Bonded Summoner

Book 3. Chapter 4: Conflict in Highlands

Jake found that the Alliance HQ here on Highlands was completely bare bones in comparison to what he saw on Ariminium. The halls were empty, and even the reception area was not staffed. There was only one workstation in the Command Center, and he found that it was related to his guild. It allowed him to keep a representative here that could monitor things more actively, and better direct those for scouting along with the other guilds, to not duplicate their efforts. Jake realized that ultimately, he would need to staff people here. People could accomplish what they needed to with the signs and use of their Menu, but it felt lifeless.

Jake looked over the [Conquest Map] in confusion. While things were looking bad, he couldn’t help but feel things looked strange. There were four different streaks where a thin line of rifts or conquest took the territory, only for them to move hundreds of miles in this way. The odd geography gave Jake a bit of a headache, the many mountainous regions with plateaus in which people lived.

Jake knew that the invaders could not spawn rifts where people couldn’t or didn’t go, keeping them from amassing an army that could not be scouted or spotted. He wondered how the beastkin people could move across the landscape in this way.

He called in Tanda through Ophelia to see if she could shed some light on what was happening, to which Ophelia followed. Fhesiah had gone to talk to a Herbalist, and Bloodberri was playing with children, the latter really in her element around the kids. She had changed into her more reasonable clothes, when Jake let her know it would be a few hours before any additional combat.

Tanda gave Jake a look, like she was evaluating him, but she scowled at him. “Can you turn that Aura thing off? It’s very…distracting. And it confuses those that are Awakened, changing our Auril. I don’t know how you can do that, but…you should really not use it in town or outside of battle.”

Listening to her voice, it appeared her ‘song’ even matched her expression and emotion. Her voice while feminine almost rumbled out in a growl and a rapid rhythm, and her tail and ears matched this. Even the feathers in her wings, and somehow her hair looked extra ruffled.

Jake turned the Aura off and did his best to focus on his speech like Grayson said, mainly trying to follow a simple beat. “I’m sorry, I just didn’t know. I do what I can to keep all our beneficial effects running at all times. Not only is it good to always be prepared for combat, but it's a form of training.”

Jake paused, then said, “What does it feel like? Berri and Ophelia tell me it makes them feel protected, and that it really feels like their husband is watching over and empowering them. I hadn’t truly thought about how it might influence others.”

Jake wasn’t sure if his speech was much better, but he thought he was landing a lot more syllables on-beat, at least. Their language was musical, the syllables, and tones of their emotions influencing the meaning. The Framework did appear to aid somewhat in this when he made a conscious effort, but he could tell he had a long way to go.

Tanda’s scowl turned into a blush, “T-That…can you just keep it off?”

Jake did, then pointed at the map. “No problem. So? Can you help me out here, so I can better focus my efforts for the war?”

Tanda looked both skeptical and angry. “For the war, is it? Not just how you can earn the most contribution points and credits?”

Jake sighed. “I don’t know what the adventurers were like that you met, but I promise you that we’re not like them, and we will be focused on both protecting life and winning the war. Unfortunately, things are bad enough that I’m pretty sure that the best possible effort and the one that earns the most CP are going to be one and the same, for at least the first week.”

Jake could tell Tanda still had some doubt. She said, “If that’s the case, can you at least something about the blight? Where the necromancer’s army went, the area is blighted. Nothing can grow, and it even spreads. We’re even considering burning some landscape to cut it off.”

Ophelia responded, “We’d need to see the blight itself to know if we can do anything, but I think you’ll find there should be something available on the [Alliance Market]. Our clan truly cares for your people’s survival, Tanda. CP are a valuable resource and can help us fight the war and even buy such things, but we’d rather have Tartarus removed than earn any. Our focus is on removing Tartarus from this world, we wouldn’t have put our lives on the line if our goal was just to earn them.”

Tanda nodded and looked over the map, and Jake began pointing out the things he had noticed.

She nodded and pointed to the map. “We’re here. You can see the rifts take what appears to be a direct path from this plateau to the other, crossing the mountainous region. This is the way that our people would take, when traveling from one to another. They do not often travel through these other heavily forested areas you can see, in the valleys. This is due to [Auril Beasts], the majority of them being what you call Tier 1. While some exist on the plateau’s, the largest or most savage often end up in the valleys or forests.”

