“Damn dirty apes,” Skid swore again for the umpteenth time. They had been closing the gap on the runaway slaves, but they just had to take a shortcut closer to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo to save more time.

“I seriously need to take the air conditioning upgrade at level twenty-five.” Collin said as he retracted the faceplate on his power armor. “I’m seriously sweating my ass off in here. You sure I can’t store it away? It’s really uncomfortable.”

Skid looked at his subordinate in scorn. “Two of us already died to the mothafucking ape ambush. You almost had your head bitten off, you dumb fuck. It took too damn long for you to bring out your armor. You want to die in the next ambush?”

“Well… I-” Collin tried to speak, but he was cut off.

“Then suck it up, buttercup.”

“Where are they going?” Jacob, another of Skid’s crew, asked.

“Does it look like I fucking know?” Skid took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. He hadn’t been that easy to rile up since he landed in prison. He’d been forced to learn to control his temper, else wise he’d have had his ass shanked or been made a bitch years ago.

“They definitely have a destination in mind. I doubt it’s too far away though,” Skid continued in a more measured tone. “They probably don’t have much in the way of supplies, and based on the slaves’ condition, they can’t make it far without ‘em.”

“Do you hear that?” Roach asked. Roach was a twitchy cocksucker that annoyed the hell out of Skid, especially since he was the prison snitch. But he was the only one with a Listen skill in the mid-twenties. When he chose his perk, he took the Listen skill, which got him to apprentice rank instantly.

“No, no one hears a fucking thing twitch,” Skid said.

“It-it’s Roach, not tw-twitch.”

“Whatever twat, what do you fucking hear?”

Roach fidgeted for a moment while he had his eyes closed, a look of concentration on his face. “It, it’s a fight… some kind of animal. A bunch of them. I hear some people too, shouting and the banging of metal on metal.”

“It’s about fucking time. Where’s it coming from?”

Roach pointed up the dirt road they had been following, towards the small pass between the mountains. “Over there… maybe… maybe a mi-mile or t-two.”

“Let’s go check it out. Stay out of sight when we get to the top,” Skid ordered.

The group of nine men finished the climb and hid in the brush on either side of the road. They had a clear view of the valley. It was a nice enough location, meadows, a pond, some forest at the back. In the center, Skid saw a wooden wall surrounding a cabin and a long building with a low roof made of logs. On the far side of the tiny settlement, a fight was well underway.

At a bit over a mile, Skid couldn’t make out much detail, so he decided to cast one of his more useful beast magic spells, Eagle’s Eye.

After the five second cast time, he could feel his eyes changing shape. It wasn’t painful, just a really odd sensation. Skid’s eyes went blurry for a moment before it sharpened to an incredible amount. Now, even with the distance, he could see every detail of what was going on.

A bunch of animals were fighting, and losing, to a handful of people and “are those dragons? How the hell did they get dragons to fight for them?” Skid muttered.

“I dunno, Skid, is that what they are?”

“Shut the fuck up, Collin. I wasn’t asking you.”

Beneath the largest ram he had ever seen appeared a woman Skid recognized. She was one of the newer slaves that had been captured a couple of days ago. What was her name?

Skid used one of the useful aspects of his spell, he used Identify at an extreme range, and while he was at it, he Identified the elephant sized ram.

Kassandra Wulfson

Rogue Level 8

HP: 70/70

SP: 193/224

MP: 156/196

Alpha Steelhorn

Cultivation: Energy Rank 1

HP: 290/290

SP: 580/580

Ki: 325/375

Defense: 33

Skid watched as the Kassandra woman was kicked and sent flying. Mothafucka! Well, looks like they are all about to die. Hell, it’ll be a hard fight for me and my crew. Skid had to pause his musings when he noticed a man running at the alpha. He had a matched pair of axes and wore a pleated skirt… It’s him. The man who brought them damn hobs to our gate.

Skid identified him too, finally able to put a name to the asshole.

John Baker

Cultivation: Energy Rank 1

HP: 220/270

SP: 589/676

Ki: 100/375

Elemental Ki: 270/375

What the fuck? He’s as strong as the beast. Skid identified each of the others on the field. They were all impressive, and that big mothafucka with the hammer was on the same level as that John guy in the skirt. And those dragons, they were all Aeons. Someone was able to summon a ton of fairly high leveled monsters.

Skid assessed his men. They had all gone with the Path of Mana and had levels in the mid to low teens. They were powerhouses compared to most of the fodder around the city, but compared to the people fighting… he didn’t have a good feeling about confronting them directly with the men he had.

