Chapter 321 - Somewhere To Be

Abigail

"Tomorrow is going to be fine, sweetie. Anna will choose what she will choose. We've done our best to make sure that she is ready." Her husband soothed.

Jon had taken a more active role in Annabeth's training after the girl staunchly refused to consider anything other than Warrior. She wanted to be like her Dad and Uncle. Even though Mage was the far safer route.

Abigail's hope was that maybe Josh would go the Mage route. Or better yet, the Crafter path. He wouldn't be as strong, but he would be safer.

"I know." She sighed, "I just wish she would have changed her mind."

Jon huffed out a laugh, "You know that was never going to happen. Once she sets her sight on something..."

Yeah, but a Mother could hope.

"I should ask Grace–"

"Abby, honey, just this once, will you let it go?" Jon interrupted her, "Everything is how you planned it. The party is ready and another message to Grace isn't going to help things."

Abigail heavily debated sending off a [Message] anyway, but decided not to. If she tried, she could hide the skill from him but he was right. Her Assistant already knew what needed to be done.

Any more pestering and it was bordering on smothering.

Instead, she tried to clear her mind and relax into the mattress. The Furs were warm and the bed comfortable, but she couldn't stop thinking about what would come the following day.

Anna gaining her Class was one of the most worry-inducing things she could think of.

"Do you know if Chris will make it back?" Jon asked from lying next to her. With the lights off and her vision blocked, it made the words seem louder than they were.

Abigail didn't want to think about him right now. That opened up a whole different set of worries.

"I don't know." Abigail breathed, "Sophia hasn't sent anything back to the City saying he would, but I don't think he would miss it. Not after all he did to help her."

Jon let out a heavy breath, "He isn't exactly the most free right now. He could be caught up."

"If he wants to, he will," Abigail said firmly, "There's nothing there that can stop him if he aims to do something."

Jon didn't say anything to that because he knew that it was true. After rising to D-rank, Chris was... a force. An even bigger one than before.

The gaps between him and the other Oathbound kept getting wider. As they progressed through the Common and Uncommon Classes, Chris outshined them.

Even the lucky few to get a Rare were no match. Only Elliot and Hal could do anything and even them working together didn't work anymore.

"After what he did to Lakeshore, I almost pity the Reservation," Jon said softly.

Lakeshore... Lakeshore was an accumulation of a lot of things going wrong at once. It was the perfect storm, if it were, that Chris handled... poorly.

"They knew what they were getting into when they attacked Marcus." Abigail said, both to convince herself and Jon, "They shouldn't have tried to take the treasure from him."

Tensions had been on the rise for years and it was finally started to boil over. Land that was once plentiful quickly got snatched up and claimed. The Stormlands expanded in all directions with Cities and Villages spanning most of the Midwest.

The Admiral and the American Faction held most of the East Coast. Similar to how the Thirteen Colonies used to look like.

Every Faction was claiming not just land, but resources. Anything strategic was fought over. Mines, Dungeons, Crystals, and even Forests for their wildlife and plant life.

The only thing that wasn't fought over was fertile farmland, as that was plentiful pretty much anywhere. Even up here, far in the North, they had plenty of room to grow enough food. Even with their population soaring.

Abigail was in charge of just over 50,000 souls now. 50,000 that called Frostheim their home.

Even more if you considered the attached Villages of Frostfall and Hoarfrost.

"He'll make it back," Abigail said. Partly to herself, and partly to Jon. He will.

___

Annabeth

Tomorrow was the day! THE Day! The one she had been waiting for. It was the day she would choose her Class. Annabeth had long known which of the five she would be choosing, but she couldn't help but be excited about it.

Her Mom even said that there were a few surprises in store as well! Her Birthday was set to be the best yet!

Anna had an inkling of the gifts she was going to receive, but knowing what it was only made it worse!

She'd even resorted to sneaking around and looking for where they were hidden like she was a child. She hadn't done that in... a long time. Not since Christmas Before.

Still, the one thing she knew for certain was Skills. Skill Shards were easy to hide and she had no luck in finding them around the Castle. Even though it had grown and was nearly twice the size as before, she'd looked everywhere.

She wanted to know!

Failing to find the Skill Shards hidden somewhere, she instead resorted to her Mother's Library. If she couldn't sniff out her presents, she would instead look at what was in store for her.

For her first choice, it would have to be one of the five, but that didn't mean she couldn't look ahead.

Level 10 wasn't so far away. Her Family had hit level 10 in only a few days.

Chris and her Dad had drilled in her that rushing was a waste, and she wouldn't blaze through the levels like she had planned, but her curiosity still wanted to see what was in store.

Hence why she found herself in the library.

It held the Classes of all her Family. Even the ones they passed up on during their Evolutions. She focused on the Warriors, as that was her Path. It had long been her dream and she wasn't going to change it now.

For all the ones they had written down, there was a surprising amount of overlap. Warrior's first evolution tree was slim if one didn't do a lot to influence it.

Chris had the largest variance in his evolution followed closely behind by Austin. He evolved into a Barbarian Variant while Austin went towards a Spearman Variant.

Her Father chose Iron Guardian, which was a Defender Variant.

Anna wasn't sure which she would go with. She'd been strictly forbidden from going for a Berserker Variant, though. Not that she wanted to go that way, but it was still annoying to be forbidden. It made a part of her want to do it anyway.

Valkyrie was what she wanted, but she wasn't sure how to get there.

You have to own your Class in order to get the one you want.

That was what they were taught. If you wanted to lean towards a Barbarian Class, you needed to fight like a Barbarian and gain the Skills that went with what you wanted.

You also needed to own your Skills.

Take them beyond what they came out of the box as. Uncle Gabriel was always willing to talk with her about that. Even Chris gave helpful hints on how he did it when he wasn't swinging sticks at her.

