Eric woke up refreshed and grabbed a meal at the inn for breakfast to refill his Satiety before beginning the day. He decided to contact Cattie and find out if she was planning to join the Legion since he had some time to kill before the assembly. He navigated to his social menu once he stepped outside and sent her a short message: “Well... I’m still alive after my first quest. I joined the Legion to fight the invading monsters on the frontier. Let me know if you are still in the city and we can meet up before the mobilization.”

Eric got an almost immediate response: “I was wondering when I’d be hearing from you. I also signed up to join the Legion! I’ll be around the west gate shortly to see what I can find out about the upcoming battle. Come by and we can go check out the preparations together, and you can tell me more about this secret weapon class of yours. See you soon!”

Eric smiled as he read the message and looked forward to seeing Cattie again. He felt she would be a valuable ally and her knowledge about Teurilia was impressive from what he had witnessed so far. He walked to the west gate at a relaxed pace thinking about the upcoming march toward the frontier. Without the assistance of horses for transport, the trip would likely take a couple days.

Eric arrived at the west gate after a short trek through the city. He saw Cattie chatting with a few other players near the gatehouse as he approached. She noticed him and waved enthusiastically motioning him to join her group.

Eric made his way over and casually said, “Hey Cattie, good to see you.”

She replied cheerfully, “Hey Eric! Glad you could make it.”

Eric found a place next to Cattie in the loose circle of players she was chatting with, and she began introducing each of them to him, “These are the other members of my guild, Solaris.” She pointed her finger to each as she introduced them, “That’s Jax, Liam, and Ella. Everyone this is Eric, we met in the training grounds. He was eyeing my fighting style, and I offered to give him a few tips,” she said with a bright smile giving Eric a playful wink.

Eric shook his head slightly at her comment and chuckled lightly. “Nice to meet you. Are all of you also joining the Legion?” Eric asked trying to break the ice.

“You know it!” Jax replied making a fist.

The man identified as Jax had a Two-handed Axe strapped to his back and was wearing light plate armor across his chest with matching arm guards. He appeared to be a front-line warrior based on his appearance and choice of weapon. He had a sturdy build and long black hair down to his shoulders. Eric noticed his rough facial features including a poorly healed scar across the right side of his pale face.

“Yea, we thought it would be a good chance to level up and get some achievements,” Ella said in a soft voice.

Ella was a small girl with short blonde hair mixed with purple and gold streaks throughout. She had on a light blue robe with royal blue trimmings around the cuffs and seams. She was holding a knobby wooden staff as tall as she was, topped with a shimmering blue orb that reflected the bright sun overhead.

Liam nodded, indicating he was also joining the legion when Eric glanced his direction. He was wearing a muted green robe and was shorter and leaner than Jax. Eric noticed his pointed features and recognized he was one of the elf races from the southern woodlands because of his tanned brown skin and green eyes. He had a short dagger hanging from his belt that had noticeable rune markings along the blade.

“That’s great. Did you find out any information about what type of monsters the scouts have observed?” Eric questioned curiously.

Cattie spoke up, “Only rumors so far, but from what we’ve heard the majority of the force consists of Valix warriors. They are a race of reptilian humanoids. They are going to be a tough opponent with their naturally thick armor scales and the deadly poison they use to coat their weapons.” She grimaced slightly during her last statement.

“Interesting, I’ve read a little about the Valix it sounds like they will be formidable in large numbers,” Eric replied calmly. Eric felt fortunate to have a naturally high resistance to poison.

Jax chimed in, “That isn’t the worst of it. There are also rumors a contingent of Deastron was sighted with the Valix forces.”

“Deastron? I’ve never heard of that species,” Eric responded questioningly.

Cattie shook her head and said, “They aren’t well known, but they are massive creatures considered high tier monsters by many. They resemble an enormous bull but have six legs and armored skull plates that can crush through almost any defense. They are driven by rage in battle which can cause havoc on an already chaotic battlefield. If there really is a contingent of them, we should prepare for heavy casualties.”

Liam broke his silence and added, “Let’s hope the Legion has plenty of healers and priests to keep up with the injuries.”

Everyone nodded thoughtfully. The more Eric heard about the opposing force of monsters the less he liked it. He hoped that there were plenty of players signed up to fight with the Legion, or he was sure they would be in a lot of trouble.

Jax spoke interrupting his thoughts, “Why don’t we go ahead and head out to the assembly ground? I wouldn’t mind doing some light training before the mobilization starts.”

“Great idea Jax, we can get Eric to show us that new weapon he’s got,” Cattie said nodding towards Shadowspark interestedly.

Eric smiled slightly and said, “I could use a little practice.”

The group headed toward the massive gate to exit the city. The gate was surrounded by the thick outer walls of the city, and Eric noticed the guards seemed to be on high alert watching over the traffic coming in and out of the city. The rumors of the incoming monster army seemed to have spooked them. The players passed through unimpeded and found the assembly ground just outside the walls.

It was a simple large flat area of dirt and patched grass. Eric noticed there were already some small groups of players forming around the outskirts. His group spotted an empty space on the far side of the area and agreed it would work perfect for their intended training practice.

As they walked over, Cattie explained the formation of her guild. It was originally only herself and Ella, they were friends before Teurilia and made a pact to stick together once they were fully immersed. After plenty of research, they decided to start their own guild once they entered. Jax and Liam joined after a recent quest brought together the four players to explore a nearby dungeon. They all worked well together so the two were offered membership into the guild.

