1.21

[Minimum requirements met, please select a class]

[WARNING: The use of common monster crystals may result in lower than average class option. Proceed? (Y/N)]

[Present contact with neutral mana source: Common Class Option, Thief]

[Present contact with neutral mana source: Uncommon Class Option, Brigand]

[Soul affinity processed, experience factored: Rare Class Option, Trickster]

‘Is that even a decision? The play is just to choose the Rare class, no?’ Robb moved to tap the floating screen, frowning as his hand fazed through the pop up. Willing himself to accept the [Trickster] class, he prompted another notification.

[Class Selected. Congratulations, Trickster! May your journey in the Abyss be long and prosperous. Go forth and conquer, in the name Hrell]

The Abyss and Hrell. That didn’t sound ominous at all. Robb stood and took stock of the situation. Both Donny and Jess had gotten their own options for classes, and were looking through their options now-

A scream broke the air as Robb was looking through the last of his notifications. His level one skill was [Concealed Weapon Proficiency], which now allowed him to strike harder and faster whenever using any kind of hidden weapon.

Glancing down at the sharpened stakes his group had been using, he propped the weapons up against a nearby trunk, stomping downwards to break them down into shorter, dagger-length weapons.

Robb nodded to his teammate. He had a feeling he would need it for whatever was causing those screams.

#####

They quickly found the source of the screaming. And Robb wagered, so had every monster in a thousand meter radius. The screaming was coming from a very large group of humans, much larger than even the eight person group Robb had spawned with.

They mostly looked to be office workers, still in their business casual clothing. A nightmare for the close, hand to hand combat most of them now found themselves in. A fair few even looked to be malnourished, though that was hardly a surprise to Robb. How would you even go about feeding a group this large?

If Robb’s count was right, the group numbered around thirty. Crouching behind a brush, he continued to observe their fight, the reason for their screams coming into full view.

They were large, orange, humanoids. Though beyond that Robb had a hard time trying to make out what else they were from this distance. He whispered to Jess and Donny, both crouching behind him.

“Stay here. I’ll get a closer look.” Robb didn’t know what compelled him to get closer to a potential bloodbath and death. Perhaps it was death, maybe it was… opportunity. He had just gotten a class right? He would only get stronger from here on out, and this was his first chance.

He moved out from behind the bush, staying low and careful to remain behind as much cover as possible. It was the first time he had gotten a good look at the battlefield. It was a fairly large expanse, a small smattering of trees taking up residence in clusters around the field. Otherwise, it was more or less an open field.

‘Those guys are gonna get slaughtered.’ He thought, creeping ever closer.

Robb was still in the surrounding woods, obscured from view. But conversely, he could never get a good look at the fight, or at how the humans might be faring. ‘Not well, probably, if they were stupid enough to leave a safe zone without a plan.’

He began to scale a nearby tree. These were pines, so definitely not the easiest to climb, but Robb leveraged the large offshoots to climb his way near to the top.

Robb came face to face with one of the orange beasts as he neared the vantage point, too engrossed in trying to get up to see the monster. Either that, or the leaves had obscured it from view. It didn’t really matter to him at this point, he had to act.

Face to face with his first monster however, Robb’s mind knew only fear, freezing his limbs in place, even as his mind screamed at him to move. There was only one move to make now, the orange thing was above him, and it had noticed him now too.

Drop. Robb willed for his arms to let go of the pine, unlatching himself from the trunk of the large tree, and sending his body plummeting to the ground.

The shock of the fall dazed him, not long enough to cause any permanent damage, but his eyes were getting blurry, and his back hurt like hell. ‘At least I can still feel pain, that’s something.’

The beast was nearly on top of him in an instant, bellowing its own warcry, a high pitched screech which sent nearby birds flying in terror. It drew the attention of the combatants in the field as well, but it didn’t matter now.

The monster moved to swipe downwards, only for a sharpened stick to collide with its hardened body, glancing off its arm. Donny had seen his plight, and had through it in desperation. It was enough however, because the beast changed targets, crouching low on all fours, looking ready to sprint towards Robb’s teammates at a moment’s notice.

He couldn’t let that happen. It had been a few seconds since the fall, and Robb was finally able to shake off his daze. Getting up, and with his [Concealed Weapons Proficiency] augmented his movements, he silently crept up on the monster, still trying to intimidate Donny.

To his credit, Donny did his best to look unfazed, a trick Robb would learn he had picked up from nature documentaries. To not show weakness to a potential predator.

Robb would thank him later, but for now, he had a job to do. He brought out the two shortened dagger-sticks he had hidden in his sleeves prior, driving one firmly into the monster’s neck. Howling in pain, the beast fell over onto its side, only for Robb to drive his second weapon straight into the side of its head through the ear. ‘Concealed weapon, bitch. Eat it.’

The sight looked disgusting, to be honest, but he was far from caring. The monsters in the clearing had turned from their battle, running towards his location as soon as they had heard the war cry of the orange monster.

Robb could identify the monsters now, the ones barreling towards him looked to be the same type of beast, though they generally seemed smaller than the one he had felled.

[Lvl 13 Orangutan Skull Screamer]

[Lvl 14 Orangutan Skull Screamer]

[Lvl 12 Orangutan Skull Screamer]

One look at the corpse at his feet however, and the enraged screamers dispersed into the surrounding trees.

Donny clapped him on the back, “HA! Told you we would have this area clear of monsters. That one must’ve been their leader. That’ll teach ‘em not to come after us.”

