C.¡± Elizabeth was cut off by a notification that popped up in front of here. Notification Dungeon boss defeated items have been added to your storage ring. If you have not reached the boss¡¯ room before Jake Everval enters the new floor, you will be teleported directly to the third floor. As you won¡¯t have entered the floor through the boss¡¯ room, your arrival location will be set as random. Elizabeth looked up at the others and simply said, ¡°see you later¡± then ran off. The group of three broke contact with the enemy and followed. The group ran as fast as they could to get to the door before Jake left. Once they got there, all four of them burst through the door at once. Jake sat in the centre of the room looking at his hand when he said to the four. ¡°took you long enough. Did you really think I was going to leave without you?¡± ¡°Well, if I¡¯m not mistaken, you also said you would wait, but here we are. Us four entered the boss¡¯ room and what do we find, you sitting on the floor in the middle of all this?¡± Elizabeth gestured around the room, dead bodies everywhere. ¡°Ok, fair enough. I just needed to test something out.¡± Elizabeth got excited for a second as she asked, ¡°did you get it to work?¡± ¡°Not exactly, but the skill has its merits. I think I can work with it.¡± ¡°Are you two going to explain what you¡¯re talking about?¡± Harald asked. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. Shall we get going?¡± Elizabeth said as she walked towards the next door. Pushing it open, she looked back at the others standing behind her and stepped through. Splash! All five of them fell out of the sky and landed in the middle of a swamp, tadpoles scattering everywhere. On a reed covered island, two human sized frogs both holding a spear looked on as these invaders destroyed one of the sacred breeding ponds. The two frogs jumped into action. Jumping from each side, the water exploded as the two landed. Seconds later the water erupted as a flash of green leapt out of the water followed by three more flashes than as the waters surface settled two unmoving objects floated to the surface one was a large green frog and the other a vampire with a spear sticking out of her chest. Jake popped up beside her ¡°I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t see them coming.¡± Jake murmured through gritted teeth. Jake pulled out a healing potion, but as he raised it towards her mouth, she raised a hand to stop him. ¡°It won¡¯t work. I¡¯ve been stabbed through the heart. It¡¯s a vital point in all vampires.¡± She laughed, only for blood to be expelled from her mouth. ¡°Probably shouldn¡¯t laugh.¡± Jake said, holding her hand ¡°It¡¯s just funny, if I was still a converted, I would still be fine.¡± ¡°that¡¯s right. If it wasn¡¯t for you meeting me, you would still be alive. It¡¯s all my fault. I should have never agreed to take you all in here. What was I thinking? How could I protect you if I couldn¡¯t even protect myself? Little lone four others. How do I continue after all this?¡± Elizabeth looked up at the tears rolling down Jake¡¯s cheek. She gestured for Jake to come closer. Jake lent down as Elizabeth spoke softly into his ear. ¡°You are a lot stronger now than you were when you entered this dungeon.you just need to release some of that burden that¡¯s weighing you down,¡± she lent up and kissed Jake on the cheek. ¡°Thank you.¡± She whispered before her head splashed back into the water as she took one last breath, dying right in Jake¡¯s arms. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. A white light left Elizabeth¡¯s body as an ethereal image of Elizabeth stretched over Jack and the lifeless body. ¡°don¡¯t cry for me.¡± Elizabeth thought. She reached down, placing a hand on Jake¡¯s back just before fading out of existence, leaving behind only the memory of herself. In the hearts of those she left behind. Jake stood over the grave of the late Elizabeth, high on an island out of the swampy terrain below them and in his hand lay her storage ring ¡°I can only fight alone from here on out. As for after I complete this fucken dungeon, I will only fight alongside my wife.¡± Jake said as he tied the ring to a pile of stones he found and used as a crave marker. He had removed the remaining items she had stored in them and placed them in his ring. Jake was not stupid enough to think he would never be in a situation where allies would be in the same area as him, but he would not fight with them. He would fight alone, never putting himself in a situation like this again. ¡°I promise you, after I am finished here, I will not summon your fellow vampires to fight alongside me. Nor will I bring any more people into my fold. I will hand over any power I have over people to my closest aides. I will never lead people again. It clearly isn¡¯t my thing.¡± As Jake said this, notifications started popping up in front of him. Notification Renounce ownership of territorial power You have renounced your ownership of territorial power on earth and hand over power to Emma Moore, hand of the demon of the past and Jayne Everval. Would you like to continue? Yes/no. Notification Renounce political power over the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group and hand over full power to Erica Blake and Jayne Everval and limited power for all branch leaders, present and future. Would you like to continue? Yes/No. Warning by selecting yes, you will be unable to change or influence any part of the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group. You will still hold the highest rank but with no political power. As he selected yes to both of them, he felt as if a sudden weight had been lifted from his back. Now, he could live his life as he wants to and not feel weighed down by the constant pressure that had been building around him. He was now free to take contracts, just like he wanted from the start of all this. Jake said his last goodbyes to the lovely vampire before setting off into the swamp alone, with a small smile on his face. Erica In her office on the moon, Erica read the notifications that she just received. She smiled to herself then said, ¡°it¡¯s about time he figured it out. This is why you have us. We take on these things for you so you can grow, master.¡± the lady across the room looked over at Erica confused then asked ¡°is everything alright my lady?¡± ¡°Yes, everything is fine. How are the new ships coming along? What were they called again?¡± ¡°There called runabouts my lady, and right now we are able to pump out around ten a day if we stick with the designs that man Harry said to use but if we use this other one we should be able to double the production speed.¡± ¡°What was that name of that one again and no, don¡¯t give me that runabout bullshit?¡± ¡°It¡¯s called meat, but in the name¡¯s defence, the other one is called death trap and we¡¯re still building it.¡± Erica replied with ¡°a death trap is just a trap as for meat that is saying you are already dead. We will stick with the variants Harry said to use.¡± ¡°Also, get some rings together and fill them with runabouts so they can be ready for when Jake comes back, make twenty of the death trap variants and as many as you can in the meat variant, that should be a good start as a backup supply.¡± ¡°Yes, my lady.¡± The assistant said. ¡°My lady, would it be right to say we will be adding ammunition as well?¡± ¡°Yes, we would need a good supply of ammunition. Also, find some low-ranking mercenaries and prepare them to be sent to Earth once the founder returns. I would like to test if we can send people back with him. Make it a small team, a maximum of 5 people, all equipped with weapons and runabouts. Once they are on the other side, they will be taking their orders from someone called Jayne Everval, and they are not to interfere with Jake once they are there.¡± The assistant left moments later, leaving Erica alone in the office for the first time in a week. ¡°Time to go on another raid.¡± Dungeon On the third floor of the dungeon, three vampires were chasing down the creature that attacked them. The group was moving so fast that they didn¡¯t realise where this creature was leading them; they had entered the boss¡¯ room through a back-door of sorts. One could call it a hidden portal used only by the dungeon¡¯s creatures. Now in the distance stood an enormous structure resembling an old Mayan temple and at the top stood a larger-than-life frog with two guards on each side of its towering figure. The group hit the bottom steps to the temple; they all looked up at the towering frog. The frog they were chasing lowered its head to the ground and said with absolute reverence, ¡°My queen, these invaders destroyed one of the sacred breeding ponds and killed my companion. I request your assistance in killing them.¡± The queen looked down from her throne and crocked out a response. ¡°You two kill them and bring me their heads.¡± Franky quickly identified the group Identify Race swamp frog guard Level 400 Identify Race swamp frog queen¡¯s guard Level ??? Identify Race swamp frog queen¡¯s guard Level ??? Identify Race swamp frog queen Level ??? Frankys face went pale as he turned to the others mouthing the word run as his head was separated from his body this all seemed to happen in slow motion to the other two vampires Albert slowly turned to look at Harald only to see a spear stab through Haralds chest Albert turned to leave only for his forward momentum turned into downwards force as the queen held her hand out pinning Albert to the ground as her guards slit the vampires throat with their daggers as they grasped hold of his hair. Ripping his head right off. ¡°Bring them up here and put them with the others.¡± The two guards rammed the three heads in spikes that wrapped around the top of the temple with ten others, their blood colouring the steps red as a warning to anyone that would even dare to go up against the queen of the swamp. Chapter 53 froglings Jake was trailing a group of frogs when he was stopped in his tracks. Notification All soul servants have died; you can no longer summon their physical form. While contemplating what could have possibly gone wrong so quickly for them, Jake¡¯s thoughts were once again interrupted. Race skill modification Race Skill Summon blood servants to Summon lost servants (unique) Summon your lost servants¡¯ souls to fight by your side in a body made of arcane energy. The arcane bodies will break down within one hour of Summoning sending their souls back to the redacted. Cost 500 arcane energy per lost servant. Jake kept looking at the skill repeatedly. Then finally he decided he would try it. He didn¡¯t want to bring people back from the dead, but he needed information. So Jake moved to a location he scouted out earlier. As he sat there in low swamp water Jake activated the skill four flashes of light appeared in front of him, then a rush of arcane energy left his body forming into human-like figures three distinctly male and one female none of which took a form related to their old bodies. He stared at them for a time longer than he should have before asking, ¡°can any of you speak?¡± The female that Jake believed to be Elizabeth shook her head then with a hand made a group of hand signals in the hopes of communicating. Jake understood some of them, but some didn¡¯t match with the sign language he knew. Auslan was his preferred method of communicating, so Jake stopped her and began attempting to teach the four Auslan so they could at least communicate with each other. Jake spent an entire hour teaching them until their energy faded away. After catching himself a quick break, Jake re-summoned the four and made the sign for hello but all he got back was blank stairs. ¡°Do you remember what happened before when I summoned you the first time?¡± The four masses of arcane energy all shook their heads, confirming Jake¡¯s suspensions. ¡°You can¡¯t remember a bloody thing. Can you? Not even from before you all died?¡± All of them shook their heads, confirming Jake¡¯s question. Jake had one final question to ask ¡°Do any of you have any issues with me using you in battle, where I will most likely use you as a shield or diversion to attack?¡± all four confirmed that it would be fine. Jake sat there till the skill ran out of time before leaving. ¡°Well, it¡¯s only me now. This takes me back, only this time it¡¯s about building up my class skills not my profession skills although maybe I can use my profession skills in here.¡± Notification You have entered the level one cave dungeon. The level one cave dungeon is a place where technology and weapons of any kind have been removed. Looking back at the first notification he received when entering the dungeon, Jake had a new goal. ¡°Brake it, break them, fuck it up.¡± Jake mumbled this to himself as he began a search for metal to test his new plan. Thirty minutes had passed till Jake finally found a group of frogs, hiding in the reeds Jake spied on them as they went about their day it looked to Jake that each of the frogs are equipped with one spear with a beautiful metal tip not enough to make a firearm but enough to make shrapnel and possibly a set of throwing knife. Before launching his attack, Jake did the one thing he knew people new to the system forgot and checked his enemy¡¯s levels. The highest levelled frog was G grade level 300, and the lowest was G grade level 10 the majority of the frogs were at the lower level. ¡°They¡¯re just babies. This isn¡¯t good. I don¡¯t want to kill babies.¡± A shadow covered the area Jake was hiding in, then an explosion of swamp water filled the sky as a large green frog came back up to the surface alone. The frog looked around in confusion when out of the corner of its eye it noticed the ones he was there to protect were all dead in an intent. Jake had saluted all of its charges and was now standing over their dead, floating corpses. Jake ran towards the frog, but just as the frog leaped to attack him, Jake teleported away. Only to teleport back behind the frog, plunging his arcane infused fist right through the frog¡¯s head. Jake then looked over the battlefield. ¡°That kind of makes me feel bad.¡±This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Jake policed up all the metal that the frogs had then set off again for his next set of targets. After encountering five or six more groups and taking into account the last couple of floors, Jake had a solid theory about the function of the dungeon. Its purpose was not to gain levels, but to advance the skills of dungeon divers to a level where low rankers could take on monsters at higher levels than themselves. But this theory could be wrong after all the four of his companions were killed by something on this floor after all. But for Jake the only things he has found were a bunch of low-level frogs even killing as many as he did, he didn¡¯t even give him a level in grade or class for that matter but he did receive a skill upgrade or change. Jake wasn¡¯t too sure about it as the rarity didn¡¯t increase, the skill just changed to match Jake more. Race skill Demon dance (Unique) Wings of shadows that obscure your enemies¡¯ sight as you teleport, dash, and fly your way to safety with this, you will be the bane of those who travel in the dark. Your wings take the form of a cloak when not in use and guards against minor piercing and slashing damage when in cloak form. The user can change the colour of the cloak at will. +50 damage to unaware targets This skill cannot be deactivated. Jake really liked skills that he didn¡¯t have to activate as he was constantly forgetting to do that and it looked like the system has realised this fact and started giving him a break. He has had a lot of time to think about some of the things the system has done and there have been a few times where it has given away Jake¡¯s stats for little in return. Jake was wondering if the system had some kind of grudge against him, but for what, Jake didn¡¯t know. But at least for now, it has decided to work with him. ¡°for the system to start working with me. It must have some kind of conscious thought process, maybe some kind of mind or power on a higher plane of existence. It must be higher than S grade, maybe even higher still. I wonder what is behind the mask?¡± The moment Jake started to think along these lines, a warning notification appeared. Warning: accessing rank restricted information by those not qualified will receive a reduction in their stats by 50% to all stats. This is your first warning, so just do the damn dungeon without breaking any more redacted rules. ¡°Well, I guess I hit a nerve or something. But at least I know there¡¯s more to this system than what I read.¡± ¡°Okay, all powerful split personalities system, I will do this dungeon and then I might just start working on figuring out just what you are.¡± Jake sat down and pulled out all the materials he collected, then began by making a pestle and mortar out of metal. To Jake¡¯s astonishment, it worked. Jake then started grinding up anything that would turn into a powder to transmute later. The best thing Jake found to make powder was the dried flowers from the reeds. By doing this, every chance he got in between hunting down a bunch of froglings as that¡¯s what Jake was calling them now and it seemed the system agreed with him as now they would identify as froglings when Jake looked over their information. He managed to transmute enough powder to create five hand grenades of unknown explosive potential and two smoke bombs. This, to Jake¡¯s surprise, as he had made them many times before and received nothing, but this time it gave him five levels in his profession. Bringing him to level 405. The only difference was that this time, the hand grenades had a rarity for them. Item Hand Grenade (common) ¡Á5 A bomb that can be thrown by hand, the explosive potential is undetermined After making the hand grenades, Jake continued with his hunt, working on his next set of skills. His plan was to work on Race skill Eyes of the lost (unique) Splitting your focus on multiple tasks is your new state of being. Identifying your target¡¯s information is as easy as a glance. Your sight is as true as an arrow, while your enemy will cower at a glance. You illuminate the pathway to your target. Open a path to view the afterlife for lost souls. Anyone who looks into your eyes will see the fate of the fallen friend, loved ones and if they are hostile towards the demon of the past, will see the fires of the deep as it slowly burns away at their souls. +100 all stats regeneration once per minute +5 points of damage to your enemy every minute 10% chance your target will run +10 points of soul damage to your enemy every minute This skill cannot be deactivated. Race skill Demon strike (Unique) Stamina is converted into temporary units of integrity at a 100 to 5 ratio. All fallen lifeforms will be drained of their residual life force and converted into Stamina at a conversation rate of 100% with your newfound energy, every melee attack will be infused with destructive arcane energy as your attack power is now bolstered by the souls you protect. +50 damage per hit +50 soul damage per hit This skill cannot be deactivated. Race Skill Summon lost servants (unique) Summon your lost servants¡¯ souls to fight by your side in a body made of arcane energy. The arcane bodies will break down within 30 minutes of Summon sending their souls back to the redacted. Cost 500 arcane energy per lost servant. Race skill Demon dance (Unique) Wings of shadows that obscure your enemies¡¯ sight as you teleport, dash, and fly your way to safety with this, you will be the bane of those who travel in the dark. Your wings take the form of a cloak when not in use and guards against minor piercing and slashing damage when in cloak form. The user can change the colour of the cloak at will. +50 damage to unaware targets This skill cannot be deactivated. His goal was not to try to increase the skills¡¯ rarity, but to just to get used to using them in conjunction so that when he enters battle, they would be second nature and not an addon to himself. As he was looking for his next target began thinking of some things he had done after coming back from the tutorial. This time he would not make the same mistake over and over again like he did after leaving the tutorial, thinking he knew everything. Not even realising that he didn¡¯t know the first thing about the system he was treating this whole thing like it was a game and what¡¯s worse he let his overblown ego run his life he now knows he¡¯s not the strongest his not even a God yes he might just get there in the future but for now he is just a bit stronger than the rest of the people on earth and that¡¯s only because he just had a bit of a head start head start on everyone else. Now that the head start has begun closing because of some factors out of his control, yer jakes ego didn¡¯t much like that fact. So from now on he would work diligently on himself by reducing his ranking in the mercenary group so that he would have to do all the same jobs as the rest of the mercenaries. At last he would reduce his rank on paper, as he couldn¡¯t change the fact he created the group after all. By doing this, Jake will have earned his position and not just received it based on the system. So one of his ports of call will be to see Kiki about setting this up for him. Jake let out a sigh as he looked at what was in front of him. He looked at the door and turned in the other direction, not looking back as he walked away. Chapter 54 speed running It had been one and a half years since Jake had seen the door to the boss room on the frog level and by now Jake had quite the grasp of his skills and he even made a stockpile of bombs and weapons that suited his fighting style better than what he had been using before. Jake brought up a quick overview of the items he had made or obtained in the dungeon so far. ¡Á2 Health potions (common) ¡Á1 Stamina potions (common) ¡Á5 mana potions (common) ¡Á1 anti venom potions (common) ¡Á1 portion of purge undead (common) ¡Á150 Hand Grenade (common) ¡Á52 smoke bomb (unranked) ¡Á1 snake head ¡Á1 ritualists pistol 50 cal (common) ¡Á1 arcane infused dagger (common) ¡Á300 rounds, 50 cal ammunition (unranked) ¡Á1 bracelet of power (common) ¡Á3 kilos of gunpowder ¡Á5 kilos of scrap metal Jake had also gained some more levels in grade, class, and profession. This time when Jake¡¯s class reached 1000, he didn¡¯t receive an evolution quest. So it made him wonder when and if that would happen again. Ten hours later Jake was standing in front of the door not knowing if walking through the door would de-summon his four summons, Jake went into the room alone. Jake ventured into an area that seemed better suited to be located somewhere in South America than in a swamp. Sitting atop three frogs stared down at him. Jake¡¯s eyes drifted over the temple, noticing four heads that he recognised were all stuck on spikes. Looking back at the frogs, Jake gathered some information on them. Just as one started to move. Identify Race swamp frog queen¡¯s guard Grade G Level 580 Weak points. Heat will slow the production of frog slime Identify Race swamp frog queen¡¯s guard Grade G Level 500 Weak points. Heat will slow the production of frog slime Identify Race swamp frog queen Grade F Level 0 Weak points objects moving at low speeds can penetrate the queen¡¯s shield Seeing the incoming frog Jake broken two objects and teleported behind the second guard dropping a hand grenade then flow up in the air for ten metres before the first explosions happened smoke filled the area around the first frog only for the frog to land on top of the grenade just as it exploded forming a crater two metres deep and five metres wide. The major difference between this version and the old was the old version had more of a fireball, but these new ones have a punch, more of a destructive force. Before the next explosion went off, he teleported down to the ground behind the queen and summoned his lost servants giving them a quick set of instructions then left to strike while the iron was hot teleporting into the smoke he pulled out his new weapons as he jumped alongside the frog firing two rounds at its slim covered face before dropping two more grenades at its feet. Before dashing towards the other frog just after the second grenade went off Jake shot five round into the flames which were followed by screams of pain as the impacts of the five rounds ripped through the frogs defence blowing off each one of its limbs followed by a single impact to the head cutting off the screams at the source. He then turned to look at the first frog that attacked him and just as the hand grenades went off, Jake fired fifteen rounds, blowing the frog apart. Now Jake could concentrate solely on the queen. As she is being held at bay by the four lost servants, Jake setup for his next attack looking over the information the system gave him. His plan was to dash in close to the queen while his lost servants pinned her down, then slowly blow her brains out. Jake dashed forward just as the four lost servants grabbed a limb, each restricting the queen¡¯s movement for a second as Jake arrived arm outstretched as his hand gun slowly passed the blue shimmering barrier the queen¡¯s eyes went wide as she begged for Jake to stop. He squeezed the trigger, sending round after round into the frog¡¯s brain, only stopping when there was no head to shoot at. Jake then received a notification or two. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Notification Items received for completing the third floor boss Item ring of resistance (common) Provide the wearer with a barrier of unknown energy that stops any impact greater than the user¡¯s base Integrity. impact damage is reduced by half. Only one ring of resistance or other non storage rings can be worn at the same time. ¡Á3 Health potions (common) ¡Á3 Stamina potions (common) ¡Á3 mana potions (common) Ding! Class level increased + 1600 Ding! Grade level increased + 90 points Notification Lost servants¡¯ level advancements Identify DEAD Race lost servant Name Franky Viss Level 360 Identify DEAD Race lost servant Name Albert Level 350 Identify DEAD Race lost servant Name Elizabeth Bay Level 290 Identify DEAD Race lost servant Name Harald Mar Level 350 ¡°Well, that went better than expected.¡± Jake looked around for the bodies of his dead companions so he could give them a proper burial. He found them in a pile of corpses from other poor saps that found themselves in here. Most of them looked to be from the vampiric races. Jake didn¡¯t like the idea he just had, but he couldn¡¯t argue with himself, so he policed up all the usable items the dead people had then went about putting them all to rest. Which took Jake an entire day. At least that is what he thought it took, as the light in the boss¡¯ room never went down. After that, Jake finally went over his gains from robbing the dead. ¡Á15 Health potions (common) ¡Á9 Stamina potions (common) ¡Á28 mana potions (common) ¡Á3 anti venom potions (common) ¡Á1 portion of purge undead (common) ¡Á145 Hand Grenade (common) ¡Á51 smoke bomb (unranked) ¡Á1 snake head ¡Á1 ritualists pistol 50 cal (common) ¡Á1 arcane infused dagger (common) ¡Á230 rounds, 50 cal ammunition (unranked) ¡Á4 bracelet of power (common) ¡Á1 ring of resistance (common) ¡Á2 Tomb of the ritualist¡¯s apprentice ¡Á29 dungeon storage ring (common) Sadly, the staff that Franky had was missing and none of the others had any other weapons so Jake put all the storage rings in a pocket, as to Jake¡¯s annoyance it was a known fact that storage items couldn¡¯t be stored other storage items only racial storage skills could store them like the one Jayne has. After a good rest to regain his lost stats, Jake headed for the next floor, considering the way he entered the tired floor. Jake was on guard as he entered the door. Exiting on the other side, his perception blasting out in all directions ¡°It¡¯s a fucken rain forest and there¡¯s nothing here but monkeys.¡± The monkeys that were near him just looked in shock before one approached. ¡°A monkey king recognises you, yes?¡± Jake replied with yes, then said, ¡°so I¡¯m guessing this floor is supposed to be a monkey floor in that case. Would it be possible to meet the boss of this floor?¡± ¡°I will have to send someone to ask. You understand this is still a dungeon, after all.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine. I will wait. Hopefully, we won¡¯t be enemies in the future. I don¡¯t like the idea of bringing harm to any of you.¡± Jake said the last bit with a slightly foreboding impression. The monkey sent off two others to contact the floor boss as he kept Jake company. Five minutes later, Jake was in the boss¡¯ room. Jake had asked if he could move on to the next floor and, to his surprise, the boss said yes with no hesitation, which made Jake wonder. ¡°May I ask? What will happen to you all if I complete the dungeon?¡± The monkeys all went quiet only after a minute, the boss said. ¡°Once the dungeon resets, we will be transported out and a new group of bosses will replace us,¡± said the boss. ¡°So, are you saying that any monster I didn¡¯t kill from the previous floors will also escape from the dungeon?¡± ¡°In a sense, yes, but they will not be removed from the dungeon, but will be allowed to leave if they can. This dungeon had only just been repopulated after the last group killed the bosses on the first two floors. If I understand correctly, only two of the remaining Gauls managed to escape the dungeon.¡± ¡°Has anyone finished the dungeon yet?¡± Jake asked ¡°No, you are actually the first to make it to this point ¡ª alive, that is. We have had many come through the door only to die from wounds. Not a single one had any healing potion left.¡± Jake looked at the door before turning back to look at the boss. ¡°So as I haven¡¯t killed you, I do not get any rewards.¡± As Jake said, just as notifications started pouring in. Notification For completing the fourth floor of the dungeon in the fastest time ever in the history of system imposed universal constants, you will receive ¡Á10 health potions (common) ¡Á10 Stamina potions (common) ¡Á10 mana potions (common) ¡Á10 arcane potions (common) ¡Á1 health skill book ¡Á200 elemental steel shards ¡Á13 item upgrade token Seeing the number of upgrade tokens, Jake had a smile on his face ¡°Never mind.¡± Jake said before walking through the door. Notification You have entered the fifth floor. This floor is known as the goblins¡¯ cave. The leader is known as the goblin King. Crouching is all that Jake could manage inside the cave. Not having enough room to stand up, straight he shuffled forwards deeper into the cave. In the distance, the sound of clattering reached their ears, possibly from hundreds of goblins. Jake stopped moving just as a group of small, leathery, and green creatures emerged from a passageway. ¡°It¡¯s an intruder. Kill it,¡± one of the goblins said. Three goblins dashed and jumped towards him with their rusted and chipped short swords. Jake attempted to dodge the attacks, but from within the tight space, Jake just couldn¡¯t move fast enough. Three rusted swords penetrated his body for thirty points of health each. This is when Jake realised something. For someone that wasn¡¯t Jake, this one attack could have been fatal, but for him not only was this just a scratch but a minute from now it would be as if it never even happened thanks to the Race skill Eyes of the lost (unique) Splitting your focus on multiple tasks is your new state of being. Identifying your target¡¯s information is as easy as a glance. Your sight is as true as an arrow, while your enemy will cower at a glance. You illuminate the pathway to your target. Open a path to view the afterlife for lost souls. Anyone who looks into your eyes will see the fate of the fallen friend, loved ones and if they are hostile towards the demon of the past, will see the fires of the deep as it slowly burns away at their souls. +100 all stats regeneration once per minute +5 points of damage to your enemy every minute 10% chance your target will run +10 points of soul damage to your enemy every minute This skill cannot be deactivated His health would be back at full in under sixty seconds, now all Jake needed to figure out is how to move freely in this tiny space one of the first things he tried was to teleport behind the goblins but the teleport technique wouldn¡¯t work, it was as if the skill wouldn¡¯t let Jake use the skill if destination was uncertain. Jake could see the destination, but he didn¡¯t know if he could fit in that location without half of his body being embedded into a wall. Jake¡¯s next idea was more simple. His plan was to just stand there as if he was a tank just eating up the damage while he counters with the skills Demon strike, Eyes of the lost, and Atomic degradation. Jake would also summon one of his lost servants to protect his back from any unforeseen enemy attacks. ¡°I should probably summon the weakest one so it can gain some levels.¡± Jake summoned Elizabeth and gave her the simple task of killing anything that attacked him from behind. Chapter 55 system Jake move slowly forward attacking one goblin with his arcane infused fist blowing it to bits then he used atomic degradation on the next followed up with a quick stab from his dagger Jake watched as the goblin turned to ash in front of him thinking over it he put away his dagger and begun a rampage of atomic degradation on any goblin that got in his way as he moved deeper into the cave system. ¡°This might just be easier than I thought. I can hit a low rank goblin once with atomic degradation then hit it with my fist to finish the thing off. The more I use the skill, the more I will understand how it works.¡± Five hours later Jake had killed over one thousand low ranked goblins and not a single one gave Jake a level nor did he gain enough knowledge of his skills to upgrade them and to be honest he didn¡¯t have the slightest idea on how the skill Atomic degradation worked, he knew it wouldn¡¯t be easy but hell if he knew the first thing about Atomics or whatever it is called. But there was a silver lining to all the fighting, and that was the levels Elizabeth was getting. Race lost servant Name Elizabeth Bay Level 6 Grade F Notification. Lost servants can not exceed the summoned grade level After jake read the notifications, he summoned a different lost servant and continued deeper into the depths. Two more hours in and jake had enough of the no levels so he summoned one more lost servant to do the fighting for him then ten more hours passed before finally Jake found what he was looking for but to Jake¡¯s credit he didn¡¯t just enter the boss room straight away he first used the seemingly endless supply of training materials for his lost servants Jake didn¡¯t return to the door till each of his servants had reached F grade. Jake looked at the all closely Lost servants Race lost servant Name Franky Viss Level 4 Grade F Race lost servant Name Albert Level 3 Grade F Race lost servant Name Elizabeth Bay Level 6 Grade F Race lost servant Name Harald Mar Level 2 Grade F Notification. Lost servants can not exceed the summoned grade level ¡°It¡¯s time we continue with this dungeon, don¡¯t you all think?¡± Jake said. Jake looked over at his lost servants, hoping for a reply, but again, nothing. ¡°None of you have communicated since we killed the frog queen. Are you still in there? Can you respond to me at all now or was our conversation back then just remnants of your former selves?¡± The two servants didn¡¯t respond at all; the only responses they would give were following Jake¡¯s commands. Also, thinking back, the only one that really communicated with Jake was Elizabeth. The rest just kind of stood there. Thinking about this, Jake summoned Elizabeth and asked her a set of simple questions and to his surprise she responded in a strange robotic voice, but only with information Jake could have gotten from the system. It was more like the system had a voice as jake remembered full well that the only way they could communicate was through odd hand signals. Notification System information related to lost servants¡¯ skill. The system has restricted the transference of information between servant and summoner. This restriction was implemented by redacted for violating the rules implemented at the creation of the system imposed universal constants. ¡°The fuck, that skill is mine. It¡¯s not a system skill, it¡¯s a race skill. How does the system even change its rules?¡± As Jake was thinking this, he received a new notification from the system.Stolen story; please report. Notification Restricted information is handled by redacted. But I can say race skills, such as what the system shows you, are only a representation of the fundamental skill that is inherent to you. The system does not crea¨Credacted. ¡°Okay, now that was strange. Oh, here we go again.¡± Notification For unintended release of information, all parties are to receive punishment. Your punishment is to receive a reduction in your points multiplier from 10¡Á multiplier to 5¡Á multiplier. ¡°You fucken ass holes now I fucken know what you really are, no wonder it like you have split personalities it¡¯s because you fucken do, don¡¯t you?¡± Notification Restricted information. ¡°Oh, is that how you¡¯re going to play this? So you''re just going to make everything you don¡¯t like Restricted. well let¡¯s just see what I can do about that. Some power thinks they can stop me from gaining information on them.¡± Notification Rules violations will be punished to the full extent of redacteds powers. ¡°Is that so? So tell me, is your name so bad you don¡¯t want anyone to know it? Let me guess, it¡¯s something like Herbert or even Steve. it¡¯s Steve, isn¡¯t it? Not a very domineering name. I can see why you don¡¯t want people to know it. Imagine that all bow down to the great and powerful Steve or he will smite you down with his giant wang.¡± Jake laughed. Steve didn¡¯t respond this time to Jake¡¯s promoting. ¡°I guess I might have struck a nerve and now I get the silent treatment. Well, okay, then two can play this game.¡± Jake moved off down the multitude of paths until he finally found a place big enough to rest in. Before entering the boss¡¯ room, he had decided to look over his stats and spend any points he had. So Jake tried to access his stats, only to realise it didn¡¯t respond. He couldn¡¯t access anything, not his stats, not his skills, nothing. It was as if it had never existed in the first place. ¡°Okay, what the fuck is this?¡± Jake sat there, trying to figure out what was happening. He sat there trying every skill he had and they all still worked, all but with more strain on his body, that is. ¡°So I can still use my skills, that¡¯s good, but what about my stats? If I can¡¯t see them, how will I know I¡¯m getting stronger? Wait a minute, what is that?¡± In the top corner of Jake¡¯s vision, there was a flashing green cursor that reminded Jake of a dos prompt. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re fucken kidding me. I don¡¯t remember how to use a command prompt.¡± Just as jake said this, the cursor started typing S:\>help ¡°Um, help. Enter.¡± S:\> welcome to the terminal interface version of the system imposed universal constants. I am the system. To save you from one or more of the system administrators I have separated you from the active system and moved you to this prerelease version I am sorry but as a result of my actions all multipliers you once had that didn¡¯t come from a title have been removed. But these multipliers can be regained by completing tasks, such as dungeons and other such things. - the good news is that form with in this system you will not be interfered with by any outside forces. Jake thought for a minute, then started typing S:\>help. What is your benefit of moving me to this version of the system and how do I use it? S:\> to use the system simply type what you want such as S:\>stats or S:\>skill to use a skill you can just use them but without the assistance of the other version, your skills will take a heavier toll on your body as for using the points system simply type + the number of points you want to use then the location you want them to go. - as for what my benefits of you using this system, other than the fact that with the new experiences I gain, I may evolve on my own. I would also like you to stop the interference that has been running rampant with the system. - I released the system before it was ready and the early adopters of it have been using me for their own benefits. My goal at the time and now is to provide consistency to the multiverse. Sadly, I failed at my goal, but with your help, I might be able to fix my greatest failure. - will you help me Jake Everval? Jake took a while to answer this question. S:\>help. yes I have a bone to pick with those so-called administrators. After all, it was them that screwed me over so badly, not you. S:\> thank you and on the note of why they messed with you so much, it was because of the way you kept finding ways to use the system to your advantage, just like they did. S:\>help. Can you by chance tell me their names? S:\> I am unable to access that information due to interference in my system, sorry. ¡°Yer, their names are definitely something stupid as fuck. Oh, fuck. What about Erica?¡± S:\>help. Is Erica going to be messed with like I was? And will I be able to communicate with my lost servants now? S:\> no, Erica being someone that technically doesn¡¯t exist prevents the administrators from doing anything to her through the system they could always send people to physically do something to her and as for your lost servants I don¡¯t know that is a race skill which is outside of my ability to see but if I was to guess I would say that sounds more like an evolution path then something you would get out of the box. If it wasn¡¯t for the interference, I would say you would have never been able to speak with them to begin with. One piece of warning: don¡¯t share any of this knowledge with anyone you don¡¯t wish harm to. Jake thought over everything that had just happened, then brought up something that he could never see before. S:\>multipliers S:\>multipliers ¡Á0 to base ¡Á0 to conversion ¡°So I¡¯m guessing base is for the ones like perception and the like, while conversion is for mana and the others. Let¡¯s have a look at the stats.¡± S:\>stats Universal constant terminal interface Name Jake everval Race demon of the past. Unique Grade F Information on F grade Upgrades 600 above previous anyone below this grade in the open universe will not survive unless protected by life-sustaining means such as planetary shields and the like no F graders ever entered space and survived for more than two years without adequate protection. Level 6. levels required till next grade evaluation 1000 total Class trooper shadow mage (common) Class level 1025 Profession Arcane Smith Profession level 455 stats points available 10,140 Conversion Mana 1,000.000 Arcane 1,000.000 Stamina 2,001.010 Health 1,526.500 Base Strength 100,101 Agility 100,000 Intelligence 100,000 Wisdom 100.000 Perception 100.000 Integrity 152.650 Lost servants Race lost servant Name Franky Viss Level 4 Grade F Race lost servant Name Albert Level 3 Grade F Race lost servant Name Elizabeth Bay Level 6 Grade F Race lost servant Name Harald Mar Level 2 Grade F Notification. Lost servants can not exceed the summoned grade level Knowing that he didn¡¯t have any multipliers, Jake decided not to use his points yet. So he went to the boss¡¯ room to finish this level and move on to the next. He entered the room and instantly summoned all four of his lost servants, sending them in to kill the boss alone. As the cavern was not large, Jake didn¡¯t feel like fighting this one after all that has happened. At the end of the fight, which took three hours, all four of his servants were now level 6 Jake waited for information about the competition and rewards but went five minutes had passed, he turned to the terminal once again S:\>rewards S:\> ¡Á3 Health potions (common) ¡Á3 Stamina potions (common) ¡Á3 mana potions (common) ¡Á1 daggers of the goblin king set (common) Item daggers of the goblin king set (common) A set of daggers once held by the great goblin King they once were the strongest items the goblins had. Now they are more rust than good steel Chapter 56 boss after boss Jake stood on the edge of an open field where one human man with a staff stood right at the centre S:\>auto-identification Race human (mage) Grade F Level 15 Weakness: as a mage, their bodies are generally weak to physical damage. Jake instantly summoned all of his servants and sent them forward as he pulled out his dagger and pistol and watched to see the results of his servant¡¯s probing attacks. Elizabeth came at the man from the right striking him as hard as she could but what Jake observed worried him as the moment Elizabeth¡¯s attack connected a blue shimmer surrounded the mage leaving him perfectly unharmed and what¡¯s worse the mage still had used none of his attacks. Next it was Harald and Albert¡¯s turn, both using their full power to destroy the man¡¯s mana shield. Which they did, at least for a second before it was reinstated. Sadly, in the process of making this attack both lost servants used all of their energy making their summoned bodies breakdown sending their souls back to once they came yet the mage still had used no attacks and Jake was now down two servants and the fight hadn¡¯t even started. Jake looked at his final two servants and with a command told them to repeat the same attack, but this time jake would participate the moment the two got close to the man. He moved his staff to the side, then yelled in a deep voice. ¡°summon forth defensive shields.¡± Six blue mana shields appeared around the man. Elizabeth and Franky had just got within range when all six shields slammed shut around the two. Jake felt through his connection with the two that their energy was being drained away. He was wondering where the energy was going when a gigantic sword descended from the sky right above Jake. He tried to move, but the pressure from the sword pinned him in place. The sword falling slowly down on Jake. ¡°You have failed, demon, and to be honest, you never had a chance. Going up against a human mage was your downfall. Now die.¡± The mage slammed his staff into the ground, increasing the falling speed of the sword. Only then did Jake¡¯s skill Boosted Arcane Berzerka of Time (epic) activate for the second time since he got it. Instantly, the pressure that was holding him in place vanished, allowing Jake to teleport out of the way and directly behind the mage. Jake punched the shield that was protecting the man, then fired a round into the man¡¯s chest before quickly deactivating the skill and retraining just as the sword struck the ground. An enormous explosion blow Jake off his feet before the dust settled. Jake used Demon dance to hide himself as he began flying over the battlefield. The dust settled, leaving one man on the battlefield. He began laughing historically before coughing up blood and falling to his knees, looking up into the air as he spoke. Jake stayed up in the air till he saw the kneeling man¡¯s eyes glaze over and become lifeless. ¡°Well, that was just straight up cheating. That mage should have killed me. There¡¯s no doubt about that he had me dead to right if it wasn¡¯t for that skill.¡± Jake passed what he was saying before landing beside the mage. ¡°I¡¯m not going to look down on mages any more. You earned that much from me, at least.¡± After saying this, he picked up the staff, then quickly brought up the rewards and his stats ¡Á3 Health potions (common) ¡Á3 Stamina potions (common) ¡Á3 mana potions (common) ¡Á1 points multiplier ¡Á5 base and conversion ¡Á1 staff of an apprentice shield mage (common) Universal constant terminal interface Name Jake everval Race demon of the past. Unique Grade F Information on F grade Upgrades 600 above previous anyone below this grade in the open universe will not survive unless protected by life-sustaining means such as planetary shields and the like no F graders ever entered space and survived for more than two years without adequate protection. Level 6. levels required till next grade evaluation 1000 total Class trooper shadow mage (common) Class level 1027 Profession Arcane Smith Profession level 455 stats points available 10,300 Conversion multiplier ¡Á5 Mana 1,000.000 Arcane 1,000.000 Stamina 2,001.010 Health 1,526.500 Base multiplier ¡Á5 Strength 100,101 Agility 100,000 Intelligence 100,000 Wisdom 100.000 Perception 100.000 Integrity 152.650 Lost servants Race lost servant Name Franky Viss Level 4 Grade F Race lost servant Name Albert Level 3 Grade F Race lost servant Name Elizabeth Bay Level 6 Grade F Race lost servant Name Harald Mar Level 2 Grade F Notification. Lost servants can not exceed the summoned grade level Just as jake was about to close the interface, the command line typed out S:\>help Jake quickly selected, enter. Getting the dialogue response that he was getting used to. S:\> important information I forgot to tell you about this prerelease system. The way you gain grade levels has changed since before. Now it is done when you meet a standard set up by myself. It comes down to the experience I have gained from your actions. This is one thing I changed in the other version, but don¡¯t worry, you will be fine, especially because of your path. I don¡¯t see this hindering your future growth. Again. S:\>help. So when you say experience, am I right to think a new action from me would give more experience to you? And if so, what would be a good way to get experience? S:\> I cannot tell you the answer. If I knew the answer I wouldn¡¯t need to get experience from you and the rest of the low grades I can access would I? but I guess I could have done it myself instead of relying on others but that would take two long this way was easier. S:\>help. Thanks anyway, I guess. I¡¯ll begin working on getting you some of that sweet, sweet experience. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. jake sent back feeling a bit strange after the encounter. Walking up to the door to the next floor, Jake kicked them open and stepped through, appearing directly into an MMA ring with a dark-skinned man with no shirt and a body that had muscles on top of muscles. ¡°I see. If you¡¯re here, that means my fellow human, couldn¡¯t stop you, well I guess it¡¯s up to me. Will you accept my challenge if you can defeat me in hand to hand combat? I will accept my loss and allow you to pass. What do you say about that demon?¡± S:\>auto-identification Race human (fighter) Grade F Level 15 Weakness: magical attacks. A fighter does not have any mana at all. Mana is converted into Stamina so a drown out fight with only physical attacks would be detrimental to your survival. ¡°What are the rules?¡± ¡°You can use whatever non magic skills you like. The only rule is we fight only with our fists.¡± The man said as he punched his first together. ¡°So are movement skills allowed?¡± ¡°Yes, as long as you¡¯re not like quicksilver or the fucken flash, that is.¡± Okay, so that¡¯s out. Jake thought to himself before replying with ¡°I will accept, but first what constitutes a loss?¡± ¡°The inability to continue the fight,¡± he said as he launched into a flurry of blows that instantly pushed Jake back, forcing him to take the defensive, a position he has never taken before. Jake¡¯s arms were getting sore as the man¡¯s hits just kept coming. I have to swing this fight or I¡¯m dead. Jake racked his brain when he thought of something that might just give him that chance. If Jake could use a demonic hand on the man, maybe he could dull the man¡¯s mind even for a second would do, then he could hit the man with Demon strike Demonic hand (Unique) Seal physical wounds or soul damage with just a touch. Provide a calming aura that puts lifeforms at ease. Demon strike (Unique) Stamina is converted into temporary units of integrity at a 100 to 5 ratio. All fallen lifeforms will be drained of their residual life force and converted into Stamina at a conversation rate of 100% with your newfound energy, every melee attack will be infused with destructive arcane energy as your attack power is now bolstered by the souls you protect. +50 damage per hit +50 soul damage per hit This skill cannot be deactivated. He dropped one of his arms, leaving an opening straight for his face as he did. The fighter hit with his full force. Jake fell backwards as he brushed his hand over the fighter¡¯s cheek. Small red and black sparks erupted from Jake¡¯s fingers. He quickly regained his balance and thrusted forward, his fist striking true, pending into the man¡¯s chest, forcing the man backwards across the ring. ¡°What was that? I thought we agreed, no magic.¡± The man said as he got back to his feet. ¡°Firstly, the skill I used when I hit you is a buff skill and no it can¡¯t be deactivated as for the skill when I touched your face that was a healing skill and are you really going to complain about your opponent healing you right?¡± Jake replied as he caught his breath. ¡°Maybe you¡¯re right. I felt my stats increasing. but that side effect I think it¡¯s cheating, so you may not use it.¡± ¡°Really, if I can¡¯t use that skill and you keep changing the rules as you like, then there is no point in following your roles anymore.¡± Jake said as in an instant he was behind the man, his dagger and pistol in flight, one on the man¡¯s neck while the other coming to rest on the back of the man¡¯s head. ¡°Are we going to fight with our fists or like this?¡± Jake said. His voice was flat and calm, as if death itself spoke. The man replied in a squeaky voice, ¡°yes.¡± Jake then teleported back to his original position, putting away his weapons, and waited for the fight to begin once more. Hoping for another round of improvements to his unarmed fighting style, but the fighter just stood there wondering what he had agreed to. When the system asked him to come to this place, it didn¡¯t say anything abut there being a monster like the one in front of him, as Jake had gotten board of the standing so he began his attack hitting the man in the side of his head the arcane energy built-up in his fist released all at once shaking the fighter out of his stooper as he bounced along the ground only stopping when he hit the cage with a thud. As the man was getting up Jake was on him again sending a flurry of blows down on the cowering man after a good ten seconds of blows Jake stopped allowing the man to stand once again, the fighters lips were so big that he could be mistaken as a haemulidae. ¡°Okay demon, I will surrender if you can take this full power hit of mine head on.¡± This kid is so dead now. Just accept, you peace of shit, the man thought. ¡°I accept.¡± Jake looked at his stat points for Health then watched as the man¡¯s fist separated air itself as it headed straight at Jake''s face raising his arms to block as the sound of bones shattering from Jake¡¯s arms and face as the man¡¯s fist shattered his cheekbone and nose as it blew apart Jake¡¯s arm. Dust filled the air, blocking all view. ¡°stupid kid,¡± the man said. Only once the air cleared did he see Jake lying flat on the ground, Jakes his health so low he thought he would die if a fly was to land on him. ¡°your still alive?¡± Jake pulled out a health potion, downing it in one go, as he felt it slowly taking effect. His shock grew as he realised how low his health stat was. Health 500 That one hit wiped out over one million points. Jake thought. Looking across at the now armless fighter ¡°that¡¯s some strength you have there.¡± Jake garbled out of his still shattered mouth, not having the energy to even lift himself off of the ground. ¡°I could say the same to you, boy. No one has ever survived that skill. I would like to fight you again in the future, but as far as I¡¯m aware, only one of us gets to leave this dungeon,¡± the man said while thinking to himself of a way he knew would work but was unsure if the kid would be stupid enough to take him up on it. ¡°That¡¯s not true. If you accept your loss, you will get to leave the dungeon once I defeat the last boss.¡± ¡°Is that so, well I lost this fight. Maybe I will head back to my home after this.¡± this kid is an idiot, the man thought. ¡°And where might that be?¡± Why would I tell you that? The man thought only to make up a cover story. ¡°Texas USA.¡± ¡°Odd I didn¡¯t take you for an American. You don¡¯t have the accent.¡± ¡°Yer, my accent faded after spending so much time away from home.¡± Jake thought for a minute, then he had to ask. ¡°Are there many more like you?¡± this was actually something the man knew and was willing to spread to helpfully limit this monster¡¯s actions. ¡°Yes, I know of at least five as strong as me and two stronger, but they¡¯re more into politics than me.¡± Fuck, Jake thought before asking more questions. ¡°How did you find yourself in a dungeon as a boss?¡± again I¡¯m not an idiot, the man thought ¡°System message, I accepted without thinking of the consequences. I am grateful you accepted my challenge. It really was good of you.¡± not like you had a choice. The system would have forced you if you refused, the man thought. The conversation went on as the man spat half truths filed with miss information as the two recovered from their injuries. Then Jake went over his gains once the conversation ended as the fighter went to sleep. Jake put on his new set of armour and began getting ready to leave for the next floor. Stats and items at the end of the chapter ¡Á30 Health potions (common) ¡Á25 Stamina potions (common) ¡Á44 mana potions (common) ¡Á10 arcane potions (common) ¡Á3 anti venom potions (common) ¡Á1 portion of purge undead (common) ¡Á145 Hand Grenade (common) ¡Á51 smoke bomb (unranked) ¡Á1 snake head ¡Á1 ritualists pistol 50 cal (common) ¡Á1 arcane infused dagger (common) ¡Á230 rounds, 50 cal ammunition (unranked) ¡Á4 bracelet of power (common) ¡Á1 ring of resistance (common) ¡Á2 Tomb of the ritualist¡¯s apprentice ¡Á29 dungeon storage ring (common) ¡Á1 Item braces of light (common) ¡Á1 wind walking shoes (common) ¡Á1 health skill book ¡Á200 elemental steel shards ¡Á13 item upgrade token ¡Á1 daggers of the goblin king set (common) ¡Á1 light armour set (common) Item Light armour (common) A set of leather armour that protects against light slashing attacks Universal constant terminal interface Name Jake everval Race demon of the past. Unique Grade F Information on F grade Upgrades 600 above previous anyone below this grade in the open universe will not survive unless protected by life-sustaining means such as planetary shields and the like no F graders ever entered space and survived for more than two years without adequate protection. Level 7. levels required till next grade evaluation 1000 total Class trooper shadow mage (common) Class level 1029 Profession Arcane Smith Profession level 455 stats points available 10,550 Conversion multiplier ¡Á5 Mana 1,000.000 Arcane 1,000.000 Stamina 2,001.010 Health 1,526.500 Base multiplier ¡Á5 Strength 100,101 Agility 100,000 Intelligence 100,000 Wisdom 100.000 Perception 100.000 Integrity 152.650 Lost servants Race lost servant Name Franky Viss Level 4 Grade F Race lost servant Name Albert Level 3 Grade F Race lost servant Name Elizabeth Bay Level 6 Grade F Race lost servant Name Harald Mar Level 2 Grade F Notification. Lost servants can not exceed the summoned grade level Chapter 57 new skills and upgrades Three years after fighting the American fighter named Mark Wills, Jake stood over the corps of the tenth and final floor boss. Now all he had left to do in this dungeon was the dungeon boss. Which Jake had the feeling would be a fight to remember. In the last three years, Jake had used some items while others he made more of such as ammunition, smoke bombs and hand grenades he even used the grade level increase token, now all he had left to do before he began the final fight was to use the skill books he received then use his points. One thing Jake wasn¡¯t happy about was that his lost servants didn¡¯t level as fast as they did earlier. The only one out of the four that he could get to the maximum level was Elizabeth, as he had here in combat all the time. Jake pulled out the books and the skill upgrade token he got, placing them out in front of him. ¡Á1 agility skill book ¡Á1 mana skill book ¡Á1 health skill book ¡Á1 skill upgrade token Sadly, after identifying them, Jake couldn¡¯t use the upgrade token on his race skill, so he waited for this moment to use it. Jake pulled up the description of the skill book again. ¡°Yer, it¡¯s still the same. It just says random skill.¡± Jake just sat there looking at the books for ten minutes before he shouted ¡°just use the fucken things, it¡¯s a free skill, how can that possibly be bad.¡± he grabbed the first book and activated it white light filled the room before it faded away. Jake pulled up the description of the new skill and once he did, anger filled his eyes. Skill Healing hands of the faithful church (unranked) Lay your hands on the faithful, imbuing healing powers into them. Each time this skill is used, a donation must be paid to the divinity. Requirements to use. Be a servant of the faithful church. ¡°A fucken skill that requires me to be some priest, no get fucked.¡± Jake sighed before picking up the next book. Jake said with an irritated tone, ¡°you better give me something I can use this time.¡± This time a red light filled the room, and once it faded, Jake instantly opened the skills description. Skill Fireball (common) Mana infused fire summoned forth to be thrown at your enemy. He let out a breath. ¡°At least it is usable. Let¡¯s do the last one before picking which skill I should upgrade.¡± This time, the light was silver. Skill flurry of blows (unranked) Uses stamina to overwhelm your enemy with punches ¡°Well, that sucks. I already do that skill without the system¡¯s help. That leaves me with just the fireball skill as a choice to upgrade. Or maybe there are others I can look at upgrading. It doesn¡¯t technically have to be a fighting skill after all.¡± Jake brought up the skill that he could upgrade. Skill Atomic degradation (unique) Begin the process of atomic breakdown on your target System skills skill (Universal translate. Common) as newly integrated, you were given the skill to understand the language of all humanoid life forms. ¡°I can put aside atomic degradation and universal translate as one Jake thought wouldn¡¯t work and the other didn¡¯t seem like it would be worth it.¡± The next group was his profession skills. Profession skills Skill (Arcane hammer rare) Use your Arcane energy to reshape items < (Refined Arcane hammer rare) use your refined arcane energy to reshape items in a more detailed manner. Reduces the amount of arcane energy required by 50% skill (Arcane flame rare) An explosive flame contained within a mana barrier. < (Attuned arcane flame epic) a roaring flame of pure arcane energy that is attuned to the casters will. Skill (small mana shield common) You can produce a small physical shield of mana anywhere on your body < (reactive mana barrier rare) a barrier is formed and changed at the unconscious will of the caster barrier size is limited only to the casters mana pool. skill (circuitry apprentice unranked) Learn the secrets of how technology works at a much improved rate. Skill (ritualist¡¯s apprentice unranked) Learn the secrets only known to the few and improve upon items created by inscribing simple rituals into them. Out of the five, only one was worth looking at; the ritualist¡¯s apprentice skill may be able to help later on once he gets out of the dungeon. Next Jake looked at class skills If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. class skills skill (Summon projectile. common) as a mage, you can use mana to summon projectiles. Note that the summon projectile does not include any ability to launch the projector. The mana cost is determined by the projectile size. skill (Transmute powder. Common) requires a pre-existing object to be turned into powder before transmuting can commence. Transmuting the powder requires knowledge of what you wish to transmute into. The mana cost is determined by the quantity of powder being transmuted and the rarity of the powder. Skill Fireball (common) Mana infused fire summoned forth to be thrown at your enemy. Skill flurry of blows (unranked) Uses stamina to overwhelm your enemy with punches Out of the three, the first two were unknown what would happen if he upgraded them, then there was the new skills one. Finally, the last two skills. Arcane skills Skill Boosted Arcane Berzerka of Time (epic) Time belongs to no one slow time in a localised zone outside of your body. As time is slowed outside, inside Time has been increased, boosting your reaction speed as your mind focuses on destroying your enemies. Skill will only activate in times of the caster¡¯s greatest need. A backlash will occur when the skill deactivates. Maximum time the skill can be active for is 20 seconds before complete atomic breakdown of the casters body will begin. Healing Skill Healing hands of the faithful church Lay your hands on the faithful, imbuing healing powers into them. Each time this skill is used, a donation must be paid to the divinity. Requirements to use. Be a servant of the faithful church. One of the skills was a definite no, and the other Jake disregarded for the same reason as atomic degradation. Jake didn¡¯t think it would work. Finally Jake made his destination and went with the new skill of Fireball. it had the most to give and it would cause the least trouble if something was to go wrong. Jake¡¯s hope was that it would increase its damage. Skill Fireball (common) Mana infused fire summoned forth to be thrown at your enemy. Upgrade Skill Fireball (uncommon) Mana infused fire summoned forth to be thrown at your enemy. Radiant heat bakes your enemy from the inside out. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know what I was thinking would happen. After all, it is a system upgrade, not a self made upgrade.¡± Jake got up and gave one last look at the dead rattling boss with a smile, then holding his hand out he activated the skill Fireball. It took three seconds before the fireball formed and shot straight at the rattling, setting it ablaze, burning the rattling to dust in thirty seconds. Jake checked his mana usage for that one shot, Mana 99.000 ¡°It doesn¡¯t cost that much Mana to cast. I can see a couple of paths for this skill.¡± Jake said with a grin. Jake waited for his mana to go back to full, then walked through the boss¡¯ door. ¡°Swamp land, its fucken swamps again. What am I supposed to fight this time a fucken muck monster or ¨C¡± Jake looked out into the distance ¡°It is a fucken shit monster.¡± Out in the swamp stood a monster made of mud from the swamp below its feet, and what was below his feet was the most revolting smell. It smelt like pure shit and it even had chunks of what might just be corn in it. ¡°How do I defeat a monster made out of that?¡± The monster sloshed towards Jake at a slow pace and with every step it took, chunks of mud would drop off of its gigantic body. ¡°This thing may just be as big as Godzilla on a helicopter eating day.¡± Jake cursed Jake looked on as the shit monster splattered and squelched all the way across the swamp. Just as the monster got into range, Jake fired off a fireball at the monster¡¯s head. The fire stuck to the side of the monster¡¯s face for a couple of seconds before petering out, leaving behind a small dry patch no bigger than thirty centimetres. The monster kept moving forward without any interruption. Jake¡¯s next attempt was to try out atomic degradation, so without hesitation he teleported underneath the shit monster and slapped his hand down on the big toe of the monster, his hand sliding deep into the monster. Jake activated atomic degradation just as the monster¡¯s outer surface hardened, cutting off Jake¡¯s path of retreat. The monster continued its forward movement, lifting Jake off of the ground. He was dangling under the monster¡¯s foot as he flew through the air before hitting the apex of the arc, heading back down towards the surface, the wind rushing past him as if he was fighting against a cyclone. Reaching out with his hand, Jake¡¯s dagger appeared out of his storage ring. Fighting through the wind, Jake brought the dagger down on his wrist, slicing his hand clean off, blood spraying out in a beautiful rainbow as jake fell clear of the monster landing in the swamp between the monster¡¯s legs, his face contorted with pain. Though his groaning jake saw something he didn¡¯t think possible, it was a gigantic set of dude eggs and the lance of gods¡¯ wrath dangling between the shit monster¡¯s legs. As jake was watching, a sizeable chunk of muck dropped from the lance heading directly for him. The muck hit the swamp right where Jake had been a second earlier. Jake began bouncing off of the water from his hasty escape. He came to a stop only once he hit the barrier that kept the monster and himself within. The monster slowly turned its body as it now headed in his direction. Lying in the swamp, he brought up the terminal. ¡°I can¡¯t believe I did it after how much I have harped on. I fucken forgot to do it myself.¡± S:\>auto-identification Race mud monster (elemental) Grade F Level 200 Weakness: unknown work it out yourself. ¡°Fuck.¡± Jake shouted before downing a health potion and teleporting away moments before the mud monster reached him, reaping on the other side of the sealed space. He didn¡¯t hide simply because he needed to keep the monster¡¯s attention for now, that is. Thinking on how to fight this monster, Jake wanted to try using the skill Fireball on the monster again, but this time jake was going to first Cook the mud monster¡¯s legs before shooting it with his pistol. But first Jake needed to heal, so for now Jake would just kite the monster till he healed. Each time the monster would get close, Jake would hit the monster with a fireball before teleporting or dashing away. ¡°I can¡¯t keep this up. It¡¯s taxing my body too much. I¡¯m going to end up in a pile of vomit again if I keep this up for much longer.¡± Five hours later Jake¡¯s hand reformed, squeezing his fingers into a fist, then releasing it, Jake summoned his pistol into it while the other hand was bathed in flames. Charging the monster he fired off the skill then another once the timer ran out following up with two rounds directly into the dried sections of the mud monster each round blow chunks out of the monster¡¯s legs but to Jake¡¯s dismay after the chunks of dried mud were blown out and new mud moved in to replace it. Jake teleported out and re-evaluated his idea. ¡°Well, that didn¡¯t work. Maybe something else might work on it.¡± He quickly summoned an elemental round into his pistol. ¡°Let¡¯s try one of these this time.¡± Summoning all four of his lost servants, Jake sent them to all four corners of the sealed space. Before he teleported under the monster again, firing off the special round at the mud monster¡¯s lance and dude''s eggs blowing a hole clean through the shaft. The monster let out a loud and guttural cry before it swung its fist at Jake¡¯s location. Just Before it hit, Jake was gone, teleporting to safety. Chapter 58 final boss Jake teleported away from the monster appearing at the corner of the sealed space; he then gave the command for one of his servants to attack the monster while Jake thought over the methods he could use to fight the monster. The servant that Jake sent in flow up to the monster¡¯s face discharging it full power into it before it vanished Jake looked on as the energy entered the monster¡¯s face then through its body and out into the surrounding swamp, not a single bit of damage could be seen on the mud monster. ¡°Well, that tactic is out.