Eric was thinking over the benefits of being in as guild as they arrived at the small area they had picked out. Jax was the first up and immediately challenged Eric to a duel. Jax unsheathed his battle axe and stepped a few paces into the clearing with his axe out in front of him. Eric looked hesitantly at Cattie before taking Shadowspark off his shoulder and setting down his quiver of arrows on the ground, knowing it would be a melee contest. The rules of a training duel were simple, no fatal attacks against downed opponents and the first to be disarmed or surrender were declared the loser.

Jax gave a big grin as Eric stepped in front of him gripping Shadowspark tightly. Eric adjusted his stance remembering his training with Flynn and the techniques he practiced to use against two handed axe warriors.

“No arrows for that fancy bow of yours, suit yourself. You ready for this bowman?” Jax asked confidently.

“Ready,” Eric said flatly in response.

“Begin!” Cattie shouted from the sideline.

Jax wasted no time and sprinted toward Eric with a short war cry escaping his mouth. Jax pulled back his axe for a side swipe, and Eric was immediately reminded of the heavy attacks of the zombie ogre. Eric side-stepped swiftly and ducked below the aggressive swing. Unlike the ogre, Jax more quickly recovered and readjusted for an overhead strike. Eric lifted Shadowspark and caught the shaft below the axe head locking the two warriors into a standoff. Their muscles bulged from the strain against one another.

Eric felt himself slowly losing the tug of war and took the initiative by flipping Shadowspark into a tight angle releasing the stalemate. Eric sent a surge of Lightning into the shaft and slammed it into Jax’s chest before he could counter-attack sending Jax stumbling away. Eric noticed Jax’s muscles tighten from the electric charge sent through his body giving him the opportunity to seal his advantage with a charging attack to Jax’s body. The charge sent both fighters tumbling to the ground. Jax’s axe skittered away from his reach, and Eric recovered to one knee with the edge of Shadowspark at Jax’s throat.

“No way! How could you block my overhead attack like that?!” Jax exclaimed.

Eric smiled and offered Jax a hand to help him to his feet. “I have a unique fighting style you could say,” Eric replied mysteriously.

“Oh come on, I’ve dueled archers before, and they all rely on their ranged abilities, yet you didn’t even bring any arrows to the fight. Cattie, this is your friend right, what is his deal?” Jax said passionately.

Cattie looked at me thoughtfully and said, “Eric why don’t you explain? You can trust all of us here.”

Eric carefully thought back to his vow to put his trust in people and not lead another life of loneliness. He was weary of letting people in on his discovery but he wouldn’t be able to hide his secret forever and he decided he could trust Cattie’s judgment. He nodded thoughtfully and said, “Well… I stumbled onto a special ranged weapon proficiency focused on using Strength rather than Dexterity. It is called a Great Bow,” Eric said as he held out Shadowspark.

Everyone looked at him silently as they realized how lucky he was to find such a rare weapon proficiency. Eric noticed Cattie smirking off to the side. He went on to explain his apprenticeship with Flynn, and even Cattie looked a little shocked when he described how he’d received a bonded weapon. Cattie and Ella both reaffirmed his suspicions of the rarity of bonded weapons.

The group was even more shocked to discover that Shadowspark could infuse multiple elemental damage types into a single melee strike. It was unheard of for ranged weapons to be used with melee strikes in such a way and revealed how Eric was able to disable Jax in their duel. All the bows that had enchantments could only be used to infuse arrows for ranged attacks to the best of the collective group’s knowledge. Eric thanked his good fortunes again after hearing the new information.

The shock settled, and Eric answered all the group’s questions to the best of his ability before the training continued. They decided to redirect their focus and spend time discussing strategy and tactics about the upcoming battle and avoid any serious duels with the mobilization approaching. Cattie still promised to duel Eric the next time they had a reprieve from quests so he made a mental note to hold her to it. He was beginning to understand how valuable it could be to ally with the right people, especially in Teurilia because of the amount of quests that required a well-rounded group.

Eric learned more about the Valix from the group’s discussions. He learned they were typically well-equipped enemies that preferred spears and pole weapons and they normally wore light armor over their already highly protected skin, adding another level of defense to breach. They only had a few weaknesses, but the greatest weakness being their lack of organization. Their forces were likely to be shock and awe troops that charged at the first sign of resistance. It would be critical to hold against their first attack to prevent being overrun, but if the Legion could hold their initial charge, then the rest of the battle should turn in favor of the Legion’s troops.

The information about the Deastron was less promising. The only known weakness was to slow them down with immobilization magic and focus fire their massive legs to break their charge. Eric hoped that his division didn’t come face to face with one of them after hearing about their deadliness.

Eric also learned about Ella and Liam’s magic specialties during their strategy session. Ella focused on Water magic and had started exploring the sub-element of Ice magic while Liam had a mix of focuses, primarily studying Light magic for healing and support, but also a sub-focus on Summoning magic to call forth familiars to offer aid in battle. He only had the ability to summon simple creatures with the largest being a three-tailed fox, but even small creatures could be used to scout dungeons and distract enemies.

The group shared a small lunch and got to know more about one another’s past lives while more players filtered into the assembly ground. The Legion was shaping up to be at least a few thousand players based on the number of people congregated. Eric noticed many faces from the training grounds as well as a small number of more well-equipped players.

The mobilization countdown reached zero, and a new message appeared in Eric’s vision. He immediately noticed an area glowing in light not far from the group in the assembly ground when the message appeared.

Ting!

Mobilization has commenced.

All Legion members form up in your division using the on-screen navigation.