CC 9: Tenacity ~ Fifteen

The elite broke through the wall on its seventh strike, giving it direct access to the next corridor of space leading to the town. The entire time, Joe was peppering it with various attacks, seasoning his strikes with the occasional Dark Lightning Strike. To his dismay, as soon as it made it through the wall, the Penguin was once more enthralled, and began scooting along the open space at high speed. “Abyss, most of the defenders are at the entrance. This is going to have another straight shot at the Town Hall if I don't  block it off!”

Happily, all he needed to do to catch up was Omnivault to the next wall, and in a handful of minutes, the elite Penguin had circled the entirety of the town and was once more approaching him at high speed. Joe threw everything he had at the creature, ever-so-slowly battering its health down. Now he was thankful that a few of the other Dwarves had landed some attacks, as this creature had a solid twenty thousand health. If he had needed to rely entirely on his own efforts, Joe would have needed to close in on a hundred total blows before taking it down.

Even after getting in another thirty hits, the Penguin completely ignored his existence and shot past him, vanishing into the distance like a race car on an open highway. Joe winced as it failed to control its speed. Instead of making a perfect turn, the Penguin slammed into the wall at the end of the straightaway, causing a section of it to disintegrate from the sheer momentum. “Good thing that’s leading out and not in. Still going to let a bunch of monsters skip the line, so not all good.”

Jumping to the next wall over, Joe once more got into position. He’d learned from the creature’s previous movements, so he placed himself directly at the end of the path. Practically holding his breath, he lifted all of his weapons into the air and prepared to cast his spells.

Thirty seconds had scarcely elapsed since Joe had taken his position and a blur crossed his vision; the Penguin materializing before him in a cloud of dust as it impacted the wall, tearing it apart in the process. As it struggled to change its course and regain its momentum, Joe took advantage of the fact that its frenzied dash had been slowed—unloading all of his spells and orbs once more. He scored a direct hit with his Intelligence-bound orb and punctured a fist-size hole all the way from the front to the back of the monster.

A strangled scream-squawk told Joe that he was making good progress, and he furiously battered the creature as it began to pick up speed once more. Seeing that its health was rushing towards empty, Joe activated the spell contained in his Strength orb and let the spell Corify take effect just before it got out of range of his attacks. He watched it go, planning his next assault… when the Penguin suddenly flopped forward, its beak slamming into the ground and sending the monster tumbling through the air.

You have slain an Elite Defeatist Fluttering Penguin!

Experience gained: 500.

Morsum feels satiated!

Corify has caused a guaranteed core drop from this monster.

Not taking a break to catch his breath, Joe sprinted over to the monster to ensure that he was able to claim his spoils of war. When he got to the fallen beast, he held his Intelligence orb in the air directly in front of him, slowly inching it forward as it spun like a drill to penetrate the thick hide of the beast. It took him a full minute of searching, but he emerged victorious, if coated in gunk, holding the Rare core triumphantly. As the blood and gore was whisked from him and his acquired goods, he stored the treasure in his spatial storage codpiece; just as a half-dozen Dwarves began congregating on his location.

“Hand that core over, bro!” the lead Dwarf bellowed at him. “By order of the council, we're collecting those!”

Deciding against arguing, Joe looked at his slain enemy with slight annoyance before Omnivaulting to the top of the wall and running into the distance. “Looks like they aren't going to give me much time to handle my own collection of goods… am I in the opposition now, somehow?”

A vision struck him: sneaking out at night, being a reverse Anarchist as he created beautiful buildings in a perfect grid square, enriching and enhancing the town as his detractors attempted to keep him from making the town close in on an upgrade. It seemed incredibly bizarre for a moment, earning a chuckle before Joe realized that this might eventually be an event that came to pass: if the Dwarves were unwilling to rapidly reach for a City tier. That put a wince on his face, but he’d already decided how he was going to handle things if the situation got to that point.

Joe pulled out the Rare core, trying to think of how best to use it, and absent-mindedly unsummoned Morsum. He was down to one full Rare core, and ninety percent of the other one which he’d used to make a schedule for day and night. With such a hard limit on what he could create, Joe decided that he needed to build up his personal reserves and make sure that he didn't fund things for free going forward. “Didn't that resource management guy tell me that no one would try and claim my goods? Something shifty is going on, and I don't like it.”

Beast Wave complete! Congratulations, your Tier one Hamlet has met all of the conditions required to be recognized as a Tier two Village! As you are no longer actively attempting to increase the rank of your town, you will only need to deal with wandering monsters, as well as a Beast Wave approximately every 48 hours.

New building slots have opened up.

1,000 slots for Trash-ranked are available!

500 slots for Damaged.

50 slots for Common.

25 slots for Uncommon.

1/10 slots for Rare remain.

The requirements for reaching a Tier three Town are as follows:

1) Surviving Beast Waves. (Village → Town: 25 waves.) — Condition not met.

2) All pre-modifier Common and above building slots filled. (0/50 Common, 0/25 Uncommon, 9/10 Rare) — Condition not met. (Artifact ranked Alchemy Hall is counting as 8 Rare, Rare Smithy is counting as 1)

3) Morale modifier: 200/500. — Condition not met.

4) Population: 92,412/1,000 — Condition met.

5) Uncommon Town Hall (Upgrade in progress.)

Every 100 points in positive morale allows for an additional 10 Common buildings, or one Uncommon. Every 500 allows for one additional Rare along with the others. Every thousand allows for an additional Unique structure.

Originally, Joe had planned to run back to where he’d leveled the ground, and perhaps claim that space as his own. But instead he slammed his feet into the stone and reversed course, realizing that what he actually needed was easy access into the entrance of the defensive corridors. He assumed that nobody would be jostling for that position yet, and he had many uses for such a space.

