The wave of fire lizards climbed the mountain as a devastating tide threatened to drown us. The rain of arrows from the crossbows reduced their numbers sowhat, but they were still abundant enough to send tendrils of fear through defenders.
Thousands of lizards climbing the mountain was a scary sight.
I shifted to my sword, which was the best to deal with the enemies like the lizards. I sent multiple slashes, each.
"Don't worry," I called while I slashed my blade dozens of tis, each attack carrying my full power. While I didn't want to waste too much mana, it was better than risking lives. Especially since we were yet to understand the limits of the new variants. There was a chance that so of the lizards looked near-identical from outside, but had much greater speed or strength.
And, it wasn't like it was a great loss, as the claws would be able to replenish the losses easily.
[-210 Mana]
…
[-210 Mana]
Now that there was a significant density of beasts attacking, each attack took down hundreds of lizards, reducing the number to a more manageable level, which had been only achieved once thousands had fallen. I was ready to take down a few more, but a notification distracted .
[Level 43 -> 44]
[ 2 Vitality, 2 Strength, 1 Dexterity, 1 Essence]
I paused. It was not exactly a problem I had been expecting, but maybe I should have. I rembered Eleanor explicitly ntioning that the monsters outside didn't have the sa hard limit the dungeon monsters had.
"Well, that was not a problem I expected," I muttered even as I checked the remains. "Harold, you're up. Show how good your trainees are," I ordered loudly as I retreated back, ready to intervene if necessary.
As he took over, holding the front line with the twenty newly upgraded farrs he had been leading, I moved to the back, ready to intervene in case of an ergency. But, there was none, which left free to focus on my next problem.
My class upgrade.
It was not a problem I had thought about for a while, mostly because I assud that it couldn't be solved in short order. Of course, that was before I realized I could use the dungeon as a source of infinite mana, which gave the ability to kill monsters en masse.
Thousands of monsters fell under my power in less than a minute. I paused for a mont, making a few rough calculations. I didn't know the exact curve of effectiveness when it ca to higher levels, but any reasonable estimate indicated that, unless I retreated back to the dungeon, I could push to level fifty.
Potentially settling for a weaker class in the process, since I hadn't pushed Forge to the next level.
It was a tougher decision than I had expected, owing to my ditation, which was already at its Mythic variant, which should have given a class that was significantly stronger than the one I had, potentially with so ntal stats to compensate.
The re thought was enough to excite . Having access to Intelligence could potentially open a new world to , one where I could truly start experinting with mana. But, to make that more likely, I needed to push my Mana Forge and Mana Repair skills above epic.
Frustratingly, it was actually possible. A week, maybe two at most, and I could actually achieve it. But, that would an monopolizing the mana from the lizards, which would an no widespread class upgrades for the farrs.
Not even new weapons, as that would an I would have to focus on weapons that were complicated to the point of uselessness in the hopes of triggering the System, even co-opting a great part of the new blacksmiths to understand the way the System behaved.
Doing so would an casualties. Many of them. Without to whittle the large portions of the waves, the defenses wouldn't hold.
A big part of wanted to ignore those deaths. Why would it matter if a few hundred Farrs died while enabling my growth? Would that really matter? Didn't they owe for saving their lives and providing all those opportunities in the process? If they joined any other expedition, their death rate would certainly be more than half, so it should an that I was morally in the clear, right?
Not to ntion, it was a strategic decision every general could understand, sacrificing a portion of their forces to ensure ultimate victory. My abilities were the only thing that was keeping them truly safe, and making sure my improvents were significant enough mattered even more.
I had no doubt that I could explain it to Maria and Eleanor, and get them to admit that I made the right decision. It was a simple decision, one that resonated with both rationally and emotionally.
I watched the newly improved farr-warriors finish the last of the lizards, coming to a decision.
"You have five minutes to gather all the claws," I shouted. "We will have a second wave soon. We can't let them pile up!" Then, I turned to Harold. "Pick twenty more farrs for , we will need another squad soon."
I had made my decision.
A stupid, inefficient one, one that didn't make sense under the circumstances. But, as I looked at the Farrs, I found myself unable to do anything else.
I had asked them for their loyalty and hard work, and I promised them protection. I couldn't violate that, not in such a ruthless fashion.
While Harold arranged the next batch, I went back into the dungeon, but only to pick about a hundred tons of tal, which took multiple trips. Only about ten tons of it was anti-fire, while the majority of it was anti-corrosive iron.
Not due to any special strategic reason, but because we had an abundance of it. I also brought along a few blacksmiths to handle building the encampnt — which was rely a low wall and tal floors — and while they were busy setting the defenses, I started creating a larger crusher to enable leveling, which had three critical features.
One, it allowed leveling up to twenty farrs at once, which was enough for our purposes. Two, it had several layered storages buried deep underground with enough units to hold the tainted energy from almost a hundred class upgrades at once, which was a significant upgrade.
Three, it had the ability to channel out both the mana and the tainted energy. Another quick experint showed that the dungeon gate was more than happy to take in the pure mana as long as it was brought right underneath it, while it had multiple exhausts for tainted energy to make the act of drawing the lizards toward the gate easier.
It was a simplistic structure, mostly underground pipes I built directly with my mana, but it didn't make it any less useful.
Once that was complete, the rest of the night passed in an acceptable, predictable pattern. I used the excess tainted energy to bait the lizards from a great distance, used the mana to cut them aggressively, including their giant variants, used their claws for mana while rolling their bodies down the hill for the other creatures to feast on, keeping them close to the mountain.
I had a few breaks, where I went back to the third floor with a cartful of claws to rapidly create so extra tal, so of it to be used for the defense, while the rest had been left behind for extra weapons and arrows.
But, even during the rush, one certain notification continued to ring.
[Level 44 -> 45]
[ 2 Vitality, 2 Strength, 2 Dexterity]
[Level 45 -> 46]
[ 2 Vitality, 2 Strength, 1 Dexterity, 1 Essence]
[Level 46 -> 47]
[ 2 Vitality, 2 Strength, 2 Dexterity]
[Level 47 -> 48]
[ 2 Vitality, 2 Strength, 1 Dexterity, 1 Essence]
[Level 48 -> 49]
[ 2 Vitality, 2 Strength, 2 Dexterity]
I continued to fight against the waves as dawn set, which was not exactly accidental. After several levels, I was able to calculate how many new lizards were required to level up — the answer being in low ten thousand — and used the extra ti to focus on creating so extra materials for the other blacksmiths, help more farrs level up, and even adding several contingency plans in place.
Between two breaks, I gestured at Harold, bringing him back to the dungeon to prevent eavesdroppers. "How can I help you, sir?" he asked.
"I'm going to be away for so ti. It shouldn't be more than a few hours, but in case it gets delayed, I have so orders for you," I said, and gave him several directives, including where I hid the weapons I designed to quickly level up the common and uncommon combat skills dropped by the dungeon.
"You can trust , sir," he promised.
I nodded, hoping that was the case. Not that I had any other options. He was literally my only option.
With that, we returned back to the plains, the guards looking exhausted after a night of fighting, but none of them complained. Though, that had nothing to do with my sudden expertise as a leader. As guards, their levels were not yet fifty, aning they benefited from the killing just as I did.
Not enough to level up six tis in one night, but then they weren't killing lizards by the hundreds —
No, I corrected it. Seven tis.
[Level 49 -> 50]
[ 2 Vitality, 2 Strength, 1 Dexterity, 1 Essence]
[Class Upgrade: Mana Blacksmith / Master Blacksmith / Expert Mana nder / Smith of Decay]
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