It had been three days since Tanda left, and Jake was putting the finishing touches on Hearthtribes new enchanting workshop. Jake had finally finished the Auril Etchers, and integrated them with a few of the higher level devices. Several workstations looked a lot like a lathe, but were ant for carving and shaping wood using the tool while infusing the ink, mana, and auril into it.
Jake had finally found an excellent combination of mana and auril to make ink, with Fhesiahs help, to facilitate tattooing the items with the beastkin peoples runes. The weapons now were absolutely deadly, and Jake was more than impressed with what they were able to accomplish. Their amberwood arrows and javelins had so interesting effects depending on their auril manifestations.
Itd only been a few days, but Brock had already managed to unlock his. It was not particularly good for arrows, but it created a much larger barrier around his shield. The man was now constantly doing incursions, taking his two, almost three, mates along with him.
Wow, Chief! These look really neat!
Jake just wryly smiled at the cute goat beastkin girl, that was Brocks third prospective mate. She had short white hair with her little goat ears poking out high on her head, along with black horns and a tanned body.
These beastkin really moved fast, he found. Her na was Mindy, and she was going to be a healer, having picked the advanced specialization after awakening. Her goal was to enchant equipnt for her party, currently. Jake thought it would be better for her to learn sothing like alchemy, but apparently, Serena was doing that instead, while Bria was working on amberwood carvings. She would be making bows, arrows, and weapons of all kinds out of their wood.
Brock was cooking, or rather, grilling, surprisingly. When he heard that Jake loved to cook and why, he took it on with a passion. He grilled and smoked at a good portion of the ti he was not training or running incursions, as his good will for the people of Kenwodi and those around the world.
Jake responded to Mindy with a smile, It might be so ti before they can be used effectively, but I think its nice to see what to aim for. You have to practice using the machine to get good at using it, after all.
Mindy nodded. Yeah, it takes a while to etch a single item. Having the item held and moved for hardly helps. But I can tell once I get as fast as you, um, if I ever get as fast as you are now, Chief, Im sure I will appreciate it!
Jake had found that there were many thods for spreading the ink for both simple and mass production. For sothing like an arrow shaft, simple spiraling lines along it aided both the flowing of auril, but also storage or enhancent from manifestations when dipped into a weak ink. There was a hawk beastkin that filled the shaft and feathers with their auril, and it made the arrow fly much faster and straighter, having nearly no effect when infused to the arrowhead by itself. The arrowhead could have just the auril rune, and it would be enough for it to last the few monts an arrow was in flight before it struck the target.
Fhesiah interrupted his thoughts, [You know, youd have a fourth mate already if you had just expressed interest in Tanda. You just have to sing the song of her people, and I bet shed be all yours. Still, there are a lot of options here in Kenwodi. Theres this healer in her flock, Avina]
I do like Tanda, I think she would work out well in our family, as well as our party. Of course, shes beautiful, and I do find her attractive. He chuckled. Her tail wagging and her ears betraying her emotions are cute, too. Then, I like her keen mind, and her desire to both fight and learn. She values many of the sa things, but would she be willing to leave this world?
[Who says she really has to? This is going to beco our ho base of sorts. Our goal was to join this community, and it will be just like our refuge. Our guild will recruit from here, and well ensure that we have the right leadership here to take care of it at all tis. Im sure shes worried about maintaining the balance, but well leave that to our Tribe, with all the enemies gone, it should be easy. Well do such a good job, shell get antsy for sothing to do if we stayed, well, besides have children? So for now, just think of your song in case she ets you half way, as Ophelia put it.]
Jake sighed. He was not going to be good at coming up with a song, that was often accompanied by a dance. To so extent, their language was quite musical. Just speaking in her language sounded like a song, especially now that he had gotten a little better at speaking it.
Worried about the people in the villages again, Chief? You shouldnt be! Were doing great, our people are embracing a lot of changes. You and Ophelia have built all those gondolas, and you even cleared Wildheart to the southeast. That wall is being built in record ti, and people wanting to join our guild are showing up in droves! The Chieftess added a ton of Alliance Nodes, and many people are joining the Frawork. You should be overjoyed!
