Beneath the Dragoneye Moons

Chapter 451: Death By Meetings II

Chapter 451: Death By Meetings II

I figured I’d establish my credentials first, and then show the gaping holes in my skills second.

“War. I’m used to a slightly different type of total war than all of you probably are. There was this race called Formorians back in Remus. Imagine an ant the size of a man. Vicious, coordinated, but not terribly intelligent. They came at us in endless waves, and we got very, very good at killing them. Literally had to kill them in shifts. All day, all night, then all of the next day as well. Endless. For millennia.”

Alright, I’d hooked them. They looked impressed.

“It wasn’t all bad news. As I said, monsters, the basic soldiers only level 120, no big skills, not terribly smart. They just… attacked. Easy enough to dig in and defend ourselves. Problem was pushing back. We could hold a defensive position, no problem. We could slowly advance. We had a three-wall structure that was slowly disassembled and rebuilt to push the lines forward. Inevitably though, something went wrong, and we’d get pushed back hard. That’s what the situation was like when I got there.”

Calamity and Calm were looking a little doubtful at the story of struggling against 120’s, and Flood had a look of open disbelief.

“Please remember, we were inside of something called the dead zone, or low experience zone. We got a fraction of the experience most people got in other areas, and the world was young. Night didn’t even have his third class yet! Our second strongest Sentinel was around level 400. We hadn’t worked out a fraction of what was possible. Enchantments didn’t exist. Inscriptions did, and they were a weak precursor to enchantments. Wizardry didn’t exist, although I met a [Bard] who sort of mimicked what they could do in a way.”

I paused, and figured that I’d earned this. I could brag a little. I was with my peers.

“I’d only just written the first copy of the Medical Manuscripts.”

Calamity still looked doubtful, but Flood and Calm had been won over. Eh, I supposed the dude specialized in ‘murder fucktons of things very very very fast’, he might not be too impressed.

“I was sent to the front lines to help level. I was in Ranger Academy, our way of turning potential prospects into Rangers, teaching them everything they needed to know. In hindsight, it was clear that I was there for a multitude of reasons, but the primary one was my level was too low. A couple of months with a large supply of arcanite, blasting Formorians and healing soldiers worked wonders for my level.”

I was getting some impressed looks.

“An argument could be made that you’ve seen more battles than some of us!” Tyrannus chuckled with good humor. “Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt.”

I shook my head.

“No worries. There isn’t a ton more. A Sentinel Toxic managed to figure out a way to bring Poison back to the queens, killing one and weakening the rest. They went all-out then. Sent their heavies, larger than most villas, breached our walls. It gave us a chance though. A strike mission where it was all of the Sentinels against their last push. Sentinel Destruction was a bit like you, Calm, and [Channeled] a massive earthquake. A priest called down a miracle, and then we split. One strike team, and one to go back and help with the cleanup. Spent my time fixing people up, keeping them alive enough to hold the line.”

I thought about my other experiences, and grimaced.

“I also fought a city of body-jacking parasites called the shimagu and won, but… the less said about that, the better.”

Ochi still haunted me.

I still didn’t have the right answer to it. Did I do the right thing?

To my surprise, Calamity looked sympathetic.

“I think we all have one or more of those in our past.” He said. “Sounds like you’ve got a fair enough amount of experience fighting along side people, which is good. How about fighting against other people? Other armies?”

I grimaced.

“Nothing on that front, on the army scale.” I easily confessed. “Small squads, yes. I’ve gotten involved in healing the aftermath of a long-running war, but not directly in the front line battles like I imagine you all do.”

Tyrannus nodded.

“That’s an excellent base to work with! I’ll be honest, I was a little worried when Arachne told us that you were becoming the next War Sentinel. Felt more like you were being slotted in because you didn’t work well anywhere else, rather than having proper chops of your own. What are you comfortable sharing about your stats and skills?”

I wanted to be offended, but Tyrannus had something of a point. If a level 150 showed up to the Sentinels one day and Night declared ‘hey, he’s one of us now, and taking a rare seat’, I’d be a little skeptical.

Maybe a lot.

I was aware that most of the other War Sentinels had quite a few levels, and possibly centuries of experience on me. I was a little fish in a big lake.

Okay, maybe I was slightly larger than a little fish.

At least I didn’t have the vampire experience penalty holding me back!

“Skills! I’ve got close to a healing panacea skill. There are some niche things it can’t manage, like pure petrification, but I haven’t found much it can’t handle. Now, I don’t have the depth of experience the rest of you have, but on a battlefield, I imagine the only thing I’ll struggle with are curses. And blows that are immediately lethal. A hammer to the head, top-down, is just one example of something I don’t think I can cure. Otherwise? Stabbed, sliced, burned, frozen, decapitated - I can handle it all, have handled it all, at a significant range, across an entire army. 3.5 million points of magic power, and the control to go with it.”

