Adil looked across the battlefield, Urakle was sitting down, managing the image once more. The room was holding the Caves elder, Morganna, six of the cave's captains including Urakle, Swift and Seras.

The approach of the crusading army was finely tracking the concentrations of mana to figure out where their base was. Not even a slight deviation from the path as they cleared the maze.

"We can set up pitfalls across there and there," Adil said, pointing to locations the army would pass, places he could see the ground was also a roof for another tunnel or cavern.

"If we use pitfalls again we can only expect to take out a few, and there are many," Urakle added.

One of the larger goblins stepped forward. In a deep voice, he said:

"Consistent surprise attacks until we make a breakthrough is slow and ineffective. I still think taking out the leader is our best chance."

"What about using the prisoners," Morganna added casually.

"No. they have served their purpose. It is unlikely the cardinal will even consider their lives after the way they treated the injured," Adil added.

Adil looked at the HUD display for his crystal faction, focusing through his consciousness on the details of the base crystal. He had asked Morganna for some help organising the display of the crystal faction members. A slight description of them next to their names.

Members: 279

Captains: 10

Elders: 1

You have unlocks to allocate

Adil had figured out that the spawn crystal grows with the addition of more members. The mana and essence connected through the members had built to allow for upgrades to specific units. Understanding this, he had captured roughly a hundred and seventy prisoners and forced a connection to the spawn crystal. He was unsure how to disconnect them but concluded that was a problem for future Adil.

inspecting the upgrade system, Adil tried to figure out what was best to do next.

--

unlocks:

Points: 17

One point per ten members of crystal faction.

Cost

warning:

Only one upgrade is allowed per unit.

one point five points ten points

captain Enlightened* Elder

Scoutmaster* Warlord

upgrades with a * can only be used on specialist units currently held.

Elder

This upgrade has a focus on integration with the crystal rather than a boost to abilities. Amplification of the individual is dependant on the level of the crystal rather than a base level increase. This upgrade is focused on the management of the crystal's functions rather than an improvement of the individual's ability. The life of the person who accepts this talent is intrinsically tied to the crystal.

WarLord

This upgrade enhances the physical abilities and strengths of the user as an extension to the Captain upgrade. Significant physical changes and enhancements to one's battle potential will develop if the individual accepts this talent.

Captain

A captain is a selected guild member that has their traits enhanced through the essence of both gathered spawn crystal faction members and spawn crystal mana synergy. The member will notice a significant increase in their physical attribute and slight changes to their appearance is they choose to accept this upgrade.

Scoutmaster

The member of the cave has its awareness more intuned to the crystal's field of awareness. They will be capable of sensing dangers which enter the area close to the spawn crystal or large concentrations of mana. This will heighten the senses of the individuals and give a slight increase to their physical and mental attributes.

Compatible members:

(Captain) Urakle, Mar, (prisoner) Shale, (Captain) Griffon, Burt, Odi, (Captain) Hans.

Enlightened

If the enlightened accepts the upgrade choice, their being is reinforced. Unlike the captain, this upgrade is solely on the mental state. This allows for an increased thought process speed, increased split focus enhanced reaction time and greater attention to detail. The upgraded unit may also notice greater control over their mana attribute.

Compatible members:

(Captain) Urakle, (prisoner) Aundre, (Captain) Aku, Chris

--

Adil needed to make sure he didn't upgrade any of the prisoners. They were bad enough holding on to the guild crest. Quickly Adil chose all the upgrades. Adil upgraded the rank of Aku to Warlord, giving him the most significant direct boost in power and also restoring his captain position. After that, he picked scoutmaster for Mar and Hans, enlightened for Urakle and captain for two remaining points he had left.

Adil looked to Urakle after his selection. He saw the goblin appear to focus on something as if daydreaming, likely to accept the upgrade. The goblin's eyes turn black and black contrast lines stretch from them, creating tribal patterns around his head. A slight fog of darkness rose from him.

"What?" Urakle asked, noticing his stare.

"The rank up looks good on you."

"Why are you talking so slow," he said in an almost rush before he looked at himself like he was inspecting some new clothes. He waved his hand in front of his face and said: "freaky."

Hans, a human captain chosen by Griffon, was also in the room seemed to accept the change given to him. his captain status being thrown away for the scoutmaster addition. His eyes were glowing slightly with a silver hue as slight steam rose from his body. He looked to Adil with a sense of understanding. He nodded, knowing he should be focusing on the events to come.

"What just happened?" Seras asked, having noticed the change from Hans and Urakle.

"Thanks to the prisoners, I upgraded a few of our ranks. We should see a noticeable increase in power," Adil replied.

"Right," Seras replied, crossing her arms as if she just had to accept it and move forward.

"Let's go," Adil added resulting in the group moving out.

Before making the final move, Adil sent the drones out to construct the pitfalls and traps they discussed before he went with the others for the final ambush. Glancing at the war table, he saw the grim expression of the cardinal. Solemnly he looked again into the spawn crystal hud. There he saw the man reserves at 8%. He had no idea what would happen if someone died, and they had no mana left.

.........

Further, Into the cave, resting in a room with ample space Steve was sitting, his head placed against the wall. He heard a slight amount of scuffling in the distance.

"Captain- what are you-"

Steve waited a while longer. He couldn't stop thinking about what was happening about the battle outside, the elven girl. Part of him stuck on wondering If there was some better way.

He reached forward into the window of the door and saw that the body of the guard was now on the floor.

"Hey.. are you dead?"

The guard didn't answer.

*Damnit Steve, why didn't you look earlier* Steve thought, he started bashing himself into the wall, trying to make some noise and trying o break out of there. He looked around and saw nothing but... He saw a dirty shiv on the floor.

"Awh, this isn't a good idea," he said as he moved forward.

A few moments later Steve respawned int he spawning area. Around him appeared to be a cacophony of soldiers waking up in a strange new room, they appeared to be wearing cotton clothes.

"Hey soldier, are you one of us? You're clothes. Why are you able to keep your armour on?"

"Oh. These are soul bound, so they stay with me when I die," Steve replied.

The soldier took the half-hearted response and chuffed.

"Fancy," the soldier said.

Suddenly a soldier in full leather armour appeared around the corner, a stern look in his eyes. It was a captain of the cave. Horatio. He caught eyes with Steve as soldiers either side seemed to grab and hold his arms. Horatio then asked one simple question.

"Are you going to fight?"

Steve was utterly confused; he recognised Horatio as one of the captains and Horatio clearly recognised him. He didn't feel like he should fight anyone, and he did want to get out of there. He gave a single nod in reply, leading Horatio to tie his arms and pull him along with the others.

They proceeded to move towards the outside, avoiding a couple more knocked out guards on the way.