They decided not to sleep out in the wilderness and instead returned to camp almost three hours later.
No one said anything as they set up in the open area near his team’s shelter just like they always did. Unfortunately, with Sven on guard duty, Tom got some knowing smirks.
“Shh,” Everly whispered. “Ignore him. I’m happy.”
“And that’s the only thing that matters.”
“Too right.” She agreed. “Now, hands to yourself. I need to sleep.”
Tom smiled contentedly as he drifted off with Everlyn aggressively cuddling into him.
He awoke to the light of day with no one in his arms. As he pushed himself up, Everlyn saw him and brought over some breakfast.
“Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?” He joked.
“You’ll have plenty of opportunities to return and exceed the favour.” She sat down next to him with his own plate, and Michael came over and joined them.
“What do you want?” Everlyn challenged.
“Nothing at all. I just wanted to spend time with my friends.”
“And?” Tom asked.
“I don’t always spend time with you only if I want something.”
“Just usually.”
Michael threw his hands up in mock anger and settled down with his own breakfast. “I’m happy for you two.”
“Thanks.” Tom responded simply before shoving some more food into his mouth. “Sausages?”
“Don’t talk with your mouth full.” Everlyn elbowed him in the side playfully. “And yes. With the new teleporter people are being silly.”
“Now that transport costs are so much lower large consumable goods are cheap.” Michael lectured. “The current price is set by supply and demand, which sort of includes the penalty margin of not having a teleporter, as most groups can’t afford things yet. Now we don’t have that cost. Lots of things are ridiculously inexpensive.”
“I’m not complaining about not eating wasp.” Tom said deliberately speaking while chewing.
Everlyn pinched him in response, but it was clear she didn’t really care.
Tom still made sure he swallowed before saying anything else. “I’ve missed good food. Last three weeks have been lucrative from an experience and auction credit perspective, but I never want to eat insects again.”
Everlyn laughed. “I wouldn’t say that, during my DEUS’s trial I had some lovely insects. Grasshopper legs were the best. Oh, and I found a caterpillar looked disgusting but tasted like chocolate souffle.”
“What made you taste a caterpillar?”
Everlyn raised an eyebrow at him. “I was starving, and a Skill told me it was edible.”
Tom grimaced. He had been in similar situations. Areas which were hundreds of kilometres wide where it felt like nothing was edible.
“Oh yeah I remember,” Michael agreed. “I once killed a scorpion that if you didn’t know where the meat came from you would have sworn it was high-quality wagyu beef.”
Tom smiled. “My weirdest find was off some boar like thing. It looked like pork and had a meaty texture but tasted of apricots. Chewy apricots. I was so disappointed when I bit into it.”
Both Everlyn and Michael made amused expressions.
“Though once you got used to it, it was okay. I learnt to cut it into tiny bits. It was spectacular fried and thrown into a salad.”
“Once we’re in civilisation, we’re going to get some amazing foods.” Everlyn agreed. “The variety of raw ingredients available here is overwhelming.”
“If they accept us.”
She shot him an inquisitive glance. Then nodded in understanding after reading his expression. “What I meant was when we’re strong enough that no one can bother us, we’ll be able to experience some amazing cuisine.”
“We can cook for ourselves before that.” Tom reminded them. “I’m an excellent camp cook.”
“Skilled?” Everlyn asked meaningfully.
“Of course. The stuff I used to do over a campfire would have wowed any chefs from earth.”
“I got a portable kitchen, and I was also Skilled.” Everlyn told him.
“Well, aren’t you two lucky to be with each other.” Michael said dryly. “I’m not a foodie. I’m as likely to get raw as charred meat out when I cook. Usually it was both.”
Tom finished his meal while they bantered lightly and then he stood, produced the hammer from his soul space, and hefted it over his shoulder. “Time to get us out of here.”
When he approached the front line, he smiled. There were already two full teams hard at work trying to speed up the process.