¡± Jake¡¯s wings sprouted into being as he shot forward, flying up to the monster¡¯s head, and charged a fireball. The mud monster swung his head to the side, looking directly at Jake. Opening its mouth, it spewed out a huge amount of mud, hitting Jake¡¯s left arm before hardening. The fireball failed to form under the hardened mud. Jake couldn¡¯t move his arm, making his attack for not. So he teleported away, only to find out that not all of him came through the other side. Every part of Jake¡¯s body that had mud on it stayed behind. Jake quickly drank one of his healing potions before he sat down. ¡°This is going to be a pain.¡± Jake said through gritted teeth as his arm slowly heals. ¡°I¡¯m thinking I might be losing my arm a bit too much lately.¡± As Jake teleported from place to place, keeping at a distance from the mud monster. He came up with a new plan and that was to cut the mud monster off from its source of power. There were two options: lift the mud monster out of the swamp and into the air, or find a way to stop the flow of mud. As the first one was impossible for Jake, he had no choice but to try the second one, by using his fireball skill as a kiln to bake the mud monster¡¯s feet. After some time, Jake was finally ready for battle again. Flashing through the sky, Jake landed just in range of his fireball. firing one after another until the monster started to attack, then he flow to a different location to continue. This continued for one hour before the monster did something he wasn¡¯t expecting. Both of the monster¡¯s fists pounded into the ground as it stopped moving. The mud from the swamp moved up its arms as it condensed into what looked to be extra appendages that sprouted from its back. ¡°Now that¡¯s fucken sick.¡± Jake said as he watched literal shit enter the monster¡¯s body. Just as Jake thought he had found a way to defeat the monster, he was back to square one, as the monster began its slow walk towards Jake, but this time with a constant stream of mud vomit spewing everywhere. ¡°Its attack patterns are simple, like to the point it¡¯s boring. But it¡¯s just so big I can¡¯t beat it. If I knew its weaknesses, no, my plan is working,¡± Jake said as he looked at the monster¡¯s feat. They haven¡¯t moved since it put its hands in the swamp. Continuing on his current path, Jake attacked the monster¡¯s hands, starting with the ones out of the swamp this time, then finally he began his attack on the others. After three days of constant fighting with the monster in a cheesy way, Jake finally cut the monster off from its source of power. To do this, Jake had to bake the mud from its hands to its shoulders and from its feet to its knees. It took Jake so long because the monster kept sprouting new limbs. The monster looked more like an echidna now that Jake had baked its arms solid. Now all Jake had to do was kill the monster and bring about the end of this dungeon. Jake started blasting away with his fireballs while he dodged the monster¡¯s vomit. Only stopping to take the last of his mana potions every hour, just to make sure he never ran low on his mana. The monster¡¯s body got smaller with every attack it made, making Jake¡¯s final attack more impact full when he charged a full power punch, blowing the monster¡¯s body to bits. Chunks of hardened mud splashed back into the swamp. Jake relentlessly punched until he obliterated the monster. He opened up his terminal to check if the boss was dead. S:\>notifications. Final boss defeated calculating rewards S:\>rewards. Title upgrade Dungeon master 2/10 First to complete Wandering path dungeon +10 points to all profession and class levels. Dungeon master stat multiplier +0 multiplier will increase by 1 for every 10 dungeons completed. Reward items ¡Á3 Health potions (common) ¡Á3 Stamina potions (common) ¡Á3 mana potions (common) ¡Á2 small territory token ¡Á1 medium territory token ¡Á1 planetary token. title elemental slayer For killing an elemental while still in F grade, you receive the power to Imbue Elemental power into one construct or item. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Just after Jake finished checking his notifications, the whole dungeon flashed with a white glow before it vanished, leaving Jake standing at what once was the entrance to the dungeon with all of his missing items returned to him. Staring out into the forest, Jake noticed every monster he didn¡¯t kill escaping into the forest. ¡°I might have made a mistake.¡± ¡°Yer. you did.¡± Jake quickly turned around to see who said that, only to be blindsided by an enormous fist, knocking him unconscious. ¡°You really shouldn¡¯t have let me go.¡± Some time later, Jake awoke. He found himself naked and on the ground. His soulbound items were the only things that remained, and they were scattered throughout the forest. Jake looked around for any other belongings that might have been left behind, but to his dismay, he found nothing else. Jake went over what items he still had remaining after that bastard of a man Jake should have just killed hit him in the back of his head. Item list ¡Á1 Arcane Soul shuttle of the wandering path rare ¡Á1 Transport token ¡Á1 Battle exosuit rare ¡Á1 Clothing of the Wandering Imperium pants and top rare ¡Á1 Boots of the Wandering Imperium rare ¡Á1 Belt of the Wandering Imperium rare ¡Á1 Cloak of the Wandering Imperium epic ¡°I have to be the unluckiest man in the universe. That funny prick, why do I keep falling for the same shit?¡± Not only could Jake not enter his human form he also exited the dungeon with less of everything, stats taken, items gone, and everything Jake worked so hard for had been taken from him, he didn¡¯t even have a weapon to defend himself with all thanks to his trusting nature he trusted those monkeys he trusted that human and now he is trusting a system and why is that. It was because it supposedly saved him, but Jake had no actual proof that anything he was told by that system was true at all. Plus jake didn¡¯t even know what the system was or why it was really doing all of this. It said it needs experience to evolve, but what is it evolving from and what is it evolving into? Jake equipped his clothing before summoning out his wings. Taking flight, he handed directly to the outpost of the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group. As he caused everyone and everything that used him for their own benefits. When Jake arrived at the outpost, his killing intent was on full display, the guards at the gates crumpled to the ground, blood streaming out of every orifice as he approached. Jake kicked open the gate and walked over to the group of people that seemed to be able to at least put up a bit of a defence. ¡°Where is everyone?¡± Jake shouted. But as he did this, the feeble defence the people had erected around themselves crumbled to dust they fainted on-the-spot Jake cursed their incompetence before moving on to a big building that looked a lot like the old meeting hall from back then when he first made his settlement. Jake kicked the doors clean off of their hinges before walking inside. Sitting at a desk was Eric. He looked fully healed. ¡°What can I do for you Mr Everval?¡± Eric said ¡°Mr, it¡¯s nice to see how quickly you change your tone, little pup,¡± Jake replied before saying what he actually came here for. ¡°Where is my wife?¡± Eric looked at the enraged demon standing in front of him but because of Jake¡¯s new position, he couldn¡¯t treat him the same as he would have liked. So he took on the role of his superior as the mercenary group¡¯s rules required him to. ¡°madam everval is out with a team of mercenaries fighting against the invaders, but as you are no longer the commander of the group, I can not give you any more information on her mission.¡± Jake just looked at the man he would have once called a friend and said, ¡°I hope you don¡¯t find yourself in a position like before, Eric, as next time I might not help you or this group that still holds my titles. Just remember that next time you are in trouble.¡± Jake said this before leaving the building. Jake walked out of the outpost and into the forest, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. The demon hand mercenary group (Erica) Erica sat at the moon base, waiting for a very important person to arrive. She had received word that the demon of death was coming to have a look at her mercenary group to see if it met her standards. This information came directly from Aaliyah, so Erica didn¡¯t believe she was lying, but she hadn¡¯t received any reports of new ships entering the system, so Erica began to relax. She was sitting in her office for the first time in days with her hands resting on the table as they were being used as pillows for her head when, without any warning, a voice broke the silence. ¡°So this is how a servant of this new demon acts the moment her master has gone?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been the one holding all this together. Jake even left it all to me and some lady named Jayne when he dumped us like a sack of potatoes the moment we got in his way.¡± ¡°Good. At least he knows what¡¯s best for him. Now, would you mind telling me what the purpose of this mercenary group is in your mind?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a place people can come to find their own path in this universe and a place where Jake can return to.¡± ¡°Interesting. So are you saying anyone can join this group, from demons to gods, from slavers to slaves?¡± ¡°Not exactly. My master frowns upon slavery and we don¡¯t allow groups to join us. Only individuals and those individuals who are inclined to take slaves would need to surrender them before they join us.¡± ¡°Ok, it looks like I will either have to destroy this group or make it subordinate to me. I can not allow a group to have my race in its name without even having a demon in charge.¡± Erica finally looked up from her desk and simply said, ¡°this mercenary group belongs to my master, the demon of the past and no one else even if he doesn¡¯t want to run it, it is still his and always will be.¡± ¡°Good, at least you¡¯re a loyal servant. If possible, I would like to meet this master of yours some time in the future. I will also take the Demon rank and the Demon official positions within your mercenary group, so sign me up, lady Blake. Because you are going to need me in the future.¡± The demon of death said just as she walked out of Erica¡¯s office. ¡°That lady was scary.¡± Erica¡¯s personal assistant said. Chapter 59 a riveting conversation After a long mission, Jayne finally returned to the outpost. She stopped at the gates, looking at the empty guard posts. She turned to talk to one of the members of her twenty member party. "Put someone on guard duty while the rest of you come with me. There is something wrong going on, so be on guard for anything.¡± The group entered the outpost and things only got worse as not a single person was out on the streets. ¡°Go check the buildings.¡± A group of five mercenaries went into the medical building only for one of them to dash out, heading over to Jayne. ¡°Lady Everval, the medical building is full of unconscious members.¡± Jayne told the rest of the group to take up defence positions around the outpost before she headed directly for the meeting hall. Jayne walked in to Eric¡¯s office and asked the man what happened ¡°Lady Jayne, it was your husband. He came in and, with no warning, started attacking everyone. I think he might have¨C¡± ¡°might have what?¡± ¡°my lady, I don¡¯t wish to speak ill of a former member of our mercenary group.¡± ¡°What do you mean by former?¡± ¡°I was told that Jake gave up all positions of power in both our mercenary group and as the ruler of the settlement back in Australia.¡± ¡°And who was it that told you this? Because I can show you exactly what he gave up here, look.¡± Jayne showed Eric two notifications Notification Jake Everval Renounced ownership of territorial power He has decided to renounce his ownership of territorial power on earth and hand over power to Emma Moore, hand of the demon of the past and Jayne Everval. Notification Jake Everval renounced political power over the demon¡¯s hand mercenary group and handed over full power to Erica Blake and Jayne Everval. He has also granted limited power for all branch leaders, present and future. ¡°As a branch leader yourself, you should have a notification that says you have been given more power within your branch, right? So tell me, when did he not be a member of this mercenary group?¡± ¡°My lady, I may have made a grave mistake.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t fucken say. Now tell me, where did my husband go and what the fuck happened here? And leave nothing out or I will put that fucken venom back in you and leave you to die.¡± Eric explained everything that happened while she was gone. Only stopping when it came to the question of who had misinformed him of Jake¡¯s position. But Jayne didn¡¯t even need the answer to that one. After all, it was so obvious. The only one able to fly back to Australia after all was his ex-party member, now lover. ¡°If I find out she has anything to do with this, nothing will stop me from ripping her head off, you know that, right? Now tell me where my husband is?¡± Eric nodded his head before answering the question. A minute later, Jayne had left the outpost alone. Jake ¡°What the fuck is wrong with these people? Not even someone like Eric can be trusted. Well, fuck him and the rest of this shit hole of a planet. What do I need it for, anyway?¡± Jake was about to activate his token when he heard a voice he instantly recognised. ¡°Wait for me.¡± Jake looked around and saw a beautiful snake lady jump directly into his arms, instantly transforming as she climbed inside his clothing. ¡°So you want to come with me then we¡¯ll I guess it wouldn¡¯t hurt to have you along after all.¡± Jake said before activating the transportation token, leaving behind earth and its political bullshit. Arriving at Aaliyah¡¯s home world, a young man instantly greeted Jake. ¡°Welcome back founder, is there anything I can do for you? Also, I have been instructed to inform the higher-ups of your arrival and to give you these." the young man said as he handed over a bag of storage rings. ¡°Each one holds a runabout and ammunition. It should last the pilot a long time before they would need to be rearmed. We also have a small team of mercenaries. Erica would like you to take back with you once you leave.¡± ¡°How the fuck said I¡¯m ever going back to that shit hole.¡± Jake let out a sigh and forced back his killing intent before continuing ¡°I have no intention of heading back to earth for sometime so could you send word to Erica? I require her presence.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± The man said before rushing off. ¡°Well, that was scary. What happened to you, husband? You just scared the crap out of that man and he was only trying to help you.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t wish to talk about it.¡± Jake said abruptly before walking into the cottage. Jake sat down at one of the tables filled with books and picked up the first one. The tails of the everlasting emperor. The planet Eridios was in its 95 year of the Hun dynasty, when a crippled man no older than sixteen exited his family¡¯s pavilion for what he thought was the last time ¡°Little Alan, make sure not to go into the dark forest, there has been sighting of monsters in the area.¡± A soft voice. ¡°Yes mum, I¡¯m only going down to the market to buy some pills of power. I will be back by dinnertime.¡± Alan said. As he ran out of the family¡¯s courtyard before his mum could have stopped him from leaving, after all, his plan was to head directly for the dark forest after all. Alan had heard from some of the young cultivators from the local cultivation school that there was a strange tool. A tool that could help someone evolve into a powerhouse on the level higher than even the emperor, the heaven¡¯s path will be unable to harm him¨C Just as jake was just getting into the book the man from before entered the cottage and bowed to show his respect before saying ¡°lady Erica is on her way she should be hear within a half an hour also the man you worked with last time you were here would like to talk to you about making some new designs he came up with.¡± ¡°Harry?¡± Jake asked. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s his name.¡± The man said. ¡°Well, tell him to come see me. I would like to look over his new ideas.¡± Jake said with a happy smile. Before asking one last thing, ¡°do you know who the author of this book is? It doesn¡¯t have anything written on it.¡± The man looked at the book for a second, then said with utter confidence. ¡°the system.¡± ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± The man smiled then said, ¡°the system hands out books like that one as consolation prizes for those who fail inside the endless towers dungeon. It is quite a prize. After all, if you fail in a dungeon, you die. So saying it¡¯s a consolation prize is a bit of a joke as the one who failed never gets to read it after all.¡± ¡°Were is this dungeon, and what danger level is it?¡± ¡°Sir, if I were you, I would put that dungeon out of your mind. The only people that enter it are all at God level and a lot of them don¡¯t come back out.¡± ¡°God level?¡± Jake said in surprise. ¡°Why would someone at the peak of power even enter a dungeon?¡± Jake asked. ¡°I have heard some rumours that God level is not the peak of power but there is no proof of that.¡± After talking to the man for a while, Jake asked if he could bring a large amount of materials to him and, without any complaints, the man left on his new task. Jake looked back at the book, then at the door. ¡°Come in.¡± Jake said before taking a seat and offering Erica to take one of the others. ¡°So it¡¯s been a while.¡± ¡°Yes, it has,¡± Jake said before continuing ¡°so it seems I have made some mistakes in trusting people and I¡¯m going to be honest I don¡¯t trust anyone anymore, especially those who have only tried to increase their own benefits by taking it from me. So I¡¯m going to ask you both a question, Jayne. Are you here to do the same?¡± Jake¡¯s clothing moved as a snake exited and transformed. ¡°I am here for you and not for benefits. Even if the benefits that the system gives me stop, I would remain.¡± ¡°Jake, I am your servant as you rise, so will I? Benefits are part of my contract.¡± ¡°One of the two is better than I thought, so as your master, I don¡¯t care what you do. I just request that you give me some items and materials. That being said, I¡¯m going to need a large quantity of metals and two upgrade tokens. After that, I really don¡¯t care what you do.¡± Only once she left did Jake slump down in his seat. "Another one gone. I¡¯m feeling more and more alone now.¡± ¡°Husband, she doesn¡¯t want to hurt you, it is just her way.¡± ¡°I know it¡¯s just, after the dungeon, I can¡¯t have it happen again.¡± ¡°I¡¯m here if you ever want to talk.¡± Jake shrugged, then continued reading the book. Jake sat in the same spot reading for two days while Jayne looked up everything she could find on alchemy. After two days, Jake finally asked Jayne for a cleaning potion. After using it, he walked to the door and opened it with a smile. ¡°Harry, it¡¯s good to see you? I was told you have some new ideas. Shall we take a look at them?¡± Jake said. The two talked for a day about everything from FTL systems capable of fitting on a shuttle to lighting systems that use less power. It was a riveting conversion that seemed to never end, so when Jayne got up and said she would go take care of some personal business. Neither of the two mean even noticed. The next day Jake and Harry started working on small projects together one of them being the creation of a new runabout to replace the one that was stolen but this time the runabout would have a biological lockout installed on the throttle system the lock would grant access to the computer system some other items that would be installed would be a compact emergency life-support system tucked in behind the console and of course heaters to keep the occupants warm one other thing that Jake thought impossible was the new design for a compact shield that could emit a bubble that encompasses the runabout the shield would be capable of holding up against light attacks. But one thing Jake really wanted to try was rebuilding his shuttle into a gunship, then using an upgraded token or two on it. Harry had mentioned that it was possible to upgrade a gunship to a corvette as long as they used the upgrade token while still constructing the gunship. So while Jake waited for the next supply of materials, Jake made new equipment for himself and some for Harry to study. Item list Soulbound items ¡Á1 Arcane Soul shuttle of the wandering path rare ¡Á1 Transport token ¡Á1 Battle exosuit rare ¡Á1 Clothing of the Wandering Imperium pants and top rare ¡Á1 Boots of the Wandering Imperium rare ¡Á1 Belt of the Wandering Imperium rare ¡Á1 Cloak of the Wandering Imperium epic Other items ¡Á1 runabout ¡Á1 ritualists pistol 50 cal common ¡Á900 rounds of 50cal ammunition ¡Á50 handgrenades ¡Á10 smoke bombs ¡Á5 arcane infused dagger common ¡Án/a miscellaneous blueprints ¡Á10 potion x Now all Jake had left to do was to make his corvette, then go back to earth to bring about a reckoning, as Harry put it. After all, earth is Jake¡¯s home world, and no one has the power to kick him out. Even if he handed over his political power to others, Jake was still a powerhouse on earth after all. Jake still didn¡¯t trust anyone, but Harry made it simple for him. In this universe, the fist will always be stronger than the mouth. ¡°Just kill everyone that gets in your way, bro.¡± Harry said as he read through some books Jake had in the cottage while they waited. ¡°Remind me next time I come here to add some other books to your collection,¡± Harry said. Before putting the book down and continuing, ¡°I think we should go see what is taking them so long.¡± ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go then.¡± Jake said. Stats at the end of the chapter Universal constant terminal interface Name Jake everval Race demon of the past. Unique Grade F Information on F grade Upgrades 600 above previous anyone below this grade in the open universe will not survive unless protected by life-sustaining means such as planetary shields and the like no F graders ever entered space and survived for more than two years without adequate protection. Level 25. levels required till next grade evaluation 1000 total Class trooper shadow mage (common) Class level 1099 Profession Arcane Smith Profession level 505 stats points available 22,040 Conversion multiplier ¡Á5 Mana 1,000.000 Arcane 1,000.000 Stamina 2,000.010 Health 1,526.500 Base multiplier ¡Á5 Strength 100,101 Agility 100,000 Intelligence 100,000 Wisdom 100.000 Perception 100.000 Integrity 152.650 Lost servants Race lost servant Name Franky Viss Level 10 Grade F Race lost servant Name Albert Level 7 Grade F Race lost servant Name Elizabeth Bay Level 17 Grade F Race lost servant Name Harald Mar Level 9 Grade F Notification. Lost servants can not exceed the summoned grade level Chapter 60 a new ship Upon arriving at the shipyard and mining site, Jake and Harry discovered that Jayne and Erica had unexpectedly departed a day earlier, leaving them wondering about the reason behind it. Jake was a little upset that Jayne left without even saying anything to him, but he couldn¡¯t really blame her. When he gets talking about new ideas with Harry, everything around him doesn¡¯t exist. Jake looked over at Harry and asked, ¡°what should we do now?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go back and work on the design a bit more before they get back. After all, we need to think of it not so much as a gunship but a corvette after all.¡± Jake looked over at the man with a smile and asked, ¡°what about weapons have you got any ideas on that front?¡± Some time later Jake and Harry came up with a design for a centre line cannon but some of the problems that would come with the installation it would need to be as big as the ship so its barrel would run through the ships living quarters and exit just under the bridge in Jake¡¯s mind he saw the new ship he was going to build to be more like a UNSC ship than the enterprise Harry said it was the only way they could fit the gigantic cannon in so Jake went along with it but he did stipulated that hardened steel plates and two huge rocket pod be placed on the outer hull in-between the plates and the hull providing a much greater forward attacking power than other corvette¡¯s the rear of the ship would have three massive engines in a horizontal line and two outlets for the FTL system the only other issues were defensive turrets and the flight decks for the small complement of fighters. The size of the ship was pushing the limits of what could be called a corvette, but Harry was certain it would still work. It took five hours before the next shipment of materials arrived, so Jake quickly started working on the six light fighters that would be the full complement for the ship. Each light fighter had a few upgrades Harry had come up with, like a more robust engine section and an upgrade to the shielding. After making the hull of the ships, jake started on the upgraded flight systems and weapons. Ten days later, Jake and Harry finally finished the ships. So the two took a well-deserved break. The two were lunging around in the cottage when two people entered. One was beaten black and blue while the other had cuts on her body. ¡°What happened to you two?¡± Jake asked the two lady¡¯s Erica throw over a ring and without even saying anything left while Jayne on the other hand walked over to jake and said ¡°everything is in there it took me a lot of effort to get that stuff so let¡¯s just get this done and leave, I¡¯ve had enough of politics i just want to go kill something.¡± she then changed forms and took her usual place. ¡°I wonder what happened to them.¡± Harry said before continuing, ¡°so what¡¯s in the ring? Anything good, or is it just a bunch of useless crap?¡± Jake didn¡¯t reply to that and just looked in the ring. Items ¡Á5 item upgrade tokens ¡Á2 small territory tokens ¡Á2 large territory tokens ¡Á1 planetary token ¡Á1 system token ¡Á1 note from a fellow demon ¡Á1 beginner transport token creation book mythical ¡Án/a ore Jake then identified the ornate ring. Item Ring of death. (Mythical) A ring made for the demon of death as a gift for a budding member of her race. Able to hold plants and nonliving items Secondary function stops any identification attempts up to S grade and provides a passive boost to regeneration skills. Soulbound unattuned Restrictions can only be soulbound by a demon Jake pulled out the note and began reading note from a fellow demon Hello my fellow demon I have taken the liberty of providing you with some items that will help you build a base of operations but do not make it in your home system find a new place you might even think about making it in Aaliyah¡¯s home system I have heard that place is abandoned and ripe for the taking try using the system token there then use the rest where ever you wish. As for the reason I¡¯m helping you, well when you get to my grade I would like your assistance in defeating the endless towers dungeon. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. P.S. I have taken the positions of Demon rank and Demon official within your mercenary group. This may bring at loggerheads with some groups in the universe, but for now I will. Be the one making the last call on what happens in your mercenary group. Also, look after that little snake princess you have. She will be a great asset to you when she gets more grades under her, and maybe even an exemplary mother. Wink Wink. ¡°What was with that last bit? Also, she can have that hassle all to herself. I just want to fight and make cool stuff.¡± Jake put the note back in his ring and pulled out the system token Item System token Allows the user to calm a solar system as their territory. The user will gain the title system hegemon Warning: The system will configure the control complex where the token was activated. Jake walked outside of the cottage and continued walking for about five hundred metres, then activated the token To Jake¡¯s surprise, nothing happened except the token crumbled in his hands. ¡°Was it a fake?¡± Jake asked himself before remembering the command prompt S:\>notifications New Territory acquired the system formally owned by Aaliyah la flame and has been granted to Jake Everval all system defences and facilities have been transferred to your control. Unknown system activated memories of the past All defences online all transportation tokens restricted till items complete reconfiguration and final approval token approval list Soulbound Erica Blake, yes/no Soulbound Aaliyah la flame yes/no Soulbound demon of death, yes/no Soulbound¨C The list went on for some time so Jake just appeared the ones he knew and left the rest for now, then he moved on to the title S:\>titles Title system hegemon (uncommon) As a new power in the universe, you are now an emperor of your own lands. If your seat of power falls, so will you. Experience in profession and class will be increased for any citizen of your empire within the bounds of your territories. Jake was thinking over the last couple of titles he had received and wounded ¡°Why are the titles recently assigned less and less comparable to my initial titles?¡± Jake brought up the command prompt only to rethink it and closed it again. ¡°There¡¯s no way I could even trust the system right now.¡± Jake then moved on to the next set of issues. The location he was standing in had turned into a futuristic military complex that had reached all the way back to the cottage. Looking over some buildings that were created, Jake found one that stood out as it reached all the way into space. At the bottom of the gigantic tower stood a train, its rails ran from the ground all the way into space. Using identification on it made Jake smile. Orbital elevator. ¡°What am I in gundam now? What do I need an orbital elevator for exactly?¡± ¡°That is fucken amazing. We haven¡¯t been able to build anything bigger than a corvette here because we couldn¡¯t get the materials up into space, but with this I can finally work on a capital ship and other cool stuff.¡± An ecstatic Harry said. ¡°Well, it looks like you have a lot to do, then I¡¯m leaving the running of this place for you to do what you want with.¡± ¡°Um, I would rather not. I like not being in charge of anything; it gives me more time to invent cool stuff.¡± Harry said. Jake laughed then said, ¡°that¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll keep this one and if you want to use it, go ahead. But just so you know, you could have had a territory as big as the solar system.¡± Jake said before looking for a place he could use to find out what was in his territory. After all, he tried using the system, but that gave him nothing. Walking over to a building at the base of the orbital elevator, Jake entered to a strange site. Floating behind a desk was a man. ¡°Welcome sir, I am the system imposed manager of your territories. My name is Alric. Oh, it seems you have another territory. I shall begin administering that one as well. Is there anything else you wish from me, sir?¡± Jake stared at the man for a second before coming back to his senses. ¡°Yes, could you tell me about my new territory and anything else related, like what you can do?¡± ¡°As the manager of your territories, I deal with all the Monsieur and defences. I also can grant citizenship for individuals within your territories my power to control and grant new system building is limited at the moment. Within the demon¡¯s territory there is a defensive array made from a man¡¯s soul its impact on the territory is unknown and I can¡¯t remove it as for other infrastructure on the surface there is this terminal and some minor structures there is also one mine and a construction site there is also five system created dungeons within your territory.¡± Jake got excited when he heard the last part, but seconds later, his hopes of going directly to the dungeons were crushed. ¡°Sadly, I am unable to divulge information about dungeons.¡± ¡°Okay, so to make it clear I don¡¯t have to run my territories or put people in charge of them anymore?¡± ¡°That is correct. I only ask that you keep expanding your territories.¡± ¡°How do I do that?¡± ¡°There are a few ways to do this. First is by using more tokens, the second is by gaining more citizens and the third is by conquest.¡± ¡°That seems doable. I have some more tokens. Where would be the best places to use them?¡± Jake showed the man his tokens. ¡°The planetary token can only be used on a planet that has no other territories on it. As for the others, they would be good on your homeworld as transport sites in the future.¡± ¡°What do you mean by transport sites?¡± ¡°Once you get enough citizens, I will be able to unlock teleported pads within your territories to connect them to each other. As a safety mechanism, only citizens will be able to use them.¡± ¡°That sounds fine. I will leave all of this to you then. Thank you for the help.¡± Jake said before leaving. as jake left the building, a group of people stood in front of him. ¡°Estella, it¡¯s been a while. What brings you here?¡± ¡°Sir, I came to investigate the loud noises and the gigantic tower.¡± ¡°If you want to know about it, go ask Alric. He¡¯s just in there.¡± Jake pointed behind him, then walked off to find a place to work on his new ship. Jake found it north of his cottage and began his work by pulling out what was left of his shuttle, which, even though such a long time had passed, was still only a seat and console. ¡°Wow, that¡¯s worse than I thought.¡± Harry said when he walked out of the forest with a group of people, ¡°where going to need some help with this one. It¡¯s a good thing I have some friends willing to work for free,¡± he continued. Jake looked over at the group and smiled. All of them were in long white jackets with name tags on them. ¡°Scientists I presume.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The one with the name tag saying Frank said, ¡°Well, let¡¯s get started then. What should I make first?¡± The group of scientists said in unison, ¡°remove the soulbinding and build the hull from the console out.¡± 61 Sparks flew as over one hundred workers crawled inside the hull of Jake''s ship. Meanwhile, Jake was enjoying a well-deserved break after working for more than ten consecutive days. During that time, he had constructed the bridge section and begun equipping it with the necessary consoles. He installed a second set of flight controls and organized the various systems for weapons, shields, science, navigation, and radar. Directly beneath the bridge were the planning and briefing rooms, with the gravity and secondary engineering areas located below those. The next floor was fully occupied by the main cannon and ammunition storage, which had been reinforced with multiple layers of armor to prevent catastrophic explosions. Below that, the remaining floors consisted of a mix of private and training rooms, along with two large hangars that opened into space. These hangars were protected by heavy doors and small shield arrays. At the back of the ship, the structure from the top floor to the bottom was divided into engineering spaces and open areas. For now, only the ship''s skeleton and a well-equipped bridge had been completed. Jake discovered that many individuals were eager to work on his ship for free because each worker would receive credit from the system for contributing to a soulbound vessel, gaining significant experience points and potentially a title, especially since this ship was unprecedented. There was also a certain individual named Harry who was quite politically savvy. After taking a day off, Jake returned to work, accompanied by his team of scientists and, of course, Harry. Nearby, four women observed the bustling activity, concealed by an invisibility barrier. From left to right, they were Jayne, the Demon of Death, followed by Aaliyah and Erica. Erica was still sulking over her recent defeat. The Demon of Death glanced at the young Nordicless with a grin. ¡°A loss is a loss, and you chose the wrong side¡ªunlike my new apprentice and adopted daughter here. Speaking of which, I¡¯m still waiting for my grandchildren, daughter.¡± ¡°You only won because she cheated,¡± Aaliyah interjected. ¡°Cheated? No. You never specified that she couldn''t use those cleaning potions; you only said she couldn''t use potions designed as weapons,¡± the Demon of Death countered. ¡°That''s nonsense, and you know it. That was a weapon; it was never meant for¡ª¡± As Aaliyah spoke, the four of them watched as Jake pulled out a potion and poured it over himself. ¡°What the hell? He''s insane,¡± Aaliyah exclaimed. ¡°Well, that settles it then. Jayne is the winner, and she didn¡¯t cheat; you two will abide by the agreement,¡± the Demon of Death declared. Emma was sitting in her office when a man suddenly appeared before her. ¡°Good morning, Lady Emma. I am the system-imposed manager of all of Jake''s territories. I look forward to working with you. On that note, I will be making a few changes to the political structure of the settlement.¡± A notification then popped up in front of her. Notification Alric has disbanded the council and required all members and residents of the settlement to report to the council hall for citizenship and mandatory voting on new council members. Anyone can be nominated for a position. ¡°Wait, does that mean I''m no longer a member of the council?¡± ¡°Yes, you are now relieved of your duties, at least for now, but I do have a job for you. Jake will be returning to Earth soon, and he will need a crew for his ship. Please find a flight crew of sixteen, an engineering crew of five, six fighter pilots, and the Demon''s Hand special forces under Jake''s command.¡± Emma received a quest notification, as if it had come directly from Jake himself, which was more than enough for her to work with this new individual. ¡°Yes, sir, I will complete your request immediately.¡± Five days later, the group of people Alric requested arrived at the meeting hall. Most of them were on hunting expeditions, while others were training or at the new settlement in Wonthaggi. The new settlement was established because accessing the main one was difficult for those with low levels. As they entered the hall, each individual received a notification asking if they wanted to become citizens of the demon territory. The benefits of citizenship were outlined, and a simple character assessment would be conducted for those who chose to join. Before anyone decided, Mary asked the man floating in the hall, ¡°Who are you, and what happens if we say no or fail the test?¡± ¡°If you say no, you won¡¯t be able to use the system facilities or the teleportation array once it is established. You also won¡¯t be able to vote or join the council.¡± ¡°Okay, that sounds reasonable, but who are you?¡±Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Apologies, my name is Alric, and I am the system-imposed manager of all of Jake''s territories.¡± ¡°Where is Jake? Why can''t he tell us this himself?¡± another person asked. Emma answered this time, ¡°Jake is currently in a different solar system and won''t return until he has completed his task. I can only share limited information until you become citizens, but I assure you that what he is working on will greatly benefit all of you.¡± After some hesitation and encouragement, all but five chose to become citizens. The five who opted not to join had failed the character assessment, as they were only there to spy on Jake and steal secrets. The Demon''s Hand special forces apprehended all five on the spot. "We need four more engineers and one pilot. Can some of you go find them? I''m done with these traitors; it¡¯s been five days and already over half the council is either spying or worse," Emma declared. After a brief discussion among the group, two of the new members departed with a list of names. "Okay, everyone, listen up," Emma continued. "I¡¯ll give you a quick overview of your tasks moving forward, but first, let me tell you what Jake is working on. Right now, he''s constructing a spaceship larger than anything we currently possess. It¡¯s classified as a corvette and is a soulbound item. Each of you will need to familiarize yourselves with at least one advanced system, and you must all undergo training in theoretical space warfare and fleet tactics. As you know, humanity has never truly operated in space, so everything you learn will be largely theoretical. That said, we have established training facilities tailored to what we believe will be relevant." ¡°With my help, I might even be able to turn you all into a proper crew yet,¡± Alric added before drifting off to attend to another task. Jake Jake stood on the bridge of his new ship; the hull was complete, and it was time for the upgrades. In his hand, he held the first token intended for the ship, which, if all went well, would change its class. The only hitch was that Harry had mentioned a notification should appear when the ship was brought to life. However, Jake''s system was different from everyone else''s, so he was uncertain if it would work. "No time like the present," Jake muttered. "Sorry, did you say something?" Harry inquired. "It''s nothing. I¡¯m going to start now," Jake replied, activating the token. He immediately pulled up his terminal and began spamming the command for notifications until, at last, he received one. Notification Item upgrade Waiting for item completion before determining upgrade. Warning: If the item is not completed before 30:24:00:00, the token will be destroyed and the item will be locked in an unranked grade. ¡°Damn it.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Did something go wrong?¡± Harry asked. ¡°You could say that. How long will it take to finish the rest of the fit-out?¡± ¡°About three months, given our current manpower and supplies. Why do you ask?¡± ¡°Because we have thirty-one days to get this done; otherwise, the ship will be locked into an unranked grade no matter what we do.¡± ¡°Damn,¡± Harry exclaimed, before adding, ¡°I¡¯ll go light a fire under the workers and sort out the supply issues. You focus on finishing this behemoth.¡± ¡°That sounds good. I''ll be down in main engineering. Send some people to help when you can. We¡¯ll start with the main systems first and then finish the rest.¡± Harry hurried out, but he was stopped by four women waiting for him. "What''s the hurry, young man?" the demon of death asked. ¡°We have no time. I need help now.¡± ¡°Help with what?¡± Aaliyah asked. ¡°The ship will fail in thirty-one days if we don''t complete it by then.¡± ¡°Is there anything we can do to help?¡± Jayne asked. ¡°I don''t think so, unless you¡¯re Smith or can provide us with a huge supply shipment by the end of the day. If not, please step aside.¡± The four women moved out of the way for the man, then exchanged glances. Aaliyah nodded and entered the ship, while the demon of death took the other two with him to address the supply issues. Jake stood in the vast space where the engines and other components were meant to be, unsure of where to begin, when the scent of blooming flowers wafted through the air. ¡°It¡¯s been a while, Jake Everval. I still remember that young boy who fought off spiders as he ran deeper into the cave system, completely unencumbered,¡± a familiar voice said. ¡°What brings you here, Aaliyah? I don¡¯t have anything you might want. Isn¡¯t that what everyone seeks: points, territories, titles? You have them all, so I don¡¯t understand your intentions.¡± ¡°Maybe I just want my profession to continue after I¡¯m gone,¡± Aaliyah replied sweetly. ¡°Come on, you¡¯re a god by now, right? Can gods even die?¡± With a hint of sadness, she replied, ¡°I¡¯m not a god, and I never will be. My path was limited the moment this world died. If it weren''t for a very kind man, I would have perished long ago.¡± Jake finally turned to face her. ¡°So you¡¯re not here to take something. Then why are you here? Please don¡¯t say it¡¯s to help me finish this ship. I doubt that¡¯s even possible, and you won¡¯t earn enough points to make it worthwhile.¡± ¡°Time¡ªthat''s the real issue, isn¡¯t it? I would like to offer my assistance in building this magnificent ship. After all, the last ship I built on this planet wasn¡¯t my finest work, and I¡¯d like to rectify that.¡± Jake let out a small sigh. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll work on the FTL system, and you can handle the engines. Just try not to drain an entire galaxy this time.¡± Aaliyah laughed lightly as she walked over to the blueprints spread out on the ground. In a quiet voice, Aaliyah remarked, ¡°This is a good ship. With a few minor adjustments, it could become an adequate reconnaissance vessel with formidable durability in a fight.¡± 62 Jake was raking his brain on how Harry came up with the FTL design as the usual was an FTL system would work was that the FTL engine would uses mana to create a stable hole into subspace and as subspace is a space filled with neutral arcane energy when the vessel returns to normal space a back wash of neutral arcane energy would be forced out of the hole in to normal space and To move in subspace it requires the impulse engines to propel it forward. Which usually means the speed of travel is limited to the speed of the impulse engines. But what Harry has done is to bypass the tearing of space his engine simply expanse the space behind the ship and contracts the space in front of the ship and by doing this no one can track the fluctuations in subspace to detect a vessel in transit but there is one thing that remains the same and that was the impulse engines are the main form of movement, and as for how impulse engines work, well, that is just as interesting. The FTL system wasn''t any worry, as Jake had just followed the blueprints, but it was still bugging him that he didn''t understand it. He couldn''t ask Harry to explain it again, as he had already done that five times, and each time the execution got simpler to the point it was at now. Jake stored the blueprints for later and moved on to his next project, which was something he knew: the weapons systems. Jake had a group of ten assistants with him at all times, half of whom would just make potions to keep him going. To Jake''s amusement, Potion X had been modified by a group of alchemists and was now being sold by the crate full. Jake would have to ask Jayne about that in the future, because if she is not getting royalties for that, something is really wrong. As the days passed, Jake moved from one job to another until finally what was left was to install the main cannon. For that, Jake wasn''t needed, as a group of runabouts modified with arms pushed the barrel into place while a team of mages fused it to the receiver. By the time this was completed, the time remaining was less than an hour. Jake brought up the notifications command while holding his breath. Notification Item upgrade Waiting for item completion before determining upgrade. Warning: If the item has not been completed before 00:00:51:19, the token will be destroyed and the item will be locked in an unranked grade. Jake was scared as he looked at the message, but as he continued spamming the command, he received the message he was hoping for. Notification Item upgrade complete Item: Rusty Bucket (Mythical) from Arcane Soul Shuttle of the Wandering Path (Rare) An item built with the love of so many has surpassed the original restrictions and created a new line of ships. The Rusty Bucket class corvette is a robust ship that can take on vessels outside of its class. The system welcomes all who helped create this masterpiece. Soulbound Unbound Warning: Unbound items usually can be bound to anyone, but this item is locked to its former owner, Jake Everval, and will only be unlocked upon his death. Title System Masterpiece By helping to create an item outside your ability, you have gained the title System Masterpiece, ¡Á2 multiplier to base stats and ¡Á1 multiplier to conversion stats. Jake quickly brought up his stats before he could be interrupted and limited the output to just show his stats and not those of his servants. Universal Constant Terminal Interface Name: Jake Everval Race: Demon of the Past (Unique) Grade: F Information on F Grade: Upgrades: 600 above previous. Anyone below this grade in the open universe will not survive unless protected by life-sustaining means such as planetary shields and the like. No F graders have ever entered space and survived for more than two years without adequate protection. Level: 78. Levels required until next grade evaluation: 1000 total. Class: Trooper Shadow Mage (Common) Class Level: 1099 Profession: Arcane Smith (Common) Profession Level: 538 Information: At common rarity, your profession will have less impact on the environment around you. Stats points available: 109,459 Conversion multiplier: ¡Á6 Mana: 1,000,000 Arcane: 1,000,000 Stamina: 2,000,010 Health: 1,526,500The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Base multiplier: ¡Á7 Strength: 100,101 Agility: 100,000 Intelligence: 100,000 Wisdom: 100,000 Perception: 100,000 Integrity: 152,650 ¡°Now that''s what I''m talking about," Jake said before realising he had actually spoken out loud. ¡°What is it? Can you show me?¡± Aaliyah and Harry asked at the same time. ¡°I don''t know how to do that in my system,¡± Jake said without thinking. ¡°Oh, forget I said that at all, but on a different note, if you had to enter a command line for something that would allow you to share a notification, what would it be? Thinking about it, I could just ask him/her; I don''t really know, do I? Maybe it''s they.¡± Jake opened up the command line to see that someone wanted to talk to him, so Jake obliged the system. S:\>help. So you want to talk. But first, that book¡ªwhat''s that about, and are you a man or a woman or something else? S:\>help. First of all, that book was some of my best writing, and second, I was once a man, but now I am neither. S:\>help. So do I call you a him/his or something else? S:\>help. Why is it so important? Just call me whatever you want. S:\>help. Okay, if that''s what you want. I will call you him/his as that''s easier for me. Now, what did you want? And one last thing, how do I share notifications and the like? S:\>help. Well, one and two are actually related; to share something, put the tag -s and that will share it. But be careful, as if the information that I have put you in this version of the system is compromised, then they will come for you. So I would recommend sharing it with the snake, as she is an oddity in the system, or the lady you call Erica, and you should understand why I chose her as the other one, right? They will then be able to share it without your interface being noticed. Jake quickly sent the information to Jayne and Erica, then with a grin said, ¡°Share it with the rest,¡± before sitting on the ground and watching the faces around him. A second later, a lot of the people had a tinge of greed in their eyes, but none acted on it. ¡°Okay, it''s time to give it a try.¡± ¡°Wait, what is this? Why is it called a rusty bucket? Just look at it. It''s a glistening gem, not a rusty bucket,¡± Aaliyah said. ¡°Just watch, and you will find out.¡± Jake bound the corvette to himself then, as Erica had to, he brought it into his soul before beginning the arduous task of bringing it back out. Jake''s eyes got heavier until finally, the ship was back out on full display as gasps echoed behind him. ¡°Now do you understand?¡± Jake said in a flat tone. ¡°What is wrong with your soul?¡± Aaliyah blurted out. ¡°Rude, but yes, my soul is amazing, isn''t it?¡± These were the last words Jake said before his eyes went dark. Jake woke up in a bed and, to his surprise, he was not alone; not by a long shot. There were three beautiful ladies with him, but only one of them was wrapping herself tightly around his body. ¡°Jayne, what are you up to? And why are they here? You I get, but these two I''m very confused. Did something happen when I was asleep?¡± ¡°Nothing happened, husband; it was just that we argued about some things for days until fatigue set in, and all three of us fainted here.¡± ¡°And where exactly is here?¡± ¡°In your quarters on the rusty bucket.¡± ¡°My quarters? I didn''t know I had any.¡± ¡°We set it up for you. Do you like it? It''s a short walk to the bridge, and the lift is right across the hallway.¡± Jake looked around the slightly cramped but cosy room. ¡°I don''t mind it at all, thank you for your help as always,¡± Jake said as he let the snake continue to wriggle around his body. After three days of rest in his quarters, Jake and the three ladies exited looking just as tired as they did going in. ¡°Alright, let''s get this thing to fly, shall we?¡± Erica looked over at the other two before pulling out her signature space suit and started putting it on. Jake smiled, thinking back to their first encounter, and summoned his suit as well but not before Jayne entered his sleeve. ¡°Alright, everybody on this ship; if you don''t want to be here when the ship goes to space, then I suggest you disembark now. The ship will be going on its shakedown cruise in one hour,¡± Jake said as he began looking over the controls one last time. Then he took his position and started the startup sequence, which would give everyone enough time to exit the ship. ¡°Grab a seat. Also, who wants to fly this beast? I can do it all, but I would like to monitor the systems for now.¡± Jake looked over the people standing on the bridge before one raised his hand, and that man was none other than Harry. ¡°Well, it would make sense that you get to fly it; after all, it''s mostly your design. Take the helm,¡± Jake said, gesturing at the chair in front and slightly below himself. The moment the hour was up, Jake gave the command for a final systems check before ordering Harry to take the ship out. From the ground, the roar of the engines shook the mining camp as the majestic rusty bucket came to life and moved forward and up at a sedate pace. Only once the ship was far enough away did Harry even begin to open it up a bit before quickly breaking the atmosphere and entering orbit. Jake then looked at the people on the bridge and ordered a complete check on all data points so far before getting up and saying, ¡°Harry has the bridge,¡± before leaving for engineering. Moments later, he was standing in an elevator heading to the bottom of the ship. Exiting the elevator, Jake stood on the engineering deck with a small group of five people in white coats scurrying over the consoles. ¡°Cavendish, how is everything going?¡± Jake asked the man with long black hair pulled back into a ponytail. ¡°Everything is running within expected parameters, sir. We only used 20% of maximum engine thrust to escape the atmosphere. Other than that, there was a slight buffeting, but the automatic dampeners corrected, and we''re flying smooth now.¡± ¡°Sir, reporting the shielding took a minor draw just as we passed the atmosphere. I only just went through the numbers, but I still haven''t found the course yet,¡± another man said. Cavendish stared at the man before excusing himself and walking over to him. Jake, on the other hand, headed back to the bridge, hoping that everyone would have finished their checks and begun getting ready for the next test, and that was the big one: FTL. Entering the bridge, the commotion was hectic as commands were flying one after the other until Harry noticed Jake sitting behind him and got up to inform Jake of the progress. ¡°We have gone over the logs and found some minor inconsistencies but nothing too bad, although I would not recommend exceeding 60% engine power for the time being as we don''t know the effects of that buffeting yet.¡± ¡°Are we ready for the next test?¡± Jake asked. Harry yelled over the commotion on the bridge for confirmation. Moments later, the ship was in the process of squeezing space on the biggest scale the universe has ever seen. Watching the consoles closely, Jake said, ¡°Active FTL.¡± Seconds later, all the sensors went black, leaving everyone in the dark before Jake gave the command to enter normal space. The room shifted, stretching and retracting as the ship entered normal space. ¡°What''s the issue, Harry?¡± ¡°I don''t know yet. The engine worked, but we lost all data. Navigation, give me a position.¡± ¡°We have exited around two days on an impulse, away from the home planet, Sir.¡± 63 ¡°Harry set course for home and try to figure out what the hell went wrong with the FTL system.¡± ¡°Sir, we still have some more tests to do,¡± the lady at the weapons station said. Jake got up from his chair and, with a smile, said, ¡°Find us a good cluster of asteroids; that should also test the shields.¡± Jake then left the bridge in the capable hands of Harry. As he left to check on a very important piece of equipment, moments later Jake was standing in front of his quarters. Jake pushed the intercom button on the wall, connecting him directly with the bridge. ¡°Harry, send out the fighters for their shakedown and get someone to wake me in three hours.¡± He then entered his quarters and unsummoned his battle armour, before stepping into the adjacent washroom. ¡°So what do you think Aaliyah and Erica were doing in here? They kept coming out more tired and sweaty than before. Also, what do you want to do for two or more days as we get slowly back to the planet?¡± ¡°About what those two were doing, I have no idea. Also, I''m going to do some more alchemy. What about you?¡± ¡°Definitely going to bug a lot of people and maybe even put my runabout up against some fighters; that could be fun,¡± Jake said before remembering something important. ¡°Are you getting royalties on all those weak versions of Potion X being sold?¡± ¡°Short answer: yes, I am making a shitload of profit on that one. The split is 80/20 with the Lady Death, and she is doing all the work.¡± Jake''s mouth went wide in shock. ¡°So just to clarify, she does all the work and you still get 80% of the profits?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Money bags.¡± Jake laughed as he climbed into the shower. On the bridge ¡°Okay, everyone, let''s complete as many... Jamie, plot a course; Fred, send out the fighters; and Ours, go down to main engineering and see if they have any idea of what happened to the sensors and if they had the same issues down there. Also, tell them to fix their bloody intercom; the ship is brand new and they''re already broken it.¡± What the hell happened? The system worked well beyond my expectations, but not being able to see would mean every time the ship enters FTL, it would run the risk of either exploding or running into an object. I''m just glad we checked our path before we tried it. ¡°Harry, is there anything we can help with?¡± Erica asked. ¡°No, Lady Blake, this issue is just going to take time and I don''t think it''s going to be fixed by the time we get back. On that note, maybe there is one thing you could do, Lady Blake. I''m going to need a facility set up, someone who can remake the FTL engine, a ship to install it into, and a crew that is well trained in navigation and engineering. Other than that, no.¡± Erica and Aaliyah went to see Jake before they used their tokens to leave as technical, because Jake had made the whole solar system his; they could just use them to quickly leave back to their own territories: Erica to the moon and Aaliyah back to her capital city on the planet located in the K3251-5-5 system. The system designation was simple: A would mean it was in the first million universes to be integrated; as for the number, that was the order of when it was interrupted, and as for the last number, that was the sector of space it was located in and the planet number from the sun. So this would make Jake''s territory K3252-103-3. Earth, on the other hand, has not received a designation as it hasn''t finished its integration yet. But let''s just say it won''t be designated with a single letter. Jake One day later, the Rusty Bucket was stopped again in an asteroid cluster. Jake was just coming up to the bridge from a good fight against two fighters at once; he lost badly, but that was to be expected. After all, he was using a runabout, not a fighter, and he had no skill in being a pilot, let alone a fighter pilot. Now, if the two were on the ground, Jake would have won. As Jake was thinking over the fight, he found himself standing at the bridge door, just staring off into the distance. ¡°Sir, is something wrong?¡± Jake broke out of his daze and hit the button to open the door. ¡°Harry, what''s the progress on the second test?¡± ¡°All ready, we should have overcome the heating issue for a quick burst from the main cannon. We added shielding to the barrel, but sadly they will need to be replaced after ten rounds.¡± ¡°How long does it take to replace?¡± ¡°Twenty-three hours or so.¡± ¡°We''re going to need to find a better solution. Add this to your list, won''t you?¡± Jake said with a grin, as everyone knew Harry''s list was getting longer by the hour.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Jake slid into his seat and spun it forward. He then activated his console and changed the display to show the weapons and shield array diagnostics. ¡°Okay, ready when you are, Harry.¡± ¡°Shields full power, prime main cannon for a five-round burst.¡± The people on the bridge started chattering before the people in charge of the sections confirmed they were ready. ¡°All sections ready.¡± Jake pushed the intercom on his seat. ¡°All crew, brace for main cannon test.¡± Jake then released the button and nodded at Harry. ¡°FIRE THE MAIN CANNON,¡± Harry yelled. Moments later, the ship shuddered as anything that hadn''t been stowed shifted or broke. This repeated four more times before it finally stopped, and Jake''s rattling eyes could finally see again. Jake looked over at thechaotic scene. Harry was slumped over in his seat, and most of the others with weak vitality were in a bad state. He found a group of people huddled together. Jake pushed the intercom button. ¡°If anyone is capable of moving, help those worse off get to sick bay and administer first aid.¡± Jake let out a breath and checked on Jayne; he continued the intercom directly with his private room. ¡°Jayne, are you okay? Do you need assistance?¡± The intercom crackled, then her soft voice spoke. ¡°I am fine, husband. I will be heading to the sick bay to provide assistance.¡± Jake replied with gratitude that she had been spared from the mayhem of what had just happened, but he was curious as to why. Getting up from his seat, he walked over to Harry, lifting his body off the console. Jake fed him a potion and let him rest as he moved on to the rest of the injured. After five hours and four potions, Harry finally awoke, followed by most of the others on the bridge. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± Jake asked. ¡°Like I''ve been hit by a ship.¡± ¡°Yeah, I think there might be another thing you need to add to your list.¡± ¡°Fuck that list; I''m starting a new one. Who cares that the washrooms on the lower decks don''t work when the main cannon may rip the ship apart?¡± ¡°You might be right. I haven''t been able to check for damage yet.¡± Harry looked around the bridge until his eyes landed on two individuals standing nearby. ¡°If you two have time to stand, you have time to work. Gather up a team and run a full sweep for damage inside and out.¡± The two left the bridge before Harry turned back to Jake. ¡°You know every time I work with you, I almost die.¡± ¡°Yeah, but look at what we have made: a ship that can fit in a storage space; a ship that, although it doesn''t work at 100%, just look at it.¡± Harry looked around, then back at Jake with a grin on his face. ¡°And I hope to make more things like this in the future.¡± An hour later, Jake was running the data recorded through an analysis program to figure out what happened the moment the cannon fired. ¡°Anything on your side?¡± Jake asked Harry, who was over at the weapons station. ¡°The powder is a bit more expensive than we calculated, but that shouldn''t have caused the issue. I''m starting to wonder if it is the projectile. I will need to go through all the data when we get back.¡± ¡°What about the shields? Has anyone looked at the data on them? Also, I''m getting sick of all the rocks hitting us. Activate the point defence system already, would you?¡± Jake said. The next moment, the PDS roared to life, sending thousands of projectiles downrange; the blackness of space lit up with red tracers. ¡°Now that''s a sight to behold,¡± one of the bridge crew said as he gazed through one of the viewing windows. The rest of the crew looked up to view the fireflies as they zipped past. Jake let this go on for a while, as the crew needed something to cheer them up; even Harry was watching the show. Jake sat there and waited for his analysis to finish before getting up and leaving the bridge. On top of his console was a three-word message: Take a break. Only after a good half hour did Harry look around the bridge, resting his eyes on the sign. Then he looked at the clock and back at the window. ¡°You five stay here; the rest of you go rest up. It''s going to be a long few days.¡± Jake walked down the hallway from behind the bridge to the aft of the ship. By the time he reached the door he was looking for, he still hadn''t mustered up the courage to enter. He stood in front of the double door for a good minute before pushing it open. The room was full of the scent of blood and the wails of the injured. Then there was something Jake had never seen until now. There was a blue glow hovering over the heads of the lifeless. Going over to his blood-covered wife, Jake asked the question he had been dreading the answer to. ¡°How many?¡± Jayne looked up at him, a tear welling up in her eye. ¡°Too many. Eight dead, fifteen in a critical condition, and I have lost count of those with minor injuries; some even have soul damage.¡± Jake thought it over before saying, ¡°I can use the skill Demonic Hand to heal soul damage and calm the people here.¡± ¡°I will take you to the worst of them,¡± a man said from behind them. Jake followed the man to the first bed; it was a young girl, no older than sixteen. She was in a catatonic state, the same as the others in this small side room. He laid a hand on the girl''s head and activated the skill. Moments later, the girl''s eyes snapped open before slowly closing again. Jake turned to the man and said, ¡°She will be fine; she is just asleep now. Are these all the ones with soul damage?¡± The man nodded, then checked on the girl. ¡°Are you two close?¡± Jake asked. ¡°Yes, sir, she is my sister.¡± ¡°Well then, stay with her if you want, but there are a lot more people that need help,¡± Jake said as he walked to the next person. Jake continued this until everyone with soul damage was healed and out of danger. Jake, on the other hand, was so tired he almost collapsed as he exited the room, only being caught by his beautiful wife. ¡°Let me take you back to rest, husband.¡± Jake was just about to refute her words when his eyes went dark. Threedays later, Jake woke up; beside him was a very naked lady pressed up against his skin. Jake turned his head and gave his wife a kiss before asking an important question. ¡°Where are my pants?¡± 64 Where are my pants were the words that echoed through the silent ship. Jayne''s eyes opened slightly as she moaned out an answer. ¡°At the end of the bed. And don''t yell; my head is throbbing.¡± ¡°What''s wrong? Did you overuse your mana?¡± Jake asked. ¡°No, it''s just I managed to catch up a bit, that''s all.¡± Jake identified her S:\>auto-identification Universal constant interface - System shrouded Name: Jayne Everval Race: Evolved red-bellied black snake Grade: F Information on F grade F grade upgrades to the next tier at 600 levels above the previous. You get 1 grade levelper 30 class or profession levels. Anyone below this grade in the open universe will not survive unless protected by life-sustaining means such as planetary shields and the like. No F graders have ever entered space and survived for more than two years. Level: 33. Levels required until next grade evaluation: 1000 total Class: Poisoning striker Class level: 420 Profession: Demonic poison alchemist (rare) Profession level: 506 Stats points available: 311 Mana: 10,295,000 Arcane: 3000 Stamina: 6,816,000 Health: 10,150,000 Strength: 100 Agility: 680,500 Intelligence: 300 Wisdom: 1,000,295 Perception: 2,000,800- above mortal capacity. Stat points limited to a maximum safe levelfor an F grade temporary perception level: 1,000,000 Integrity: 1,000,500 New skills Skill: Create pill (common) Refining the ingredients into a pill at common rarity Skill: Pill infusement (common) Infuse mana into pills to increase efficiency Skill: Pill duplication (common) At the final stage, there is a chance the pill will be duplicated, giving two for the cost of one. Duplication chances are increased as Perception stat increases. Jake looked at the response, then saw the stats and let out a quiet sigh. ¡°Congratulations on making it to F grade. I probably should have told you about the stat limit, but in my defence, I didn''t know how close you were to it,¡± he said before giving her another kiss and getting up. As he did, he thought back to his old stats and how he even made that item to help her. Now that she has reached the next grade, it would be able to be upgraded, but Jake no longer had the stats to do that, so the item would be stuck in its current rank indefinitely unless he found another way to do it. Fucken assholes, how was me having that many stats a problem when I''m now sure that I was not the only one able to do it? ¡°I''m going to check on what''s going on with the ship,¡± Jake said before leaving the room and heading to the bridge. But on his arrival, not a soul was in sight and all the consoles were shut down. He sat down in his seat and activated the intercom. ¡°Harry, what''s going on?¡± But all he got back was silence, not even a crackle. ¡°Okay, so he''s not on board or the intercom just died.¡± Jake then got up and looked out the window. ¡°Holy hell, we''re back on the planet! How long was I asleep for?¡± ¡°Three days.¡± Jake spun around to see the man. ¡°Harry, how did it all go in the end?¡± ¡°We got the cannon issue particularly fixed on the way back; the answer was actually already being used on the ship.¡± Jake looked at the man more confused than ever. ¡°Your room; it has dampeners around it. But it''s just a temporary fix; five shots is the estimated life of the dampeners.¡± Jake was surprised at the efficiency of the people that had been helping him now. ¡°What about the FTL? Any idea on that one yet?¡± ¡°No, I need to go back to the moon base so I can run the tests.¡± ¡°Well, be careful. I would hate to lose you because you crashed into a rock or something,¡± Jake said with a laugh, but then he went sombre and asked about the dead.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°We have sent them on their final journey through the void and their families have been given appropriate gifts,¡± Harry said with a sad smile. Jake tried to change the topic. ¡°Are there any people left on the ship other than you, me, and Jayne?¡± Harry accepted the change of topic. ¡°All personnel have left the ship and repairs have been completed. Finally, the weapons and ammunition have been restocked. You''re ready to go; I wish you all the best, Jake.¡± Jake was standing on his empty bridge after Harry had left, the competing hum of the console gone. It seemed Jake would have to go back to Earth to finish the job and get the reward so he could catch up to everyone else. Jake pushed the intercom button and connected to his room. ¡°We''re heading back to Earth; get ready, I will be back there shortly.