Jake chuckled. I was just thinking about a different type of challenge than the war, is all. If you wouldnt mind, could you tell how things go for courtship of your people? Like, I suppose Brocks clan situation is sowhat similar to mine, now. How did he approach you?
Mindy blushed. Um I t Serena during training, and she liked my effort, and that I had already awoken? Im not very strong, but I was working really hard! The Frawork helps a lot, to always feel like your efforts are worthwhile. So we talked, andshe felt like we were compatible? So then Brock sung his song about the dreams for his clan, and, well Were all a part of Hearthtribe, right? I wanted to help beastkin, and others. My heart was moved, and I returned his song, and we fought a courtship duel. Brock proved he was strong enough to protect and has great potential, so now were courting.
Jake sowhat understood. His tribe was being joined by many beastkin with similar goals, so many of their goals would be quite compatible. Things would change sowhat as the war was won on Highlands, in terms of how clans might specialize.
What happens next?
W-Well, next I kind of spend ti with each of his clan mbers, alone and together? And uventually, if our hearts beat as one with the whole family, he gives his necklace? Then, umm She blushed.
Jake thought back to when he t Brock on the sparring field. Not even one day had passed. He did all that in one day, or rather, a few hours? But Mindy here didnt have her necklace, yet.
Didnt Serena and Bria have their necklaces on the first day?
Mindy blushed again. Um, well The first mate is a little different, and Brock awakened in Serenas protection on top of that, so they kinda skipped steps? But Bria and him justclicked I guess? Im a little jealous, but as the clan gets bigger, it becos harder for all the hearts to truly beat as one and sing the sa song, unless youre truly compatible. So I have to sync with three people, where Bria just had to sync with two.
Well, thank you for sharing that with , I appreciate it.
Anyti, Chief! Um, whos the lucky girl?
Jake chuckled. No one yet, but well see. Weve still got a war to fight.
Mindy looked thoughtful. Hm, since youre a Chieftain, the girls have to be quite special too! Why, only the Ravenwolf Chieftess cos to mind, or maybe Enora? Or theres that big bull, or tiger-
Jake laughed, the goat girl was quite excitable. Well, you said it yourself, right? It can be hard for our hearts to truly beat as one. Potential and strength is certainly important, but my family is still finding its own song, too. Good luck with your courtship.
T-Thanks, Chief!
Jake headed outside the Alliance HQ, to a field within the wall that was being constructed. Ophelia was there helping build the wall, using the stone gathered from the Wildheart city. The stone n filled their storage bracelets with usable stone, and Bloodberri was like a wrecking ball that broke down parts of the wall. They then filled in the gaps and rged the stone together with his spell rods.
There was also enough surplus of it that the refugees and stone workers of Kenwodi pitched in, and they were adding onto it at a decent pace. The front of the wall was already finished, and they were working towards surrounding the city before they would work on increasing the height. Ophelia had been the one driving and coordinating this, building up the stone workers, as well as all crafters in Kenwodi.
She identified that the few stone workers werent enough, so put together a plan to rally together as many people as possible to get the wall built. She identified a few tools that Jake could help make, or they could purchase directly from the Nodes, to aid the workers.
They now had several magically or chanically powered devices, including: cranes, pulleys, carts, jackhamrs, cent mixers, and many more. Jakes motor that went into making gondolas now went into many devices that could be chanically powered similarly.
Of course, she didnt do it all on her own. The tribal council were quick to rally up support, then Blood helped with purchase orders to source materials from Highlands. Ophelia had managed to delegate a lot of the work to various new administrators she had managed to obtain and begin training, but they were still stretched quite thin. Still, Jake was impressed with all that Ophelia had accomplished in just a few short days.
Berri was with the kids near the wall, playing baseball. She had started a little league team, and it was starting to take off. She was both coaching and cooking soup for the kids. Blood was really practicing her telekinesis too, floating a glove around or stirring the soup for Berri as she helped the kids with the ga.
She was wearing a cap, but wearing her morphing armor to be ready to head out at any ti. There were also several parents present helping with cooking, and enjoying watching their kids play the ga. There were dozens of kids doing various baseball related drills in other areas of the field, but only one ga going on.
