A part of him wanted to leave the rest of his group for a chance at taking whatever he wanted before they got there, but his conscience told him better. But he would if there was no chance of them discovering. Everyone recovered and looked to see if there was anything valuable about the dogs but found nothing interesting. They had gotten plenty of meat and things from the bull. "Let's go. Everyone stay close and keep an eye out." Red said.
Jaycee still stuck close to the healer. He was almost beginning to regret choosing caster. In comparison to everyone else he seemed severely underpowered. He could barely cast anything and the bolts were so slow that the average person could dodge it. An average swing from a sword completely shattered his barriers and it took too long to cast each spell.
It took about a second for him to throw up a barrier and 3 seconds to use a mana bolt. His main focus as of now was familiarizing himself with mana and how to control it. Right now it felt like all he could do was push mana in the general direction of his attack rather than actually build a threatening spell.
Each barrier was essentially a bunch of energy forced into shape. But a defensive formation should be built with blocking in mind. He could feel himself becoming better slowly though. His manipulation of the energy was better but still elementary at best. He had a feeling that casters had to build up their own strength and it's less linear than a knight who just needs to kill things with his sword to get stronger.
A part of Jaycee had a feeling that the second he started to get some of these concepts down he would catapult himself far. As they approached the building Jaycee could feel shifting in some sort of energy he didn't understand. He had been feeling it and knew it was different from the ambient mana but was unsure what it was. Nothing immediately happened but Jaycee felt like something was building up.
Like a tea kettle reaching it's boil. Omari had started walking beside Jaycee. He liked the younger man more than the other people. Most of them were much older and well settled into their lives. But he saw Jaycee as a smart and secretive kid who had many similarities to his younger brother who lived in the same house as him. The group entered the fort and began ransacking the place.
There were small chests and things that were there that held gear to outfit the group. Jaycee paused outside the front door while everyone else was inside. "What's up?" Omari asked.
"Just giving it a second to see if it's booby trapped or anything." Jaycee said casually.
Omaris' eyebrows raised in surprise while he warned the others. "Watch out for booby traps. Don't assume we're alone." He said. "I didn't think of that at all. What made you think this place could be?" He asked Jaycee.
"I was just thinking that if it WAS booby trapped and I was the first person to run in there and die I would feel so dumb. I'm not in a rush to get in there like everyone else. I don't think The System would put any booby traps in a place like this right now." Jaycee said dully. He smiled to himself before entering the fort. It wasn't a huge building but it was a couple floors and had some pretty large rooms. If they were gonna settle down this was the place. Not that they would.
Jaycee watched people search through random drawers and open chests. The building was bare except for all the bare bones that would come with a medieval fort. There were flags with symbols on them spread along the walls that seemed to be some sort of old family that existed in this now empty kingdom. Jaycee raised his hand and felt the dense, course material that the walls were made from. The gray stone felt way more dense than he would think.
Red was gathering all of the people in a large circle in the largest room, which seemed like a weapons store. There were 13 things found total in the building. There were swords, bows, daggers, armor, and clothes. A few small trinkets that did small effects like increase a stat or purifying water were found too. After a lengthy half an hour debate that shouldn't have happened, Jaycee finally got what he argued for himself.
He didn't argue much actually it was just the other mages had more faith in him then themselves. In his hand he twirled a forearm length stick that had a slight red tinge to it. When he used identify on it,
Wand of Embers: A magical conduit that transforms mana that passes through it into fire mana. Increases power and speed of magic.
Jaycee smiled at the wand and watched the rest of his group bicker about what to do next. He personally thought he must've gotten pretty unlucky with his group selection. Most of them were older and didn't take a thing he said seriously. He had stopped trying to contribute anything in the first hour as it was obvious he was still just a kid to them. He did look a little young as a 19 year old.
That didn't bother him much though it was mostly their lack of skill and attitude. He imagined there were other groups in this place, and he theorized there were many ways other groups turned out. There were definitely violent people who were now on the loose in a lawless place and weapons to chase violence. And there would be others who aren't overly violent, but instead found humans as prey and are willing to do whatever it takes to get ahead in whatever they're going through.
He was certain this group he was a part of was below average. Jaycee was eventually pushed to the side and left to himself in the corner of the room where he looked out the window. He could feel the weird energy more than ever right now. It had been slowly building up, getting louder and louder.
Now it just kind of felt like the air was buzzing. Seeing as no one else questioned this feeling he felt very lost. He had absolutely no idea what it could be. This new reality he was living in was weird. People weren't really restricted physically anymore. Even the older 50 year olds in his group were moving at the speed of an average adult seemingly unbothered by the pain Jaycee assumed they had been in.
Old people stuff and all. Even most illnesses and disorders were fixed the moment the system brought people here. It was small at first but Jaycee noticed. The ground was shaking. No, everything was shaking. Jaycee squinted his eyes out the window to try and see through the treeline but found nothing. Seconds later he saw it. A giant group of ravenous looking beasts led by one larger more regal looking beast.
The group was a mix of wild dogs as well as some beaver looking animals. At the head of the group there was a larger scarier looking beaver that slapped its tail against the ground and roared at the building. Immediately panic shook the group and people scattered. One woman took one of the pieces of loot that hadn't been given out yet and took off outside the opposite side of the building.
A few more people ran after her while the rest were busy being mindlessly panicked. Sneering Jaycee grabbed the little Asian woman who just seemed scared and mostly ignored. Omari, seeing the chaos and Jaycee's decisive decision, decided to follow him. "I'm going with the mage boy. If you want a chance follow us." He shouted over the panic.
Jaycee ran down the stairs as the shaking became more intense with the woman in tow. He made it to the basement before even noticing that nearly everyone else had decided to follow him. "Oh shit you guys scared me. Those people who ran away are probably getting chased down as we speak and we only have a few moments before they get here. There's no running from a group that large and many of us can't out speed them so I thought let's get to a place with one entrance so we can make their numbers negligible." The boy explained as he set the woman down and began to examine the space around him.
The basement had a bunch of crates but not much else of interest. The one door was at one end of the room leading down the stairs. He imagined the stairs and door would be ruined quickly. He would rather take the risk of being overwhelmed and having no escape then trying to escape. Maybe, maybe if he got lucky he would be able to get away from the beasts.
But he knew the healer woman, who still was able to catch his attention despite never talking or doing anything interesting, would never escape the beasts, as well as Omari. But he predicted his chance of survival to be about equal either way, so he would try and save his acquaintances. "Everyone, let's gather around. We're going to start with the mages and archers being the main attackers so that while they recover the physical people can step in. I'll call when we switch on and off. They'll be here in a few seconds." Jaycee shouted as he gripped his wand nervously. He didn't like being in a leading position.
The responsibility made him sick and there was no way he would screw up. Things were better when they weren't life or death. He could hear the clacking and wildness of the nails on the floor above them. The beasts ravaged the house and eventually piled behind the door.