The more she spoke, the more he realized how poor he was speaking, or singing. The Framework appeared to aid him even in this, but he was just not very good.

Ophelia laughed in his mind, then spoke in song that was much better than Jake had accomplished, [We’ll really need to put you back on that karaoke machine and practice some more. You’re really tone-deaf.]

He asked, “They really climb across these mountain areas here? This terrain looks pretty steep, judging from the map. While I think I wouldn’t have a problem climbing any longer at my Tier, even the unawakened take this path?”

Tanda turned her hand over, reaching it out towards Jake, and flexed her claws, causing Jake to look on in interest. He could see that her claws were both thick and sharp, and Jake thought her hands looked strong, despite being feminine.

“We all have claws, even if our animal parentage are ones that wouldn’t normally have it, such as those with hooves. Even unawakened don’t have much trouble finding purchase on most cliff-faces. Those with long enough tails can even use them for a little more traction. Still, we often climb in groups, and many of the commonly traveled cliff-faces have safety ropes installed. These are practically necessary for climbing with a load on our backs, as we often do, besides.”

Jake nodded, but he was fascinated with her hands. They both looked really fluffy, but also deadly. He had only barely kept himself from reaching out to see what they felt like. Tanda pulled her hand back, and he couldn’t help but feel disappointed. It must have shown on his face, because Tanda’s frown once again returned. He went back to focusing on the map.

Jake could see that there were plenty of valleys and wondered why nobody lived there, and now understood that they were untamed territory.

“Why do you think Tartarus doesn’t claim most of this valley territory, or spawn rifts on it? Have you faced many Auril Beasts under its control?”

Tanda frowned as she looked over the map and said, “We have faced some, but it’s not many. What you will find is that part of the reason they inhabit the valley is that it is a rich environment for their prey or other food. It’s also that many are large and can’t climb the mountains, especially cliff faces, very well. My guess would be that even if they can claim them as you say, many can’t go anywhere meaningful. It’s why the plateaus are so much safer for us.”

Jake thought he now understood. It would be like claiming units that they could never use against the population, even with its Rube-Goldberg-like machinations. Not only that, but Tartarus’ goal was to capture the HQ’s, as rapidly as possible. A defensive war would likely see it claiming many of these creatures, but an offensive one would see little value in using them.

This world was a strange one for Jake. Just what kind of activity could make such a rocky world with many plateaus? Jake was starting to feel the multiverse was truly vast, and this was only a T1 world. Jake knew that T2 worlds had much higher energy levels, and would have even more ridiculous features such as worlds many times the size of Earth, floating islands, underground civilizations, magical societies, to having ranging magical anomalies.

“Where’s your city on the map here, Chieftess?”

She looked at Jake and scowled, and she practically growled out, “So I’m a Chieftess now, is it? Not your subordinate?”

Jake did his best to keep on topic. “Our agreement was that you’d still be a Chieftess, but you’re also my subordinate: my envoy. I’m talking to the Chieftess now. You don’t want to tell me where you’re located? I will need to clear some rifts, no doubt about that. I want to clear incursions too, but I can’t risk being away for long periods of time, for now. Not only that, but I will need to train up others, quickly, to accomplish that task.”

What Jake said was true. While his party cleared incursions rapidly, the longest taking a few days with rest, training, and recovery. That might sound like an inefficient usage of his time no matter how you sliced it, but his party’s one incursion victory was worth more than a hundred solo victories, based on what Odin told him. When you considered his party’s level in that it was far higher than any of the beastkin, it could be as much as a thousand or more.

But he knew that Tartarus would really do what it could to delay him, likely making each one require lots of travel and take so long, that it was hardly worth it. With how the terrain was and the distance between each rift low, Jake could probably ride Bloodberri and arrive at a half dozen in a single day. His priority was certainly going to be to close as many as he could and retake the Alliance HQ, as soon as possible.

The scowl was still on her face, as she pointed at a location on the map. Jake’s eyebrows rose in surprise. He thought it almost looked like a mountain split in half, with a river running through it. There were banks on the sides of the river, beneath the cliff faces.