Tom went past them and started swinging. Hive after hive crumbled and four hours later he broke down the final hives and looked out at the real Existentia that they were going to live in.
The hills rose above him and there was a sharp transition where the landscape shifted from the flat hard dirt with the yellow, orange grass to the rock upwards sloping edge of the foothills. In the distance, mountains loomed, but they were probably weeks of travel from reaching them.
They were free.
The density of the hives had been reducing for the last hour. He looked left and right, and then the hammer disappeared and was replaced with his spear.
There were no enemies to be seen, but after his experience in DEUS’s trial Tom knew that would be deceptive. He was no longer on earth. The rules of animal density did not apply. Some monsters did not need food. Others needed to eat, but their food source, whether it was plants or bunnies multiplied at speeds that was ridiculous. There were trees laden with fruit that you could strip and a day later all the fruit would be grown back. Finally, sometimes the GODs just recreated the monsters after you eliminated them, leaving endless, fully grown beasts. From a food perspective, it was usually feast or famine. Some monster types couldn’t’ be eaten.
It was functionally impossible to eliminate the seeded creatures. There was no such thing as an area purged of monsters. That there were no visible creatures actually screamed danger rather than safety.
With the wasp barrier broken Tom backed away from the rocky ground with his spear out and ready to intercept anything dangerous that came his way.
Once he had retreated thirty metres, he turned around and jogged back. Everyone was there waiting. All seventy-three of them prepared and ready to advance when he gave them the go ahead. Tanks, then Melee at the front. Ranged and healers spread behind them, then the crafters and a final ten mixed combat classes at the back to protect the crafters in case something circled them.
Tom grinned broadly at the sight.
They were ready and excited. Not a single one of them, even the crafters, appeared scared. Everyone was ready. Eyes looked outward, dangerous and focused. The more extroverted amongst them flashed happy grins. People waved and gave him thumbs up. It was a contrast to how Jeffrey had treated him on that first day. Then again, back then, he had been fighting against a fate attack, so it was hardly their fault they had seen him fall and laughed.
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Well, partially their fault, but not fully.
“Tom’s finally here so we can get going!” Michael yelled.
Tom childishly stuck up his middle finger and everyone laughed. He kept walking and the fighters split to let him into the middle formation the line behind the dedicated warriors but in front of the ranged fighters. With a thought, the spear vanished, and the hammer appeared.
Roberto - Tom had just noticed - sighed in relief when he saw the weapon. Tom separated from Everlyn and moved toward the other man.
Michael who was now the de facto commander was giving a speech.
“Roberto.”
“Tom.”
“I believe this is yours. It’s done a great service to the community.”
“Yeah, I am glad to have her back.”
Tom held the weapon and he could see Roberto’s eyes looking at spots where the perfect hammer was more buffed and damaged. “It looks worse, but it’s better. It gained some triumphs.”
“What?” Roberto said in surprise even as his eyes went unfocused.
War Hammer.
This warhammer ends in a partially tapered point. It is designed to be effective against armoured joints.
Triumph 1: This weapon has been used to crush hundreds of hives. When used against non-natural and nonliving structures, the force of blows will be magnified by fifty percent.
Triumph 2: This weapon has taken the lives of thousands of enemies of a similar rank as its wielder. It will now do extra damage through armour or protections. Up to fifty percent of damage bypasses shielding, this is mitigated by the defence quality of the items it is hitting.
Roberto looked up, and he was holding the weapon almost reverentially.
Tom smiled. “They’re not particularly powerful triumphs, but they’re something.”
“No, no. They’re great. That second triumph on the standard scale is epic rated.”
“Maybe,” Tom acknowledged, not sure how he knew that, but figured it was something he had researched during the trial. “Thank you for letting me borrow it. Without the hammer, we would be far worse off.”
