Implode ~ 22!

“Pardon my intrusion. I was simply wondering if the impending lack of food in this area is going to be an issue for the city?” Joe had asked the same question dozens of times already, each time earning an unintelligible grunt, glance of disdain, or occasionally a wordless shake of the head in reply. “Anyone? This is an issue that I am very concerned about! With the teleporters down and the bridge from the goat path destroyed, so few opportunities for gathering food exist!”

At this point in his speech, a few guards drifted into the area, their focus honing in on what appeared to be a rabble-rouser. Joe took note of them, but only in passing. He had nothing to fear, as he was not trying to start a riot or incite the people to go against the local governance. In fact, all he was trying to do was find a way to gain approval to build another structure within the city. “I have a solution to this, but I need your help! I need nothing from you, except for you to sign on that you would like a self-sustaining source of food available to the city! If you wouldn't mind putting your name on this petition, which you can see is clearly non-magical, I will take it before the Council of Masters and do what I can to ensure that this city never needs to fear hunger in the future!”

“What kind of snake oil salesmen are you?” Major Cleave hissed into his ear, her hair standing on end in the Dwarven equivalent of blushing from embarrassment. It was quite the sight to see her bushy mustache. “You don't have a way to guarantee food supplies for them!”

“He does, actually.” Jaxon came to Joe's defense, slapping his friend on the back like a car salesman informing a buyer about how many potatoes the trunk of a car could hold. “Then again, it wouldn't be Joe if the boon didn't come with a significant bane as well. You're talking about the building that turns into a dungeon if it is left unchecked, right, Joe?”

“Certainly that is something that we could bring up later, when we are not trying to get people interested in it.” Joe attempted to chastise his friend in a soft tone while keeping a smile plastered on his face. He waved at the guards, who were playing some form of rock paper scissors to see which one of them would be hauling him away. “Guaranteed food source, sign right here so that I can make sure the city won’t go hungry! Get your food source right here! All for the price of signing your name to show that you think it's a good idea.”

“How interesting of an idea you are presenting.” A Dwarf in incredibly simple clothing stepped out of the crowd. He wore only brown travelers robes, and as far as Joe could see, the Dwarf carried no weapons and had no adornment on his gear whatsoever. There was nothing like someone with no distinguishing features to put the human on edge. This had to be some kind of hidden powerhouse, and Joe knew better than to be rude or disingenuous. “What kind of food are we talkin’ about here… bro?”

The fact that the Dwarf was well-versed in modern Legion lingo—meaning he knew Joe’s rank and thought it was… cute—was concerning enough to make the Ritualist start sweating to the point of activating his Neutrality Aura almost subconsciously. His clothes smoothed out, the small amount of grime that he had accumulated vanished, and his confidence soared. “Whatever you can plant! Fruits, vegetables; anything can grow in my greenhouse. If you have animals, you can introduce them into the greenhouse as well, in order to generate an unending food supply, so long as they have something inside to eat for themselves.”

“You expect us to willingly place a dungeon within our city limits?” The condescending smile on the Dwarf’s face wrinkled and shifted into a scowl, and Joe cursed at Jaxon’s blabbermouth. “It seems that your rank and companions truly are a facade, and that you intend our people harm.”

“That is a bold claim, and one that I would be happy to refute.” Joe met the other man's stare easily, knowing that he had nothing to hide. “I am more than happy to discuss all of the plans in front of the Council of Masters, and I would expect nothing less than their scrutiny on a project of this seriousness and magnitude.”

The easy smile returned to the Dwarf’s face, and he shrugged while turning to walk back into the crowd. “Well, I hope you are able to attain what you are seeking, and that you are willing to pay whatever the price is for your failure or falsehoods.”

“No falsehoods here!” Jaxon called as he lifted the back of his traveling robes over his head. “As you can see, all we have are real, hand-stitched hoods! Not for sale, of course. This one is mine. Back off.”

An hour went by, and Joe still only had his own signature and Jaxon’s to show for his efforts. Major Cleave decided against adding her own, not wanting to leave any written proof that she was a part of his team if he got thrown off the mountain. While he understood her concern, the human was a little rankled by her lack of faith. Still, it wouldn't be fair for him to demand that she do something she clearly did not want to. Only Jaxon seemed to be along for the ride with him; everyone else always seemed to have their own plans and schemes.

“I met a Master, by chance, and it did not go well.” Joe grumbled over his third cup of espresso in the last five minutes. Perhaps rage-sipping coffee so potent that it would show up on a drug test wasn’t the most healthy of activities to pursue, but he was going to do it anyway. “The skills that I have to offer in terms of quick advancement of the city are locked, due to being unable to build somewhere I don't own without permission. I guess... my only hope of getting to the Council of Masters is defeating one of them in a trial. But who knows when that is going to happen?”