Jake asked, “That’s not a plateau, though? It’s two mountain peaks and some caves on the cliffs facing each other, from what I can tell. Is it all avian beastkin there?”

“It is, but you’ll find that most beastkin’s claws make their climb steady, we just don’t often travel with them. We hunt in the river and valleys below, our flock rotating among many of the mountains. We hunt and forage for most of our food, and our people have long since been involved with other tribes trading food, goods, news, and maintaining peace. Us avian beastkin are the only ones that can travel the plateau’s with ease, ruling the skies. Acting as messengers, traders, and deterrents for tyrants.”

“Your tribe plays an important role in this world, I can see. Thank you for sharing that with me. Looking at the map, I can’t help but feel that your location is best left alone for now–not needing any help, unless you have concerns?”

Tanda’s scowl had turned into a frown as she stared at Jake. “We don’t need to be saved, we’re the ones helping others. We close any rifts that open nearby, even if some of us die to accomplish it. Most of my flock present for the battle of Kenwodi have already headed home, to continue with this. Many of the other avian beastkin you saw have already headed back to their homes among many villages, for us to call upon them once again when they are needed. They have their own clans, and their own responsibilities and goals.”

Jake frowned. “This threat is pretty serious, Chieftess. It’s much more preferable to have them remain rallied as a unified force and close as many rifts as possible, than it is to protect their scattered homes. Can they even accomplish anything there?”

Tanda shook her head. “These people are not mindless soldiers in some army, Jake. They came to the call to defend Kenwodi, but they have their own families to care for. To tell them to fight in land that is not their own, while their family might die while they’re gone? Are you going to protect their villages all over the continent? You’d tell them to just let their families die, while they go fight elsewhere? Even if they might not be able to do anything, they would rather be there to try.”

Jake realized that having an army of beastkin was a lot more complicated than he thought. With three quarters of the warriors being women, and all likely having several children of their own, it’s very different from the armies of Earth. A majority of Earth’s armies were often filled with young adults.

Things would have to be extremely dire, or they would have to have some guarantee that their families were protected before they would be willing to separate themselves and fight hard in this war. While many beastkin had died, it was only two of their larger cities and villages in a single region. The conquest progress simply didn’t reflect what the beastkin themselves would see in terms of how dire things were. It was one of the most populous regions, and why nearly 1 in every 5 beastkin was now dead, but around the continent, they wouldn’t really see much impact.

“I understand, Chieftess. Then our goal will have to be to get these nodes out to as many villages as possible, and save the ones that are in front of us, for now. Perhaps as time goes on, we can gather people at villages, allowing us to better defend their people or homes, so that we can rally more in defense.”

Tanda frowned. “The plateaus often don’t support many people, it’s why many of our young become nomads. Kenwodi here is already beyond too much.”

“That’ll be fixed by the Framework supplying food through taking it from the dungeon by means of earning credits, though. One dungeon delver can easily supply many meals.”

Tanda’s ears perked up at this, looking thoughtful. “I suppose that really does change things, for us. I’ll have to look into this.”

“Alright. So, Tanda, my goal is to reclaim an Alliance HQ as quickly as possible, while stopping Tartarus from destroying any more villages or towns nearby, if possible. I see here, their armies are heading for this town with how they have spawned their rifts. We would need to cross over in this direction, in order to reclaim this old Alliance HQ anyway, so it’s like killing two birds with one stone…”

Tanda’s frown once again became a scowl. “Now, just what is that supposed to mean?”

Jake looked on at Tanda a little helplessly, realizing he made a major blunder. “Er…”

Ophelia laughed. “Jake’s people like their idioms. He simply meant to fill two needs with one deed, you can appreciate a practical, effective approach, right? He chose his words without malice, though poorly.”

Tanda looked at Ophelia for a moment before relenting, Jake guessing the weight of Ophelia’s words were heavier in her mind, for some reason. She looked over at Jake’s plan again, and more all over the map, before pointing at a location in the other direction.

“If you’re looking at where you can do the most good, I think this would be better. My flock were going to head here,” she pointed at another place nearby on the map. “So if you clear the rifts on the way here, combined with my flock, you will even finish clearing the path to and protecting a third village, while moving even closer towards this HQ, instead.”

