Ruthless ~ 41!

~ 41 ~

Ruthless Defenders: this is a guild-wide title. You have stood against an invasion of at least a thousand strong, protecting what is yours and not leaving a single invader alive. To upgrade this title, destroy an invading force of at least ten thousand without letting a single invader escape! Effect: While defending the territory of the Wanderer’s Guild, reduce damage from invaders by 5%, and increase damage dealt by 5%. Enemies slain on the guild’s land have a 20% chance to drop an equipped item. 

“I see it, that’s a really solid increase.” Joe looked around at the group as they shook their heads. “What’s the issue here?”

“Joe, this is a public relations nightmare.” Mike took the initiative to speak, and his words turned the atmosphere gloomy. “This was a trap the entire time. Because we thought that there would be expert players hidden in their ranks, we threw everything and the kitchen sink at them. Now, not only did scouts from various factions see what we were capable of, they are using the fact that we went all-out against low-level people as a way to incite a large-scale operation against us. This was just the start, and it was a trap from the start.”

Joe listened quietly, as did the entire room. They were suddenly in a bad position, and they all knew it. Still, Joe had one thing to say, “So what?”

“What?” Mike and Aten spoke together, startled at Joe’s words.

“I said ‘so what’.” Joe stood tall. “Were we trying to recruit people, or show them that we wouldn't let our guild be robbed? Were we trying to feel them out, and hope that people that were coming here to steal our gear and burn the rest to the ground would suddenly be friendly to us?”

A long moment passed, then Joe stepped forward and slapped the table. “No! We were showing everyone watching, and everyone that would attack us, that we will be serious against every threat, no matter how small! Yes, there will be people that hate us for not letting them take what we earned, but who cares! As for everyone else, don’t you think our guild is celebrating right now? Don't you all realize that security at this level is what people have been dreaming of ever since earth was ripped away from us? When I see this title that our guild has gained, all I want…”

Joe took a deep breath, and tried to meet the eyes of all the people around the table. “All I want… is to upgrade this title to the next rank! If we need to be Ruthless to protect ourselves, then I know that I will be at the front lines casting the biggest spells I can, and if people die because they are attacking us… it is their. Own. Fault!”

There was a roar of approval, and everyone started talking again. This time, it was about how to improve the defenses further, how they should take a stand, or what they thought should happen next. Aten nodded at Joe appreciatively, then frowned. In an instant, he was next to Joe, catching him before he hit the floor. Even though the room was full of people, almost no one saw this happen; they were too engrossed in the conversation.

As for Joe himself, he had collapsed only after receiving a concerning message.

All prerequisites for full characteristic shift of Dark Charisma have been met! Before, you had managed to feel a hint of this shift, and it had been meant as a warning more than anything. Similar to an alignment shift, you have used this characteristic in a specific way so many times that it has centralized around the core concept of your usage! 

Effect: Convincing others to take dark, violent, or passionate actions have a fixed 10% increased chance to succeed! All actions that lead to peaceful, non-violent, or purely logical actions have a fixed 10% increased chance to fail! Your methods of gaining charisma in the future have been altered.

As one of the first five hundred players to achieve a characteristic shift: Charisma +10.

Changing a main characteristic has dangerous repercussions to the body and mind. While this update is taking effect, you shall be rendered unconscious. Starting in 3… 2…

Joe’s eyes flew open, making Aten shout in surprise and jump away from him. Aten had been putting Joe into a bed in the Guild Hall that was usually reserved for people that worked too many hours and would be starting their next shift shortly after sleeping. Joe sat up, raising a brow at the large warrior. “Aten, I know we’re close, but I don't think that we’re that close.”

“I thought you were dead, Joe.” Aten glared in an attempt to hide his shock and embarrassment.

“Hmm. If you were thinking I was dead, and you were getting that close to my face, what does that say about you?” Joe teased the flustered man. 

“That’s not funny! I was checking to see if you were breathing!” Aten shook his head, puffing up to defend his own honor, when Joe started chuckling. “You think you’re so~o~o funny, but you're not!”

“Sorry, sorry, I was just testing out the function of my charisma.” Joe waved off Aten’s retaliatory snort. “Seriously! I just got a characteristic shift. Apparently, it is now a lot easier for me to rile people up, to make them give in when logic is taken out of the equation.”

“You became a politician?” Aten took a step away from the bed, “Joe, that’s such a downgrade from what you had.”