This valley is a good spot. If you can close off this entrance, it’s pretty defensible. Staff it with a few trustworthy people, get some slaves to work it. It could be a home away from home. A bit rustic though, but with the right amenities, it could be quite comfy. If I could take it from those brutes, I wouldn’t mind keeping it for myself.

Skid looked at the men fight again, considering if he might be able to actually take them. Then he saw the giant ram unleash a wave of metal spikes erupting from the ground, almost as long as he was tall. The big man with the hammer smashed it on the ground, the flying spikes changing direction at the same time and driving themselves into the dirt, and through some of the smaller rams, too.

“No, way too risky,” He muttered to himself.

“What’s too risky?” Roach asked.

Damn it, I know better than to mutter around that little snitch. Skid gave Roach the side-eye. “Trying to take back our slaves and teachin’ them who stole ‘em a lesson is too risky right now. We need to inform Lord Jackson and gather reinforcements.”

Skid looked over at his men, then decided. “Roach, you’re staying here to keep an eye on ‘em. Keep out a sight! You hear me? The rest of us are goin’ back.”

“Yo-you can’t j-just leave m-me here?” Roach’s already pale face lost what color it had left. “Th-the monsters w-will get me. I… I’ll die.”

Damn it, as much as I’d like the twitchy fuck to die, he’s got a useful skill. Besides, I’ve already lost two men on this shit show. “Fine, Collin. You’re staying with him. Keep your damn armor on and don’t get caught. The rest of us are heading back.”

“But I don’t want-” Collin tried protesting.

“I didn’t ask what you wanted,” Skid interrupted. “Do as you’re told.” And with that last command, Skid and the six other men slunk away and headed back down the mountains.

* * *

My Dragon’s Fangs ignited into ghostly green fire as I ran towards the huge ram. I was closing the distance quickly, but when he turned his head and eyed the crumpled form of my ex-wife, I was afraid that I wouldn’t be fast enough. When the beast started turning his body to follow his gaze, I knew I wasn’t fast enough.

With no better option coming to mind, I brought my right axe up and threw it as hard as I could. I wasn’t too worried about hitting the ram; it was practically the definition of hitting the broad side of a barn, but I wasn’t sure if it would hit him, blade first or not.

Fortune was on my side, for as I watched as my Dragon’s fang impacted the shiny silver coating of the Alpha Steelhorn, I saw it strike, blade first. It dug in, penetrating the defensive shell, but got caught in the thick, wiry fleece.

Then, I was forced to take my eyes off of the alpha as I had to hurdle a smaller ram that tried to take me out at the knee. Smoother than any Olympic track star, I brought my right knee up as I launched myself with my left foot, clearing the beast full on, anime swordsman style. I didn’t even lose the tiniest bit of speed as I landed and resumed my stride. I heard a confused bleat as I left the bewildered beast in my dust.

I felt a massive surge of Ki crash like a tsunami out of the Ram and flow in our direction. My attention tore back to the Alpha, and I saw waves of six-foot-long steel spikes erupting at an angle, accompanied by explosions of dirt. Row after row of spikes exploded out of the soil, covering an entire quarter arc. Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck! I desperately channeled Ki into the soles of my feet, preparing to launch myself as far as I could. I hoped I could clear the insane field of death marching closer with every second.

“Oh, no you don’t!” I heard Magnus bellow.

Against my better judgment, I felt my head turn towards the large man. He had infused a truly massive amount of his own metal-based Ki into his hammer and brought it crashing down to the ground. The Ki exploded out of him, rushing faster than even the Alpha Stellhorn’s Ki. and when it collided, the rapid march came to an abrupt halt and the spikes already protruding from the ground were forced down with a shriek of warping steel. My way forward had been cleared. How in the nine hells did Magnus pull that off? The feat of Ki control was truly awe-inspiring, but I had to force my attention back to the task at hand.

When I looked back up to the alpha, I saw that the phantom green flames had been flowing off of my axe blade and seemed to infuse the wool. What the fuck? Is it absorbing my Ki? I had time to think before I heard the alpha let loose a bellow of pain.

The giant beast turned and tried to bite at what was paining it, my axe that was still embedded in its side, the jade flame still pouring out and spreading even farther under the outer shell. The Alpha dropped its armor technique, which proved to be a mistake as a moment later, the green tinted wool exploded into a massive inferno. Well, that answers that.

I was less than fifty feet away, and the alpha loomed even larger as I got closer. Quickly, I transferred my other axe into my right hand and, as loud as I could, I shouted at the beast. “Hey, fuckface!” Then, as it turned its massive head towards me, I threw my second Dragon’s Fang right at its head. The weapon spun so fast in the air that it looked like a burning green ring of death.