Tanda’s expression became haughty, folding her arms and lifting her chin. ”Threebirds with one stone for you, isn’t it?”

“You’re right, Chieftess. Thank you for that. We need to be as efficient as we can be, it’s a race against time for the people of Highlands. I hope that in time, you see Clan Hart as some of them.”

Jake felt a bit embarrassed at his mistake, but was impressed. The geography was complex, and she had used that to her advantage. If Jake could take back one, especially both of the alliance headquarters, Adventurers would start to come back to this world on their own, relieving some pressure from Jake and the inhabitants. Saving each village would allow for more recruits, and that should mean slowly building up an army of Adventurers. It also means taking potential kills from the outsiders.

Adding local portals was expensive, but it was not outside the realm of possibility. It circumvented some problems with the geography to do so, so Jake would make it a priority. It was either that, or Jake would need to construct airships or some other means of conveyance that was far beyond these people’s technology, and a massive undertaking. While Jake didn’t think it beyond himself to make something for his party, the idea of moving tens of thousands of people in this way, was far beyond his capability in the short term, as he thought about it.

Looking over the map, if Bloodberri was able to maintain a decent pace, it was certainly possible for them to arrive at the Alliance HQ in a single day of travel. But it appeared that there were many rifts between here and there, requiring his party to have to hunt down groups that spawned to clear them out. In addition to the travel, Jake’s party will need to fight day in and day out for several days to reach it.

“Are there no predators in the air? I just wonder why something like hot air balloons or blimps never caught on in this place.”

“There are some giant Auril Beasts that are like birds. They hunt in the plains and often eat cattle and other herbivores, and sometimes catch an avian beastkin unawares, some of them even have been known to swarm. But we can easily avoid these creatures if we are vigilant. What is a hot air balloon, or a blimp?”

Jake explained what a hot air balloon is, and found himself having to explain air density in order for her to agree that the concept might work. Still, her people would not value the vehicle too much, being bird people that can fly. For a beastkin that couldn’t fly, it sounded like the giant birds could end up being a real problem, the hot air balloon becoming a death trap. A simple blimp would not be much better.

Tanda was impressed and thoughtful at the revelation, and he saw that her tail had actually started wagging as she pieced everything together. Jake thought that she might be interested in science, as her eyes lit up when he explained how the air up in the mountains was different in density from that of the valley. She had noticed that there was a difference, but hadn’t had an explanation. Many beastkin were inquisitive, but this was often countered by their desire for strength, children, and family.

“Um, so this is maybe a silly question but… Where’d the necromancer come from, anyway?” Ophelia spoke from the table, which she had been looking at while they were talking about the hot air balloons.

Both Jake and Tanda started. Jake had forgotten an important detail: that the conquest table only updated when areas were scouted, specifically by people that were members of [The Framework]. Jake remembered the necromancer came from the East, which means…

Tanda said, “There’s a city in this direction, to the South East. They must have taken the land bridge with their army over here. We’d lost that city a week ago. It should take some time for them to muster a large force again, from my understanding. I will send some newly initiated from my flock to scout from time to time, but the sooner you take back that city the better, even if it won’t save anyone.”

Jake sighed, but looked over to Ophelia. “That was a good call out, Ophelia, Thank you. Can I rely on you, Chieftess, to have your initiated flock scout and spot as many rifts as possible? I will certainly get as many closed as I can, but I can only close them if I know they’re there. I know it will take some time to get any in my Hearthtribe trained up to where I can count on them for this, and that’s time we don’t really have right now.”

Tanda’s brows furrowed, and she seemed to be mulling something over in her mind. She sighed. “If you can help with the blight, and really get those rifts closed today like you claimed, you won’t have to ask; it’ll get done. Many of my flock’s warriors did end up joining your Guild, as well.”

“Thank you. Alright, so back to the plan. Your flock will hit this rift. I think you’ll be happy that you will gain quite a bit of Credits and Conquest Points, which the guild only takes fifteen percent for facilities and improvements. You and your people can spend that on skills, food, or even a new set of armor.”

She took that in, looking over some of her broken armor. “I…see how that could have helped our armies a lot sooner, though, if it’s not beast-hide armor, it will not work well with Auril. Even my fur provides decent protection when filled with auril. We can certainly set up the unawakened with better equipment this way, though.”