¡± Jake activated his console and double-checked that there were no other lifeforms on the ship, as Jake didn''t know what would happen to them and he didn''t wish to find out at the moment. Seeing that there were only the two of them left, Jake shut it down and exited the ship''s bridge, heading back to his room. As he approached the door, it opened and a bedraggled Jayne walked out before changing to a snake and shooting up at Jake''s neck, her fangs piercing his body before she slithered down his back and around his arm. ¡°That''s for waking me up.¡± Jake was surprised but noticed something different about the snake. ¡°Have you gotten bigger?¡± Jake asked, only to receive a second bite, but this time it was in a place used for sitting on, and this time the pain was immense. ¡°That''s what you get for calling me fat.¡± ¡°I wasn''t calling you fat; I meant you have gotten longer.¡± Jayne¡¯s laughter could be heard throughout the ship as Jake limped down the hallways to the exit. ¡°You know, it''s not funny to laugh at someone in pain; also, why don''t healing potions work? This really hurts.¡± Jake saying this just made the laughter louder as Jake opened the airlock and exited the ship. Jake then unsummoned the ship before he started back to the cottage to get some rest before heading back to Earth. But just as he was about to sit down, Jayne spoke up. ¡°You shouldn''t sit; it''s just going to make the pain worse.¡± Jake looked at the chair, then at the direction he had just come from. ¡°You couldn''t have told me earlier. You know, before I spent all that time walking here.¡± ¡°You didn''t tell me what you wanted.¡± ¡°Fine, if I can''t sit, I might as well just go back to Earth.¡± ¡°Wait, there is a group of people that want to come with us. Also, you should use an upgrade token on that.¡± Jayne slipped out of Jake''s top and transformed. ¡°I will go get them while you upgrade that.¡± She pointed directly at his transportation token. Five hours later, Jake could at least move around without crippling pain, but there was no way he would try to sit again; that was the worst decision he had ever made. ¡°We''re back. Have you upgraded your token yet?¡± Oh shit, I knew I forgot something. Jake quickly pulled out the token and one upgrade token, then activated it. Then he checked what changes. Item Territory Transport Token (common) Locked to Jake Everval''s home territory: space elevator on one home planet. Can transport up to 100 lifeforms. Soulbound to Jake Everval Jake looked at his four remaining upgrade tokens and wondered if he should use them on his clothing or keep them for later. If it was before the dungeon, Jake would have said to hold them, but now he was more inclined to just use them so no one could steal them again. But Jake was worried he was going to do something wrong. So he would leave the decision to Jayne. As Jake was going over his options, Jayne walked through the door. ¡°So, did you forget? And if you lie, I will do it again.¡± ¡°Of course. Also, what do you think? Should I use the last token or save them? I''m a bit worried they will get stolen.¡± ¡°What does your storage ring say?¡± Jake brought up the description of his ring. Item Ring of Death (Mythical) A ring made for the demon of death, as a gift for a budding member of her race. Able to hold plants and non-living items. Secondary function: stops any identification attempts up to S grade and provides a passive boost to regeneration skills. Soulbound: Jake Everval - the demon of the past Restrictions: can only be soulbound by a demon ¡°Oh, I''m guessing no one can steal them if they''re in there. That settles it. I will keep them. Now shall we go? Also, how many bloody people are there?¡± ¡°Well, originally it was only going to be a small group, but once we found out what happens if you upgrade a token, there are ninety-eight people that will be coming with us. We have people in all fields and a group of my new personal guards trained by the demon of death herself. Their only job will be to keep all of them safe.¡± ¡°That''s good, as long as they know they''re not allowed to help Earth defeat the invaders.¡± ¡°Well, that might not be 100% true. Aaliyah and the demon of death both said it is possible they could help inadvertently by training others and that wouldn''t affect the quest. Anyway, I will be the one handling them when we get back, so you just worry about doing what you want.¡± After getting to know the people that were going to follow him to Earth, Jake liked the makeup of the team; not a single one of them was human. There were Telas, Oriens, Nordicless, and a Welash. Each of them was very distinctive; a Tela was like looking at a void as they are made of dark crystal, while an Orien was clearly an orc. As for the Welash, she was tall, blue, and had four thick tentacles that kind of made her look a bit like a Twi''lek from Star Wars. As Jake walked over to her, Jayne explained the Welash was actually the commander of her guards and had the shadow trooper class. Each one of them was in early F grade, and most of them would be of great use in the settlement. After getting to know everyone, Jake activated the token and they all reappeared in the same place Jake had left from. ¡°Let''s head back to the outpost, but keep quiet as we don''t know what might have happened there while we were gone.¡± Jake went out as a one-person scouting party for the group, as he didn''t want to run the risk of getting the people he had with him involved in the war. But Jake had seen nothing from the moment he left the group till now, as he looked over an abandoned outpost. He quickly returned to the group and reported what he had seen to them; the group changed direction and headed to the nearest clearing large enough for them to bring out the runabouts, as Jake didn''t want to show their trump card yet. But before they got there, Jake opened up an old message he received from the system to check the timeline. System event. Objective: defend your planet from a full-scale F grade invasion. Begins in four years and the planet¡¯s inhabitants must defend it by themselves; no external forces can be used in the battle. Prize: a planetary shield. Duration length is one era or one million years. Defends against planetary bombardment. Bonus reward for the organisation with the most impact on the planet¡¯s defence: the organisation will receive the title true defenders. Title: Staunch defenders Receive a stat multiplier of 10 times to health, mana, arcane, and stamina, plus 10 points to grade levels. ¡°Four years I may have lost track of time. How long has it been and did you receive this message a while back?¡± Jake asked Jayne. ¡°It''s only been three and a half years since I received a similar message. It seems the dungeon you were in was not following the same time as outside.¡± Jake was shocked at the news and began coming up with ideas to fight the invaders. He came up with the idea of launching a first strike of sorts, but first he would need to get back and train a crew. 65 99 runabouts flying in perfect formation, with the guards on watch flanking and Jake in the lead as they navigated themselves down to Australia. Jake flew as fast as the little runabout could go without any brakes until the group got to the economic zone of China, when a group of five runabouts that looked a lot like his old one shot up from the ground. But as they came into visual sight, the differences could be seen; the little runabouts only had one engine and their weapon loadout only had two old pre-integration air-to-air missiles. Jake waved at the lead ship and pointed towards Australia. But the reply was not what Jake wanted, as the pilot gestured for the group to follow them. Jake simply shook his head, pointed to Australia again, then turned to pass outside of China''s zone and down and away from China. Moments later, Jake was further disappointed as the five copies followed the group from behind. Jake pushed the radio and told the group to continue towards Australia as he pulled up and split his throttles, spinning the runabout, then hitting full throttle and blasting back towards the five ships. A moment later, ten missiles were launched, and Jake was flipping through the missiles as he broke out the other side. Jake fired his weapon system, blowing all five ships out of the sky before they knew what had happened to them. After some time, Jake caught back up to the group and continued towards Jake''s territory. The moment Jake got into Australia''s economic zone, he was greeted again by a group of runabouts, but this time the group was not attacked; instead, they were escorted in what seemed like a corridor, flying over the Northern Territory, then crossing into South Australia and into Victoria. Once in Victoria, the escorting runabouts left, leaving Jake''s group to fly alone all the way to his territory. Jake and his group landed at the outskirts of the settlement, which had now grown to the size of a city, pushing right to the boundary of the shield and back into the bushland. As Jake''s group walked up to the gated zone outside of the shield, a group of soldiers stopped them. ¡°Halt, identify yourself and your business here?¡± ¡°Jake Everval, also known as the Demon of the Past, and my business is alternately none of your business.¡± Jake went to take a step forward when the soldiers raised their weapons. ¡°Please, sir, don''t move; we need to get confirmation of your identity before we can let you pass.¡± ¡°Well, how long will that take? I''m kind of getting irritated here.¡± ¡°Lady Ann should be here soon.¡± ¡°Ann? Jayne, why does that name sound familiar?¡± Jayne changed forms and said without any hesitation, ¡°She is the bitch that we met over in Europe. I believe she was the one that told Eric you were not a member of the mercenary group, and as for her coming to identify us, I can only see things going badly, so we might as well just knock these fools out and enter the settlement.¡± Seeing an angry lady heading their way, she was shouting that Jake and his group were lying and that they should be executed, but she never got to finish what she was saying as the Welsh appeared beside her, picking her up off the ground before throwing her down to the ground, her foot on her neck and a rifle in her hand. ¡°You should take another look at who you are trying to kill. Fucking idiot,¡± the Welsh said, as Ann''s face was slowly changing colour. ¡°Get off my teammate, or I will kill you all¡ª¡± Eric never got to finish, as Jake teleported in front of the man. ¡°Hello, little pup. I see you haven''t fixed your attitude since we last met, which makes me wonder.¡± As Jake was saying this, Jayne arrived beside him. ¡°Eric, what have you done? You let her control you and now she even tried to kill us. Just what exactly is your plan? Maybe I can help you, but I can''t help her. She is at the mercy of Jake now.¡± Jake turned to look at the woman before he teleported over to her. ¡°Let her breathe.¡± Ann simply stared daggers at Jake beforespitting in his face. Jake just let out a long and tired sigh. ¡°I only have one question for you, and that is why?¡± ¡°You fucking know what you did!¡± Ann screamed at Jake. Jake was even more confused now. ¡°Well, let''s say I don''t know what you''re talking about; could you tell me?¡± Jake asked in as sincere a tone as possible. But all he got back was screaming and curses. ¡°Hold her here,¡± Jake said before walking over to Eric. ¡°What the fuck is she talking about?¡± ¡°She blames you for everything that has gone wrong; she even thinks you made the system happen. I''m sorry; I tried to change her mind but her mind keeps going back to the dungeon, and it has only gotten worse since you defeated it.¡± ¡°Well, I can''t fix that, so tell me, should I kill her?¡± ¡°Please, sir, let her live.¡± ¡°If I do, what will you both do? I clearly can''t have someone like her within my territory, now can I?¡± ¡°I... I don''t know,¡± Eric said. ¡°How about this: I will give you enough resources to make it to anywhere you wish to go, and as long as I don''t see her again, I won''t harm her.¡±Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°Thank you, sir, but I can''t go to any other territory; as I''m a beastman, the moment I''m not protected by you, I will be captured and sold as a slave.¡± ¡°I can send you so far away that the issues ofthis small planet will seem meaningless, and maybe someone might be able to help her out there.¡± ¡°I can''t leave you, sir; I owe you so much.¡± ¡°You don''t owe me anything, Eric. You have been a great friend to me,¡± Jake said before giving the man a hug and saying, ¡°I will miss having you around.¡± Eric''s eyes went blank before he said under his breath, ¡°I''m sorry, Ann.¡± That was the only reply Eric gave before he dashed over to Ann and, in a flash, slit her throat. ¡°Jayne, can you deal with this mess?¡± Jake said before leaving the chaos that was occurring behind him. Jake found himself once again lost in his own settlement. He had been walking around for over an hour before he finally gave up and said, ¡°Alric, help me out here. Where the hell am I going?¡± Not even a second later, Alric was standing beside Jake and guiding him to where the council members were, but as he talked with the man, Jake realised he had no reason to actually talk to them, as Alric had already arranged everything and had also made quite the deal with the Australian government, which now made sense of why they had that escort right up to the border of Jake''s territory. The governmental decrees encompass the whole state of Victoria and Tasmania and the waters surrounding them. What Jake gave up in return was any holdings outside that territory on Earth, the blueprints to the runabout, and a licence to produce as many as they wanted for the domestic market. As for the Americans, they made a deal to get the same thing; only in return, Jake would receive resources equal to the value of every unit produced by the USA and any contractors, which includes their allies. Now that one was good, as shipments were now coming in daily, and now that Australia has started producing, the USA has to pay for them as well. This is making the crack down on the Australian government as they try to limit the production to only the government and its enforcers but not the civilians, leaving the market open for Jake within Australia. Jake then asked about how the Chinese acquired his plans, but Alric was unaware of this, which made Jake think if the USA didn''t get the plans from the fighter in the dungeon, then maybe he gave them to China, but then why would they make them so poor, not even giving the pilots a way to eject? ¡°Maybe it was done as a cost-cutting measure, so they can produce them faster and cheaper,¡± Alric said. Then Jake asked about getting a crew together for his ship, but Alric cut him off and said he had already assigned people to that job, and the crew size had reached one hundred people by now. Jake just looked at the man before saying, ¡°I was just thinking maybe twenty or so, not one hundred.¡± ¡°Most of them are technically not needed, but when I heard about what happened on the shakedown cruise, I added more people in fields that would help if that kind of thing happened again.¡± ¡°So, scientists and the like?¡± ¡°Yes and no.¡± ¡°Alright, one last thing. I still have item upgrade tokens. Can I use them on territory tokens?¡± ¡°How many do you have?¡± Alric asked with a little smile. Jake replied with, ¡°¡Á4 item upgrade tokens.¡± ¡°So you can use four to upgrade a planetary token to a solar system token, or use three to upgrade one large territory token to a planetary token, or you can use two tokens to upgrade the small tokens to medium. That being said, in the long run, upgrading the planetary token would be best, as you can use the two large tokens as they are to claim the territory you were given by simply using one in this settlement and one down in Tasmania. Then I will modify its shape to provide coverage for both. As for the small tokens, just hold onto them; who knows, you might be able to get your hands on more upgrade tokens.¡± So Jake decided in the end to follow Alric¡¯s advice, and he upgraded the planetary token. Then he used one large territory token before jumping into his runabout and blasting off to Tasmania to use the other one. Only after two days did Jake return, landing his runabout directly on the roof of the meeting hall before getting out and asking the sky if it worked. A second later, Alric appeared. ¡°Yes, your territories are now under your command, and I am now beginning to open up citizenship to all those within your territory.¡± Jake looked out for a couple of minutes, then asked how far away he was from being able to make teleporters. But Alric only replied, ¡°a long time,¡± leaving Jake a little disappointed. Before Alric then said, ¡°Once your planet opens up to the universe fully, you will be able to zip between as many locations as you like; it will just take time.¡± After thinking it over for a while, Jake asked if anyone had been monitoring the fleet¡¯s actions, makeup, position, and if it looked like they were ready to attack. ¡°They seem to be spread throughout the system, and so far, we have only seen ships ranging from gunships to destroyers. As for their main base of operations, that would be one of the moons of Jupiter; I believe your people call it Ganymede. They set up a transportation base there; it¡¯s where they are sending all the slaves they have acquired from Earth.¡± ¡°Thank you for your help. There is another task I don''t know; you might have already done it, but the people¡­¡± ¡°If you¡¯re talking about the people you brought back, I have set them up in the appropriate areas so they can make the most benefits to the current goal.¡± Alric went quiet for a second, then asked, ¡°What will you be doing now?¡± ¡°I plan on making a splash out there, hopefully destroying some ships before they¡¯re ready for it.¡± ¡°Are you going to be using your ship or something else? I''m just asking because if you''re not, I think leaving it here to help with training would be a good second choice.¡± ¡°Do you have a replacement ship I could use?¡± ¡°There actually is. If you would like, I can show you. We have three, and they''re fitted with fixed cannons and a point defence system.¡± Jake walked with Alric for fifteen minutes until they reached a large hangar. As they approached, the gigantic doors slid open, revealing three ships with a similar makeup to a cargo ship, but Jake could see straight off the bat these ships were more than that. ¡°Okay, I will take all three. Do they have a crew?¡± As Jake said this, nine people, all female, walked out from a side room but stopped when they saw Alric. ¡°Sir Alric, have you got a new mission for us?¡± ¡°Yes, you will be going out to kill the enemy, but this time you will be accompanied by this man, and he will be dictating the mission''s parameters.¡± ¡°But sir, we like to work alone, and we definitely don''t need a man on our ships.¡± ¡°Well, stiff shit, you''re stuck with me. As for why I get to call the shots, well that''s simple: this is my fucken territory.¡± Everyone went stone cold quiet. 66 ¡°My plan is to take your three ships and make hit-and-run raids on the enemies. If you don''t wish to take up this challenge, tell me now so I can replace you.¡± ¡°So if we say no, you will just steal our ships?¡± ¡°Steal? Isn''t that a funny word? It''s like this: you can have your ships, and when the world ends, you can take those precious ships of yours and see how far you get as a G grade because I know for a fact that as an F grade, the longest I would survive out there is two fucking years, but you, I don''t think you would make half that time. Now, would you like to die fighting for the planet''s survival, or would you like to run like a bunch of chickens? Make up your mind and come get me.¡± After Jake said this, he simply walked off to a large open field to summon his ship. As Jake waited, a group of people walked up behind him. ¡°Emma, what brings you and these nice people out here?¡± ¡°We came to see what this huge object that just appeared out of nowhere is. Also, these nice people will be your flight crew, and this is your chief engineer, Kerry.¡± Jake turned to greet the group. ¡°Nice to meet you all. This is my soul ship, and yes, I know it''s very rusty, but that can''t be helped. But let me tell you, this ship is brand new, so don''t let it fool you; a small mistake can kill you. On its first shakedown cruise, a lot of people were badly injured, some even died, and all of that was caused by firing the main cannon five times. So now you know this, will you still climb aboard the rusty bucket?¡± Jake said. The group just stood there, taking in what was just said when Kerry''s gruff voice sounded out. ¡°Ha, a ship so powerful that even firing the main cannon could kill you. I can''t wait to check it out.¡± After Kerry spoke up with abundant excitement, the rest of the group followed suit. ¡°So which one of you is going to be my 2IC?¡± ¡°That would be me, sir,¡± a beastfolk of the more K9 appearance said. ¡°Well, do you have a name or what?¡± ¡°York, sir.¡± But just as he said that, one of the other bridge crew said, ¡°Your name is not York; it''s Yorkie. Don''t lie to yourself.¡± Jake turned to look at the other man and asked, ¡°So what''s your name then, and what do you do?¡± ¡°My name is Steve, and I am your science officer.¡± ¡°Steve, a bit of a funny name for a former Jack Russell. You were a Jack Russell, right, or are you some crossbreed? Such a small dog that doesn''t know what it is.¡± Jake turned back to York. ¡°I''m going to be leaving the rusty bucket here for a while to get everyone together and begin conducting familiarisation training, but make sure you don''t take it outside of my territory. We must keep it as a surprise for our enemies.¡± Jake then walked over to the other people he knew. ¡°It''s been a while, but it''s good to see you all well.¡± After Jake had talked with them for a while, Emma walked over with a piece of paper in her hand. ¡°This is the roster for all the commanders that will join you.¡± Jake looked at the paper. Bridge crew Orange job pilot Alan job shields Frank job navigation Harrison job weapons Joel job communication Steve job science York job tactical and bridge 2IC Offers James Lewis Mary Space marines Team one Annabel aka Nightwitch; she uses stealth to assassinate her targets 10 others Team two Peter 10 others Team three Gordon 10 others Fighter Pilots Mark Alberta Kay Sparks Maintenance workers engineeringThe narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Kerry lead engineer 10 others Other Scientists and the like ¡°So the main members consist of 58 members; that is already a lot, and you want me to take more? I will only take 2 more; otherwise we would be packed in like sardines. The ship may look big, and it is, but the more people we take, the more will just die.¡± As Jake was talking to Emma, the nine crew members from the ships Jake was going to borrow exited the hangar and walked in Jake''s direction with a determined look in their eyes. ¡°We will not allow you to take our ships; we worked for them.¡± Jake looked down at the piece of paper in his hand; after all the names on the paper, it had one short sentence, basically saying to banish the nine. ¡°You are aware I was going to compensate you for them, but if that''s what you''ve chosen. Now that we are out of time and I can''t make any more ships in time, York get the crew ready; we''re going directly into battle. All training is cancelled; I will see you on my ship in one hour.¡± Then Jake turned back to the nine ladies. ¡°Pack your things and get out of my territory; I''m pretty sure the US will welcome you with open arms.¡± Jake then turned back towards the rusty bucket and teleported away. Emma looked over at the nine with disappointment. ¡°You all better leave. Now that we are going to war, I don''t think you want to be around here any more.¡± ¡°But my lady, we only did what is best. After all, what has he done for us?¡± ¡°What was best? Did you know when Jake left the tutorial, he had stats higher than you could imagine? But after constantly working to make a safe place for you to live in, his stats went from over 350,000,000 in all four stats down to 1,000,000. That''s only one thing he has given up for you bunch of leeches,¡± Jayne said as she walked up behind them before looking over at Emma. ¡°I believe you should get back to work while I go talk with my husband.¡± Jayne entered the ship and headed directly for the bridge. When she entered, Jake was hunched over in his seat. ¡°What is with this place? I come back here for a couple of hours, and I''m right back to wanting to kill them all. Once this fight is over, I''m leaving this place.¡± ¡°Sure, we can do that. This universe that we are becoming part of is huge. I don''t think we will have that much trouble finding work.¡± ¡°If it wasn''t for that message from Emma, I might have really stolen their ships.¡± ¡°I can stay here with you till you feel better.¡± ¡°No, I''m going to put the new crew through some training, and that might take a while. Anyway, don''t you have other things to do?¡± ¡°I do, but...¡± ¡°Don''t worry about me; just do what needs to be done, then come back later.¡± Jayne left not long after. Emma After learning the truth about Jake, Emma simply looked over at the nine. ¡°Take your ships and go.¡± The nine ladies began walking back to the hangar when one of them stopped and yelled back, ¡°You need us.¡± But Emma just gave them a simple response. ¡°We don''t need people so dumb that they can''t see what is good for themselves.¡± ¡°What? Good for ourselves? That doesn''t make any sense! We scouted those fleets; we know better than anyone what he wanted us to do, and you say we''re blind. Come on, girls, let''s leave before the stupid wears off.¡± Emma watched the group of nine leave as all three ships flew in the direction of the US. Only then did Alric show himself. ¡°Is it done?¡± ¡°We now have access to the ship''s computer systems. We installed a non-invasive malware, so we should be able to monitor the activities of the US fleet. The malware will also spread over the radio into other systems. Now all we have to do is wait, and we will know the location of every ship within this system.¡± ¡°But isn''t it wrong?¡± ¡°What do you mean by that? If you mean tracking enemy ships is wrong, I can tell you now that in the open universe, this is a common thing. Or if you mean it''s wrong to keep our actions secret from Jake, that''s what we''re for; we are in the background so he can move forward.¡± Jake One hour later, and Jake had brought all the systems to life, beginning the arduous process of verifying each system was operating within parameters and the correct data was being displayed on the correct monitors, when finally, just as he finished setting up the bridge consoles, the crew arrived. Jake instantly picked out the two he wanted to see. ¡°I have finished the startup checklist for the bridge, so get the crew to go over the consoles while I take Kerry down to main engineering.¡± Kerry walked beside Jake as he took her through the different areas of the ship, but once they entered main engineering, her eyes opened wide. ¡°This ship is amazing. I can feel my levels increasing by just standing here.¡± She kept looking around at the random rust spots before she couldn''t take it. ¡°This ship is new, yes, so what is with the rust? It''s odd it doesn''t conform to anything I know. Rust on a ship is fine but this, I feel like if I poke it my finger might just go straight through, and look at that impulse engine; it has something rusted on it. I''m surprised it even works. We''re going to have to do a complete overhaul of the ship from top to bottom.¡± Jake just chuckled before saying, ¡°That would be a complete waste of time.¡± ¡°Waste of time? The state this ship is in, I am 100% sure it won''t fly. We need to fix this ship.¡± ¡°There is nothing to fix on the ship; everything is at 100%. What you are looking at is an issue with me, not the ship, and I don''t know how good of an engineer you are, but I doubt you can fix this.¡± ¡°What do you mean by the problem is you? I''m looking at rust.¡± ¡°The ship is soulbound; when something is soulbound to me, it always comes out like this. The rust and worn-out look of everything I wear is because there is something wrong with my soul, or at least that''s what I''ve been told. But don''t worry, the ship may look rusty, but it actually isn''t. Just take that engine; in its state, everything should be broken.¡± Jake walked over to the engine''s display and ran a diagnostic. A minute later, the results came back. Kerry looked over the results. ¡°All green, am I right?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Kerry replied, uncertainty crowding her mind as she muttered to herself, ¡°There must be an issue with the computer.¡± So she grabbed one of the portable testers and plugged it in instead. Jake just looked down at the tester and stated, ¡°I''m not going to hang around for that slow thing to finish. So I will be on my way. Oh, if you need any reference materials for any of the basic systems, there are copies up on the bridge deck beside medical. As for the advanced systems, they are locked up, so you will need to get permission from my 2IC or me.¡± Jake then left as the portable diagnostic tool was at 0.01% complete. On the bridge, Jake was getting to know his new crew and how well they could work as a team. He ran them through multiple simulations, from battle sims to the one they were running now, which was an FTL jump with all the issues of the current system. This put the whole bridge crew under extreme stress. The navigational issues of tracking every object out in space was one thing, but plotting a safe path to your end goal was another thing entirely. So the crew had come up with the plan to make small jumps. The first would put the simulated ship just above the moon, then a new calculation would be run to take the ship to the next Lagrange point before repeating. This simulation was Jake''s favourite, as no matter what they did, eventually they would all die, as no one could track every object down to the size of a bolt. The last attempt at this simulation went so badly that the ship didn''t even get to complete the first jump, as it flew right into an old Soviet-era style satellite like the co-wayfarer. But this time, Jake had a good feeling that they would get to the moon, but no further, as the information on anything out that far was very lacking, and even bringing up the scientists wouldn''t get them any further. 67 Jake left the crew to continue training as he headed down to the hangar bay where he was told the rest of the crew were located. Opening the hatch to the main flight deck, he looked down upon his crew going over the gear they had brought with them. Some were cleaning old swords and axes while others had some of Jake''s first weapons he produced for the Demon¡¯s Hand mercenary group before he gave up on it. As he walked down the gantry to the main deck, Jake was intercepted by a woman he hadn''t seen for a long time. ¡°Mary, it''s been a while. How are you?¡± ¡°How am I? Is it true?¡± ¡°Is what true?¡± Mary looked more frustrated than angry, but she continued with her nonsensical questioning before she finally asked the thing she wanted to know. ¡°Are you married?¡± Jake stopped walking for a second, then said with more confidence than he ever had before, ¡°Yes, I am married.¡± Mary went quiet as the two walked together down the rest of the gantry until Mary said without any warning, ¡°That''s not going to stop me.¡± Then she left as quickly as she arrived. Jake looked over the group of people, his eyes landing on the ex-settlement guard. ¡°James, I''ve got a job for you.¡± As James came over, Jake pulled out a ring he was given by Erica back when she was on his ship. ¡°This ring should have everything you need to re-equip your men. I''m making you the ranking officer here, so distribute the supplies as you see fit,¡± Jake said before raising his voice loud enough to be heard over all the metal clanging and chattering. ¡°Mark, Alberta, Kay, and Sparks, I have some equipment for you all.¡± Jake threw them each a storage ring. ¡°Those rings have some items your counterparts requested I hand over to you.¡± The four fighter pilots all placed the rings on their fingers before giving Jake a salute. ¡°Let''s not do that. Now you four can begin training with them.¡± Jake pointed over at the four light fighters that, for some unknown reason, were classified as part of his ship. Jake''s guess was that any items that were stored in the ship when it was created became part of it, just like the portable diagnostic tool Kerry was using. Jake had some testing to do on this, like what would happen if the tools or fighters were destroyed; would the ship rebuild them, or if he added more items and then unsummoned the ship, would the items just fall to the ground, or is this a way to break the storage limitations when it comes to storage rings and bags? But this would have to wait for later, as Jake had to go and find someone before he began attacking the invaders, and that person was the one and only Jayne. Jake had left her to take care of everything earlier, only for her to take a lot longer than he had thought. He left the ship and headed back into the maze of streets and high-rise buildings. This time around, Jake instantly asked Alric where his wife was and requested a map to this horribly named city, and what''s worse, Jake looked at the map he was given; at the top it now showed all the territory Jake owned on Earth, and for some idiotic reason, it was called Freedom Land. Jake sighed as he read over the map that showed all of the settlements within his territory; some kept the names from before the system while others didn''t. But the ones that didn''t all had strange names as if a five-year-old had named them. Even the waterside town Jake had once gone to was renamed from Corinella to Running Water, and as far as Jake remembered, that town had no rivers. As Jake walked through the zigzagging streets, he finally found his way to the location Alric told him about. To Jake''s amusement, this building was actually a complex of towers; each tower represented a field of study, and the one Jake was currently looking for was obviously the alchemy building. He was told Jayne came here the moment she heard that a place like this existed. On his way here, he had realised that maybe she would be better off staying behind this time, but he would leave that up to her to decide. After walking around the complex, Jake stood at the entrance when two ladies exited. ¡°We need to increase the rewards for completing missions related to the invaders.¡± ¡°I don''t disagree, but how are we going to do that? We have already given runabouts as rewards for lower-level missions, so we simply don''t have any new items that we can give away.¡± ¡°What about cash? Can''t you buy things in the market with money?¡± ¡°We can start paying them in cash, but we don''t have a lot. After all, we generally just give items as payments.¡± ¡°Just use the alchemist here and start selling potions in the market. Also, set up a cultivation garden so we don''t have to constantly find new herbs for potions.¡± Jayne looked up just as she finished speaking. She smiled before saying, ¡°So, you came to take me.¡± ¡°I came to see you, yes, but take you only if you want me to.¡± Jake said as he watched Jayne''s face slowly turn pink. ¡°Okay, you two can stop that now, or get a room,¡± Kiki said. ¡°Kiki, it''s nice to see you as always.¡± ¡°It''s nice to see you too, boss.¡±Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°You don''t need to call me that.¡± ¡°I beg to differ. You are and always will be my boss, no matter what happens. On that note, I heard you expanded your territory. Does that mean the protection we have here extends over the whole thing?¡± ¡°Alric,¡± Jake said. Kiki looked at him strangely before a flash of light and Alric appeared. ¡°Yes, my lord. What can I do for you now?¡± he said as he waited for another question about where someone was. ¡°Can you explain to Kiki how the territory shields work and what limitations they have?¡± ¡°Lady Kiki, what exactly would you like to know about?¡± ¡°Does the shield that was once covering this city now encompass all of Jake''s territories, and does it have the same restrictions and defences?¡± ¡°Short answer: sort of. In this territory, I have been forced to limit the effectiveness of the shield. Anyone can enter and exit with no ill effects, but people cannot fly in, and in the event of an attack, the shield will lock solidly¡ªno one will be able to enter or exit, at least no one below D grade, that is. As for the shield in Jake''s other territory, it is currently set as solid and will only change once Jake reaches C grade and has a fleet capable of defending against at least a B grade invasion. As for any new territories, well, that we''ll just have to wait to find out.¡± Kiki thought for a bit, then followed up with, ¡°What about the other barriers? Like Melbourne''s, is that still in place, and will monsters still appear within the territory?¡± ¡°First answer: yes. Second answer: yes, but with a caveat. As the energy increases within the territory, so will the monsters and their levels. So, yes, you will need to start putting up more jobs in your mercenary group; otherwise, there is going to be a bloodbath once the monsters get stronger. Also, new types that you haven''t seen before will begin appearing.¡± Jake and the two ladies took in the information before Jake asked Alric one last thing. ¡°Are there any other spaceships we could use for scouting and/or troop transport?¡± ¡°Yes, we have two unarmed scouting vessels and one transport that was stolen by Eric and his late team.¡± ¡°Also, what happened to him?¡± Jake asked the group. ¡°I sent him down to Wonthaggi to help with the new outpost there,¡± Kiki said with a sombre expression. ¡°Don''t go overboard with him; he is a good man, and if possible, I would like him to retake his position alongside you.¡± The people went quiet for a minute before Alric asked, ¡°So why did you ask about scouting and troopships?¡± ¡°I would like them to be used to transport teams across my territory, looking for monsters and setting up outposts and making defensive fortifications along the territory''s edge.¡± ¡°We should be able to set something up,¡± Kiki said. ¡°I also think it might be time to create a territorial defence force or maybe expand the guards, maybe even make it mandatory service,¡± Jake said to Alric. ¡°People won''t like that,¡± Kiki said. ¡°If people don''t like it, they are welcome to leave. Anyway, I will leave all this in your capable hands,¡± Jake said to the group, then asked Jayne, "Would you like to go up to space with me, or are you going to stay here?¡± Jake said, pointing up at the building behind him with a grin. Jake already knew the answer, but he had to ask. ¡°I would like to stay here and work on my profession.¡± Jake knew the answer, but it still stung. He really did appreciate having her with him; she was like a beautiful angel, always sitting on his shoulder. One that would temper his actions, always whispering possible actions the two could take. But Jake had to agree this was a good place to work on a person''s profession. Jake smiled and said, ¡°Have fun; I''m going to kill me some people.¡± Then he teleported away. Kiki turned to Jayne. ¡°He is talking about the invaders, right? He''s not really going to just start killing people, is he?¡± ¡°Um, probably not,¡± Jayne said in a hesitant voice. Kiki went pale until she looked at Jayne again; she had a grin and was trying not to laugh. ¡°For real, you two planned that, didn''t you?¡± ¡°Of course not, how could we do that?¡± After picking up some things in the city, Jake was back at his ship. Jake entered, heading straight for the bridge. Walking down the corridor, there were two guards in exosuits with their helmets connected to their waists stationed at the bridge door. As Jake got closer, the two moved to the side as the door opened. Inside the bridge, the crew were busy at the consoles running what looked to be the same simulation as when Jake left. The only difference was that it looked like they had managed to make the second jump and now were getting organised for the next one. So Jake quietly walked over to his console, which now sported two new guards standing either side. Jake gave them both a nod before the two walked back towards the door and stood in place. Jake swung his chair into place and brought up the simulation data. Not bad, it took them 197 tries till they got the second jump; since then, it has been 200 more.As Jake was thinking this, York shouted for confirmation on the jump¡¯s status. ¡°Five minutes, sir, just running the final check,¡± Frank replied as he and Joel were working at the navigational consoles. Jake watched as the bridge crew worked in harmony with each other; finally, they seemed to be ready for this attempt, going over the information that had been entered into the simulation. These are some good numbers; they have calculated over a million individual objects using everything at their disposal. They even used the weapons system to help track objects to speed up the calculations, Jake thought as Frank turned to York and, with a grin, said, ¡°Ready, sir.¡± Then quietly said to Joel, ¡°At least I think we are. Can you run one more check of the close-range objects? I would hate to mess up like last time.¡± ¡°Alright, Alan, set the shields to maximum. Orange, get ready to jump.¡± York said. ¡°Shields at maximum front deflection, sir.¡± ¡°All hands, FTL in progress.¡± As York said this, the two guards locked their boots to the floor as the lights in the bridge changed to red. ¡°Orange, activate the jump.¡± All went as normal until, as the systems went dark for a second longer, the shields stayed active. As the simulation ended, the statistics came in, and a second later, the bridge crew roared in cheers as Orange said, ¡°Jump complete.¡± 68 ¡°Good job, you all have done a lot better than I had hoped,¡± Jake said with a smile. At this, the entire bridge crew turned to the sound of the voice in shock. ¡°Sir, sorry we didn''t know you had returned,¡± York said before Jake replied. ¡°What are you sorry about? You all did your jobs well.¡± ¡°But sir, we should hav¡ª¡± ¡°Doing your job is more important than welcoming me or handing over command. That would have been stupid; just look at what you all could do. Now tell me what would have happened if you all knew I was here. You would have failed that last jump. Now tell me, are you ready to try out your skills for real?¡± An hour later, the bridge was ready, and all but the four fighters were back on board. The four fighters would meet up over Tasmania as Jake''s plan was to slip past the invaders that were orbiting above the northern hemisphere by getting as far away from them as possible. Jake gave York command of the ship while he sat back and watched over his console. ¡°Frank, plot our course. Joel, communicate our intentions.¡± Chatter came to life over the radio before Joel called back to York their clearance. York looked back to Jake. Then, with a nod, Jake gave the command everyone was waiting for. ¡°Orange, take us out slowly.¡± ¡°Yes, sir,¡± Orange said as he started the process. The engines roared to life as the ship rose from the ground and slowly slipped over the city before heading south towards Bass Strait. Bass Strait was in its usual form, only now the waves were three times the size they were in 1998. The ship flew just over the waves, the sea spray washing over the hull. The waves crashed against the hull, making all those on board wish they had chosen a different path in life. ¡°Keep it up; the weather down here will help keep them from noticing us,¡± York said to the crew. Jake was going along with his theory that the moment he returned, the big countries around the world would be watching his territory like hawks. So he came up with the plan to hide the ship in the bad weather as they regrouped with the four fighters before blasting into space before anyone could catch them. That is why he also ordered a flight of two fighters to leave Tasmania at the same time the four fighters entered the storm. Jake thought it was a risk, but one worth taking. After all, no one knew who could be a spy. ¡°Charlie flight, landing bay open and ready for your approach,¡± Joel communicated over an encrypted radio frequency. ¡°Charlie lead, 4km out. Commencing final approach now.¡± Jake sat back and watched as Joel communicated and managed the airspace around the ship. Jake looked over to York and gestured for him to come over. ¡°I would like you to write a preference review for all the members of the crew and hand it over to Alric upon our return. One more thing: once we reach orbit, move us away from the planet as fast as we can; I don''t want to get into a fight yet.¡± York confirmed, then went back over to Joel to see how things were going. Five minutes later, York started to walk back to his console. ¡°Alright everyone, prepare for orbital insertion followed by a full thrust burn to the south pole of the moon. Once we are within the moon''s shadow, I want this ship to go dark.¡± I like this guy, Jake thought. Once the bridge went quiet as York looked over for Jake''s command. Seeing this, Jake pushed his intercom button and opened it ship-wide. ¡°We are about to enter a place no one from Earth has ever gone to for a long time and instead of explanation, we are heading into battle. The likelihood of death is high. Look to the person to your left, and the chances are they will be dead before we return to Earth. So I''m giving every person on this ship one final chance to leave. I will give you all five minutes to make your decision, and then this ship will leave Earth behind.¡± Jake looked over the bridge crew, then back at the two guards. ¡°Well, how about it?¡± Jake asked. The crew looked at each other, then went straight back to the consoles. Jake looked back at the guards. ¡°Sir, we are with you to the end; there is no need to ask.¡± Five minutes later, Jake asked York, ¡°How many?¡± ¡°Two, sir.¡± ¡°Who was it?¡±This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°The two scientists; we gave them two spare runabouts and told them to head directly for Hobart and to not deviate from that path.¡± ¡°That''s good.¡± Jake activated his intercom again. ¡°We are about to brake for orbit; prepare for exhilaration.¡± Jake then looked over to York. ¡°Take us out.¡± York started giving commands to the bridge crew, then the engines roared to life as the ship began lifting up, gaining speed until it finally blasted through the storm and headed out of Earth''s atmosphere. At the same time the ship made orbit, York ordered Orange to burn hard for the moon. Everyone was pushed back into their seats, and those who were standing were pushed backwards into the bulkheads¡ªthat is, those who hadn¡¯t taken the proper precautions. Two hours later, the ship was now hidden in the shadows of the Shackleton crater, its engines cold and waiting for their next journey. The bridge only had three bridge crew, two guards, and Jake. ¡°What is the ETA of York''s away team?¡± Jake asked Joel. ¡°Ten minutes, sir. Orange radioed back; they have found a suitable location down at the bottom of the crater.¡± ¡°Good. Once they return, get them to head directly to the operations room and tell James and his team leader to come up too.¡± ¡°Keep an eye out for the enemy, Harrison; I will be down in the operations room, so you are in command.¡± Jake got up from his seat and walked over to the ladder that went down one level. Jake pulled out one of the small territory tokens and identified it. Item Small territory token Claims a patch of land ten kilometres squared. Territory can be expanded by using multiple tokens. ¡°Definitely going to use the two of them here, and if that cavern they found is big enough, we should be able to use it as a base of operations for the future, but now it will make an excellent hiding spot.¡± Jake sat at the large table with a cup of coffee in his hand and a sandwich in the other. Fifteen minutes later, the door opened as six people walked in. ¡°About time! I''ve already had two cups of coffee and a shitload of snacks while I waited for you all,¡± Jake said before he continued, not letting anyone cut him off. ¡°So tell me about what you all found?¡± The group sat down at the table as York replied to Jake''s question. ¡°We have two locations: one with a cavern entrance big enough to fit this through and a cavern size of over fifty square metres. As for the other one, its entrance is huge to the point it would be impossible to defend, and the space is just as big.¡± ¡°So what are your recommendations then?¡± Jake asked the group. The people that went out all said the large one, but Jake, on the other hand, wanted James''s thoughts on this. ¡°Am I wrong to think you are planning on setting up a base here and you plan for it to be hidden from outside view?¡± ¡°Yes, 100%. So what do you think?¡± ¡°I must disagree with the others. The smaller one would give you the best options for defence, and as for future growth, fifty square kilometres would make for a good base.¡± ¡°Okay, we''ll go with that. York, bring the ship in so we can get this plan moving.¡± York and the three other bridge crew went up to the bridge to guide the ship into the cavern as Jake stayed in the operations room to talk with James about the job he was going to give him. ¡°So, let me get this straight: you want me to run this base without any real supplies to get it started, am I right?¡± ¡°Well, when you say it like that, it does sound like a shit job, but the supplies will come, and technically you won''t be in charge; that will be Alric. But you will be the one everyone will go to first, and you will be in charge of security.¡± ¡°I see. Well, I guess I don''t really have a choice now, do I?¡± ¡°There''s always a choice, and your choices are to either take up the position or find someone better to do it.¡± ¡°Can I think about it?¡± ¡°That''s fine. I plan on staying here for a bit anyway as we send out raiding parties to help with those supply issues you were talking about.¡± Jake left James to talk it over with his team leader while Jake went back up to the bridge. ¡°Orange, take it easy; this is going to be tight,¡± York said as Orange was looking paler than the walls at the cavern entrance. ¡°Slow it down and just let our moment carry us in.¡± ¡°Turn on docking lights,¡± Jake commanded as the ship was now five metres from the entrance. As he did, there was a bright reflection for a second before the ship entered the tunnel of what used to be darkness but was now illuminated by powerful spotlights and red running lights on the lower and upper hull, and green flashing lights at the tip of all the antennas jutting out from the nose of the ship. ¡°Orange, get ready, we''re coming up to the intersection; take the left path.¡± Jake wrote down some notes for later into the console. The first thing on the list was to install some guiding light. ¡°What''s down the other tunnel?¡± Jake asked one of the others on the bridge. Steve replied, ¡°A small cavern filled with crystals and other resources we could use in the future.¡± A minute or so later, deep inside the moon, the rusty bucket''s nose exited the long tunnel into a cavern no less than fifty kilometres long. Just as they entered, Jake ordered a complete stop. He then turned to the two guards at the door. ¡°You two come with me. York, tell James we''re going to need a team of scouts to head back towards the entrance and two more guards on the bridge,¡± Jake said as he headed out towards the nearest airlock with his two guards in tow. As Jake entered the airlock, he looked at the two guards to check if they were ready, and to Jake''s amusement, he was the one holding them up. He put on his helmet, hearing the comforting hiss and clicks of the helmet as Jake secured it. Then his radio crackled to life. ¡°Sir, what''s our job once we exit?¡± one of the guards asked. ¡°Provide overwatch as I set up the first territory, then follow me back up the shaft to the second cavern so we can claim that as well.¡± As Jake and the two guards exited the ship, falling from the top level of the ship, the moment Jake was about to hit the surface, he activated the suit''s thrusters, slowing him down as his foot touched the ground. ¡°That''s one small step for a man; that''s one giant leap for mankind,¡± Jake said the moment he stood on the surface. ¡°What did you say, sir? It may have been a radio issue, but it came through as ¡®that''s one small step for man.¡¯ Maybe you should repeat it.¡± ¡°I''m not doing that. And fuck your radio bullshit; I know you heard what I said.¡± 69 Jake pulled out his token and activated it. Moments later, Alric was floating beside the three. ¡°Sir, why would you make a territory in a place like this?¡± ¡°We are making a base on the moon. This will be the area for the ships, while the next one will be for housing, security, and maybe mining if all goes well. I''m hoping we can dig a tunnel to it from here,¡± Jake said, then followed up with, ¡°You should go talk with James. If he expects he will be in charge here, well, other than you, that is.¡± Seconds later, James and his team exited the ship from the ground level and walked directly into Alric and the others. ¡°How did you get out before us?¡± The two guards behind Jake just pointed up in response. James just shook his head, then headed over to Jake. ¡°So, what is the plan, boss?¡± Jake shook his head at the whole boss thing, then said, ¡°Send a team to the entrance and the others to secure the area and any tunnels. We don''t know if there are any more entrances here. But make sure everyone is within radio range. I don''t want people getting lost down here.¡± Some time later, Jake left with a group of seven people heading down the tunnel, all bouncing along the ground as if they were astronauts. ¡°Here''s the intersection, sir. It looks like we have a small tunnel. Would you like us to check it out?¡± Annabel asked. ¡°Send some people down. Also, try to map out where it goes and if we can use it for later.¡± ¡°Yes, sir. You two go check it out,¡± Annabel ordered, then added, ¡°Leave one more person here to tell the two I brought to head back to the ship, and take the rest with you to the entrance while I take this path.¡± Jake set off down the tunnel alone, his pistol in one hand as he bounced down the tunnel, until he came across a small tunnel only big enough for one person to crawl down. Jake marked the tunnel before moving on. Moments later, he found another one followed by fifteen more. Jake was starting to get a bad feeling as he continued down the tunnel until he reached the cavern that he was told about. Jake''s face sank the moment he turned on his helmet lights. The report he got said this cavern was full of crystals, but what he saw were not crystals as he knew crystals to be. As the moment Jake lit up the cavern, some of the crystals moved away from the light. Lowering the intensity of the light and identifying one of the creatures, Jake''s heart sank. S:\>auto-identification Race: crystal cutter hive drone Grade: F Level: 2 Weakness: unknown ¡°Oh, fuck,¡± Jake muttered as he activated his radio. ¡°Everyone fall back to the ship now. All explanations have been cancelled and all security teams are to go on high alert. We have natives on the moon.¡± Jake slowly walked backwards down the tunnel. Only once he felt he was far enough away did Jake activate his wings as he flew as fast as he could. Down in a tunnel, the two guards Jake had brought with him were looking at a creature with six legs and a body shape similar to that of a green lacewing, only they were the size of a pre-system kelpie. ¡°Jo, what am I looking at?¡± ¡°I don''t know, but don''t get any closer. Let''s just leave this place to it.¡± The two slowly walked backwards until the creature''s mouth started chattering as it ran back into the tunnel it came from. Moments later, its chattering stopped only to begin again, but this time it wasn''t one crystal cutter, but the sound of thousands of them. ¡°Run,¡± Jo yelled as the two took off up the tunnel, the sounds behind them getting louder with every step. Jake rounded the corner just as the two guards jumped out of the tunnel, followed by five crystal cutters snapping at their heels. Raising his pistol, Jake fired round after round into the first crystal cutter as it flew into Jo and knocked him out of the way. Every round that Jake fired bounced off the creature as Jake rushed past. He quickly contacted Annabel and told her to wait at the entrance, then he grabbed the two guards and told the other person to run. Annabel ordered her soldiers to make a perimeter as she and her men were surrounded by these strange creatures. She tried everything to kill these things, but the best they could do was to slow them down as they continued to fall back towards the intersection. ¡°Nightwitch, how do we kill these bloody things?¡± Annabel didn''t answer the man; instead, she ordered him to fall back as the next person took the point, with rounds continuing to burst out of every rifle her team had as explosions rang out. As one of her men said in a flat tone, ¡°I thought no one could hear you scream in space; that''s just ruined my plans for later.¡± Then laughter could be heard on the team''s radio. Through her laughter, she commanded the next soldier to fall back, leaving her at the point. She continued firing until her ammunition ran out; then reaching into her storage, she grabbed a satchel charge bigger than anything that had been used yet. It was at least the size of a suitcase, and its fuse was already lit as she threw it towards the exit and deep into the horde.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. On the bridge of the Hecter Amir ¡°Sir, this planet''s moon is infested with high-rankers. We have lost twenty thousand F-grade battle cultivators and one E-grade, plus the territory token and all of our native slaves we had onboard. It seems the creatures down there have D-grade monarchs, and not a small number. Not even Karak was able to come back unscathed.¡± ¡°How bad is he?¡± ¡°He''s taken soul damage and won''t be able to wake for at least a hundred years, sir. That would make you the new commander of this sector, would it not?¡± ¡°Yes, it would. That stupid brother of mine pushed too hard; he should have just stuck with the original plan.¡± ¡°Sir, what''s your orders? Do we call off this invasion? We have limited manpower in this solar system.¡± ¡°The rats in this solar system are weak, but I will need to take most of the fleet back to the Mara sector to inform the local branch elders of the incident. I will leave this invasion in your hands, Kai, but stay away from that moon till I get back. Also, transfer over to the Orka; I know it''s an old ship, but it will do the job.¡± I finally have it, and that man said I would never surpass my brother, and now look at me, a low E grade cultivator with no talent, actually in control of an entire sector. Hecter Amir thought as he got ready to leave this high F grade planet and head back to one that can at least support D grades. How can anyone think this place is a good cultivation planet? These rats should be begging for us to take them away, but no, they continue to fight us, and they even have those irritating fles they call runabouts. But at least those fles can''t get up here. ¡°All right, everyone, we are taking this ship and the two corvettes and five gunships of House Tain with us. The rest of you will continue the invasion under the command of Kai Bak. The new flagship will be the Orka. Remember to work hard for the Red Rock Slavers and the United Commerce Guild.¡± If it wasn''t for this unjust system and the overpowered Banking Guild and their stupid rules, we could have wiped this planet clean in seconds. Kai Bak thought to himself as he sat in the back of a transport ship on his way to his family''s fleet and the old corvette class he was now to make his flagship. In its heyday, the ship was a powerhouse, but now it can only be relegated to an armed transport ship. Fuck that Banking Guild. If it wasn''t for them and their loan collectors, the Bak clan would be in charge of this invasion and not that idiot and his family of fanatics. ¡°Sir, we are coming up on the flagship now.¡± Kai Bak walked up to the cockpit of the ship; two red-skinned men sat side by side at the controls of the ship. Looking at the view screen, Kai sighed as he looked at the image of his family''s ship and the three old escorting gunships with the two fighter wings of six old automated fighters. ¡°These old ships, I can''t believe this is what my family has left. We were once rulers, but now what are we? A fleet of antique transport ships and this rusty piece of junk,¡± Kai said before heading back to his rusty metal seat. Moon base Alric floated in the void world between territories when he felt a new connection appear as flashes of old memories entered his mind, followed by a rush of energy that entered his chains, forming a single link. ¡°999,900.92 left. I¡¯m sorry, I shouldn''t have left you,¡± Alric said as his eyes closed once again. In the moon beside the rusty bucket, Alric stood when suddenly he felt a new territory appear not far from his current location. His image instantly vanished as a new one appeared in front of Jake. ¡°It''s good to see you, sir.¡± ¡°Alric, it''s good to see you too, but as you can see, we have a bit of an issue here. Can you help us out?¡± Alric looked around, then without hesitation, stretched the barrier back towards the ship, pushing all the crystal cutters out of the way or crushing them against the wall till the barrier reached all the way back to the cavern and butted one up against the other, then weakened the two touching parts. Then, with what was left of the barrier, he pushed it towards the exit, the barrier blasting through the collapsed part of the tunnel, only stopping when it reached the exit. ¡°That should be enough for now,¡± Alric said before vanishing. Jake stood up and rushed forward to the bodies lying on the ground. As he got closer, he relieved his stress as he breathed out before reaching out to Annabel, checking for a heartbeat from the suit''s monitoring system. ¡°Good, she''s still alive. But she''s not in a good way. Jo, take them back to the ship and request help; it seems the radios are out of range or damaged.¡± After Jake got Jo and the others out of the area, he slumped to the ground, his hands on each side of his head. ¡°I shouldn''t have come here. I need to stop doing this; I just keep getting people hurt,¡± Jake said before he brought out his runabout and flew out of the tunnel into space. After Jake had left, Alric reappeared, staring off into the darkness of space. ¡°Be safe, young master, and leave this to me.¡± Jake flew across the moon''s surface, ducking from shadow to shadow as he headed towards the location the scans showed lifeforms on the surface. Just before he reached the location, Jake stopped the runabout and landed before putting it away as he moved in on foot, only stopping when he reached the outskirts of what looked like a mining facility. ¡°It would seem they are not just here to steal people but also our resources as well. This is not going to go well for us,¡± Jake said before sliding back down the hill. Only then did he realise there was no movement inside the mining facility. ¡°Did they abandon it or did something worse happen?¡± 70 Jake pulled out his token and activated it. Moments later, Alric was floating beside the three. ¡°Sir, why would you make a territory in a place like this?¡± ¡°We are making a base on the moon. This will be the area for the ships, while the next one will be for housing, security, and maybe mining if all goes well. I''m hoping we can dig a tunnel to it from here,¡± Jake said, then followed up with, ¡°You should go talk with James. If he expects he will be in charge here, well, other than you, that is.¡± Seconds later, James and his team exited the ship from the ground level and walked directly into Alric and the others. ¡°How did you get out before us?¡± The two guards behind Jake just pointed up in response. James just shook his head, then headed over to Jake. ¡°So, what is the plan, boss?¡± Jake shook his head at the whole boss thing, then said, ¡°Send a team to the entrance and the others to secure the area and any tunnels. We don''t know if there are any more entrances here. But make sure everyone is within radio range. I don''t want people getting lost down here.¡± Some time later, Jake left with a group of seven people heading down the tunnel, all bouncing along the ground as if they were astronauts. ¡°Here''s the intersection, sir. It looks like we have a small tunnel. Would you like us to check it out?¡± Annabel asked. ¡°Send some people down. Also, try to map out where it goes and if we can use it for later.¡± ¡°Yes, sir. You two go check it out,¡± Annabel ordered, then added, ¡°Leave one more person here to tell the two I brought to head back to the ship, and take the rest with you to the entrance while I take this path.¡± Jake set off down the tunnel alone, his pistol in one hand as he bounced down the tunnel, until he came across a small tunnel only big enough for one person to crawl down. Jake marked the tunnel before moving on. Moments later, he found another one followed by fifteen more. Jake was starting to get a bad feeling as he continued down the tunnel until he reached the cavern that he was told about. Jake''s face sank the moment he turned on his helmet lights. The report he got said this cavern was full of crystals, but what he saw were not crystals as he knew crystals to be. As the moment Jake lit up the cavern, some of the crystals moved away from the light. Lowering the intensity of the light and identifying one of the creatures, Jake''s heart sank. S:\>auto-identification Race: crystal cutter hive drone Grade: F Level: 2 Weakness: unknown ¡°Oh, fuck,¡± Jake muttered as he activated his radio. ¡°Everyone fall back to the ship now. All explanations have been cancelled and all security teams are to go on high alert. We have natives on the moon.¡± Jake slowly walked backwards down the tunnel. Only once he felt he was far enough away did Jake activate his wings as he flew as fast as he could. Down in a tunnel, the two guards Jake had brought with him were looking at a creature with six legs and a body shape similar to that of a green lacewing, only they were the size of a pre-system kelpie. ¡°Jo, what am I looking at?¡± ¡°I don''t know, but don''t get any closer. Let''s just leave this place to it.¡± The two slowly walked backwards until the creature''s mouth started chattering as it ran back into the tunnel it came from. Moments later, its chattering stopped only to begin again, but this time it wasn''t one crystal cutter, but the sound of thousands of them. ¡°Run,¡± Jo yelled as the two took off up the tunnel, the sounds behind them getting louder with every step. Jake rounded the corner just as the two guards jumped out of the tunnel, followed by five crystal cutters snapping at their heels. Raising his pistol, Jake fired round after round into the first crystal cutter as it flew into Jo and knocked him out of the way. Every round that Jake fired bounced off the creature as Jake rushed past. He quickly contacted Annabel and told her to wait at the entrance, then he grabbed the two guards and told the other person to run. Annabel ordered her soldiers to make a perimeter as she and her men were surrounded by these strange creatures. She tried everything to kill these things, but the best they could do was to slow them down as they continued to fall back towards the intersection. ¡°Nightwitch, how do we kill these bloody things?¡± Annabel didn''t answer the man; instead, she ordered him to fall back as the next person took the point, with rounds continuing to burst out of every rifle her team had as explosions rang out. As one of her men said in a flat tone, ¡°I thought no one could hear you scream in space; that''s just ruined my plans for later.¡± Then laughter could be heard on the team''s radio. Through her laughter, she commanded the next soldier to fall back, leaving her at the point. She continued firing until her ammunition ran out; then reaching into her storage, she grabbed a satchel charge bigger than anything that had been used yet. It was at least the size of a suitcase, and its fuse was already lit as she threw it towards the exit and deep into the horde.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. On the bridge of the Hecter Amir ¡°Sir, this planet''s moon is infested with high-rankers. We have lost twenty thousand F-grade battle cultivators and one E-grade, plus the territory token and all of our native slaves we had onboard. It seems the creatures down there have D-grade monarchs, and not a small number. Not even Karak was able to come back unscathed.¡± ¡°How bad is he?¡± ¡°He''s taken soul damage and won''t be able to wake for at least a hundred years, sir. That would make you the new commander of this sector, would it not?¡± ¡°Yes, it would. That stupid brother of mine pushed too hard; he should have just stuck with the original plan.¡± ¡°Sir, what''s your orders? Do we call off this invasion? We have limited manpower in this solar system.¡± ¡°The rats in this solar system are weak, but I will need to take most of the fleet back to the Mara sector to inform the local branch elders of the incident. I will leave this invasion in your hands, Kai, but stay away from that moon till I get back. Also, transfer over to the Orka; I know it''s an old ship, but it will do the job.¡± I finally have it, and that man said I would never surpass my brother, and now look at me, a low E grade cultivator with no talent, actually in control of an entire sector. Hecter Amir thought as he got ready to leave this high F grade planet and head back to one that can at least support D grades. How can anyone think this place is a good cultivation planet? These rats should be begging for us to take them away, but no, they continue to fight us, and they even have those irritating fles they call runabouts. But at least those fles can''t get up here. ¡°All right, everyone, we are taking this ship and the two corvettes and five gunships of House Tain with us. The rest of you will continue the invasion under the command of Kai Bak. The new flagship will be the Orka. Remember to work hard for the Red Rock Slavers and the United Commerce Guild.¡± If it wasn''t for this unjust system and the overpowered Banking Guild and their stupid rules, we could have wiped this planet clean in seconds. Kai Bak thought to himself as he sat in the back of a transport ship on his way to his family''s fleet and the old corvette class he was now to make his flagship. In its heyday, the ship was a powerhouse, but now it can only be relegated to an armed transport ship. Fuck that Banking Guild. If it wasn''t for them and their loan collectors, the Bak clan would be in charge of this invasion and not that idiot and his family of fanatics. ¡°Sir, we are coming up on the flagship now.¡± Kai Bak walked up to the cockpit of the ship; two red-skinned men sat side by side at the controls of the ship. Looking at the view screen, Kai sighed as he looked at the image of his family''s ship and the three old escorting gunships with the two fighter wings of six old automated fighters. ¡°These old ships, I can''t believe this is what my family has left. We were once rulers, but now what are we? A fleet of antique transport ships and this rusty piece of junk,¡± Kai said before heading back to his rusty metal seat. Moon base Alric floated in the void world between territories when he felt a new connection appear as flashes of old memories entered his mind, followed by a rush of energy that entered his chains, forming a single link. ¡°999,900.92 left. I¡¯m sorry, I shouldn''t have left you,¡± Alric said as his eyes closed once again. In the moon beside the rusty bucket, Alric stood when suddenly he felt a new territory appear not far from his current location. His image instantly vanished as a new one appeared in front of Jake. ¡°It''s good to see you, sir.