“Elias... can you explain where the hell you had been? And what the fuck just happened out there?” Tom’s voice resounded in the room after everyone was assembled.
I was a good distance from anyone. I had to tell Rhea not to approach me for now, until I managed to fix my fucking aura. I didn’t want her to experience the sensation.
While looking around I noticed that the vanguard was bunched up together, as if a line separated them from the others. Alya was looking at me intensely, I’d have to deal with her after all of this. But something else came to my attention, Chloe was among them, as were Frederick and little Kyle, still the only child in this place.
But the rest seemed to have intermixed quite well. I could see that the group was starting to come together nicely.
“Pointed questions, and I’ll give pointed answers,” I said loud enough for everyone to hear.
After making sure I had all of their attention, I continued.
“As you all know by now, we received a letter from a man that came from the future, not a far future, because he still didn’t finish the tutorial, but he gave me good advice, and apparently in the past timeline we were friends and well acquainted. He knew details about me that only I could have divulged.”
I paused to let that sink in. I knew that Tom had already broached the subject before, so I started with that.
“Today I went to a location cited in that letter to fight a very powerful monster, a level 161 Venomfall Serpent. Suffice to say, I managed to defeat it, gaining enough achievement to push my stats to another level. The problem was that that boost gave me quite an unstable aura and the return trip became way longer compared to before, that’s why I was late. And the reason why I’m keeping some distance until I get used to it again.”
I saw no reason to conceal the truth. Anyone who read that letter could guess as much, and as for my aura, it was better if they understood that they shouldn’t come too close.
“How much?” asked Marcus of all people.
It had been a bit since I talked with the man. He was silent by nature, and usually stayed out in the forest doing his own thing, but for him to stick his nose out, this question must have been bugging him a lot.
“How much did my stats increase, or how long until I manage to control my aura?”
“Former,” he grunted out.
That was strange. Why was he asking? It was an unspoken rule that the details of one’s status were personal. We shared some, of course, but it was something that was becoming more and more taboo to speak about, for obvious reasons, and especially between the most powerful of us.
Still, I decided to throw him a bone.
“Let’s just say that my lowest stat crossed the thousand.”
Gasps and surprised exclamations came from the group as a whole, even among the vanguard. Marcus looked at me intently, then nodded. Rhea was shocked, as were many others. Quinn’s eyes were glinting, for sure he’d want to know how if he hadn’t managed to do something similar already, even if I doubted it.
But the reaction that gained most of my attention was Alya. She was looking down at her feet and looked... sad, or disappointed maybe.
But now wasn’t the time.
“Please,” I said in a loud enough voice to be heard. “As we came to understand, the tutorial is a gold mine for items, monsters, achievements, and progression. The store is an incredible tool and we should fully take advantage of it. Not only that, but we should start preparing properly for the future, because apparently these preparations are not enough.”
“What do you mean?” asked Cole. He was looking at me with a frown. “If you are this powerful already, shouldn’t it be a breeze to reach the beacon? You can guide us there, no?”
Fucking hell, why should I be relegated to babysitter all the time?
“Think about it. If I managed this much with just a piece of knowledge from this guy that came from the future, don’t you think that he managed to accomplish much more? And still we are not out, so it means that we have to become stronger, faster, more skilled, and that means us as a whole. Today I was away, if something attacked you what would you have done?”
I let the question hang.
“Would you have run to me? Or to the aliens? Selling yourselves again in search of protection? This can’t go on. I understand that we are not all fighters, but this place has the-”
────────────
【 Local Event Notification 】System Announcement: Tutorial Phase UpdateAdrian Vale has slain Stephan Lachart, King of the Shattered Peaks.
Regional Status Update:
• Monster density: ↓ Decreased• Threat level: ↓ Reduced• Environmental hostility: Stabilized
Pathway Update:
• Safe-path corridor unlocked• Traversal efficiency within the region increased• Obstruction penalties partially lifted
Remaining Kings: 6 / 7Continue progression toward the Pillar of Light.
────────────
I stared at the message in front of my face. Everyone in the room was busy doing the same, but my thoughts were churning right now.
He said it in the letter that he would do it, and apparently he didn’t lie even there.
Now he killed the first King.
I needed to reach him, and gain information about the others too, about the Tyrant of Aaranor. I needed it.
Fuck it, fuck it all.
