Lucas was standing on the wall of his settlement, his gaze lost in protective dome that surrounded the city, his thoughts racing. A week had passed since they lost of the battle on the shore and subsequently retreated back into the city, the invaders stuck on the other side of the dome. Judging by the incessant pounding the dome received, they were focused on bring in it down, hitting it without break since the first day. Fortunately, Maya was genius and her creation withstood even the harshest punishment the invaders launched at it, allowing the city time to properly mobilize, set up traps and take care of civilians.

“The time draws near, the shield will not last much longer” Lucas thought as he remembered the words from the war meeting this morning. A meeting that ended in fierce argument between Lucas and the rest of notables of Camp Hearth, led by Bruce. They clashed over the course of action after shield broke, Lucas proposing for him and his party to venture out again and find the enemy seers that were causing them so much problems, while the rest of the room argued they should remain in the city and be used to plug a hole where it proves necessary. Lucas triumphed by sheer stubbornness, the rest realizing they had no way of forcing him to do as they say so reluctantly agreeing with his plan.

“Long day, huh?” a female voice startled Lucas, bringing him back to earth. He turned his head and spotted Maggie joining him on the wall, her eyes fixed on the dome just as his were just a moment ago.

“More like a week” Lucas responded before recounting the events of the meeting to her. His team was always welcomed on meetings like this, but this morning they decided to sleep – in instead of showing up, a decision that now looked like it would come back to bite them in the ass.

“Are you sure we can even kill them. As far as we know, they have already seen our decision and are taking active measures to defend against us” Maggie asked, voicing Lucas’s doubts out loud, a fact he voiced, but added that the seers were just a step below Ice Witch on the danger scales, concluding that something must be done about them.

“And there are no better candidates than us” Lucas finished, Maggie agreeing with him with a simple nod.

“That is all well and good, but I came here for a different purpose. We are gathering at the tavern and we couldn’t find you anywhere” Maggie changed the subject.

“Have fun. I would gladly join you, but the shield could fall at any moment and I need to stay up here in case it happens” Lucas said, Maggie looking at him briefly before she stepped down and started making her way back into the settlement. Lucas watched as she took the all too familiar route back to the tavern, feeling a stinging feeling in his stomach for refusing to gather with the rest of his party, but his responsibilities came first and he did promise to better himself, a promise he planned to keep.

Some fifteen minute have passed since Maggie left, Lucas found himself slightly bored. The pounding on the shield was constant, invaders pouring everything they had into breaking it, but the shield held for now. On the whim, he called up “System”, going into another review.

Name: Lucas (surname N/A)

Class: Blade of Doom level 63

Attributes:

Strength: 122

Agility: 180

Constitution: 38

Intelligence: 41

Willpower: 41

Perception: 89

Charisma: 31

Luck: 41

Health: 4636

Stamina: 28.800

Mana: 1681

Skills:

Sharpsight

Aura severing

Doom infusion

Dodge

Strikes of doom

Soul – shattering strike

Punch parry

Doom – infused punch

Infused Piledriver

Guiding strike

Battlerush

Blade spin

Bulwark of balance

Vengeful doom strike

Double strike

Equipment

Exquisite Naga steel coral breastplate

Exquisite Naga steel coral shoulder plates

Exquisite Naga steel coral gauntlets

Exquisite Naga steel coral leg guards

Ring of the Abyssal Depth

Pendant of Truesight

Disease – holding falchion

Plague enhanced brass gloves

Ring of vehement swordsman

Bandana of the vehement swordsman

Quests

Treasures of the times past

Sigils

Sigil of compassion

Titles

Monster Slayer

Colossus Muncher

Home – schooled

Scenario dungeon diver I

Vengeance Bringer

Class Advancer

Prodigy

Brutalizer

Lucas put all three of his free points into Constitution as soon as they got back into Camp Hearth, but all in all he was disappointed with his gains back at the shore. Sure, a lot of invaders weren’t even close to his level, but still, he killed at least thirty of them and he hoped that would amount to at least two levels.

“But you enjoy fucking me. You should maybe try to take a level away next time, you stingy ass piece of shit” Lucas send his rantings and curses at the System, more out of habit than being truly angry, and the System ignored him once again, as Lucas excepted. He quickly perused his stats and profile one last time, not much of interest to be found, just like there wasn’t the last five times Lucas opened it. His thoughts wandered towards the tavern, imagining his friends drinking and joking and eating and generally having fun while Lucas was stuck on this wall. In that moment, he spotted a group of familiar faces moving on the streets below him, Lucas dismissing them as his bored mind playing tricks on him.

In spite of what Lucas thought, the figures of his party were drawing closer and closer, accompanied by Bruce. They got up, Lucas now sure they were real, a true feeling of happiness and gratefulness spreading through his whole body. Without a word, his party set up the stuff they brought with them, all manners of alcohol and food quickly exiting the basket and landing on the blanket that was spread on the hard stone of the ramparts, the conversation quickly flowing into the light banter and small talk as thy at and drunk, the relentless attack of the invaders serving as the music for their little gathering.

“… and just like that, we were left without a payment and even worse, without a shower.” Ted finished his tale about a quest he and Maggie took from some frontier settlement back when they were still wandering adventurers. Lucas listened to the tale, some part of him yearning for those simpler times when he was just an adventurer, enjoying small gains and quests, not worried about big pictures, invaders from unknown parts of the Earth and politics.

“You know, I think I never told you the story about my star pupils from back in the day…” Bruce started his tale, Lucas noting a change of tone as the story progressed. Where Ted and Maggie aimed to entertain, Bruce was trying to teach, proving himself to be a teacher at heart. Even though his story lacked the same punch the one from siblings had, Lucas found himself drawn into it, especially as Bruce spoke of one of the humans who managed to outgrow Earth and leave it to go explore the multiverse. In the corner of his eye, he noticed Maggie listening it with same enthusiasm he showed, making corner of his lips twitch in a smile.

“Now, I hate to interrupt a good time, but we need to talk about your plan” Bruce said after finishing his story, looking at Lucas.

“I’m not changing my mind” Lucas defiantly said, watching the reaction of his party members, content they showed no signs of unease.

“I know and after thinking on it some more, I think you are right” Bruce said, Lucas feeling relieved “I just wanted to make sure you are all aware how seers work” he finished, grabbing the attention of the whole party.

“The seers are a giant family of classes which includes a widespread number of classes, from Fortune tellers to Prophets of the apocalypse and probably even more exotic classes that are not yet documented. Everything about them is unreliable and under – explored, but the gist of it is that they receive vision that need to be interpreted and there is one really glaring weakness in every one of them” Bruce spoke.

“And that would be?” Lucas asked impatiently.

“They cannot see the future when it involves people stronger than them” Bruce said, gears in Lucas’s head already spinning.

“Wait, then how were thy able to find me back in the forest?” Maggie was the first to ask.

“I would say that they didn’t and that you probably made a mistake, but Larissa proves there is still much even we Loremasters don’t know” Bruce said solemnly.

“I think I have an idea how” Lucas said “the Ice Witch is using her soldiers, who are probably weaker than the seers, as gauge. When the seers see mass deaths or failing of the tasks, she redirects her army or modify her decisions, until she finds a course to victory” he finished with his idea, the reaction of his party telling him he was probably on the right path.

“That is certainly possible, making her an even more dangerous enemy” Bruce said after a short pause “but if you are correct, then maybe we have a way to capitalize on her weakness” he finished, Lucas finding himself interested. As the old Loremaster explained his plan, Lucas was starting to become more and more convinced it would work, looking forward to test the idea.