¡± ¡°Alric, it''s good to see you too, but as you can see, we have a bit of an issue here. Can you help us out?¡± Alric looked around, then without hesitation, stretched the barrier back towards the ship, pushing all the crystal cutters out of the way or crushing them against the wall till the barrier reached all the way back to the cavern and butted one up against the other, then weakened the two touching parts. Then, with what was left of the barrier, he pushed it towards the exit, the barrier blasting through the collapsed part of the tunnel, only stopping when it reached the exit. ¡°That should be enough for now,¡± Alric said before vanishing. Jake stood up and rushed forward to the bodies lying on the ground. As he got closer, he relieved his stress as he breathed out before reaching out to Annabel, checking for a heartbeat from the suit''s monitoring system. ¡°Good, she''s still alive. But she''s not in a good way. Jo, take them back to the ship and request help; it seems the radios are out of range or damaged.¡± After Jake got Jo and the others out of the area, he slumped to the ground, his hands on each side of his head. ¡°I shouldn''t have come here. I need to stop doing this; I just keep getting people hurt,¡± Jake said before he brought out his runabout and flew out of the tunnel into space. After Jake had left, Alric reappeared, staring off into the darkness of space. ¡°Be safe, young master, and leave this to me.¡± Jake flew across the moon''s surface, ducking from shadow to shadow as he headed towards the location the scans showed lifeforms on the surface. Just before he reached the location, Jake stopped the runabout and landed before putting it away as he moved in on foot, only stopping when he reached the outskirts of what looked like a mining facility. ¡°It would seem they are not just here to steal people but also our resources as well. This is not going to go well for us,¡± Jake said before sliding back down the hill. Only then did he realise there was no movement inside the mining facility. ¡°Did they abandon it or did something worse happen?¡± 71 James was going off his rocker at the bridge crew for not doing their job when he was punched in the side of his face, sending him flying across the bridge, his head dinting the wall as he slid to the floor. ¡°You dare come up here and try to order my bridge crew around. Go back down there and do this shit with your knuckle-draggers; don''t you ever come back up to my bridge again,¡± York said before turning to his bridge crew. ¡°Throw out all the calculations and start again; we can''t trust them due to this idiot''s interpretation.¡± The entire bridge crew stared daggers at the man on the ground. Then York spoke to the guards at the door: ¡°Can you two take him out of here and try to figure out what he wanted?¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± The two guards picked up their commander and carried him outside. ¡°That asshole; I will teach him for hitting me.¡± ¡°Sir, I would suggest you drop this. You have already cost them over a day''s worth of calculations.¡± ¡°What do I care about that? He attacked me.¡± ¡°Sir, those calculations they were doing were to give us a chance of surviving. Also, sir, you are the one at fault here, not Commander York.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°You tried to mutiny, sir. He is the commander here, not you. You tried to take over his position.¡± ¡°I didn''t do that; those people were carrying on like fools. I just tried to insert some order into that chaos.¡± ¡°Sir, how many people are on that bridge?¡± ¡°I don''t know, like seven. So what''s your point?¡± ¡°Yes, there are only seven. Seven people to do a job that would take all of us to do, and then we would still mess it up.¡± ¡°I don''t get it. What''s so hard about flying this ship?¡± ¡°Sure, we could fly the ship, but there is no way we would be able to do what they do. One of the things they were calculating was the ability to enter faster than light. They need to track every object in the path, and if they miss one, the ship would be destroyed in an instant.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± James said before continuing with, ¡°I should probably go apologise to them.¡± ¡°I would suggest you don''t; they are in a really bad mood now.¡± ¡°Then, wait, I was contacted by Alric. I need to inform York of the plan.¡± ¡°Sir, please stay here. I will go get him for you,¡± Jo said before going back into the bridge. A minute later, Jo came back out and said to James that he would meet him in the operations room in five minutes. He is just running a scan and can''t leave until it''s done. James walked over to a ladder, descended one deck, and entered the room alone before sitting on one of the seats. Ten minutes later, York slid down the ladder from the bridge. ¡°I''m sorry I''m late; we just ran into some scanning errors and had to rerun them. So, you heard from Alric; what is his plan?¡± ¡°His plan is to use those ships to break us out before blasting anything that moves on the moon.¡± ¡°Does he know there is a small fleet of ships currently over the invaders'' abandoned base, and that a fleet of ships has begun preparations for something?¡± ¡°He does now,¡± Alric said as he appeared beside the two men. ¡°We are going to postpone the rescue mission till we can figure out what is happening on Earth. Hold on; we will come and get you.¡± ¡°There''s no need. I might have a way for us to get out, but it''s a bit dangerous, and I would need to ask the crew first. But if it works and the enemy fleet heads in a certain direction, we should catch them by surprise,¡± York said, only for a voice to say, ¡°Let me guess, you''re going to use the FTL engine.¡± Jake said as he lent on the door frame. ¡°Sir, you''re awake; are you feeling better now?¡± York asked. ¡°Not at 100% yet,¡± Jake said, only to cough up some blood. ¡°Anyway, Alric, do you mind telling me why I was not informed that we had other ships?¡± ¡°Sir, I didn''t tell you because they were not ready yet.¡± ¡°But both my highest-ranking officers were aware. You holding this information back could have gotten people killed. If I don¡¯t have all the information, then how can I come up with an appropriate plan?¡± ¡°Sir, this information would not have killed anyone,¡± Alric said with certainty. ¡°You are right this time, but how can I trust you in the future if you hold back information?¡± Alric didn''t have a response after that, so Jake asked York to tell him his plan, and it seemed he wanted to use the FTL system to make a very small jump of not even a second, which should put the Rusty Bucket behind the enemy fleet. After exiting the jump, the Rusty Bucket would open fire on the fleet as they were attacked from the front, giving the enemy fleet no retreat. Ninety-two hours later, Jake was sitting at his console as the Rusty Bucket was waiting to begin its escape from the moon and into battle. ¡°Joel, do you have any communications from Earth?¡± ¡°Yes, sir, it seems the Earth has its own fleet of cargo ships equipped with light weapons systems, and they are heading directly for the enemy fleet. I think they''re using the cargo ships as troop transports¡­ Wait¡­ it seems we have been contacted by a group called the United Earth Defence Forces, and the members include the USA Space Force, China Space Force, Russia Space Force, and the EU Space Force. Then there are theUK Land, Sea and Air Force, Commonwealth Land and Air Force, and finally the Ireland Land Force. It seems they want to hire us to protect Earth from the invaders.¡±Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°Is that fleet attacking the enemy part of them?¡± ¡°One minute, sir; I''m getting further updates from Earth. Oh shit.¡± Jake looked over and was about to ask when Joel continued. ¡°To answer your question, yes, and it seems the ships are full of explosives and runabouts. They''re going to make a suicide run on the fleet. Sir, we don''t have time to complete our plan; our ships won''t make it in time.¡± ¡°York, change of plans. What is the earliest we can leave?¡± ¡°One hour, sir.¡± ¡°Frank, when will the United Earth Defence Forces fleet reach the enemy?¡± ¡°At their current speed, it will take them fifty-six minutes.¡± ¡°Shit, we''re going to be late. Joel, communicate with Earth and see if they can slow them down a bit.¡± A minute later, Joel spoke up once more. ¡°They won''t stop, sir.¡± ¡°Well, I guess we will be late to this one,¡± Jake said before going back to drawing up some new blueprints for new weapons for his moon base and his border regions on Earth. They were a kind of rail gun. But Jake was having issues with reducing the size of the power source and having the projectile survive long enough. His idea was to fire an object within a barrel using Harry''s new FTL engine and a solid rocket engine. Then the objectwould come shooting out of the barrel at a speed just below the speed of light. ¡°Maybe we can add a small shield to it, but then it would be like firing runabouts out of a barrel. I''m going to have to send this over to Harry to see what he thinks,¡± Jake said. ¡°What was that, sir?¡± York asked. ¡°It''s nothing; I was just thinking I need to talk with someone from the other world.¡± ¡°Why don''t you ask Alric to help with that? He would make a pretty good go-between,¡± Joel said, only to have the man himself appear. ¡°I am not a mailman, Mr Communications Officer.¡± ¡°Oh, so you don''t even know my name, but you know everything that happens inside Jake''s territory. Has anyone told you that you are a pervert¡ªalways there, always watching?¡± Joel said. ¡°I follow the rules of the territory.¡± Jake sat back and watched the exchange going on before stepping in. ¡°You do know, Joel has a point. I''m implementing a new rule. You are not allowed to eavesdrop on conversations or activities outside public areas; also, you are not allowed to just appear without people specifically asking you to. But since you''re here, can you send this blueprint and these notes over to Harry? Ask him if it can be made.¡± ¡°Yes, sir, I will get on this right away,¡± Alric said. Once he was gone, Joel looked over at Jake and said, ¡°How do you know he won''t be listening?¡± ¡°Well, I don''t, but I do know right now he is.¡± ¡°Oh, public space.¡± ¡°Try to think of him as Google; nobody worried about it, always listening, did they?¡± ¡°So you''re saying we should say ''Hey Alric'' instead?¡± Joel said, laughing his head off. ¡°Hey, Joel, tell me the name of that Dracula movie, you know, the one with the lady that has a lovely neck?¡± Alan asked. ¡°Do you mean Nosferatu?¡± ¡°Wow, it really does work,¡± York said. ¡°Just as advertised,¡± Orange said stoically. The jabs back and forth continued until the time had come for them to leave. Jake opened his comms to the ship and also to those who chose to stay within the moon. ¡°We will be departing directly into danger, so I shall give everyone this chance to leave the ship. This territory will be safe, but it could take us a long time to return, so you will be on your own. But we will return, so hold on and wait for our victory.¡± Closing his comms, Jake sat back down in his chair. ¡°York, are we ready?¡± ¡°Yes, sir, one round has already been loaded, and our shields and comms have been modified.¡± ¡°Good, well, York, take us to war,¡± Jake said. ¡°Orange, take us out; Joel, give us a burst.¡± All the radios on the ship cut off a second later before a blue burst blasted out from all of the forward-facing antennas. The strange shock wave hit the crystal cutters crawling all over the tunnel entrance, turning them into paste. ¡°Orange, give us as much as you can.¡± The ship rocketed forward into the hole that was made. Everyone was pushed back into their seats as eardrums began bleeding from the acceleration while Orange threaded the needle, the point defence system rapidly firing to keep the crystal cutters at bay and the shields running at full power now that the radios crackled back to life. ¡°We need to jump before we run out of ammunition,¡± Harrison shouted. ¡°Orange, FTL now.¡± York ordered. The ship stretched and contracted in the eyes of everyone onboard, then exited right behind the enemy fleet. ¡°Jump complete,¡± Orange shouted. ¡°Action stations, launch the fighters. Orange, find me a target,¡± Jake said, followed by a repeat of the same commands by York. ¡°Three targets in close proximity, lining up for the biggest one now.¡± A second later, Orange continued, ¡°On station.¡± York looked back at Jake. ¡°Harrison, fire the main cannon,¡± Jake said. ¡°Firing.¡± The ship lurched as one round thundered down the long barrel, blasting out into space. The enemy fleet didn''t know what hit them as the flagship disintegrated right in front of them, blowing chunks of debris into their fleet. ¡°Get me another round; I want two more sent before they realise,¡± York said. ¡°On station.¡± ¡°Fire.¡± The ship lurched once again. Then a call came up to the bridge. ¡°Main cannon out of action,¡± Harrison said. ¡°Switch to stage two of the operation,¡± Jake ordered. Orange turned the ship to the side, giving the runabouts a shield as they formed up. Then the four fighters flew over the top of the ship, closely followed by fifteen runabouts. ¡°Good luck,¡± Harrison whispered as he activated chaff, and Orange moved the ship to intercept the enemy ships that were trying to break out of the trap. ¡°Sir, our allies are losing ground. What should we do?¡± ¡°We can only worry about ourselves,¡± York said. The rusty bucket moved to the right flank and began blasting away at the closest ship. ¡°I''m heading out; York has command.¡± Jake walked down the hall and into the elevator, exiting at the hangar bay. In front of him stood five people, all waiting for this moment. ¡°Jo, is everything ready?¡± ¡°Yes, sir, the runabouts are ready and waiting.¡± ¡°Alright, you all know the plan. This is going to be a dangerous one; remember, don''t use your suit thrusters unless you have no other choice.¡± 72 Jake and the five others hooked up to each other and then to the back of the runabout. Looking inside the runabout, there was no pilot. Jake radioed up to York, ¡°Ready to take us out.¡± Ten runabouts took off and exited the side of the ship in an arrow shape, heading straight for the biggest ship. ¡°Everyone, get ready for disconnect.¡± Jake fired his suit thruster and swung the five out in an arc just before Jo shot the rope connecting them all to the runabout. ¡°Jo, stabilise,¡± Jake said, followed by Jo activating his thrusters before everyone disconnected and rocketed towards one of the ships. ¡°Good luck, everyone,¡± Jake said before everyone went to radio silence. Explosion and debris shot by the group of five as they slowly got closer to the target. Just before the group hit their target, the runabouts split, flying in all directions, separating the enemies'' focus. The group had lost one person just after the split, two to debris, then one more when he failed to activate his thrusters just before impact; out of the group of six, four remained. Jo moved over to a hatch and placed explosives around the hatch, and the group got ready to enter. Jo looked over the four, then gave a thumbs up as he activated the explosives, blowing a hole in the side of the ship. Air blasted out of the new hole, followed by three bodies. The two other soldiers entered the hole first, followed by Jo and Jake. Jake pointed down the hallway. The group moved down the hallway until they reached a locked door. Jake looked over at Jo, then Jo tapped the man in front of him. The man placed a charge on the door as the others moved to the side. Once the man was out of the way, he pulled out an activation button and pushed it. The door burst apart with a rush of air, but this time no bodies followed. So the group pushed into the next area, Jake taking one zone while the others took their zones before moving deeper into the ship, only stopping when they reached the entrance to what seemed to be the bridge. The ship was a lot smaller than Jake hoped, but if all goes well by the end of this battle, Jake would have a fleet of these smaller vessels, and that would be a great bonus for his crew. Busting open the last door, the team of four entered the bridge, guns blazing away as they cut down red-skinned invaders left and right. Once the gunfire stopped, Jake ordered the two soldiers to take command of the ship and fly it back to the moon while Jo and he headed for their next target. Standing on the outside of the hull, Jo pointed at what looked to be a gunship, and Jake nodded as both men blasted off the converted transport vessel, heading out into space and towards the gunship. Looking out over the battlefield, Jake could only smile as one ship after the other shot a white flare and headed for the moon. Jake counted five ships heading for the moon before the enemy fleet caught on to what was happening and began opening fire on any ship that moved out of formation. ¡°Looks like the jig is up, sir. What should we do?¡± Jo asked over the radio. Jake sent a message back to the rusty bucket to order a slow retreat just as Jo and he landed on the gunship. ¡°To the bridge, hopefully one of the other teams has caught a prisoner or two for us.¡± Jake pointed in the direction of what looked to be a prominent bridge jutting out the nose of the ship. Running along the hull, Jake noticed many issues with the ship''s construction; it seemed age had taken its toll on this vessel, as parts of the ship were vented to space. ¡°This ship is structurally unsound,¡± Jake said to Jo just as they reached the bridge. Jake pointed to the roof of the bridge. ¡°Vent them.¡± Jake said. Jo placed his last charge, blowing a hole big enough to fit a truck through. The concussive force knocked everyone inside off their feet. Then Jo and Jake entered from the hole, floating down like they were angels of death, lights shining from their helmets. One of the red-skinned invaders looked on in horror as the metal objects these angels had shot fired at her fellow crew members. She instantly raised her hands in a gesture she had seen the creatures on the planet do when they wished to stop resisting. By the time Jake and Jo hit the deck, the fight was over¡ªten invaders dead and one captured, awaiting her fate. ¡°Jo, tie it up,¡± Jake said as he moved to the central console and began operating its systems. ¡°Fuck, this ship has no atmosphere and its shielding has been destroyed; it''s a fucken piece of junk.¡± Jake walked over to the prisoner and hit the side of her helmet, then pointed at her radio. ¡°Don''t hurt me, I surrender,¡± the feminine voice said. ¡°I don''t care. Tell me how to get this ship out of here without being destroyed.¡± ¡°On the side of the console, the button will send out an automated message to the fleet.¡± ¡°What will it say?¡± ¡°It will tell everyone to retreat back to our base.¡± ¡°And why would they follow that order?¡± ¡°Because it would seem like it came from my cousin, the commander of this transport fleet.¡± ¡°If this doesn''t work, you will die,¡± Jake said as he hit the button. Seconds later, the enemy fleet started to break formation and scatter as the rusty bucket rounded on them and tore them apart with its point defence system. Knowing at least two ships were out of action, Jake fired off a flare as the rusty bucket came back around, pulling its gigantic form over the small gunship. ¡°York, send over an engineer. I''m heading back with a prisoner.¡± Jake opened a private channel to Jo. ¡°Take it back to the moon. I have a feeling our new employer will want to talk after this battle.¡± Reaching down, he grabbed the prisoner and shot out through the hole they entered through. Moments later, Jake was back aboard his ship with his prisoner in tow. The two headed for the brig. As Jake locked her in, he made her remove any weapons and armour she might be carrying. Now, the red-skinned lady stood in a room with only her undergarments on. Jake locked the door and headed directly for the bridge, leaving two guards to watch over his prisoner.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°Sir, we just got a communication from the United Earth Defence Forces fleet commander. They would like to come aboard.¡± ¡°Tell them if they wish to talk, we can do it at the moon,¡± Jake said as he rode the elevator up. Moments later, Jake was on the bridge, sitting in his seat. As he relaxed, his ship headed back to the moon, followed by the remaining five ships of the United Earth Defence Forces. As they came up on the south pole of the moon, Jake was awed at the sight; the battle had made them a profit of nine ships, and four of them were gunships. ¡°Hopefully they won''t be all like that one Jo and I captured,¡± Jake said to himself. ¡°Sir, our new fleet has got a preliminary report of the losses and gains,¡± Joel said. ¡°Go ahead.¡± ¡°We have gained a total of five classed ships: four gunships and one cutter class, all in need of extensive repairs. As for the other ships, there are a total of fifteen fighters and four transports. Our losses are¡ª¡± ¡°What''s our losses?¡± Jake asked, knowing the number must be high. ¡°We lost every member of team three and five engineers. We also lost all of our runabouts and one fighter, but the pilot survived.¡± The bridge went quiet as Jake said the words he wished he didn''t have to. Jake opened the comms so everyone within range could hear his words. ¡°To the heroes¡ªthey gave their lives, and as such, now they have become our new heroes. We honour their passing.¡± Once Jake said this, every member of his fleet and those on the moon opened their radios and broadcasted the three-word reply: ¡°To the heroes¡±, followed shortly after by the same reply from Earth sent through the encrypted frequency. ¡°Okay, send a message to the United Earth Defence Forces fleet. Tell them to send a delegation over.¡± An hour later, the United Earth Defence Forces fleet pulled a ship alongside the Rusty Bucket, and four people entered the open flight deck as Jake and a group of his soldiers waited for them. Jake turned to look at Lewis. ¡°I''m sorry to hear about Mary; she was a good officer and person. She will be missed,¡± Jake said. After some time as they waited, Jake spoke again, ¡°If you feel up to it, I would like to know what happened?¡± ¡°She, she managed to board one of the cutters and they were just about to enter when one of these arseholes'' ships destroyed it. I don''t know what they were even doing there. The ship she went for was on our side of the battlefield and they were in retreat, so why did they pick her ship to attack and not the countless others that were in front?¡± ¡°Are you doing okay?¡± Jake asked. ¡°I will be fine, sir; I can do my job,¡± Lewis said in a stern tone. ¡°It''s just after losing my brother, Mary helped me a lot, so I''m feeling a little lost.¡± Jake was about to say something when the four representatives arrived. Lewis and his men walked forward to check the new arrivals for weapons. Only once Jake got the signal did he move forward to greet the four. ¡°Welcome to the Rusty Bucket. My name is Jake Everval; pleased to meet you.¡± Jake said as he reached his hand out in the usual human gesture. The first person reciprocated and said, ¡°We of the United Earth Defence Forces thank the Demon''s Hand Mercenary Group for their prompt response to our job request. I, Admiral Kate Simon, would like to thank you personally for the words you said earlier; the losses were well beyond my expectations,¡± the lady said. ¡°Shall we take this meeting somewhere we can remove these helmets?¡± Jake said as the group left for the officer''s meeting room adjacent to the flight deck. Entering the room through one of the airlock doors, Jake removed his helmet, showing his demonic face for the first time to the group. ¡°What is this?¡± one of the people behind Admiral Kate Simon said before Kate glared at the man. ¡°This is not the United Earth Defence Forces, and these people saved our lives. You know our mission was a suicide mission; otherwise, why would they give it that name?¡± one of the Americans said. ¡°What name?¡± Jake asked. ¡°Task Force Smith,¡± the American said, basically spitting the words. ¡°Oh, I''m sorry,¡± Jake said. ¡°It''s not your fault. After all, you''re not part of those foolish politicians,¡± Kate said. ¡°So I''m guessing you didn''t want to just thank us. So, what brings you aboard my ship?¡± ¡°We would like to ask if you can assist us in our fight. Of course, when I say ''help'', I do mean I would like to hire you and your fleet to fight under our command.¡± ¡°The Demon''s Hand mercenary group doesn''t take commands from other groups or organisations unless the order comes from the leaders of the group,¡± Lewis said with disdain and anger. ¡°What gives a traitor to the human race the right to speak here?¡± the same man that spoke before said. ¡°Your fucking mum did last night,¡± Lewis shot back before jumping across the table, grabbing the man by his throat. ¡°Was it you? Did you order that ship to attack us?¡± Lewis asked, spit flying out of his mouth. ¡°Lewis, stand down,¡± Jake yelled. Lewis let the man go and stood beside Jake. ¡°Sorry, sir, I just couldn''t stop it; these people killed her.¡± ¡°We don''t know if they ordered it yet,¡± Jake said. ¡°Yes, sir.¡± ¡°I''m truly sorry about that. I would like to offer you this storage ring as an apology for my subordinate''s actions.¡± Jake said, but as he was going to hand over the ring, the man spat on the floor and said, ¡°So what if I ordered the destruction of that ship? You people did more to capture ships than you did to help us. Plus, once I destroyed that ship, the rest turned tail and ran.¡± Jake looked at the man as he activated a skill, summoning all four of his lost servants, before saying one word: ¡°Kill.¡± In an instant, the servant Elizabeth Bay launched forward, instantly killing the man. ¡°I''m truly sorry, but any attack on my people is an attack on the Demon''s Hand mercenary group. As such, I''m going to ask you one question: Did you have anything to do with his actions?¡± The lady on the other side of the table smiled and said, ¡°No, I didn''t, but I found out once the fight was over. I brought him here on purpose; I wanted to see if you were as brutal as the rumours say.¡± ¡°And what do the rumours say about me?¡± ¡°That you are a man that will do anything for the people beside you and that you act without thinking. But what I have noticed is different; you think through your actions. As for the other part, I don''t know yet.¡± ¡°So what are your actions from here?¡± Jake asked. ¡°I would like to proceed with our conversation. As for the gift¡ª¡± Jake flicked the ring over to her. ¡°Keep it, we don''t need that stuff anyway.¡± Jake had given the lady an exosuit and one runabout Jake was keeping as a backup. ¡°Thank you. I won''t forget this. As for our conversation, I would still like to hire your people. If you accept, you won¡¯t be under my command, and you can refuse any job you don¡¯t agree with.¡± ¡°I will accept, but you will need to go put your request in with the closest mercenary branch and make the appropriate payment.¡± ¡°I will send some people back to Earth then, but in the meantime can what''s left of my fleet stay here?¡± ¡°You''re welcome to stay, but don''t go down to the moon; it''s infested with strong creatures,¡± Jake warned the Admiral. ¡°I''ll take your word for it.¡± 73 Jake and the five others hooked up to each other and then to the back of the runabout. Looking inside the runabout, there was no pilot. Jake radioed up to York, ¡°Ready to take us out.¡± Ten runabouts took off and exited the side of the ship in an arrow shape, heading straight for the biggest ship. ¡°Everyone, get ready for disconnect.¡± Jake fired his suit thruster and swung the five out in an arc just before Jo shot the rope connecting them all to the runabout. ¡°Jo, stabilise,¡± Jake said, followed by Jo activating his thrusters before everyone disconnected and rocketed towards one of the ships. ¡°Good luck, everyone,¡± Jake said before everyone went to radio silence. Explosion and debris shot by the group of five as they slowly got closer to the target. Just before the group hit their target, the runabouts split, flying in all directions, separating the enemies'' focus. The group had lost one person just after the split, two to debris, then one more when he failed to activate his thrusters just before impact; out of the group of six, four remained. Jo moved over to a hatch and placed explosives around the hatch, and the group got ready to enter. Jo looked over the four, then gave a thumbs up as he activated the explosives, blowing a hole in the side of the ship. Air blasted out of the new hole, followed by three bodies. The two other soldiers entered the hole first, followed by Jo and Jake. Jake pointed down the hallway. The group moved down the hallway until they reached a locked door. Jake looked over at Jo, then Jo tapped the man in front of him. The man placed a charge on the door as the others moved to the side. Once the man was out of the way, he pulled out an activation button and pushed it. The door burst apart with a rush of air, but this time no bodies followed. So the group pushed into the next area, Jake taking one zone while the others took their zones before moving deeper into the ship, only stopping when they reached the entrance to what seemed to be the bridge. The ship was a lot smaller than Jake hoped, but if all goes well by the end of this battle, Jake would have a fleet of these smaller vessels, and that would be a great bonus for his crew. Busting open the last door, the team of four entered the bridge, guns blazing away as they cut down red-skinned invaders left and right. Once the gunfire stopped, Jake ordered the two soldiers to take command of the ship and fly it back to the moon while Jo and he headed for their next target. Standing on the outside of the hull, Jo pointed at what looked to be a gunship, and Jake nodded as both men blasted off the converted transport vessel, heading out into space and towards the gunship. Looking out over the battlefield, Jake could only smile as one ship after the other shot a white flare and headed for the moon. Jake counted five ships heading for the moon before the enemy fleet caught on to what was happening and began opening fire on any ship that moved out of formation. ¡°Looks like the jig is up, sir. What should we do?¡± Jo asked over the radio. Jake sent a message back to the rusty bucket to order a slow retreat just as Jo and he landed on the gunship. ¡°To the bridge, hopefully one of the other teams has caught a prisoner or two for us.¡± Jake pointed in the direction of what looked to be a prominent bridge jutting out the nose of the ship. Running along the hull, Jake noticed many issues with the ship''s construction; it seemed age had taken its toll on this vessel, as parts of the ship were vented to space. ¡°This ship is structurally unsound,¡± Jake said to Jo just as they reached the bridge. Jake pointed to the roof of the bridge. ¡°Vent them.¡± Jake said. Jo placed his last charge, blowing a hole big enough to fit a truck through. The concussive force knocked everyone inside off their feet. Then Jo and Jake entered from the hole, floating down like they were angels of death, lights shining from their helmets. One of the red-skinned invaders looked on in horror as the metal objects these angels had shot fired at her fellow crew members. She instantly raised her hands in a gesture she had seen the creatures on the planet do when they wished to stop resisting. By the time Jake and Jo hit the deck, the fight was over¡ªten invaders dead and one captured, awaiting her fate. ¡°Jo, tie it up,¡± Jake said as he moved to the central console and began operating its systems. ¡°Fuck, this ship has no atmosphere and its shielding has been destroyed; it''s a fucken piece of junk.¡± Jake walked over to the prisoner and hit the side of her helmet, then pointed at her radio. ¡°Don''t hurt me, I surrender,¡± the feminine voice said. ¡°I don''t care. Tell me how to get this ship out of here without being destroyed.¡± ¡°On the side of the console, the button will send out an automated message to the fleet.¡± ¡°What will it say?¡± ¡°It will tell everyone to retreat back to our base.¡± ¡°And why would they follow that order?¡± ¡°Because it would seem like it came from my cousin, the commander of this transport fleet.¡± ¡°If this doesn''t work, you will die,¡± Jake said as he hit the button. Seconds later, the enemy fleet started to break formation and scatter as the rusty bucket rounded on them and tore them apart with its point defence system. Knowing at least two ships were out of action, Jake fired off a flare as the rusty bucket came back around, pulling its gigantic form over the small gunship. ¡°York, send over an engineer. I''m heading back with a prisoner.¡± Jake opened a private channel to Jo. ¡°Take it back to the moon. I have a feeling our new employer will want to talk after this battle.¡± Reaching down, he grabbed the prisoner and shot out through the hole they entered through. Moments later, Jake was back aboard his ship with his prisoner in tow. The two headed for the brig. As Jake locked her in, he made her remove any weapons and armour she might be carrying. Now, the red-skinned lady stood in a room with only her undergarments on. Jake locked the door and headed directly for the bridge, leaving two guards to watch over his prisoner.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°Sir, we just got a communication from the United Earth Defence Forces fleet commander. They would like to come aboard.¡± ¡°Tell them if they wish to talk, we can do it at the moon,¡± Jake said as he rode the elevator up. Moments later, Jake was on the bridge, sitting in his seat. As he relaxed, his ship headed back to the moon, followed by the remaining five ships of the United Earth Defence Forces. As they came up on the south pole of the moon, Jake was awed at the sight; the battle had made them a profit of nine ships, and four of them were gunships. ¡°Hopefully they won''t be all like that one Jo and I captured,¡± Jake said to himself. ¡°Sir, our new fleet has got a preliminary report of the losses and gains,¡± Joel said. ¡°Go ahead.¡± ¡°We have gained a total of five classed ships: four gunships and one cutter class, all in need of extensive repairs. As for the other ships, there are a total of fifteen fighters and four transports. Our losses are¡ª¡± ¡°What''s our losses?¡± Jake asked, knowing the number must be high. ¡°We lost every member of team three and five engineers. We also lost all of our runabouts and one fighter, but the pilot survived.¡± The bridge went quiet as Jake said the words he wished he didn''t have to. Jake opened the comms so everyone within range could hear his words. ¡°To the heroes¡ªthey gave their lives, and as such, now they have become our new heroes. We honour their passing.¡± Once Jake said this, every member of his fleet and those on the moon opened their radios and broadcasted the three-word reply: ¡°To the heroes¡±, followed shortly after by the same reply from Earth sent through the encrypted frequency. ¡°Okay, send a message to the United Earth Defence Forces fleet. Tell them to send a delegation over.¡± An hour later, the United Earth Defence Forces fleet pulled a ship alongside the Rusty Bucket, and four people entered the open flight deck as Jake and a group of his soldiers waited for them. Jake turned to look at Lewis. ¡°I''m sorry to hear about Mary; she was a good officer and person. She will be missed,¡± Jake said. After some time as they waited, Jake spoke again, ¡°If you feel up to it, I would like to know what happened?¡± ¡°She, she managed to board one of the cutters and they were just about to enter when one of these arseholes'' ships destroyed it. I don''t know what they were even doing there. The ship she went for was on our side of the battlefield and they were in retreat, so why did they pick her ship to attack and not the countless others that were in front?¡± ¡°Are you doing okay?¡± Jake asked. ¡°I will be fine, sir; I can do my job,¡± Lewis said in a stern tone. ¡°It''s just after losing my brother, Mary helped me a lot, so I''m feeling a little lost.¡± Jake was about to say something when the four representatives arrived. Lewis and his men walked forward to check the new arrivals for weapons. Only once Jake got the signal did he move forward to greet the four. ¡°Welcome to the Rusty Bucket. My name is Jake Everval; pleased to meet you.¡± Jake said as he reached his hand out in the usual human gesture. The first person reciprocated and said, ¡°We of the United Earth Defence Forces thank the Demon''s Hand Mercenary Group for their prompt response to our job request. I, Admiral Kate Simon, would like to thank you personally for the words you said earlier; the losses were well beyond my expectations,¡± the lady said. ¡°Shall we take this meeting somewhere we can remove these helmets?¡± Jake said as the group left for the officer''s meeting room adjacent to the flight deck. Entering the room through one of the airlock doors, Jake removed his helmet, showing his demonic face for the first time to the group. ¡°What is this?¡± one of the people behind Admiral Kate Simon said before Kate glared at the man. ¡°This is not the United Earth Defence Forces, and these people saved our lives. You know our mission was a suicide mission; otherwise, why would they give it that name?¡± one of the Americans said. ¡°What name?¡± Jake asked. ¡°Task Force Smith,¡± the American said, basically spitting the words. ¡°Oh, I''m sorry,¡± Jake said. ¡°It''s not your fault. After all, you''re not part of those foolish politicians,¡± Kate said. ¡°So I''m guessing you didn''t want to just thank us. So, what brings you aboard my ship?¡± ¡°We would like to ask if you can assist us in our fight. Of course, when I say ''help'', I do mean I would like to hire you and your fleet to fight under our command.¡± ¡°The Demon''s Hand mercenary group doesn''t take commands from other groups or organisations unless the order comes from the leaders of the group,¡± Lewis said with disdain and anger. ¡°What gives a traitor to the human race the right to speak here?¡± the same man that spoke before said. ¡°Your fucking mum did last night,¡± Lewis shot back before jumping across the table, grabbing the man by his throat. ¡°Was it you? Did you order that ship to attack us?¡± Lewis asked, spit flying out of his mouth. ¡°Lewis, stand down,¡± Jake yelled. Lewis let the man go and stood beside Jake. ¡°Sorry, sir, I just couldn''t stop it; these people killed her.¡± ¡°We don''t know if they ordered it yet,¡± Jake said. ¡°Yes, sir.¡± ¡°I''m truly sorry about that. I would like to offer you this storage ring as an apology for my subordinate''s actions.¡± Jake said, but as he was going to hand over the ring, the man spat on the floor and said, ¡°So what if I ordered the destruction of that ship? You people did more to capture ships than you did to help us. Plus, once I destroyed that ship, the rest turned tail and ran.¡± Jake looked at the man as he activated a skill, summoning all four of his lost servants, before saying one word: ¡°Kill.¡± In an instant, the servant Elizabeth Bay launched forward, instantly killing the man. ¡°I''m truly sorry, but any attack on my people is an attack on the Demon''s Hand mercenary group. As such, I''m going to ask you one question: Did you have anything to do with his actions?¡± The lady on the other side of the table smiled and said, ¡°No, I didn''t, but I found out once the fight was over. I brought him here on purpose; I wanted to see if you were as brutal as the rumours say.¡± ¡°And what do the rumours say about me?¡± ¡°That you are a man that will do anything for the people beside you and that you act without thinking. But what I have noticed is different; you think through your actions. As for the other part, I don''t know yet.¡± ¡°So what are your actions from here?¡± Jake asked. ¡°I would like to proceed with our conversation. As for the gift¡ª¡± Jake flicked the ring over to her. ¡°Keep it, we don''t need that stuff anyway.¡± Jake had given the lady an exosuit and one runabout Jake was keeping as a backup. ¡°Thank you. I won''t forget this. As for our conversation, I would still like to hire your people. If you accept, you won¡¯t be under my command, and you can refuse any job you don¡¯t agree with.¡± ¡°I will accept, but you will need to go put your request in with the closest mercenary branch and make the appropriate payment.¡± ¡°I will send some people back to Earth then, but in the meantime can what''s left of my fleet stay here?¡± ¡°You''re welcome to stay, but don''t go down to the moon; it''s infested with strong creatures,¡± Jake warned the Admiral. ¡°I''ll take your word for it.¡± 74 At the beginning of the system, there was no method of gauging the value of an item till one day a man of pre-system wealth climbed to the top of the Endless Towers dungeon and became part of the system itself, bringing with him the value system he created as an adventurer. Now the system could identify items and their rarity, giving those with professions the ability to gain levels and progress. Millions of years later, the next person climbed to the peak of the tower but refused the system at the final stage, taking with her a system item that would allow the implementation of one change to the system. She used the item to create a financial institution that had full control over all interacted finances within the system itself. She became the richest person overnight and the leader of an empire of financial madmen, not stopping at anything to enforce their new currency system on the populace of the system. Every budding organisation would eventually come to them for a loan; after all, it was impossible for one individual to get to the top without money, and the money system was run by them, after all. The money system followed the grade system with some minor changes. Money System 101 Low grade coin: 1 low grade coin = 100 units of unmanaged currency D grade coin: 1 D grade coin = 100,000 low grade coins C grade coin: 1 C grade coin = 100,000 D grade coins B grade coin: 1 B grade coin = 100,000 C grade coins A grade coin: 1 A grade coin = 100,000 B grade coins S grade coin: 1 S grade coin = 100,000 A grade coins In a branch office of the Banking Guild, Erica and her guide stood waiting for a reply to a request for a loan of one hundred D grade coins. Harry ran tests on some of the low grade coins Erica had managed to get on one of her raids on the local forces, and he said each coin held a substantial amount of energy, but with the low rank coins, he couldn''t figure out what it was, so he wanted a higher grade coin to figure out the source of this strange energy. ¡°Sorry to keep you waiting, it''s just we were having trouble identifying your organisation; it seems that your organisation has been marked by the system as restricted. I''m sorry, Miss, but we cannot offer you a loan, but we can transfer any currency, technology, items, or any alchemy products into coins for you.¡± ¡°What? Why would the system restrict our mercenary group?¡± ¡°As far as I''m aware, this has only ever happened once before, and that was because the person cultivated outside of the system''s influence. But that person died over a million years ago. He was a man who would always enter the dark zones of the system; his only item of value was his soulbound shuttle, but sadly, he entered one too many dark zones and failed to return. If I were you, I would leave this group of yours and try again. It seems that the system only has an issue with one of the people in your mercenary group, so you can either kick them out and hope the system takes pity on you, or leave and find a new group to join. I would recommend the Hunters Road Guild or the UniversalMercenaries Guild; they seem to be reputable organisations.¡± ¡°So you''re saying no member of the Demon''s Hand mercenary group can do business with you outside of currency conversions?¡± ¡°Yes, miss. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience, but we must follow the system''s rules when it comes to these things.¡± ¡°Well, fuck. This is going to be bad,¡± Erica said. ¡°Miss, do you have any items to trade?¡± Erica pulled out the blueprints for the various versions of the runabout. ¡°Can I use this? Every version can be put inside a common storage ring, and if you don''t believe me, I can show you my personal one,¡± Erica said as she handed over the blueprints to the man. ¡°I will need to get them verified by our people before a price can be given. If possible, I would also request you to show me that it can be put into a storage ring.¡± The group of three walked to an open space at the back of the branch. Erica pulled out the runabout from her ring. ¡°That is very interesting. I will bring these over to our experts. Please wait in my personal waiting room and feel free to try the tea,¡± the man said as he took the two over to a lavish waiting room. ¡°I''ll be back as soon as I can,¡± he said before leaving for one of the back rooms. ¡°What do you reckon they are doing back there?¡± the man sitting beside Erica said. In the back room, Zac had brought in a stack of blueprints to his manager. ¡°Sir, could you look over these?¡± ¡°You want me to do what? I just got back and this is the second time today you have barged in here asking stupid questions. What is it this time; has the system come down and started killing people for fun?¡± Zac stood there in silence for a second before the man started yelling again. ¡°Well, what is it?¡± ¡°Sorry, sir. It''s just the group from earlier offered these blueprints for trade and I can tell the value of them.¡±This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°Is that it? Why didn''t you take them to one of the other blueprinters?¡± ¡°Sir, it''s just I was shown one of these ships; it came out of a storage ring.¡± The man looked up from the desk. ¡°Are you sure about that?¡± the man said. ¡°Yes, sir.¡± ¡°And these people came from the group that has been marked by the system?¡± ¡°Yes, sir. They are from the Demon''s Hand mercenary group.¡± The man behind the desk got really excited. ¡°You have just made us a fortune; take these over to the blueprinters¡ªno, wait, I will do it; you just stay here.¡± The man rushed out of the office and left Zac alone. Five hours later, the man returned with a grin. ¡°Take these back to that person and tell them you were unable to verify the blueprints and that, as a result, we are unable to pay for them.¡± ¡°Sir, are we really doing this?¡± ¡°We are following the rules of the system. That group has been marked, so we can do what we like; it''s their fault anyway for going up against the system in the first place.¡± ¡°But sir, if people find out¡ª¡± ¡°It will not matter. Once we spread the news of them being marked by the system, the actions we take will be the least of their problems.¡± In Zac''s waiting room, Erica was cursing at the young man as she and her escort were being forcefully removed from the branch. ¡°This is your last warning, miss; if you continue to make a fuss, we will be forced to take away your right to enter any of our branches in the future.¡± Erica was about to continue berating the man when suddenly she received a notification from the system. System Wide Notification The Demon¡¯s Hand mercenary group has been forcefully disbanded by the system-imposed universal constants. Any former member that stays within its ranks will be made enemies of the system-imposed universal constants and will be marked with a bounty of 200 points each to be collected upon their death. System Wide Notification Jake Everval and his followers have been marked as enemies of the system-imposed universal constants and, as such, a bounty has been placed on them. Reward: 20,000,000 points each upon verification of their death Erica Blake Emma Moore Jayne Everval Reward: 100,000,000 points plus 1 grade upon verification of his death Jake Everval Erica looked over at her guide and said, ¡°Find your own way back to Aaliyah.¡± The next moment, she was gone. Jayne sat in a classroom listening to a lecture when suddenly everyone turned to look at her. ¡°Lady Everval, I think we should cancel the lesson for today. I just realised I left my newborn at home,¡± the teacher said before he walked out of the classroom. ¡°Lady Everval, it seems we have had our home taken from us,¡± one of the beast folk said as her hand wiped the tears from her eyes. ¡°You will always be welcome in this territory. Even if the system dissolved the Demon¡¯s Hand mercenary group, we still have our territory, and if you want to keep it, we all need to fight for it.¡± ¡°But we will be marked as enemies to the system.¡± Only if you are part of the demon''s hand mercenary group and you all read the notification that the group doesn''t exist anymore, unless you say or believe you are a member, you won''t be the system''s enemy, will you? That being said, everyone is free to leave this territory, and you will be granted equipment as compensation for your time and service.¡± Jayne said this, then left the room and headed directly for the meeting hall, keeping out of sight as best as she could. Only once she got to one of the private rooms in the meeting hall did she finally relax a bit. ¡°Alric, what the fuck happened to Jake?¡± Moments later, Alric appeared in front of her. ¡°Lady Everval, it seems Jake has been trapped in a cave alone for some time. It seems he encountered something underground, and it has caused the system to take action against him in the only way it can. The system¡ª" Alric stopped what he was doing, then smiled and continued, "the system is limited in what it can and can''t do. It was once made up of one individual, but as time passed and people reached his level of power, he enacted his plan and tried to absorb them into himself, but he lost his battle and now he is basically a prisoner in his own body¡ªexactly what he deserves in my opinion; after all, karma has to hit at some point." ¡°You seem a lot more informative on the system today. Did something happen to you?¡± ¡°Only what I have wanted for a long time. I''m free. Thanks to whatever actions your husband has taken, I''ve been separated from the system and regained myself. And before you ask, no, I''m not going to abandon you like all the people outside.¡± ¡°You can still see what''s going on outside. What about in the other territories?¡± ¡°Yes, I can see, but as for the other territories, unless I am in that territory, then no. Also, I have lost many other abilities; I have become very limited in what I can do. But I can now make a solid body if needed.¡± ¡°But you can still travel between territories.¡± ¡°Not at the moment. It seems that I need something from Jake to do that.¡± ¡°What is it you need now?¡± ¡°The title.¡± ¡°Has the title got to do with his race?¡± ¡°I don''t think so.¡± Jayne and Alric talked like this for a long time, the two getting to know each other. What surprised Jayne was that Alric once gave his life so that Aaliyah would have a home to come back to. Emma was on her ship; the moment the notifications popped up, she instantly pushed the competition''s button, opening her radio to the fleet. ¡°As you are all aware, I have been made an enemy of the system. If anyone attempts to take that bounty, I will fire on them with the full power of this ship. Now that that is out of the way, if any of you wish to cut ties with me, you are free to leave.¡± Emma looked at her crewmates and gave a gesture asking them to leave, but not a single one took her up on the offer. ¡°Thank you, every one of you,¡± she said, then left for the bridge, followed by her two pilots. 10714 > 10835 characters 2039 > 1999 words 75 Five minutes before the system notifications, Jake was standing deep inside the moon, his eyes transfixed on a sword floating over what looked to be an altar. The moment Jake identified it, his body began trembling, but it wasn''t that Jake was trembling; it was the system itself. Jake began to read over the information given to him. Item Sword of Damocles The Sword of Damocles is an item bestowed by the heavens, and upon its use, it will mark the user as a haven breaker. But in so doing, it opens a path forward and away from any influence¡ªrestricted. All further information is restricted. This is a permanent soulbound item. Fight the heavens to gain¡ªrestricted. As Jake was reading over the odd prompt, it seemed the system finally wanted to talk again. S:\>help. So now you want to talk? What''s up with all that restricted bullshit? I thought you moved me over to this backwards-ass interface to get away from all that? Or have you just been messing with me this whole time? S:\>step away from that item now. S:\>help. Wow, I am finding it a little odd that the moment I find this thing, you begin acting the same as before. My guess is you put me in this fucked-up interface just to mess with me because you actually can''t do anything to me. Am I right, and this sword will free me from you? After Jake said this, he started walking closer to the sword. S:\>don''t do it; we will kill you if you take one more step. S:\>help. Well, if you can, why haven''t you? How about this: give me the full description of the item, then we can talk. The system went quiet for a second, then sent a reply. S:\>we can''t do that; this item is outside of our control. It needs to be destroyed. S:\>help. Is that so? It''s outside of your control? Nice. Jake lunged forward and grabbed the hilt of the sword. Light erupted from it, shattering Jake''s interface in an instant as a guttural groan of thousands of voices erupted in the cavern, followed by spectral forms. ¡°You think we will let you go.¡± Jake''s eyes went white as he lost his senses; only the sound of Jake''s reply could be heard, and that was two simple but well-meaning words: ¡°Damocles down.¡± As Jake said this, a gigantic sword appeared over Shackleton crater and began falling at a slow pace, giving many people on the surface time to escape before it impacted the moon, smashing a path right through the surface and shattering everything in its path. The spectral forms disintegrated the moment the sword entered the cave, but Jake wasn''t done yet, it seemed, as the sword continued smashing through the moon until it reached the moon''s frozen core before entering it and exploding. The moon''s core began to heat up and rotate, pulling in more and more heavy elements until it stabilised. Then the moon itself began rotating. A blue bubble extended into the sky as ice began melting, forming clouds of rain. Finally, the feeling of life began to emanate from the moon''s core itself, flooding everything with life energy. Numbers and letters flashed in Jake''s mind as he began to wake up from his experience, but what he saw next was even more amazing: the moon was green, with trees, grass, and rainforests. ¡°Sir, you''re finally awake. Let me go get Emma and James; they would like to ask you some things.¡± Jake just nodded at Jo before he tried opening up his interface, but what he got was once again different. Instead of the terminal, it was once again more like a game, but what threw him for a loop was the information he received. First of all, the interface was now his; secondly, there was a lot more information about things, so Jake tried to limit what was being displayed to him at any given time, as it was overloading his mind. Name: Jake Everval Race: Demon of the Past (Unique) Core: Haven Breaker (First Grade, Restricted; fully unlocked at D Grade) Grade: F Information on F Grade: Upgrades: 600 above previous; anyone below this grade in the open universe will not survive unless protected by life-sustaining means such as planetary shields and the like. No F Graders have ever entered space and survived for more than two years without adequate protection. Note: Levels are gained through cultivation; levels must be solidified by practical use. Solidified Level: 78. Levels required till next grade evaluation: 1000 total Cultivation Level: 0 of 0% Class: Trooper Shadow Mage (Common) 2000 levels required till next major threshold Solidified Class Level: 1099 Cultivated Level: 0 of 0% Profession: Arcane Smith (Common) 2000 levels required till next major threshold Solidified Profession Level: 538 Cultivated Level: 0 of 0% Information at common rarity; your profession will have less impact on the environment around you. Stats points available: 109,459 Conversion multiplier: ¡Á10 Mana: 1,000,000 Arcane: 1,000,000 Stamina: 2,000,010 Health: 1,526,500 Base multiplier: ¡Á10If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Strength: 100,101 Agility: 100,000 Intelligence: 100,000 Wisdom: 100,000 Perception: 100,000 Integrity: 152,650 Complete dungeons to advance multipliers beyond the starting ¡Á10 multiplier. A basic collection method has been granted to you by the heavens. Fuck yes, I''m free and I have a path forward. Alright, Jake, let''s not get too excited. Jake first looked over the cultivation method, only to find it required him to sit in meditation for long periods of time to absorb the surrounding energies. These energies included mana energy, arcane energy, and then there were life and void energies. This was going to be a problem. Sure, arcane and mana could be found anywhere, but life energy and void were two different things. The only thing that Jake could think of for life was sitting in a forest; as for void, Jake had no idea. He would have to come back to this issue later; for now, he needed to look over a few things. Notification You have been marked by the heavens; you are now amongst the cultivators who take their power from the heavens to grow stronger. Beware of the heavens, rather. Notification Territory expanded; you have reached the title of Baron. You have four titles you can grant to your followers. Titles: Minister of Knowledge Minister of War Minister of Finance Minister of the Lands Notification Pick a name for your new budding empire. Jake quickly entered the first name that popped into his head. Notification Your new empire name is the Heart Haven Empire. Setting up basic systems for the Heart Haven Empire; please wait. Error to continue. Grant the title of Minister of Lands to Mr Alric; unknown yes/no. Jake shrugged his shoulders and selected yes. Notification Basic empire systems activated to improve the efficiency of the empire system. Grant your followers the remaining titles. Eligible followers: Erica Blake Emma Moore Jayne Everval Jake had an idea of what to do, so he gave Erica the position of Minister of Finance, as she had been running everything in two of his territories alone, while the Minister of War went to Emma. Finally, the one he knew would be the best fit, Jayne, got the Minister of Knowledge position. After he did this, no more notifications popped up, leaving Jake to go over some more things; one was to figure out what that sword was. Jake looked through his items, but it wasn''t listed at all. Then he tried to summon it out, but that just made him look like an idiot holding his hand out. He tried everything he could think of for five hours until he finally had to give up, as walking over to him was his new Minister of War, followed closely by James and Annabel. ¡°Sorry I''m late. Someone rewrote my interface and cut me off from the system while also knocking me the fuck out in the process. Would you like to explain what the fuck is going on?¡± Emma said in a slightly aggressive tone. ¡°Sorry about that, but in my defence, I didn''t know giving you a title would have that kind of effect.¡± ¡°What made us all enemies of the system?¡± James said. ¡°I found something it really didn''t want me to have.¡± ¡°So this thing you found, did it have anything to do with what happened here?¡± ¡°Well, that''s hard to explain as I don''t really remember what happened, but I would say so, unless one of you did it.¡± ¡°Could you do it again?¡± ¡°No, I can still feel the sword, but I can''t access it for some reason. I think it might have something to do with my grade level.¡± ¡°So about this title.¡± ¡°What about it? If you''re asking me to explain it, I can''t. I don''t have any more information other than its name and by the way, I would assume the title puts you in charge of war-related issues or something; most likely you know more about this than me.¡± ¡°Well, you''re not wrong, but it also limits me to only being in charge of your fighting forces and nothing else. I can''t access anything related to new technology or the taxation systems anymore; I am limited to military operations. Don''t get me wrong, this is fine by me. It''s just if I can''t access it, who can?¡± ¡°The title of Minister of Finance went to Eric, while the title Minister of Lands went to Alric. As for knowledge, that is Jayne. I believe this is to separate the power imbalance when one person could access everything like before.¡± ¡°What about the Demon¡¯s Hand mercenary group?¡± James asked. ¡°What about it?¡± Jake questioned. ¡°The system disbanded it and made any that stayed an enemy of the system. We lost a lot of people; even the United Earth Defence Forces left,¡± Emma said. Jake was stunned by the system''s action but not surprised. ¡°How many remained?¡± ¡°On the moon, we have one hundred personnel, while in space we have your ship, my ship and two others. Not a single member from yours or mine left. As for the two others, they have a total of five people, all beast folk, the same with the minority on the moon.¡± ¡°So they stayed because they had nowhere else to go,¡± James said. ¡°I''m going to make a quick message to them to help reduce their anxiety a bit.¡± Holding up his hand to silence any further conversation before he opened his comms to everyone. ¡°As you all may be aware, I am an enemy of the system, but let me tell you, my territories are not part of the system, and your homes within will remain safe. The system cannot take your homes away, so if you wish to return to Earth and live your lives there, I will not stop you, nor will anyone else. But if you stay by my side, we can grow our safe harbour into an empire big enough that the system itself will think twice before harming us again. So my offer stands.¡± Jake sent this communication system-wide so that everyone on Earth would be able to hear it, including both the invaders and the United Earth Defence Forces, leaving no room for them to take advantage of the situation. The ground started to rumble when a crystal cutter unlike any other popped up. It was humanoid, and before anyone could react, it spoke. ¡°Is it true you are an enemy of the corruption?¡± it said in a clicking voice. ¡°If you''re talking about the system, then yes, we are,¡± Jake said. ¡°Good, upon verification, my hive would like to join you in your war.¡± Just as it finished speaking, the ground began rumbling louder as nine more hominid crystal cutters exited the ground. ¡°We too would be willing to assist you in this venture.¡± ¡°I would be happy to have such strength join our ranks, but what would you like in return?¡± Jake asked. ¡°We of the hives just wish to have a place free from corruption.¡± ¡°This moon is yours; my only request is that you grant my people access to a small plot of land, no bigger than what we already had; this would be for the war effort.¡± ¡°We are fine with that. We would also like to invite the Heaven Breaker to one of our cultivation caves.¡± ¡°You know what I am?¡± Jake asked. ¡°Yes, those marked by the heavens will always shine bright to us.¡± ¡°Could I come as well?¡± Emma quickly asked. ¡°Are you also a cultivator now?¡± Jake asked. ¡°It seems that way,¡± Emma said. ¡°Well, would it be possible to bring my Minister of War as well?¡± ¡°The Minister of War is welcome to join us if she truly follows the path of cultivation.¡± ¡°When you are ready, just come find me; ask one of my soldiers stationed at the egg chamber you found. They will bring you both down to me,¡± the first hive queen said. Yes, Jake had decided to just call them hive queens, as they kept saying "their hive," giving Jake the impression that they were queen bees. After the queens left, Jake asked Emma to show him the way to a secluded place. He had a lot of information to analyse and limited time to do it. 76 Erica woke up from what she now understood as a gift from Jake. Notification Title: Minister of Finance As the Minister of Finance, you are able to access all the financial systems of the Heart Haven Empire and any of its subsidiaries. Notification New System Interface Jake Everval has cut ties with the system-imposed universal constants and has created a system that follows more closely the heavens'' path. Cultivate the heavens'' path to progress to the peak. Erica brought up her stats for the first time since she allocated all her points from the tutorial. At that time, she was very disappointed as, upon exiting the tutorial, her levels were all messed up. One minute it would show her tutorial levels; then it would show what she assumed was the system trying to figure her out. Name: Erica Blake Race: Nordicless Core: ??? Grade: F Information on F Grade: Upgrades: 600 above previous. Anyone below this grade in the open universe will not survive unless protected by life-sustaining means such as planetary shields and the like. No F graders have ever entered space and survived for more than two years without adequate protection. Note: levels are gained through cultivation; levels must be solidified by practical use. Solidified Level: 356. Levels required till next grade evaluation: 1000 total. Cultivation Level: 0 of 0% Class: Axe Maiden (Common) 2000 levels required till next major threshold. Solidified Class Level: 99 Cultivated Level: 0 of 0% Profession: Minister (Common) 2000 levels required till next major threshold. Solidified Profession Level: 45 Cultivated Level: 0 of 0% Information: At common rarity, your profession will have less impact on the environment around you. Stat Points Available: 10,000,000 Conversion Multiplier: ¡Á10 Mana: 5,000,000 Arcane: 900 Stamina: 20,000,000 Health: 12,000,000 Base Multiplier: ¡Á10 Strength: 1,000,000 Agility: 1,000,000 Intelligence: 10 Wisdom: 500,000 Perception: 100,000 Integrity: 1,200,000 Complete dungeons to advance multipliers beyond the starting ¡Á10 multiplier. A basic collection method has been granted to you by Jake Everval. Well, at least it''s stable now. I guess it wouldn''t be too bad starting over. But I do wonder, what is a core and how do I get one? She opened her eyes a moment later to the sight of two men holding her arms down. The last thing she remembered was teleporting out of the Banking Guild, and then pain shot through her mind. Then she woke up here, within her territory on the moon orbiting the planet she once called home. She went to say something when a fist hit her in the head. ¡°Don''t speak; this territory belongs to us. Now sign this system contract, and I will make this as easy as I can for you.¡± ¡°Jake will come for you all.¡± ¡°That overblown man, he''s a dead man; with a bounty that big, there is no way he will last long. I''m sure one of those gods will descend on him just to see what will happen when they go beyond god grade, and if not one of them, then a random person will get him. From what I saw of him, he wasn''t that strong. Plus, look what we did to his territory, and he still hasn''t shown up; he''s nothing but a coward from a no-name sector.¡± Looking up at the traitors in the room, she smiled and activated her token, teleporting away once again, appearing on Aaliyah''s home world. The moment she arrived, she was surrounded by her fellow Nordic people. ¡°Lady Blake, what happened to the young lord?¡± ¡°We have had an uprising; most of the humans and others similar in mindset to them tried to take control of the central tower to attempt a seizure of the territory but were stopped in their tracks by the system Alric put in place before he disappeared.¡± ¡°You haven''t heard from him either. We lost our foothold in our home system. Did any of the traitors survive?¡± ¡°No, my lady, all dead it seems. Harry is actually very adept at killing as well as coming up with new ideas. It seems he took it personally when his fellow humans turned on his friend. He mercilessly killed every person involved, from our highest-ranking general to the lowest researcher.¡± ¡°So Estella was leading them. What about his brother?¡± ¡°Mike is currently locked up; he went up against his brother, but we had no choice but to temporarily lock him up. He doesn''t know what happened yet, but I think he knows that his brother died.¡± ¡°You haven''t told him yet.¡± ¡°No, my lady, we were waiting for reinforcements before we took any further action.¡± ¡°How many people do we have left?¡±A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Out of two thousand, we have one hundred and fifty remaining.¡± ¡°Is that including any prisoners?¡± ¡°We only have Mike locked up; everyone else is dead, my lady.¡± Erica ruled her head at the scale of this disaster. ¡°Where is Harry now?¡± ¡°Working on the design the young lord sent him.¡± ¡°I didn''t ask what he was doing.¡± ¡°He''s in his study, my lady.¡± ¡°Keep everyone on high alert; we don''t know what has happened yet, so we can''t let our guards down. This system might be invaded,¡± Erica said before heading over to Harry''s study. Opening the door, she saw the young man hunched over a stack of blueprints, his hands not moving. ¡°Are you doing okay, Harry? Do you need anything?¡± ¡°No, Lady Blake. I killed so many people. Why did they do it? Some of them I knew from when I was a child. Their faces¡ªI can see their faces every time I close my eyes,¡± Harry wept. ¡°You protected your friend and my people. I can only thank you for that,¡± Erica said before she walked over to a pot of coffee. ¡°Would you like me to pour you a cup?¡± Erica said as she poured one for herself and one for him before continuing, ¡°I failed you all; I lost the moon base.¡± ¡°I''m sorry to hear that that was your home system if I recall.¡± ¡°Yes, it was, but more than that I failed him. He put his trust in me.¡± ¡°Losing that territory won''t hurt Jake. On the other hand, losing you, a person he trusts, will forever hold him back. I will never do that to the man that accepted me for who I am. So what will you do?¡± ¡°You''re right. I will get stronger so I never lose again.¡± ¡°Well, that''s a good start, I guess. So, would you like to know if this will work? With the last notes Alric told me just before all this shit started, we might just be able to have a prototype up and running sooner than you think. That man is one hell of a designer. We just need to take one of the completed cannon ships and make some modifications to it, then we will have a test bed.¡± ¡°How long will that take?¡± ¡°With the work we have left, I would say maybe two a week, but I would put only ten people on that, so a month and two weeks on the outside.¡± ¡°So who do you want on the job? I''m guessing yourself.¡± ¡°No, put Mai and her team on it. I have to get to work on the defence of this system. We need this place rock solid for the inevitable invasion.¡± ¡°What are you going to do about that?¡± ¡°I read the report on the first battle over on what was that planet called?¡± ¡°Do you mean Earth?¡± ¡°Yes, Earth. Wait, who named the planet dirt? Never mind, back on track. They used the runabouts like drones and slaved them to a main computer, so my thinking is to do the same but have a bunch of picket ships out in the space between solar systems, then have weapons platforms stationed out in the Oort Cloud¡ªthat''s if the tests go well with the new weapons system. After that, it will be up to what''s left of us to defend personally.