“No, no.” Joe hesitated as he swung his feet over the edge of the bed. “It’s… really hard to describe. I can just feel what buttons to press when I want an emotional response from you. It's… hmm. Interesting, for certain.”

Aten considered the man in front of him for a long moment. “I will say, your words feel smoother. As in, when you were speaking… I don't know, you just seemed to really mean what you were saying in a way that I haven't seen from you before. You seemed more… sincere?”

“Probably because my charisma jumped by ten points right before I dropped.” Joe shrugged at the flabbergasted look Aten sent his way. “Apparently you need to use your characteristics in a specific way for a long period of time. I have no other information to share about this right now, if I find some, I’ll let you know. What was decided in the meeting?”

“The meet…? Right.” Aten shook himself out of his dreams of sudden stat increases. “We are going to push into getting the town to tier three. I have some people that have managed to get some building plans for three rare buildings, and one ‘Special’ building. These by themselves will probably be enough to get us to the next town rank.”

“You found a Special ranked building?” Joe’s eyebrows flew up, making it look like he had just agitated a caterpillar and sent it skittering across his bald head. “What does it-”

“Don’t get too excited. The Rare buildings are more useful than the Special.” Aten shook his head. “It’s a luxury building. No strategic value, it's just a quality-of-life thing. It’ll help with morale and such, give a few non-combat players a job.”

“What actually is it? I need details, Aten! Do we have the needed materials to make it?” Joe was practically salivating over the thought of all that juicy class experience.

“I think we do. It's an open-air bathhouse, Japanese style. It looks pretty cool, and apparently gives a bonus to durability and characteristic training after using it. Minor things in the short term, really important in the long run.” Aten shrugged as he described the building. “Honestly, I’d be really excited about it if we weren't caught up in a propaganda war right now.”

“I’m still pretty excited about it.” Joe admitted after thinking through the benefits. “We only know for sure that the other guilds are going to come after us, we don't know when. If there is a chance for us to raise our base characteristics by a large amount, we could take the others completely by surprise. Something that has been really drilled into my head during my time here; only intelligent planning and preparation are a match for absolute strength. If we have both strength and craftiness, we are going to be too hard of a nut to crack. Eventually, they will have to give up.”

“Interesting. You know, we won't even be trapped in here during a siege, thanks to the fast-travel system in the temple.” Aten scratched his chin and looked at the ceiling. “I know that we have a lot to do, you especially, but please do have an eye toward the development of our town. We’re frantically bringing in as many supplies as we can so that we can get the buildings all set up, mainly because we think that there will be a huge reward when we get the town to the third rank.”

“What makes you think that?” Joe didn't want to miss out on whatever rewards might be offered, but he didn't want to get his hopes up. He had found that when he worked, and did his best, that had to be reward enough. Then, if there was a big reward, Otherwise, when he expected huge rewards, the best thing that could happen was that he would meet his own expectations. Most of the time, he wouldn't meet his own expectations, and that was crushing over time.

Aten knew what Joe was really asking, “Data. Pure data. There are records of the kingdom’s establishment, and all the towns that it developed. Beyond that, our spies are keeping tabs on anyone else that is building up a town. All of them are also frantically building up their towns in an attempt to get to town level three, and they attacked us and demanded that we stop progressing. All of this matches up with our own research into the subject. With all of this combined, our guild is certain that something will happen at that town level three.”

“Another thing, there is a reason we want you to build up our town as fast as possible. The threats came only after we reached town level two and we were showing no signs of slowing down. Our intelligence says that if we sprint at the next town level, they are certain we can force our enemies to play their hand before they are ready.” Aten was staring into the distance, and he heaved a great sigh before turning back to Joe. “The longer we wait, the more time they will have to prepare for us. If there is anything. Anything… that we can do in order to make you more productive, know that you have the full might of the guild behind you.”

Joe knew that Aten was being extremely serious, but he still couldn't help himself. “Aten, I already told you, I know we’re close, but I don't think that we’re that close.”

Aten started tapping his foot impatiently. “Joe, I will put you through that wall, then make you repair it.”

“Oh, look at all the work I need to do.” Joe swung his feet out of his bed and rushed out of the room, pretending to be afraid. When he was in the hallway, he started sprinting, shouting over his shoulder, “Aten, I don't like you like that! You’re just going to have to find someone else!”

“Joe!” Aten barreled out of the room, but Joe was already sending mana to his feet with every step; he was long gone.