Roberto waved the thanks away. “There were other hammers. We were all…”
“Tom and Roberto,” Michael said sternly, interrupting any further conversation. “As I was saying. We have wood defences prepared. Our aim will be to create a basic palisade up against the big rock.” Michael pointed. “That will give us protection while we get an idea of what we’re facing.”
“Do we know what level we’re expecting?” Thor asked.
Michael frowned. “Till we fight the actual monsters it’s hard to say. But rank rarely jumps significantly between areas. We should be able to fight anything we run into.” Michael continued thoughtfully. “However, I’m expecting this to be a larger challenge than the wasps, which we internally ranked at about an eleven. Unfortunately, over the last dozen hives, the individual ranks of the workers increased by one and the soldier by about three. If that trend continues, these foothills could be as high as twenty.”
A storm of comments greeted that announcement.
“No.”
“We can’t do that.”
“It’ll be a slaughter.”
Michael raised a hand for silence. “That’s the worst case. We’re hopeful the rank won’t keep rising and stay around twelve. Which will be easily manageable.”
“We’re definitely going to be out leveled?” Thor asked.
“Of course.” Michael responded immediately. “We’re babies. The council is confident we can weather anything up to rank fifteen. The Skills, traits and Spells we brought over from the tutorial allow us to fight well above our rank. But if the area’s above fifteen, then we’ll have to retreat.”
There were noticeable swallows around the group. They were a coherent fighting force with traits, skills and spells well beyond their rank, but engaging something more than double your ranking was still daunting even if you have numbers. Tom wasn’t concerned. He had always fought up ranks.
“Whatever’s out there is going to be stealthy.” Michael reminded them. “Stick to the plan and stay together till we know what we’re facing. We’ll try to establish a beachhead, but don’t be surprised if we need to retreat to.” He waved behind them.
With coordinated movements, they marched forward right to the edge of the separating line where the first sections of stone poked up from the vegetation.
“Buffs and summons up.” Michael ordered from the relatively safer spot encased in the centre of the formation.
Tom immediately used the Lightning Elemental spell. He punched through into the lesser elemental plane. He could have pushed higher and summoned an elemental, but a lesser elemental would last for close to two hours versus the next higher level, lasting for less than a tenth of that.
His mind flicked around the plane, looking for what he wanted. He rejected the first seven elementals and eventually got one whose personality was dull and conscientious. It was not the best combination but dependable was a better trait than most realised.
For what he was getting the summons to do, the personality was key. He was granting the lesser elemental autonomy, and it would be easy enough for a rebellious elemental to sabotage him at the worst possible moment. In chaotic battle, it could accidentally hit allies or delay a moment and leave him open to an attack.
For some uses, the temperament was irrelevant. If the job he was assigning was something like kill anything that enters the cave, then the elemental could try whatever it wanted but it would be bound and the effectiveness of one actively sabotaging versus being helpful was similar. For simple tasks, what they thought was irrelevant. Tom’s situation was different. He was summoning one to help in battle. There was a much wider range of outcomes.
The one he wanted fussed with the contract and Tom released the mission parameters. Don’t kill humans, protect me, kill enemies. It assessed him and Tom was very aware of the added benefits the titles were including to make his offer look better.
There was a pause, and the elemental agreed to the conditions.
He had felt how close it had come to refusing. Even with his titles helping, the difference between a fate enhanced summon and a standard one was significant.
It came through with a crackle of energy.
Tom wiped away the sweat that had beaded on his brow. Too close.
The lesser elemental crackled in front of his eyes briefly before moving to settle on his head like a crown. It would wait there until it was time for it to act.
Tom looked around curiously. His summoning had taken almost a minute, but other preparations had been occurring while he worked.
A polished wooden golem had been infused with energy by three crafters, including Sonya, along with two of the mages from the ranged attack unit, who were helping to assemble it. Coordinated, they weaved a combination of spells and abilities into its structure. As he watched, the wooden structure seemed to become more fluid as it moved its arm cautiously around. Then it stood. Tom assessed it curiously. Golems were hard to identify using passive non system senses, and he didn’t own a true identification skill.