After making the sudden decision, only a few minutes in total passed as he sprinted, Omnivaulted, and finally allowed his feet to collide with the ground; causing him to sink to his ankles in the snow and blood-ice slurry next to the entrance of the walls.

Instead of digging himself out, Joe simply leaned forward and created a Field Array at ground level, ripping away the top layer of soil and filth in an instant. He did this two more times, clearing a large amount of space. Then he pulled out his survey tool and measured his distances, leaving three inches of space between the two projects that he had planned. “What I need to do is make an Anima Supported Prodigal Entrepot Containment Tower, but that’s a Unique building. I can't get that in place until the town upgrades at least one more time… or I get the morale modifier up. Better leave room for it to go right up against the wall, and snag the last Rare building slot.”

He needed a workshop where he could set up a permanent stabilization station, and contain some of the more dangerous rituals that he would leave running at all times. Joe's fingers were flashing as he searched through all of his blueprints. After finding what he needed, he set up his stabilization cubes. Somehow, he just knew that there’d be someone seeking him out to stop him from doing exactly what he was doing at this moment: grabbing every benefit he could. In fact, Joe was certain he could hear someone shouting his name in the distance, but he ignored them in favor of dumping mana into the ritual.

As soon as the circles flared to life, he let out a quick exhale. Anyone who interrupted him now would be endangering people's lives. With that concern out of the way, Joe took direct control of the ritual, having it move as slowly as possible. He was the only one supplying it with power, and if he went too fast it would collapse, destroying the ritual, wasting the aspects, and most likely sapping the life out of Joe before fully expiring.

Ever so slowly, the building came together. Joe almost lost control during a flinch as Havoc let out a long, smoke-filled sigh. The Dwarf was standing right next to the Rituarchitect, eyeing the building being raised critically. “You know that Snow wants me to stop you, right?”

Joe kept his silence for a long moment, but it didn’t seem that the Dwarf was going to press the issue. “What's going on with that, Havoc? I literally just saved everyone here from extinction. It’d be nice to have a little bit of leeway before the leader I just rescued turned on me. Some advance notice, perhaps?”

“You're a smart kid. I'm sure you figured it out by now. At least part of it.” Havoc shrugged noncommittally, not taking his eyes off of the workshop that was nearing completion. “Humans are used to working in a different time scale. Snow is thinking a lot more like I bet the old monsters on this planet are. The likelihood of the bifrost coming anywhere near us in the next century is close to zero. That means that the Elves who’re pursuing us have only two options. The first, and least likely, is that they’re going to come to Jotunheim and try to build faster than us, then eventually slowly spread out across the surface of the planet in order to find us and finish us off.”

“By then you'll be so deeply entrenched, and have such impressive defenses, that you're ready for them, I assume?” Joe had worked out what he would be worried about, and decided to test the water and see if they were aligned with the Dwarves’ concerns. “You think that the only other possibility is that they wait for us to create a city, opening the bifrost directly into the heart of the city, and wipe you out from there. That sound about right?”

Havoc nodded solemnly. “That's about the gist of it. As to why you’re getting edged out? The fact that you lost your status, your title, could be as simple as our people becoming a Shattered Race and then our people refusing to work with you. I believe you, ‘cause that’s what you said happened. But, as the paranoid faction keeps reminding our not-so-fearless leader, it could mean that you officially decided to work against us and betrayed our people. That would definitely also explain the lack of an Excommunicated title.”

“I'm not intentionally directly working against your people.” Joe stated quietly even as he finished the building he knew the Dwarves were unhappy about. “I’ll say this. I played a major part in saving the Dwarven race. As it stands, do you think that I’d throw away the goodwill that came from doing that? Last thought… you've seen what I can do. I bought freedom for your people, now I’m expecting my own freedom in return. I haven't asked for favors, for awards, or high positions. I fully intend to remain a good friend of the Dwarves. Can you guarantee that your people feel the same way? If not, I just need to be left alone to work things out.”

Havoc stayed silent for a while, thinking about what answer he wanted to give. Joe knew that the exceedingly paranoid Grandmaster wouldn't give him a quick answer and expect it to be trusted. Therefore, when the Dwarf did speak after nearly ten minutes of consideration, Joe listened well. “There’s a faction that wants us to create our own city, inside of our own walls, where humans aren’t allowed to tread. They want an outer city, the trade quarter, where others can do their business without putting the main body of our people at risk. I tell you this though, Joe. You’re my apprentice. Both of us know you deserve better than you've been shown since we got here, and I will make sure you get your due. Could take a while. I’ll try to make them be polite to you while they figure themselves out.”

Joe slowly nodded, then started walking toward the entrance to his new workshop. “That's not asking for too much, is it?”

“Nah.” Havoc told him in a deep tone. “To be straight with you, lad, I think that's the problem. The real problem. Every single one of my people owe you a heavy debt. The worry warts are afraid that you’re going to come and collect. Even if you ask for something absolutely outrageous… at this point, how could they possibly say no?”

That made Joe realize a possible true reason the Council of Masters was avoiding him so heavily. If he walked up to them and made a demand, their honor would dictate their response. But if he could never get close, Joe could never ask for anything, could he? Against his own expectations, that put a smile on the human's face. He gave Havoc a nod and stepped into his workshop. “Lots of work to be done, if we're going to turn this Village into a City in under a year.”

“That’s the spirit, human.” Havoc quietly murmured, the ashes of his cigar catching in midair and swirling in a loop around the new building. Unbeknownst to Joe, bright letters formed on each of the walls, in a spectrum that the human race couldn’t see. The Dwarf winked at the closed door, then turned and started walking back toward the Town Hall, his mouth forming into a firm line.

“Abyss, I hope I can slap some sense into these shiftless fools before that bald guy loses his temper and turns this place into a crater.”