“I do!” A passing Dwarf stared at Joe in confusion, and he seemed oddly familiar. “Your trial time is already set; how do you not know when it is going to occur? It’s on you to put forward the challenge, and that means you pick the time.”

“A guard I was with did it on my behalf…?” Joe answered with mounting excitement. “Good fellow, would you mind letting me know when I-”

“Nah, it's more fun to make you figure it out on your own.” The Dwarf’s face bore an evil grin. “I'm going to follow you around for a while and see how long it takes you to figure this out.”

A part of Joe was not even surprised that this was the reception he was getting in a new city. Their race was shattered, which had to be at least partly his fault, and simply by killing a large group of them, he could expunge his negative title and easily join the Elves. It was unlikely that the Dwarves here had as much exposure to humans as the capital city had, which had its own pros and cons. On the positive side, no one knew that he’d had a part in the Oligarchs being dropped into lava and torn apart by a World Boss. That was a big pro.

On the negative side, all of the achievements and reputation that he had built had not preceded him, so his claims to fame were practically ignored without question. Added to that was the fact that most Dwarves had a negative view of all humans in general, and it made sense why no one was willing to put themselves out for a stranger like him. “You would think that being a Major General would afford me a few more benefits.”

“Yeah, if you went to a Legion outpost.” The snarky Dwarf snorted as he continued following Joe around. “Then you could walk in and order people around, all the way up until someone with a higher rank came along and kicked you out again.”

The Ritualist scowled at the random detractor that had decided to tag along just to be annoying, and he tried to just walk away. To his consternation, the Dwarf easily kept pace, taunting him the entire time and beginning to draw a crowd. Soon Joe was jogging through the streets, and unfortunately, the entire throng was coming along for the ride. The laughing and taunting increased to a near-untenable level, and before long, the roads were so packed with bodies that Joe would have needed to abandon his teammates in order to Omnivault over the crowd and be on his way.

“That's enough, that's enough!” the original taunting Dwarf shouted, his voice echoing above the entirety of the crowd and bringing them to near-silent in an instant. “I'm glad everyone was able to gather so quickly, and I think it is time to show this human what happens when you come to a place that isn't happy to see you!”

“Yeah!” The crowd cheered in response to the Dwarf’s declaration, many of them pulling out weapons or sending mana to dance over their fingertips. Joe slowly backed up, getting close to his fellow human so that they could protect each other.

“I saw this going another way in my head,” Joe grumbled as he sent a couple orbs into the air. Against what felt like the entirety of the city's population, the small silvery weapons looked like toys.

“People hate petitions, Joe,” Jaxon told him sadly, “Didn't I mention that to you? The only thing that annoys people more than bothering them when they are just trying to go about their day is trying to get them to sign a random document. You may as well have held up a sign that said ‘Spying for the Elves, right here!’, and then had an arrow pointed down at your face.”

“Helpful.”

“Anyway, let's get on with this!” The Dwarf stepped forward and tossed off his outermost layer of robes, and Joe recognized him in that same instant. He was the unassuming Dwarf that Joe had assumed was a Master, and had nearly brought the guards down on him. “I need twenty volunteers who want to take lessons from a Master! Ten of you will be learning from him, the others from me! The winner of this competition gets the seat on the Council!”

“What?” Joe involuntarily started, taking another look at his strange opponent. “I knew it. But why do all this? If you’re one of the Masters-”

“The first thing you need to do is prove your Mastery,” The Dwarf informed him coolly. “Are you going to be presenting a skill or spell?”

“It's a skill, but it uses mana and stamina to function,” Joe babbled, unable to get over the fact that this person had been messing with him for nearly half an hour before revealing himself. “Again, why did you-”

“Look, human. Nobody likes being challenged.” The Master’s face hadn't changed from the apparently ever-present scowl he wore. “Originally, I was going to beat you down in a nice and quiet fashion, but then it turned out that not only did you not know who I was, you hadn't even bothered to propose the challenge yourself! Now I don't even know who to go and throttle when I’m done with you!”

“Then…” Joe could only throw his hands up in the air and wish for a do-over. “Look, can't we just-”

“The crowd is here, and we are here, so unless you are going to retract your challenge and publicly apologize for wasting our time, let's get to it.” The Dwarf was obviously expecting him to continue, because he made no move to leave the small arena that had formed around them.

All Joe could do was scratch at his head. “I don't know what this challenge consists of. What am I supposed to do?”

With a grandiose sigh, the Dwarf scanned the crowd and shook his head theatrically. “He doesn't even know what he's doing! Let's give him some proper Dwarven hospitality and show him why only the best of the Masters sit on the Council!”

There was a roar of approval as the Dwarf began to glow.