The book held up to E-rank, which was a shame.

Nearly all of her Family were in the D-rank now. Why hadn't they written down the information for the new Rank? Is it because of the fighting?

The latest year of her training was a slight disappointment. Uncle Chris had to leave for periods of time that left her to train with others. Sometimes, she went over to Elliot and his Order, but she couldn't do that every time.

There were times the Order left with Chris, which left her to train alone or with a few of her Classmates. They weren't as fun to train with because she kept having to correct them.

'Teaching is another form of learning' her father would say every time she complained.

She reread the Class names and descriptions but honed in on the Requirements. Some were affinity based while others were feat based. Others held Bloodline requirements.

That was yet another decision she had to make, but that one was for later. She had to learn her affinity first. She knew, deep down, what it was going to be, but she didn't want to jinx it.

Fine, I guess I'll go to bed. She huffed. The book held nothing she didn't already know and it was already late. Her eyes were drooping while reading, but she knew sleep would be hard.

The party was too exciting to look forward to. Especially with Uncle Chris coming back. There was no way he would miss it and she hadn't seen him in months!

___

Marcus

Those bastards! Two-faced Scum!

Marcus ranted in his mind and screamed obscenities to no one but himself. He knew War would soon darken his doorstep, but not so soon. Especially not so aggressive, either.

The Stormbringer was a big enough problem to deal with in Wisconsin, let alone the Heartlands Alliance and The Reservation combined! It felt like they were all in cahoots, even though the Stormbringer didn't have allies and the thought of him, of all people, cooperating with anyone was silly.

Marcus was lucky the man himself was busy somewhere else. If that bastard lightning thrower was coming, Marcus would need to do more than just call in a favor. He was lucky Chris answered, as that was a rare trait during these times.

The riverbank squelched under his feet as he stalked up and down its length. His eyes looked for any weakness, any error his men had made but found none. This wasn't their first time setting up defenses, and sadly, it wouldn't be the last.

He had chosen the spot well, and the Battle would heavily be in their favor, but that didn't secure Victory automatically. It helped, and it would make it all that much easier, but it could still go wrong.

Especially if they managed to get behind him to the North. The offshoot of the River wasn't the Goliath the Mississippi was. It would hinder and slow down those who aimed to cross it, but it wasn't the giant obstacle the major River was.

Mud and stone were raised up into battlements and the river was deepened as much as possible. They had a day, maybe more, to get everything in place to face the combined army.

Marcus knew that him having the treasure would get out. It was impossible not to, but he hadn't thought the fight over it would be so fierce.

They would have made an excuse to fight me anyway, Marcus thought, the three Dungeons around the City are too large a resource to pass up.

It didn't help that all three were D-rank Dungeons. The Heartlands had maybe four in all their territories. Less than that in the Reservations lands.

The fight over the Dungeons was bound to occur eventually. It was only his bad luck that it was his that others sought. Maybe the crystals from Frostheim were a curse, rather than a blessing.

Marcus shook his head, the attack would have happened either way. The level of his Dungeons had little to do with it. It was a factor, yes, but not the main one. The materials and wealth, not to mention the levels, his Faction managed to pull from it were worth more than the value they represented.

Marcus would weather a hundred more storms to hold onto what was his.

He was about to go check the Eastern Flank when the Stone in his pocket buzzed. Quickly, he pulled it out to receive the message. It took a moment to connect to it, but he soon heard the voice of Gregory in his ear.

"It's done, sir. He left quickly afterward, but it's done. They're cleaning up the battlefield now."

Marcus let out a sigh of relief. He knew he could count on the Northern Warrior, but hearing confirmation allowed him to breathe easier. Now, they would only have to worry about one front. Their backs were safe.

I'll have to get him something for this. His niece is about to gain her Class, maybe a gift is in order?

___

Chris

The Battlefield stretched before me and I gazed out over what used to be a vibrant grassy plain. It was so lively before, Spring encouraging growth and life.

Now it was filled with bodies and blood.

Horses, people, and other beasts littered the ground and lay dead while Healers scoured for those they could still help. The Reservation were skilled with Taming, which resulted in many of the bodies being Beasts, rather than Human.

The harvesters would go through and collect what was valuable after the Healers were done. Efforts were first on the living before they were turned toward resource collection.

The more often battle was required of me, the less joy I took in it. Against the Waves and the Dungeons, it was fun. It got my Blood going and felt great.

Against my fellow man, not so much.

A brief memory surfaced of a ruined City but I pushed it away. That was the last thing I wanted to think about.

My appearance and clothes played contradictory to the land I stood upon. The blood had been shed with my layer of Ice, leaving me pristine compared to the devastated area.

I only spent a few more moments surveying the field to make sure that the advance had been stopped. Marcus had asked me to hold here, and so it was done. The Reservation had tried to swing North and attack him from two sides.

There would be no second attacking force now.

"You there," I pointed and called out for one of Marcus's Runners. "Tell Gregory the deed is done. I leave the rest to you."

The runner, first fearful of my gaze, nodded firmly before running off. The men Marcus supplied would do fine for the cleanup. My job was done, and I had somewhere else to be.

Making it in time would be tough, but I could do it. The few levels I gained during the fight would help.

I contemplated where I was for a moment, considering if a Message would reach, but it was too far. Sophia was in range, but it was easier to run to her than it would be to spend the time sending messages back and forth.

The Stones were a great convenience, but there were still a few kinks to iron out. There was no way I was wasting the time to set up the formation.

I turned my back to the field of dead and sprinted off North. The small contingent of Oathbound that came with me was set up there and so was Sophia.

After meeting back up with them, we would push back to Frostheim in all haste.

Anna's birthday was coming up, and I wasn't going to miss it.