by A P Gore
Quest Class: Uncommon
Success Criteria: Defend your village for 3 hours.
Quest Reward: Varied.
Quest Failure: The village is lost.
“What?” He stared at the warning. What did it mean? A beast tide attack? Why would a beast tide attack a peaceful village? He didn’t even have a single soldier. What was he going to do now?
Chapter 31
Jon stared at the notification, terrified. This was f-ing wrong. What did he do to get this punishment? How was he supposed to defend his village against the beast tide?
“Fella, what’s wrong?” Grimish’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
“We’re facing a beast tide in three days. How the f-k are we going to defend? And for three hours, at that.” Sweat ran down Jon’s back, his morning porridge already threatening to come out.
Footsteps echoed from far away, and Jon saw a group of twenty people walking toward him. They wore similar clothes, green or gray shirts and dark gray trousers. It seemed to be the starter uniform of all characters. As they came closer, he spotted curiosity on their faces. The system—or Baltazar—must have notified them about their change of terms.
Speaking of Baltazar, that bastard must have known about the beast tide. Or did he send it to destroy Jon’s village?
Jon’s fingers clutched into a fist. No matter what, he wouldn’t let that bastard win. Baltazar was as sly as Kurush. They first show themselves as innocent people, and then they backstab everyone. Baltazar had wrapped him up in sweet talk and made him sign a contract that Baltazar knew Jon wouldn’t be able to uphold.
“Beast tide?” Grimish quivered. It seemed that he knew something about it.
“Yes, in three days. How are we supposed to defend against it?” Jon asked, hoping Grimish would know something.
“Dude, that’s common knowledge. If you drop a village in a new region, you are going to get fucked in all the holes.” A young-looking man stepped forward, observing the fence getting built around the town. “At least that tiny thing will protect us for a little while, but if we don’t have a residence, we’re fucked.”
Jon ran his hands through his long hair. “And who are you?” He didn’t like the way the stranger talked. He seemed like the crafty, I-know-everything type.
The young man turned to face him. He had dark eyes and a small mouth. “I’m Mitch. The great farmer from the planet R56.”
“Planet R56.” That was an unusual place. An ice planet. Ten years ago, something happened on that planet, and half the population froze in a single night. The other half migrated to other planets. The planet was dead. How could a person come from that planet?
“Yes, Mr. Lord.” The man smirked, clearly provoking Jon.
Jon studied him. “What did you say about a residence? Was the palisade a bad choice?” Even if he didn’t like this Mitch guy, he might have some useful information.
The clean-shaven Mitch rubbed his forehead. “If we don’t have a residence, we might lose this village in one go. Until the residence is destroyed, a village can’t be captured. That’s BlackFlame Online 101.” Again, he had that I-know-all-and-you-know-shit smile on his lips.
Frustrated, Jon cast a Lock on that bastard.
The smirk was wiped from Mitch’s face in less than a second, replaced by a fearful scowl.
Grimish chuckled. He was surely enjoying the scene. “Fella, he killed me four times in a row. Do you think you’re a match for him?”
“Can any of you build the residence in the next two days?” Jon glanced around. All forty players were gathered around him, their eyes filled with fear and curiosity. It was clear, the change in ownership and establishment of the village was a big change for them.
Everyone shook their heads.
“Mitch, do you have any suggestions, or do you want to die?” Though Jon had no intention of killing Mitch, he wanted the truth from him. Quickly.
“I don’t,” Mitch said. “But I know a bit about the beast tide.” His smirk had completely vanished. “There won’t be any monsters two levels higher than the lord.”
“So, they would be level 6 at most,” Jon said.
“My lord, one will be level 7 or 8 elite. Their boss.”
Jon sighed. This was the worst day of his life. He was supposed to live a happy life, farming some exquisite plants and crop, sweating on the farm, dirtying his clothes, but the game had pushed him into an unwanted battle. “Mitch and Grimish, let’s go to Grimish’s hut.” He then looked at Kron who looked scared to his toes. “Kron, can you give me a list of everyone’s damage output?”