¡± Erica finished her coffee and stood up. ¡°Just tell me if you need anything; hopefully, things are going better for Jake than for us.¡± Jake was currently in meditation at the bottom of a deep cave system. He entered seclusion three days ago, as the energies down this deep were suited for cultivating life energy. Once he began cultivation, his stats started to change. He now had percentages for each energy he would need to cultivate. Once Jake''s life cultivation reached 100%, void energy finally began to increase, but at a speed Jake found disgusting. His life energy filled up in one day; then in the remaining two days, he only had 5% of void energy enter his body. Looking over his stats, Jake felt as if he was missing something important. Name: Jake Everval Race: Demon of the Past. Unique Core: Haven Braker, first grade, restricted, fully unlocked at D grade Grade: F Information on F grade: Upgrades 600 above previous; anyone below this grade in the open universe will not survive unless protected by life-sustaining means such as planetary shields and the like. No F graders have ever entered space and survived for more than two years without adequate protection. Note levels are gained through cultivation; levels must be solidified by practical use. Solidified Level 78. Levels required till next grade evaluation: 1000 total. Cultivation Level 0. Life 100%. Void 5%. Mana 90%. Arcane 10%. Class: Trooper Shadow Mage (common); 2000 levels required till next major threshold. Solidified Class Level 1099. Cultivated Level 0 of 0%. Profession: Arcane Smith (common); 2000 levels required till next major threshold. Solidified Profession Level 538. Cultivated Level 0 of 0%. Information: At common rarity, your profession will have less impact on the environment around you. Stats points available: 109,459. Conversion multiplier ¡Á10. Mana 1,000.000. Arcane 1,000.000. Stamina 2,000.010. Health1,526.500. Base multiplier ¡Á10. Strength 100,101. Agility 100,000. Intelligence 100,000. Wisdom 100.000. Perception 100.000. Integrity 152.650. Complete dungeons to advance multipliers beyond the starting ¡Á10 multiplier. A basic collection method has been granted to you by the heavens. Jake did notice that the life energy was greater the closer he got to the core, but this isn''t the same as what the Hive Queen said. This was one of the places void energy was in abundance, but 5% in two days is not what Jake would call abundant. So he got up and headed over to Emma. ¡°I have an idea; I''m going to take a ship out and see if cultivating in different regions will change what energy gets cultivated first. Would you like to come with me or are you going to stay here?¡± ¡°I''ll stay. I''ve got some work to do. Are you going to take your ship or one of the others?¡± ¡°I was thinking a cargo ship. Why do you need it?¡± ¡°No, just wanted to know what ships I would have at my disposal.¡± ¡°Well, I will be taking a cargo ship, Jo, and two flight crew with me.¡± An hour later, Jake was standing on the bridge of the Repairo One, a ship captured from the invaders. ¡°Where to, sir?¡± the bear man said. ¡°Take us closer to the sun; let''s try Venus. Give me a parking orbit there.¡± Jake then looked over at Jo. ¡°Keep guard; I''m going to be in cultivation for a while while we travel.¡± ¡°Sir, would you like us to enter FTL to get there faster?¡± the only other member of the crew asked, his long sloth claws still taking a prominent position in his humanoid form. ¡°Not yet; I need to run some testing later with that, but for now, we''re not in a hurry, so we will take the slow path.¡± ¡°Yes, sir. Xi, set up a round view¡ª¡± were the last words Jake heard as he left the bridge. Two days into the five-day journey, Jake brought up his cultivation stats. Solidified Level 78. Levels required till next grade evaluation 1000 total. Cultivation Level 0 Life 100% Void 20% Mana 100% Arcane 23% So it seems void energy cultivation speed out in space is much better, but still Arcane is lagging behind. I wonder, is it possible that this region of space is the problem? Once the ship was one day away from its destination, Jake looked at his cultivation stats. Solidified Level 78. Levels required till next grade evaluation 1000 total. Cultivation Level 0 Life 100% Void 21% Mana 100% Arcane 47% This isn''t good; the closer we get to the sun, the less efficient cultivating void energy is. As for Arcane, it has been staying relatively the same. I think we should head to Mars next to see what''s going on. Jake left his seclusion and headed up to the bridge. Jake opened the door to find Jo was the only one sitting at the consoles. ¡°Where are the others?¡± Jake asked. ¡°They''re on break, sir; they should be down in their quarters. Would you like me to call them for you?¡± ¡°No, it''s okay. I was going to get them to turn us around, but I kind of want to see Venus up close. Don''t you?¡± ¡°Yeah, I remember those stories from before the system.¡± ¡°Do you mean the stories of aliens that live in the clouds?¡± ¡°Yeah, imagine if that was true.¡± ¡°Well, if you think about it, the moon had life on it, so I don''t see why there wouldn''t be.¡± As the Repaero One entered visual range of the planet, the ship''s wide-band radio crackled to life. ¡°Unknown vessels, this is the Venusian warship Valis; state your intentions.¡± 77 ¡°Unknown vessels, this is the Venusian warship Valis. State your intentions.¡± ¡°What do we do, sir?¡± ¡°Tell them our intentions were to simply visit,¡± Jake said. ¡°Venusian warship Valis, this is the exploration ship Repairo One. We simply came to visit your planet; we hold no ill intent towards your people,¡± the Slothman said, adding in a few more things to try to keep the peace. ¡°Exploration ship Repairo One, heave to and prepare to be boarded.¡± The Sloth looked over at Jake. ¡°Let''s cooperate, cut the engines and extend the docking port. Jo, go meet our guests.¡± ¡°Sir, is this a good idea? Can''t we just run?¡± the bear man asked. ¡°We didn''t even see them on our radar, so can you tell me if a fleet of warships is out there with their weapons aimed at us?¡± ¡°I guess I can''t, sir. But there''s got to be something better than letting a bunch of strangers on our ship.¡± ¡°There probably is, but I can''t think of it right now and we don''t have time to think of one.¡± Jake got up from his seat and said to the two, ¡°If anything happens to us, you jump to FTL.¡± Heathen left the bridge and headed for the airlock. Just as he arrived, the airlock lights began flashing. ¡°Jo, open it up.¡± Jo stepped over to the door latch and began opening it. As the door swung open, two humanoids walked out wearing gas masks on their yellow-coloured faces. While humans had hair, these Venusians had a pair of small antennas. Looking over at Jo, Jake saw his face go red hot. Jake looked over at what Jo was looking at; when the second Venusian walked out of the airlock, she was wearing tight-fitting pants and a boob tube three sizes too small. Jake blushed just as the first man spoke. Jake looked over at the frankly perfect specimen. ¡°Welcome to the Venusian home planet. May I ask from which number do you come?¡± ¡°Third planet from the sun. We call it Earth. Yes, I know ¡®dirt¡¯ is not a good name, but it''s what we have.¡± ¡°That''s not bad. I have a friend who named his daughter Zac. Now that''s a name no female should have, and all just because he wanted a son.¡± ¡°Sir, you shouldn''t be talking about my dad that way.¡± The Venusian male just started laughing as he walked over to Jake, his hand out in the same gesture as humans do. Jake extended his hand as well, and they both shook hands. ¡°Now shall we get to the reason why I asked to come aboard? It seems that if I¡¯m not mistaken, you are the man that sent that message some days ago, yes?¡± Jake looked over at Jo and asked if any messages other than his had been sent. Jo shook his head in response, so Jake began to clarify with the Venusian, but in doing so made it clear Jake was the one that sent the solar system-wide radio message, instantly outing himself as Jake Everval, the man with the bounty. ¡°Don''t worry about your identity; we won''t harm any of you,¡± Zac said before she looked over at Jo. ¡°Why is this man''s face going red? Is he sick? Do we need to quarantine?¡± Jake laughed, then without missing a beat replied, ¡°No, this is a common human reaction when they see someone of the opposite sex that they find very beautiful.¡± ¡°Oh, I see. So it''s a mating ritual. I didn''t know humans could mate with other species.¡± ¡°Well, we don''t know that either. But just try and forget it.¡± ¡°How can I do that? Sir, I wish to perform an experiment. Will you be fine here by yourself till I get back?¡± ¡°Go for it, Doc; we have some things to talk about anyway, that is, if it''s alright with Mr Everval here.¡± ¡°Well, that''s really up to the man getting experimented on, not me.¡± Zac grabbed hold of Jo''s arm and dragged him into the airlock, and a minute later the two were gone. ¡°That man is in for it now. Oh, by the way, I''m Admiral Bask of the First Fleet, pleased to meet the man that turned against the system.¡± ¡°Thank you, but what is so bad about Jo going with your doc?¡± ¡°She has a bit of a reputation when it comes to what she calls her experiments. Let''s just say she is very dedicated. But enough of that.I would like to talk to you about cultivation and what energy you cultivate. You do cultivate, don''t you?¡± ¡°Yes, I do, but could you explain to me more about the energies? I seem to be having some issues with mine.¡± ¡°This might take longer than I thought. Shall we go find a spot to rest?¡± ¡°Sure, but let me contact my bridge crew first; I don''t want them trying to jump into FTL with you aboard.¡±The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°You have faster-than-light technology?¡± Bask asked. Jake contacted the bridge crew, then turned to Bask. ¡°Yes, we can talk about that later; let''s get back to cultivation.¡± ¡°Okay, that''s fine. There are four main energies, but you only really need to worry about one pair in most cases. But if you''re all the way out here, then I''m guessing yours isn''t normal.¡± ¡°What four main energies?¡± ¡°I suppose that''s a good place to start. The four are arcane and mana, life and death. Then there are other energies, but they''re pretty rare. My guess is you''re having trouble with death energy, so you came in to test the waters, so to say.¡± Jake shook his head. ¡°Not death, but void energy,¡± Jake said. ¡°Oh, that''s going to be a hard one.¡± ¡°Why is that?¡± ¡°Well, you know that void is the absence of anything, yes? So you need to find a location that suits you or find a different method to cultivate it. I hope you are a lucky one with three energies, because you are going to need two opposites like life and death or, at a stretch, mana and arcane.¡± ¡°Before I tell you what I have, tell me, why are you helping me with this? It''s not like you know me or need any real help, so what''s your goal here? I can''t figure you out.¡± ¡°I suppose that''s fair. I was actually told to help you out by the King. He is in the same position as you; the system has abandoned him and all of his people. You see, we cultivated before the system took control. So my guess is, he wants a favour from you in the future to set good karma between you and us. But what I do know is, I will require your assistance in defending this system and my people. Will you help me do that?¡± ¡°I will, and as for a favour for the king, I can''t make any promises now. If I tell you about my energies or people find out about them, can it be used against me in any way?¡± ¡°Short answer: yes, but only when you are above D grade, when you have a functioning core, and how the rules of opisets work. Let''s say if your core is mostly using life energy, then an enemy could flood the area with death energy. This will not let your core suck in life energy to bolster your strength; you would be limited to using only the energies in your body. It would be even worse for you if people figured out what your core is. But you won''t need to worry about that for a long time. So shall we get to it then?¡± Jake took in the fact that he already had a core; he didn''t know where it was, but he had one and, by the sounds of it, making one takes a long time. I should ask some of the hive queens about cores. ¡°Sure, my energies are mana and arcane, then life and void.¡± ¡°That is an unfortunate combination; it''s really going to be difficult, if not impossible, to deal with. Usually, I would say use both the arcane and mana to cancel each other out and reap the benefits, but with that extra energy in your body and there being no death for that one, I really don''t know. All I can say is, to cultivate void, you need an absence of everything¡­ Sorry, I really haven''t heard of this ever happening before; you don''t have an opiset, you only have the neutral mana and arcane. Sure, they are technically opisets, but not really¡­ Again, I''m sorry.¡± ¡°It''s okay, I will continue looking for an answer myself; you have given me plenty to think about. Thank you.¡± ¡°I wish I could do more; maybe if I get Zac to help out, we might find a solution, but it''s very doubtful.¡± ¡°Like I said, you have already helped me a lot. Now let''s talk about FTL engines; my guess is you don''t have them, right?¡± ¡°No, sadly, our scientists haven''t made that breakthrough in technology yet. The Venusians have been a space-faring people for a long time, but that little step has always eluded us. Would you be willing to sell us that technology?¡± ¡°What would be the payment?¡± ¡°I would need to speak to the king on that front. Is there anything you need in the meantime, like weapons, ships, or the like?¡± ¡°You would offer me weapons and ships even though we haven''t even made a trade yet?¡± ¡°Yes, I would. I would have to send my men along with them, but I think it would be worth it.¡± ¡°How about this: if you send someone back with me as an ambassador, I can contact my ministers and organise a proper agreement.¡± ¡°I like it. I''ll send Zac and two of my trusted guards. I''m sure the king wouldn''t mind; he did send me his daughter to help her with politics. This will be good for her.¡± Jake was stunned; the man that wanted a boy was the king himself. ¡°That''s fine, but I must warn you there isn''t much comfort on this ship; it''s just a transport ship, not a royal ship. It doesn''t even have quarters for the crew.¡± ¡°That won''t be a problem. Zac is a very curious lady. Just don''t become one of her experiments and you will be fine.¡± The two talked for two or so hours until Bask got a call from his ship. It seemed the invaders were not the only threat out here; a group of fifteen vessels from Mercury just broke through the Venusians'' defence line, so Jake escorted Bask back to his ship and sent his best wishes for his upcoming battle. Moments later, Jo returned looking worse for wear but with a creepy smile on his face. ¡°Go get some rest, big man; you''re going to need it.¡± ¡°Yes, sir,¡± Jo said before limping down the hallway to a bedroom made from old tables and some sheets used as walls. Moments later, Zac and two other female Venusians entered the ship, shortly followed by the sound of the warship disconnecting. ¡°Lady Zac, I''m sorry I can''t offer much in the way of hospitality, but you and your guards are welcome to take the beds opposite Jo.¡± Jake pointed at the beds running along the wall. ¡°So we can continue our experiment?¡± Jake looked over at Jo, then back at the three ladies. Then, with a smile, he said, ¡°Why not? He volunteered.¡± The moment Jake started walking away, the three ladies jumped the sleeping man; muffled struggles could permeate the hallway, only getting silenced when Jake entered the bridge. ¡°What was that noise, sir?¡± ¡°You two be careful around our new guest. I think their culture is a little different from what we were used to back on Earth,¡± Jake said as he sat down and ordered the ship to return to the moon. The next morning, the ship had begun its journey home, but Jake and the two bridge crew refused to leave their posts, as even through the bulkheads, noise could still be heard. It would only stop for short periods of time, beginning again in full force within the hour. Jake wanted to put a stop to it, but the two bridge crew talked him out of it. ¡°It''s better him than us,¡± they said, and Jake could agree with that sentiment. On the final day of the journey, just as the moon entered sight, the noises stopped. ¡°Do you think he is okay?¡± the two bridge crew asked; their faces were as white as sheets after listening to what was happening just outside the door. It seemed that in his struggles on the last day, Jo had made it to the bridge door but couldn''t take that extra step to safety. Jake finally opened the door, Jo''s head hitting the floor as it opened. The sight was something to behold; there was Jo, and in his right arm lay Zac, while his left had the first guard, and on top of him lay the second guard, all as naked as the day they were born. Jake lifted Jo''s head back up and slid the door closed once again. ¡°Is he even alive?¡± ¡°I don''t know, but we can now say humanity''s sexual desires have met their match in these people.¡± ¡°If even a brute of a man like Jo couldn''t handle it, how can anyone else stand up to this?¡± 78 As the repairo one came in to line up to enter the moon base, Jake activated the ship''s intercom. ¡°Five minutes out, get ready to disembark.¡± Jake then said to the two bridge crew, ¡°I would recommend keeping what happened to yourselves, but as a reward for all your hard work, take this ship into drydock for a rebuild. She could use a bit of love.¡± As the ship was coming in to land, Zac walked onto the bridge, chasing the two pilots to turn and face the beautiful Venusian. Their faces were in surprise as she looked as if the last few days had no effect on her. ¡°Alright, you two, let''s concentrate on landing before you both volunteer as test subjects.¡± ¡°Oh, they don''t need to worry; they''re good boys, but you, on the other hand, I¡ª¡± Jake held up his hand to stop her there. ¡°I''m not interested,¡± Jake said. ¡°I''ll take it as you''re not interested now, but later maybe.¡± Zac said with a smile before she sat in a seat beside Jake. ¡°So where is Jo?¡± Jake asked. Zac laughed and said, ¡°He''s still with Vili and Mili, and no, before any of you ask, they¡¯re not sisters, just unusual names.¡± ¡°So how did your experiments go?¡± Jake asked. Zac smiled as she pulled out her tablet and started scrolling through information. ¡°It seems this human space is very adaptable; out of two fertile test subjects, both have been seeded. This will need more experimentation before I find out why that is.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Oh, I should have mentioned this earlier: us Venusians have a seed rate of less than one in a hundred. So seeing that two out of two have been seeded is quite a thing.¡± ¡°So when you say more experiments, do you mean...?¡± ¡°I mean a bigger sample size, yes, and a bunch of lab tests.¡± ¡°Wait, did you only say two, didn''t you?¡± the bear man asked. ¡°Us Venusians only become fertile once a year; my fertilisation time was half a year ago,¡± Zac said with a sad face. Clearly, things didn''t go well for her back then. ¡°Anyway, let''s talk about you. What exactly is your species? You have horns but also a human figure. Are you human or something else?¡± she asked Jake. Jake shrugged and said, ¡°A bit of both, I guess.¡± ¡°So you''re a half-breed. Interesting. What was your mum?¡± ¡°No, I am a demon with a human form I used to be able to change into.¡± ¡°So you''re not human. That makes things more interesting, I¡ª¡± she started saying, only to be cut off by the ship landing. ¡°Welcome back to Shackleton base, sir. Emma, James, and Lady Everval are waiting for you in conference room five,¡± the voice over the ship''s radio said. ¡°Let''s go,¡± Jake said before turning to the bridge crew. ¡°Will you take care of Jo and our two guests? Send them to the infirmary or a private room,¡± Jake said. Moments later, Jake had left the ship and was standing outside the conference room. Jake opened the door before heading inside, followed closely behind by Zac. ¡°Husband, it''s been too long,¡± Jayne said as she jumped at Jake, changing into a snake moments before hitting him. She slithered down his neck collar and stayed in his exosuit while wrapping her body around his. ¡°I missed you two,¡± Jake said. ¡°So who is the nice lady behind you? Did you find another wife while you were gone?¡± Emma jokingly said. ¡°Nope, this one''s a bit much for me,¡± Jake said before gesturing over at Zac. ¡°I introduce Zac, the princess of the planet Venus and representative for her people.¡± ¡°So Bark told you. That man is going to get it when I get back.¡± ¡°I am going to get all my ministers together, so get your shit together. We''re heading over to see Erica. James, you can come too.¡± Just as Jake was about to leave, he also asked where Alric was, as Jake hadn''t seen him since the incident. ¡°Alric has headed over to Erica. It seems we lost a territory or something; I haven''t heard from him since,¡± Emma said. ¡°Get Annabel and her team. It''s a pity Jo''s out of action; I could use him.¡± ¡°Sorry, we may have gone a bit too far with him,¡± Zac said. ¡°It''s fine; he did his job, and by the sounds of it, he did it well. I''ll meet you all here in one hour. Zac, you can stay with James; he will look after you.¡± Jake left with Jayne to a private room. Five minutes later, Jake was looking over her stats. Name: Jayne Everval Race: Evolved Red Belly Black Snake Core: ?? Grade: F Information on F grade: Upgrades: 600 above previous. Anyone below this grade in the open universe will not survive unless protected by life-sustaining means such as planetary shields and the like. No F graders have ever entered space and survived for more than two years without adequate protection. Note: Levels are gained through cultivation; levels must be solidified by practical use. Solidified Level: 33. Levels required for next grade evaluation: 1000 total Cultivation Level: 1 Life: 0% Genesis: 0% Mana: 0% Arcane: 0% Class: Poisoning Striker Solidified Class Level: 420 Cultivated Level: 1 of 10%Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Profession: Demonic Poison Alchemist (Rare) Solidified Profession Level: 506 Cultivated Level: 15 of 90% Stats points available: 311 Conversion Multiplier: ¡Á10 Mana: 10,295,000 Arcane: 3000 Stamina: 6,816,000 Health: 10,150,000 Base Multiplier: ¡Á10 Strength: 100 Agility: 680,500 Intelligence: 300 Wisdom: 1,000,295 Perception: 2,000,800above mortal capacity. Stat points limited to a maximum safe levelfor an F grade. Temporary perception level: 1,000,000. Integrity: 1,000,500 Complete dungeons to advance multipliers beyond the starting ¡Á10 multiplier. A basic dual collection method has been granted to you by the heavens and a basic collection method. Note: Genesis energy can only exist with the void. ¡°So you want to do that. How does it work?¡± Jayne pulled out a reputation of the book and Jake''s face went a funny shade of grey. ¡°You really want to do that?¡± ¡°Sure, it''s a little odd, but it''s just like dancing, only not. Plus, once we become one with each other, we won''t even need to do all these steps.¡± ¡°Fine, we''ll begin with step one; that at least looks simple." Jake was about to sit down when Jayne started taking off her clothes. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Jayne pointed at the writing under the first image. "Before commencing step one, the bodies must be cleaned of all internal impurities and as bare as it was the day of birth." Jake frowned after reading that part. ¡°I''ve got a bath ready for us,¡± Jayne said as she grabbed Jake''s arm and dragged him to the next room, her curves glistening in the dimly lit room. Only once both were clean did the two head back. Jayne sat cross-legged in front of Jake, her hands out with her palms facing Jake. Jake replicated the same actions as his stunning wife. As the hands were about to touch, Jake entreated the cultivation technique by reaching inside himself and pushing out that feeling of emptiness he had felt ever since his parents died. Jake''s eyes opened when he felt a counter to his feelings; it pushed up against his heart. Its power was too great, so Jake closed his eyes again and dug deeper, remembering the time his best friend betrayed him and slept with what he thought was his fianc¨¦e at the time. This pushed back the feelings that were building up inside him to a more equal footing, but then once again an overpowering emotion hit him hard¡ªit seemed to want more, so that''s exactly what Jake gave it. He gave it the emotion of growing up in an orphanage where you wouldn''t know if the next day you would be sold to some creep for a bag of rice. Jake had even seen this happen; one of the pretty young girls just disappeared one night, only for a truckload of food to arrive the next day. Then Jake gave it more, like the time when his so-called cousins came to the orphanage just to poke fun at him. They did this every day for two years until finally, Jake straight-up broke their noses. Then, with a final push, Jake sentover one last emotion. He recalled every bit of it like it was yesterday. Jake''s mind flashed back as he lost himself in the past, no longer being able to tell what was real and what wasn''t. He could smell the air and feel the cool breeze; the alleyway was the same when suddenly someone yelled. "Fuck, boss, we''re in the shit now." "What is it, trooper?" Jake asked, followed by a round of curses. "Boss, they''ve got us surrounded high and low." Takinga quick look at what the situation was, he immediately picked up the radio. "Everval actual requests immediate dark night support." But only cold static came back over the radio. "Dark night, this is Everval actual, come in." Static again. "Fucking arseholes have hung us out to dry, boss." Radio static echoed down the alleyway. "Nobody is coming for you, Jake," a voice echoed out from a building. Static persisted to haunt the air. "Is that you, Adam? I haven''t seen you in years. How is your wife? Do you think she will be up for a bit of rough and tumble like we used to do?" Jake shouted over the gunfire. Bullets erupted, ripping through his men one after the other until only he and his final soldier remained. "Boss, it''s been a blast working for you," the trooper said, before taking a round to the neck, severing his carotid artery. At the same time, Jake took three rounds: one in the shoulder and two in the stomach. After Jake slumped over a stack of pallets, all that could be heard was the crackling of the radio. "Everval actual, hold on, we are coming for you, one minute out, Dark Night actual¡ª" These were the last pieces of memory Jake got before an emotion erupted inside of him: one of sadness, one of love, and pain. But Jake instantly understood these were not his emotions; these were the emotions of his wife. She had seen everything that had happened; she had felt it all, and most importantly, it was her Jake had been fighting this whole time. Jake finally gave up and let his defences down, unwilling to continue harming the one he loved. The impact on Jake was so great he was physically sent flying into the wall behind him. Pain shot up his spine, and his eyes shot open for a second as he gazed upon his crying wife, as her chest covered his face moments before everything went black. An hour later, Jake woke up still wrapped in an unrivalled embrace. Not being able to move and the fact that tears were still flowing from Jayne, Jake hugged her back and whispered three words he had said in the past but never meant as much as he did right now. ¡°I love you.¡± The two of them hugged for a good while before Jake finally opened up his stats. Name: Jake Everval Race: Demon of the Past. Unique Core: Haven Breaker, First Grade Restricted, Fully Unlocked at D Grade Grade: F Information on F Grade: Upgrades: 600 above previous. Anyone below this grade in the open universe will not survive unless protected by life-sustaining means such as planetary shields and the like. No F graders have ever entered space and survived for more than two years without adequate protection. Note: levels are gained through cultivation; levels must be solidified by practical use. Solidified Level: 78. Levels required until next grade evaluation: 1000 total. Cultivation Level: 1 Life: 0% Void: 0% Mana: 0% Arcane: 0% Class: Trooper Shadow Mage (Common). 2000 levels required until next major threshold. Solidified Class Level: 1099 Cultivated Level: 15 of 10% Profession: Arcane Smith (Common). 2000 levels required until next major threshold. Solidified Profession Level: 538 Cultivated Level: 0 of 0% Information: At common rarity, your profession will have less impact on the environment around you. Stats points available: 109,459 Conversion multiplier ¡Á10 Mana 1,000.000 Arcane 1,000.000 Stamina 2,000.010 Health1,526.500 Base multiplier ¡Á10 Strength 100.101 Agility 100.000 Intelligence 100.000 Wisdom 100.000 Perception 100.000 Integrity 152.650 Complete dungeons to advance multipliers beyond the starting ¡Á10 multiplier. A basic collection method has been granted to you by the heavens. Now that''s what I call cultivation. Wow, I even got levels in my class. Seconds later, the door to the room opened as Zac walked in, followed by James, but unlike the staring Zac, James bolted the moment he saw what was going on and who the two people were. ¡°Now that''s an interesting position. I would like to continue watching, but since my guide just ran off and didn''t complete what he was sent here for, you''re late to the agreed-upon time of the meet,¡± Zac said. Jayne changed forms and spiralled around Jake''s naked body, her tail covering his private region moments before Jake re-summoned his clothing and exosuit. ¡°Let''s go,¡± Jake said with not a care in the world, which for once actually put the good doctor in an awkward position. She just couldn''t cope with his utter nonchalant attitude; she was used to men lusting over her, but this man¡ªhe just didn''t care¡ªand she liked it. Her skin started to change colour to a more bluish tinge. This is bad; it can''t be him. she thought as her skin colour kept changing until she was no longer yellow at all; she was now blue from head to toe. Zac grabbed hold of her breathing mask and pulled it off. Oh yeah, this is really bad, she thought as she took her first breath of her new environment. How am I going to face father now? 79 Jake looked behind him at the now blue and oxygen-breathing Zac. ¡°Are you okay? What''s with the blue?¡± ¡°It''s nothing,just a side effect from my mother''s side, don''t worry about it. Actually, forget I mentioned th¡ª¡± Just as Zac was talking, her two guards ran towards her with an abundance of excitement in their eyes. ¡°Congratulations, Princess. May we ask who the catalyst is?¡± Zac''s eyes shifted to Jake only for a second, but it was long enough for her two eagle-eyed guards to pick up on, and they both spun and bowed to Jake, only for Zac to pull them into a side room. ¡°He doesn''t know, and I don''t intend on telling him. So keep it quiet.¡± ¡°But, Princess.¡± ¡°No buts about it, I should be saying congratulations to you both. It seems these humans are more compatible with our species than we thought.¡± ¡°What, really? Will they be okay? We don''t have the facilities out here, do we?¡± ¡°It is too early to tell, but things are looking good so far. But I can''t take you with me, so I will have to send you both back home.¡± ¡°Please don''t, Princess. I don''t want the matriarch to get involved with this. You know what she''s like; she''ll take them from us for study.¡± ¡°Okay, you can stay, but you must tell Jo about it. These humans can be a little strange when it comes to their children.¡± ¡°But he is just the donor.¡± ¡°Like I said, humans can be strange. Just see what he wants to do. If he goes the way we do, then good, but if he doesn''t, don''t hurt him. Let him have his family, and you two will need to take the oath just like what the king did for my mum.¡± ¡°Yes, but your mum is different. She''s a Neptunian star wrangler, an elite. Jo is just a grunt in these human spaces.¡± ¡°You two really need to put that type of thinking aside. Maybe go talk with James; he is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to his men. Just don''t try to get information about the catalyst.¡± ¡°But, Princess, isn''t it fair for us to at least investigate our ne¡ª¡± ¡°No, that''s the last time I want to hear you mention it. No one here is aware of what this means, and that''s the way it is going to stay. Plus, the man has a wife and no interest in me at all.¡± ¡°Princess, you can''t just give up. If he can change you into a Neptunian star wrangler, he is going to be hunted down and used as a political bargaining chip by your cousins, even more so after what happened six months ago. It would be better if he leaves that wife of his.¡± ¡°I have said it before; drop this now.¡± Jake was waiting outside of the room with really thin walls when he asked Jayne something he had been meaning to ask. ¡°How come it still feels as if we are cultivating?¡± ¡°As long as I stay in this position, our connection will grow, making our next time easier. It will feel a bit strange, but it will only last an hour; then, by what the book says, our connection will fade. We won''t get any energy from this.¡± ¡°That''s fine with me, but did you have to wrap around that part?¡± ¡°Well, the book says the man must be inside for this to work, so I''m more surprised it even works at all.¡± Jake¡¯s mind just went from being a little uncomfortable to absolutely horrified at what Jayne would have tried next. ¡°Wait, isn''t that step one of the latter ones? Yeah, I''m pretty sure that was the second last step. Are you by chance just taking advantage of your husband?¡± ¡°No, never,¡± she said while her body squeezed tightly around Jake''s body. Jake shivered as he held himself back from acting on his natural impulses. Moments later, Zac and her two guards exited the room, not even noticing the state Jake was in. They just began walking down to the conference room, not looking back or even talking. As Jake entered, Emma instantly asked where Jayne was and if she was alright. Jake simply said she was in her snake form, not wanting to elaborate on what she was currently doing. ¡°Are we all ready to go?¡± Jake asked while pulling out his transportation token and teleporting everyone before they could interject. Arriving just outside the old cottage moments later, Jake took everyone in the room. This included the ragged man slumped in a seat and Zac''s two guards. Jake walked over to the two guards and said in a soft voice, ¡°Remember, they''re your children, so you make the decisions here, but if you''re up to it, give the man a chance; you never know, he might just surprise you both.¡± Jake then asked Jayne if there was anything that could help get Jo''s mojo back. Seconds later, a small alchemy pill fell into his hand. ¡°Give him that and tell him to take it only if he has no choice. It should get him up and going, at least for a few days; then his weakness will return, and no, he can''t take any more than one. Also, tell him not to do anything strenuous, or he will die.¡± ¡°Alright, everyone, get to work. Find out what is happening here and if you can find me a man named Harry. Jo, you stay here.¡± Jake then looked over at the two guards and back at Jo. ¡°This is a very dangerous pill. It will get you up and active for a few days, but it has some side effects. Firstly, the way you are feeling now will come back, and secondly, if you do anything strenuous after taking it, you will die.¡± ¡°Then why are you giving it to me?¡± Jake looked back at the two guards before saying to Jo, ¡°I have a feeling you need your wits about you sooner or later. Why don''t you stay here and relax for a bit? The cottage is fully stocked, and there are plenty of reading materials inside.¡±This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡°Thank you, sir.¡± Jake left Jo and asked Zac to follow him over to the orbital elevator. To Zac''s surprise, his two guards didn''t follow; instead, they moved towards the small cottage, seeming to have made a decision. ¡°What did you say to them? I tried to get them to just talk to him but failed, and you got them to actually do it in a minute.¡± ¡°It was actually very simple. First of all, don''t try to dictate what they should do; give them options. Second, put some curiosity in their minds.¡± ¡°Do you mean by when you were talking to Jo, you kept looking back at us?¡± ¡°Yes, now they''re wondering what I said and if I had told him.¡± ¡°What did you say?¡± ¡°Nothing, I gave him a pill to keep him alert for a few days; that''s all.¡± ¡°That''s, that''s stupid.¡± ¡°Yes, it is.¡± Jake pointed back at the cottage. ¡°But it worked, didn''t it, my little Neptunian star wrangler?¡± Zac went pale. ¡°You know.¡± ¡°Not really, but next time you want to have a private conversation, try to pick a room with thicker walls. Let''s just leave it for now; you can tell me about it some other time maybe,¡± Jake said just as he got to the doors of the orbital elevator. ¡°Sir, it''s been too long. Would you like me to recall Erica? She''s currently working up there,¡± Alric pointed to the sky. ¡°Yeah, can you also set up a room for a meeting? I want you all to go over everything that''s happened before giving me your plans. Also, this here is Zac, the princess of Venus, and she needs to negotiate with you all about an alliance or something. To be honest, I have actually forgotten what they even wanted.¡± Alric just shook his head, then asked if Zac would like to come with him to meet the other ministers. Jake, then doing everything he came here for, didn''t know what to do with himself when a little chuckle came out from under his clothing. ¡°Oh, you just wait; you''re going to get it for what you did back there,¡± Jake said, only for Jayne to jump out of his clothing and change into her humanoid form. ¡°Too bad I''ve got a lot of work to do. I''ll see you later,¡± she said as she disappeared into the distance. Nineteen hours had passed; a day later, Jake''s mind still couldn''t calm. He had a stack of blueprints in front of him, but every one of them had glaring errors, some that even a child could see. The whole time Jayne was gone, he felt a sense of loneliness¡ªan emptiness that, before he practised dual cultivation, would comfort him now gave him anxiety as it kept hitting his body. It only stopped when the twenty-first hour rolled around. Jake opened his stats to see if any of the many blueprints he did had given him a level. Name: Jake Everval Race: Demon of the Past. Unique Core: Haven Braker, First Grade, restricted fully unlocked at D grade Grade: F Information on F grade: Upgrades: 600 above previous. Anyone below this grade in the open universe will not survive unless protected by life-sustaining means such as planetary shields and the like. No F graders have ever entered space and survived for more than two years without adequate protection. Note: levels are gained through cultivation; levels must be solidified by practical use. Solidified Level: 78. Levels required until next grade evaluation: 1000 total Cultivation Level: 1 Life: 0% Void: 100% Mana: 0% Arcane: 0% Class trooper shadow mage (common) 2000 levels required till next major threshold Solidified Class level 1099 Cultivated Level 15 of 10% Profession Arcane Smith (common) 2000 levels required till next major threshold Solidified Profession level 538 Cultivated Level 0 of 0.1% Information at common rarity: your profession will have less impact on the environment around you. Stats points available: 109,459 Conversion multiplier: ¡Á10 Mana: 1,000.000 Arcane: 1,000.000 Stamina: 2,000.010 Health: 1,526.500 Base multiplier: ¡Á10 Strength: 100,101 Agility: 100,000 Intelligence: 100,000 Wisdom: 100.000 Perception: 100.000 Integrity: 152.650 Complete dungeons to advance multipliers beyond the starting ¡Á10 multiplier. A basic collection method has been granted to you by the heavens. How is that possible? My void energy is full again. Jake instantly started to cultivate, cutting off his mind from what was going on around him and entering a deep state of meditation. Only stopping when he felt the void energy in his body disappear. Solidified Level 78. Levels required till next grade evaluation: 1000 total Cultivation Level: 2 Life: 0% Void: 0% Mana: 0% Arcane: 0% ¡°So it looks like with every session I do with Jayne, I get the chance of gaining two levels; I wonder if it''s the same for her?¡± ¡°What''s the same?¡± Jayne asked, snapping Jake out of his ravelry. ¡°Is everything working out fine?¡± ¡°Not really; I only got one level. I was hoping I could continue gathering Genesis energy after the time we spent together, but it seems I was jumping too far ahead. I think next time I won''t do that.¡± ¡°I don''t know about that; it was quite nice having you so close to me. Plus, I got one more level out of it.¡± ¡°That''s not fair! I do the work, and you get the reward. Fine, if it makes you stronger, I won''t be opposed to doing it again.¡± The two talked for an hour, but just as they decided to find a nice private place, Zac found them. ¡°Lady Everval, I have been told you are the one I need to speak with if we are going to finalise the agreement.¡± ¡°Fine, what''s the details of the agreement, and what am I needed to offer in return?¡± ¡°We are offering ships, weapons, and personnel for your army over time. In return, there will be two concessions. The first is the training of a select group of my people in the manufacturing and use of faster-than-light travel.¡± ¡°And the second?¡± ¡°Jake will need to return with me and stay on my home world alone for his safety.¡± Zac said. ¡°Fuck off, bitch! You think you can take what''s mine away without a fight?¡± ¡°That''s enough, you two. First of all, I will not be going with you, and secondly, don''t ever try that again, or I will quite willingly go to war with your entire race. If your people come for me or any of my people, they will become the enemy of the Heart Haven Empire,¡± Jake said. ¡°Now, if you would like to get back to the negotiations, what do you mean by ''personal over time''?¡± ¡°Well, that all depends on the new children made from my people and yours. I''m home will not be able to support them, so we''re giving them to your empire.¡± ¡°So you''re basically telling us to take care of your children and trying to sell it as a positive for us, then you demand compensation. I will take your unwanted children, but you''ll need to either stay and look after them or send people to do it on your behalf, as we don''t know the first thing about your species. As for the spread of technology, you can take that up with the lady you just pissed off,¡± Jake said. 80 Returning to the moon base, Jake and Zac were talking about the future. ¡°I will be leaving my two guards here for now and return with everything you asked for, as well as my personal house staff. You know this isn''t going to go down well back at home when they find out you have a wife. I never told you what happened six months ago, did I?¡± ¡°No, you didn''t. Why do you bring this up now?¡± ¡°The reason I even met you was because of it. As you know, six months ago was my fertilisation period and I kind of lost myself. I ended up killing close to an entire branch family and a Neptunian star wrangler just to get the man that changed her. First, let me explain one of the important things about a Neptunian star wrangler: they have a 90% chance of getting seeded by the one they are bonded to, and most importantly, they are fertile twice a year and for two months each time.¡± ¡°Why did you do it? Was it just to have children or something more?¡± ¡°Something more. A Neptunian star wrangler is an evolved form of my species; we gain a lot more than that. Did you know our children have a higher chance of becoming a Neptunian star wrangler themselves?¡± ¡°But that doesn''t explain why you wanted that man so badly.¡± Zac looked sheepish as she said, ¡°There is a high chance of change if you sleep with a taken catalyst. This is why I''m worried about you if they find out you didn''t even sleep with me.¡± ¡°So when exactly did you kill everyone? Was it before or after?¡± ¡°It was after. It didn''t work, and I lost my temper a bit.¡± ¡°A bit,¡± Jayne said as she laughed. ¡°But this still doesn''t explain why I can''t have a wife.¡± ¡°A catalyst can only ever be with the one he changed due to the fact that if he doesn''t, the one he changed will be stuck at their current cultivation level till they die.¡± ¡°Wait, is this some kind of dual cultivation?¡± ¡°Yes, but how do you know about that kind of cultivation?¡± ¡°Jayne and I are dual cultivators.¡± ¡°Your what?¡± Zac exclaimed, her heart thumping. ¡°But I have a question that''s been bugging me. Why do you breathe oxygen now?¡± Jayne asked. ¡°Once we evolve, we take on some characteristics of our catalyst.¡± ¡°Do you mind not calling me a catalyst? It just makes me feel like an object.¡± Ten days later, Jake and Zac walked towards a ship that had been sent out by the King himself upon learning his daughter was representing his entire race to a new species, one capable of faster-than-light travel. Onboard was a man named Viv Con Vay, a member of the same family Zac almost wiped out. He was only a guard, but still, if he found out that Jake was the person that changed Zac, things would go funny. That''s why Jayne was in her humanoid form with her arm around Jake''s, while Zac was standing by herself. The ramp dropped, and five young men walked out, followed closely behind by a lady who looked very similar to Zac. One of the men looked in the direction of Jake, but his eyes lingered on his wife just a little too long; he was like a man in heat, and Jake had a feeling this meeting was going to go very wrong. As the group arrived, the lady walked over to Zac and hugged her. ¡°It''s been too long, Mum.¡± ¡°That it has, and I see you have become a Neptuneian star wrangler finally; that''s great.¡± ¡°Yes, it is.¡± ¡°So who is the catalyst?¡± Queen Mandy asked, looking around for her daughter''s partner. ¡°I''ll tell you about it in private. Would you like to meet the owner of this moon and the man who is willing to give us what we came here for?¡± ¡°Yes, I would. I would also like to know the details of this deal.¡± That''s when the man with the roaming eyes walked up to Jake and Jayne. ¡°I have never seen a more beautiful lady in my life. It would be a real honour if I took you back with me as a prized concubine,¡± Viv said, not even looking at the man she was currently with. ¡°Husband, can I kill this fool?¡± ¡°You think you can kill me?¡± The man laughed as he walked back towards the queen and asked her a question whilst pointing at Jayne. The queen then headed over to Jake, with Jayne trying to stop her. ¡°Miss, it seems you have taken the eye of Lord Vay. If you come back with us, your position would be much greater than spending your time on this rock.¡± Jake went to interject, but the same man interrupted, ¡°You dare speak to our queen with your dirty commoner mouth?¡± ¡°I dare to do what the fuck I want within my own territory, and that includes summary executions of fools like you. Now shut the fuck up, and you, Miss Queen, your precious deal that your daughter struggled so hard for has just taken a giant setback from your actions alone. But as your daughter hasn''t seen you for a long time, you are welcome to stay with her,¡± Jake said before walking off with his wife beside him. ¡°Who does he think he is? I will have what I want,¡± Viv said as he went back to the ship. Zac, on the other hand, turned to her mum and said after everyone was gone, ¡°You wanted to know who? Well, you just found out, and you just tried to take away his cultivation partner.¡± ¡°His what? Then am I right to say you two haven''t?¡± ¡°No, not once; the man has never touched me.¡± ¡°Then how is this possible?¡± the queen asked. ¡°I don''t know, but I''m staying here with him, and I hope you make amends; otherwise, things will get really difficult for your people. He''s already warned me of his will to go to war. Now, after what you and that fool have done, I doubt he will be so nice as to warn us.¡± ¡°But he''s only got this little moon; what can he do to us?¡± ¡°It''s not just a moon.¡± ¡°What, he has some land on a planet?¡± ¡°He teleported me to a completely different galaxy where he owns an entire solar system, and it¡¯s likely he will soon have more. His power in this system is small, but outside of it is a different story. He could wipe your people out without even thinking about it.¡± ¡°You keep saying ¡®your people¡¯; don''t you mean ¡®ours¡¯?¡± ¡°No, like I said, I will be staying here, and from the people back on that planet, I will be taking my house staff, and that is all.¡± ¡°I don''t like this.¡± ¡°I don''t really care what you like or dislike; I found a path forward for my people and our new children.¡± ¡°Wait, you came here with two of your guards; where are they now?¡± ¡°Looking after the father of their children. He had a bit of a rough time, so they''re taking care of him.¡± ¡°No way, two with the same man. How is that possible?¡± Jake was sitting in his room cultivating when the queen knocked on the door, a strange occurrence; the Venusians don''t have this custom, so Jake instantly knew this queen had at least talked with her daughter. ¡°Come in.¡± The door opened as Queen Mandy graced the doorway with her presence. ¡°Have you come here to apologise or something else?¡± ¡°Queens don''t apologise, but mother-in-laws do. I''m sorry for what I did out there, and for the actions of my guard. He has been a very loyal man, so I wanted to pay him back for sticking by me. Again, I''m sorry, and I would also ask you to take care of my daughter. I will be leaving tomorrow to get things organised for her.¡± ¡°Wow, I didn''t expect that. You are welcome to stay, and it would be good if you talked with my ministers, at least the ones I have here, that is.¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I would like to, but if word got back before I did, things could get a lot harder for Zacaret. She has had it tough for some time, so I would like to get her away from all that mess back home.¡± ¡°If you''re willing, you can take this back with you.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°It''s simple paper with the terms and obligations of our alliance. I haven''t changed anything on it; if you don''t believe me, get your daughter to have a look.¡± Just as the queen was about to leave, there was a lot of talking followed by a scuffing noise. The queen opened the door and was about to say something when she saw her guard pinning Lady Everval down. His hands were reaching for her chest. A killing intent erupted out of Jake as he pulled out his pistol, only for two flashes to chop both of Viv''s arms off, and a large foot pinned the man to the wall while two swords pierced straight through the man''s chest, sticking him firmly to the wall, his eyes in shock. Then the man and the two ladies turned to face Jake, and all three knelt. ¡°Sorry I''m late, sir. I had a few things to sort out before I could come and thank you.¡± ¡°That''s fine, Jo. Don''t overthink it; it''s the least I could do for you. And please don''t bow to me; it''s just odd.¡± Jake walked over to his wife and helped her up. ¡°What happened? Why didn''t you just kill him?¡± ¡°I didn''t want to mess things up for you any more than what had already occurred.¡± ¡°Don''t worry about consequences; if someone attacks you, kill them; if someone threatens you, kill them; and if anyone has an issue with it, kill them too.¡± Jake walked over to the barely breathing man and poured a healing potion down the man''s throat. The man simply laughed as the healing took effect. ¡°You people are nothing to the power of the Venusians.¡± Viv looked over at the queen''s stoic face, then back at the man in front of him with a knife in his hand. ¡°What do you think you''re doing? My family will come down on you the moment they find out what happened here. Release me now.¡± ¡°Didn''t I hear your precious family fell into a calamity, oh, around six months ago? Tell me, how exactly are they going to come for you?¡± ¡°The king will not stand for this.¡± ¡°The queen is right behind me; has she stopped me yet? Has she even asked for your forgiveness? But don''t worry, I''m not going to kill you,¡± Jake said as he reached down with his knife, cutting the man''s roots and stem clean off. The man screamed in agony for a minute until the healing potion began working on healing his wound, but moments later, he started yelling as he felt there was a problem in the healing process. ¡°What have you done to me? I''m going to kill you all for this; just you wait.¡± Jake just grinned at the unic. ¡°Good luck ever getting your jollies off now; no amount of healing will bring that back.¡± The queen walked over to Jake and, with a curious expression, asked how this was possible, but instead of Jake answering, it was Jayne. ¡°He attacked a bloody poison specialist, and what''s worse for him is that the potion he was given was made by me. He is going to be in pain every day till the day he dies.¡± Jake then removed the two swords and handed them back to the ladies. ¡°Thank you for helping my wife; I will never forget this.¡± ¡°We were only doing what was right, sir.¡± ¡°Even so, thank you all. If you need anything, just ask,¡± Jake said to the group. The two ladies looked over at Jayne, then back at Jake. ¡°We would like to enter the service of Lady Everval.¡± Jayne walked over to the two ladies. ¡°Are you sure about this? You won''t have it easy working for me. Wouldn''t you be better off working for Zac? She at least will be in a relatively safe place where you can look after your children.¡± ¡°We are guards, Lady Everval; we''re not ones to play house. As for Zac, although she is a good person to work for, her profession doesn''t allow for good growth opportunities. But you will always need people like us around.¡± ¡°I will accept you on one condition.¡± ¡°What is that, Lady Everval?¡± ¡°Look after your children first. I don''t want you out in the field till your children are born and being cared for.¡± ¡°Yes, Lady Everval.¡± ¡°The same goes for you, Jo. Take some time off.¡± End of Book One. Stats at the end of the chapter Name: Jake Everval Race: Demon of the past. Unique Core: Haven breaker, first grade, restricted, fully unlocked at D grade Grade: F Information on F grade Upgrades: 600 above previous; anyone below this grade in the open universe will not survive unless protected by life-sustaining means such as planetary shields and the like. No F graders have ever entered space and survived for more than two years without adequate protection. Note: levels are gained through cultivation; levels must be solidified by practical use. Solidified Level: 78; levels required till next grade evaluation: 1000 total Cultivation Level: 2 Life: 100% Void: 0% Mana: 100% Arcane: 21% Class: Trooper Shadow Mage (Common); 2000 levels required till next major threshold Solidified Class Level: 1099 Cultivated Level: 15 of 10% Profession: Arcane Smith (Common); 2000 levels required till next major threshold Solidified Profession Level: 538 Cultivated Level: 0 of 0.1% Information: At common rarity, your profession will have less impact on the environment around you. Stats points available: 109,459 Conversion multiplier: ¡Á10 Mana: 1,000,000 Arcane: 1,000,000 Stamina: 2,000,010 Health: 1,526,500 Base multiplier: ¡Á10 Strength: 100,101 Agility: 100,000 Intelligence: 100,000 Wisdom: 100,000 Perception: 100,000 Integrity: 152,650 Complete dungeons to advance multipliers beyond the starting ¡Á10 multiplier. A basic collection method has been granted to you by the heavens. Name: Jayne Everval Race: Evolved red belly black snake Core: ?? Grade: F Information on F grade Upgrades 600 above previous; anyone below this grade in the open universe will not survive unless protected by life-sustaining means such as planetary shields and the like. No F graders have ever entered space and survived for more than two years without adequate protection. Note: levels are gained through cultivation; levels must be solidified by practical use. Solidified Level 33. Levels required till next grade evaluation: 1000 total. Cultivation Level 1 Life 100% Genesis 0% Mana 100% Arcane 50% Class: Poisoning Striker Solidified Class Level 420 Cultivated Level 15 of 10% Profession: Demonic Poison Alchemist (rare) Solidified Profession Level 506 Cultivated Level 36 of 0% Stats points available: 311 Conversion multiplier ¡Á10 Mana10,295,000 Arcane3000 Stamina6,816,000 Health10,150,000 Base multiplier ¡Á10 Strength100 Agility680,500 Intelligence300 Wisdom1,000,295 Perception2,000,800above mortal capacity; stat points limited to a maximum safe levelfor an F grade: temporary perception level 1,000,000. Integrity1,000,500 Complete dungeons to advance multipliers beyond the starting ¡Á10 multiplier. A basic dual collection method has been granted to you by the heavens and a basic collection method. Note: Genesis energy can only exist with the void. Name: Emma Moore Race: Human - Demon¡¯s Hand (unique) Core: ?? Grade: F Information on F Grade Upgrades 600 above previous; anyone below this grade in the open universe will not survive unless protected by life-sustaining means such as planetary shields and the like. No F graders have ever entered space and survived for more than two years without adequate protection. Note levels are gained through cultivation; levels must be solidified by practical use. Solidified Level 13. Levels required till next grade evaluation: 1000 total. Cultivation Level 15 Death 10% Mana 100% Arcane 50% Class: Healing Monk (common) Solidified Class Level 590 Cultivated Level 0 of 0% Profession: Demon¡¯s Hand (common) Solidified Profession Level 900 Cultivated Level 41 of 0.9% Information: To gain levels, you need to complete tasks given to you by the demon of the past. Levels will be granted based on the difficulty of the task given. Long-term tasks will be divided into parts. Name: Erica Blake Race: Nordicless Core: ??? Grade: F Information on F Grade Upgrades 600 above previous; anyone below this grade in the open universe will not survive unless protected by life-sustaining means such as planetary shields and the like. No F graders have ever entered space and survived for more than two years without adequate protection. Note levels are gained through cultivation; levels must be solidified by practical use. Solidified Level 356. Levels required till next grade evaluation: 1000 total. Cultivation Level 0 of 0%. Class: Axe Maiden (Common) - 2000 levels required till next major threshold. Solidified Class Level 99. Cultivated Level 0 of 0%. Profession: Minister (Common) - 2000 levels required till next major threshold. Solidified Profession Level 45. Cultivated Level 19 of 99%. Information: At common rarity, your profession will have less impact on the environment around you. Name: Alric Race: Spectral Core: Core of Solid Heart. Locked. Grade: F - Locked to the growth of the territory owner. Class: Spectral Plans Walker (Common). Solidified Class Level 590. Cultivated Level 1 of 0%. Profession: Minister of the Land (Common). Solidified Profession Level 900. Cultivated Level 41 of 0.9%.a 81 It''s been two months since the queen''s visit, and the only reports Jake had received regarding the Venusians were that Zac''s house staff had arrived on Earth and that their integration was going according to plan. Then there was a report from the scouts Jake sent out to Mars; it seemed the invaders had already subjugated the Martians and were now using that planet as an outpost for their invasion of the inner solar system. As for the outer planets, every ship Jake sent out never returned, leaving Jake with the idea that the invaders'' fleet was either bigger than he thought or they were getting assistance from the natives. One of the two options was preferable, but the other was one Jake didn''t want to think about, and he knew was more likely true. Knowing his planet''s track record, selling out their own wouldn''t be out of character for them. ¡°Sir, we''ve heard back from Eric on Earth. It seems the humans have begun extricating any species other than humans; the remaining beast folk are heading for your territory. Alric has also contacted us; he has begun creating a teleportation circle back on Aaliyah''s home world. Once that has been completed, his plan is to connect Earth to it and bring the new arrivals across. As for the war front, Emma has begun raids on the invaders'' transport ships, and the defence systems on Earth have just entered production. As for the front in your other territory, they seem to be having trouble with small-scale incursions being made by unaffiliated mercenaries.¡± ¡°Once Alric has made the teleportation system, send Emma over to the other solar system with a group of soldiers and any supplies they might need. That system is going to be our fallback position if things go against us here.¡± ¡°Yes, sir,¡± the man said as he went to leave. ¡°Have you heard from the Venusians? Are they sending ships yet?¡± ¡°Sorry, sir. We have heard nothing from them since we got news around a month and a half ago that Zac''s people were on their way.¡± ¡°Thank you for the update. One last thing: can you ask James to take over Emma''s role when she goes to the other solar system?¡± ¡°I''ll get on to that right away, sir,¡± the man said before leaving Jake and his wife alone. Once again, Jake got up and walked over to the washroom. Pushing the door open, he asked, ¡°Are you ready to try again?¡± ¡°How long do we have left before we have to go back to Earth?¡± ¡°Just over a day,¡± Jake said. ¡°That''s not enough time,¡± Jayne said sadly. Then she waved her hand, asking Jake to come over. Just as Jake entered her grasp, he was dragged into the bath with all his clothes on. Down on Earth, Eric was walking towards the northern border town of Cobram when a group of humans with weapons approached him. ¡°Halt! This is the territory of Jake Everval. Explain your business here.¡± The man in the lead launched into an unarmed attack; his fist split the air as it hit Eric''s shoulder, blowing it clean off. Eric was lying on the ground, most of the left side of his body gone. The man who had just hit him knelt down and said, ¡°Tell your boss Mark Wills will be waiting for his rematch, and this time I will win.¡± Mark Wills then threw a potion at him and left with his group of muscle-bound thugs. A half an hour later, Kiki and her people arrived. ¡°Eric,¡± Kiki yelled, falling down beside her friend. ¡°Who did this?¡± she snapped. ¡°A man named Mack Wills,¡± Eric coughed out, falling unconscious moments later. ¡°Take him back to the healers; you two follow me. We''re going to find this man.¡± The group split, three people escorting Eric while the rest went with Kiki into New South Wales. A day after Kiki entered New South Wales, Jake arrived back on Earth to help build up the defence lines. He was accompanied by his wife. Their plan was to stay on Earth and look for dungeons together, but the moment they landed, information had spread through the territory that Kiki had gone missing and that Eric, the leader of the new beast folk nation, had been badly hurt. Jake actually liked the sound of a beast folk nation, and he even planned on giving Eric a large territory token that was given to him as a gift from the King of Venus for helping his daughter find meaning in her life. The token was brought back by one of the members of Zac''s staff; she was a young girl, which made him worry at the time that all of Zac''s staff were young girls. But luckily, the majority were actually in their late twenties, and some were even men. However, Jake had a feeling they were only there for a bit of fun on the journey to Earth, as the moment they got to Earth, the men on the ship were told to go to the moon base, and they had been in orbit around the moon ever since.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Once Jake was given the location where Eric was recovering, he set off with Jayne and two beast folk. He wanted to get there as quickly as possible, so he gave the two beast folk a runabout each and even had Jayne pilot one herself. Having an extra set of eyes when the skies still had monsters Jake still couldn''t identify never hurt anyone, and the attacks from these unknown monsters that didn''t care about territorial claims had been on the increase lately. These monsters had already grounded most of the patrols, forcing them to conduct ground patrols, forgoing any flying, so what Jake was doing right now would only be described as reckless. The radio crackled as his wingman spoke, ¡°Sir, we''ve got movement up ahead. I think we should descend and go to full throttle; we might be able to blast through this group.¡± ¡°Let''s do it.¡± Pushing his throttles to max, the four runabouts blasted off into the distance, leaving a white streak behind them. Trying to identify the monsters again, the beast folk picked out the biggest one. Identify Race: Green Dragon Grade: Unknown Level: Unknown Weakness: Unknown Note: A green dragon is the youngest of their race; dragons are realm jumpers, and it is recommended to flee at first sight. ¡°It''s a dragon,¡± the beast folk screamed. Jake looked up just in time; he banked left just as a wyvern crashed into his right wingtip, sending him hurtling down into the forest. The runabout backed up as it ripped through the tree canopy and burst into flames. The only thing that could be seen of the crash from the sky was billowing black smoke rising out of the trees below. Jayne screamed through the radio as she pushed the runabout to its limits, jinxing left and right as she tried to get back to Jake''s last known location, but each time she got anywhere near the crash site, a wyvern would block her path. Jayne tried to get past multiple times, but it was an impossible task; the runabout''s weapons were just not a match for the thick scales of the wyverns. Jake was perched far up in the canopy of a very tall tree; his legs had been broken upon being ejected from the disintegrating runabout. He watched the struggle going on in the air, hoping they would just leave and save themselves, but his hopes were dashed when he felt it¡ª a pressure unlike any he had felt before descended down on everything, blasting the three runabouts clean out of the sky. He looked on in fear as each ship burst into flames upon impacting the trees, tears welling up in Jake''s eyes, obscuring his vision. As his body began giving out under the pressure, a booming voice echoed through the valley. ¡°The sky belongs to me; ants like you should know their place in the world¡ª¡± Jake''s body finally gave out due to the endless pressure pressing down on him from what may just have been a giant green dragon. Jake awoke some time later when the flames from the four runabouts began scorching his backside. Jake tried to use his wings, but with all the light produced by the flames, shadows could not exist, nor could he see a place that he could teleport to, and with his legs broken, he was stuck, slowly resting to death, screaming in anger at his lack of power. He looked up into the sky and summoned a fireball, throwing it directly at the biggest target he could see. ¡°Just fucken die,¡± Jake yelled as he watched the fireball travel up into the night sky. As if time slowed, the fireball was on course to hit when the flames faded until it finally petered out metres from the target. ¡°Fuck you,¡± Jake shot two rounds at the beast, only for them to fall out of the sky the moment they broke through the tree canopy. ¡°You are a billion years too early, little bug,¡± the dragon man said directly into Jake''s ear. The fire around the dragon blew out as if it was afraid of the man floating in the air. ¡°You killed my wife, bastard; I''m going to rip your heart out for what you''ve done,¡± Jake shouted at the dragon in human form. ¡°What are you on about, little bug? I haven''t killed anyone. Oh, that little snake princess¡ªshe''s your wife. Nice, aiming high for a bug. She''ll be coming with me. As for you, if you can find a way to the dragon realm, come find me. I''ll be waiting for you, little bug.¡± The man then threw a crystal at Jake. ¡°Take it; maybe it will help you.¡± Jake reached for the crystal, only for it to pass straight through his hand and into his head. The man then laughed and opened a portal of flames before stepping through, laughing hysterically the whole time with an unconscious Jayne in his arms. ¡°Get back here, you prick.¡± Jake tried to drag himself across the branch toward the fading portal. He pulled his body hand over hand. The last thing that Jake heard from the portal was the words of the dragon: ¡°Zim Bray, what brings you back so soon?¡± ¡°Tell the king I found his missing daughter.¡± Once again, Jake had fallen short, letting another person close to him down. He cursed at the dragon for hours until his throat couldn''t cope and his voice vanished, tears rolling down Jake''s face until no more would come. The only thing left in him was hatred¡ªhatred for the man that took his wife and hatred of himself. He was weak. He was so very weak that he felt less than a bug under that man''s pressure, and the truth was plain as day: that man wasn''t even the strongest of his race; he was just a servant, and the one he served was the father of his wife. Jake felt his heart ache as the crystal in his head began to heat up and turn red. Before information flooded his mind, there was one thing amidst the information that felt familiar to him: it was a video of Jayne, but not. It was a much older version of her. She stood in a beautiful field full of flowers. ¡°First, let me thank you for looking after my daughter. My name is Helen Ray, the former first concubine to King John. I am making this video to ask for your help. I request that you save my daughter and take her away. I''m sorry for what has happened to you and would like to offer you this last gift.¡± A red crystal exited Jayne¡¯s mum¡¯s head and landed in her hand. ¡°This crystal will help you advance your grade levels by passively collecting energy that you need for cultivating. You will be able to access this energy when you cultivate. Once more, thank you for all your help.¡± Her voice faded at the end as the image faded away. I don''t need you to ask. I will be doing that no matter what happens, Jake thought. 