Jake nodded, deciding not to press her further. Not only was she now a part of the Framework already, she appeared smart enough to come to conclusions on her own. She was really fighting an uphill struggle previously, and fighting in this way only helps bring things much closer to favorable terms.

“And my party and I will head out and clear these four rifts today. I’d like to bring people for experience, but I think they are not yet ready, plus the travel is a challenge. We need to make real progress as soon as possible.”

“Your party alone? I suppose…are you sure that’s not reckless? I’m assuming you can’t just call that Goddess every time, can you? Those rifts were level twenty, and the adventurers said those were meant for groups of 20 or more, typically. My people will be swarming this level 15 one with over one hundred of us Awakened…”

While difficulty would scale with her bringing larger numbers, defenders could certainly get an advantage by bringing numbers and closing the rift, even if they had losses. Jake understood that the balance of the so-called conquest game was that mobility was a factor to be considered. If you overwhelmed a rift with excessive force, those resources were not somewhere else, closing another rift. This would give Tartarus an advantage of its own, in most cases. But Jake supposed that this is where Tanda’s flock excelled, as they had mobility in spades.

“We’ll have to make do. I am confident I will be able to get these closed today. Oh, and take this, it’s a communicator. It allows us to speak with each other for up to 100 kilometers. Not as far as some distances between these plateaus, but it should allow us to better coordinate. Place it in your ear, like this.”

He had picked up several that Antonius’ guild had used. He showed her how to put it on by putting it on himself, and he looked on in interest. Jake wondered how exactly it would fit in her wolf-like ear that she had on the top of her head, instead of his human ear. It had no problem fitting there, Jake guessing the pronged pieces of the earpiece were of an adaptive sort.

“This…is useful, and it will make scouting a lot more reliable. Can I get more of these?”

Jake set her up with a few extra earpieces, set to their own frequency using his menu, and a few set to Jake’s. He planned on giving them to the tribal leaders of villages in which they recruit, so that Jake could communicate with them better, if the Chieftess was denied. He would have to see about getting people to an HQ or forming an [Alliance Node]. Not every location had to be an [Alliance HQ], the main difference between the two was that nodes would simply disappear when lost to the enemy.

Alliance HQ’s could be reclaimed, and were a conquest target. A Node was meant to initiate people to the framework, communicate, and a few functions that were available in Jake’s refuge like the Wiki, Alliance Shop and Market were available, as well. Jake would have to buy Nodes in order to place them in villages or towns too small or too close to another Alliance HQ.

Tanda looked conflicted, but eventually asked Ophelia and Jake, “I have been given…a specialization choice. I guess almost all awakened do, that we know of.”

Jake looked at Tanda in interest. Jake very much enjoyed theorizing or planning classes. “Oh?”

“The menu gives what I think is good information on it, but I was hoping you would provide some advice, as Adventurers fought quite differently than us. I have Offense and Defense as basic specializations to choose from, and Healing is not an option at all for me, it says. I’m guessing because my Auril Manifestation is related to death. But I have two advanced specialization choices, Affliction and Burst Damage. Affliction says it specializes in damage-over-time effects, whereas the burst damage causes a lot of damage at once.”

Jake said, “Affliction sounds like it would infect your opponents with your Auril and damage them from within, killing them slowly but surely, perhaps even through powerful defenses. Then the burst damage would instead aid in creating lethal blows.”

Tanda looked thoughtful, “Which one should I pick? Is either one stronger?”

Jake chuckled. “I really doubt either one is stronger. It does sound like these two choices are superior to merely just ‘offense,’ but among the two, it’s more of a situational thing. With a single strong enemy, or many enemies that require a decent amount of effort to defeat, Affliction can really excel.

At the same time, one can imagine a lethal blow against a powerful enemy, that might have required setup by your allies, can be just as powerful. Then, against many trivial to near medium difficulty enemies, the burst damage specialist can often cull them quickly. The affliction specialist often doesn’t have great choices–even if they do have a good spell or ability that can infect numerous enemies at once, it often takes longer for even the trivial enemies to die.”

Tanda frowned in thought, but Jake thought she was starting to get frustrated. “Which one is more fitting of a wolf, or a raven?”