I said the last point with pride. I was good, and I knew it.

Legion whistled.

“That’s impressive.” He said. “That should be enough to keep the frontline up and then some. Big question is - mana and regeneration?”

I grimaced.

My stats were good.

My magic power and control specifically made the cut.

The fuel?

“Mana pool is 1.3 million, mana regeneration is 2.7 million per hour.” I confessed.

There were pained noises around the table. Everyone except Flood.

“You’ll need a [Battery] or eight on your team.” She said. “Shores up your weakness. By the sun, doesn’t even need to be part of your regular team. Kick the Legata of the Sixth eight different ways until she gets a full detachment for you. Be more than worth it.”

Depths was slowly nodding, and that reminded me. I snapped my fingers.

“Drowning! Depths could absolutely drown all of us, and I wouldn’t be able to save a soul. Well, apart from killing her.”

Tyrannus nodded.

“It’s good that you’re thinking of ways you can be circumvented. I recommend making a full list, and sharing it with the commander of your legion. It’ll give her a priority list in a battle of what Classers she needs to handle, where she needs to focus her efforts and firepower, and what she can leave to you. The more comprehensive it is, the better the two of you will work together. Remember. A lesson almost all of us need to learn is - we’re not alone on the battlefield. We’re with an army. We do our part, and we trust them to do theirs. Same with our team! Do you have anyone? That was some wyvern at your induction ceremony.” Tyrannus said.

I nodded.

“Yeah! Auri, my companion. Phoenix, heavy on the Inferno. Working on her third class now. She does phoenix things, but she’s still very young. Not a lot of experience. Iona, a Valkyrie. Physical warrior. Her bond’s Fenrir, the wyvern. We’re still shaking everything out. You’ve all mentioned getting some people to help with mana on the battlefield, and that’s high on my list. I think, technically, Iona’s squire Nina is also part of my team, but she’s a low level kid and won't have much impact right now. I think I got a little sidetracked on skills, I’ve got some strong utility ones I should mention.”

I shifted back to my skills. I’d gotten a little sidetracked on my stats, and in Tyrannus’s defense, I had mentioned all my relevant healing skills after just mentioning my healing class. Given how many other Sentinels hadn’t talked about one or two of their classes, simply mentioning they were hobby or for fun classes, it made sense to skip over what I wasn’t talking about. Heck, at my level, it was entirely possible that my third class wasn’t developed at all!

“Combat-wise, I’ve got… well, with this crowd, I wouldn’t call it a powerful Radiance attack. Most of you could probably shrug it off without noticing. Does decently well against people of my level. I’m a mediocre wizard.”

I wasn’t trying to be humble. There was a Sentinel called Archmage, and I hadn’t exactly gotten glowing reviews from my studies at the School. Merely… adequate. For a mortal graduate. With this crowd, calling myself mediocre was probably overselling my capabilities.

“... my best trick is full invisibility from the Jiwa rune, although I’m working on getting a full set of spellbooks prepped and ready. That’s one area I could use help in. As Flood knows, Arachne recently stuffed a full [Loremaster’s] worth of knowledge into my head. Helped me get a sweet class. I can store my spellbooks, I’ve got a short-range teleport, and I just got a bulk storage skill. It’s not amazing. I need to personally teleport inside anytime I want to move anything, which absolutely murders the efficiency and how quickly I can move stuff, but hey, it’s a full personal pocket dimension, what’s there not to love?”

Queen was looking envious.

“Makes us want to reset a class just to get a skill like that!” She joked. “Use it as storage enough, and it might morph into a pure storage skill. That’s what we’d do in your sandals.”

I nodded.

“Yeah, I like the sound of that. We haven’t touched on gear, and I’ll just quickly mention I’ve got very little. Mainly a few trinkets to help hide my level, which… is probably pretty useful, thinking about it.” I was musing out loud, considering how my gear interacted with my role. “Nobody’s going to think much of the low-level healer near the backlines, especially if there’s a few other healers.”

Legion grinned.

“Yeah! Now you’re talking! That’s just my style. I’ve got so many tricks for hiding in plain sight, we’ll have to arrange a time to coordinate.”

“I’d love that! Could also teach Nina some illusionist tricks.”

“They don’t even need to be real.” Queen said. “Just look real. Might be worth asking Archmage if she’s got some illusion spells for you to borrow and copy.”

I was immediately seeing the use of these talks.

“Apart from that, I’m a blank slate gear-wise. Don’t even have real armor. Do have some neat biomantically augmented scales under my skin though, I dabbled in biomancy at one point.”

