Ruthless ~ 11!

~ 11 ~

“Are you still wondering why I said that I was worried that you would put us out of business?” Daniella sounded exhausted. “If you can make half of those buildings, you’ll be able to do something that no one in the Union has been able to do for over a century.”

Joe had only scanned twenty-eight buildings, but the results had been spectacular. Not only did he gain mostly Uncommon and Rare blueprints, but whatever building he had left suddenly had an influx of tourists. When it was near a shop, sales spiked. It seemed that people had started to correlate the light show of the ritual with something special. 

It was true, because Joe didn't bother to scan common buildings. His ability was too costly, and even though he had an eighty-five percent reduction in component cost he had still needed to use seven and a half Cores, which left him with only a few much more potent ones that he wasn't going to use on building. Not unless he needed to do so. 

A glance at all the experience he had gained for his Rituarchitecht class made him grin. Two thousand, nine hundred and ninety six experience. He had reached class level four just by scanning everything; he couldn’t wait to build them. The level increase had given him a new ritual, Structural Repair, but it wasn't overly useful at the moment.

“I honestly think that you are thinking about this too much.” Joe started walking back to the town square, and Daniella followed. “I have no time to go out and about setting up basic buildings for people. I don’t-”

“You don’t have time right now.” Daniella shook her head. “You think I haven’t heard people discussing how they are going to live for a very long time? That I haven't seen people come back to life after being reduced to dust? This contract protects us against the far away future.”

“I’m starting to be happy that I put in the provision that the contract is voided if your group collapses.” Joe grumbled. “Also, good call on making exceptions for the kingdom’s use. I hadn't thought about that.”

“I really don’t want to anger the only person on Midgard that can void standard contracts, so that only makes sense to me.” Daniella shook Joe’s hand and started to turn away, but Joe cleared his throat and she paused. 

“I’d like to learn architecture. I need to get skills in this field if I want to improve upon what I can do currently.” Joe looked at her meaningfully. “Do you know any teachers that I could contact?”

Daniella paused and nodded slowly. “I’ll send someone along. Until then, try to learn the theory. I’ll expect you to know what I mean when I say ‘strut your struts’ by the time a tutor appears. Here.”

She handed over a small book, and Joe read the title. Basics of Architecture. Daniella stepped away, “That should get your architecture lore skill to at least Novice five if you read through and understand the material. Good luck.”

“It was… very nice to meet you, Daniella.” Joe didn't wait for a response, and appeared in the temple at the Pathfinder’s Hall in the next instant.

Calculation drain has taken effect! Overthinking so much made you miss your chance!

“What? What was that about?” Joe glared at the notification. Shrugging, he stepped away from the altar and walked toward his friends. He had been thinking about his team, and had resolved to spend time with them hunting and completing quests.

He caught up to the group just as they were leaving Towney. “Hey guys! Got room for one more?”

“Joe! Of course!” Jaxon skipped over and gave Joe a hug. “We were just discussing whether we should continue on with you or apply to have a different team leader, so I am very glad to see you putting in the effort!”

“You…!” Joe looked around at the group, but they merely shrugged.

Alexis motioned that they should keep walking. “Joe, we aren't trying to get rid of you, we are just trying to have a full party when we go out every day.”

“You’re already the second-in-command. Should we just get a person that rotates in when I’m not able to make it? Then you go out, in charge, and have a full team when I’m not here.” Joe’s words made most of them slowly nod, and Poppy actually sighed in relief.

“Thank goodness.” Poppy winked at Joe. “Wasn’t sure how we were going to kick you from your party, and I gotta tell you… it’s been getting really difficult to clear different areas with only four people. Well… three people and Jaxon.”

“I am a person!” Jaxon insisted as he skipped along backwards next to them.

“Of course ya are, ya big goofball.” Bard told Jaxon before turning to Poppy and shaking his head swiftly.

“Why has it been getting so hard to clear areas?” Joe had to hurry to keep up with everyone, making him wonder how they had become so fast.

