Everyone sat down in a seat on the newly crafted platform named Fly Brick 2. Rebecca and Ross were the only ones sweating buckets as they got on but they were grateful that they at least had seats this time. Using Wind magic draven Lifted the platform high into the sky and made it fly at a comfortable speed toward Ironforge. It took them a bit longer this time but seemed well worth it as no one puked this time around after landing. Draven was sweating quite a bit as he had never continuously used his magic for such a long period before and had used 3 times as much mana for the same distance. Draven after waiving to a few random passersby that were still walking around this late at night, made his way to the med pods. like in novice village there was only a small house that had 5 pods in it.
Draven felt a bit concerned as these pods were life-saving devices and in case of an emergency, they wouldn't have enough to treat many people at the same time. He decided to look into purchasing a larger medical facility in the future. Draven opened one of the pods and was about to step inside. He still had some cracked ribs and he wanted to make sure his legs were fully healed.
Draven was pissed. "What do you mean I'm not compatible with the device? everyone else can use it. Why not me? How do you even know that it won't work? What will happen if I get into it?" Draven retorted. Jennifer and the rest of the party were standing behind Draven looking at him confused as to what was going on.
"Not conducive to my health? Are the Pods not safe to use? Do they have negative side effects?" Draven asked getting worried about all the people who had used them up until now.
Draven was fed up with this whole situation now he couldn't use the med pods either if he was injured. System explain to me who you are hiding me from."
"You're joking," Draven said while pressing his hand against his forehead. Now the system had information that it wasn't willing to share with Draven. Before he felt that the system was a companion to him but now it felt more like there was a stranger in his head watching his every move, perhaps even controlling him to do what it wanted him to do.
"System shut down," he commanded.
A shiver ran down Draven's back after hearing this. Noticing Draven turning a bit pale as the dark purple skin on his face turned a much lighter shade of purple Jennifer came to his side. "What's wrong?" She asked worriedly. "The system is hiding something from me and I don't know if I can trust it anymore. I will implode if I turn it off not that it would allow me to do so anyway. I can't use the Med Pod as it would bypass the incognito mode meaning whoever sent us here would be able to find me if I used it." He explained while clenching his fist tightly. I'll just heal the rest overnight I'm sure I'll feel better by then. Draven said turning towards the exit as the rest of the group stayed put. not knowing what to do.
"I don't know what it's like to not trust something inside your head but it has gotten you this far and kept you alive and made you so strong. I'm sure there is a reason it is keeping certain things from you. The fact it is hiding you from the people who brought us here already shows it is on our side so don't think about the negatives and use it to become the strongest. And if something happens down the road we will be there to help you.". Jennifer said looking straight into his eyes. "You always know what to say to cheer me up," Draven said smiling at her.
He took a few steps forward opening the door as he looked back. "Are you guys coming? I was going to see how many rooms are in the Town Hall if you all want to move in." With that, their mood changed quickly and the girls nearly created a stampede to push Draven out the door and towards the Town Hall. Once they were there everyone including Ross and Greg were surprised at how large this house was. After checking there were many large guest rooms and even smaller bedrooms that were probably for the servants or other employees of the Town Hall. Draven allowed them to choose what room they wanted as all he had to do was drag their name from the list of villagers into the space of the bedroom in the map and they would be able to come and go as they pleased.
Are we able to pick whatever room we want? Greg asked excitedly. "Yeah, and every room is free of charge. This got the whole group cheering. "But there is a catch," Draven said looking at them sternly. The cheering died down immediately. "We will be the Towns party meaning I expect us to be the strongest party in this world. Everything we do will be for the survival of everyone and not just ourselves. Each of you will be putting in a lot more work than before and become leaders of the new civilization we are trying to create. So no more showing up late he said looking at Jennifer and Rebecca. They looked to the sides pretending his gaze wasn't on them. Draven would make sure they were ready early in the morning from now on.
