Weapons of Mass Destruction

Our fort is a nice place, not far from Hollowgate. After making a few modifications to one of the walls of my room, I now have a window with a nice view of the city as a whole.

I’d even say it’s quite pleasant, especially at night, with the purple nebula and countless stars above and the city lights below.

This place used to belong to a group called… I forgot. Anyway, it's Angry Kittens now, a small group made up of a few dozen members with a suspicious degree of wealth. After we took over, almost everyone who had objections tried to kill us, while others left and those who stayed, are currently being paid for their services.

Their salary comes in multiple forms: items I’ve made, food, water, a safe place to sleep after we killed any monsters within several miles of the base, and a number of other fringe benefits. In exchange, they collect information for us, or in Lily's case, they bring her a few trees in exchange for bone spears they can’t place the origins of.

Obviously, there were disadvantages to it, like being forced to deal with people, but Lily and the twins usually take care of that part. After all, it's only right that they take care of such minor annoyances in exchange for my teachings.

Though they’re not high-level extroverts like Tess or Gareth, so they do have some difficulties, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.

As I mull these facts over in my head, I turn my attention back to the Beyond Community and read the last message.

Sset - We located two and now that you’ve located one as well, we’re getting close to the end. We’ve already started moving, and we can meet at Soph’s location after you guys are done with your stuff.

Grumpy - I miss you all, guys!

Tacita -(×_×)

Grumpy - I miss you too, Taci! (ﾉ´ з `)ノ

Tacita - 。。。ミヽ(。＞＜)ノ

Grumpy - You won't run away!─=≡Σ((( つ＞＜)つ

Sset -Just please don’t push it, Noname.

Noname - You know me.

Sset -That’s why I'm worried.

Noname -It will be fine.

Sset -I always get chills when you say that.

Tacita -/╲/╭(ఠఠ益ఠఠ)╮/╱

Grumpy - ＼(〇_ｏ)／

Noname -Just don’t forget our schedule in case something screws up.

Sset - I would not forget. I got to go, see you later. Stay safe.

Noname -Stay safe.

Tacita -(ಠ o ಠ)¤=[]:::::>

Grumpy -(´• ω •`) ♡

After closing the Community, I use one of my Ley Lines and appear in the Common room with a few of the original owners. They immediately jump to their feet in a rush to greet me. ɽÅŊöβЁ§

I just gesture in acknowledgment and check the pile of materials they’ve piled up to see if I can find anything interesting. Disappointed at not finding anything, I move to teleport away when I get stopped.

“Boss!” one of the men calls.

“Yes?” I ask, turning to him. His face seems familiar, “Oh, you are… E… B-something.”

“You’ve already forgotten my name three times, so what’s the point of trying at this point?”

“Oh.”

“It’s fine! I just wanted to report that I saw a few members of a neighboring group sneaking around, just outside your defenses.”

“Are they strong?” I ask with interest.

“They outnumber us five to one,” he notes seriously, “and they have experts on destroying defensive arrays. Before you… ehm, took over, we tended to have trouble with them.”

Oh boy, I would love to see them try to do something to my [Ley Line] based defensive array.

“Just ignore them. If they attack, let Lily know, she’ll take care of them.”

Teleporting away, I find myself in Hollowgate, the thread I set easily reaching across the distance without being noticed. Though if I’m being honest someone may have noticed and found they couldn’t disrupt it.

Without my crown, I feel naked, and with Sneaky Mode deployed, my mana feels foreign, but it’s useful and little bother if it means not dealing with the annoying people who tend to swarm me.

Relying on my memory, I weave through the crowds, breaking the arms of two pickpockets, as I continue deeper into the nicer parts of the city.

Using Wraith Dance, I leap to the roof of one of the nicer houses, send a ripple of my mana through the barrier, and pass through, leaping into the massive yard where a gathering is already underway.

Everyone’s levels are much higher than the random people outside, and I get a few curious looks of my own. As I push through them, one man tries to grab me, but all it takes is a single burst of kinetic energy to send him rolling to the ground.

This time I don’t even have to repeat the demonstration, and I make my way over to a pair of guards, both of whom are uncommonly bulky. One is a thylarin with four swords, and the other is a feylith with a lazy smile.

“The boss is waiting inside,” the feylith says, gesturing as the door unlocks, and allows me to pass through.

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The house opens up to a series of dark hallways lit by a number of yellow flames floating in the air like ensconced torches. Passing by them, I come to another door and enter an office dominated by a huge table seated before a massive window. That window offers a stunning view into a beautiful garden on the other side.

With a cough, the man behind the table grabs my attention. A thylarin in expensive clothes, specially made for a member of a four armed race such as the man before me. His clothes are a stunning shade of white woven through with golden threads, making for a nice contrast against his pale blue skin.

“I heard someone offed Ellan yesterday,” he says in a deep, slow voice.

“Who?”

“Thylarin mage, no. 10 in all of Hollowgate?”

“Oh, that guy.”

“Yes, a 200-year-old Champion Candidate. A man who spent the last 50 years here in Astral Prison. The man they used to call Mage Bane.”

“The one who was supposed to be out of the city for a few days?” Instead of grabbing one of the chairs, I make my own, reliable, monobloc chair with its classic nostalgic design and sit down.

“Yes. Someone who, according to all information, should have been far away from the city and very unexpectedly wasn’t.”

“Quite a bad piece of information,” I nod. “I can imagine that such bad information could have easily cost the lives of… let’s say two brave ‘collectors’ who were relying on that person being far away from the city.”

“Things like that just happen sometimes.”

“Not when it comes to my people, Fynn.”

There is a long moment of silence and I notice a growing tension in the man’s face.