Jake said, “I don’t think you’ll find any help there, either. I think both are fitting for a wolf or raven. A wolf fights in a pack, and often weaken their enemies with a thousand cuts, resembling what you would accomplish with affliction. But then, there’s always a wolf that goes for the throat, finding the opening, and dealing the burst damage.

I don’t know much about how a raven fights, but I know they’re smart, and have a big beak. I know they would be smart enough to use tools or whittle down an enemy by a thousand cuts, but still go in for the kill with their oversized beak.”

“Or how about my weapon?”

“The spear portion of your pole arm would certainly fit the affliction or burst damage style, but the blade, almost scythe-like portion definitely matches the burst damage specialization.”

Tanda looked frustrated now, and her tail had drooped down, with her ears on the top of her head flat.

Jake shook his head. “I think it’s great that you have two powerful options. Personally, I think it comes down to your style. Watching your fight with Ophelia, I think you would do well with either option. But if I could choose one that fits you better, it’d be the burst damage. Facing her, you maneuvered yourself, looking for an opening or advantage. You then released all your Auril at once to go for the killing, or winning blow. It’s very fitting for the way you already fight.”

Tanda brightened, and her tail started to wag behind her, with her ears lifted back up. She smiled.

“I guess you’re right, thanks for the–”

She appeared to notice Jake’s interest in her tail wagging, and she froze, then scowled. “This Framework thing is just not natural, ok? It’s all your fault I have to deal with this, anyway!”

Tanda left in a hurry, and Ophelia spoke up, “I learned that she’s been under a lot of pressure, with her father, the previous Chieftain and Auril Hero dead. Several of her clan mothers had been lost as well, many of them were warriors and had joined the fight. Apparently, even her birth mother was an auril hero. She’s lost a lot of warriors too, and I think she almost did want to lose that duel, giving her an excuse to take a step back and have someone else share the burden. Though, if you had just fought her–”

Jake chuckled. “I know. If I won the duel, their custom would make it so while she wouldn’t be forced to marry me, it is still common if the girl is receptive to at least start with courting. Though, the details weren’t clear on that. They probably see it as their form of romance, the male making the female submit, perhaps? For her being among the strongest remaining of her people, definitely within her age group, this would have been a big deal. Then, raven or wolf beastkin could have their own thoughts on the subject, each parentage having their own focus on these things.”

Jake shook his head and added, “But I’m not into having an unwilling partner, this is why I gave her the option. It seemed she didn’t want to risk the chance that she would become my wife, or that honor would dictate that she should at least consider it. If I faced her, even the spectators would be expecting that I would be courting her now. I feel like that is much more volatile than this result. I can feel she hates adventurers, wouldn’t being forced to court one be humiliating?”

“Well, it’s not like she hates you, specifically. She’s quite frustrated with the previous Adventurers, is all. It turns out, that even spawning these two branch HQ’s had originally hurt their war effort a lot more than if they had just kept the original one. They had wanted them for the portals, but when they lost each to the enemy, it was a significant loss of conquest progress: around 5% for the branch, and 10% for the original HQ. They’ve only lost 20% into Tartarus’s favor, so this most of what they lost altogether. Not only that, but they had to split their defenses against both, and the respawn when one side was overwhelmed was simply too long for them to join at the other. If they only had the one to defend, they might have held it.”

Jake raised his eyebrow at Ophelia. “When’d you have the time to learn all this? You weren’t talking to Tanda that long, were you?”

Ophelia laughed. “I’m just piecing it all together from Blood and Fhesiah. They are both getting lots of news too, and Fhesiah is asking around about this girl already.”

Jake started. He had been hearing a lot of things over the bond, but he had to shut a lot of it out to pay attention to what was in front of him. He missed that much?”

She laughed again. “Women are just better at listening to more conversations at once. Maybe once you’re no longer a human in truth, you’ll be able to keep up with us? With Tanda, I mostly talked to her about training and other adventurers. She somewhat respects your strength based on what you displayed, but she’d need to see or hear about you fighting her people for her to truly respect it, as Adventurers were the same way. They would kill many monsters in combat, but lose in their duels without their magics. For me, she definitely felt my strength, and so she puts a lot of weight in my words. At any rate, I think as long as your actions match your words, Tanda’s frown will get turned upside down, eventually.”

