Preparations Pt3

The thought of actually being forced to endure this kind of training to the extent that someone like me would undergo seemed to be all the motivation they needed, spurring the elites and leaders of the allied clans into entering the Soulfire.

Numerous pained voices filled the air thanks to this but the fact that their leaders entered the white flames for several seconds before escaping caused the others to man up and jump in. Their reactions were numerous times worse than when experiencing the electrified pool. At least with the electricity they were too jolted to cry out, now there was nothing hindering their voices.

What was really sad was that I was using minimal mana output, causing as little damage as possible to help them build their resistances. If I were to actually use this Soulfire at normal full strength now that I had both Hauntings equipped, all but the melee classes would have died in just a second or two.

The first to enter the white flames were the first to develop resistances, not only to fire itself but also to light element as well as a small rise in their PDEF. It took a few entries into the flames to build up this tolerance, but once they had it they slowly become able to control their cries of pain while remaining in the fire for longer periods of time.

I was honestly becoming more and more impressed with this people as they not only continued throwing themselves in but also continued withstanding my power for greater lengths of time. These lengths of time only increased by a second or two every other entry, but the increases steadily stacked. Eventually everyone could last for ten seconds in the Soulfire.

Ten seconds became twelve became fifteen and so on for the better part of an hour until everybody could actually survive the flames for over twenty seconds. Go, Stonewall, and a few select others from among the clans could even survive for half a minute in the flames.

With gains like this I could imagine their physical defense ratings had climbed by at least a hundred and their resistances to light and magic were not far behind. Sadly, there was nobody among these players who could show me the same courtesy. How could I work on my own defenses if nobody else had access to these magics?

Of course, I could always let my own familiars burn me at the stake which would probably be safer than trusting other players to do what I was doing. I could personally guarantee that I would not kill anyone intentionally. The others, though, I could not say the same for.

When I finally got tired of cycling mana into the Soulfire after an hour of training the other players, I finally cut off my small field of Soulfire before tiredly lying out on the wall I was using for a seat. With the end of the spell there was a collective sigh or exclamation of relief from the gathered players who also collapsed where they stood to rest.

"You feeling okay?" Go asks after simply jumping up to join me on the wall, sitting with his feet hanging over the edge to survey the other clan players in the area. "You look like you're suffering as much as these kids."

Nodding my head with my eyes closed, I simply say, "I'll be fine."

Wordlessly nodding his own head, Go simply continues scanning the other players for a while before finally saying. "That training method you used helped me develop a physique. It's called the 'Unyielding Spirit Physique' and it raises my MDEF and PDEF by a hundred. I haven't even reached the so-called Initial Success phase, yet."

"That's pretty damn good, honestly," I commend him with a small smile under my mask, wondering how many others also acquired such a physical cultivation from my methods. "Do you think the others made the same gains? Think it will actually increase their chances of survival against another outpost?"

"I'm pretty sure everyone else has gained even more resistances than I did," he replies after a moment of thoughtful silence. "I mean, you spent hours tormenting them before you even came to get us. So, they definitely have higher magic resistances. Does it mean they're actually stronger? Only testing it out in a fight will answer that question."

Frowning a little under my mask, I think about how the other clans had nearly been demolished on their own previously and shake my head before saying, "Even if their defenses rose, that would only buy time. They need to hurry up and finish crafting their next sets of equipment. Has Mistress given you guys the materials we prepared?"

"Have you actually given us any time to make new armor and equipment?" Go retorts with a harsh laugh before getting up from his seat. "Nope, you haven't even given us any time to rest! Well, I'm going to get to work on my next suit of armor. What are you going to do?"

Honestly wishing that I could just close my eyes and take a nap, I shrug my shoulders and say, "Just be lazy for another couple of minutes before getting my ass in gear. The other clans will probably be arriving soon, anyway, so I'll have plenty of work to do by then."

Go did not say much else after that but simply hopped down from the wall as the others below started getting up from their rest and busying themselves. Mistress' group which had been meditating and then training in the Soulfire also went back to their previous work of processing materials. For the two hundred people currently in the dungeon there was already enough materials processed but they were a crafting clan to begin with and preferred that kind of work.

After another few minutes of just lying around on the wall, though, I finally got off my ass as well and flew over to where Zekrom was organizing the NPC crystalline skeletons who were in the middle of crafting their own stockpile of ranged weapons like crystalline chaos lances or thousands of soul bone arrows.