The information slowly flowed in and he got the feeling it was around rank thirteen and then it stood up and it was twice as large as he was. Maybe closer to fifteen Tom decided. Quantity had its own quality and the extra leverage granted by its size was worth a couple of ranks.
Of course, that measurement of power meant little. While it was strong and powerful, it would lack both creativity and probably the natural healing capability of biological entries. Tom was willing to bet that any single team that Jeffrey had put together could defeat the golem. Of course, if it was part of a larger group of humans that used their abilities to cover its weaknesses then it could bring that full rank fifteen speed and strength to bear.
In the right circumstances, it could fight at its rank, but not autonomously.
Despite the niche situation, Tom felt like it was a lot of effort for not much benefit. His elemental could not defeat it because wood was a poor match for electricity, but most of the other elemental types he could summon even as a wisp could quickly wear it down. Paper, rock and scissors, he thought to himself. An elemental of an opposing school was a terrible opponent for something like the golem.
It stood fully and practised swinging its sword arms. It was smooth.
There must have been a signal that he missed because suddenly they started moving. With four quick steps, the golem moved into a position to take point. They moved quickly with the rangers, including Everlyn moving to the sides to provide scouting.
Tom had a terrible feeling, and by the tight expressions around him everyone felt the same. The wasps, especially on the first day, had been absolutely terrifying, but after that they had been a known quality, this stillness. That was unnatural.
Fifty metres in and not a single enemy spotted. Existentia was supposed to be like DEUS’s trial and this long without an enemy meant you were about to get your head bitten off.
One hundred metres into the foothills the tension got too much. No one said anything, but everyone froze and they moved into battle positions. Tanks and melees spread out to surround the entire group. Michael was talking to the leaders. The scouts, one by one peeled in to give reports.
Tom tried to listen into the hushed conversation.
“Nothing.”
“Something’s there.”
“Try to flush whatever it is out?”
“That might provoke it.”
“It’s going to attack us, its best if we don’t walk into an ambush.”
“We’ll throw some spells around.” Michael said finally. Tom saw the other council members nodding their heads out of the corner of their eyes even while most of his attention was focused outwards.
There was no need for orders. Everyone had heard the decision being made. Ranged magic users were already responding. Fire balls, ice missiles and even a mini storm appeared and assaulted random bits of rock. Tom’s energy was almost full, so he created a lightning ball. As it formed, he changed its aspect to be focused on concussive force and then threw.
Boom!
Shards of rock exploded up from where he had thrown the spell.
“Hold.” Michael thundered. The magic stopped flying as he waited for everyone to recharge. “Hands up when you hit full mana.”
A few hands flew up. Tom joined them and a short time later more hands joined him. The Asian girl who had created the storm kept her hand down.
“If you’re full, launch.”
Tom focused and formed a denser ball, and then he threw. It went forty metres bouncing on a rock and then down a crack.
Boom.
It was a more muffled explosion and after the first volley everyone froze.
“Scouts.” Michael yelled.
“Nothing.”
“Clear.”
“I thought I saw something.” A ranged type with a bow drawn was looking out to his right. “I’m going to fire an arrow.”
“Hold,” Michael yelled. “Twenty seconds.”
Everyone got ready.
Twang!
The arrow spat out some magic, infusing it because it cut through the air almost like a bullet in a straight line rather than the curved trajectory that Tom would have to have applied. The arrow slammed into a rock.
Worry wormed into his brain and he felt his fate points being spent without his conscious order.
Worry became dread.
There was a high pitching squealing from the rock.
Then Tom’s brain caught up with his instincts.
The arrow had not smashed into the rock instead it had lodged into something in front of it.
There was a ding as a skill or title was awarded, which was almost certainly related to the fact that he could now see what had been hit.
And it was not even close to being alone.