The snow men were frozen mid-step in the simulation as time was effectively paused. They filled the area between the two walls and had broken their neat formation in their charge. One hundred of them across the front line and at least twenty lines deep, and each of their snow-carved faces was blank and emotionless.

"It would have been convenient for them all to have collapsed," I said. "Opinions as to what to do next?"

"We need line of sight to see the weak point of our targets," Conor said. "Charging out into the snow men wouldn't be preferred. With such a large number the front lines will block our view to the ones behind them, and if we get surrounded it will be even worse."

"If we stay at range Conor and I would be able to take them out within fifteen minutes," Jenny said. "There are only two thousand of them."

"It's still a killing field out there, my lord," Jeff said. "The ice launchers in the walls would be controlled by snow men, and if the foot soldiers didn't collapse then the ones controlling the launchers wouldn't have either. Plus the explosive traps out there react to us while letting the snow men through."

"Do we need to fight our way out at all?" Stalia asked. "Without their progenitor any loss of troops they suffer is permanent, but they look as though their organisation has broken down with his death. We could just leave through the portal?"

"I would prefer not to leave an unguarded portal here," I said. "Even if I broke it after we left, it would be possible for someone else to repair it and have a portal into the army room that we don't control. Our preferred exit from the winter realm is through the portal at the wisp hive. If we can't manage that with a minimum of risk I will deal with it. Excuse me for a moment."

Jeff picked up the discussion and I noticed that he had been indicating who could speak to the group and when.

I sent Maaata a communication request which she immediately accepted, she must have been at maximum time perception as well.

"Hello," I said. "Have you managed to get my armour enchanted yet?"

"It's almost finished, my lord," Maaata said. "The enchantment is all done except for the mana crystal link, I was just making more enchanted arrows to get the Fortress Coins for another medium mana crystal."

Damn. I had wondered why Taur's armour only had a medium mana crystal and not a large one. I pulled up the job.

Job: Fortress Army Armour Enchantment Description Enchant each of the thirteen sets of armour provided with an effect to resist magical effects and enchanted weapons. Reward One Fortress Coin Provided Materials Thirteen unique sets of armour

I'd entirely forgotten to add mana crystals to the provided materials. I didn't even know that mana crystals would be required. I tried to add large mana crystals as a provided material and got a response from the System saying that accepted jobs couldn't be edited. That did fit with how I saw jobs working when I created them, I didn't want a job giver to be able to change the parameters of the job after someone was committed to it. But adding resources could only be beneficial.

I sent the edit to the provided materials again, this time focusing on how the jobs system should change. It took several seconds, but the edit finally went through. I was expecting a notification from the System about the change, but it seemed it was a small enough tweak to how things worked that it didn't break anything enough to require one.

I picked back up the communication channel that was open to Maaata, who was waiting patiently.

"You should have said something," I said.

"My lord, you gave me such a great opportunity in becoming a Demi-AI," Maaata said. "And you did it purely so that I could enchant armour for you. I had jobs I could do to earn the Fortress Coins, so it was obvious that that was how it should be done."

"No," I said. "I simply didn't know what was required for you to do the job properly. You can pull as many large mana crystals from your inventory as you need for the job now."

And she had enchanted Taur's armour entirely at her own expense. I transferred twenty Fortress Coins to her as a reward for her initiative.

"Thank you, my lord," Maaata said. "I will have your armour finished within two minutes, normal time. Um, I'm being asked to accept an empty trade with you for twenty Fortress Coins? Is that a mistake?"

Okay, another tweak to the System. I went through the thought process of physically moving Fortress Coins into Maaata's storage space, where it would automatically be converted into her balance. Then I cancelled the trade and sent the twenty Fortress Coins again.

"Oh, it went away," Maaata said.

"I'm still working through the bugs and inconsistencies with it," I said. "The Fortress Coins were supposed to go straight to you, which they have now."

"I- um.. Yes, my lord," Maaata said. "You're making the System? Of course. Yes. Sorry. Thank you. Two minutes, my lord."

