Chapter 43 (1/2)

Ultimately, Randidly decided to skirt the edges of the boundary, and head towards the area he knew was controlled by the lizardmen. Although they were strong and resilient, they didn’t possess the oppressive speed of the cats.

Randidly spared his followers a glance. Hopefully that would keep the mortality rate to under 33%. He gave them both a max strength antidote too, in case they encountered one of the scorpions. But Randidly wondered if either of them would have time to drink it, if it was a strong enough poison to paralyze him for several minutes.

But then some of Shal’s callous acceptance settled over him, and he stopped fussing; they would either grow stronger or die. He wasn’t so capable that he could afford to worry overmuch about anyone other than himself.

“We are out here looking for lizardmen. The couple I encountered used scimitars, which we should gather and carry back. Mostly, we want their scales. Incredibly hard to penetrate, great for cushioning blows too. Other than that, we might see scorpions, which we should avoid. I was stung once, and it isn’t fun. The other monster I’ve encountered here are hyper quick cats. They are fast. Way too fast. Honestly…”

Randidly hesitated, then said. “If we encounter them, just run.”

Then he narrowed his eyes, activating Eyes of the Spear Phantom, and began to search.

They found a pair of lizardmen rather quickly. Randidly rushed forward and distracted them while Decklan danced around and slashed at them with two small knives made from the claws of cats Randidly had killed. Even with Decklan’s low strength, they were enough to leave shallow cuts, which was a testament to the sharpness of the claws.

Perhaps he would have to come back later and harvest more cats for that reason.

Lyra was also surprising in her usefulness. She created realistic bird of mana that flitted around the heads of the lizardmen, distracting them.

Randidly kept them mostly at bay with spear movements, but when the would lapse there guard, he would blast them in the face with a fireball, leaving them snarling.

After 5 minutes of tussle, they had managed to kill them both. Randidly had even let Decklan finish one off, which let him gain stats from killing the stronger enemy. The growth rates weren’t that much higher than the lowered leveled enemies, but they were still something.

“So now what? Head back with the bodies?” Decklan asked, panting.

Randidly snorted and gathered the bodies into his satchel. Then he began walking.

“Mana potion~” Lyra said, holding out her hand. Randidly gave her an annoyed look but handed several over.

Decklan gritted his teeth, wiped the sweat from his brow, and followed.

“Such a well mannered delivery service,” Lyra said, wiping her mouth and returning the empty vial with a smile.

Randidly sighed. He could already tell that it was going to be a very long day.

****

Daniel considered his options. Donny spent most of his time training with the recruits, and left all of the decisions up to him. Nul somehow sensed this, and let Daniel have access to all of the Village Chieftain functions without having to receive constant permission.

They currently were at a staggering 2400 Spirit Points, which were gained whenever a person who had received a class leveled, whenever they killed a monster, or when they brought back certain items to trade.

It didn’t really seem like items were dropping that they could trade in, but Nul assured Daniel they existed. He also informed him that stronger enemies gave more points, but your average enemy at this level was only 1.

The problem was how to spend the Spirit Points. 10,000 would upgrade them to a Trainee Village, but Daniel was the type to build a solid foundation, rather than rushing up towards the upgrade.

The most attractive choice were the Mentor Stones, which would cost 100 SP a pop, but they would allow more people to inherit Donny’s class of Knight. There were other valuable options, like Ptolemy’s Disciple or Clarissa’s Weather Witch, but most of the men clamoring for classes wanted to take a more physical role.

Nodding to himself, he walked over to the Shop and purchased 4 before he could second guess himself, they needed the bulk at the front lines. He had already talked to Donny about it, and he had identified likely candidates, 3 men and 1 woman, tall and grim, steadfast even in the face of danger. They had been some of the first to move their families up from Franksburg, to the South.

Which left 2000. Sam had spoken with Daniel earlier, recommending they finally purchase the weapon shop. Although he was getting pretty confident shaping armor, making weapons required a forge, which they weren’t currently equipped for. The Basic Weapon Shop would cost 500 SP.

Sighing, Daniel wandered around, looking at their bustling village. The Outer wall had been raised to 2 meters, giving additional protection to those within the village. They even had several places where there was a mini rampart, that defenders could stand on to attack invaders.

An archery range had been set up in the far side, at the urging of Sam, and those who were willing to wait a bit and level skill before getting a class attempted to gain archery skills. Even if they didn’t end up having a class related to archery, having the skill would still mean they would keep that and continue growing.

Daniel really wanted someone to unlock and finish the Archery I path, based on his talks with Randidly about what paths did, but it was a little much to ask  for absolute beginners. It would be much easier if someone with experience arrived.

Most of the NCCs had moved down to the farming area, lower in the valley, but groups of them were walking around with One Shoulder Pad Warriors, as work groups. It was how the NCCs could earn themselves food while staying here.