A lot of kids were actually practicing what looked like martial arts to Jake. Many were doing agility training and balance related drills, ditation, shadowboxing, sparring, and so were in fact practicing punches and kicks.
The kids were wearing real generic looking baseball outfits, him guessing, picked up on the market.
Berri was currently coaching the batter. They had swung and missed, the kid looking quite discouraged.
Take a deep breath and relax. Focus on one pitch at a ti, do not worry about the past or future pitches, as they do not matter. Only this pitch does. Trust in your training, your practice, and keep your eyes on the ball. Youre here to have fun, so just focus on the ball and your swing. I believe you can hit the ball, so believe in yourself!
The boy hit the ball, and Berri cheered and laughed so loud youd have thought he hit it out of the park as they ran to first base. But it just bounded down the field where a girl picked it up easily, nearly getting the boy out.
Good effort, defense! Stay focused! No matter where the ball goes, you should be moving to your place the mont the ball is struck. Pay attention to your footwork, itll help you be where you need to be!
Jake arrived near the field, and Berri noticed him right away.
She smiled. Ti to go already?
Jake responded affirmatively in his mind, and she went to prompt so parents and guild mbers to take over her tasks. He just shook his head in amazent. She only had two hours for today, but she still managed to get a lot going on in such a short period. She ca back, and he tried to have addressed what he noticed. It looks like theyre doing martial arts training?
Blood responded, The beastkin people value fighting, so weve decided to combine them. There are many aspects of martial arts training that will carry over towards them becoming more effective at playing baseball. Were planning on alternating between sparring and other training, and playing other types of gas, too. They are also spending ti in the new school.
The kids are having lots of fun! The adults also like the training, and even learning. The kids dont get any guidance from the Frawork, but it should set a great foundation for them when they co of age!
Jake and Bloodberri headed through their portal, arriving at the furthest village they had cleared to. They had won back a lot of territory, and constructed many gondolas around the area. They were finally getting near the lost Alliance HQ, just a few more rifts remaining. Jake was even having Rookard move the strongest of his guild across the geography, to participate. Now that they had the gondolas, it would only take a couple of days to cross the almost a hundred miles, the warriors able to run for miles. In fact, Jake saw in his last ssage, that Rookard was only a village or two away from where Jakes last progress was.
Ophelia was still aiding in construction of the wall, as they moved towards the next rift. Jake had watched the progress of Tanda, and he was impressed. Tens of thousands of beastkin had initiated as she flew north, and hundreds of beastkin joined his guild. So would head towards Kenwodi, but those furthest away he told to wait, with so joining Tandas flock. Jake would be building various gondolas in their direction over ti. For them to waste their ti traveling, when it was more challenging, and they could spend their ti training and doing incursions instead, made little sense.
Jake was more than a little worried, however. Harmony Peaks appeared like it was potentially going to be under assault. It was strange, though. A rift had appeared near it, but there were no others. From what Jake understood, Tartarus could nearly spawn a rift anywhere people were present, and it could be spotted. However, the closer it was to conquest territory that it owned, the cheaper that it would be. So for efficiencys sake, it would normally chain them across great distances, taking over the conquest map.
After he saw that the rift had spawned, He did notice that there was a small amount of territory that seed like it hadnt been reclaid when the previous assault was completed. This didnt seem out of the ordinary, as there were no beastkin in this area to push the conquest map back in their favor. Perhaps, this area was why they could spawn a rift nearby? Jake was assured their people were scouting, if there was a rift there, surely it would have been spotted.
Jake called Ophelia using [Call Summon], after he arrived at the next rift. He had found several auril beasts in the last few runs, but hadnt found anything overly more powerful or more useful than the stegosaurus and the raptor. Apparently, the most ferocious and powerful creatures were at the center of the largest and deepest of valleys, and they hadnt gone out of their way to go there, just yet.
They cleared the rift with ease, and headed over to the next mountain. Jake now had tens of thousands of conquest points, and had earned many T1 Credits. He was close to having enough saved that he was going to purchase an [Epic Servant - Head Administrator] Token soon, likely after he reclaid the Alliance HQ. He wanted to make sure there wasnt any more important things to obtain, as he should get special options when he reclaid such an important structure.
