The Raid Dungeon Pt4

[Achieved Initial Success of: Mana Condensing]

[+1000XP]

[Mana Condensing Upgraded to Mastery: Mana Assimilation]

[Mana Assimilation: Initial Success State. After taking in and converting several forms of mana to enrich yourself with, you have now begun to Assimilate mana into your existence and have unlocked two specialization branches due to the Assimilation of overbearing energies. Current Specializations: Chaos Fiend/Demigod]

Working through the present information by opening my windows to Appraise the different parts of the skill and description, I soon find myself looking at a literal skill tree of sorts. However, there was not much to actually see. There was one simple circle at the bottom that was labeled 'MC 10/10' with another empty orb directly above labeled 'MA1 0/10' with two lateral branches poking off to either side. The left side empty orb was 'CF 0/10' and the empty orb on the right was 'D 0/10'.

However, after inspecting the first orb I saw the tiered value of MP growth I had received from my 'Initial Success' and then I inspected the second to find the listed reward for the first tier only. The first tier of the first Mana Assimilation granted me one hundred points. If the growth rate of MA1 was anything like MC then the overall rewards could be fifty-five-hundred MP. Or just one thousand MP overall at one hundred per level.

Neither CF or D, though, provided any information for their first tiers.

Shaking my head to suppress the urge to continue in my efforts, I decide to check on the situation and then share the benefits. I had already gained just over half a thousand MP from the experience, my team would need it greatly soon enough.

"How long can you sustain such pressure?" I ask Zekrom who was still maintaining control over the entire graveyard of the cathedral property even though I had released the pond itself.

Still maintaining his control as if flexing a muscle, he verbally assures me, "Six hours… five if I must hold it all. What do you need me to do?"

Nodding my head while practicing the telekinesis I had learned from my efforts in the forums, I attempt grasping at stones while saying, "Rest here for now, I'll need you to contain it all by yourself soon enough. Watch Hauntings for me," I add while reaching for my sword physically.

Once Zekrom released his hold on the graveyard, the rocks I fumbled to grasp and move with my mind suddenly seemed to become weightless. The one lone stone I had been focusing all of my efforts on up til that moment ended up flying thirty feet straight up into the air just from the mental and magical effort I had been using to try and lift it.

I quickly collected the bigger chunks and pieces.

When the mixed sediment and metamorphic stone came back down, it shattered upon its comrades just as I was planting Hauntings in the ground. As if to add to the moment, once it was inserted into the ground among the divine enriched rocks my sword released a soft and subtle pulse like my own Channeling.

In response to this, my newly intimate sense for the mana in this area told me that there was a fluctuation in the pond's energies. The now rippled as if with water but instead of responding ripples there was only a steady stream of inwards Channeling ripples flowing from the surroundings to Hauntings.

I even received a notification that Geist had leveled again. It had taken ten solid minutes of feeding on the lich lord before getting its first level in a while. Now, with the divine instead of undead energy, it had leveled on contact. This even made me consider having Zekrom go back to condensing mana for Hauntings but decided he deserved the break.

Leaving the graveyard by growing wings and flapping up to the back of the cathedral roof, flapping only twice more to rise up over and glide to the top of the bell tower where the crow's nest circled the broken top. Here there were about fifteen people watching each of the directions and coordinating information with the head priest.

Surprisingly, the people here looked somewhat busy and a quick pulse of mana to my eyes revealed why. There was activity among the 'outer' outposts. These were the five forts and outposts on the back side of the city castle's encirclement.

Even as I watched there was movements of a few hundred undead and about a hundred similar-type demons in each group with multiple groups heading outward from each location.

From the talk taking place, it took less than a minute to figure out that there had been this and a previous 'enemy movement' in which the 'inner' outposts on our side sent out singular groups to the other locations. The first movement took place little more than an hour after the bell and had lasted for an our as each party reached its destination.

After most of an hour of silence, the back outposts seemed to be redistributing their own forces to reinforce the other outposts for almost half an hour now. That was all the time I had spent meditating. Did nobody know where I was or did nobody think this was important enough to inform me about?!

Leaving the belfry, I do not even bother disturbing the head priest who was surrounded by people and relaying messages throughout the skeleton networks. Instead I simply dove down into the cathedral and made a quiet but theatrical landing on the bell house. The bell house was the unofficial gathering point for the players in the cathedral, surrounded by several small service stations of different kinds as well as supply outlets for distribution.

This was where I found most of my team overseeing the management of supplies with Little Thirteen's elites. Donna and her party were handling the actual camp we were setting up, which left Mistress, her elites, and a handful of extras to handle the supply distribution and service stations. Ever present alongside money, Merch and Oleander were also here and working several stations selling alchemy services and 'outer clan' merchandise.

Finding myself some food, I make my way over to where Go and Little Thirteen were overseeing the 'volunteers' from the skeletons. These were the 'people' who had 'life experience' in the fields of combat or those generally willing to be fodder. These guys were being filtered into a select group of command, officers, and general fighters for future division. There were less than a thousand of these skeletons, and quite a few of them came from among the clergy, but those numbers were more than welcome in the plotting of defenses.