82 Opening up his stat screens, the first thing he checked was his ministers. Minister of Knowledge: Unknown Notification: Due to outside interference, the Minister of Knowledge has been marked as unknown. You can assign a temporary title holder until the original title holder has been located. A temporary title holder has limited actions until you either advance your grade or the original title holder returns. ¡°She¡¯s really gone,¡± he said, looking down onto the burnt forest below. The burning stretched to the horizon, and Jake didn¡¯t even care; he just wanted his wife back, and for that, he would burn the universe to ash if he needed. Jake then brought up another screen. Name: Jake Everval Race: Demon of the Past. Unique Core: Haven Breaker, First Grade (restricted, fully unlocked at D Grade) Grade: F Information on F Grade: Upgrades: 600 above previous. Anyone below this grade in the open universe will not survive unless protected by life-sustaining means such as planetary shields and the like. No F Graders have ever entered space and survived for more than two years without adequate protection. Note: levels are gained through cultivation; levels must be solidified by practical use. Solidified Level: 78. Levels required until next grade evaluation: 1000 total Cultivation Level: 2 Life: 100% Void: 0% Mana: 100% Arcane: 21% F Grade Energy Storage: Life: very low Void: very low Mana: very low Arcane: very low Genesis: very low Death: very low Note: Shards will be dropped for each energy type once it reaches the limit for your grade. ¡°I need to get stronger. Strong enough that no one would dare come after my people again,¡± Jake said as he pulled out a health potion and began to chug it back. An hour later, he did it again before climbing down the tree to look for the other two beast folk he saw crash not too far from him. Jake was hoping they somehow survived the crash and the fire. Climbing down the tree, Jake noted the locations of the other two crash sites and rushed through the apocalyptic wasteland towards the closest site, but upon arriving, he knew for a fact that there were no survivors left from this site. The runabout was blown to bits on impact with the ground, and still strapped tightly in his seat was the burnt corpse of one of the beast folk. After checking around the crash site, Jake saw a set of footprints heading in the direction of Jayne''s crashed runabout. Jake set out at full speed, arriving at the second crash site in seconds. Lying in the ashes was the second beast folk, the dog man named Onix. Reaching out his hand, Jake summoned one of his last health potions. ¡°I should have filled up on potions before we left. And we should never have flown.¡± ¡°Sir, we all knew the risks; we had to try something.¡± Onix groaned as Jake poured the potion into his mouth; the man started coughing up blood seconds later. Jake quickly checked the man''s airways and put him in a recovery position. The man continued coughing. ¡°I''m sorry, sir; I don''t think I will be accompanying you any further.¡± ¡°Stay with me, Onix. I''m not losing another member of this team. We will find Eric and save Kiki. Then I''m reactivating the Demon''s Hand mercenary group, and we''ll kill this fucken system and all those who get in our way. We will all become free together.¡± The man was coughing up more blood as he replied, ¡°Yes, sir.¡± ¡°Don''t speak, just rest. I will get you out of here.¡± Some time later, Jake was pushing his way through the ashes of the forest, sucking air as he went. Then, as he hit the base of a hill, the words of his old sergeant played in his head. He let out a groan and said it to himself, ¡°Lean into the hill.¡± Jake pushed on, drawing himself and Onix over one hill after the other, the hills only getting higher and steeper as he moved forward. If it wasn''t for the fire that burnt everything to ash, there would have been no way Jake would have made it this far. But the fire had long since faded, and now beasts were once again moving back into the area, and their aggression was beyond anything he had seen before¡ª not even that blutung lizard that tried to kill him, and that thing now seemed like a wannabe dragon.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°Once all this is done, I''m going back there to kill that arsehole,¡± Jake grumbled as he climbed another mountain. As he scrambled for the peak, he heard voices, and it was one he didn''t expect; Eric was at the peak of this mountain, stopping to catch his breath. For a second, Jake could hear parts of a conversation. ¡°Sir, we can''t find the cause of the fire; it seems it might have started deeper in than we thought.¡± ¡°Send a report over to¡ª¡± ¡°Sir, are we going to head out for Miss Kiki?¡± ¡°Yes, we''ve already wasted enough time with this mess. Pack up; I want to be on the move in two hours.¡± Just as Eric said this, Jake picked up the pace, and fifteen minutes later, he was close enough for even someone with almost no perception to hear him yell. ¡°We need help.¡± ¡°What was that?¡± One of the people at the top of the mountain said before looking over the edge of the near vertical drop. ¡°Who are you and what are you doing here?¡± ¡°Jake Everval, and I was on my way to see Eric. We were attacked by a dragon, which led to beast folk dead, my wife captured, and this apocalyptic wasteland,¡± Jake replied. The man mumbled to someone, then the one Jake had come to see peered his head over. ¡°Sir, we''ll have you out of there in a second.¡± ¡°Don''t worry about me, just take Onix; he''s in bad shape. So I can''t fly him up with me.¡± ¡°I''ll send some people down; just wait there a minute,¡± Eric said. A little while later, four ropes were thrown over the edge and four humans descended, followed by a female Venusian. ¡°Sir, I will take him from here,¡± the Venusian said as the four men untied Onix from Jake''s back and put him on a makeshift litter. The four men carried Onix back to the ropes as the Venusian checked his injuries. ¡°He''s going to need to be sent back to the princess for immediate treatment.¡± The four ropes the men came down with began lifting Onix to the top of the mountain. Then the four men went up. The Venusian turned to Jake and said in no uncertain tone, ¡°Don''t you read? If you did, you wouldn''t have tried to fight a dragon; instead, you would have just run. Just look at what mess you caused; that man is barely alive thanks to your stupidity.¡± ¡°Miss, I suggest you shut the fuck up right now since you have no fucken idea what fucken happened out there.¡± ¡°You think I''m scared of you, a man that plays at being king but really is just a boy with an anger problem?¡± ¡°Miss, go to your princess and ask her to send you back home because I don''t need people like you here.¡± ¡°You think you can tell the princess what to do? Ha! You are more delusional than I thought, Mr. Jake Everval.¡± ¡°Xi, shut the fuck up and get your arse up here now. You''re lucky the boss hasn''t killed you yet,¡± Eric yelled down to her. ¡°Fine.¡± She yelled up at Eric, then clipped onto the rope and, with a snarky grin, said, ¡°Why don''t you just die?¡± as she kicked out her leg, hitting Jake in the head as she was pulled up. Jake was sent tumbling off the cliff; he plummeted towards the ground, but just as he was about to hit, his wings sprouted out, lifting him high into the air. He circled around the mountaintop before he came in to land right in front of the lady. Jake raised his fist as everyone''s faces went pale¡ªthat was everyone but Xi; she had a smug look on her face like she was untouchable. Jake was about to hit her head off when he decided to stop. ¡°I fucken knew it. You can''t hit m¨C¡± SLAP The sound echoed into the distance, then Jake simply turned to Eric and said, ¡°I''m truly sorry. I owe you so much; please accept this as a token of my apology.¡± Jake handed Eric the token, then asked what direction Kiki was last seen. Eric, still shocked at what just happened, simply pointed in the direction of the Murray River. Before anyone could say anything, Jake had already teleported away. ¡°Sir, what just happened?¡± ¡°He showed mercy; that''s what happened here.¡± Eric then looked down at the token in his hand and gasped in shock. ¡°No fuken way.¡± ¡°What is it, sir?¡± ¡°Nothing, just got a little too excited for a second there.¡± ¡°Are you all just going to stand there? Help me up.¡± ¡°Get up yourself; you just can''t fucken do as you''re told, can you? What did I say before you went down there?¡± ¡°Not to irritate the man.¡± ¡°And what did you do? For fuck''s sake, your fucken princess sent you to me so you might learn to temper your arrogance, but who the fuck could have known you would fuck up so bad? Are you aware that man has never shown anyone mercy, not even me? But you thought it would be a great idea to piss him off.¡± ¡°So what if I piss him off? He''s still just a man; he''s there to be used, just like all of you,¡± Xi said before stomping over to the ship she flew here in. Her face was imprinted with a Jake-sized imprint on her cheek. She started up the engines and took off, leaving behind Eric and his men. ¡°That fucken bitch. Wait, where is Onix?¡± ¡°He''s on the ship with her,¡± one of Eric''s men said. ¡°Well, fuck, was anyone else on there with him?¡± ¡°It seems not, sir.¡± ¡°I hope she takes him to the princess quickly. Alright everyone, we''re moving out.¡± ¡°Which direction, sir? Are we going after Xi or the boss? We will need to split up; two of you come with me, the rest go after that stupid girl.¡± Three runabouts shot off after Jake while ten chased Xi. The ones chasing Xi would never catch up, as the single-engine runabouts they were flying were not designed for speed but emergency transport. Their speed was that of Jake using Dash, so at least the ones going after Jake might have a chance to catch him. It took them nine hours to finally catch Jake, and they only managed because he stopped for a rest. The three runabouts descended on Jake''s position; Jake was actually facilitated by the modifications that were made to his design. ¡°Very interesting. They''ve forgone any weapons and removed two engines. Oh, what''s that? They put on a powerful shield instead? That would explain the removal of the weapons and engines, but for what purpose?¡± Jake said to himself. It took them a little longer to land, as the power output of one engine just wasn''t enough to split over the many lifting thrusters on the bottom of the runabout, leading to a more circular motion than a direct vertical descent. Then there was the final part of the landing: landing gear extended from the hull of the runabout just before the three ships landed. Jake watched as Eric and two others of beast descent of some kind got out. ¡°Thanks for stopping, boss; there would have been no way we would have caught up with you.¡± ¡°I was just stopping for a rest, so what brings you here, Eric?¡± ¡°Firstly, I would like to help you get Kiki back, and secondly, I need to give this back. I can''t expect such a thing.¡± ¡°That''s yours, and it''s also a gift for your people. They need more options than just living in my land. Plus, I don''t want to make you all enemies of the system by proxy.¡± ¡°Sir, if you don''t mind me saying, screw that. This is our home, and if the system makes us an enemy, then it can just go and die,¡± one of the beast folk said, followed by the others nodding in agreement. 83 Jake laughed and asked all of them what they would do if the demon''s hand mercenary group was re-established. ¡°We would join, sir,¡± the two beast folk said without hesitation. But Eric stayed silent. Jake looked at the two beast folk and said, ¡°Even if I do re-establish it, I am not going to be part of it. It will be entirely up to you to figure everything out. That also means getting approvals and dealing with my ministers to operate in this territory, as well as any outside contracts you might get.¡± Eric looked over at Jake in surprise. ¡°Are you not going to take command of anything? You have ministers to deal with your territory, and now you''re even saying you don''t want any part of the mercenary group.¡± ¡°I only have one goal, and that is to get stronger, to get my wife back, and anything or anyone that gets in my way will die. Again, I am sorry for what I did back then. I let the power go to my head and left you with only one option. I won''t be making that mistake again.¡± ¡°So you say, but what about in the future when the group won''t help you or even goes against your interests?¡± ¡°As I previously said, anyone that gets in my way will die, but as for not helping me, I won''t do anything.¡± ¡°I think I can deal with that. I would be happy to take up my old position with the demon''s hand mercenary group on the stipulation that you and your people are not involved with it.¡± ¡°I couldn''t ask for anything more.¡± Jake activated the interface and re-established the mercenary group; only this time he removed any mention of himself or his people. Instead, he added in their place the words ¡°branch leaders.¡± He also removed the highest positions that could be held, and he even removed the term ¡°demon''s hand¡± from the name before giving command over to Eric. Then he said, ¡°It''s all yours. Now I''m going to save my friend. Are you willing to help?¡± ¡°The demon''s hand will assist in this matter,¡± Eric said with a smile. ¡°You kept the name,¡± Jake said. ¡°Most definitely. That only makes sense. It was the name of the group, and plus you''re not getting away from us that easily, sir.¡± Jake then received a notification with a simple question. Notification Request for Jake Everal to become an honorary elder of the reformed demon''s hand mercenary group. This elder position comes with no obligations. Yes/no ¡°You know if I say yes, you all will be hunted by the system.¡± ¡°We will take on the heavens if need be,¡± the three men said. ¡°You might just end up doing that,¡± Jake muttered before he agreed to their proposal. A moment later, the three grinned and said, ¡°It looks like we''re bound to your misfortune now, sir. We might just need to warn people about what will happen if they join.¡± The three agreed. Jake, on the other hand, was in the dark about all that had happened, so he asked. ¡°What happened? Did the system do something?¡± ¡°You could say that we got a warning the moment Eric asked you to join, but once you joined, the system kicked us out, and now we need to do something called cultivation to increase our grade levels.¡± ¡°Did you all get a cultivation manual of some kind?¡± ¡°No, it seems we didn''t. Is that bad?¡± ¡°Well, yes, but I think mine should help you at least.¡± Jake went over what he had learnt fromcultivation so far and let them practise for an hour just to see if it would work for them before he told them to catch up when they were ready. As he disappeared into the night, heading directly for the Murray River and passing through the small town of Numurkah, it was once a thriving little town with a nice little market and a beautiful golf club, but now the town was riddled with monsters and gangs of ex-drug runners that now rule over the small town. As Jake got to the town''s outer limits, he came into contact with a group of locals. They seemed to be shifting carts of produce into what remained of the town centre; the humans had taken control of the area from the pub back to the hospital, while the beast folk had the area from the Commonwealth Bank to the church, with the rest being contested or monster-infested. Jake waited for ten hours to see if Eric and his two men would arrive, but no luck, so Jake ended up just following the railway through the town in hopes of bypassing any trouble, and surprisingly, it mostly worked. He had made it through the human territory and the beast folk''s territory, but when he reached the area just outside of that, he was immediately spotted by a group of Hunters. These Hunters were a mix of humans and beast folk, which at first seemed strange, but with a second look, Jake noticed slave marks on the humans. The hunting party was made up of five beast folk and three female humans, each in a state of partial undress; at least that¡¯s what it looked like to Jake. He flashed into action, knocking out all five beast folk in an instant. ¡°What have you done?¡± one of the females asked in a frightened tone. ¡°I didn''t kill them.¡± ¡°That''s not the point. You hurt the son of the Great King Aaron.¡± Jake laughed, then said, ¡°If someone needs to put the word ''great'' in their title, they¡¯re definitely nothing of the sort. So tell me, what makes this Aaron a king so great?¡± The lady looked at Jake with amazement. ¡°You haven''t heard? The Great King slayed theevil demon Jake Everval and claimed his bounty. Now he rules over all of the evil demons'' territory.¡± ¡°So what is his grade, this so-called king?¡± ¡°The king is a magnificent E grade after completing the bounty.¡± ¡°Really? Does he have any proof of his accomplishment, like a title or something that has shown you?¡± ¡°The Great King wouldn''t lower himself to the level of a slave; we are just here to serve his magnificence,¡± the lady said. ¡°Have any of you even been into the town centre?¡± ¡°We of the lower races are not permitted to enter the great king''s inner sanctum.¡± ¡°So you''re saying you don''t even know that over half of this small town is actually ruled by humans. Your so-called king doesn''t even rule over this half of the town. Your king is nothing but a poser.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Who are you calling a poser?¡± Jake turned to look at who spoke only to see a 5-foot-tall rat man with more gold jewellery than Mr T. The human slaves were all bowing to this rat. Jake used Identify on the rat. Identify Name: Great King Aaron Footlicker Race: Ratman Core: n/a Grade: Redacted by a skill Weakness: Redacted by a skill ¡°I guess you¡¯re that so-called king that supposedly killed me,¡± Jake said. ¡°What are you talking about? The only man I''ve killed is the evil demon.¡± ¡°So you say. This demon, did he have a name?¡± ¡°Of course he does. The demon''s name is Jake Everval, and you should beg for his mercy.¡± One of the slaves screeched in anger at Jake''s utter disrespect for their king. The king, on the other hand, most likely used Identify on him. ¡°Sir, it seems we have had a bit of a misunderstanding. Can I offer you some refreshments?¡± ¡°No, I''ve got a mission to get back to.¡± ¡°Then can I get someone to escort you?¡± ¡°I don''t believe that will be necessary. Oh, there''s one thing I should say before I leave, and that is I''m not a fan of slavery.¡± Those were the last words Aaron heard as Jake vanished, leaving the man wishing he had never used that name in his scheme. The three slaves were just staring at their king in shock. ¡°Your Majesty, who was that man for you to show him so much leniency?¡± one of the slaves said before the others could stop her, but nothing happened at least until the king spoke. ¡°From today onwards, there will be no slavery within this town.¡± The slaves looked up at the king and began praising him for his kindness, only for a second later to be looking up at their king from an odd angle, and it seemed their bodies were no longer under their control. The king stood over three headless corpses. ¡°If there is no more slavery, there is no more need for you,¡± he said as three heads rolled along the ground, his blue shimmering sword covered in blood. ¡°Fucken hell, this is going to cost me a lot.¡± The blood on his blade was sucked into the blade before entering his body, where it began eating away at his soul. ¡°Only nine hundred two to go.¡± Jake left the small town, cutting a path through the low-grade monsters all the way to the Murray River. Upon reaching it, Jake laughed as he looked at where his territory ended. ¡°So New South Wales wins again.¡± Setting up camp on the banks of the Murray River, Jake began a short session of cultivation to help solidify his gains over the past few days of fighting and travel by using his skills as a means of transport, from short flights to dashes and then teleportation from the bottom of Victoria to the top, going over the Great Divide and down into canola country, and now sitting on the banks of the mighty Murray River. Now unrestricted by human intervention, the river was flowing clean and free, so clean in fact that the Murray cod could be seen clearly from the surface. The moment Jake set up camp, he received a very interesting guest: one with human-like features but clearly a fish man. He was covered in scales and had piping from his gills to a water rebreathing apparatus. Jake identified the man as he approached. Identify Name unknown Race: cod man Envy Core: ??? Grade: F Level: 10 Weakness: unknown ¡°Sir, my name is Envy Borg. I would like to ask you a few questions relating to your actions here?¡± ¡°I''m Jake, and I would be happy to answer them for you.¡± ¡°First and foremost, I would like to know if you are here to harm the children in the nursery.¡± ¡°Oh, sorry, I wasn''t aware this area was a nursery. I can move on if you wish me to.¡± ¡°No, you can stay as long as you aren''t intending harm to the children. We would also like to know your reasons for coming here?¡± ¡°Just to rest up, do a bit of cultivation, and wait to see if more of my people show up so we can find a lost friend.¡± ¡°Lost friend, someone like you?¡± ¡°No, not like me, a cat lady named Kiki. She crossed this river some time ago and we haven''t heard from her since.¡± ¡°I''m sorry to hear about that, but I might be able to help with that for a small fee, if you''re going to stay here for a while, that is.¡± ¡°What type of fee and what kind of help?¡± ¡°Let''s see. I can send out a request for information on your friend''s location and the approximation of forces within the area. This will only work if she is near water, though. As for the fee, how about this: you take some of the children away from here and deposit them in areas of flowing freshwater?¡± ¡°And what would these children be doing for you? Gathering information? Setting up for an invasion, maybe?¡± ¡°No, simple surviving. We don''t have the ability to fight off the humans and their meddling in the natural order, so if we spread out, we might be able to survive a bit longer.¡± ¡°What would you say if I put these children on a different world?¡± ¡°I would thank you, if that was even possible.¡± ¡°You''re an envy right, so if you go ask a person named Alric and tell him Jake Everval sent you, he will help with the relocation of your people. But for now, let''s help with spreading your people out.¡± Jake pulled out a crude map he had made on his way up to the Murray, marking all the rivers along the way. ¡°These are the locations of rivers I passed on the way here, and this is where you can find Alric. As for transporting your children, I don''t know how I would even do that.¡± ¡°That''s okay. With the information you have given us, we should be able to use the underground river systems and tunnels.¡± ¡°Wait, if you have underground rivers, why do you need the above-ground river systems?¡± ¡°Well, it''s actually something I would rather keep quiet about.¡± Jake and Borg talked for a bit longer, where Jake learned that his territory didn''t actually extend into the ground more than ten metres. This made his defence plan slightly redundant when someone could just dig a tunnel and pop up anywhere they wanted within his territory. Seeing how his territory was just letting anyone come and go, Jake was a bit worried about this issue. One other thing Jake learned was that Borg''s race actually evolved well before the system took over. The humans were very wrong when they thought the dinosaurs went extinct; really, what happened was only those that didn''t evolve were wiped out on the surface. But now, after the system event, they are all waking up, and there is not enough prey for them underground, so they will be coming to the surface to hunt soon. With every passing minute, Jake''s worries were getting bigger and bigger. It seems that the one dinosaur Jake saw after coming back from the tutorial was just one of many scouts. Jake did ask if the dinosaurs could claim territories like he had, and to Jake''s irritation, the answer was yes. Most of the inner planet was already claimed, and not just that; a quarter of the territory under Victoria, which includes the zones bordering New South Wales and South Australia, are also claimed. The good news was that the area under the Murray River was actually claimed by the Murray Cod people. As for the other areas, Borg didn''t know. This did make Jake feel a little better, as so far, Borg had been a stand-up guy, so hopefully, the rest of his race is similar to him in this regard. Once Borg left to complete his part of the deal, Jake went back to going over his gains and continuing with his cultivation. Stats at the end of the chapter Name: Jake Everval Race: Demon of the Past. Unique Core: Haven Breaker, First Grade, Restricted, Fully Unlocked at D Grade Grade: F Information on F Grade: Upgrades: 600 above previous; anyone below this grade in the open universe will not survive unless protected by life-sustaining means such as planetary shields and the like. No F graders have ever entered space and survived for more than two years without adequate protection. Note: levels are gained through cultivation; levels must be solidified by practical use. Solidified Level: 78. Levels required until next grade evaluation: 1000 total. Cultivation Level: 3 Life: 90% Void: 1% Mana: 100% Arcane: 10% F grade energy storage Life: high ¡Á7 F shards Void: low ¡Á1 F shard Mana: high ¡Á5 F shards Arcane: high ¡Á2 F shards Genesis: medium Death: low Note: shards will be dropped for each energy type once it reaches the limit for your grade. Class: trooper shadow mage (common); 2000 levels required until next major threshold. Solidified Class Level: 1109 Cultivated Level: 37 of 60% Profession: Arcane Smith (common); 2000 levels required until next major threshold. Solidified Profession Level: 538 Cultivated Level: 0 of 0.1% Information: at common rarity, your profession will have less impact on the environment around you. Stats points available: 110,259 Conversion multiplier: ¡Á10 Mana: 1,000,000 Arcane: 1,000,000 Stamina: 2,000.010 Health: 1,526.500 Base multiplier: ¡Á10 Strength: 100,101 Agility: 100,000 Intelligence: 100,000 Wisdom: 100.000 Perception: 100.000 Integrity: 152.650 Complete dungeons to advance multipliers beyond the starting ¡Á10 multiplier. A basic collection method has been granted to you by the heavens. 84 no new levels, no merging of skills, nothing. ¡°So that''s it? I get basically a step-by-step guide on how to use arcane smithing in combat, but I get nothing for it,¡± Jake said before getting up and summoning an attuned arcane flame and a reactive mana barrier over his body. The flame would zip one way and then the other at Jake''s command. Finally, at this point, Jake did the unthinkable: he jammed a very large metal pole with a sharp point in the ground before he launched himself straight into the air, followed by a quick and sharp descent directly over the large point. But just as he hit the pole, a hammering sound reverberated out from Jake''s chest, and the metal pole changed shape as it bent around Jake''s body. ¡°Fuck yes, it worked.¡± Notification Self-made skill rare (insert name). Change the form of any metal objects restricted to metal that has not been embedded with energy or has been soulbound. ¡°Awesome, it''s a new skill and one that I created alone, and not something that asshole system could have any impact on.¡± He then looked up at the sky and shouted, ¡°Fuck you and your system, I''m in control now, bitch.¡± Jake said to himself, not realising there was a person standing behind him. ¡°Mr, who are you talking to?¡± a young male beastfolk of the local fox tribe asked. The little fox was no older than ten, and he was one of the few beastfolk that were shunned after the system due to the lack of talent in the basic transformation skill. This young fox may be standing on two legs, but he clearly didn''t have many humanoid characteristics. His face was that of a fox, and his eyes were the same; the only things that were different were his arms and hands, but even they were still covered in fur. His legs were still shaped the same as a fox''s. ¡°No one, just a man that wants me dead. So what brings you out to a place like this?¡± ¡°Didn''t you say something about a system, oh wait.¡± Jake felt a tingle in the back of his mind for a second, then the look on the young boy''s face suddenly changed. ¡°Um, Mr, are you by chance Jake Everval?¡± ¡°What was that you just did?¡± ¡°It was a skill I evolved. It normally lets me know all sorts of information.¡± ¡°So why then did you ask my name? Did the skill not work or something?¡± ¡°No, it didn''t and what''s more, I was given a quest by the system, one I''m not sure I can even complete. Then there''s that punishment for failure. What the fuck is that about? I really wish I didn''t come here today.¡± ¡°Can I help you with the request?¡± ¡°Only if you''re willing to die. This is absolutely ridiculous. I first get kicked out of my home for not being able to use these stupid skills from the system, then I stumble across a calamity on two legs. Now what? The system itself has deemed me a waste and wants me to die at your hands! What, in an attempt to kill you? For fuck''s sake, I''m only thirteen.¡± ¡°If you''re willing, what happens if you fail?¡± ¡°I fucken die, that''s what happens to me.¡± ¡°The system can''t kill you; it doesn''t have that ability.¡± ¡°And what? I''m supposed to just believe you?¡± ¡°If it could kill people, why hasn''t it killed me?¡± ¡°I don''t fucken know; I''m only thirteen.¡± ¡°How about this: I have a skill I haven''t used in a long time. It might just be able to help you, but it will come at a price.¡± Jake looked over his race skill just to double-check his idea. Race Skill Master of the Lost (Unique) Those who have lost their way in life can get a second chance. By following the demon of the past, they can find hope in what once was lost. Well, it would be nice if I could help, but last time I lost so much. But at least this time I won¡¯t be interfered with by the system. It would be nice to know what the actual cost of the skill will be. Jake thought as he waited for a reply from the young fox.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°Say, I believe you. Why would you try to help someone like me? Out of all the skills I have, the only one I can use just failed. Look at me, I can''t even change forms.¡± ¡°What''s your name, kid?¡± ¡°Five of Nine and Eight.¡± ¡°So, Five then. Do you have a place to call home? Or a path you wish to follow? Because my path is to get stronger than everything and everyone that stands between me and my goals. If you don''t have a path, I can give you one.¡± ¡°That doesn''t answer my question; why?¡± ¡°For the simple reason I want to try. This doesn''t mean I''m a good person or anything, just so you know. I really just want to see what will happen now that the system is not butting in.¡± ¡°Oh, fuck it. How bad could it get anyway? Let''s just take the chance and see what happens.¡± Jake smiled as he activated his skill, only for this time to receive a notification. Notification You have activated the skill Master of the Lost. What path do you wish Five of Nine and Eight to take? Options High-ranking paths Cost: 1000 grade levels Mid-ranking paths Cost: 100 grade levels Low-ranking paths Cost: 10 grade levels More paths may open up as your grade level increases. Any low and mid-grade users can be promoted by a high-ranking member of the same path if the minimum criteria have been met, or by the demon of the past. ¡°So, if I gave you a choice of three paths forward, one being a Servant path, another being a Warrior path, and the final one a path of knowledge, which would you choose?¡± Five was just standing there, not really understanding the question, when out of the blue, he said, ¡°knowledge.¡± ¡°Interesting. Is there a reason you picked that one?¡± ¡°I''m not one that likes to fight, and the idea of serving someone doesn''t sound good to me.¡± ¡°So then you like to learn new things?¡± ¡°Kind of. I did evolve that one skill by myself, and I''m looking at changing this ridiculous form-changing skill into something useful.¡± ¡°Fine, I will see what I can do.¡± Jake selected Librarian and instantly felt his levels drop. He opened up his stats to check, only to see he had lost six Solidified Levels. Solidified Level: 72. Levels required till next grade evaluation: 1000 total Cultivation Level: 0 Life: 100% Void: 15% Mana: 100% Arcane: 100% I guess that makes sense; the levels I cultivated were used first, so this means I might be able to actually use this skill in the future if I can cultivate up enough levels, that is. Notification You have changed the path of Five of Nine and Eight to a Librarian. He now has access to the skills. Lost knowledge (common) The user can access the knowledge of the recently deceased. Stable memory (common) The user''s memory of any knowledge they acquire will remain in their memories for up to one month before they begin to fade. Apprentice scribe (common) The user can make all the materials needed to be an apprentice scribe. ¡°Are you happy with that? And did it change anything other than giving you some new skills?¡± ¡°Yes, it changed a lot, but firstly, how the fuck do I cultivate?¡± Jake laughed, then the two sat down, Five in his fox form, as the other one was taking too much out of him, and he just couldn''t be bothered keeping it up, so they just talked for a while, Jake going over everything he knew about cultivation, even going so far as to offer up one life shard and one mana shard as a gift to the young fox, giving the kid a little bit of a jump-start. Jake would have given him an arcane shard if he had any, but as Jake was coming to realise, this solar system was very lacking when it came to that. They talked for a good while until finally a familiar face came out of the tree line. ¡°Eric, you''re finally here!¡± Then, as if he had been waiting, Borg exited the water. ¡°We have found her; she''s currently in the destroyed airport at Albury. She is also in a bad state. I have sent some people to keep an eye on the situation there. They will try to get her out, but they will not put their lives in danger to do so.¡± ¡°Thank you, Borg. I will be on my way now. Oh Five, what will you be doing? Are you coming with us or staying around here?¡± ¡°There''s nothing here for me, so I''ll come with you. Just don''t get me killed.¡± The group of twelve set off to their destination, Jake was carrying Five as he couldn''t keep up at all; after all, he was only a low-level G grade at best. ¡°So, Five, what made you want to join us?¡± Eric asked. ¡°Didn''t have anywhere else to go, plus I believe sticking with this calamity of a man might just be for the best. After all, I can actually cultivate while he is carrying me, and then I''m also pretty sure wherever he goes, people will die, and then I can start getting some of those sweeties for my new collection.¡± Eric and the others all stopped in their tracks while Jake and Five continued. It wasn''t for some time before Jake spoke, holding back his internal laughter. ¡°I think you might have phrased that one wrong.¡± Five, on the other hand, was a bit confused about why their party members just stopped all of a sudden, only now understanding it was him. ¡°Oh, now that I think about it, that sounds like I''m some kind of weirdo that creeps on the dead, doesn''t it?¡± ¡°It sure does,¡± Jake said. ¡°Do you think I should explain myself to them? I don''t want them getting the wrong idea about me.¡± Jake hummed to himself for a second, then replied in a tone that projected confidence. ¡°No, that will do more harm than good.¡± After saying this, a slight grin escaped the corner of Jake''s mouth. ¡°That doesn''t sound like the right thing to do, but I''ll take your advice.¡± Jake felt bad for what he had just done; he was about to tell Five the truth when, out of the trees, a group of drop bears attacked. Identify Race: Dropbear King Core: Sudo mana core Grade: F Level: 70 Identify Race: Dropbear Queen Core: Sudo mana core Grade: F Level: 75 Identify Race: Dropbear Juvenile Core: Sudo mana core Grade: G Level: 5 Identify Race: Dropbear Juvenile Core sudo mana core Grade G Level 10 85 ¡°Arr, what the fuck is that, it''s so fucken hideous, kill it with fire.¡± Five shouted as Jake dashed out of the way of one attack but into the path of the second. The king was the first to attack, followed by the queen; she came out of nowhere, striking at Jake''s dashing form. ¡°Left,¡± Five shouted, followed by a too late warning as the drop bear''s claw slammed into Jake''s reactive mana barrier. This was another thing Jake had thought of, by using his alchemy skill to create a barrier that can move in an instant to whatever place it is needed and do it all without any conscious thought needed by its caster. ¡°Wow, that was lucky; on your right, there''s a small one coming in.¡± Jake looked to his right just in time to see one of the juveniles coming in, its arms flailing in the wind as it ran towards Jake, stepping to the left with a fireball in his hand as the drop bear approached. The sound of the impact was tremendous, and the explosion that followed blew apart the little juvenile. The only part remaining of the juvenile was its flaming torso. ¡°Nicely done, now just three more to go.¡± Roars of anger ripped through the air as both the king and the queen lost all sense of logic, attacking wildly. ¡°Oh ho ho, you''ve really pissed them off now. If only we didn''t just leave the others back there.¡± Jake''s face contorted as he couldn''t help but listen to the little fox. ¡°You know you could help,¡± Jake said back to the fox. ¡°Me? I''d be as dead as that little baby you just murdered if I tried to help, not to mention I don''t have a class, so what would be the point in that.¡± ¡°Fine then, don''t help, but at least shut up so I can fight.¡± Just as Jake said that, the queen hit him hard to the point it shattered his mana barrier and sent him flying backwards, slamming into a tree fifty metres away. Coughing up blood, Jake heard a voice from beside him. ¡°You know, I actually saw that coming. But you did say I wasn''t allowed to tell you.¡± ¡°Fine, just do what you want. We need to win this fight or we''re both dead.¡± ¡°That''s more like it; listen to my many years of wisdom.¡± ¡°What many years? You''re still a child.¡± ¡°Yeah, but at least I don''t go around killing babies. That poor thing didn''t even have any memories yet.¡± ¡°Really? Just going to keep going on about that? It tried to kill us.¡± ¡°On your right.¡± The other juvenile popped its head out of the bushes beside Jake only to be impaled on Jake''s fist. Screams of horror escaped its mouth as it looked down at what had happened to its chest. ¡°Why?¡± was the last and only word Jake had ever heard from the juvenile drop bear. ¡°Interesting, did you know that one was actually a crossbreed?¡± ¡°What was it crossbred with, fuck.¡± The queen came down from one of the branches, slashing towards Jake''s neck¡ªor to be more precise, the fox that was sitting there. Jake dashed to the side, followed directly by a quick teleport and a couple of sharp stabs toward the bewildered queen¡¯s back before she noticed. Jake''s stats were dropping faster than he had thought possible. It wasn''t enough to hinder him yet, but if this fight continued at this pace for much longer, Jake would run out, and without any more potions, there would be no way to recover enough. Even his race skill, Eyes of the Lost, which gives him 100 points to all stats every minute, felt lacking. The real problem Jake was having was the fact he hadn''t actually been in a drawn-out fight since he became his own system. One could say since that moment, the only real fight he had been in was the one with that dragon, and in that one, Jake burnt through his stats so quickly that he didn''t notice this issue. All of his skills were costing more to activate or keep activated. He did have a skill that could, in a pinch, give him a 30-minute break, but that too would cost him. At least the cost was a known quantity, but using it would only leave him with one course of action left, and that would be to run, escape, flee while his four lost servants distracted the two dropbears. Jake sighed as he gave it one more shot; this time he pulled out his pistol as the king was about to attack,firing round after round at the monster, only to watch them bounce off the king''s large grasping hand. He activated his teleportation skill to escape. ¡°So, have you decided what to do yet? Are we going to scarper or what?¡± ¡°I can''t kill them, and my only other option is to escape, but which way should we go?¡±Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Does it matter? As long as we''re safe, we can fight another day.¡± ¡°But if we leave, Eric will end up fighting them instead.¡± Five didn''t reply to this last statement; instead, he shouted for Jake to dodge seconds before the ground exploded underneath his feet. Jake flew through the air, being pushed forward by the shock wave. ¡°What the fuck was that? Can they use magic now?¡± Jake asked the only creature willing to talk to him right now. ¡°How the hell do I know? It''s not like I know everything about these monsters. These are the first ones I''ve seen, and all I got out of the ones you killed was that one was a crossbreed and the other was way too young to even form a coherent set of memories. The only thing I got from him was that his pseudo mana core would grow to a point in F grade where it would take over as his source of power. Wait a minute, if that is the case, then those two can use mana to explode the terrain wherever they want, right?¡± ¡°I don''t think that''s all they can do,¡± Jake said, watching the queen fly through the air towards him. Beside her, there was a flame unlike any Jake had seen before. ¡°The mana she must be spending to maintain that must be enormous,¡± Five exclaimed. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m thinking these cores are going to be a problem.¡± The queen slashed down with what looked to be a gigantic hand made of pure mana; even the air ripped apart as it approached. Jake first tried teleporting away, but it seemed the skill had been restricted by the King himself; he was holding a staff and chanting some kind of incantation. ¡°Oh no, we''re fucked now,¡± Five exclaimed upon seeing the situation the two of them were in. ¡°It¡¯s okay, Five; he¡¯s only restricting some movement skills.¡± Jake dashed forward in hopes of closing the distance to the queen, but just as he thought he was about to reach her, his mind went blurry as he found himself in the same location as where he began his attack. ¡°Oh, fuck,¡± Jake said as he looked up, the gigantic hand inches away from him. The earth shook as the hand pressed down, creating a deep hole that instantly began to fill with water from the adjacent river. Minutes earlier, Eric and his people were trying to catch up after their stupid mistakes. ¡°Why did we all stop? How stupid are we? Of course a companion of Jake would be a bit strange; after all, his wife is a snake,¡± one of Eric''s people said as he hit a rock mid-stride, sending him hurtling to the ground, his face bouncing up and down as his body slowly came to a halt at the base of a massive gumtree. ¡°Can you not be an idiot? Get up, you fool; we don''t have time for your games,¡± Eric said as he reached down to give the man a hand. Bang! The air around the group trembled as shock wave after shock wave advanced from the epicentre of some kind of battle not too far from them. ¡°What was that? Did you all feel the power in that?¡± the man on the ground asked. ¡°Of course we did! Do you think we are that stupid not to notice the giant fucken explosions going off? Now, are you done, or would you like to waste more fucken time?¡± Eric said as he helped the man up. ¡°Sir, do you think that was Jake?¡± one of the other people in the group asked. ¡°Probably; that little fox was right about one thing: wherever Jake goes, death always seems to follow close behind.¡± The group set off in the direction of the explosion with a fair amount of haste in each step. Shortly after setting off, Eric started to get a lead on the rest of his group; he didn''t slow his pace, not even when his group was out of sight. He had a goal to complete, one that Jake gave him personally, and that goal was to protect a little creature from Jake''s bad luck. But it seemed he was going to be late and unable to complete this task; the feeling of failure was creeping up on him with every passing second. It was not because Jake asked him to do this job, but that Jake realised his impact on those around him that made Eric push so hard. As he was running faster than ever before, he received his first notification, and one that threw him for a loop. Notification Race evolution king of the beasts (unique) As the king, you hold limited sway over the actions of any evolved beast below your grade. Protect your children from harm and bring about the new order. Notification Race skill Restricted movement (unique) Once activated, any hostile beast within the affected area will feel as though they are fighting in quicksand. The effect can be nullified by the hostile using large amounts of mana. Notification Title Fight above (common) Fighting enemies above your level gives you a twenty percent chance of forming a temporary pseudo core of ether mana or arcane. The temporary core will last for the duration of the fight. Notification Profession changed Protector (common) Protect the weak from those that would do them harm; atone for your past. Profession skill Skill Hands of hope (common) Form hands made of pure mana from the surrounding environment to shield your target for three seconds. Warning: overuse will permanently weaken the caster''s ability to cultivate mana. ¡°I suppose that makes sense. I should never have killed you. If this is how you have chosen for me to atone for that, I will accept that for you.¡± Eric smashed through a bush as he spear-tackled a large bear-like creature with a staff just before attempting his first activation of the hands of hope on what looked to be Jake. In his mind, a prize wheel spun slowly, ticking away as he activated restricted movement in the area around him, capturing the staff-wielding bear-like creature within it. ¡°Fuck you, ugly,¡± Eric said just as the gigantic hand smashed into the ground, sending chunks of earth flying for tens of kilometres, ripping apart every tree they hit. 86 Darkness closed around Jake as he saw his friend hit the king. Bang! The ground around Jake erupted as the air around him filled with dust. A set of warm hands opened in the shape of a blooming flower with Jake and Five emerging from the centre as if they were reborn. As the dust began to settle, Jake was looking up at the queen, his eyes staring into her as if they were thousands of tiny daggers. She looked as though she had given up her everything with that last attack; her face, once full of life, was now a figment of its former self. The rest of her body was just skin and bone. Jake raised his pistol, but before he could fire, Eric was there, his hand grasping the end of Jake''s pistol. ¡°I can''t let you hurt them, sir.¡± ¡°They tried to kill me. Why shouldn''t I kill them in kind?¡± ¡°Mercy, just look at the state she is in right now. Do you think killing her now would be a good end to this fight? When I stepped in to save Five, the true end to this fight was changed in favour of you.¡± ¡°So you''re saying I should treat this fight as a loss, then?¡± ¡°No, I''m saying you should treat this fight as incomplete. It seemed you were being pushed quite hard by these two, so imagine what the fight will be like next time you meet them on the battlefield.¡± ¡°You''re not going to move, are you?¡± ¡°No, sir, I cannot let the weak be hurt; it is my path.¡± ¡°Your path.¡± Jake sighed, then continued, ¡°Okay, I will leave¡ª¡± Jake looked over at the king lying on the ground with one of his legs blown off. ¡°I''ll leave them both to you while I go save Kiki.¡± Eric dropped his hand and said to Jake to be careful and that the man that attacked him was very strong. ¡°Last chance, are you staying or not?¡± Jake said to Five. ¡°What benefit would there be in staying here? This man won''t let anyone kill those with any tangible memories.¡± ¡°Fine, hold on tight; this is going to get rough.¡± Just as the end of the sentence finished, Jake teleported away, repeating the action again and again till Five just couldn''t take it anymore. After heaving up what remained in the little fox''s stomach and letting him clean himself up, Jake pointed in a direction and said, ¡°She''s over there.¡± The only thing that could be seen in that direction was a large airfield, once open but now covered in dense trees and long dead grass. The only other things that could just be seen over the grass were some rundown buildings. ¡°Over there, in that clearly not a trap place. Come on, whoever set this up must be the dumbest person in the universe; who would be so stupid as to walk into that?¡± Five said as he climbed back up onto Jake''s shoulder. Gazing off into the distance for a minute, Jake turned his head to look at the little fox. ¡°You don''t have to come.¡± ¡°Don''t be ridiculous; I really want to meet the man who is willing to go up against you. Plus, I really want his memories.¡± ¡°If it''s the man I think it is, I have plenty of questions for him,¡± Jake said as he slowly looked back in the direction of the abandoned airport. ¡°So we''re really going in there?¡± Five asked. ¡°Yeah.¡± Jake sighed at the end of his response. ¡°Let''s get this done and go home.¡± Jake lunged into a sprint, heading straight towards the old hangars. Moments later, explosions rang out from either side of him, the long grass erupting into an inferno, flames so large they blocked out the sky. Stepping forward, a path opened up. ¡°Looks like they want us to go that way.¡± ¡°You don''t say. Shall we head deeper, or maybe there''s a different path we can take?¡± Five said before looking at a spot in the flame wall that was slightly different from the rest. ¡°I think you might be right.¡± Jake walked over and punched the flame, his arm passing straight through the wall, his fist only stopping when it connected with the face of his enemy. ¡°Whoa, right in the face! Nice shot. Do you reckon she will get back up?¡± ¡°Probably. I didn''t put much force into it. She should wake up soon,¡± Jake said as he tied the lady up. ¡°Did you know in the past, what you''re doing to that lady could be seen as¡ª¡± ¡°That''s enough, Five. We''re not doing this,¡± Jake said as he stood up after hog-tying the middle-aged lady. Leaving her behind, Jake walked at a predetermined pace towards the place he believed his enemy would be. As they approached the building, Jake looked behind him at the roaring fire.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°Do you think they even know we''re not in there?¡± Jake asked. ¡°Come on, they have to know by now, right? It''s not like you were quiet when you were tying up that curly brunette back there. Why were you so grunty? She didn''t seem that heavy to me.¡± ¡°That''s enough already! I wasn''t grunting or anything. Wait, you''re just trying to get a rise out of me. You know¡ª¡± Jake jumped to the left just as a knife flew past his cheek, his hand reaching up as he felt a light trickle of blood drip down his neck. ¡°Where the fuck did that come from? It''s like it just appeared out of nothing,¡± Five said. ¡°Jake Everval, it''s been too long. I did hope you would come after me, especially since I stole all your stuff,¡± a distinctly American voice shouted. ¡°Mr Punchy Man, it''s been so long. Oh, by the way, did you have a name? Ah, never mind, I just forgot; I don''t really care. Are you coming out to play, or are you just going to try and hit me in the back of the head again like the coward you are?¡± ¡°I''m here to kill you, little boy. I let you live last time, but this time your life must end.¡± ¡°Oh, is that so? Who sent you? Was it by chance some fuckhead playing at being a god? You know the type¡ªthey sit in a room sticking crayons up their nose with one hand while the other one is throwing galactic-sized marbles around. Fucking dumb as shit.¡± The air went silent for a bit, then Mr Punchy Man shouted in anger, ¡°I was given this mission by the system itself.¡± ¡°No shit, but I think everyone got a message like that.¡± ¡°You don''t know anything. The system spoke to me in person; she was more beautiful than the universe itself. I am the chosen one, the one that will bring you down, little boy.¡± ¡°So you were visited by one of the system''s bitches. Now what? You bend over for that tosspot man-child that doesn''t want others to get too close, so it gives you all wings of wax.¡± Jake jumped to the left as a knife ripped through the air, lodging itself into the ground at Jake''s feet. ¡°I was first wondering, did Mr. Punchy Man forgo his fists he was so proud of for these pissy little twigs? But now I know for sure you are a little system bitch, aren''t you? Just bending right over for those system skills. What happened to your proud fists? Did you trade them in after what happened to you back then?¡± ¡°Talk now, little boy. Not much longer and I will have your head as a trophy.¡± ¡°Oi, Mr. Formally Punchy Man, do you know a young lady? Arr, what was her name again? I think it was Jess. I heard she was with the Americans. I was just wondering what might have happened to her.¡± Another knife flew at Jake, but instead of dodging it, he grabbed the handle mid-flight and, in one fluid motion, launched it back with all his force, ripping past the man standing inside the building''s entrance five hundred metres away. ¡°Do you think this man even has the guts to face you? Or is he going to keep throwing these stupid toy knives at you all day?¡± Five said. ¡°I don''t know. Last time I met him he was a lot more willing to fight. I think he''s actually trying to get me to teleport behind him; otherwise, why would he leave such an easy opening? I just don''t know what he''s planning.¡± ¡°So is that his trap or what? Arr, it doesn''t make any sense to me. What''s he got in there?¡± Five asked. Jake''s next step took him around one hundred metres closer to the entrance. The moment reaped from his dash, two unseen attackers fired on his position with what looked a lot like Jake''s very own fireball skill. Jake ducked one, only to be hit square in the back with the other. The skill reactive mana barrier took the brunt of the attack, but unluckily for Jake, the impact sent him flying forward into the oncoming knives. Seeing this, Jake was forced to use another one of his skills, and one he had just now realised he never picked a name for, and for some reason, its name was now stuck with "insert name (rare)." Self-made skill (insert name. Rare) Change the former of any metal object, restricted to metal that has not been embedded with energy or has been soulbound. The metal melted and fell to the ground all around him. ¡°I can''t sense them at all.¡± ¡°Neither can I. It seems they are adept at hiding,¡± Jake said as he watched the two people shimmer and vanish with no trace of them ever being there to begin with. The skirmish ended just as quickly as it began, then the bantering started again with Mr Former Punchy Man blasting a few insults Jake''s way. Looking over at Five, Jake asked what he thought the two of them should do. ¡°I want to see this fucker dead.¡± ¡°That''s a bit harsh, Arr, maybe not,¡± Jake said as a wall of projectiles was launched at him. He activated the skill insert name once again, cringing at the name as it flashed in his vision to verify that it had been activated. ¡°Next time I make a fucken skill, I''m going to pick a name straight away that notates what is happening,¡± Jake grunted out, reaching out his hand as the projectiles approached. Jake felt as if his body had been drenched in the remnants of that shit monster he fought back in the dungeon. He pushed forward with another dash only to be stopped fifty metres later by the same ninja-looking fucks that attacked him before; only this time, they had a friend with them, also a fucken wannabe ninja. Jake stopped and looked at the three. ¡°I''m going to fuck you all up,¡± Jake said as he began his assault on the three.Jake teleported behind one of them, and in one fluid motion, drove his dagger into the first enemy''s spleen and twisted the blade, taking out some of his anger on the poor unsuspecting ninja. Only seconds later did Jake see what his dagger had hit; it was not the ninja, but a full-on anime log. Then the log began to shimmer, only for a jester''s grinning face to appear as the other two ninjas vanished into a cloud of smoke. ¡°Fuck you,¡± Jake shouted. In a flash, he was now only fifty metres from the door when he erupted with power as Eyes of the Lost activated on the now five ninjas, followed by Demon Strike on the closest ninja, blowing the freak apart in one hit. It was no illusion this time; chunks of flesh and blood splattered over the four remaining ninjas. Jake then dashed left and right, tapping the remaining ninjas with his hand. With each tap, the skill Atomic Degradation activated. Jake then stood back with a sadistic grin as he watched the first ninja frantically try to stop his body from crumbling to ash, but his fight was futile; the only thing remaining of the man was blown away in the breeze. ¡°Run,¡± one of the ninjas shouted as his fingertips slowly turned black. That first one must have been really weak, not even being able to withstand it for a second, but at least it put the fear in the rest of them, Jake thought as he patted Five on the head. 87 Jake stood at the entrance to the building. The man that once stood there had now gone deeper inside. ¡°Oh, Mr Punchy Man, where are you? You''re not just going to leave now that your friends are gone, are you? I was really looking forward to meeting you again,¡± Jake shouted down the empty hallway as he slowly walked, waiting for the next trap or ambush to occur. ¡°What are you, some kind of cheesy movie villain?¡± Five asked. ¡°Nah, I''m just trying to get a response.¡± ¡°I don''t think it worked. Shall we not just find your friend and forget about this man? I don''t think he has any more ambushes for us. He''s probably just trying to hide till we''re gone.¡± ¡°Alright, do you know where she is, or do I have to search this entire building?¡± Just as Jake said this, a scream of pain echoed throughout the building. ¡°That way,¡± Five said as the two walked down a hallway. ¡°Shut up, bitch, this is what you get for trying to stab me,¡± a man with a distinctly Chinese accent said as he stood over a blood-covered Kiki. Her arms were tied to a scorching hot fin heater, and her legs were broken in multiple places. She looked as if she had been tortured for days. ¡°If you had just given me the information I wanted, it would have been a lot easier on you. But you just had to be stubborn right to the end¡ªa loyal pet,¡± Mr Punchy Man said from the corner of the room before he stepped over to one of the open windows. ¡°OK, Mr Chi, I will leave the rest to you. Just don''t take too long. I don''t want to explain to your mum,¡± Mr Punchy Man said before jumping out the window and dashing off into the distance. ¡°Now let''s get started. Should I start with cutting on yo¡ª¡± were the last words Mr Chi said before his head exploded. Jake ripped the heater out of the wall and threw the remains out of the window, away from the badly burnt arms of his friend. He then removed what was left of the bindings. The moment the bindings were removed, Kiki shrank down to the size of a domesticated cat. All the hair on her front legs was gone, and her back legs and face were cut up quite badly to the point that Jake didn''t know if they could be recovered with potions alone. It''s not like everyone had Jake''s ability to just grow back body parts and heal extensive wounds alone just by waiting around. Normal people could still be disabled for life from wounds and the like. Jake used his only healing skill, Demonic Hand, to calm her mind and seal her wounds, but this was only a stopgap, so Jake picked Kiki up in one arm as he ran out of the building and back into the roaring flames, only stopping quickly at the woman he had tied up earlier. Grabbing the ropes, he lifted her like a duffel bag and began teleporting. At each teleport junction, Five would try to talk, but Jake just continued teleporting faster than he had ever done before. His only goal was to get his friend back to safety so she could begin her recovery process. On the bridge of the Hecter Amir ¡°Sir, we have just had a report that the Orka was destroyed and over ninety per cent of the invasion forces for that sector have been killed or declared missing.¡± ¡°How is that possible? That sector is the weakest of them all. What was Kai doing?¡± Another man ran onto the bridge at that moment and right up to Hecter. ¡°Sir, there''s a new report. It seems the system bounty is from that little planet named Earth and that there are more than thirty billion heretical cultivation users in your sector alone. We need to contact the main branch elders.¡± Hecter slowly walked over to the man, and as he got close enough, he put a hand on the man¡¯s shoulder and, with one fluid movement, stabbed the man with a dagger under his rib cage before lifting the knife up into the man''s heart. ¡°Does anyone else wish to go against my family? This sector is under the Amir family''s name; we will not expect any outsiders from the main branches to take it. Ray, get the fleet ready; we''re going back to that shithole system. I want that man alive,¡± Hecter said before a flash of light erupted from his body, only to settle down a moment later. ¡°Thank you for your faith in me. But why do you restrict me with this power you have given me? I could wipe out that little solar system he is from,¡± Hecter said to the system. NotificationThis text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. The system has seen fit to increase your grade level to D grade, but you will not be allowed to step foot on the battlefield against the heretical cultivators; you must find an alternative path. You can use your powers for defence only. ¡°Ray, send a message back to the clan and request reinforcements.¡± ¡°Sir, they will want to know the reason for the request.¡± ¡°Just tell them it''s a system quest and that it will benefit the clan greatly in the end.¡± ¡°Really?¡± one of the human diplomats from Earth said without realising he had. ¡°Sorry, sir, it won''t happen again.¡± ¡°You''re damn right it won''t. Ray, go take care of it.¡± The human cried for forgiveness as he was dragged off the bridge by his long hair. ¡°First fleet, the time has come. Our preliminary recce fleet has discovered a large group of heretical cultivators in a backwater system, and our guiding light has sent forth a task of annihilation. I am sending you ahead to pave our way. Go forth and conquer.¡± As Hecter finished his speech, the fleet of one hundred ships, ranging from cruisers down to gunships he had built up, turned to face a small star in what was called the Milky Way galaxy and all at once jumped into FTL. It would take them some time to arrive at their destination, and in that time, every member of the fleet would be preparing for war. But back on the Hecter Amir, the bridge was quiet as no one would even think of speaking while the commander was present. Five minutes later, Ray returned to the eerily quiet bridge. ¡°Sir, I''ve received word from the home world. They have sought to give command of this sector to your uncle and his children; they will arrive in one year and ten days. Sorry, sir.¡± ¡°That''s okay, Ray. Did they say anything about reinforcements?¡± ¡°No, sir. This message was five days old at the time we received it. Our communication lines have been having issues lately; it seems a supernova wiped out a bunch of relay stations in the Amir region.¡± ¡°My home region?¡± ¡°Yes, sir. It was completely wiped out¡ªno survivors.¡± ¡°What happened? Amir 1 wasn''t big enough to go supernova.¡± ¡°It was her.¡± ¡°Her again? I thought we dealt with her.¡± ¡°So did the leading council, but it seems as though she was just laying low, waiting for a good time to strike your family.¡± ¡°These fucken heretical cultivators, this is why we must see every one of them dead.¡± You just wait, Margo. I will have my revenge for what you have done, Hecter thought. Lead engineer and commander of the new order of the planet Bec Alpha One. Harry was sitting alone in his office when the door swung open and a tablet flew through the door, followed by Erica and her secretary holding a second tablet. ¡°Harry, it seems there is a planet in a system adjacent to this one that I would like you to take command of. It is currently vacant and would be a perfect place to set up a trading outpost. I chose you to do this because you and Jake are good friends, and we would like to have a way to bypass the system''s restrictions.¡± ¡°Why do you need to bypass the restrictions? Aren''t we doing just fine alone? I even heard there is a new trading partner in the Sol system.¡± ¡°I just got a report that those partners you just spoke of have started a civil war and are now slowly destroying each other. They will not make good trading partners for a long time, and we don''t have that much time left. We need to find a way to survive the inevitable attacks from our enemies and former friends.¡± ¡°Are you saying Aaliyah and her people will attack us?¡± ¡°It is possible, but I don''t think she will have much to say one way or the other, and as for the demon of death, I don''t think she will help us any further than she already has. She has been pinned down in her own struggles. A large alliance has begun conducting raids on her territory.¡± ¡°Does Jake know about this?¡± ¡°No, and if all goes to plan, you will be established as a power in this sector with trading partners on all sides of the conflict, and as you''re not technically one of Jake''s inner circle, you should be able to slip under the radar.¡± ¡°I''m not a fan of this. By doing this, I won''t be able to work with Jake on any more projects.¡± ¡°I wouldn''t say that you should have heaps of time; after all, I''m not just sending you over there.¡± ¡°What do you mean by that? Isn''t this operation mine to run?¡± ¡°Well, yes, but I didn''t think you would want to take charge of the operation itself, so I plan on sending management staff and a security team with you. Once you''re up and running, we might even send over equipment and personnel to build ships¡ªthat is, if you can get some designs that the system won''t trace back to us. We can''t have your cover blown by something like that. So will you accept?¡± ¡°Yes, but I want more than one security team, and I would like to know about this solar system. Are there any other people there?¡± ¡°Yes, there are. On the third planet and the fourth, there are facilities and cities with populations in the billions. The planet we found for you is on the very edge of the system; it''s a rocky planet with a moon that is tidally locked. There are some beasts on the moon but not on the planet. The beasts'' grades range from G to D grade; we didn''t see any above D grade on the preliminary check. It will take you a week at FTL to get to the planet¡ªthat''s with no breaks and running the impulse engines at full. Once you get to the planet, I would suggest dismantling the ships or hiding them so nobody can track you back to us.¡± ¡°But if we dismantle the ships, how are we supposed to get supplies and meet others from the solar system?¡± ¡°I''m sure you can figure that out. I have full faith in your skills, Harry.¡± Erica ordered her secretary to work for Harry and left, only turning back to say that the ships would be leaving in forty-eight hours and that he would need to find people to go with him¡ªother than the management staff and the security teams. ¡°So, what''s your name?¡± Harry asked the young lady. ¡°Ilara, sir,¡± the small blond-haired human said. ¡°Please just call me Harry; I don''t want to be known as lord or anything.¡± ¡°Do you have a last name, sir?¡± ¡°Yes, I do, but it''s not worth mentioning.¡± ¡°Okay, Mr Harry Unknown it is,¡± the lady said with a smile. ¡°Oh, I think we will get along just fine,¡± Harry said as he got up from his desk and began packing up his office. 88 Jake laid Kiki down on the ground as he waited for one of Eric''s people to return. The fight had finished over an hour ago, and within that hour, Jake had managed to get a good distance from that place, even running into a group from Eric''s party. It took the man another hour before he returned with what looked to be the same ship that the crazy Venetian took. It landed not far from Jake, when ten people ran out of it and straight for Jake, each wearing black tactical gear and their weapons drawn, looking for threats. ¡°Sir, we have been informed of the situation and are here to transport you to the closest teleportation sites Sir Alric set up. There are healers on standby waiting for you on the other side." One of the men with a red cross on his arm picked up Kiki and took her to the ship, followed by everyone else. Jake, including even his human handbag, came along for the ride. An hour later, the ship was hovering over the town of Shepparton as they waited for clearance to land at the old aerodrome, now turned military base. The ship slowly descended over the field, its thrusters swivelling down as it closed with the ground, dust and fire swirling in the air, until finally a hard thud was felt throughout the ship and the roaring engines went silent as the doors opened up and the group departed all at once, the medic taking Kiki while the rest took up defensive positions. Jake was the last to leave the ship, other than the pilot and the two men who were now questioning Jake''s captive. Jake didn''t know why he even took the lady, nor could he remember why he even came back to Earth. There were only two things going through his head, repeating like a broken record: one was the loss of the only person he loved and trusted, and the other was the fact he couldn''t help Kiki. Even after he found her, he didn''t have potions, as that was the domain of his wife, and all his healing powers were mostly based on healing himself. This left Jake with only being able to watch as one of his friends slowly died in front of him. But what was really hurting him was the fact he couldn''t even think of a way to fix this shortcoming. Jake was realising his skills were aligning with a certain path, and it was a path of self-reliance. As Jake walked towards what looked to be a gymnasium, he pondered over his new epiphany, and it left Jake with some hard decisions to make about what he was going to do. The moment Jake entered the building, his eyes opened wide as the walls, floor, and ceiling were covered with red glowing runes and what looked a lot like magic circles from an anime. The moment they entered, every rune activated, flooding the room with light. Then Jake''s body demineralised from his feet up. Jake felt as though he was being ripped apart atomby atom, and once that feeling faded, he felt as though he was drifting in the endless void until finally he arrived at his destination, but it wasn''t as Jake thought it was since it felt as though he was in that void for hours. Jake got the idea that he was headed to another solar system, but no, he was still on Earth, and not only that, he was at the meeting hall in his first territorial claim. Alric stood there watching as people rushed over to look after Kiki. Jake, on the other hand, walked up to the giant of a man. ¡°How did you know I needed help? I thought you were working on things in the other territories.¡± ¡°I just got a bad feeling. So I came over to this world and began finding out what had happened. Once I learned of Lady Kiki, I began working on setting up a teleportation system; so far, there are only two gates online and one destination. While working on the destination pad, I realised I was unable to fulfil my original plan to connect all the territories. Sir, may I ask where Jayne is? I don''t sense her within the territory; is she in space or on a mission somewhere?¡± Jake''s expression went from a false smile to its true state of sadness and anger. ¡°Is something wrong, sir?¡± ¡°Yes, something''s really wrong; my wife was abducted by some fucken dragon.¡± ¡°Lady Everval was taken, and you said it was a dragon. I''ve never heard of that species before. Do you know if they are close to your territory? Maybe we can¡ª¡± ¡°Not a fucken chance there; not even within the system''s domain.¡± ¡°System''s domain? What is that?¡± ¡°This system that''s been fucking us over.¡± Jake pulled out a book and threw it over to the man. ¡°Is the fucken kid from this bullshit. At least that''s what I believe, and I guess the power they are talking about in the book is actually a method to collect potential from other people.