“A blank slate… and the only War Sentinel that can stand in the sun.” Tyrannus said. “Don’t discount that. All of us with teams have someone who can help with that issue.”

Everyone got their heads together.

“You don’t want a team that’s too large.” Queen said. “Unless you enjoy ruling and managing dozens of people, and you’re paying them so little that you can afford it, you’re constrained. You’ve got quite a few already, we’d look at one, maybe two more people in your team before shaking things down. Fundamentally, we think you’ll be a War Sentinel most like us and Flood. We’re there, we’re attached to the legion, but the legion operates more or less as normal. We throw out big skills, and the legion operates around that, taking advantage of our presence, but not fundamentally changing how they operate. Unlike Calm or Tyrannus, where the legion changes their operating procedures, or requires special equipment, like Calamity.”

The man gave a cheery wave.

“Every single helmet on a member of my legion requires a number of enchantments.” He said. “Lets them wade through what I’m throwing out.”

I didn’t have any skills like that. I wasn’t a one-woman army like Depths or Legion was.

I was simply support. Amazing support, but support.

“Works for me. Any suggestions?”

“My personal take? You’ve got some firepower, you’ve got some defense. You need batteries. With all that said, you’re pretty covered on the light utility front, and the one thing I can recommend is a strong barrier mage.” Tyrannus said. “Your Valkyrie companion isn’t proper defense. She can engage well against other Classers coming at you, but you’ve got nothing to handle potshots at the rest of your supports.”

“Apart from healing them after they’re hit.” I pointed out.

Tyrannus nodded.

“Apart from healing them after they’re hit.” He agreed. “Consider though. ‘Don’t worry, you’ll be fine, ribs grow back’, versus ‘we’ve got shields on you, you’re protected and safe’. One’s more likely to get enthusiastic participation, versus the other.”

Made sense.

“What else?” I asked.

Queen started to deal cards out.

“What else? A game!” Queen said. “We’re partial to Spite and Malice, do you know the rules?”

Vaguely. [The World Around Me] would be a huge help. I wasn’t going to say that… and I had money that everyone else had their own way of making things interesting.

“Yup!” I said.

“Great! Who else is in?” Queen asked.

“Water.” Depths interrupted, gesturing to be dealt in as she continued the discussion. “Always think about the water…”

We must’ve spent half the day just chatting, going over things, thinking up ideas and ways we could help each other.

“Enough about me! How can I help all of you?” I eventually said. My brain felt like it was roasting from all of the ideas, skills, gems, team compositions, advice, and everything. I mechanically drew a card, lifting an eyebrow up.

Legion had thrown an illusion over the card again, making me think I’d drawn a different card. Half the time he removed the illusion right before I played it, the other half he kept it, faking innocence the entire time.

I hadn’t let on that I could see right through the illusions yet. I was waiting for the perfect storm of cards, and a large enough pot, to execute.

I had a few lists in my [Astral Archives] of things I needed to do. Gemstones were on the top of the list - I wanted to get a half dozen for everyone in the Eventide Eclipse for starters.

“I can charge moonstones, of course, but it wouldn’t surprise me if everyone already had some. If anyone has a healer on their team, I’m pretty sure I can work with them for a level or two.”

Tyrannus raised an eyebrow. I couldn’t tell if it was at me, or the card he’d just drawn.

A slightly annoying part to [The World Around Me] - I couldn’t easily tell if someone else was looking at an illusion, not without obvious tells.

“Dawn, I know you’re a little young, and forgive me if this sounds condescending, but are you aware of the potency effect?” He asked.

“Also known as the big fish effect when you’re not a fossil.” Queen glared at Tyrannus, folding her cards.

I thought I might know what they were talking about, but I wasn’t sure.

“Maybe. Tell me more?”

Flood spoke up, her voice scratchy.

“Raise eight. You know Night. Imagine he takes an apprentice every decade. How strong will the class offerings be for that? Now imagine he teaches 1,000 soldiers every day. Do you think they’ll get as good of a class as the apprentice?”

I shook my head.

“No way.” I said. Flood’s cards were good, no way was I beating them.

Flood nodded.

“Exactly. The more a significant person spreads themselves, the less potent their effect is. You are, by all accounts, a big fish when it comes to the System. I won’t say no to you teaching my Legion’s medics, but you have to be aware that you’re diluting your potency, and frankly, for not a particularly good reason. It’s your call, I’d love the help and the boost to my healer’s classes, I’m not going to tell you how to run your life, but keep it in mind. Consider grabbing an apprentice every decade or so, then sending them our way once they’re trained up.”

I - huh.