After Kron started talking with everyone, Jon followed Mitch and Grimish. Grimish’s hut was a surprise. It had furniture. Real furniture, like a small table, a chair, and a few papers and ink. He even had some cooking pots, and a nice bedroll placed in a corner.
Jon sat on the floor and motioned for them to join him. “Be frank, and give me all the details you know about the beast tide.”
Damn, he hadn’t even had time to clean his hut, and now he was planning a battle. He really missed his real life. Even though he used to work long hours, it was good and peaceful. At least, not many people barged onto his farm, wanting to destroy it.
Mitch blinked. “Lord, the beast tide will contain a mix of level 6 monsters, and there will be hundreds of them. Though we only have to defend, our palisade won’t last long. And once they destroy the palisade and step foot around the shrine, our village will fall. And the elite, he will ram-over the players we have. Other than Grimish, no one is above level 8 and battle experienced.” He paused. “If we had the residence, it would have enough HP to hold against the tide, and the beast tide would need to destroy the residence to claim the village.”
Jon raised his palm to dismiss Mitch’s warning. “Don’t worry about the elite. I’ve got experience killing level 20 players. First, tell me what I need to do to get that residence up.” This was worrying. If he didn’t get the residence up, he had to hold them off with the palisade.
“Builders,” Grimish replied.
“Lord, it’s like this.” Mitch waved his hands in the air, trying to convey something. When Jon focused his attention on him, he continued. “A basic worker produces 0.5 BP per day. A basic warrior produces 0.1 BP per day. So, if you have 20 workers, and the residence cost is 100 BP, then those workers can build the residence in ten days. Of course, there are other factors like village bonus, deity bonus, etc. Anything that produces BP other than population and buildings reduces the total time required.”
“So, what’s the use of accumulated BP?”
“Lord, you can use it to insta-build buildings,” Mitch said.
“Damn, that will come once we upgrade to a level 1 village. So, where do I get these workers?” Jon asked, worried about the village’s condition. He wasn’t willing to lose his village in only two days, and it had dire consequences too. That bastard Baltazar had cheated him, and he wouldn’t stand for it. No way.
Grimish interrupted his thoughts by waving a hand. “Master, we can hire them for around ten copper a month. Those are basic NPC workers that can build level 0 buildings. I’ve seen them working in Chinari, and they do a good job.”
Jon tapped his knee. “Okay, then go hire the workers. Until then, I’ll try to find something that will help us defend the village.” Now his only hope was that other players were able to fight against the enemy. If they couldn’t, well, he could forget saving the village and be on his way somewhere else.
Stretching his hands, Jon stepped out of his hut.
Grimish called after him, “Master, I’ll need 200 copper or 2 silver to carry out the transaction.”
“You...” Jon pulled a gold coin from his bag and handed it to Grimish. “Look for some defensive mechanism that can protect large areas. We might need that. Also, try to sell this crop.” He handed Grimish his two thousand units of weed crop. They all were excellent quality crop, and Jon hoped they would fetch a good amount of money.
“Don’t even think about conning me. I can read your thoughts.” Jon chuckled. “Just do the work, and come back fast. We’ve a ton to work on.”
Grimish nodded and turned to go.
“Grimish, one more thing. Check the price of a trade cart and how much time it would take to make a visit here.”
Nodding, Grimish zipped away from him in the direction of the town.
While waiting for Kron to come up with the list, Jon put three stat points in Wisdom and two in Strength and glanced at his skills once again, checking to see if anything was available for large-scale damage.