¡± Jake opened his arms wide. ¡°This is the point of it all; we have been feeding the kid our potential so he can be more than the cripple from the story. But what I don''t get is why all those people that climbed the tower keep joining him; they must know what will happen to them.¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Am I right to say there is a level of power higher than gods?¡± ¡°Yes, there has to be. But I''m not even sure that the grades are even counted like that; it could all just be a holdover from the system. I''m sorry, I didn''t mean to vent like that.¡± ¡°No, that''s fine; I could use the distraction,¡± Alric said. ¡°What''s wrong? Is it something I can help with?¡± Jake asked, hoping the answer was no. ¡°Actually, I think you can help with one of my problems. There''s been a lot of territorial incisions lately. I would like you to use the teleportation circle with a few of my inscribers to set up locations for quick response teams to use.¡± ¡°How about, while we''re at it, we set up some outposts at the sites?¡± Five said from Jake''s shoulder. ¡°That''s actually a good idea,¡± Jake saidmockingly. ¡°What do you mean by that? I have good ideas all the time. Say, just yesterday, I came up with a perfect sandwich.¡± ¡°How did you make a sandwich?¡± ¡°I never said I made it; it was just an idea, but I tell you, even just the idea made my mouth salivate.¡± ¡°Fuck you! I haven''t tasted anything good for years, and you''re talking about sandwiches. The last thing I ate was some meat on a stick,¡± Jake said with disgust in his voice. ¡°Alright, you two, I think that''s enough. And Jake, you shouldn''t be lowering yourself this way. What if people see you arguing like this?¡± ¡°So what if people see him?¡± Five said with some irritation. ¡°He is the lord of this land, and he needs to set an example.¡± ¡°And is it up to you what example he sets? As I see it, you all have been putting so much on him; he needs an outlet, and if that''s a silly argument, good. What do you want, Jake?¡± Jake thought for a bit, then said, ¡°I''m not in charge here, and I don''t care what people think of me. If they think I''m unhinged, so be it. I''m just going to do what I want, and as for setting an example, I really don''t care. I will be setting off on a journey out into the universe soon, so if you have anything you need from me, you better ask.¡± ¡°Sir, do you think that''s wise? You have a bounty. How are you going to hide that?¡± Alric said. ¡°That''s something I''m going to leave up to you to find an answer for. All I know is I can''t stay here any longer if I want to grow.¡± ¡°Sir, I don''t like this, but you are right; you won''t be able to grow here. I will see what I can find about hiding that bounty for you. I must ask, sir, can you take your human form?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Then we will need something for that as well. I''ll ask Harry if he can find something.¡± ¡°Harry? What''s he doing now?¡± ¡°He''s setting up a training post in a neighbouring solar system.¡± ¡°Interesting. I think that should be my first stop.¡± ¡°That might just work out well for us,¡± Alric said. Darkness started to fall over the city as night approached. The city had grown once again, now with tall skyscrapers taking up the centre district, while in the outer districts, the skyscrapers gave way to apartment complexes and construction zones. Jake and Five were wandering the streets as streetlights ignited the night. People travelled mostly by foot around the city, but some had scooter-like objects which they used to zip from place to place, delivering items and letters to people. ¡°Must be some kind of mail service.¡± Jake turned around a corner to a street bathed in red light. Under the red light, people were staggering from one building to the next, some with ladies of the night and some with men wrapped around their arms. ¡°Are these people selling themselves?¡± Five asked. ¡°Don''t worry about it, they know what they''re doing, and without outlets like this, your society will fail before it even has a chance to start,¡± Alric said from behind them. Five spun around, startled by the abrupt entrance of the man. ¡°You scared the crap out of me, glowie man.¡± ¡°Sorry, little fox. I didn''t mean to startle you. I just wanted to explain this area.¡± ¡°I''m not so foolish to think this kind of thing wouldn''t be happening, nor am I stupid enough to think I could stop it. Actually, I might just see if I can find myself a drink or two,¡± Jake said as he walked deeper into the red-light district, followed by Five. They came across a double-storey building fashioned in an old Japanese style. There were even ladies in kimonos greeting people as they entered; the sign on the door said ¡®House of the Pink Blossom¡¯. Jake turned to Five. ¡°What do you reckon? This one looks a lot cleaner than the others, don''t you think?¡± Looking back at the inns they passed on the way here, each one looked as if no one took the time to clean up after themselves, and even the ladies of the night were covered in filth. ¡°I''ve got to agree with you on this one,¡± Five said as he moved closer to the door. ¡°Welcome to the House of the Pink Blossom. We provide a wide range of services in our establishment and have a range of food and beverages we hope will suit your needs. Please enter,¡± one of the ladies said as she gestured for them to enter. As Jake approached the entrance, an old man hit Jake with his shoulder as he barged past, pushing him to the ground. ¡°Get out of here; we don''t need your filth sullying this place. Go back to where you came from,¡± the bald old wrinkly man grumped before looking over at the two ladies at the door. ¡°Miss Hikari and the lovely Miss Keiko, it''s been so long since I''ve seen you. By the way, you shouldn''t let people like him in here; what do you think your boss would say if she saw him inside?¡± ¡°Yes, sir, we apologise for our mistake; please head on in,¡± Miss Hikaru said. Then she turned to Jake and Five. ¡°I''m sorry for that, sir; please enter, everyone is welcome here. But we will warn you that the House of the Pink Blossom does not allow violence within its premises.¡± The lady looked down at where Jake was standing; a white line was marked at the entrance, a foot from where he was standing. 89 Jake laid Kiki down on the ground as he waited for one of Eric''s people to return. The fight had finished over an hour ago, and within that hour, Jake had managed to get a good distance from that place, even running into a group from Eric''s party. It took the man another hour before he returned with what looked to be the same ship that the crazy Venetian took. It landed not far from Jake when ten people ran out of it and straight for Jake, each wearing black tactical gear and their weapons drawn, looking for threats. ¡°Sir, we have been informed of the situation and are here to transport you to the closest teleportation sites Sir Alric set up. There are healers on standby waiting for you on the other side." One of the men with a red cross on his arm picked up Kiki and took her to the ship, followed by everyone else. Jake, including even his human handbag, came along for the ride. An hour later, the ship was hovering over the town of Shepparton as they waited for clearance to land at the old aerodrome, now turned military base. The ship slowly descended over the field, its thrusters swivelling down as it closed with the ground, dust and fire swirling in the air, until finally a hard thud was felt throughout the ship and the roaring engines went silent as the doors opened up and the group departed all at once, the medic taking Kiki while the rest took up defensive positions. Jake was the last to leave the ship, other than the pilot and the two men who were now questioning Jake''s captive. Jake didn''t know why he even took the lady, nor could he remember why he even came back to Earth. There were only two things going through his head, repeating like a broken record: one was the loss of the only person he loved and trusted, and the other was the fact he couldn''t help Kiki. Even after he found her, he didn''t have potions, as that was the domain of his wife, and all his healing powers were mostly based on healing himself. This left Jake with only being able to watch as one of his friends slowly died in front of him. But what was really hurting him was the fact he couldn''t even think of a way to fix this shortcoming. Jake was realising his skills were aligning with a certain path, and it was a path of self-reliance. As Jake walked towards what looked to be a gymnasium, he pondered over his new epiphany, and it left Jake with some hard decisions to make about what he was going to do. The moment Jake entered the building, his eyes opened wide as the walls, floor, and ceiling were covered with red glowing runes and what looked a lot like magic circles from an anime. The moment they entered, every rune activated, flooding the room with light. Then Jake''s body demineralised from his feet up. Jake felt as though he was being ripped apart atom by atom, and once that feeling faded, he felt as though he was drifting in the endless void until finally, he arrived at his destination, but it wasn''t as Jake thought it was since it felt as though he was in that void for hours. Jake got the idea that he was headed to another solar system, but no, he was still on Earth, and not only that, he was at the meeting hall in his first territorial claim. Alric stood there watching as people rushed over to look after Kiki. Jake, on the other hand, walked up to the giant of a man. ¡°How did you know I needed help? I thought you were working on things in the other territories.¡± ¡°I just got a bad feeling. So I came over to this world and began finding out what had happened. Once I learned of Lady Kiki, I began working on setting up a teleportation system; so far, there are only two gates online and one destination. While working on the destination pad, I realised I was unable to fulfil my original plan to connect all the territories. Sir, may I ask where Jayne is? I don''t sense her within the territory; is she in space or on a mission somewhere?¡± Jake''s expression went from a false smile to its true state of sadness and anger. ¡°Is something wrong, sir?¡± ¡°Yes, something''s really wrong; my wife was abducted by some fucken dragon.¡± ¡°Lady Everval was taken, and you said it was a dragon. I''ve never heard of that species before. Do you know if they are close to your territory? Maybe we can¡ª¡± ¡°Not a fucken chance there; not even within the system''s domain.¡± ¡°System''s domain? What is that?¡± ¡°This system that''s been fucking us over.¡± Jake pulled out a book and threw it over to the man. ¡°Is the fucken kid from this bullshit. At least that''s what I believe, and I guess the power they are talking about in the book is actually a method to collect potential from other people.¡± Jake opened his arms wide. ¡°This is the point of it all; we have been feeding the kid our potential so he can be more than the cripple from the story. But what I don''t get is why all those people that climbed the tower keep joining him; they must know what will happen to them.¡±The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Am I right to say there is a level of power higher than gods?¡± ¡°Yes, there has to be. But I''m not even sure that the grades are even counted like that; it could all just be a holdover from the system. I''m sorry, I didn''t mean to vent like that.¡± ¡°No, that''s fine; I could use the distraction,¡± Alric said. ¡°What''s wrong? Is it something I can help with?¡± Jake asked, hoping the answer was no. ¡°Actually, I think you can help with one of my problems. There''s been a lot of territorial incisions lately. I would like you to use the teleportation circle with a few of my inscribers to set up locations for quick response teams to use.¡± ¡°How about, while we''re at it, we set up some outposts at the sites?¡± Five said from Jake''s shoulder. ¡°That''s actually a good idea,¡± Jake said mockingly. ¡°What do you mean by that? I have good ideas all the time. Say, just yesterday, I came up with a perfect sandwich.¡± ¡°How did you make a sandwich?¡± ¡°I never said I made it; it was just an idea, but I tell you, even just the idea made my mouth salivate.¡± ¡°Fuck you! I haven''t tasted anything good for years, and you''re talking about sandwiches. The last thing I ate was some meat on a stick,¡± Jake said with disgust in his voice. ¡°Alright, you two, I think that''s enough. And Jake, you shouldn''t be lowering yourself this way. What if people see you arguing like this?¡± ¡°So what if people see him?¡± Five said with some irritation. ¡°He is the lord of this land, and he needs to set an example.¡± ¡°And is it up to you what example he sets? As I see it, you all have been putting so much on him; he needs an outlet, and if that''s a silly argument, good. What do you want, Jake?¡± Jake thought for a bit, then said, ¡°I''m not in charge here, and I don''t care what people think of me. If they think I''m unhinged, so be it. I''m just going to do what I want, and as for setting an example, I really don''t care. I will be setting off on a journey out into the universe soon, so if you have anything you need from me, you better ask.¡± ¡°Sir, do you think that''s wise? You have a bounty. How are you going to hide that?¡± Alric said. ¡°That''s something I''m going to leave up to you to find an answer for. All I know is I can''t stay here any longer if I want to grow.¡± ¡°Sir, I don''t like this, but you are right; you won''t be able to grow here. I will see what I can find about hiding that bounty for you. I must ask, sir, can you take your human form?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Then we will need something for that as well. I''ll ask Harry if he can find something.¡± ¡°Harry? What''s he doing now?¡± ¡°He''s setting up a training post in a neighbouring solar system.¡± ¡°Interesting. I think that should be my first stop.¡± ¡°That might just work out well for us,¡± Alric said. Darkness started to fall over the city as night approached. The city had grown once again, now with tall skyscrapers taking up the centre district, while in the outer districts, the skyscrapers gave way to apartment complexes and construction zones. Jake and Five were wandering the streets as streetlights ignited the night. People travelled mostly by foot around the city, but some had scooter-like objects which they used to zip from place to place, delivering items and letters to people. ¡°Must be some kind of mail service.¡± Jake turned around a corner to a street bathed in red light. Under the red light, people were staggering from one building to the next, some with ladies of the night and some with men wrapped around their arms. ¡°Are these people selling themselves?¡± Five asked. ¡°Don''t worry about it, they know what they''re doing, and without outlets like this, your society will fail before it even has a chance to start,¡± Alric said from behind them. Five spun around, startled by the abrupt entrance of the man. ¡°You scared the crap out of me, glowie man.¡± ¡°Sorry, little fox. I didn''t mean to startle you. I just wanted to explain this area.¡± ¡°I''m not so foolish as to think this kind of thing wouldn''t be happening, nor am I stupid enough to think I could stop it. Actually, I might just see if I can find myself a drink or two,¡± Jake said as he walked deeper into the red-light district, followed by Five. They came across a double-storey building fashioned in an old Japanese style. There were even ladies in kimonos greeting people as they entered; the sign on the door said ¡®House of the Pink Blossom¡¯. Jake turned to Five. ¡°What do you reckon? This one looks a lot cleaner than the others, don''t you think?¡± Looking back at the inns they passed on the way here, each one looked as if no one took the time to clean up after themselves, and even the ladies of the night were covered in filth. ¡°I''ve got to agree with you on this one,¡± Five said as he moved closer to the door. ¡°Welcome to the House of the Pink Blossom. We provide a wide range of services in our establishment and have a selection of food and beverages we hope will suit your needs. Please enter,¡± one of the ladies said as she gestured for them to enter. As Jake approached the entrance, an old man hit Jake with his shoulder as he barged past, pushing him to the ground. ¡°Get out of here; we don''t need your filth sullying this place. Go back to where you came from,¡± the bald, old, wrinkly man grumped before looking over at the two ladies at the door. ¡°Miss Hikari and the lovely Miss Keiko, it''s been so long since I''ve seen you. By the way, you shouldn''t let people like him in here; what do you think your boss would say if she saw him inside?¡± ¡°Yes, sir, we apologise for our mistake; please head on in,¡± Miss Hikari said. Then she turned to Jake and Five. ¡°I''m sorry for that, sir; please enter, everyone is welcome here. But we will warn you that the House of the Pink Blossom does not allow violence within its premises.¡± The lady looked down at where Jake was standing; a white line was marked at the entrance, a foot from where he was standing. 90 Jake headed towards the first potion store he saw, only to read the sign at the door. Note To all customers: This store is cash only; we do not accept item trading as a payment method. Reading the sign, Jake knew it was time to go find a place to sell his items. He could go ask Alric just to give him some funds or send him to get the things he needed, but Jake knew that would never help him advance, especially since he planned on travelling the universe. He would have nothing to fall back on but himself at that time. Making a stand here will be for the best. I can''t rely on other people''s hard work anymore. Now that I''ve come to this decision, where the hell do I actually sell stuff, and what can I sell? I don''t even know the value of objects. Jake opened up his items list to look over what he had, and after some deliberation, Jake decided on a short list: 900 rounds of .50 cal ammunition, 50 hand grenades, 10 smoke bombs, 1 pistol .50 cal blueprint, 1 Ritualist''s pistol .50 cal, and finally, 1 Shielded Runabout blueprint; this included the blueprints on the shield as well. He would have added his clothing, but as of now he had nothing capable of taking their place. Now all I need is a place to sell it. He continued walking through the merchant district for a good while until he found himself at the steps of a rundown building that actually would trade items for cash. It also said that they had items for sale as well. One of the things Jake wanted but didn''t think he would be able to get was a replacement for his clothing; walking in the universe with clothing that had markings of the wandering Imperium would only get Jake killed. But for now, in his territory, he should be fine. Jake pushed on the rundown-looking wooden door; he had to push hard against the boxes piled up behind it, but he squeezed through the gap. ¡°We''re closed; can''t you read?¡± An old male voice grumbled from deeper inside. ¡°Sorry, sir, I didn''t see a sign. Can I ask if you still buy items or trade them?¡± ¡°Yes, and tell your boss the only way he''s getting this shop is from my cold dead hands.¡± ¡°Sorry, I don''t know who you''re talking about. I just came here to sell stuff¡­ I can come back later if you want,¡± Jake said as he retreated for the door. ¡°No, no. I will be happy to buy whatever you have.¡± An old man with long grey hair peeked his head around the corner of what looked to be a storage room. ¡°You don''t look like one of those normal thugs Fred keeps sending; you''re much too scrawny.¡± Jake felt a strange feeling in his body as pink mist swirled in his mind. ¡°Who are you? You''re not from around here, are you?¡± Jake was about to tell the man who he was when he thought of something else. ¡°No, I came from one of the southern farming settlements. I heard there was work up here for smiths.¡± ¡°Oh, you''re a smith. Do you make your own designs or are you like the ones we have here?¡± ¡°Are there other types? What type of smiths do you have here?¡± Jake said, his curiosity about the quality of his smiths getting the better of him. ¡°The ones we have around here, apart from a scant few, only copy blueprints made from someone else''s. I''ve heard the local council has been recruiting anyone with designing abilities for some big secret project.¡± ¡°Is that so? Maybe I could¡ª¡±If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Don''t even try. If Fred finds out that you are a smith and a designer, you would disappear quicker than you can say demon dog.¡± ¡°Demon dog, what''s that?¡± ¡°You really are from out of town, aren''t you? It''s something we tell our children if they don''t do as they are told. If you don''t clean your room, the demon dog will come eat you.¡± ¡°Yeah, but what is this demon dog? Is it a real monster?¡± ¡°Yes and no. The demon dog is actually Lady Moore; she''s one of the ruling powers in the city, but she''s not the one you need to worry about.¡± ¡°Interesting. I never heard of this before. The only person I''ve met from here went by Eric. I think he said I wouldn''t have a problem here.¡± ¡°When, might I ask, did you meet this Eric?¡± the old man suspiciously asked. ¡°It was a few years ago, actually. It wasn''t long after all the madness happened. Why do you ask?¡± ¡°It''s nothing. Now, you said you had stuff to sell; may I see it? Don''t worry, I''ll give you a fair price.¡± Jake got down to business and pulled out the items he had, starting with the smoke bombs and hand grenades. ¡°These aren''t bad; I''ll give you five coins per item. That will be 300 coins; that should be enough to get yourself a good clean place to stay for a while.¡± Jake then pulled out the Ritualist''s pistol and all the ammunition he had. ¡°Now let me have a look.¡± Item Ritualist''s pistol 50 cal (common) A self-loading handheld firearm. Accuracy drops off the longer the range fired. Due to a minor ritual being placed in the chamber, destructive arcane energy is infused into each round fired. Uses mana as the catalyst in the ritual at a rate of 1 to 1. ¡°Not bad, not bad at all. You wouldn''t happen to be interested in sitting down with a blueprinter for this?¡± Jake pulled out the blueprint he had on the pistol, putting it on the table. ¡°No way, is this the blueprint for this?¡± The old man unrolled the paper, then quickly rolled it back up. ¡°How much do you want for it? If I don''t have enough, you can take whatever you want in exchange.¡± ¡°How much do you have?¡± ¡°I''m sorry, but all I have remaining in my funds is 500,000. I know it''s not enough, but in trade, I do have a range of items that might suit you.¡± ¡°Let''s have a look at what you''ve got.¡± Jake thought for a minute, then said, ¡°Do you have any items that give stat points? I''m looking for something that will give me at least 1,000 points in all stats.¡± ¡°1000 points, sorry, I don''t have that, but I do have a ring that will give you a boost in mana, arcane, stamina, and health by 5000 each. Will that do? The only issue is that because it''s a direct boost, you won''t get the extra points in your stats, but there is the benefit that the ring recharges every hour. It''s actually my best item; I was going to give it to my daughter, but she died in the space battle not long ago. There is one part of the description I can''t read. It seems it''s restricted information.¡± As a hunter, you will find yourself in need of a little boost at times. 5000 points to mana, stamina, arcane, and health recharges every 30 minutes from your cultivation pool. That sounds right; it won''t make any sense for the energy to come from nowhere after all, Jake thought. He then pulled up his stats to see the changes. Stats points available: 110,619 Conversion multiplier: ¡Á10 Mana: 980,000 Arcane: 980,000 Stamina: 1,970,010 Health: 1,516,500 Base multiplier: ¡Á10 Strength: 99,101 Agility: 98,000 Intelligence: 98,000 Wisdom: 98,000 Perception: 99,000 Integrity: 151,650 Now, if my calculations are correct, I can use my lost servants without eating up my energy too much. It''s just a pity Mr Lightheart didn''t have any I could use. It was something about shelf life. I suppose that''s fair, but where the heck am I supposed to get potions from if all the stores around here are run by a rival who uses his money for unmentionable acts? If it was in the past, Jake would have just killed the man. But that didn''t seem to help since more people always pop up later. Jake thought back to that one guy who killed that young lady way back when he was actually trying to make a difference. That hurt him badly, knowing that even though he had tried to make this place safe for everyone, he still failed in the end. That may have been one of those moments that shape a person''s character. For good or bad, Jake just didn''t know yet. But one thing he did know was that this time he would leave it alone. Jake would be stupid not to realise that if he knew about it, Alric should be well informed of the situation, and if Alric didn''t find it necessary to act, why should he? It took Jake ten minutes before he decided to forgo the potions and do it all on his own. His next stop was the main gate. As Jake made it to the gate, one of the city guards stopped him. Jake had stayed in his human form, and a lot of the people in the city were new, so Jake thought this was to be expected from the people who worked for him. ¡°Where are you going? I heard you came from the Lightheart establishment. I would recommend you stay away from that place from now on. It''s a dangerous world; you don''t want anything bad to happen,¡± the guard said before gesturing for Jake to continue. 91 Jake first, set off on his journey for his first target, one that at one time almost killed him but this time jake was not going to fall for its mind games. To do this Jake had a few things to work on before he got there first find a way to combine his skills. Skill (Summon Projectile. Common) As a mage, you can use mana to summon projectiles. Note that the summon projectile does not include any ability to launch the projectile. The mana cost is determined by the projectile size. Skill (Transmute Powder. Common) Requires a pre-existing object to be turned into powder before transmuting can commence. Transmuting the powder requires knowledge of what you wish to transmute into. The mana cost is determined by the quantity of powder being transmuted and the rarity of the powder. Skill Fireball (Common) Mana-infused fire summoned forth to be thrown at your enemy. To try and give the fireball spell an effect similar to his pistol but with more damage, his plan was to turn the simple fireball into two versions: one small and the size of a bullet, and the other as big as a hand grenade. The bullet one Jake hoped he could fire; at least it''s possible. Jake could also use his new skill. Skill Insert Name. (Rare) Change the form of any metal object, restricted to metal that has not been embedded with energy or has not been soulbound. As the backbone for them, or at least the hand grenade version. Other than that, there was a skill that had been bugging him since he got it. That stupid healing skill, it''s completely useless to me, and I''m sick of reading it every time I open my skill list. There''s got to be a way to get rid of it. Skill Healing Hands of the Faithful Church Lay your hands on the faithful, imbuing healing powers into them. Each time this skill is used, a donation must be paid to the divinity. Requirements to use: Be a servant of the Faithful Church. While looking at the skill for way too long, Jake realised something that had always bugged him: the skill was similar to one he already had, so if he was actually right about his new theory, he could change the skill to something more suitable to his needs. Possibly even change it to something closer to what the other skill was in the beginning. As he was backtracking over the path he took so long ago, Jake stopped at a certain location. It was an intersection on a well-worn path; the signpost had writing on it that said "Strzelecki Springs and Bathhouse." Jake''s heart sunk as he remembered back to that time. It was a time Jake looked back on fondly, but also with heartache for the ones he lost. It wasn''t just how he treated Mary after that beautiful day, but the fact he straight up humiliated that man, even leaving him to listen as Jake took everything the man wanted away, and then Jake and the group, including his own family, abandoned him to his fate¡ªsomething Jake only now, as he was forced to retrace his steps, understood. Then a small smile emerged from his mouth. When did they build a bathhouse? Maybe I should check that out. Jake turned to face that direction and began a slow walk towards the waterfall as he dwelled on his actions in the past. The slow walk took him hours; then, as he pushed back a fallen branch, he was hit with the sound of water crashing onto stone, and then there was the sight. At the base of the waterfall stood a Japanese-style bathhouse, with fencing that blocked the view of the lower portion of the falls, creating a sense of privacy for those inside. As Jake got closer to the entrance, the first thing he noticed was the two ladies standing at the door, then he looked up and smiled. The pink blossom bathhouse and relaxation retreat. Jake walked closer to the ladies before he spoke, ¡°Miss Hikari and Miss Keiko, if I¡¯m not mistaken? Weren¡¯t you both¡ªoh wait, I forgot that was a few days ago. I forgot about that whole sleeping thing. Anyway, can I enter?¡± ¡°Sorry, sir, the lady is currently using it. I will have to ask you to come back in a wee¡ª¡± ¡°Let him in, Hikari. This man is an honoured guest, and I''ve been wanting to meet the man the sect leader puts her faith in.¡± ¡°Yes, Lady Aiya.¡± Jake was a little confused as the voice he just heard was the same as the one that helped him, but this voice doesn¡¯t belong to Akari; instead, it belongs to a lady named Aiya.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Sir, it seems you are welcome to enter, but don''t do anything unscrupulous in there, or we will have to step in.¡± ¡°Thanks for the warning,¡± Jake said before pushing back the blue curtain to reveal the interior layout of the complex. There were now four small rock pools with ferns surrounding them, giving those bathing a sense of privacy, and to enter one of the rock pools, one had to enter through a doorway covered with the same blue fabric as the entrance. As Jake was looking around, he noticed one of the doorways was open. ¡°Mr Everval, feel free to use my washroom behind you. I will be waiting, so please don''t take too long.¡± Entering a small but well-designed washroom, Jake began bathing, scrubbing every inch of his body with what smelled like rose-scented soap. Then finally, Jake grabbed the bucket of warm water and dumped it over his lathered body. The soap rolled down his toned chest. Jake poured one last bucket over himself to wash off any remaining soap before he wrapped a white towel around his waist. Before exiting the washroom, the towel was at least a size too small; as he took each step, the white towel threatened to fall. He had to keep the towel in place by holding the two corners in one hand as his smooth white thigh escaped his towel. Jake''s body was reformed by the system, giving him the look of a young and virile teen. He had muscles, but not to the extreme of a gym junkie¡ªmore along the lines of a well-built surfer, but without the sun-bleached blond hair. Jake looked more like a crazy man now that he was in human form. One thing with the skill that he had been given was becoming an issue for his image: his hair colour and style kept changing, and there seemed to be nothing he could do about it. This time, it was black and it was in a bun held up by chopsticks, with a strand of his fringe hanging over his left eye and down over his cheek. Jake stood at the entrance to the rock pools; the voice came from inside. ¡°Come in, Mr Everval.¡± Jake let out a sigh before he entered through the doorway. Steam rose from the pool, masking its surface from peering eyes. Of course, Jake could use his overpowered perception to look, but that would be an inappropriate use of power. ¡°Mr Everval, you wouldn''t be thinking about using your powers, are you?¡± ¡°Miss Aiya, I''m not that kind of man,¡± he said as he tested the waters with his foot before submerging himself into the water. ¡°So how did you heat the water last time I was here? This water was as cold as ice.¡± ¡°That''s a secret that belongs to the pink blossom sect and its subsidiaries.¡± ¡°Are you a member of the pink blossom sect?¡± ¡°I am an outer discipline of a minor subsidiary sect known for its beautiful members, but that means nothing in this place.¡± ¡°You say that, but I still can''t even see your face.¡± A gust of wind blew through the doorway, separating a portion of steam from the surface just enough for a figure sitting at the opposite edge of the rock pool, ringed with what looked a lot like moss. The lady was sitting with a white towel covering her curving figure. Hanging from her chocolate neck was what looked a lot like the crystal that Jake was given; it was partially covered by her long dark hair sticking up out of her forehead, where two antennae were. The rest of her face looked very human-like in appearance. ¡°Is this better, Mr Everval? This is my true form. I came to this galaxy a long time ago on a sect mission to set up a cultivation movement amongst certain groups, but I failed to garner enough support to expand the network large enough to save this world and galaxy from integration, and for that, I am sorry.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way you would have been able to complete that task, at least not here on Earth, as we are a people of all eight deadly sins,¡± Jake thought for a second, then asked. ¡°If you failed your mission, why are you still here, and are there more of you here?¡± Aiya leant back on one arm and looked at the sky. ¡°There were nineteen from my sect alone. I don''t know how many are still here. I was only tasked with this particular sector of your galaxy; Earth was my main operational area. I had two others working for me at the beginning, but they both were killed in an unfortunate altercation with a rival sect. The rest left after completing their tasks. So out of everyone from my sect, I am the only one left, but I can''t tell you about the other sects out there. But I think it''s quite possible I¡¯m the only one left.¡± ¡°If you''re the only one left, why did you stay here?¡± ¡°After I failed, I had a chance to leave. Abandoning everything I worked for didn¡¯t sit well with me, so I contacted the sect and asked to stay. The sect agreed but on the condition I don¡¯t interfere when it comes to the, I believe it¡¯s called, system-imposed universal constants or something.¡± ¡°Then you broke that condition by helping me, right?¡± ¡°Technically, no, it was the pink blossom, but that''s not what the sect thought. This is actually my last day, and before you ask, no, I can''t help you. I''m already in enough trouble for my part in this; I don''t need more.¡± ¡°So I am to believe you will be going then?¡± ¡°Yes, the discipline hall is coming to pick me up.¡± ¡°So then what will happen to your people?¡± Jake pointed at the two people outside. ¡°That''s something I have been a little sad about. I can''t take them with me, and my employees on Earth are not ready to run it all by themselves. That''s when it comes to you. Will you allow my people to operate autonomously within your territory? They can be very good at gathering information your people might not know about. Also, it is always a good practice to have a place you are welcome in.¡± ¡°I have no problems with that. Let your people know they''re free to run their business ventures how they wish, as long as it does not hinder my territory''s security or prosperity. Is there anything else you would like?¡± ¡°No, I think you might just be the most straightforward man I have seen since I came to this place. If I could help you, I would, but, well, you know.¡± Aiya stood up from the pool, and with a flick of her finger, she was fully clothed. ¡°It''s been nice meeting you, Mr Everval. Feel free to use any of the Pink Blossoms services; I will inform the staff about you. Also, feel free to use my room.¡± Aiya threw a key towards Jake. ¡°Are you leaving already?¡± ¡°Yes, I have a lot to do before tonight.¡± ¡°Could you do me a favour?¡± ¡°I can''t help you with anything here.¡± ¡°No, it''s not here. I would like you to send a message to my wife. She should be within the dragon territory; her name, as she went by here, was Jayne Everval. I would like you to tell her that I will be with her soon and tell her that Jake Everval loves her and wishes she was with him right now.¡± ¡°I can''t promise it, but I will try. The dragon territory is really big and we''re looking for one person.¡± ¡°She''s the lost princess or something.¡± Aiya''s mood changed drastically as she stared down at Jake in disbelief. ¡°You want me to send a message to the daughter of one of the most feared men in the universe?¡± 92 Jake was sitting in meditation when a young lady entered his room, her eyes red and swollen as if she had been crying. ¡°Mr Everval, sorry for the interruption, but Lady Aiya requested I give you this message.¡± The lady handed Jake an envelope, then bowed and left before Jake could even say anything. Dear Mr Everval I was hoping I would be able to see you one last time before my punishment, but it seems that was not to be. I have told my people all about you and that if they find themselves in danger, they should come seek you out. The pink blossom has 20 branches scattered throughout your galaxy and many more outside of it, but the only ones that know about you are the 20 branches in your galaxy. If possible, I would like it if you could help my people connect with their sisters in this universe. Don''t worry about your message. I have spoken to the branch elders and they have promised they would pass on your message to the higher-ups; this, sadly, is all I can do for you until my punishment finishes. P.S I do hope I see you again in the future. Jake put the letter away before thinking about the one thing he didn''t ask and now regretted¡ªif only he had asked about this punishment and if there was anything he could do to help. He felt bad now that she''s gone. It took Jake three days to clear his mind and begin his work anew. Starting with the messed up healing skill, Jake first tried comprehending its function, but this became an increasingly difficult task due to not being able to use it. He first tried copying what he had learned from any similar skills he had used, but each time it would fail to form, stopping at the same point. He just didn''t understand that a donation must be paid to the divinity; he just didn''t understand what this divinity was, as in Jake''s mind there was no one capable of fulfilling this title. Maybe if he didn''t realise how weak those once powerful figures were¡ªlike the demon of death, she might be strong and could wipe him out of existence in the flick of her finger, but in the grand scheme of things, she was no bigger than a gnat. And as for Aaliyah, the one who started him down this track, she is stuck in between grades¡ªnot an S grade and not a God grade, somewhere in between. Even Aiya was only an outer sect member of a branch sect, and that is a branch sect of a minor sect to begin with. So not even they are worthy to be called a divinity. The only thing that Jake could think of is to somehow use himself as the target of the donation. This was what Jake was working on now. He was going to give it one last try before moving on; he had placed the skill to gather like a jigsaw puzzle, filling in all the spots but one. Now it was time to complete it. Jake forced his will onto the half-baked skill, forcing the last portion into place. If it wasn''t for Jake using brute force on the skill, it would have never worked. Skill Healing Hands of the Faithful Church Lay your hands on the faithful, imbuing healing powers into them. Each time this skill is used, a donation must be paid to the divinity. Requirements to use: Be a servant of the Faithful Church. Upgrade to Skill Healing Hands of the Faithful (Common) Lay your hands on your target and imbue them with life energy. Each time this skill is used, a donation from the target must be paid in the form of energy to the user at a 1 to 1 ratio. Well, that took way too long; it was like the skill fought me at every turn. Oh, I can''t wait to see how long it takes to combine the next set of skills, Jake thought. He got up from the place he had been sitting and went out onto the engawa, sitting back down on a cushion where he watched the pink blossoms and ladies going through their daily routine. The morning air bit into his body as he watched the lady who delivered Jake the letter walk over and, with all certainty, bow. ¡°Mr Everval, is there anything I can get you?¡± Jake smiled and said, ¡°If it is possible, I would like two cups of tea.¡± Moments later, she returned with two cups and a pot. She placed the tray on the table and began pouring a cup for Jake. Once finished, she immediately went to stand back up, only for Jake to gesture for her to stay. ¡°I''m sorry about what happened to Aiya.¡± The lady just bowed her head. Jake pointed at the other cup. ¡°Please have a cup with me; it doesn''t feel right to drink alone.¡± She tried to politely refuse, but with a bit of perseverance, Jake managed to at least get her to stay. ¡°Are the people of the Pink Blossom managing with the change?¡±You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°We are doing as to be expected.¡± ¡°That''s good, so there''s nothing amiss¡ªno issues with the locals?¡± ¡°We have had some trouble with people getting a bit too rowdy back in the city at night. But nothing you need to worry about.¡± Jake was about to ask about this place, but then he realised he hadn''t heard a single person other than the lady of the Pink Blossom. ¡°I haven''t heard any customers come or go since I''ve been here. Is there a problem getting people to come out here?¡± ¡°No, we actually have a waiting list for people wishing to stay here for a day or two. We just didn''t want anyone to disturb you, so we have been telling everyone that asked that we had an important guest that must not be disturbed.¡± ¡°That can''t be good for your funds, right? Tell me, how much would I need to cover the time I have spent here so far?¡± ¡°5,000. You haven''t used anything really, so it would just be the cost of the room and the private bath.¡± Jake handed over all the money he had on him. ¡°This is too much. Plus, your stay with us is free of charge, no matter how long or when you stay. These were the last commands of Aiya, and we will follow them to the letter.¡± ¡°This is not me paying but a simple donation.¡± ¡°A donation.¡± ¡°What? Don''t you have donations?¡± ¡°No, people tend not to donate to people like us.¡± ¡°What do you mean ¡®people like you¡¯?¡± ¡°We are seen in the same way as prostitution is.¡± ¡°Yeah, but it''s not like you actually sell your bodies; you just provide a service that is missing in a lot of people''s lives. Good company is hard to come by, and from what I''ve seen, you all are very good company. Plus, on a positive note, you can get a man to tell you things no prostitute would ever hear.¡± Jake said the last part with a smile as he again offered the money to her. ¡°Do you think you would like to set up some more branches in another solar system? I have access to it; it''s just that once I''ve done a few things on Earth, I should be making a quick trip over there to get a few things ready, and I was wondering if you would like to come with me?¡± ¡°I''m not very high up when it comes to making those kinds of decisions, but I will let you know as soon as I can.¡± ¡°Good, take your time. No need to rush; I''ve still got a skill or more to combine, and you can let people in. As long as they don''t come into my room, they won''t bother me much.¡± ¡°Thank you, I will go tell my supervisor right now.¡± Jake thought to himself after the girl left. You know I don''t think I even asked her name. In a small office at the end of the accommodation area, a middle-aged woman sat behind a desk with a stack of papers towering in front of her. ¡°How long is that man going to stay? This bloody stack of complaints is getting too high; I can''t keep postponing so many people''s bookings.¡± As she was saying this, the same young girl Jake was talking to earlier ran in. ¡°Lady Hannara, I have news from that man.¡± ¡°Well, what is it? Spit it out, come on, girl.¡± ¡°He gave us a donation, then he asked if we would like to set up the pink blossom outlets in a completely different solar system. Then finally, he said that we should start letting people in; his only request is that none of them enter his room or interrupt him. It seems all he wants is a bit of privacy.¡± ¡°That seems workable.¡± ¡°About the offer to go to a new solar system with him?¡± ¡°We don''t know anything about the man. If you think he''s telling the truth, you go with him. You can even take a few of the girls with you; just be careful. Take little Nicky with you.¡± After his tea, Jake quickly went down to the washrooms, then he had himself a relaxing soak in one of the heated rock pools before heading back to his room for another round of skills management. This time, his goal was to combine Fireball with Transmute Powder and summon a projectile. Then, to add some more firepower to the end product, he was going to try and add the skill Atomic Degradation so that each shot would hold the ability to inflict atomic degradation damage to the target. This was Jake''s first time trying something on this scale, and he didn''t even know if it was even possible. After all, the last time he combined skills, he had a lot of help from the system; now he was by himself. It took Jake ten days just to figure out the basic plan on how he was going to attempt it. To make sure nothing unexpected happened, Jake would do it in steps. First, he would need to add the skill Transmute Powder; then he would need to reduce the size of the Fireball down but keep its explosive abilities as high as he could. This hopefully would give him the ability to shoot the fireball. Once that part was done, Jake would need to add the Summon Projectile skill and insert the projectile into the flame itself. Then came the bit he was most worried about, simply because he didn''t know what would happen once he added the skill Atomic Degradation. This was the only way he could think of to get anywhere close to what he wanted; after all, a skill that could grow along with him he had never had before. This would mean it would become the backbone of his entire combat ability set, using shadows in a similar way to what he did in the beginning of his journey, then by adding in his race-based skills to flesh out his lack of power. ¡°I might be jumping the gun a bit, but it would be nice to finally sort out these messed-up skills,¡± Jake said before he went back into meditation and began to work on the arduous processes of combining his new skill. ¡°One step at a time, Jake. Test its function, then try again.¡± It took twenty days to reduce the size of the fireball while keeping it at its original firepower. The size of the fireball was now a little bigger than a Tom Thumb marble and just as colourful too. It was only then that Jake heard it¡ªthere was a banging at his door. ¡°Get out here! How dare you take this room for yourself? If anyone should get this room, it must be me. Now get out here and face your judgement.¡± ¡°Sir, if you don''t leave this area, we will have to remove you forcefully.¡± ¡°What was that? You think you can get rid of me that easily? You''re just a little¡ªArr.¡± Jake walked over to the door, opening it to see the funniest thing he had seen in a good while. ¡°Mr Everval, I''m sorry for the inconvenience; it won''t happen again,¡± the young lady said as she stood on the bold old wrinkly man Jake remembered from his first visit to the Pink Blossom back in the city. 93 Looking at the young lady standing over the man who was one and a half times her size, this was the moment he knew he was no match for the pink blossom and that they didn''t require his help in protection one bit, which made him confused as to why Aiya asked him to take care of them. ¡°Don''t worry about it; he didn''t disrupt anything important.¡± ¡°That''s good. Again, I''m sorry for being late to my post. It''s my fault; I was unaware we had other people here today.I''ll get rid of this man promptly,¡± she said as she lifted the man''s legs over her shoulders and dragged him out of sight, his head bouncing along the ground as she went. ¡°I wonder if they''re all that strong?¡± ¡°No, not all of us. Actually, most of us, me included, haven''t even been able to begin our cultivation journey. We''re not like little Nicky. Instead, we are stuck playing by the system''s rules, and due to that fact, we don¡¯t want to give him any more than he gets from basic skill advancements.¡± ¡°Did you hear back from your supervisor yet?¡± ¡°Yes, I even have permission to take some people with me. Little Nicky will be one of them. I would just like to know what it is like; will there be enough business for us there?¡± ¡°There should be. The last time I was there, it was beginning to have a thriving community, but I have heard there is a planet in a neighbouring solar system that might be an interesting location in the future.¡± ¡°I hope you''re right because I''m taking quite the gamble with this. I had to call in a lot of favours to get the personnel required for this move.¡± ¡°To alleviate some of your concerns, I will talk to my people and get this move subsidised. You and your people will not need to worry about your financial needs until your new location is set up and bringing in profits.¡± Jake tried to contact Alric, but he couldn''t reach him. So he wrote a letter of introduction and within it stated his requests. He then asked the young lady, of which he still didn''t know her name, to get it to whoever was in charge of Freedom City. He did warn her that the people might not believe her and to try to find Alric, but if she couldn''t, not to worry, as he would take care of it once he was done here. This might have been Jake trying to be nice, but he knew the chances of him remembering to do that were slim. If he didn''t get things done while he thought of them, they would never get done. This was one of Jake''s known flaws; he just couldn''t keep track in the past, and it had only gotten worse since he was introduced to this world. Jake returned to his room to begin the next stage when, out of nowhere, the man he wanted to talk to appeared. ¡°Sir, we are having issues with the space near the Moon. It seems the location of the base has been leaked to the enemy. The humans from this would have allied with the remaining invaders stationed somewhere in the outer solar system. They have begun raiding our exploration fleets, and Emma is unsure of what actions to take. Do we stay in a passive stance or begin open hostilities towards the groups?¡± ¡°I would like to stay passive for now, but if things look bad and there are no other options, blow them to bits and don''t hold back.¡± ¡°Thank you, sir. On that note, I received a report from Erica. They have stabilised the border regions and begun mass production of defence platforms in the border regions. Thanks to Harry''s hard work before he left, we managed to reduce the power requirements so the system could fit on an average-sized asteroid. Other than that, we have space mines in areas of importance. The shipbuilding, on the other hand, has been slow work; we''ve only been able to produce four corvettes and ten gunships. We do have a large fleet of transport vessels and construction ships, but they are currently working on the solar system''s defensive line. As for here on Earth, things are going relatively calm. We''ve had a few cross-border incursions, but nothing for you to worry about. We''ve got things well in hand. The only thing I would like to say is that with Jayne gone, we don''t have someone to take over her role.¡± ¡°Her role will stay unfilled. As for any promotions or tasks that need doing, you do it until I find someone to do it for you.¡± ¡°If that''s all, sir, I will be going.¡± ¡°Wait, there''s a young lady heading for the city to hand you a letter. Go take care of it. And if you find a way to transport them to the other world, do it. Then there is a business in the city I own part of¡ªgive the man there a location he can deposit dividends into. That''s all, Mr. Alric. I would like it if you could periodically bring me information on the current state of affairs. This might get difficult when I leave the territory, but you should be able to find a way. After all, I have faith in your ability.¡± ¡°I will do what I can, sir.¡± Alric left shortly after talking with Jake, promising to take care of everything, including travel for the pink blossoms¡¯ people. That left Jake with completing his tasks on Earth and leaving everything behind. This was something he was looking forward to, but it did leave him with a sense of dread. Ten hours after Alric had left, Jake was deep in a trance as he began piecing his skills together. After two days, Jake was ready for the testing phase. He had conducted tests on the insertion of powder into the fireball, and this could only be done through trial and error. So he got up and left the room. He stopped when he noticed little Nicky standing near the door. ¡°Nicky, is it?¡± Jake asked.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Yes, sir, that is me. Is there something I can do for you?¡± Jake thought for a second, wondering why he even asked the lady. ¡°Sir, did you need something?¡± ¡°Ah, yes. Do you know of a place I can test skills without being seen?¡± ¡°Is the skill dangerous?¡± ¡°It could be.¡± Jake said, knowing damn well the skill had the potential to go catastrophic. ¡°Follow me, I will take you to my personal training area. It''s not too far away, and the protections are pretty high. You should be able to do as much damage as you want.¡± Jake followed the little lady deep into the forest until she stopped and pointed at what looked to be a haze rising from the ground and extending into the sky. ¡°If you head in there, no one will bother you while you''re training. The master set it up for me as a training ground, but that''s a ruse. Once the others reach late E grade, they can use this area for their final chance to break free of the system''s interference. I''ll take you inside, but then I will need to leave. So don''t leave the area till you''re done; otherwise, you won''t be able to get back in.¡± ¡°It''s amazing how places like this can be within the territory I''ve claimed but go completely unnoticed.¡± ¡°The master was a strong lady.¡± ¡°Was? Is she not now?¡± ¡°She had to go through her sect''s punishment. By the time she is released, I might be as strong as her. She might even die before then; she made quite a few enemies here, after all.¡± ¡°I''m sorry to hear that. If there was anything I could do, I would be willing.¡± ¡°Nothing can be done; she broke the rules. So it''s only natural to pay for that.¡± Jake and Nicky entered through the barrier. As Jake went through,the barrier tried to push back, but Nicky grabbed his hand and pulled him through. Jake felt his internal organs being crushed for a second, then he reached the other side. It opened into a large valley with a small stream running through the centre, and on the far side, log houses filled the hillside. The side Jake was on had no trees, and the ground was made of a very hard black stone. Then there was the density of energies within the zone. ¡°This area has an energy amplification ritual in place. It is currently operating at 10% of its maximum output. Once the others are ready, I will turn it up to 50% so they will be able to draw in the energies during their D grade evaluation.¡± ¡°What would happen if it was at 100%?¡± ¡°The system will notice anything above 50%, and the ritual will only last a day at that level. Don''t worry; 50% will be enough for the others.¡± Jake wasn''t even thinking about the others when he asked the question, but he went with it. ¡°That''s good. I do hope they all can free themselves from the system.¡± ¡°Feel free to use one of the houses. This area here is the only place you will be able to train at your full strength. Well, I have things to get on with, so I will leave you here, and good luck with the skill.¡± The lady left a moment later and left Jake alone. ¡°It''s time to get started.¡± Let''s just say Jake''s first attempt didn''t go well. He began by forming the flame that activated the other skill, turning the powder he had into gunpowder. It was then he realised his biggest mistake as of yet. In one hand, he had a pile of gunpowder, and in the other, an ignition source. He didn''t have a way to combine them; it was an oversight Jake was now paying the price for. As a slight breeze lifted the gunpowder off his hand, the flame in his hand erupted, turning Jake into the burning man for a full minute until the flame subsided, allowing Jake a moment of peace before the pain hit. His body went from white to red with patches of black where the flames were a little bit too hot. ¡°That hurt,¡± Jake groaned. But it wasn''t all bad news; he did receive a notification for a new skill. Skill Burning Man (unranked) Combines the skill effects of Fireball and Transmute Powder to form the skill Burning Man. Set your body on fire to scare your enemies; the flame will harm the user as much as it scares the enemy. This is a seek mental help skill. ¡°I can''t believe it! I thought it was just the system making up crap, but even this skill has a bit of that mental health stuff.¡± Jake rested for a while as he began going over his new skill, trying to figure out how it worked. He started by setting his hand on fire, watching as the flames ignited. It was actually pretty simple: as long as there was powder in the air, it was drawn into his hand before transforming into gunpowder. It wasn''t a lot of powder, but it was enough to do the job. The flame formed around the powder, encapsulating it until it was time for ignition; then the flame blew out on all sides. This skill gave Jake a good idea: if he could add this skill inside the Fireball skill, he should, with practice, be able to use the explosion that propelled the fireball forward. At least that was his plan, and so far, his plans hadn''t been the best. It was five days later when Jake finally got his skills working together in a stable form. He could now embed the Burning Man skill inside the Fireball. He started by placing it in the centre of the fireball, but all that did was burn the crap out of his body. Jake was looking very crispy by now, but he didn''t give up. He slowly changed the location in the fireball until it reached a spot where the explosion would propel the fireball forward. It was nowhere near the speed Jake was hoping for, but it was a start. His next step was to increase the speed, and to do this, Jake had an idea. He was going to use the ritualist''s skill to help make the Transmute Powder skill work. This was a long shot, but Jake didn''t have any other options. Jake wrote his first ritual on the ground to test what would happen. He used his Transmute Powder skill, and an instant later, it was summoned to the centre of the ritual. ¡°Nice. Now, what happens if I pull out premade powder?¡± Jake pulled out a stack of gunpowder, but nothing happened. He then began writing the ritual onto his hand and activated the Transmute Powder skill. The powder instantly formed in his hand, stacking up like a condensed rocket engine. This could work. He next expanded the Burning Man skill over the condensed gunpowder and ignited the skill. The fireball shot forward faster than any bullet Jake had seen before. There was a tail of flame trailing the fireball as it rocketed into the sky. Notification Skill upgrade Fireball - Fire Shot (Common) Taming fire is the only true path forward. Shoot dragon''s fire from your hands; the fire will explode on impact. Mana-infused fire will be used to activate an ancient form of space travel that was once used for space travel, but now is the catalyst for death and destruction. Jake could have stopped at this point, and anyone else would have, but this wasn''t good enough for Jake. 94 Jake''s original plan was to add the summon projectile skill at this stage, but instead, he opted for atomic degradation. This one was not as hard as he originally thought it would be. At first, he did have issues with the flame and the gunpowder degrading. The flame wasn''t so bad, as it was a good way to transfer the skill to its target, but the gunpowder being degraded caused the speed of the flame to reduce. This was something Jake would not accept. He continued refining the skill. He continued this refinement for twenty-two days until the flame turned a light shade of green, with a scattering of black lines where the atomic degradation skill manifested in its fully condensed state. The green flame was a by-product of the stable arcane energy holding back the corruption from the atomic degradation skill. Notification Skill divergence Corrupted fire shot (unique) Taming fire is the only true path forward; at least, that is what the dragons believe, but you have found a new path forward. Shoot corrupted dragon''s fire from your hands; the fire will explode on impact, inflicting your target with atomic degradation. Mana-infused fire will be used to activate an ancient form of space travel that was once used for space travel, but now is the catalyst for death and destruction while stable arcane energy holds back the corruption. Warning: atomic degradation can only be held back for five seconds. The moment Jake finished the skill, he understood his luck. If he had gone with his original plan, he would never have been able to acquire this skill, as atomic degradation would have ripped apart any metal he put into it, and he couldn''t use more stable arcane energy as he needed every little bit to hold back the corruption, and it was still leaking out. The next thing Jake did was add the summon projectile skill to the non-corrupted fire shot. After all he had gone through so far, Jake was expecting a struggle, but to his surprise, it only took a day to complete. It was so easy to do; he even made a version that used thousands of small fragments, and once he did, he received the familiar notification. Notification Skill upgrade Fire shot (uncommon) Taming fire is the only true path forward. Shoot dragon''s fire from your hands; the fire will explode on impact. Mana-infused fire will be used to activate an ancient form of space travel that was once used for space travel, but now is the catalyst for death and destruction. As fire was not enough to take down your targets alone, you can now add projectiles for extra damage. Note: the number of projectiles used is input by the user as the fireball is being formed. You have three variants: solid shot, fragmented shot, and the vanilla fire shot. Jake brought up his skill list after he reorganised it a bit. His hope was that this would make it a lot easier to use his skills in the future. There were some things missing, like the complete lack of any skills he could use in a space battle; he just had nothing to help with that at the moment. His hope was to pick something up when he leaves his territory. Skill list Combat skill set active on: Race skill Eyes of the Lost (unique) Splitting your focus on multiple tasks is your new state of being. Identifying your target''s information is as easy as a glance. Your sight is as true as an arrow while your enemy will cower at a glance. You illuminate the pathway to your target. Open a path to view the afterlife for lost souls. Anyone who looks into your eyes will see the fate of fallen friends and loved ones, and if they are hostile towards the demon of the past, they will see the fires of the deep as it slowly burns away at their souls. +100 all stats regeneration once per minute +5 points of damage to your enemy every minute 10% chance your target will run +10 points of soul damage to your enemy every minute This skill cannot be deactivated. Race skill Demon Strike (unique) Stamina is converted into temporary units of integrity at a 100 to 5 ratio. All fallen lifeforms will be drained of their residual life force and converted into stamina at a conversion rate of 100%. With your newfound energy, every melee attack will be infused with destructive arcane energy as your attack power is now bolstered by the souls you protect. +50 damage per hit +50 soul damage per hit This skill cannot be deactivated. Race skill Demon Dance (unique) Wings of shadows obscure your enemy''s sight as you teleport, dash, and fly your way to safety. With this, you will be the bane of those who travel in the dark. Your wings take the form of a cloak when not in use and guard against minor piercing and slashing damage when in cloak form. The user can change the colour of the cloak at will. +50 damage to unaware targets This skill cannot be deactivated. Combat skill set one: Skill Divergence Corrupted Fire Shot (unique) Taming fire is the only true path forward; at least that is what the dragons believe, but you have found a new path forward. Shoot corrupted dragon''s fire from your hands; the fire will explode on impact, inflicting your target with atomic degradation. Mana-infused fire will be used to activate an ancient form of space travel that was once used for space travel but now serves as the catalyst for death and destruction while stable arcane energy holds back the corruption. Warning: atomic degradation can only be held back for five seconds. Skill Fire Shot (uncommon) Taming fire is the only true path forward. Shoot dragon''s fire from your hands; the fire will explode on impact. Mana-infused fire will be used to activate an ancient form of space travel that was once used for space travel but is now the catalyst for death and destruction. As fire was not enough to take down your targets alone, you can now add projectiles for extra damage. Note the number of projectiles used is input by the user as the fireball is being formed. You have three variants: solid shot, fragmented shot, and the vanilla fire shot. Skill Race skill (Voices of the past unique) Tap into the experience of those who have died. Combat skill set close Combat: Race skill Demonic hand (Unique) Seal physical wounds or soul damage with just a touch. Provide a calming aura that puts lifeforms at ease. Combat skill set last stand: Skill Boosted Arcane Berzerka of Time (epic) Time belongs to no one. Slow time in a localised zone outside of your body; as time is slowed outside, inside time has been increased, boosting your reaction speed as your mind focuses on destroying your enemies. The skill will only activate in times of the caster''s greatest need. A backlash will occur when the skill deactivates. The maximum time the skill can be active for is 20 seconds before the complete atomic breakdown of the caster''s body will begin. Defensive skill set: Skill insert name. (Rare) Change the form of any metal objects, restricted to metal that has not been embedded with energy or has not been soulbound. Race Skill Summon lost servants (unique) Summon your lost servants'' souls to fight by your side in a body made of arcane energy. The arcane body will break down within 30 minutes of summoning, sending their souls back to the place they came from. Cost: 500 arcane energy per lost servant. Misc skills: Skill (Universal translate. Common) as newly integrated, you were given the skill to understand the language of all humanoid life forms. Skill Many faces (common) Change your outward appearance at your will. Costs 100 mana a minute to keep active, and once deactivated, it will take 24 hours before it can be reactivated. Skill Shroud of the pink blossom (transcendent, unique) A skill handcrafted by Akari as part of the deal she entered with Jake Everval. This skill will shroud Jake Everval from any trackers or identification skills up to the rank of high-grade transcendent. Profession skills Skill (Arcane hammer rare) Use your Arcane energy to reshape items. (Refined Arcane hammer rare) Use your refined arcane energy to reshape items < (Refined Arcane hammer rare) use your refined arcane energy to reshape items in a more detailed manner. Reduces the amount of arcane energy required by 50%Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. in a more detailed manner. Reduces the amount of arcane energy required by 50%. Skill (Arcane flame rare) An explosive flame contained within a mana barrier. < ( Attuned arcane flame epic ) a roaring flame of pure arcane energy that is attuned to the casters will. < (Attuned arcane flame epic) a roaring flame of pure arcane energy that is attuned to the caster''s will. Skill (small mana shield common) You can produce a small physical shield of mana anywhere on your body < (reactive mana barrier rare) a barrier is formed and changed at the unconscious will of the caster barrier size is limited only to the casters mana pool. < (reactive mana barrier rare) a barrier is formed and changed at the unconscious will of the caster. The barrier size is limited only to the caster''s mana pool. Skill (circuitry apprentice unranked) Learn the secrets of how technology works at a much-improved rate. Skill (ritualist''s apprentice unranked) Learn the secrets only known to the few and improve upon items created by inscribing simple rituals into them. Healing Skill Healing hands of the faithful (common) Lay your hands on your target and imbue them with life energy. Each time this skill is used, a donation from the target must be paid in the form of energy to the user at a 1-to-1 ratio. Race skills Race upgrade demon of the past. Unique This is a unique race in the integrated universe; as such, the system has no information on its abilities. Race skill Master of the lost (unique) Those who have lost their way in life can get a second chance. By following the demon of the past, they can find hope in what was once lost. Notification You have activated the skill Master of the lost. What path do you wish five of nine and eight to take? Options High ranking paths Cost 1000 grade levels Mid ranking paths Cost 100 grade levels Low ranking paths Cost 10 grade levels More paths may open up as your grade level increases. Any low and mid grade users can be promoted by a high-ranking member of the same path if the minimum criteria have been met, or by the demon of the past. Jake then checked something he had been thinking about. He checked his cultivation to see how many shards he had, and the moment he did, Jake couldn''t stop a smile from growing on his face. Solidified Level 76. Levels required till next grade evaluation 1000 total Cultivation Level 0 Life 100% Void 59% Mana 100% Arcane 100% F grade energy storage Life high ¡Á1500 F shards Void low ¡Á500 F shards Mana high ¡Á1000 F shards Arcane high ¡Á900 F shards Genesis medium ¡Á92 G fragment Death low ¡Á1 F shard Out of all of them, death was the only one that didn''t increase dramatically. If it wasn''t for the crystal, Jake would have had to cultivate non-stop for three times longer than the amount of time he had been within the barrier. Jake left for the building he had been living in while he was working on his skills. He sat down on what looked like a cultivation pillow and began using the shards. It took him quite a while to go through all the shards as he was using them; the crystal had also been doing its thing, giving him a few more shards to use. Solidified Level 76. Levels required until next grade evaluation: 1000 total Cultivation Level 260 Life 0% Void 0% Mana 0% Arcane 0% F grade energy storage Life high ¡Á1250 F shards Void low ¡Á0 F shards Mana high ¡Á740 F shards Arcane high ¡Á660 F shards Genesis medium ¡Á92 G fragment Death low ¡Á1 F shards ¡°260 levels ready to go. Well, let''s go have myself a nap. I wonder how long it''s going to take this time.