As expected, both of these commander position players were already well aware of the situation and overseeing minor strategies. For the time being, the NPC were responsible for the fortifications of the cathedral property and general preparations. Most of the skeletons here were just message runners with a handful of core commanders who were pouring over a map with my friend and the lead presence of Thirteenth Incorporated.

For the time being, the abnormally strong skeletons were being used to collect rubble from the ruined storage and utility buildings near the front of the property and use it to build a crude reinforcement around the property's simple fenced stone wall. Aside from this, there were a few mixed group of skeletons and players working on constructing simple anti-siege structures and towers within the property.

Listening to them talk things out would make it seem like it was now our turn to play defense like the trolls.

Smiling slightly at the idea of a tower defense game while looking over their shoulders at a faded city map with much of it simply marked over with coal to show leveled land or obstacles. I once again decided not to disturb the goings on while studying the more heavily drawn-on area of the city map where the domineering religious property took up an entire fifth of the vellum.

There were a combination of accepted and rejected strategic drawings around the cathedral, things like a gathering of circles spread across a line of rectangles were overall circled and the same thing in a different place would be crossed out. What the previous plans represented I had no way of knowing, but the current plan involved the circles and rectangles and represented the placement of defensive platforms and defenders along the wall.

Committing to memory at least this much of the defense strategy, I clap Go on the shoulder and say, "Gather the team together in about ten minutes and meet me out front. I have to talk to you guys about something."

Leaving Go and a suspicious Little Thirteen to continue pouring over the map as I receive another notification from Hauntings, I simply flap up to the ceiling and then glide slowly toward the front of the cathedral. Covering several hundred yards in only a few flaps and glides, I soon find myself walking out of the front doors through a dense throng of skeletons and players organizing the front of the property.

Flying up over the cathedral, I briefly check the distance to see that there were still a handful of reinforcement troops taking their time reaching their destinations before landing on the opposite side of the wall. At the moment, all fortifications were taking place within the cathedral grounds as though the others were scared of leaving the hallowed ground.

Now that I had turned on some of my notifications, I was pleased to see that none came up after having left the premises. No curses, warnings, or even general information. Just me landing safely on the outside of the wall.

Deciding to focus my attention on the front of the property, I estimate the few hundred yards of wall on the front side of the property before emptying my mana into a single field controlling skill. Starting from either side of the front iron gates of the property, two fifteen-foot walls of almost solid granite rose up from the ground and spread out along the property.

Even though I now had a little more than three thousand mana overall, one hundred yards in either direction was as far as I could cast my spell before my vision darkened and I felt weightless for a moment. A few moments later, I sat up to find that I had completely fainted from the sudden complete depletion of my mana. However, there was a three-foot thick addition to the original wall that covered most of the front of the property to show for my actions.

The original brick and iron wall totaled out to ten feet in height, but I was pretty sure ten feet would be an average size for the enemies we will be facing. Now, the outer portion of wall would be equal in height to Zekrom and the previous wall itself could become a rampart or parapet of sorts for the defenders to walk on. The iron poles and spear-like tops would have to be enveloped in a magic concrete for this, but that was as simple as Quick Quake on boulders.

Passively regenerating a little over ten percent of my mana every other second while out of combat and not in use, I soon find myself feeling better after sitting on the ground for a few moments. Once I was full less than a minute later, I flew over to the far left end of the front wall and spend exactly one thousand mana stretching the wall out for a little less than a hundred yards, exactly thirty yards out from the corner of the property.

Taking my time gliding over to the far right end of the wall to repeat the process, I complete the frontal fortifications that I intended to do myself before flying overhead to orientate myself with the grounds proper. Picking out a dozen places that correspond with what I had seen of the city map, I glide back down to the ground with a full tank of mana and start raising tall platforms of solid rock up from behind the wall.

Each platform was thirty feet long and about twelve feet wide, allowing for a dozen people or skeletons to maneuver about comfortably. Making each platform that was only a little shorter than the wall cost several hundred mana apiece and I was forced to stop halfway through to recover. Once the platforms were done, I made broad sets of steps leading up to the backs of each platform that once again required a full mana pool.

Just a little bit tired from making my contributions to the fortifications, I pick the center-most platform to sit on and rest while waiting for my team. During this short time, I simply looked around to examine the interactions between the players and skeletons. Which, in all honestly, were brisk and professional.

Since everybody had years of virtual reality experience and lifetimes of fantasy exposure, nobody was really bothered by the sentient undead. As well, the current circumstances were just pressing enough that everybody had bigger things to worry about than the NPC. As long as everyone stayed busy there would be no problems.

Only a few minutes after I had sat down to take a break I see my team exiting the front of the cathedral with the small crowd around the doors parting to allow them passage. "About damn time, do you have any idea how long I've been waiting?" I call out with an exaggerated sigh to feign exhaustion.

*