Among worlds that were lost, there were many non-combatants that could be effective at aiding the Alliance outside of fighting. These people, that were not great at fighting, were not a priority for the Frawork to resurrect. Usually, it would wait until the world was reclaid, leaving those peoples souls to drift in the void of the Frawork itself. This was the most efficient usage of its energy.
However, if a combatant like Jake could use a non-combatant, he could sort of pay the cost of having the soul retrieved, and placed under his service. Like the summoning tokens, it would evaluate each of their souls, and only summon soone that is willing to serve under a person like Jake. If Jake was so kind of tyrant, it wouldnt summon anyone that wasnt willing to serve under such a person, but perhaps soone a little more desperate. To so extent, the longer they drifted in the void, the more willing they might be to accept such an arrangent.
Jake would have so level of control over the person, in terms of being able to decide where or how they lived, and order them around to accomplish tasks fitting their job as a servant. Like how the Frawork protected against attacks on one another, it would also protect against abuse of the servant tokens, to so extent. That person would be on the hook to do as ordered until their contract expired, sort of like an indentured servant as repaynt for paying the cost to resurrect them sooner.
Of course, for Jake, the details of how a servant contract worked mattered little. There was absolutely no way that a champion of Hestia would abuse so sort of servant or otherwise take advantage of them, right? Jake was in need of an efficient Administrator, or seneschal type person. Blood and Ophelia were doing an amazing job all things considered, but really, soone dedicated to managing and appointing people was needed. The person having knowledge of the Alliance was paramount, and Jakes guild and the number of initiated requiring so form of direction was growing at an alarming rate.
Jake, theres a [Rift] over there. It wasnt on the [Conquest Map] before.
Jake looked over to where Ophelia was pointing, and found that she was right. There was a [Rift] there. Jake looked at his map within his nu, and thought it to be quite strange. They were high on the mountain now, so their visibility was quite far. This rift was located in a spot that it shouldnt be. There was no village in that direction, and it would not be on the path where beastkin traveled. There was only mountainous terrain near there, even if the Rift resided in the valley.
Well, I guess we should go check it out and clear it? Its out of our way, but we should make it there within thirty minutes or so? I really wanted to clear to that last village today. But what would co out of that rift, actually attack?
[Hey, that sounds interesting. Call once you get there.]
Call you? I thought you were busy working on your experints.
[Im just trying sothing out, making so pills right now, its no big deal. Just call , I can do both.]
Jake sighed. Jake should have known her attention span
[Dont you think thats a little rude, husband? Ill have you know that I dutifully absorbed heavenly energy in a cave for months, even years at a ti, without stopping for fun. Clearly, its just that I am the one best suited for investigation. It has nothing to do with wanting to have fun, what with you always finding dinosaurs, and getting giddy like a child and all. Not at all.]
Jake just wryly smiled at that. Of course not. Alright, Ill call you when we get there.
They went into the valley, heading through the forest towards the rift they saw. About halfway to their destination, they noticed that the forest was blighted, the trees only barely being able to fight back against it, but much of the greenery falling victim to it. They even cleared a contingent of skeletons before eventually arriving at the rift.
Jake said aloud, This is really odd. They are definitely behaving like there are people sowhere. Well, lets destroy it for now, and we can look for people afterward?
Ophelia replied, I think thats for the best, too. If there are no people here, thats worriso.
[Go ahead and call . Im ready.]
Jake called her, and imdiately after, her Pill furnace and Cauldron popped into existence. She was floating in the air, like she was laying down sideways with her head resting in her hand, lounging as she monitored her concoctions. She even pretended to be sleeping, with her eyes closed.
Fhesiah said, Alright, go ahead, Im having a look around. Ill let you know if I find anything.
Jake just narrowed his eyes at her. Just how was she having a look around like that? She looked like she was on vacation, not a care in the world.
Dont you rember, Jake? Lighthouse! sheesh.
Jake shook his head, he supposed it didnt matter if she made it look like she was expending effort or not, if she was really having a look around with her divine sense, even underground. At least she was fully equipped.
They would just wait for Ira and Fhesiah to check the area to see if it was safe, and they would begin.
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