Robb nodded mutely, still trying to process the series of events that had led to the death of this orange beast, now a rotting corpse at his feet. It was strange for them to run, when swarming him would have just as easily killed them.

And those levels! What kind of tutorial was this? Where high levelled monsters could attack players right out of the gate?

He shook himself out of his stupor. Now that their cover was blown, they had no choice but to speak with the survivors of the group in the field. It was hard to tell from this far away, but Robb wouldn’t be surprised if most of them were still shellshocked. Hell, he had only fought one for a short stint, and he was still mentally recovering.

A man who seemed to be the leader of the group waved them over. The group was holding onto whatever natural weapons they seemed to have been able to scrounge up.

All manners of sharpened sticks and edged stones could be seen in their possession. One man was even swinging his belt, though Robb wasn’t sure that such a relatively light blunt force would do anything except aggravate the beasts.

The leader stretched out his hand, “Morfran Llewyn, though my friends call me Moe. It’s very nice to meet the men who saved our asses back there.”

Robb met it firmly, the many job interviews had at least taught him that much. “Robb Curthose.”

The man smiled, and only now did Robb realize just how beautiful this man was. His face was absolutely gorgeous, and with an athletic frame, it was easy to see why he had been elected the leader of this large party. His hair was a middling length, combed upwards, sides shaved, with streaks of dyed white hair accentuating the flow. Brown eyes with flecks of.. red and a squared jawline rounded off the rest of his facial features.

He was in business casual attire, cleanly shaven, and gave off a feeling of inherent superiority that might have made Robb submit a week prior. But that was then, and this was now. He was a [Trickster], and the leader of his own, albeit small party.

They broke the handshake, each stepping back to fall in with their group, and Robb immediately felt the weight of numbers bear down on him.

Though physical contact had been broken, the man ‘Moe’ kept eye contact. ‘If looks could kill, I might have had holes bored into my skull at this rate.’ Robb had already taken a disliking to the man, perhaps for his unnervingly beautiful nature, and perhaps he was a challenge to his place as a leader.

Moe clearly felt the same, and tension continued to build. That is, until one of the women towards the back of the other group stepped up. ‘Malnourished,’ was Robb’s first thought. They had been in these woods for several days, if everyone had been moved at the same time.

“Do you have any food?” The woman almost pleaded with them, eyes tinged with the desperation of a person truly starved.

Moe seemed to take that as his opportunity to maneuver his way into the conversation. “Yes. The three of you look fairly well fed. You must have a stockpile of food, right? Where are the rest of you?”

Before Robb could form his own answer, Jess spoke first. “Oh, it’s just the three of us. We have a stockpile of some smoked rabbit at our camp back there.”

Moe seemed happy at the information. “Great! Let’s go! You should join our group, it’s not safe to be out here alone.” He looked towards them expectantly, brown eyes never shifting in their firm gaze.

Robb very nearly facepalmed at the utter stupidity on display before him. ‘Yeah, let’s just tell them exactly where to go to steal our stuff.’ It was the idiots all over again, except with more people.

He sighed inwardly, but put up a smile of his own. “Sure! Right this way. Please watch out for the tree roots, don’t trip over anything. When we get back, we’ll try to bandage everyone’s wounds as well as we can.”

#####

Rocky had claimed his land, now the question was how to develop it. At least, that’s what Harold and Amber had said when he had told them.

But first came the ‘administrative’ tasks that came with owning territory. It occurred to Rocky that humans could own land too. ‘I wonder why they don’t just claim the land like I did. According to Harold, it’s pretty important.’

He file that away under ‘questions to ask later’, and turned to his notifications. His sweet, sweet notifications, where he had just received a bunch of new messages!

[Congratulations! Clearing has been claimed. Please name]

He looked quizzically at the screen. ‘Isn’t it already named clearing?’

[Name Chosen: Clearing]

[Please designate citizens at this time. Available slots: 0/40]

Ooh, he knew this one! Amber had mentioned that being a citizen was being a part of a country… whatever those were. But being part of something. Hmm. Ah! He was part of a group, so everyone should be a citizen! “Everyone is my citizen!”

Harold and Amber laughed at that, though Rocky couldn’t figure out for the life of him why. But they accepted the citizen thing, so it was all okay!

[Extending Citizen Status to Party Members. Available slots: 3/40]

Three? So Harold, Amber, and the spiderling had all joined. But what about his golems! Rocky attempted to extend the citizen offer to them.

[Error. Cannot designate summons as citizens. Available slots: 3/40]

That was stupid. ‘System, you’re an idiot.’ The golems cool rocks he had taken under his wing. They deserved to be his citizens. They were already part of his group for rock’s sake!

[Please select a construction option]

[Wooden Walls]

[Wooden Shack]

[Water Well]

“NO! NO WOOD! WOOD WEAK, STUPID, SHITTER THING.” Rocky slammed his hand into the screen, as if to punch the options away, then willed for the third construction option.

Amber looked at Harold accusingly. “Did you actually teach our Rocky how to curse?”

Sheepishly he answered. “Uh. No?”

[Water Well selected! Please place the construction on the map]

A green screen popped up in front of him, with different patches of green in different places. A of blue circles appeared on the page.

Showing Amber the screen, she nodded. “Looks like a construction map. We should make the well as accessible to town as possible. Can you put it in the middle of the clearing?”

Rocky whirred happily. “Yup!” Placing the well in the center of the screen, he looked on, waiting for something to happen.

He stared and stared and stared aaaaaaand… nothing. Maybe this ‘claiming territory’ thing was harder than he thought.