Judging from the arsenal they had created, several outpost could be taken down at once from a distance as long as loot was not a concern. At this point I wondered if anyone would actually care if I were to divvy them up and send them out to assault half of the remaining outposts. More than likely, only the bosses would actually survive such methods.

Those same bosses would probably chase the skeletons all the way back to the cathedral and right to the waiting players. We would be cutting out tens or even hundreds of thousands of experience points from our profits as well as an ass load of material loots, but for the sake of speed and safety we would be doing much better than before.

"You seem to be deep in thought," Zekrom's ghost voice comments in my head as he vocally guides different groups of skeletons in their work. "Is there something we need to improve upon?"

Shaking my head quickly, I say, "No, I'm just wandering around and thinking. I end up doing this a lot when I don't have much going on. We will probably have company soon, as well. If you can, keep these guys from giving the new arrivals any of this equipment. They should be able to supply and suffice themselves if they expect to be of any use. Or to be allowed to take part in our plans. If they can't then they should just go home."

"Would more people not be of more help?" Zekrom asks curiously while guiding a group of skeletons to stop the ballista behind the cathedral wall. "Even from here I could see that your people struggled in several fights. Using these newcomers as fodder would be helpful, no?"

Snorting lightly at the thought of using the other clans as meat shield, I retort with, "You say that as if they would agree to it. As well, they would claim to have rights to the spoils if we used them in such a way. If they want profits and opportunities they should seek them but they should not seek to take them from us. Let them struggle to bring down their own outposts and see just what hell they walked into."

"Should not you humans band together in times of need?" Zekrom asks with even more confusion in his ghostly telepathic voice.

"Who said we need them?" I retort once again. "I can make my people as strong as they need to be to make themselves stronger here. Beyond that, I owe nothing to the others. In fact, they should owe me. If I want to, any newcomers who show up could be booted back to the surface with a single slash skill. If I was smart, I would charge them gold just to come down here and take part in the action."

"So then it it true that greed is a part of human nature," Zekrom seems to remark to himself. Shaking his head as if to clear these thoughts, he says, "I will simply trust your judgment. However, I have begun growing bored staying here and conditioning the natives. When might I be able to whet my blades among the demons?"

Knowing the feeling of growing bored after having spent hours adding only a single level to most of my spells while training the other players, I can only shrug and say, "Soon. At this point, nobody will complain when I go out and do things by myself but it would still be rude to the others if I took everything for myself. However, I plan to make several strikes on different locations at once and we'll definitely need your strength during that."

"Yet you are waiting for…?" Zekrom says, letting his words trail off into a question.

"Waiting on everybody to upgrade their equipment," I reply honestly. "They're getting to work crafting right now, but it will be at least an hour or so before they're done."

"Are you not going to… upgrade… as well?" He asks now, turning his gaze away from the skeletons and towards the supply station Mistress' team had only just recently finished setting up for doling out demonic materials.

Following the giant plague lord's gaze toward Mistress' team taking and filling orders for prepared materials, I simply shrug and say, "I will, but I'm just too lazy to actually get to work right now."

"Getting it over with now will save you trouble later," Zekrom reminds me with a sagely nod of his head as if imparting the secrets of the universe.

Hating the feeling that he was right, I simply shrug and say, "Fine, just be ready to intimidate the newcomers for me."

Walking away from where Zekrom was working with the skeletons, I simply ignore the lines of players at the supply station and walk around the back to retrieve some of the supplies set aside for my team. For myself I simply chose some of the ram-head Taurian skins and bone fiend ivory plates before returning to the work stations set up by Zekrom and the NPC.

Splitting apart my hands and fingers, I start producing dozens of streams of cordycep silk with which to feed several looms at which several NPC skeletons obligingly came forward to operate for me. However, when they started working I had to stop them and explain that I needed to make a thin canvas rather than the silk linen sheeting they were preparing to make. If I used anything less then my armor would not be as strong as I needed it to be.

As well, I needed to make tens of yards of the cordycep canvas to supply not only myself but my team as well. My team was already working on making their suits of armor but they were currently in the designing and cut-out process, meaning there was still plenty of time for me to prepare the cordycep canvas.

Even though I had blessed the materials that Mistress' and my teams would be using, I did not intend to share this cracked out spider silk with anyone outside of my team. Not just because of its strengths but also because only my team and members of the plague army would be resistant to becoming Infected Mortals. The last thing I wanted was to give out free race changes!

Luckily, with almost a dozen skeletons working the black crystalline looms it took less than half an hour before enough quarter-inch thick cordycep canvas was loomed out. Since I was lazy I also planned on copying the same design as my current armor which would help to save me a lot of effort.

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