“Easy.” Alexis waved at the area around them, which had been logged and turned into fields. “We, humanity, is expanding real fast. A billion people dropped onto Midgard, and some of them are way better at min-maxing then the established guilds or other players. The vast majority are not, and are expanding and making this a safe zone. Hunting monsters is getting harder, because only the ones that are really hard to kill or can’t be hunted for food are surviving.”

“To me it sounds like non-combat professions are going to start being the norm again…” Joe trailed off, so Poppy nodded and filled in what Joe was missing.

“Just like Earth.” Poppy stated grimly. “It looks like combat professions are going to be pushed out, and stagnate. There is a huge rush to get to the next zone, but so far as we know…  no one has been able to get their second specialization.”

“People have still tried to get to the next zone though, right?” Joe looked around, noting the wincing nods. “It was that bad?”

“If the forums can be trusted, then everyone who tried it died and had a huge debuff. They were stuck in respawn for days, and when they got out… everything they had with them had been destroyed. Gear, weapons, money, spatial bags, things that were supposed to be soulbound… everything.” Alexis shook her head at that. “It seems to be the same for everyone that’s tried it.”

“Geez… all I’ve wanted to do since hearing about that Zone is get to it.” Joe sighed as he realized that goal might be a little too far away right now.

“Think about when we were playing games on earth and a new expansion came out,” Poppy offered. “It was always announced early to build hype, then there was usually a whole host of quests, items, and whatever else was needed in order to actually get there. Sure we know it exists, and we plan to get there… it’ll just be a while.”

“We’re here!” Jaxon clapped his hands excitedly. “Joe, we found that clearing this dungeon gives characteristic points as a reward! We need to agree what points we want before we go in, and the challenge changes based on that!”

“Is that how you guys have been getting so fast?” The group nodded at Joe’s question.

“Been selectin’ dexterity every day.” Bard chimed in. “Lower yer threshold, higher tha’ reward.”

“I’ve only gotten a single point for clearing it every day.” Jaxon admitted sadly.

“Ahm gettin’ five ah day, but I got ta fifty yesterday. Everyone else is gettin’ three ah daym so that’s what I’m expectin’ today.” Bard gave a thumbs-up.

This was exactly what Joe needed. He grinned at the others as they passed the high-powered Guild guards. Apparently, this was a place that outsiders were not allowed into; and for good reason. If this place became too overused, who could say if the rewards it gave out would stay so good?

“One more thing,” Alexis told Joe. “No cost to get in, but the rule is you need to donate all meat or food gained to the Guild. All other loot is free game.”

“Works for me.” Joe followed along, stepping into a seemingly massive space high in the sky. “This is a massive… puzzle? Maze? What...?”

You have entered the Dungeon ‘Trial section 118b’. Please cast your vote for party challenge! Strength / Dexterity / Constitution / Intelligence / Wisdom / Charisma / Perception / Luck.

Joe selected ‘dexterity’, as they had agreed previously. 

Average party dexterity… 72. Scaling difficulty to 50-100 dexterity range. Good luck!

“What sort of monsters are in here?” Joe quizzed as the huge building suspended in the sky twisted until a door was in front of them. A platform formed in the empty space, and they took turns jumping to it and then to the door.

Jaxon did a backflip to get to the door, and grinned at Joe. “The monsters in here are Neigh-Bears. Basically a cross between a horse and a bear. A bison, maybe? Eh, either way, huge, mean, and their main attack is a straight charge that you need to dodge. Also… good eatin’. You’ve been eating Neigh-Bears if you’ve had any meat at the guild in the last week.”

“The goal of this dungeon is…?” Joe stopped speaking when he saw a massive number of creatures in a pasture. They seemed to be standing on a massive disk, and looking to the side… there was only darkness off the edge.

“You need to dodge a hundred charging Neigh-Bears, and get to the center area.” Poppy explained succinctly. “You can usually make that happen just by getting to the center. Plenty of creatures to avoid.”

“This is my favorite part.” Jaxon exclaimed as he stepped into the grassland. “Come get some old man meat!”

There was a collective bellow from the creatures that almost made Joe pee a little. It was the roar of a bear coupled with the high-pitched scream of a horse. All the creatures they could see came at them at top speed.

“The weak are meat, the strong get to eat!” Jaxon screamed back at them as his hands morphed into hungry T-Rex heads.