Name: Jon (Level 4)
Class: Arch Druid
Second Class: Formationist
Stats:
Strength 22
Dexterity 5
Constitution 11
Intelligence 5
Wisdom 27
Chance 2
Charisma 2
Health 405/405
Stamina 245/245 (6.21/S)
Mana 50/50 (5.25/S)
Spirit 270/270 (12.29/S)
Utility Class: Herbalist
Stat points available: 0
Skill points available: 6
Experience 11100/13000
Skills:
Passives:
The Circle of Land
Mark of the Formation Master
Formation Painter
Mana Manipulation (Level 1)
Land Tasting (Level 1)
Spirit Cycling (Level 5)
Pain Attunement (Level 3)
Formation Painter (Level 2)
Copying (Level 1)
Active:
Mold Earth (Level 2)
Healing Space (Level 3)
Acid Vine (Level 1)
Land Heal (Level 2)
Elemental Shield (Level 1)
Purify (Level 1)
Earth Spike (Level 1)
Conjure Light (Level 1)
Utility Skills:
Perception (Level 1)
Unfortunately, there wasn’t any other noteworthy spell available for him at this level, so he could only put two points in Acid Vine and two in Earth Spike, bringing them each to level 3.
Acid Vine (Level 3): Cost: 60 Spirit. Damage: 19.5/spray.
Earth Spike: Cost: 30 Spirit. Damage 15/sec.
The damage wasn’t adequate. When faced with hundreds of monsters with hundreds of life, how much would his spells hold up? He needed something big and flashy.
With that thought, he opened the book of formations.
Chapter 32
For four straight hours, Jon cast Acid Vine and Earth Spike, one after another, until he reached level 4 in both skills, increasing their damage. Yet, it was insufficient for the incoming monster horde.
Shoulders dropped, he slumped on the patch of grass grown near his hut. It was getting harder to increase his spell progression with each cast. From level 3 to 4, he needed around 30-40 casts, but now even after 20 casts, his Acid Vine progression showed twenty percent completion. And even if he reached level 5, the damage would be only 28 or 29, still insufficient for monsters with 300 or 400 Health.
When the sweat started flowing like a river, and his shirt smelled like a rotten potato, Jon visited the small pond behind the farms. Everyone used it for bathing.
Jon glanced at the sky, feeling the last of the day’s warmth vanishing. Shadows had appeared, so there shouldn’t be anyone else bathing. Finally, he could go in there naked and relax to his core.
Soaking his heated body in the chilly water, he closed his eyes and pondered his choices. The easy flowing water smoothed the flow of his thoughts. He had looked through the formation master’s journal, but there wasn’t much help there. For his Formationist level, there were two more formations drawn in the book.
Formation of the Amplification: A utility formation that improves the speed of the living/non-living things inside the formation area. Time: 30 mins. Cost: 300 Spirit.
It was of no use to him. It would be useful when he started raising his crops, but right now he needed something strong that could wipe out his enemies.
The second formation was slightly more useful.
Formation of Hurricane: Once set-up the area inside the formation transforms into a small hurricane, repeatedly dealing 100 wind damage to the 25% area of the formation. The damage area shifts every five seconds. Time: 5 minute. Cost: 400 spirit.
If there were only ten or twenty monsters coming to hunt him, this formation would have been useful. For hundreds of monsters, it won’t put a dent in their HP. Even if the formation had a mass damage capability, its area was limited. These all were tier 0 formations, and their area was limited to few square meters. According to the journal, higher tier formations allowed the use of more flags, so their area-of-effect increased. Then there would be mass area damage formations available at higher tiers.
Jon was looking forward to them. A formation that would cover the whole village and speed up growth for all farms? Now that would be awesome!
Well, these weren’t the only formations available at tier 0. There would be many, but the formation master who left this journal only kept these three. There were a few mentioned for the next level, but those pages wouldn’t be revealed until he became a Formation Adapt—the next level of Formationist.
To become an adept, he had to be level 5 and travel to some unknown place called Trial of Formations. It was supposed to hold the key to becoming a Formation Adapt.