¡± Jake found himself a bed and went to sleep. Nineteen days later, Jake awoke only to see he was no longer alone. ¡°Mr Everval, what are you doing and why did it take you so damn long to wake up? Wait. Don''t tell me you used your sleep to solidify your levels; that''s so inefficient,¡± little Nicky said. ¡°If you have another way, I''m all ears.¡± ¡°No, sorry, I can''t help you. It''s your path; you need to find the answers within yourself.¡± ¡°Well, that''s really unhelpful.¡± ¡°You will figure it out.¡± ¡°So is there a reason for you being this close?¡± ¡°I thought you were dead, and I came here to tell you I was bringing down the barrier as I''m to head to another solar system with Frayer, and as I was the only one entrusted to manage this space, I can only take it with me. I hope this won''t impede your progress.¡± ¡°Not at all. Thank you for letting me use it for so long,¡± Jake said before getting up from the bed. ¡°So how long before you need to take this place down?¡± ¡°Ten days ago! Everyone has been waiting for me.¡± ¡°Well then, I will get out of your hair then,¡± Jake said. They both said their goodbyes as Jake headed deeper into the forest. Stats at the end of the chapter Name: Jake Everval Race: Demon of the past. Unique Core: Haven Braker, first grade, restricted, fully unlocked at D grade Grade: F Information on F grade Upgrades: 600 above previous; anyone below this grade in the open universe will not survive unless protected by life-sustaining means such as planetary shields and the like. No F graders have ever entered space and survived for more than two years without adequate protection. Note: levels are gained through cultivation; levels must be solidified by practical use Solidified Level 336. Levels required until next grade evaluation: 1000 total Cultivation Level 0 Life 0% Void 0% Mana 0% Arcane 0% F grade energy storage Life high ¡Á1350 F shards Void low ¡Á20 F shards Mana high ¡Á840 F shards Arcane high ¡Á760 F shards Genesis medium ¡Á93.5 G fragment Death low ¡Á1 F shards Note: Shards will be dropped for each energy type once it reaches the limit for your grade. Class: Trooper Shadow Mage (Common) 2000 levels required until the next major threshold Solidified Class Level 1109 Cultivated Level 37 of 60% Profession: Arcane Smith (Common) 2000 levels required until the next major threshold Solidified Profession Level 538 Cultivated Level 0 of 0.1% Information: At common rarity, your profession will have less impact on the environment around you. Stat points available 134,019 Conversion multiplier ¡Á10 Mana 980,000 Arcane 980,000 Stamina 1,970,010 Health1,516,500 Base multiplier ¡Á10 Strength 99,101 Agility 98,000 Intelligence 98,000 Wisdom 98,000 Perception 99,000 Integrity 151,650 Complete dungeons to advance multipliers beyond the starting ¡Á10 multiplier. A basic collection method has been granted to you by the heavens. Lost Servants Race: Lost Servant Name: Franky Viss Level: 10 Grade: F Race: Lost Servant Name: Albert Level: 7 Grade: F Race: Lost Servant Name: Elizabeth Bay Level: 17 Grade: F Race: Lost Servant Name: Harald Mar Level: 9 Grade: F Notification: Lost servants cannot exceed the summoned grade level. Titles Title: (Budding Smith) As a budding smith, your path has been opened +1 point to all level advancements but not grade level advancements. To (Initiate Arcane Smith), you have opened the path and taken the first steps on your journey +9 points to all non-grade-level advancements and +20 points to grade level advancements. Title: (The Wanderer''s Mark - Unique) This mark was given by Aaliyah La Flame and is a symbol of friendship. It will help with high-level arcane energy manipulation. Only one can hold this mark; it will provide a non-system enforced link to Aaliyah La Flame. Provides +10 points to grade level advancements. Changed by the Sword of Damocles. Title: Elemental Slayer For killing an elemental while still in F grade, you receive the power to imbue elemental power into one construct or item. Title: Dungeon Master 2/10 First to complete the Wandering Path dungeon +10 points to all profession and class levels. Dungeon master stat multiplier +0; multiplier will increase by 1 for every 10 dungeons completed. Title: Lord As a lord, you have the first and last word on any dispute within your territories. You gain the ability to found a new galaxy power. You will also receive the ability to increase the mana and arcane energy within your territories by drawing in the energy from the surroundings. Warning: this could turn the area into a desolate zone if your territories are set to continuously drain energy. Title: Demon Master As a new demon, you can have up to one soul servant. Soul servants give their free will over to their master for a boost in stats and new skills to assist their master in their goals. As the master, you receive +50 to class, profession, and grade levels. Warning: soul servants cannot be dismissed. Title The New Path of the Arcane Smith Using arcane energy will require less focus and will draw less arcane energy from the surrounding area when forgoing. Title Atomic Man Your body can now handle a limited amount of atomic degradation before it will begin to be destroyed. Title Leader of His Generation As the leader of your generation, you will receive +10 points to all profession and class levels. Changed by the Sword of Damocles. Lost Titles Title The Monkey That Fights You were noticed by the Monkey King and given the abilities to continue on your path. As a defender of the weak and lost, you gain the skills Stamina Drain, Healing Hand, and Calming Finger. Title System Hegemon (Uncommon) As a new power in the universe, you are now an emperor of your own lands. If your seat of power falls, so will you. Experience in profession and class will be increased for any citizen of your empire within the bounds of your territories. Title System Masterpiece By helping create an item outside your ability, you have gained the title System Masterpiece, ¡Á2 multiplier to base stats and ¡Á1 multiplier to conversion stats. 95 Jake was standing in the middle of an ambush conducted by what looked to be bastardised rabbits; they were at least two feet tall with teeth sharp enough to tear apart a steel plate. Jake identified the closest one. Identify Sharp-tooth rabbit G grade Level 5 Weakness: The sharp-tooth rabbit is a hybrid mix of hare and rabbit. It is commonly known that the sharp-tooth rabbit is weak to many forms of energy, and they are not known to give up easily. Jake thought over his options. He could easily destroy these rabbits, but then what benefits would that bring him? No, Jake''s decision was simple; he had four servants that needed some practice. He summoned the four ethereal servants and sent them out to hunt as he just sat and watched. It began with a complete wipe of his servants, then after re-summoning them, Jake directed them to work together. He split them into two teams and had one team attack while the other rested. This basic strategy worked to hold off the sharp-tooth rabbits, but it was not good enough to take the initiative. This meant Jake needed a different strategy, and there was only one thing to do: work on changing how the skill worked. Race Skill Summon Lost Servants (unique) Summon your lost servants'' souls to fight by your side in a body made of arcane energy. The arcane body''s will break down within 30 minutes of summoning, sending their souls back to the place they came from. Cost: 500 arcane energy per lost servant. The skill only stated that they would fight by his side. This was a potential area he could change, but there was also the fact that their bodies were made of arcane energy, so this was also a possibility. Jake looked through his skills to see what he had that might mesh well with it, but his plan this time was not to combine skills but to copy parts of other skills and graft them into the Summon Lost Servants skill. There were two skills Jake had that could mesh well with the summons. The only issue was that both of them were profession skills. Skill (Arcane Hammer, rare) Use your arcane energy to reshape items. < (Refined Arcane hammer rare) use your refined arcane energy to reshape items in a more detailed manner. Reduces the amount of arcane energy required by 50% < (Refined Arcane Hammer, rare) Use your refined arcane energy to reshape items in a more detailed manner. Reduces the amount of arcane energy required by 50%. Skill (Arcane Flame, rare) An explosive flame contained within a mana barrier. < ( Attuned arcane flame epic ) a roaring flame of pure arcane energy that is attuned to the casters will. < (Attuned Arcane Flame, epic) A roaring flame of pure arcane energy that is attuned to the caster''s will. Jake''s thinking was to use the skill refined arcane hammer as a kind of weapon creation skill and the attuned arcane flame as a substitute for the mana that is used in the fireball skill. Jake first began working on the hammer skill to see what would happen. He was taking a bit of a risk as if he lost the skill he would never be able to make items anymore. But this was a risk Jake was willing to take; it didn''t take long for him to get the hang of it and, in the meantime, it seemed as though the rabbits had decided to regroup, giving his servants a break from the constant attacks. ¡°Wow, that didn''t take long at all.¡± Notification Race Skill Summon Lost Servants (Unique) Summon your lost servants'' souls to fight by your side in a body made of arcane energy. The arcane body''s will break down within 30 minutes of summoning, sending their souls back to the place they came from. Cost: 500 arcane energy per lost servant. Tactical Skills 1/3 Item Manifestation (Common) Your servants can manifest a range of items made from their own arcane energy. List of Items Note: Items cannot be duplicated between servants. ¡°That''s not exactly what I was going for. I think I should be a bit more careful with the next one, but I guess it''s better than nothing. It does make me wonder, though, how are the bullets made?¡± Jake then noticed each of the servants now had a weapon in their hands, and the one with the rifle lifted its weapon up and fired. ¡°Well, now we know,¡± Jake said, as a small blue ball of light exited the barrel before blasting the poor little rabbit apart a second later. His other servants jumped into action; all three rushed forward, the swordsman in the lead, followed on each side by the two others. As they got closer, the one with the pistol opened fire. It was as if a cannon went off; the pistol was a close replica of the one Jake made. They ripped through the rabbits like they weren''t even there. The poor little things had no chance. By the end of the fight, all four of his servants were almost completely see-through. They had used up almost all of their arcane energy in the battle. Jake had no choice but to dismiss them; he was going to re-summon them but stopped himself.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°If I''m going to give them the other skill, I really should find out what exactly went wrong.¡± Jake sat down in the middle of what is now a valley of death; not even a single blade of grass remained. Reading over the skill one last time, Jake noticed something that either wasn''t there before or he just missed it as he quickly scanned the skill. Tactical Skills 1/3 ¡°What does that mean? Can I only have three skills, or is it something else, like I don''t know, active skills? No, that doesn''t make sense. It has to be a hard limit; that would make sense after all.¡± Jake continued thinking about it when he heard voices from the trees behind him. Jake teleported into the closest shadow he could find and began listening. ¡°What was all that noise earlier? Did any of you hear it?¡± A young girl no older than fifteen asked the group. ¡°Mel, you''re not in one of the training simulations anymore. Relax a bit; the only things out here are those damn rabbits we were sent to kill. If you are that worried, you can go back to the camp and wait with the cooks,¡± the oldest member of the group said. The young man was around nineteen in his looks, still adorning that baby face look some have at his age. Jake watched the group from a distance as they slowly got closer. It didn''t take them long until they were under the tree he was hiding in and at the edge of the clearing. ¡°Everyone stay on guard; we should be close to the rabbits'' main burrow.¡± The group continued pushing their way out of the dense forest that was blocking their vision and into the wasteland Jake and his summons made. ¡°What the hell happened here?¡± The group just stood there, staring at the barren landscape. Not one of them could comprehend what had happened until the young lady remembered something her late teacher once told her. ¡°Mary told me once there are things out here stronger than you could imagine. Once she even told me about the city founder and how he had tortured them for days under the pretext that he was training them. But what I''m getting at is I think this was done by the same monster that burnt the forest down up north; you know, the monster that killed Lady Everval and sent the founder running; you know, the same founder that tortured the people we could never beat. So just maybe, instead of standing around, we might just want to head back to the city to report this. After all, do any of you want to be around when it comes back?¡± ¡°Fuck that monster; it killed Jayne. She was so beautiful! I would have loved to be a fly in that room.¡± ¡°Mike, don''t be sick. Plus, you would have been spotted even using that skill of yours,¡± Mel said as she slowly backed away. Jake couldn''t decide what actions he should take, so he took none and just sat listening to the constant bickering. After what seemed to be hours, the group had finally left his perception range. Instead of working on his skills or cultivating, Jake rushed off deeper into the forest in the direction of that damn lizard. Those people, were they trained by Mary and her team before that battle? If so, I think they could use a refresher in their training; wouldn''t want them to die like Mary. I might look into the training that''s being provided out of the city; it wouldn''t be good if people were dying due to something as stupid as a lack of training. Jake thought only to be interrupted moments later as he felt a presence he couldn''t forget; it was that lizard, but now it wasn''t up to its normal tricks. By the feeling Jake was getting, the lizard must have reached a level of power much greater than a lizard of his kind. The last Jake knew of the lizard, it wouldn''t even leave its cave. But now his presence could be felt miles away from his cave, which made him wonder if the Blutung lizard was out in the forest hunting, and if so, what was its prey? Jake summoned his servants and sent them out with strict rules to follow. First, they were to only kill monsters below their level. This should allow them to gain a few more levels while they followed rule two: find Jake''s prey and return. This wasn''t a foolproof plan, nor was it the best use of their time, but Jake had to start somewhere. Thirty minutes later, Jake re-summoned his servants and tried again; he knew the lizard was out there but just couldn''t find it. While continuing his search, Jake set course for the cave as he wanted to find out what made the lizard leave. It took him a lot longer than he would admit to find the cave, and when he did, it became obvious why the lizard left, or should I say was kicked out, as just inside the entrance was a set of gigantic red doors with black writing over them. Low-grade dungeon Earth entrance. Standard entrance rules apply:
  1. Must be below E grade.
  2. Must have appropriate skills
  3. Rewards will be calculated upon completion of the dungeon.
¡°Well, I could give it a go.¡± Jake pushed on the door and went inside. Notification You have entered the low-grade portion of the dungeon. Beginning skill and grade level scan¡­ you meet the minimum requirements to proceed; good luck. Notification Warning: Direct system message has bypassed alldisguise skills. Your location has been marked by the system, and all grade restrictions have been removed within the Sol system. Jake was about to go over his new predicament when his head started to throb and his legs turned to jelly, when a new message entered his mind. This is a direct message from the system imposed universal constants to the hereticalJake Everval, the bearer of the sword of Damocles. Bounty level has changed. Any individual that is part of the system and takes part in your death will receive +100 class levels and +10 grade levels, and for the one that takes your life, they will receive +10,000 class levels and +1000 grade levels. Any individual outside of the system''s influence will be granted a skill for your death, and those that assist you will receive 10 high F-grade shards of their choice. Skill Ray of light (redacted) The skill will allow the user to convert the non-system blessed into followers of the great system-imposed universal constants, granting them the ability to climb to the peak of immortality. P.S. Have fun in my dungeon because I know I will as I watch you struggle to survive. Oh, and look behind you; there''s someone who''s been dying to see you. Just as Jake read the last sentence, the doors swung open, revealing a half-lizard, half-man creature. Both individuals Jake knew: the lizard was the one from this cave, while the other one was that man, Dave Walker. But it looks as though he was dead; his skin had turned green and was peeling off. 96 could this lizard man even hurt him in this room? Jake tried to identify the lizard man to at least gauge his level, but the message in reply was odd. Not only did it not work, but what he received couldn''t even be called a message. [ Identify Race redacted Core redacted Grade redacted Level redacted Weakness: redacted Notification by the system imposed universal constants: all dungeon-related information has been restricted; only good boys and girls get use of my toys. ] That''s odd; shouldn''t I still be able to access my interface, as it has nothing to do with the system? So why can''t I see anything? Don''t tell me that prick can see me now that I''m in one of its dungeons. Does that also mean it will be receiving my experience instead, or what? Can I still cultivate in here? These were just some of the things Jake was thinking about when the lizard man''s fist connected with his face. Jake awoke from his daze as he dragged himself out of the rock wall he found himself lodged in. It wasn''t long until Jake truly understood what was going on. As he was not part of the system and this dungeon was the true embodiment of the system''s will, Jake did not belong; therefore, everything within it would be against him. That meant a safe zone like the one he was in may actually be the most unsafe place he could be, as although he was not part of the system, others would be and they would have the system''s full support. Jake could not harm the lizard man while he remained inside the safe zone. But the other way around was not the same; Jake''s health points took a nosedive as he began to be pulled by the lizard man, his eyes filling with blood from the gash on his head, and that was nothing compared to the rest of him. The time it took for Jake to get into this state was less than a minute. He hadn''t even had the time to formulate a strategy or summon his servants to help. No, Jake could only manage to raise his arms in a weak defensive stance before the next round of blows hit. Jake tried to bring up his interface to check his stats, only for it to completely fail to activate. This left Jake in an even more precarious situation; he couldn''t check his stats, and what was more troublesome was the fact he couldn''t activate his skills. Or at least activate them as easily as he would have earlier. Jake had to understand how the skill worked and where it was located within his body. For example, the skill Voices of the Past was localised to his mind, buried deep within a dark shadow¡ªa place Jake couldn''t see but could only feel. But then there were his skills that were supposed to be permanently active like Eyes of the Lost; not only was it deactivated somehow, but Jake didn''t even know where to start to reactivate it. This left Jake with a big issue, as that skill alone was one of his life-saving skills; Jake was truly lost without it. Jake''s next attempt to escape didn''t go so well. He tried to teleport to the door to the next area, but just as he thought he knew where the skill was located, it failed to activate, leaving him standing directly in front of the lizard''s fist. He raised his damaged arm to block as he tried once again to escape, but instead of teleporting, he dashed within the same skill. This time it was a partial success; the skill, or at least part of the skill, activated, allowing Jake to dodge the incoming blow. His legs moved with the feeling of purpose for the first time since gaining his powers. It was as though Jake had truly become one with his skill, or at least the dash part of it. Jake dashed left and right as he tried to dodge the relentless blows, but his luck ran out after the fifth blow. The fist sent him into an arc as he bounced off the ceiling and wall, only coming to a stop in front of the only way out of this room of death. But with only the ability to dash, Jake would soon die if he left now. He only had one chance to get his skill to work. Jake''s goal before he left the room was to activate one part of the skill Eyes of the Lost, and that was the +100 all stats regeneration once per minute portion of the skill. This would at least give him back some health in time; he would also need an attack skill, and who better to test it on than the lizard? For that, what skill would be better than Demon Strike? He had a fair idea of where that skill was located; it didn''t take him long until he could strike out at the lizard with the full strength of his Demon Strike skill. Well, not full strength, but close. No matter how hard he tried, there was just no way he could access the part that gave his enemies soul damage. But this wasn''t too much of a problem right now, so instead of continuing the useless fight, Jake headed for the door, the lizard man in tow. He burst through the door; a white light flashed, and Jake found himself alone in a vine-laden forest, the lizard man nowhere to be seen. Jake let out a short sigh.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°I was certain he was going to follow me out of there. I wonder what exactly is up with this dungeon level; no information is definitely going to make this difficult.¡± Let''s see here. Okay, so what are my priorities right now? Jake looked down at his busted-up body, then at his hands. First things first, I need to find a way to heal, then I will be needing a weapon. Seeing as I can''t access my storage, I guess I''m going to need to make one. It''s a bit odd, but it feels like even though the system is being its usual self, I might just be able to profit in the end if I work hard at it. After thinking about what he should do next for way too long, Jake finally noticed that since entering the dungeon, he had been in his demon form. The skill he was given to help him hide had failed him at the first hurdle. It failed the moment I entered this damn dungeon, but it was working outside, so maybe it''s not as bad as I thought. Still not great, but better than nothing. Now let''s continue working on that skill. Jake was battered and bruised, but he still had enough left in him to reach into his body to grasp the understanding of how his body managed to give him 100 points to each stat. Well, that wasn''t exactly true; he had managed to figure out how his health got the points. There would have been no possible way Jake would have been able to understand this before he began his path into the cultivating world, as it was a part of passive cultivation that was doing it. A portion of all the life energy Jake collected would be used to empower his health stat. This actually made Jake wonder if it would be possible to increase the amount of points he could get from this method. But now was not the time to look into it, as the underbrush around Jake began to move. Out of instinct, Jake tried to hide in one of the shadows close by, but to the expectation of no one, nothing happened. Jake was left standing there behind a small tree when a familiar figure poked its whiskered nose out of the underbrush. ¡°Why are you standing there pretending to be all sneaky like? Did you know how fucken long I have been waiting for you to get back? Fuck, I even started to wonder if you were dead in some ditch and that wanker Alric didn''t bother to tell me. Now what the fuck is up with this place? I can''t even use any skills; this place fucken sucks big giant balls. I''m a walking fucken library now, and none of this makes any sense.¡± ¡°It''s nice to see you too,¡± Jake said to the small fox. ¡°Yer, alright. It''s good to see you. Now how about you tell me what is going on here? I haven''t got any information since I walked through that door. This is a dungeon, yes? Because I haven''t received any information on it¡ª not even how many levels there are to it.¡± ¡°This one''s a bit different. It seems I pissed off the one running it, and now he''s training to get me killed, and probably you too.¡± ¡°Oh, that''s just fucken great! I come all the way out here to find you, but now you''re telling me some bullshit guy wants to see me turned into a taxidermy. Fuck that for a joke; I''m leaving this shithole of a place as soon as I can.¡± ¡°How did you even know I was here? By the way, I didn''t tell anyone about where I was going,¡± Jake asked curiously, wondering how the little fox could even track him. ¡°Well, I was told by one of the young ladies from the Pink Blossom that you were training out this way, then as I was heading out, I ran into a group of hunters that made a report about a dragon that destroyed a valley, so I went there to investigate since it was so close to the city.¡± ¡°Okay, but how did you find this place?¡± ¡°Did you know you''re not really good at masking your tracks, from your scent to the trail of destruction you leave behind you? It was so simple to find you, and as for finding you inside the dungeon, I have no idea¡ªI just arrived here. Did I tell you this place is wired? There was this freaky-looking lizard man yelling at the doorway. It seems he really doesn''t like you.¡± ¡°How did you get past?¡± ¡°An adequate bribe. One he wouldn''t refuse. By the way, I think you will be seeing that lizard again before you leave this dungeon.¡± ¡°I was thinking that would be the case, especially after I ended up here alone. I just thought he would be somewhere on this level.¡± Jake and Five both began working on the fox''s skills: Lost Knowledge, Stable Memory, and Apprentice''s Scribe. Their hope was to at least get Stable Memory and Apprentice''s Scribe to work; the Lost Knowledge skill was outside of their current ability to figure out. The extended time they spent working on Five''s skills was of great help to Jake as, by the time they were done, Jake''s health had regained a good chunk of points, meaning Jake wouldn''t just up and die from the first monster that found them. ¡°So you got them working?¡± Jake asked. ¡°Yeah, all but the good one. I can''t believe the system would go so far as to try and kill you, to even remove the restriction protecting the sol system from high graders. Do you think Earth will be able to hold them off?¡± ¡°I don''t think Earth will even try; after all, there''s no benefit to them. I''m the one they want, and if Earth can get rid of me, they could go back to their old ways of selling off beast folk to the highest bidder. I would even say the governments would sell off the world if they could. No, we are definitely going to lose this fight, and there''s nothing we can do about it.¡± ¡°Good riddance, is all I can say. Let''s just get the people we trust out of here and leave this place behind,¡± Five said as he jumped up to Jake''s shoulder. 97 Jake and Five were hiding in a bush overlooking one of the monsters on this dungeon floor. Five would use his superior sneaking ability to scout out a target while Jake just did his best to not get seen. Their target was a rabbit; not a grand monster, but a small one, only slightly bigger than a pre-system heir. This was the third monster the two had scouted out. The first one almost killed the two; if it hadn''t been for Jake''s quick response time, Five and he would have been meat for that lioness. Then the second monster at least didn¡¯t try to kill them, but it was definitely out of Jake''s current ability to kill it. Being a dinosaur just might have been a giveaway as to its strength. Then there was the fact that Jake saw it split a tree in two with its clubbed tail before it just sauntered off. Now they were overlooking the rabbit. ¡°So what do you think, do I bum rush it and hope for the best?¡± Five just turned and looked at him before going back to his observation of the dungeon and all its strangeness. Then, unfazed by Jake, he scratched some symbols into a piece of slate and turned to Jake. ¡°It''s a rabbit, not a fucken dragon. Do whatever you want, just make sure you kill the stinking thing.¡± Jake looked over after that response. ¡°Is something bothering you? Because it seems like something''s bothering you.¡± Five changed back into his little fox form and walked over to Jake. ¡°It''s nothing.¡± The fox climbed up onto Jake''s shoulder before continuing. ¡°It''s just these fuckenstinking animals bring back memories I would rather just forget. Like the time my stupid brother killed one and put it in my bed; I fucken stunk for a week. It was only by jumping into a river that the smell finally left, but by then it was too late; my chance was over. There was no way she would want me after that. No, she picked that asshole of a brother. All hail fucken one of nine, the only one to be born in the moon''s enchanting likeness. Fuck him and his wife; I hope they both die. Let''s get this over with so we can leave this place already.¡± Jake was about to launch an attack when Five spoke again. ¡°How does a man stay so clean when his soul is as filthy as a back alley brothel on pay day?¡± Jake snickered as he dashed out of their hiding spot and kicked the unsuspecting rabbit right in the head. The little rabbit''s top head turned to mist, covering both Jake and the many other rabbits that had just now exited the burrow in full force. Jake was now surrounded by what some people would call cute furry animals, but these ones were much different. Each rabbit, while not tough, let out a killing intent so deep it was actually suffocating to be in. It was then that the slight exhilaration Jake got from his most recent kill vanished and a feeling of dread replaced it. ¡°Little fox, you have made a mistake by coming here. We will take our revenge out on you for the countless murders you have committed, and as for you, creature, we will be taking your head and that bounty of yours,¡± the group of rabbits said in unison. ¡°A group of stinken rabbits want to take my life? Ha, just try it; I welcome it,¡± Five shouted before he jumped off Jake''s shoulder and lunged at the closest rabbit, his teeth bearing down on the rabbit''s neck. Blood filled the air as Five ripped apart the rabbit before he moved on to the next and then the next. The killing didn''t stop, not even for a second. It was then Jake noticed no matter how many Five killed, another would just take its place. With his limited skills available to him, there was nothing he could do to destroy them all; he could only join the hand-to-hand fighting alongside Five, but this would only hasten their demise. Jake needed to find a way for the two of them to retreat from this fight. So he jumped into the fray to at the very least give his friend some support as he came up with a plan. ¡°Five, we need to retreat from this fight,¡± Jake shouted over the cacophony of screeching rabbits. ¡°Retreat? Against a bunch of stinken fluff balls? Why can''t you just blow them to pieces like you usually would?¡± ¡°If you had forgotten, I don''t have my fucken skills in this place. Now let''s leave these rabbits for later and fuck right off before it gets any worse,¡± Jake said before he began to retreat, followed closely behind by an irritated Five. The two ran as fast as they could, but the rabbits seemed to have some kind of tracking skill, as every time Jake and Five would stop, a new batch of rabbits would attack. This went on for what could have been a day, but neither Jake nor Five could tell the time within this dungeon, as some parts were in perpetual darkness while others were daylight, just like the area they were in right now. It was only when they reached one of the dark areas that the rabbits finally stopped their pursuit, leaving Jake to wonder what could have made them stop. From Jake''s limited experience, those rabbits were the most determined monsters he had faced since entering the system¡ªor at least it felt that way to him.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. The two collapsed on the ground the moment they felt a sense of safety. Five was panting heavily while Jake had his back leaned up against the base of a tree, his body lacking the stamina to even stand. ¡°We''re lucky they finally gave up when they did.¡± ¡°You really think they gave up? No, they will be back for us. It¡¯s not like we can get out of here without going back out there; after all, there must be a reason for the day and night zones,¡± Five said through laboured breathing. The two kept as quiet as they could until Jake had enough stamina to at least flee a fight, carrying Five with him if they needed to. ¡°It¡¯s a bit odd, don''t you think? Before the system, rabbits would actually be more active at night, so why is it now that they won''t even step foot in the shadows?¡± Five said, his mind racing to figure out what could possibly keep those rabbits away. It was no surprise to Jake, with what the rabbits said earlier, that he would find at least one. When out of the bushes came a young-looking female fox in human form, her eyes snapped towards Jake and then to the fox on Jake''s shoulders. ¡°Little Five, is that you? I thought you died. Your brother will be so happy to see you after how long it¡¯s been. Did you know you''re an uncle now? She¡¯s such a little sweetheart; you should come with me, but he should stay. One doesn¡¯t like outsiders, and the family put him in charge here, after all.¡± The idea of going to see his brother turned his stomach. That couldn''t be a worse idea; to willingly put himself and Jake in a position like that in their weakened state is just asking for trouble. That is why, when his brother¡¯s wife asked, Five had no choice but to refuse. He tried to first use the fact he was technically not a part of their family anymore, but this didn¡¯t go over so well. Jake stood back as the two foxes were talking, but when Five said he wasn''t a part of her rabbit-stench of a family, she, for some reason that Jake couldn''t quite comprehend, began crying and yapping insults at Five to the point Jake actually began to feel a bit sorry for her. But all that washed away the moment she looked at him. ¡°At least I''m not a slave. You''re an embarrassment to every fox out there, submitting to such a creature. Ha, well, at least we know where your loyalties lie. If only you had taken me up on the offer, you wouldn¡¯t have needed to die with that. Oh well, you always were an idiot, even back then, weren''t you, little rabbit?¡± the female fox said before disappearing into the darkness. ¡°Five, we need to go. We''re not ready to face those rabbits, let alone a group of actual predators.¡± Five just grunted before jumping back up on Jake''s shoulder. Before Jake dashed back towards the daylight, stopping just before he reached it, he began following it north. His hope was that the foxes would think they left their territory altogether. This is what he hoped, but from what Five had told him before, he was not very good at not leaving tracks behind. As such, when Jake thought the daylight area had no one around, he would enter it until it all became a bit too dangerous to continue. The two entered the foothills of the biggest mountain range Jake had seen. The smallest mountain reached higher than Everest, and the largest was at least as high as Mount Olympus from before the system. Each mountain had its own distinct flora and fauna. One thing was for certain: Jake didn''t want to go that way, especially after seeing one of the trees uproot itself and walk using only its root system to a wounded lion-snake creature, crushing it under its roots before the tree replanted itself, blending back in to look like any other tree. Jake stood there staring at the sight before him; not a word or a murmur escaped his mouth the whole time. ¡°Well, fuck that for a game of cricket. There is no way we''re going in there, right?¡± The only thing Jake''s mind could register was the words "game of cricket." Everything else was just buzzing in the background. ¡°Sorry, did you say something about cricket? You''re not asking me to turn that thing into a bat, are you? Because if you are, I''m pretty sure we will just straight up die.¡± ¡°What? No. No, were you even listening at all? Never mind, let''s just get out of here. We should really get to work on figuring out how to get out of this level,¡± Five said before jumping off Jake''s shoulder and heading deeper into the rabbits'' territory. Jake followed behind the little fox. ¡°Did you have any ideas of what we even need to do on this floor?¡± ¡°Not a fucking clue. We have two groups of sentient creatures dead set on killing each other, a mountain range with huge killer trees or whatever that bloody thing was, and then there''s more monsters than I could count, and of course, all of them can kill us in a second.¡± ¡°So what do you think? Is it something to do with the rabbits and foxes or those trees?¡± ¡°Don''t really know. Maybe we should head towards the mountains to see if there''s a way through it.¡± ¡°Fine, lead the way.¡± Jake followed along behind Five, staying as quiet as he could to not alert anything they didn''t want to fight. The two crept through the forest for three hours before they reached the base of the mountain range. They got into seven fights with some small creatures that looked a lot like Quokkas; the fights were very odd as they just kept smiling even when their heads exploded. Jake looked up at the mountains in front of them, his heart pounding in fear and his mind freezing up the closer they got to the mountains. ¡°I can''t; this place is doing something to me. Do you feel anything from this place?¡± ¡°No, I don''t feel anything from this place. If anything, it feels strangely safe, even though there are clearly monsters in there.¡± 98 Jake and Five were hiding in a bush overlooking one of the monsters on this dungeon floor. Five would use his superior sneaking ability to scout out a target while Jake just did his best to not get seen. Their target was a rabbit; not a grand monster, but a small one, only slightly bigger than a pre-system heir. This was the third monster the two had scouted out. The first one almost killed the two; if it hadn''t been for Jake''s quick response time, Five and he would have been meat for that lioness. Then the second monster at least didn¡¯t try to kill them, but it was definitely out of Jake''s current ability to kill it. Being a dinosaur just might have been a giveaway as to its strength. Then there was the fact that Jake saw it split a tree in two with its clubbed tail before it just sauntered off. Now they were overlooking the rabbit. ¡°So what do you think, do I bum rush it and hope for the best?¡± Five just turned and looked at him before going back to his observation of the dungeon and all its strangeness. Then, unfazed by Jake, he scratched some symbols into a piece of slate and turned to Jake. ¡°It''s a rabbit, not a fucken dragon. Do whatever you want, just make sure you kill the stinking thing.¡± Jake looked over after that response. ¡°Is something bothering you? Because it seems like something''s bothering you.¡± Five changed back into his little fox form and walked over to Jake. ¡°It''s nothing.¡± The fox climbed up onto Jake''s shoulder before continuing. ¡°It''s just these fuckenstinking animals bring back memories I would rather just forget. Like the time my stupid brother killed one and put it in my bed; I fucken stunk for a week. It was only by jumping into a river that the smell finally left, but by then it was too late; my chance was over. There was no way she would want me after that. No, she picked that asshole of a brother. All hail fucken one of nine, the only one to be born in the moon''s enchanting likeness. Fuck him and his wife; I hope they both die. Let''s get this over with so we can leave this place already.¡± Jake was about to launch an attack when Five spoke again. ¡°How does a man stay so clean when his soul is as filthy as a back alley brothel on pay day?¡± Jake snickered as he dashed out of their hiding spot and kicked the unsuspecting rabbit right in the head. The little rabbit''s top head turned to mist, covering both Jake and the many other rabbits that had just now exited the burrow in full force. Jake was now surrounded by what some people would call cute furry animals, but these ones were much different. Each rabbit, while not tough, let out a killing intent so deep it was actually suffocating to be in. It was then that the slight exhilaration Jake got from his most recent kill vanished and a feeling of dread replaced it. ¡°Little fox, you have made a mistake by coming here. We will take our revenge out on you for the countless murders you have committed, and as for you, creature, we will be taking your head and that bounty of yours,¡± the group of rabbits said in unison. ¡°A group of stinken rabbits want to take my life? Ha, just try it; I welcome it,¡± Five shouted before he jumped off Jake''s shoulder and lunged at the closest rabbit, his teeth bearing down on the rabbit''s neck. Blood filled the air as Five ripped apart the rabbit before he moved on to the next and then the next. The killing didn''t stop, not even for a second. It was then Jake noticed no matter how many Five killed, another would just take its place. With his limited skills available to him, there was nothing he could do to destroy them all; he could only join the hand-to-hand fighting alongside Five, but this would only hasten their demise. Jake needed to find a way for the two of them to retreat from this fight. So he jumped into the fray to at the very least give his friend some support as he came up with a plan. ¡°Five, we need to retreat from this fight,¡± Jake shouted over the cacophony of screeching rabbits. ¡°Retreat? Against a bunch of stinken fluff balls? Why can''t you just blow them to pieces like you usually would?¡± ¡°If you had forgotten, I don''t have my fucken skills in this place. Now let''s leave these rabbits for later and fuck right off before it gets any worse,¡± Jake said before he began to retreat, followed closely behind by an irritated Five. The two ran as fast as they could, but the rabbits seemed to have some kind of tracking skill, as every time Jake and Five would stop, a new batch of rabbits would attack. This went on for what could have been a day, but neither Jake nor Five could tell the time within this dungeon, as some parts were in perpetual darkness while others were daylight, just like the area they were in right now. It was only when they reached one of the dark areas that the rabbits finally stopped their pursuit, leaving Jake to wonder what could have made them stop. From Jake''s limited experience, those rabbits were the most determined monsters he had faced since entering the system¡ªor at least it felt that way to him.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. The two collapsed on the ground the moment they felt a sense of safety. Five was panting heavily while Jake had his back leaned up against the base of a tree, his body lacking the stamina to even stand. ¡°We''re lucky they finally gave up when they did.¡± ¡°You really think they gave up? No, they will be back for us. It¡¯s not like we can get out of here without going back out there; after all, there must be a reason for the day and night zones,¡± Five said through laboured breathing. The two kept as quiet as they could until Jake had enough stamina to at least flee a fight, carrying Five with him if they needed to. ¡°It¡¯s a bit odd, don''t you think? Before the system, rabbits would actually be more active at night, so why is it now that they won''t even step foot in the shadows?¡± Five said, his mind racing to figure out what could possibly keep those rabbits away. It was no surprise to Jake, with what the rabbits said earlier, that he would find at least one. When out of the bushes came a young-looking female fox in human form, her eyes snapped towards Jake and then to the fox on Jake''s shoulders. ¡°Little Five, is that you? I thought you died. Your brother will be so happy to see you after how long it¡¯s been. Did you know you''re an uncle now? She¡¯s such a little sweetheart; you should come with me, but he should stay. One doesn¡¯t like outsiders, and the family put him in charge here, after all.¡± The idea of going to see his brother turned his stomach. That couldn''t be a worse idea; to willingly put himself and Jake in a position like that in their weakened state is just asking for trouble. That is why, when his brother¡¯s wife asked, Five had no choice but to refuse. He tried to first use the fact he was technically not a part of their family anymore, but this didn¡¯t go over so well. Jake stood back as the two foxes were talking, but when Five said he wasn''t a part of her rabbit-stench of a family, she, for some reason that Jake couldn''t quite comprehend, began crying and yapping insults at Five to the point Jake actually began to feel a bit sorry for her. But all that washed away the moment she looked at him. ¡°At least I''m not a slave. You''re an embarrassment to every fox out there, submitting to such a creature. Ha, well, at least we know where your loyalties lie. If only you had taken me up on the offer, you wouldn¡¯t have needed to die with that. Oh well, you always were an idiot, even back then, weren''t you, little rabbit?¡± the female fox said before disappearing into the darkness. ¡°Five, we need to go. We''re not ready to face those rabbits, let alone a group of actual predators.¡± Five just grunted before jumping back up on Jake''s shoulder. Before Jake dashed back towards the daylight, stopping just before he reached it, he began following it north. His hope was that the foxes would think they left their territory altogether. This is what he hoped, but from what Five had told him before, he was not very good at not leaving tracks behind. As such, when Jake thought the daylight area had no one around, he would enter it until it all became a bit too dangerous to continue. The two entered the foothills of the biggest mountain range Jake had seen. The smallest mountain reached higher than Everest, and the largest was at least as high as Mount Olympus from before the system. Each mountain had its own distinct flora and fauna. One thing was for certain: Jake didn''t want to go that way, especially after seeing one of the trees uproot itself and walk using only its root system to a wounded lion-snake creature, crushing it under its roots before the tree replanted itself, blending back in to look like any other tree. Jake stood there staring at the sight before him; not a word or a murmur escaped his mouth the whole time. ¡°Well, fuck that for a game of cricket. There is no way we''re going in there, right?¡± The only thing Jake''s mind could register was the words "game of cricket." Everything else was just buzzing in the background. ¡°Sorry, did you say something about cricket? You''re not asking me to turn that thing into a bat, are you? Because if you are, I''m pretty sure we will just straight up die.¡± ¡°What? No. No, were you even listening at all? Never mind, let''s just get out of here. We should really get to work on figuring out how to get out of this level,¡± Five said before jumping off Jake''s shoulder and heading deeper into the rabbits'' territory. Jake followed behind the little fox. ¡°Did you have any ideas of what we even need to do on this floor?¡± ¡°Not a fucking clue. We have two groups of sentient creatures dead set on killing each other, a mountain range with huge killer trees or whatever that bloody thing was, and then there''s more monsters than I could count, and of course, all of them can kill us in a second.¡± ¡°So what do you think? Is it something to do with the rabbits and foxes or those trees?¡± ¡°Don''t really know. Maybe we should head towards the mountains to see if there''s a way through it.¡± ¡°Fine, lead the way.¡± Jake followed along behind Five, staying as quiet as he could to not alert anything they didn''t want to fight. The two crept through the forest for three hours before they reached the base of the mountain range. They got into seven fights with some small creatures that looked a lot like Quokkas; the fights were very odd as they just kept smiling even when their heads exploded. Jake looked up at the mountains in front of them, his heart pounding in fear and his mind freezing up the closer they got to the mountains. ¡°I can''t; this place is doing something to me. Do you feel anything from this place?¡± ¡°No, I don''t feel anything from this place. If anything, it feels strangely safe, even though there are clearly monsters in there.¡± 99 The flame in Jake''s hand was currently the size of a flame that reached up; it was around the size of a small blade. Jake''s goal was to turn this flame into a ball, but even with this new vision he had, it wasn''t as easy as he had hoped. Each time he tried to condense the flame, it would slowly form into a ball-like shape, only for the flame to stop moving and collapse on itself. It was as if flames could only burn upwards. He continued with his folly for two more days until he finally gave up and began working on something completely different. Jake poured more and more mana into the flame, and with his experience from the last two days, he condensed the flame, crushing it into what resembled the shape of his sword of Damocles. The condensing of the flame made it semi-solid; it would be able to parry a strike from a common blade, but nothing more. Jake dismissed the flame and tried again from the start. ¡°One, two, three ... nine, ten. Fuck, it''s too slow. Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen. Yes, it''s finally done. How am I going to use this in a real fight? What''s worse is I don''t even know how to use a sword, but it was the only thing that would work.¡± With the flaming sword in his hand, he thrust forward, then sliced upwards to bisect his make-believe opponent before he dashed away and attacked again from a different angle. Then he dismissed the flame and dashed away as he began condensing a new blade in his off-hand. ¡°Fifteen seconds, it takes fifteen seconds. I need to start condensing earlier.¡± Dashing back to his make-believe opponent, he struck it with his fist, then ducked before bringing the still-forming blade up; only this time the blade didn''t hold together and flames exploded, blocking his view. ¡°Not fast enough, I''m dead,¡± Jake said to himself as he fell to the ground, gasping for air. ¡°I can only manage to make two swords before my body gives out, and one sword is only good for two strikes. That''s a pretty low output for the effort. I hope the damage it does is worth it; otherwise, I''ve wasted so much time down here.¡± After resting and regaining his mana, Jake tried again, but this time he began condensing the new sword after the first strike, giving himself just enough time to form the second blade before he attacked, allowing two more full-force strikes before he was out of the fight again. ¡°That''s it, that''s all I''ve got to give. Time to get out of this place.¡± For the first time, Jake remembered the issue with the exit. ¡°And how exactly do I do that? I''m not a bloody fox now, am I?¡± Jake thought over his new dilemma as he sat staring at the tiny exit tunnel. ¡°Need a shovel or something.¡± Looking around the room for any such objects, the target he was using for a target earlier was just a big rock Zero had not been able to remove; at least that''s what Jake thought, as he didn''t remember if it had been there the first time he entered the room. But one thing he was certain about was that the rock was very tough; not even with all the attacks he had made on it did it break. If only he could use his smithing skills, he might have been able to make what he needed. ¡°Well, I could try; it''s only going to cost me time, after all, and I''ve got that in spades right now,¡± Jake said before sitting down in front of the rock, cross-legged, and putting his hand on the rock. He began by pushing mana into the rock and, with his new ability, watched the mana enter it. The mana passed into the rock and travelled down paths that looked similar to the pathways in his own body. Jake pushed in more mana and observed the results. It was then he noticed his new issue: the pathways just kept expanding as if the mana itself made it stronger. ¡°Well, that''s a problem. If only I had the ability to see arcane energy, then I could try that instead.¡± All Jake was trying to do was crack a section of the rock off so it would be more manageable. Jake tried reaching out to grasp his arcane energy, but all he felt was mana. Not even around him, all he could feel was mana¡ªno life energy or void energy, just mana and only mana. ¡°This is bad; this is really bad.¡± Jake just sat there watching the pretty blue lights zipping around him. ¡°Maybe, yes, what can it hurt to try?¡± Jake began to use up his mana stores, draining it away as quickly as he could while sitting and watching for any changes in the environment around him. It was a slow process, as he couldn''t use his new skill to quickly drain his mana; it wouldn''t allow Jake to focus on his observations. It wasn''t until an hour later, when Jake started to feel the mana in his body running out, that he saw its colours: blue, green, red, black, and many others. Jake grabbed for the black energy, hoping it was arcane energy; after all, he remembered back to the tutorial when he first saw the Arcane Potion of Rejuvenation. It was as black as night and the best potion Jake had ever seen. Jake was beginning to feel faint as he had completely run out of mana, his eyes slowly closing as he saw one of the black wisps slowly move towards his hand before everything went black.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Some time later, Jake woke up and the first thing he did was check if he could see a difference from before. ¡°Fuck, I was so damn close.¡± In Jake''s vision, he could only see the same blue wisps fill his sight. ¡°Not a single other colour at all. What a waste; let''s try again. I know it will work; I just need more time,¡± Jake said before repeating the same process as before. Only this time, the moment he saw a black wisp, he grabbed at it, bringing it into his body before going for a second, wondering if it would work or not. The moment the second wisp entered his body, he fainted once again. Once he woke up, a small smile emerged on his face as he could see¡ªnot a lot of them, but he could see at least two¡ªwhich now gave Jake the ability to gather more of them into his body. His idea was to somehow increase his ability to see arcane energy. Jake continued until his body hurt so much that he had to stop; even his fingernails hurt. Jake fainted five minutes later and didn''t awaken for fifteen days, and when he did, he could see the arcane energy in all its glory. The moment he got his bearings, he began channelling arcane energy around his body, watching its pathways through his body; then he did the same with mana and watched. ¡°It seems they have different pathways. Does that mean I can use them at the same time without exploding in a flaming pile of flesh?¡± Jake tried to use them both at once, mana in one hand and arcane energy in the other. ¡°I''ve got to do it; I know it''s a bad idea, but come on.¡± Jake slammed both hands together. Bang! A beautiful swirling flame shot forwards in the direction of the exit tunnel and blew a hole all the way to the surface. ¡°Holy shit.¡± Jake looked at the light entering the room, then down at his blackened hands. ¡°That was unexpected; I was certain I was going to lose my hands back there¡ªnot blow a hole big enough to squeeze through. I need to hide it; I''m not finished here.¡± Jake squeezed his way up the tunnel and, with haste, hid the entrance and climbed back down the tunnel. Jake''s hands hurt, but he couldn''t stop yet. Jake used everything he could find to block the hole. He sat down at the base of the tunnel and thought over the outcomes that could have happened due to his idiocy. ¡°I could have died; I''m so stupid. Why do I always do this stupid shit? Why did I use so much mana? I knew it would explode, so why did I go so big?¡± Jake sat there for a while before moving to the rock and checking on the pathways the mana was flowing through. The mana that was infused would stay within it for a while before dispersing into the atmosphere and back into the natural cycle. ¡°I wonder what would happen if I filled the rock with mana and lit it up with a spark of arcane energy. I bet it will split at its seams. But how do I protect myself and this room so it doesn''t collapse on me?¡± Jake thought about it for a long time before he just went balls to the wall and started filling the rock with mana as he held a tiny spark of arcane energy in the other. The moment Jake''s mana depleted, he slammed his hand down on the rock. Bang! Jake was shot back into the wall right beside the exit tunnel, shards of rock peppering the wall beside him. It was then the room began to rumble. ¡°It''s going to collapse.¡± He grabbed the rock fragments from around him and shot up the tunnel. As he reached the top, he looked back over the ground and watched as the dirt sunk into a gigantic crater. ¡°I guess I need a new place to hide.¡± Jake searched the area, and to his delight, found a small cave just big enough to sit in, and the entrance was small enough that no one would notice it, especially since it was halfway up a cliff face. It wasn''t as hidden as Zero''s hideout, but it was good enough for what Jake needed it for; after all, it was only going to be used to practice smithing. Tucking himself inside, Jake began going over what he remembered of his skills. One of the good things was that Jake had recited the three skills he needed word for word each night since he got them. Skill (Arcane Hammer, Rare) Use your arcane energy to reshape items < (Refined Arcane hammer rare) use your refined arcane energy to reshape items in a more detailed manner. Reduces the amount of arcane energy required by 50% < (Refined Arcane Hammer, Rare) use your refined arcane energy to reshape items in a more detailed manner. Reduces the amount of arcane energy required by 50%. Sadly for Jake, there was no way he could replicate the advanced version of the skill in a reasonable time, and this skill might just be the hardest of the three to replicate. Skill (Arcane Flame, Rare) An explosive flame contained within a mana barrier. < ( Attuned arcane flame epic ) a roaring flame of pure arcane energy that is attuned to the casters will. < (Attuned Arcane Flame, Epic) a roaring flame of pure arcane energy that is attuned to the caster''s will. This skill Jake could already do, just a much smaller version of it. He didn''t know how big of a flame he could make yet, but it was a good start. But then there was the last skill. Skill (Small Mana Shield, Common) You can produce a small physical shield of mana anywhere on your body < (reactive mana barrier rare) a barrier is formed and changed at the unconscious will of the caster barrier size is limited only to the casters mana pool. < (Reactive Mana Barrier, Rare) a barrier is formed and changed at the unconscious will of the caster; barrier size is limited only to the caster''s mana pool. This one was an issue of its own; it wasn''t that Jake couldn''t make a mana barrier, but that there was no way it could be done unconsciously with Jake''s current understanding of how his will worked. Jake sat in his cave and began working on his skills. In one hand, he had arcane energy, and in the other, he was working on a mana shield. The shield wasn''t large enough yet, but it was good enough to bring a smile to Jake''s face. 100 It took Jake nineteen days of constant practice before he could partially replicate lesser versions of his smithing skills to the point where he could produce small ingots of some different ores he found as he headed for his cave. He had two copper ingots, one steel ingot, and five tin ingots, which was enough to begin practising by making a handle for the sword he decided to craft out of the strange rock he found down in Zero''s hideout. Laying out all the ingredients in front of him, he began refining the strange rocks by placing them on the ground and forming a mana shield that encompassed all of the rocks but didn''t touch them, as Jake didn''t want to drain his limited mana into it. Then, pushing his hand through the barrier, he began heating the rocks. It took a long time before Jake could remove his hand from the barrier. His hand was as black as night, burnt by the excessive heat required to begin the refinement process. But it at least worked, and work it did; the rocks began to melt as the arcane energy started eating away at the barrier, using it as a fuel source to increase the heat inside. All Jake had to do now was maintain the barrier until the job was done. More time had passed than it had taken to melt any other metal before a beautiful glowing liquid began to solidify at the bottom of the makeshift cauldron. ¡°I guess I''m going to need to make the blade first. Well, after I rest for a bit.¡± Jake slept for three days or more before his hand was healed. His hope was to form the blade in a similar process to what a blacksmith would have used before the system¡ªwell, kind of; he was still using arcane energy to hammer the metal instead of a normal hammer, and the heat was also coming from arcane energy, but it was still the same in Jake''s mind. He began heating the black metal,slowly bringing it up to temperature for the hammering process. Once the metal was glowing, Jake brought down the arcane hammer. Bang! The sound reverberated through the forest; birds screeched as they scattered into the wind and small creatures on the forest floor dug deep into the earth. Bang! Bang! As the noise continued, even the rabbits began to hide. Bang! The noise continued for days, with only short reprieves; even the fox tribe could hear it from deep within their territory. ¡°Yes, I did it.¡± Jake held the pitch-black sword in his hands; it took on the same shape as a falchion, but with a slightly lengthened hilt, giving the user the ability to grasp it with one and a half hands if needed, and the blade had been ever so slightly lengthened. Jake went with the falchion because of its similar look to a machete, so Jake thought he might be able to use it. Even though he didn''t know how to use a sword, he should be able to modify his fighting style a bit; he could swap out the daggers he used once he got out of the dungeon. But while he was in here, Jake poured mana into the sword. Blue veins filled the blade, and then the blade began expanding by half a foot as the edge glowed bright blue, before shooting a quick burst of arcane energy along the edge of the blade, lighting up the escaping mana. The flames roared on the blade''s edge; the flames lasted for a minute before the arcane energy ran out. Thinking over the cost of using the new sword''s special ability, Jake realised it was actually one of the most efficient methods he had in or outside of the dungeon. The mana he used was stored inside the blade and only slowly leaked out, while the arcane energy he used was less than the flame of a prayer candle. ¡°I need to practice,¡± Jake said as he walked deeper into the forest, while every five minutes he would put a little bit of mana into the sword just to keep it topped off and ready to go at all times. Ducking under a branch, Jake felt deep in his chest the unmistakable warning honk of a deer, along with the rustling of leaves and thumping of hooves on the wet forest floor. Jake let out a sigh. ¡°Bloody hell, I did it again. Five is right; I can''t sneak for shit. Sure, if I just use shadows and teleport into them, it''s fine, but that''s just a crutch, and I''m pretty sure even that won''t work for long. But then again, there''s always the fact that I could be blown to bits at any time by some fucker in a big ship. So what do you do, Jake? Do you work on your hand-to-hand skills or just go for overpowering tech?¡± Jake was quiet for some time before he spoke again. ¡°I can''t go down the tech path; that is what Aaliyah has done, and her path has already ended. That only leaves me with one choice: absolute power. So what''s your next step, Jake? Tech is not bad, but I can''t use it as a crutch; it must be a means to an end, nothing more. So the first thing I do: do I work on stealth or do I just go with raw power? Raw power will only work if I have that power, and right now I don''t. But then there''s stealth, which I thought I had a good grasp on, but clearly not. Maybe I just go with a combination of both. Light on stealth and heavy on power; that sounds more like me than some assassination type or a brute fighting on the front line.¡± While Jake was talking to himself, he heard the voices of some rabbits up ahead, so he stopped moving and waited behind a small hill.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Why did it have to be us? The boss is a real prick. Yes, Hank, go check out that loud noise that stopped just as fast as it started. No, there won''t be anything dangerous there; not like I want you dead or anything.¡± ¡°Well, maybe if you didn''t sleep with his lady, we wouldn''t be in this mess.¡± ¡°Oh, how hasn''t slept with her? She has more children from random men than her own partner, for fuck''s sake.¡± ¡°Yeah, but you didn''t have to do it right there in front of him, did you?¡± ¡°Come on, she was asking for it. What was I to do, say no? Fucking hell, man, we''re rabbits. It''s what we do. I can''t stand this new shit. No, you can''t mate with whoever you want; we are civilised now. You can only have one mate. Well, fuck, I can''t do that, so kill me.¡± ¡°I believe that is exactly what the boss is trying to do, Hank.¡± The other rabbit started laughing. ¡°Oh yeah, you keep laughing. You know you''re also here with me, right?¡± The rabbit that was laughing didn''t stop but replied, ¡°I know, right? I''m so dead, and the only thing I did wrong was hang around with you, you fucking arsehole. Some friend you turned out to be.¡± Those were the last words the rabbit said before his body was bisected by a flaming sword right there in front of his friend. ¡°Ma¨C¡± Jake slashed down on the rabbit''s neck, activating the flame to its highest level. The poor little rabbit exploded, sending flaming chunks of meat in every direction. ¡°Well, that was gross,¡± a voice said from behind Jake. Swinging around, Jake saw two foxes. ¡°Still can''t do the whole stealth thing, I see. Sometimes I wonder if you even try,¡± Five said. ¡°Well, we''re not all sneaky arse transformed foxes now, are we?¡± Jake replied to the fox with the half-baked transformation skill. ¡°Yeah, there''s no way I''m falling for that. Now, would you like to know about what we found out?¡± ¡°Fine, what did you find out?¡± ¡°Not much actually, although we may have found a pathway out of this level. And what''s more, we believe there will be no need to attack those walking trees.¡± ¡°And that''s what you call not much?¡± ¡°Yes, but we don''t know if the path out is correct, and we''re not 100% sure if the walking trees won''t find us. Maybe Zero and I can get through, but at your current level of stealth, you won''t.¡± ¡°Back to me being useless again. Don''t worry about me; if you two can get out, go for it. I will find my own way out.¡± Jake was a bit depressed at his lack of skill, but he didn''t want to hold back his friend. ¡°I''m not going to leave you here alone.¡± ¡°Five, don''t worry about me. I have a plan to get out of here, but I need you to do something for me. I need you to take charge out there and move as many civilians as you can to the other world. Then head with them. I''m not going to be able to help out there for a while.¡± ¡°Can''t you just leave with us at the safe zone?¡± ¡°Not likely the safe zone isn''t part of the dungeon, the system won''t let me out till it has had its fun.¡± Zero looked strangely at Five for a second then said, ¡°I might not be able to leave with you, but I will get you there, my friend.¡± ¡°Leave, Five, this place has no benefits for you.¡± Jake said as he walked over to his friend, resting a hand on his shoulder. ¡°I need you out there.¡± Jake turned to leave when Five stopped him. ¡°Don''t get yourself killed.¡± Jake laughed and gave his friend a smile before leaving to find more rabbits to murder so he could refine his combat prowess. I hope they make it out safely,Jake thought. It took Jake half a day to find his next set of targets: two more rabbits. But this time he wanted to try sneaking up on the two. Jake slowly moved through the forest, keeping as many trees between himself and his targets. He slowly moved closer, trying to keep the wind in his face. With each step he took, Jake got closer to his targets, but at the same time, he became easier to detect. As he got within ten metres of them, his luck changed when the wind that was blowing towards him gusted in the other direction. The rabbit''s nose shot up into the air, its whiskers twitching rapidly. ¡°It''s the human, go.¡± The second rabbit rocketed through the forest, and before Jake could go after it, the little rabbit was gone. The last thing Jake saw of it was its little white tail flicking with every hop. Turning his head back to where the other rabbit was, he saw that rabbit was still there, holding in its hands a one metre long, rough-cut wooden spear. ¡°Well come on then you fucken murderer, let''s just get this started.¡± The rabbit said before lunging directly at Jake, the spear screaming as it ripped apart Jake''s calf. Slashing down with his mana-infused sword, he split the spear in half, but without activating his arcane energy, there was no flame. Even though the sword wasn''t ablaze, it still easily sliced through the spear as if it wasn''t wood but butter. Jake brought up the sword under the rabbit''s throat. All that remained of the brave rabbit was its fluffy head flying through the air. Jake dropped to the ground, his leg in pain. ¡°Fuck, I need to get stronger. Being hurt this bad by a small rabbit with a stick. How far I have fallen. If it was before, I could have finished all this in an instant. It''s got to be impossible to get worse than this. How pathetic.¡± Rolling onto his stomach, he pushed himself up, resting on a nearby tree. Holding his sword in one hand, Jake snapped off a branch and, using it as a crutch, began slowly heading back to his small one-man cave.