Jake laughed. “Well, I hope so. It would be a big challenge if she was angry at us all the time and didn’t do her job as envoy very well. Anyway, it looks like we have our plan. Since we defeated the necromancer, the rifts in the area were closed, and we should try to make forward progress towards the other HQ for now instead. I’d like to get these done by tomorrow. I’m not sure if Fhesiah would be done with her task yet, but we could go without her and [Call Summon] when we’re near.”

When rifts were open long enough, they would essentially spawn their [Challenge], that could leave the normal area of it. Usually, the spawned challenge would be above that of the original rift, resulting in a much more powerful enemy or spawn. By defeating that challenge, the rift would close. Tartarus would not exactly lose that territory as much as if Jake had gone to it in order to close it, however, and so new rifts would spawn much more rapidly in their place.

Jake had some trust in Ira for threat detection. While the demoness had been their primary means of enemy detection up to now, and he wouldn’t want to be without her, Ira certainly made up for her not being with their group as they traveled.

“That should work. It’s too bad you don’t have a reverse summon spell, huh? Then you could just send one of us then teleport to us, summon the rest. It’s also too bad none of us can summon the Refuge portal outside the HQ besides you too, or we’d be able to do that instead.”

“Summoners do get a spell like that, but when I’ll get it, who knows? I know I have something big coming at 20 from the specialization choice, as do most classes. Mobility is really important in this war, so I will have to think of something. While I had made those engineering spell-rods, I’m not so sure if they would be up to the task of constructing something on the scale of a land bridge, that’s for sure. Let’s go check on Berri and head out.”

Jake followed his bond out of the HQ, and found Berri doing not quite what he expected. She was cooking in the massive plaza outside of it, while wearing an apron that he had gotten for her that said ‘danger noodle’ with a picture of a cute snake on the front. She was cooking up many large pots of soup, stirring them and serving them to children and refugees alike.

“Oh! Jake, I could really use some help! These people are so hungry. Some of them haven’t had anything to eat in days!”josei

Jake was truly surprised, he thought she was playing with kids? Still, his heart swelled with pride, knowing she would do something like this of her own volition, and he could see that while she was happy at the feelings Jake sent to her, she looked a little guilty.

“Where’d you get all this food, anyway?”

Berri blushed at that. “Well, I might have…grabbed some from our refuge. That’s okay, right? T-They need it a lot more than us!”

She had nearly stammered out that last part, Jake wondering if Blood was helping her make her case.

But Jake sent some reassurance over his bond. “That’s alright. I’ve long since told you that when it comes to food, you can have whatever you like. Still, this is a lot of people to feed, and we need to get going. I’ll pop over and get some more food, but you’re just going to have to delegate cooking up some more stuff. Ophelia, are you able to help her get some cooks here?”

“No problem, Jake. We’ll take care of it.”

“Oh, thanks Jake. I tried getting the kids to learn to play baseball, but they said they were just too hungry to play!”

Jake just wryly smiled at that, maybe she was ultimately finding a way to serve her interests? Still, the ends certainly justified the means here. Jake realized that the undead invaders were probably chosen for this reason, as well. If they used large beasts or something, then their win would provide them with plenty of food.

But the dead skeletons left little in the way of anything these beastkin people can use. Jake had to keep himself from looting anything but the Bone Dragon or Necromancer, as Jake had learned that the bones were from their own people. They desired to make a mass grave, to return their energy to the world.

Jake activated the spell that was a means of entering his refuge from nearly anywhere in the world. Because he was in the city and within a certain range of an Alliance HQ, the portal appeared immediately. This feature was affected by Conquest Ownership and other things. If he was ‘behind enemy lines’ or near a Rift, the time necessary to activate would be much longer, and Tartarus could even be aware of his usage and could set up an ambush for when he returned. As long as he activated it from a safe location or in the Alliance’s conquest ownership, it shouldn’t be able to be detected.

Some people in the surroundings gasped at the sight of the portal, and Jake popped back into his refuge and filled some larger [Storage Bracelets] with food that he purchased from the Shop. He found that there was in fact a limit. Jake couldn’t supply enough food to feed the entire world with a few hundred or a thousand T1 credits with what was available from the Shop.