“Nathaniel, I would very strongly recommend that you be reasonable and consider what you are about to do right now.”

“I’m not a very reasonable person, Fynn. You know that.” As he stares at me, I add to the statement, sensing the movement of his arm under the table, “If you raise the alarm, I will blow your entire guild off the surface of this prison along with that shitty array of yours.”

I sense him freeze in place, and he very carefully pulls back, all four hands placed on the table for me to see.

“There will be an expedition into the mines in a few days,” I start again.

“Yes, the one being led by the Hoarders with The Witch in it. One of the largest in the past ten years.”

“Yup, that one. We already applied, so make sure we pass and they don’t do too much of a background check on us. If you do that I will forgive you for passing on such unreliable information.”

“That’s going to require a lot of effort.”

“That sucks.”

“It really does, but fine. Consider it done. And I mean really done, no mistakes this time. I will personally make sure of that.”

“Sounds good!”

Jumping to my feet I take a step towards the shelf and grab a mana stone carved into the shape of a hollow cube with some kind of weird inscription that gives off a nice light.

“Is it fine if I take this?” I ask the man, already putting it into my pocket.

“I… do you even… haa, yes. Please consider it a gift from me, Nathaniel.”

“Thanks, you truly are a nice guy. See you later.”

As I make my exit through the door, one of the guards blocks my way. It’s the bulky thylarin with four swords. He and his partner seem to be highly trusted, demonstrated by the weird connection they have that allows them to listen to what’s happening in the room.

“Mais, please let him go,” Fynn calls from inside.

The guard doesn’t budge, channeling kinetic energy through his body using a trait I noticed long ago. I’ve wanted to fight this guy for a while—Mais, also known as the Spinecrusher, ranked No. 7 in Hollowgate.

I take a step toward him, releasing an amount of kinetic energy to match his own, feeling the weight of it building in the air. Mais responds, increasing his output as the tension sharpens to a razor’s edge. His hands hover closer to the swords at his sides, the flicker of violence rising in his eyes. The space between us tightens, energy crackling between us as though one wrong move could set everything off.

“Mais! Stop before we all fucking die here!” This shout is much louder and more desperate, catching the attention of the people around us.

Only then does the guy manage to calm himself and take a step back.

I feel the pressure begin to dissipate as he pulls back, and I make one last corny attempt at baiting him, hoping to amuse myself with a decent brawl, “Yeah, Mais, be a good boy.”

To my disappointment, he doesn’t bite. Sure, he seems to be more pissed off, but that’s all.

As he steps away, I pass by and wave at the second guard, who waves back at me with a smile, his eyes and hair blazing a happy shade of red along with the small wings flickering on his back.

Melo, also called The Nightmare, no. 5 in Hollowgate, the kind of person even Fynn rarely gives orders to.

After jumping across a few roofs and a quick teleport later, I visit a few shops and return to the fort we lord over as Angry Kittens, directly jumping into the room this time. Here, in relative safety, I put more effort into the training that’s been going on in the back of my mind the entire time.

Separating a small part of my mind, I form a simple evil cube and wonder over it. It’s an upgrade I made by modifying the orb after becoming familiar with the shaping exercises Lissandra gave me.

Lissandra has amazing mastery over mana, and her flow is smooth, perfectly controlled, and sharp.

My style of control is more chaotic, and it’s something I’m starting to account for with my shaping exercises, especially the 1st one, where I’m constantly having to control multiple frequencies and manage an ever-changing set of mana requirements just to maintain the thing.

Changing the shape to a cube allowed the mana inside the shape to bounce more chaotically and made its movements nearly impossible to predict. Even after a few months, I'm still not sure what I expect to get from it, but I’ve decided to continue. Lately, I’ve even started changing the shape into a pyramid, which made it even more difficult, the mana inside the shape bouncing and swirling even more unpredictably.

Someone smarter could probably explain the reasons behind it since I expected the cube to be more chaotic—but not me.

With a wave of my hand, the cube disappears, and I bring my mind back to the previous method of training, leaving just a tiny bit to continue thinking as I throw myself back onto the bed and stare at the ceiling.

“System, show me my level.”

Lvl 291

It’s pretty, and I’m fairly certain that even with as much effort as I directed to training at the expense of leveling, I’m probably one of the highest levels in our round. Perhaps even the highest. And I’m just nine levels away from my Primary Class upgrade. I'm really curious how the system will deal with it, given that I already have all ten of my allotted active skills, and the Primary class always seems to bring more along for the ride.

“System, order me pizza. I will pay 10,000 shards.”

Nothing changes, obviously. Looking at the terrifying number of shards I currently possess, I don’t think I would miss those 10,000.

It’s really tough out here.

Lastly, before settling in to sleep for the next two hours, I decide to check on Biscuit.

(Food.) I send through the link the twins created. The one that works despite Biscuit’s current distance.

(Food,) he sends back mysteriously.

(Food food?) I ask.

(Food!) he answers right away.

(Asshole!) I send back.

(Gone. Food. Food.)

(Food,) I confirm, and over the next few exchanges, I tell him about our plans, until we finally say goodbye, focusing my attention back on the ceiling.

Damn, I miss that corgi. It’s already been a few months since he went on his secluded training like some hidden master, and after not being able to boop that nose for so long, I'm starting to get close to my limit.

[Bone Knitting - lvl 18 > Bone Knitting - lvl 19]

Finally, the skill levels up, and I take a break from my efforts. The bones, which had been itching until now, finally settle, and the mana threads dissolve, the energy returning to my pathways to continue cycling through my body.

Only then do I close my eyes and allow myself to fall asleep.

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