The Tribe was growing.

The Hunters filtered through the village in groups of ten or more, each group led by either a squad leader or a veteran, and supplemented by some of the newer or unclassed villagers who wished to eventually become Hunters.

Crafters were still building houses, though a few larger structures such as an armory, storehouses, and a construction site were beginning to take shape.

It wasn’t easy work, and the Hunters were especially prone to injuries, though many Crafters had been pretty heavily injured by a falling log or some other construction accident. But faint smiles could be seen on the dusty and sweaty faces of the villagers as they worked.

It was just after noon when the villagers of the Tribe stopped what they were doing one by one to watch as a figure emerged from the tent in the middle of the village.

A white monkey sat upon the man’s shoulder, who was supporting himself with the staff of the hobgoblin shaman who had led the goblin forces at the battle of The Den. He had his other arm draped over the shoulder of the young woman they both respected and feared, Noel, for support.

It had been a day since Ed had woken up, and yet it was the first time he’d been able to leave the tent.

He’d found that he only had a sliver of blood essence that produced manna, and what little manna he did produce seemed to ‘leak’ from his damaged Body. The only reason he was able to move currently was that his Blood Core seemed to be able to circulate manna extremely efficiently, even though it didn’t produce any manna itself.

The villagers smiled and inclined their heads in respect, murmuring ‘Shaman’ under their breath as he passed. The man smiled gently in return.

There were many new faces that Ed did not recognize, however, many of whom regarded him with trepidation and not a little fear. They were new members of The Tribe, recruited from the ranks of the defeated members of The Den and The Pit… they showed only apprehension and respect, and a healthy amount of wariness. Ed smiled at them as well, as he walked towards the Spirit Tower.

“Ed! You’re awake!” shouted Ranga, as he stomped towards the young man, moving to embrace him in a bearish hug.

“He’s not well yet, Ranga!” Noel scolded, holding up her hand to stall the large man.

Ed waved her off and greeted Ranga with a clasp of the hands.

“Good to be back amongst the land of the living, that’s for sure Ranga. The village is looking nice.”

“Thank you,” Ranga beamed. “The constructions for the new members of The Tribe are about halfway done, and there’ve been… mostly no troublemakers.”

“Mm. It would be impossible to have none of them. I’ll talk to the new members later today. But Noel tells me that the Spirit Tower’s been acting up. A strange glow?”

Ranga nodded.

“It used to be pale blue, but it’s been pulsing in a deeper blue color for some time now. When Noel or I tried to touch it, it asked only for the Lord’s verification.”

Ed’s eyes gleamed.

“Let’s see what that was about then.”

Ed walked slowly but surely, relying on the staff to walk to the front of the Tower, and gently pressed his hand to its smooth surface.

The now familiar blue screen popped up to greet him.

You have defeated the Lord of a Village!

Absorb the Spirit Tower of the Village [The Den] to upgrade your own.

Y/N

Ed’s eyes widened in surprise.

He had been wondering how to upgrade the Spirit Tower of his Village. It seemed that one of the ways, at least, was to ‘defeat’ other Villages and absorb their Spirit Tower to strengthen his own.

He felt his stomach sink as he recollected the suspicions he’d voiced to Noel.

The Spirit Realm… They’d awakened humanity, but it almost seemed like they were hoping for a dog eat dog world on Earth, pitting Villages and the Blessed against each other with prizes. Why? Shouldn’t they be forming a grand alliance of humans to fight the invaders?

Ed grit his teeth. He had his suspicions, but the questions would simply have to wait until he could ask them to Wukong or another being from the Spirit Realm.

For now, all he could do was forge ahead like he had in the past few months.

Ed moved his hand to select Yes, and the Village was flooded in a blue light as the Spirit Tower lit up like a beacon.

The people who had been watching Ed shielded their eyes in surprise, while the Hunters reacted immediately by drawing their stone daggers or longswords and squeezing their eyes shut.

After a few seconds, however, the blue light faded and Ed was greeted with a new blue screen.

Your Spirit Tower has successfully integrated the resources of another Village.

After gestation, a new Class will become available.

The actions of the Village and its people will affect the class.

The Tower looked slightly taller, but that was about it.

The villagers were understandably upset by the sudden light show, and Ed had to exert himself to reassure the anxious villagers that everything was all right. Noticing this, Ranga and Noel also joined in and the villagers eventually returned to the hustle and bustle of their activities.

Ed was panting heavily by the time the whole thing died down. The System notifications regarding the Tower seemed to be largely fueled and prompted by the Tower itself, but he could feel the slight strain it put on his soul. He closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths to calm his Body and Mind, which helped calm the soul and Spirit.

Ed gathered himself as he turned to Ranga and Noel.