I was less lucky this time, as the ram shifted its head to the side and deflected my blade. Its pupils were wide as it stared at me, a look of madness and rage seemed to dance behind its eyes. I bellowed once again, then it leapt forward and charged.

Charging me, as I charged it, had been another mistake he made. The jade flame Ki billowed with even greater ferocity as the air rushed past, now consuming its entire fleece. I triggered the Return function, and my weapons appeared in my hands just as I baseball slid under the Alpha’s lowered head.

As I slid, I brought both axes down and chopped with all my Strength into its ankle, just above the split hoof, releasing a spray of blood and another bellow of pain.

As I wrenched my weapons free, I was knocked into the air as a bed of metal spikes shout out of the ground and slammed into my side hard enough to completely shatter my Ki armor.

-50

The alpha continued its charge and a glancing blow from one of it’s hind legs sent me careening to the side, the steel spikes tearing through my flesh as I tumbled away.

-34

I saw the bleeding status icon appear next to my health bar. It pulsed with every rapid beat of my heart. I was down to half of my health, not having had enough time to really recover any Health, even though I had managed to reinforce my cracked ribs. Why can’t Ki just heal all at once? It hurt too much to bother with complaining out loud, so I had to content myself to bitching in my mind. I was pretty sure that the reinforcement on my bones had failed after that last impact, and I thought I had felt something shift that wasn’t supposed to move that way.

Once my tumble came to a stop, I extracted one of my healing potions from my storage ring. Plucking the cork out with my teeth, I drained the liquid in one gulp. It would only restore fifty health, but it would be back in a minute instead of the five my Ki healing usually took. Just having to deal with the damage for that one minute was forever in a battle. Fortunately for me, I seemed to have that minute for recovery; I looked up and saw that the Alpha Steelhorn had changed directions and was bearing down on Magnus and Cody.

I tried to get to my feet, but every time I moved my torso, a sharp pain pierced through me. I was forced to watch as the monster tried to trample my friend. To my surprise, I saw Magnus drop Thorbjorn to the ground and lowered his stance, open hands spread wide as he prepared to take on the literal tons of charging spirit beast, strength to strength.

Just a few seconds later, they made contact. There was an earth-shaking boom, and a ring of dust and debris blew out all around them. I saw Magnus gripping the humongous spiraled horns in his bare hands, man and beast struggling with all their might to force the other to move.

I felt a pop in my ribcage and suddenly I could breathe a bit easier; the pressure squeezing me like bands of steel had lessened, and I could move a bit more. The two continued to struggle, the ram trying to twist its head this way and that, Magnus’s muscles straining at keeping its head down. I could see veins standing in sharp contrast over his bulging muscles, his face red with the strain.

I forced myself first to my knees, and then, with a deep breath, I regained my feet. I felt a bit lightheaded and noticed the bleed status was still ongoing. I’ll have to deal with that in a minute. He needs my help.

I tried to walk forward, but a sharp pain in my ankle that had been buried under all the other pain made itself known and nearly made me fall back to the ground. It was then that I noticed my hands were once again empty, and I had to use the Return function again. As soon as Dragon’s Fangs filled my grip, I took a deep breath and held it for a moment, bracing myself against the pain I poured even more of my Jade Flame Ki into them, over a hundred points worth and nearly everything I had left. I slashed out like I had against the earth elementals and, like before, a pair of green crescents flew away from me as a giant X. the bottom points of the attack dug into the ground, spraying up dirt like the wake of a speedboat and crashed into the side of the beast with all the force of a speeding semi-truck.

The elephant sized ram was knocked to the side, feet actually leaving the ground. Magnus, apparently having seen or sensed the attack incoming, was prepared. He maintained his grip, and borrowing the force of the attack, managed to swing the ram around and slam it to the earth. A sickening popping-crunch echoed across the battlefield. The Alpha Stellhorn’s head was twisted a near one hundred eighty degrees and a spike of bone jutted out of its throat.

Magnus called his Soul-Bound Warhammer back to his hand, and spike first, brought it down on top of the beast’s skull, piercing through and driving several inches of hardened spike deep into its brain. With a long rattle, the ram exhaled it’s last breath and lay still.

Congratulations, brave defenders of Jade Redoubt!

Through your unwavering courage and determination, you have successfully repelled the attack of the Alpha Steelhorn Ram and protected your beloved settlement. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed, as you have fulfilled the Defense of Jade Redoubt quest with remarkable success.

Quest Requirements:

Population Survival: 0 Citizens of Jade Redoubt have perished. Your dedication to safeguarding the lives of your fellow settlers is commendable.

Headman’s Hut Preservation: Despite the relentless assault, the Headman’s hut remains standing, serving as a symbol of resilience and leadership within our settlement.