Looking around Draven didn't see his dad anywhere and after looking at the map he wasn't inside the town either so maybe he went out hunting as well? He decided to take a quick look around the perimeter to make sure he was ok. The group all nodded in agreement so Draven had them pick out the rooms they wanted in the meantime promising to be back in half an hour. Both Celine and Jennifer were fighting for the room closest to the Mayors which was his room. Jennifer was getting mad again. What are you doing Celine? you said you would help me but now you're going after him too. She said angrily. "Well, I changed my mind after tonight. It's not my fault he is literally Prince Charming. You had a whole week to get closer to him and you didn't go see him once. this is on you and now you have competition. Both May and Rebecca sighed. Ross had enough as well as he approached them. Didn't you two hear what he said? were supposed to be leaders of the town now and you two are acting like little girls. This is going to break the party apart if you two don't get it together and compromise like adults.
Both Celine and Jennifer turned to him and were about to rip him a new one for getting involved but Rebecca stepped in as well. "He is right you two. Jennifer, you are way too slow and we told you this could happen if you didn't make a move sooner to get his attention." Celine nodded in agreement after hearing the conversation turn in her favor. May then got involved. "Don't stand there nodding all smug you're not any better you said you wouldn't go after him and here you are hugging and cuddling all over him by the campfire. That is not what friends do. Now Jennifer was nodding hearing what May had to say. This was too much drama for Greg. Look just talk it out with Draven and see what he says to all of this who knows maybe he doesn't like either of you and all this is a waste of time. He said while walking to his new room not wanting to be a part of this conversation anymore.
Both Celine and Jennifer nearly collapsed in depression after hearing Draven may not have any feelings towards either of them as several depressing scenarios of being rejected played in their heads. They continued to mope until Draven came back and saw them both leaning up against the wall looking like a pair of soulless husks. Draven turned to Ross what happened to them? he asked with a worried expression. "Women's problems Ross said don't try to understand it or you might go insane." He said laughing. Oh, well that's no reason to laugh Ross girls having their periods can be very embarrassing if you don't have anything to keep clean. "No that's not what I meant by Women's prob... Draven was already gone and came back with multiple strips of clean cloth. He handed them over to Celine and Jennifer. "Here I don't have any tampons or pads but I hope this will do let me know if I should draw you two a bath or get fresh clothes. Both Celine and Jennifer's faces turned a deep red as they looked at Draven then the strips of cloth and then each other before bursting into laughter."
Draven was super confused at this point. "So I take it you don't need these?" "No, we're good but thank you for caring," Celine said. "Yes, it was very sweet of you to try and help but we can take care of that ourselves." Jennifer added. They continued to laugh as they both picked a different room no longer fighting over the one next to Draven it didn't matter they were all pretty close anyway. Draven registered everyone to the rooms they chose and went back to Ross. You're right I might have lost a few brain cells there. But it seems they are at least in a better mood now." Draven said perplexed about that whole situation. Ross just laughed as well. Them walking away laughing is the best outcome so that's a Win in my book he said as he waived Draven good night and he went back to his room May and Rebecca also retired for the night leaving Draven to his own devices. Exhausted from almost dying Draven went straight to his room and took a quick shower before passing out as well.
James POV
James went out hunting again he has been spending a lot of time helping Draven with his professions as well as leveling up his own while also working on the Farm Draven had bought and added to the town. Every noncombatant had to help with ensuring the success of the crops but he would stop by regularly to help out they needed to eat more vegetables as everyone's diets had been purely meat for quite some time. But now it was time to focus on leveling up again. James didn't want to be reliant on Draven to share XP Orbs he wanted to earn them himself. He was quite strong in his own right and even enjoyed the feeling of getting stronger through his own efforts. According to Draven, he wasn't far away from reaching level 15 as he had been going on several hunting parties as well as going solo during the night if he had the energy this past week.