I planned on making this group long-lasting, giving them the means to defend themselves and then marching to the next safe zone, but now I just wanted to run there as fast as possible. I could always find more people willing to join my guild, and some I really didn’t want to deal with, the useless ones in particular.
What to do, what to do...
I had to calm down.
Now the path was safer, so it meant quicker progress, less danger, not for me, but for them, so it meant that those who wished to remain full crafters could do so.
With my pendant, people were more likely to follow my commands, and these ones were weak as they came, so let’s speed up this whole thing. I was tired of having to wait for them all the time.
“Well, that’s that,” I said while clapping my hands loudly. It came out as a little thunderclap, jolting everyone from the message.
“Adrian, our future guy, just opened a path forward. And it’s better that we move from here as soon as possible. We have a map, we have a destination, the next safe zone is approximately three days of march ahead. We’ll protect you all. The offer Tom talked to you about is still valid, but if you want to remain fully crafters that’s up to you.”
“Would it be dangerous?” asked a beautiful middle-aged woman.
“For sure, but we are well equipped to face those dangers. Reaching the safe zone won’t be a problem. Though, we need to talk about rotations, formations, and logistics. This needs to be addressed before anything else. We should go tomorrow at sunrise. It would be better to move now, especially after the stunt those aliens tried already, but it’s not a good idea.”
“What about us!? We are not even in the guild!” asked the three crafters who were still contracted with the aliens.
“You had your chance, now there is really nothing I can do for you.”
I felt my curse stir. It didn’t care if there was no legal way of freeing them, it demanded that I act.
“Bullshit! You intend to leave us behind? It’s not fair! What kind of monster are you? After provoking the alien bastards now you just decide to wash your hands of us!” screamed the oldest one, red in the face.
I was annoyed at not having planted a marionette curse on him... but nothing I could do now.
Before I could respond Chloe came to my rescue.
“Shut up! We told you that we were going to break you free of the contract, you didn’t believe us! Not only that, but you went to rat us out to the chief and now you have the guts to request something of us? In what delusion are you living? It’s already enough that you didn’t get lynched! So now go back to your slavers and complain to them, you sad fucks!”
Damn, that was... something.
She was clearly incensed about this whole matter, but she didn’t say anything wrong. The three guys were left aside, no one spoke with them anymore. I believed it was fear that pushed them to raise their voices, but pleading would have worked better than pretending righteousness while insulting me.
I had no idea how some people could be this much...
I didn’t know, I really had no words for it.
“Shut your trap, you cunt! I wasn’t talking to you! Who the fuck are you anyway? You’re nobody! You’re just a st-”
“Enough.”
I appeared beside them.
How the wooden floor didn’t even crack as my boot slammed down was an incredible feat of craftsmanship, but it didn’t stop the boom that resounded in the room as I came to a stop there.
They were well inside my aura as I interposed myself between them and Chloe. Their faces became ashen as I looked at them straight in the eyes.
“Chloe is in charge of all the logistics in the guild, so she has full operational authority in how to deal with you all, and as she said, you have no right to ask anything of us. Not only that, but if you try another stunt like that, there will be consequences.”
I let their imagination fill out the details of the threat.
They all stepped back until they exited my aura range. I could have increased it but saw no reason. They were not going to be a problem, I just wanted them to shut up.
“Everyone, let’s sit down and go over the details, we have much to discuss...”
While the three ran out of the common room I redirected our meeting. We started talking about all the problems and trials we’d face. It took hours to define everything of importance, and after that only details remained.
We hashed out the guild structure and our traveling formation, the supplies we’d have to buy, and the expenditure.
All the while I subtly applied my Veiled Marionette to all the people here except for Rhea and Alya. The former I didn’t want to curse, the latter instead needed a more delicate approach. I would have to speak to her first.
Everybody else just got a simple directive to cooperate. I could tweak that for each person later on, but for now it was already more than good if they just went along and avoided creating too many problems.
By the end I was still in tip-top shape, while the others were totally drained. Some just went to bed when it was clear that they didn’t have any important role.
Only a few people remained, then as we said our goodnights to them too, I was left alone with Rhea, Alya, and Quinn.
The boy clearly had something he needed to talk to me about, but he couldn’t read the room properly, and the other two didn’t want to start talking about our things with him present.
So it was up to me to break the ice.
“Quinn, Rhea, could you please give us a moment? There is something I need to talk with Alya about, it’s important.”
I just hoped this would not end too badly.