Beasts Eliminated: Steelhorn slain: 40/47. Steelhorn retreated: 7/40. Alpha Steel horn slain: 1/1. Through your combined strength and strategy, you have successfully eliminated or driven off all the attacking beasts, ensuring the safety and tranquility of Jade Redoubt.

Rewards:

Essence: Your valiant defense has attracted a surge of Essence, a vital resource for our settlement’s growth and development. It will be added to your reserves, bolstering your capabilities for the challenges that lie ahead. Essence Gained: 1,075.

Loyalty and Morale Boost: The resounding victory and your exemplary leadership have instilled a deep sense of loyalty and morale among the citizens of Jade Redoubt. This increase in camaraderie and unity will further strengthen our bonds as a community. Loyalty: +20, Morale: +20.

Unknown Reward: Quest: The Lamb’s Bounty

Bloody hell, it’s going to take some getting used to these bright as fuck orange settlement quest prompts. Before I even had a chance to fully read the results of my first Settlement defense quest, another bright orange prompt filled my vision.

Quest: Rise of the Village

Congratulations, Headman of Jade Redoubt, on successfully defending and establishing the hamlet. Now, the time has come to further advance and transform our settlement into a thriving village. As the leader, you hold the responsibility of meeting certain requirements that will pave the way for our progress and prosperity.

Quest Objectives:

Increase the population of Jade Redoubt to 21 or higher.

Upgrade the Administrative building to Rank 2, expanding its capacity and functionality.

Construct a Rank 1 Lord’s Manor, providing a central residence for the settlement’s leadership.

Establish a Rank 1 Workshop, facilitating the development and production of essential goods and resources.

Ensure sufficient food production to sustain a population of at least 21 people.

Quest Rewards:

Advancement to Village: The successful completion of this quest will elevate Jade Redoubt from a hamlet to a recognized village, providing new options in the Settlement Interface.

Recognition and Influence: As the Headman of the village, your leadership and achievements will garner respect and influence among neighboring settlements and increase the reputation of Jade Redoubt.

Increased Loyalty and Morale: The successful advancement to a village will inspire the citizens of Jade Redoubt, boosting their loyalty and morale

Essence Reward: Upon completion, the settlement will receive a substantial reward of 5,000 Essence, a valuable resource that can be used for various purposes such as construction, enhancements, and powering amenities.

Embark on this quest, Headman, and guide Jade Redoubt towards its next stage of development. As the settlement flourishes and meets the requirements, the rewards and opportunities will lay the foundation for a prosperous future. Lead with wisdom, determination, and the unwavering spirit of progress!

There it is, the requirements to progress from hamlet to village. If I remember right, my Ki powered, portable smithy will more than take care of the workshop requirements. The population is definitely high enough. I just need to get enough food production and my own place, separate from the headman’s hut. I’m sure that will make everyone super happy with me. Cram them all into one big building while I live in the lap of luxury. Yeah, if I try to pull that shit, they will almost certainly try to lynch me or just leave… hmm… if they leave, then I won’t have to deal with them. I shook my head. If I tried to get everyone to leave, then we would end up stuck as a hamlet, and every other new settlement would progress until they came to claim us for themselves. I didn’t want to be swallowed up into some future warlords spoils.

I minimized the prompt for the advancement quest and brought back up the quest completion prompt and go over it in more detail. A little over a thousand Essence, not bad. A few days’ worth of normal generation for us. It should give us a jump start on getting everything going. What’s this? A Quest for a Quest reward? I clicked on it and got a new Quest prompt.

Quest: The Lamb’s Bounty

An opportunity has presented itself to the citizens of Jade Redoubt. In a nearby high meadow, a flock of precious lambs resides under the watchful eyes of the formidable Steelhorn Yews. It is up to you to decide whether to embark on this quest, facing the challenges that lie ahead to claim the lambs as a valuable asset for your settlement.

Quest Objectives:

Journey to the high meadow and locate the flock of lambs.

Eliminate the Steelhorn Yews and ensure the safety of the lambs.

Decide whether to claim the lambs for your settlement or leave them undisturbed.

Quest Rewards:

Potential Bonus: Livestock for Jade Redoubt, Boost to domestication speed, allowing for quicker taming of the lambs.

Failure to accept or complete this Quest: Failure to claim the lambs may lead to the rise of a new Alpha Steelhorn Ram, potentially putting Jade Redoubt at risk of another attack.

Choose your path wisely, for the fate of our settlement and the potential rewards lie in your hands. Embark on this quest and seize the opportunity to secure a valuable asset, or tread with caution and weigh the risks that lie ahead. The choice is yours, brave citizens of Jade Redoubt!

Do you accept?

Y/N