He could get more from the [Market] outside that limit. But with the delivery fees and being sold by people in the nearby multiverse rather than the Framework, each pound of food became up to one-hundred times or more than the cheap shop prices. Jake found that there was even a limit to these types of purchases.

Not only that, but he realized he was only able to obtain the amount he did in a single day because he was a [Knight]. A regular person that was using an [Alliance Node] would only be able to get a few days worth of food for a family each day. Someone with their own [Refuge] would probably only be able to get a tenth or less than what Jake was getting.

Still, Jake could feed hundreds without any effort, and thousands easily enough. He filled several [Storage Bracelets] with food of various kinds. He also filled a few with cookware, as he doubted the few pots and pans Bloodberri had were going to be enough to cook all this food in a reasonable amount of time.

Jake went through the portal to where he was standing before, to find Ophelia and Bloodberry standing in front of a large group of people, even larger than the ones lined up to eat Berri’s cooking earlier. From the looks of them, Jake thought more hungry people had arrived. “Er, did you find anyone to cook for you?”

Ophelia said, “This is them. These are all people ready to cook whatever you got, and aid in dispensing it to those that need it.”

Jake realized he shouldn’t quite be surprised, as every family ought to have a cook, right? Still, this was fast to get so many people involved to work hard to cook for tons of people. Jake was only gone for a few minutes, and while Bloodberri was causing a stir, it’s not like there were hundreds of people in line to eat Bloodberri’s soup, only dozens. There was more than that, ready to cook here.

“Where’d they all come from?”

“Well, I had Bloodberri call the kids over, and had them go spread the word. There were also a few of our guild members loitering around, so I gave them some work to do. They’ll both also spread the word that there’s going to be food here, so I hope you managed to get a lot of food there, ‘Lord Jake.’”

Jake smiled. He sure did, and he was quite impressed. While he might have come up with a similar strategy, he’s not so sure if he’d have come up with it so quickly. The valkyrie beamed with pride at his praise in his mind, and he began dumping all storage bracelets out onto the ground in the large flat plaza they were standing in. He had even brought wood for burning and some spices, everything that they should possibly need.

The beastkin gasped at all the stuff that he took out of seemingly thin air. Jake eventually released twelve storage bracelets worth of goods, which all held more than a full-sized wagon, for them. It was certainly enough to feed an army, and this was something he’d need to do each day until these people became self-sufficient under the framework.

He gave a minor speech to the cooks, reminding them that if they joined the Framework at the HQ, the Framework would help them even with that, though they should certainly be willing to fight as well. Jake mostly received blank stares at that last part, as nearly all beastkin fought. While Jake already knew this on some level, he still had trouble aligning it in his mind.

They left them to it, and they got Bloodberri equipped and ready to go. Jake checked in with the demoness over their bond, “We’re about to head to the rifts, I take it you need more time doing what you’re doing, right? Making any progress?”

[I’m learning a lot about their Auril plants and other wildlife, and have a lot of reading ahead of me. It’s so nice of the Framework to make that piece trivial for us, making us able to read the native’s text. Still, I’m hopeful. [Inner Force] potions and other restoratives exist, and while I have not personally made or consumed one, I have seen one with my Divine Sense, and I feel like their plants containing Auril have a similar feeling. It’s a good thing this place wasn’t found by a T4 or T5 cultivator; they would probably harvest it into a giant pill or something, this place is beyond special. I do think time is of the essence for this, so do only call me once you need me, will you?]

Jake suddenly felt a little weird, as he realized that this was the first time they’d been apart in months. He knew she’d be there in his thoughts and bond, but suddenly they’d be separated by nearly a hundred kilometers.

[Aww, Jake, are you going to miss me? Well, I expect this will be the first time of many. But I’ll be right there with you, able to join you at a moment’s notice. Plus, you have your other women with you, you sure you won’t forget little ol’ me? You’ll have to tell me what you think about this Tanda later.]

Jake rolled his eyes and said goodbye to Fhesiah, and they started to head to their destination, Jake riding in Bloodberri’s basket and Ophelia taking to the skies, with Ira on lookout. He wondered what kinds of Rifts they’d run into.