“It seems that for every other Village that we defeat, our Spirit Tower will grow stronger,” he said somberly.

“Huh? Does that mean that the System wants us to fight other Villages?” Noel asked, scrunching up her face.

Ranga simply looked at both of them with sad eyes.

“It would be troubling, if so…” Ed trailed off, looking to Ranga for help.

The older man would know how people would always be fighting for superiority, one way or the other, whether they lived in the Spirit Realm or down here on Earth.

“But… life’s not always black and white, Noel. Why did the Spirit Realm implement the System in the first place? They may have had reasons other than merely protecting their ‘homeland’, as they say,” said Ranga.

“Perhaps.” Ed replied, while Noel scrunched up her face even harder while apparently trying to come up with a response.

“There’s not much we can do to find answers. For now, I think we should prioritize strengthening ourselves first. I know I just woke up, but there remains a lot of work to do before the city becomes completely safe, if such a thing is even possible. You said Juan is still missing, and The First Mother is still residing downtown, up to who knows what with the remnants of her tribe, right?” Ed asked.

Noel nodded.

“Yeah, Harundal’s been trying to track Juan, but apparently, the snake of a bastard’s pretty good at covering his scent and manna trails. And if Harundal can’t track him, no one can. He’s got better senses than me, even with the boost from my Axe.” Noel gestured to the axe strapped to her back, which now seemed like a permanent feature of the young girl.

“As for the remaining goblins, we haven’t been anywhere near downtown, as it’s too far. But we’re pretty sure there’s about two hundred of the little red runts left,” she said.

“And the First Mother?” Ed asked.

Noel shook her head.

“No sign amongst the goblin corpses, so I guess she’s still downtown. I’d say we need to strike while they’re weak, but it’d be better to do it with reinforcements from the Vault. I don’t know what’s been going on with their side, but they’ve pretty much been holed up in their part of town,” said Noel.

Ed nodded, then sighed.

“Well, I’m likely to be more of a liability than anything right now, so it’ll have to be either you or Harundal leading that mission.”

“I’ll go and finish it with some of the Hunters.” said Noel, and something in her eyes made Ed pause before responding. She seemed… rather determined.

“Two hundred goblins, Noel. You sure?” Ed asked. She’d been through a lot of battles with him, but never had she been so eager.

“I’ll go to the Vault first, see if they’ll be willing to send any soldiers along with us. But yeah, I’m sure,” she replied, deadly serious.

Ed glanced over at Ranga, who’d maintained his silence. He’d have to ask him about what had happened in the two weeks he’d been unconscious.

“All right. Wait for Harundal to come back, though. It’d be good to have another fighter on the level of a Blessed. I’m not sure that the Vault will be sending Alexander even if they do decide to go with you. Mikhail’s probably in the same boat as me, and I’m not sure they’d risk sending away their strongest fighter.” Ed said, not wanting to push Noel on the change in her demeanor.

Noel nodded, and Ed tried to steer the conversation in a more positive direction.

“But still. We did it, guys.” He smiled. With the crisis over, he allowed himself to feel the triumph and relief that they’d all emerged unscathed.

“I don’t think we’ll have to worry about staying vs. leaving the city for now, now that the majority of the goblins are dead,” he continued, as he pulled out a leather pouch that he’d kept in the tent.

“And since we’re reasonably certain that we’ll be staying, we can finally start planting the seeds that Derek gave us,” he said as he poured out a few of the seeds contained in the pouch. He still couldn’t use the Dao, as that’d throw his recovering body and essence into turmoil, but he recalled the blue screen that had popped up when he’d first laid eyes on the pouch’s contents.

All-Seed

A special strain of seeds produced through alchemical means. It has been enhanced to adapt into a plant most befitting its environment, though its offsprings will lose its totipotency.

Ranga perked up at that.

“Yes. Joe said that he’s put aside a portion of the land and even has the new… recruits, clearing away the rubble and trees near the lake.”

“Right. I’ll go talk to him and give him the All-seeds,” Ed said.

“I’ll be resting in the Village for a while. I’d prefer going on hunts and strengthening myself through the Dagger, but the Village needs a lot more work as well. I also want to talk to some of the people we took in. Do you know if there’s been any leaders amongst the people of the Den and The Pit?” Ed said, and Noel and Ranga nodded.

“Yeah. Most of the high ranking ‘lieutenants’ from the Pit are missing along with Juan, but there’s a guy from the Den that they seem to listen to,” said Noel.

“Good. That means that they have a representative, and if we can talk to him and convince him to really, truly join our side…” Despite Ed’s obviously haggard appearance, Noel and Ranga knew that the young man they’d trusted with their lives was really back when they saw the familiar glint of determination in his eyes.