James came across a cave entrance that was slightly off the path leading up to the mountain. Curiosity took over as he entered the wide tunnel leading deep into the cave. the carcasses of many small animals littered the cave floor causing a crunching sound to echo throughout the cave with each step. Quite a few lizards were hiding among the walls. The villagers still didn't know how to accurately refer to them as there were so many different types of lizards in this area. Some were chameleon-like and could camouflage. Others could spit fire or have a rocky surface on their skin. James was dealing with the Chameleons as they hid on the surface of the wall waiting for James to walk past before jumping on them. They were the size of a golden retriever and had several spikes on their body that easily penetrated the skin. This wasn't all that bad but the worst part was that both their bite and spikes were very poisonous.
The chamelons were easily dealt with as James would allow them to jump towards him but before they could ever have a chance to impale him they were sliced in half by his claws. His night vision was superb and he would not allow himself to be poisoned by a creature as weak as this. As he got further into the cave the carcasses that littered the floor were no longer those of smaller animals but were now quite large and even the carcasses of the Chameleons were among them. "Looks like my prey is getting bigger," James thought as he continued his path forward. It didn't take long until James stopped as he began to hear footsteps. He decided to wait behind the wall leading toward where the footsteps were coming from. Claws at the ready the creature emerged. It stood on two legs and was humanoid. It looked very much like the reptile orb hunters back at the village but without any human features. The Lizard man made some odd clicking sounds and guttural sounds and soon after many more footsteps were heard approaching. Seeing they didn't speak English was all the confirmation James needed to know they weren't a survivor but monsters. James stepped away from the darkness of the cave wall and slashed its head off from behind.
SCREEE! A loud screech echoed through the cave as another two Lizard men came running towards James with makeshift spears in hand. James was by no means a martial artist which is why he chose the Barbarian class it meant he could brute force anything. Using the scales on his arm to deflect the incoming spear. James stepped into the attack instead of dodging it and then delivered a powerful punch to its abdomen causing the creature to slam into the cave wall. The second Lizardman took this opportunity to stab James in the shoulder barely missing his scales. It didn't penetrate very deep and James grabbed a hold of the spear and pulled it out. A red mist began to come out of the wound and James smiled. You fucked up now." He said smugly while activating a class skill.
Do you think your stick can hurt me? James yelled out as he yanked the spear towards him causing the Lizardman still holding the other end to fly towards him. He then grabbed its head midflight and slammed its body backward into the ground breaking its neck instantly. He then walked over to the other creature still struggling to get back to its feet after colliding against the wall. James simply placed his foot on its head and crushed its skull. Another loud Screech was sounded before it died. Many more footsteps echoed off the walls but instead of running away James welcomed the challenge and even sprinted towards the sounds of the footsteps unable to wait for them to arrive. Another 4 of the same lizardmen came sprinting towards James. still holding the spear he had grabbed earlier James launched it toward the closet creature at a shocking velocity. The spear penetrated through its body and into the wall effectively nailing the creature to the wall unable to move. The next creature's attack glanced off the scales on the side of his stomach and once again James stepped in and punched its abdomen but this time his fist punched through the thick skin creating a large gaping hole in its stomach and causing its innards to fall out as James removed his hand.
The next attack landed again which cut into the right side of his chest. James gained another boost to his strength after being wounded further. He was getting more upset. James shouted out a loud battle cry as he used his claws to pierce through the creature's neck but James wasn't done as he grabbed ahold of its esophagus and ripped it out of its throat. The last Iizardman threw its spear at James who deflected it mid-air. He then launched himself forward and backhanded the creature so hard its head spun around until it almost faced the other direction causing it to collapse to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Happy with his results James deactivated the skill and retrieved his XP Orbs and consumed them on the spot. He then made his way back to the village and entered the Guildhall.
Crossing all fingers on both hands he entered his ID card into the terminal.
Smiling James entered the Pod excited for the improvements he would have after waking up he shut the glass hatch and everything went dark once more.