Jon rubbed his forehead. All the tier 0 formations he had access to seemed like crap. They all required lots of Spirit. Even the tier 0 Formation of Amplification required 300 Spirit, while Kron’s flags only required 100 Mana.
Wait. There was a difference in both amplification formations, but Jon had no way of knowing the differences right now.
“Lord, are you bathing?” Mitch’s voice pulled him out of his ruminations.
“Yeah, got a problem with it?” Jon glared at the intruder, spotting his eyes staring at his waist. Why was Mitch sneaking up on a nude male? Was he gay?
Automatically Jon’s hand went to his crotch, hiding his special parts. The game had been generous in that matter.
“Lord...” Mitch’s eyes bulged when he spotted Jon’s action. “If you get dressed, I have something to tell you.”
Jon scowled. “Then turn away.” Quickly, Jon put his clothes on. He would need to level up soon so his clothes would get patched up automatically—or get new clothes.
Wait, could he contact Grimish and tell him to buy clothes for him?
A prompt appeared, and Grimish’s face popped up on it.
“Master, what do you want?” Grimish asked. He was heaving, face coated in sweat. It had only been a few hours since he had left, so it would take him at least few more hours to reach Chinari.
“Buy some clothes for me in town, and see if you can buy a couple of blank flag sets for formations.” An idea popped into his mind, to create some extra set of flags for the battle. He would try whatever he could.
Cutting off the transmission, Jon turned to face Mitch who was looking away, humming an old song. The song had been famous a few years ago. Like five or six years ago. His daughter used to play that song a hundred times a day, and it used to give him a headache.
“Mitch, when did you enter the game?”
“Sixty years ago, Lord.” Mitch turned back. His small mouth curled into a smile.
Sixty years in game meant five years in real life. Jon studied him. “So, you weren’t living on R56 when you came here.”
Mitch’s face darkened. “Actually, I was.”
“But...”
Mitch looked away; a myriad of emotions played across his face. “Not everyone migrated after the incident. Not all could afford the space travel. I was fifteen years old when it happened.”
So, he was just twenty when he’d entered the game. That sucked. A convi
ct at the age of twenty. Jon himself had recently turned seventy, and according to his DNA analysis, he had a great chance of living until a hundred and eighty-five.
Mitch continued, “My parents couldn’t afford the travel, so we stayed back with ten thousand other people.”
“That must have been hard,” Jon said, his voice almost a whisper. The planet was practically dead, and the temperature had dropped by thirty degrees overnight. Being poor and living without government aid must have been hard for these people. “How did you end up in the game?” The government had declared that planet defunct, so no company was allowed to enter there. Then how had Laxania entered that planet?
Mitch chuckled—a sad chuckle. “Ten years ago, we were ten thousand people, and we had places to live, but as the time passed, the cold increased and we started dy—” He choked, his emotions taking control over his voice. “Six years back, only a thousand remained. Then Laxania came and offered us a peaceful life inside the game. They signed a contract to provide us shelter after twenty years of real life inside the game, working for them.” He wiped tears from his face. “We were fools to accept it. But when I think about the fucking situation, we didn’t have any other choice back then. We’re all scattered throughout the realm, working our assess off for Laxania.”
“Damn, so those bastards are recruiting non-convicts as well?” That was a shocker.
Mitch shifted his weight to his other leg. “Anyway, what’s done is done. Those fuckers will get all the karma returned to them tenfold one day. I’m here because I’ve got twenty of these, and they might be helpful for you.” He pulled a small brown crystal from his bag and handed it to Jon.
Jon touched it, feeling its uneven structure. It was the size of a baby’s fist and had tints of gray and brown mixed all over. Touching it, Jon felt a ray of firmness rush through his body.
Was it special?
Casting perception on it, he glanced at the properties.
Half-formed Crystal of Strengthening
Can’t be used to create skill cores.
Level not available as the crystal is incomplete.
Can be socketed in a hard surface to increase its hardness. Adds 50 durability.