I was thinking like a mortal too much. I just didn’t have the time or experience taking the truly long view of things. An apprentice a decade sounded like it’d take forever, but no. It’d ‘only’ be 50 years before each of the War Sentinels that had a healer on their team had one personally trained by me.

The idea was interesting, and a direct, concrete way that I could not only help the other Sentinels, but also improve the lives of countless numbers of people. I had significant weight, just in the healing arena. How much better would everyone be if there were more powerful healers running around?

Couldn’t hurt.

“Yeah! Once I’m settled in I’ll be happy to help. That might take a while. Oh! Does anyone know how to acquire Spatially expanded boxes? Trying to get my hands on a few for my own personal reasons.”

Flood spoke up.

“I’ve got a supplier. Let’s talk after.”

Tyrannus stretched and flopped his cards down.

“I’m out.” He said.

“Fold.” I promptly followed his lead.

“Show.” Flood said, followed by the rest of the Sentinels in the game.

I eyed the cards.

Flood was going to win, barring any Legion shenanigans. Someone kept rearranging the deck as it sat there, and I had money on it being Queen. Her entire thing was around cards.

If that was the case though, why did she keep getting such mediocre hands? Unless she was playing a long game…

“Ha!” Flood crowed as she raked in the coins. “Better luck next time, suckers!”

I smiled at the scene.

I think I was going to be alright here.

The meeting ended and we broke up, some of the Sentinels leaving before others. I stuck around a minute, wanting to chat with Flood about the boxes. Queen also hung around.

“Dawn. You mentioned being able to store books and other information. Can you store a card?” She flipped me a playing card with the depiction of an angel with a square and a triangle.

I deftly snatched it out of the air, and tried to move it to [Loremaster’s Library]. The card was heavy in a sense. It took multiple orders of magnitude more to move it around than I expected - a thousand points of mana instead of ten - but it went in with no other trouble.

“Yup! Why?” I asked, teleporting the card back out and flicking it to Queen.

“Because this is one of our effect cards. With your [Oath], we believe it would be difficult for you to use one of our powerful trump cards. However, we almost never use our mass cancel card, and it could be invaluable to you. Take it!”

She flicked the card back to me, and I focused, trying to see how close it could get before teleporting into my [Loremaster’s Library].

The moment it touched my forehead it was teleported in. Queen gave me the quick rundown of how it worked.

“It was most wonderful to meet you Dawn.” She said. “We know you are still settling in, but we would like to send you a promising apprentice in a few years for you to train for us, if you are amenable to the idea.”

I nodded.

“Yup! Always happy to. As you said, it might be a while, and there’s no promises that they’ll still want to stick around after, but yeah, sure, I’m game!”

There was some potential trickiness with my [Oath] and limiting how many people I taught, but I’d cross that bridge when I got to it.

Queen gave me the quick rundown of how to activate the card, which was scarily easy. I could’ve accidentally activated it in the middle of the city!

She said goodbye and left, and Flood handed me a much more normal card, with a name and address.

“He makes Spatial boxes.” Flood coughed and cleared her throat. “Reasonable rates, mention you’re a War Sentinel and get a discount. Expect to hand over 30,000 arcs a box though. When you’ve got a minute, I’ll send my Optio over with a few thousand moonstones to charge.”

Flood gave me a brisk nod, slapped the table, and got up.

I felt a little taken advantage of, but it wouldn’t take me terribly long to charge so many gems, especially if someone else did all the arranging and making it easy. [Astral Archives] made the image trivially simple, and once someone else had put them in a line, I could just walk down it with a trailing finger and charge them all up.

We helped each other, and I’d be saving lives.

I got up and left.

The dude who’d helped me find the room saw me leaving, and steered my way.

“Dawn. A letter arrived for you.” He politely handed me a sealed letter, then neatly turned on his heel and left, continuing his work.

I skimmed it as I kept walking out.

Dawn,

I’ve got a task I’m working on for you. I’ll give you all the details if it materializes. Shouldn’t take more than a few months. One minor request. You’re currently fairly new as a Sentinel. Can you try not to become so famous as one that everyone will know about you?

Specifically, I’d like you to minimize interactions with the 4th Legion, for reasons that’ll become clear. I’ve let Legata Katerina know.

Night assures me the best way for you to do this is to try and become famous. Your natural inclinations towards social situations will cause it to backfire.

Or simply continue settling in.

My best

The letter was signed with a spiderweb. It was clear who it’d come from.

I shrugged.

The request seemed to be perfectly fine. I wasn’t exactly seeking fame… although, wow, Night did not think highly of my social skills.

Time for a quick stop at Auri’s bakery, then I figured it was time to meet Legata Katerina in a more formal setting.

It was like they were trying to kill me via meetings!