And she dropped the communication channel. I seem to have flustered her. Oh well.

I sent Jeff a ping to let him know my focus was back and he sent back a prompt for me to speak. So that's how he was managing the discussion.

"I will have my enchanted armour in two minutes," I said. "We just need to hold out for that long and then I will run us out of the snow man area."

"We can hold the tunnel for that long easily with no risk," Jeff said. "The four meter wide entrance will limit the number of snow men that can come at us, and the scouts can identify their weak points. Ursula and Branch will be the front line, Conor, Jenny, and Lord C.C. will be the back line taking targets of opportunity. Jacqueline, Tranquil, and myself will be in reserve."

Branch was the Forest Keeper spear user, and Tranquil was the Forest Keeper water mage. Their names were more complicated in their language, but were shortened in the human language for ease of communication.

I returned the simulation to normal time and Conor and Jenny began taking out targets in the approaching mass of snow men. I had been relegated to the back line because my sword was stabbed into the stone outside the entrance, Jeff knew what he was doing.

"My lord, would there be time for my body to be put back together?" Taur asked.

"Not really," I said. "The snow men will be at the entrance in ten seconds, it would take four or five minutes to repair you."

"What if you used the quicker method?" Taur asked. "Like what you did when my legs were broken."

"That would take less than a minute," I said. "But that is reserved for emergencies. It is quicker, but it is also much worse than the slower method. The slower repair feels like unending pain... You've felt both, why are you volunteering for the worse option?"

"I don't want to sit out the fight," Taur said. "I understand the cost, and I am willing to pay it. It is my place to be on the front line protecting the others from harm."

"My lord," Jeff said. "I support Taur, if it is within your abilities please get him back up for the fight."

I sank my power into Taur's head and body, moving them back together. Getting a complete scan of his body, his cells had already begun dying, and the delicate interconnection of cells in his brain had deteriorated to cause total brain death. All of the micro-portals to his Mind Link were still working, though, so at least I wouldn't have to babysit the process.

I triggered the repair program in parallel and it gave an estimated time of repair of twenty seven seconds.

I shifted my focus back to the war room simulation and summoned a stack of ten throwing blades, throwing them at the oncoming snow men. I was throwing a lot slower than my maximum, the parallel repair taking all of my spare processing, but I was still able to keep pace with Conor and Jenny who were firing into the horde.

Between the three of us we took down thirty five of the snow men before they reached the entrance to the tunnel. It had no noticeable effect, for every snow man that we downed another immediately took its place. Ursula and Branch stepped in front of us as the snow men reached the entrance and we were forced to slow down and pick our shots.

The snow men pushed into the tunnel a meter before being stopped by Ursula and Branch. Any that stepped beyond the one meter dissolved into snow. About fifteen seconds after that the snow men began shifting their shapes, growing taller and becoming less defined, filling in all of the space of the entrance to the tunnel.

"Switch," Jeff said.

Ursula and Branch stepped back, moving around Conor, Jenny, and I, while Jeff, Jacqueline, and Tranquil stepped forward around us. Jacqueline and Jeff began forming their flame torrent spell and Tranquil began forming her own symbols from mana, surrounding a central large symbol with many small symbols.

The wall of snow that the snow men had formed into was pushing its way down the tunnel. Just as it reached Jeff, who was slightly in front of the three mages, Jeff and Jacqueline's spell went off. We all crouched in response to the gust of wind coming from behind us, turning into a vibrant blue flame as it passed Jeff. Jeff was tracking the flame in the simulation, allowing us to see it extend thirty meters out into the killing field before it dissipated.

A flood of boiling water flowed back down the tunnel, stopping just in front of Jeff again as Tranquil triggered her spell. The water flowed out of the tunnel and to the sides, quickly freezing to leave a path in the center for us to get out.

There was a roar from behind us, from within the army room, and Taur charged out. Ursula stepped into him and he ducked his head to drive through her with his horns.

I slowed the simulation down, locking his body in place. His eyes were wild and within the simulation he was saying 'kill' over and over.