Chapter One-Hundred and Six: Familiar Faces.

The grunts of the two men echoed through the tunnel as each one struck the wall of treasure, excavating the valuable gems, stones, and material with each strike.

"Just about finished I think Hudson. Can't believe we got through it all," Drake chimed in, through his strikes.

"Truth be told, didn't think we would manage to get all of it. But did we really have to get all of it?" Hudson asked over his shoulder, striking his portion of wall.

[You have increased Mining to Proficiency 5]

[You have reached max Profession Proficiency, increase your Race Rank to move on to the next Rank. Any additional Profession Experience will be lost.]

[You have increased Material Identification to Proficiency 5]

[You have reached max Profession Proficiency, increase your Race Rank to move on to the next Rank. Any additional Profession Experience will be lost.]

"And that's what I've been waiting for baby! Wooo!" Drake yelled, his voice reverberating off the walls.

Hudson recoiled, covering his ears.

"God damn it ya idjit, did ya have to holler like that? Right next to ya, ya bastard! And why in sam hell did you amplify it with your magic?" Hudson growled.

"For extra effect!" Drake said with a smile, "Come on you old goat who's technically a young goat, if he isn't a lying goat, let's go see some daylight. I think we have enough material to build a Death Star," Drake finished waving his hand. Splashing some water over his head to cool himself all while washing off some of the sweat.

Drake offered a ball of water to Hudson as well, but Hudson waved him off with his hand and a shake of his head.

"I'll do it myself thank ya. Water you use is always too cold, and I'd rather not turn inside out," he said.

Drake raised his eyebrow for a moment but then let the moment pass, not wanting to even acknowledge the awkward joke.

Both of them placed their pickaxes back into their inventory, making their way through the main shaft of the Mines as they worked their way to the door.

Neither one talked much until they reached the exit where Hudson spoke up.

"So, pup. I don't think I ever got a chance to ask ya, but what are your plans when we eventually get out of this damned infernal death scenario?"

Drake tilted his head giving it a bit of thought.

"As far as what?" Drake asked.

"Don't beat around the bush, far as everything. Do you think strong as you are, it will be enough? Are ya going to keep going on killing sprees even on Earth, or at least whatever hellish version of it is now?" Hudson clarified.

Drake moved to lean on the wall, his hands behind his head.

"I think it will pretty much be the same. I won't know exactly until we leave, but my main plan is to find my family. And make a place where they can be safe. I have two brothers who can take care of themselves but I don't think they will do very well in what the system is doing on Earth…" Drake mused, his face dimming slightly, "But I have confidence they and my Mom are going to make it. And if they somehow don't. Whoever touched them better pray to whatever god they can, that I don't find them."

Hudson shivered. Not from the statement, or its contents, but from the expression Drake had on his face as he did.

"R-right.. Well, what are you going to call this place of yours? I would be remiss if I didn't turn up eventually," he asked, trying to change the topic.

"Hmm," Drake thought, humming for a moment, "I have a few names but nothing concrete. Lots to still figure out, and Natto can only tell me so much before we leave the tutorial apparently, or the big scary system might smite her."

"It can do that?"

"I haven't seen anything like that, but if she is barred from saying something. I trust it's for a good reason."

"Well shit, ain't that a coyote taking the house cat type of situation if I ever heard it."

Drake's face screwed up into a mess of confusion.

"Huh? Punyeta, what in the world is that saying," Drake laughed, finally opening the door, the light of the next day beaming through, forcing the pair to shield their eyes.

"Just means a fucked up, ass-backward situation, pup," Hudson chuckled, stepping through the door into the Outpost.

"I might have to use that one. Confuse the hell out of someone," Drake said, his face curling into a grin.

Both the men gave a chuckle then looked out into the Outpost.

The entirety of the camps had been packed up, only the sports fields remaining with some remnants of campfire pits here and there.

A ocean of people stood near the gate of the Outpost milling about.

"Looks like Theo did a bang up job," Drake whistled.

"This one is pleased you feel that way my Lord," Theodore said, shimmering into view next to Drake, his head at a half bow.

Drake had gotten used to Theodore appearing whenever his name was spoken, in true butler sense. But Hudson jumped at the sudden appearance of the man.

"Good damn it! Do you all have to do that! Just because ya'll have invisibility skills don't mean you got to use them like that all the damned time!" he croaked.

"What do you mean Hudson?" a voice from behind him said, as Chelsea also shimmered out of her cloaking ability.

"Son of a bitch! I said stop it you damned idiots!" he shouted, storming off to the crowd in the distance.

"You two are going to have to do that more often," Drake laughed.

"It is pretty fun since he doesn't have a detection skill," Chelsea giggled, "So how were the mines, get everything you wanted?" she asked.

"Everything and more, which will be good for when I have to trade some of it at the Outpost. And now I can finally get that rare trading card fucking Jimmy has been holding out on…"

"Rare what my Lord?" Theodore asked, not hearing him clearly.

Drake cleared his throat.

"Nothing, some Rare Equipment I was looking for. Anyway, is everything going smoothly?" Drake asked back.

"Yeah everyone was just waiting for you two to come out. Claire and Harley have been making sure everyone's in line also. Theo's been on top of making sure people are packed and prepared as well," Chelsea answered.

"Thank you, Theodore, for your amazing report," Drake said looking at Chelsea, her face reddening as she winced slightly with a giggle, "As long as everything is ready I think it's about time we get moving. Theo, did you get the person I asked for?"

Theodore nodded, "The woman tis thitherward my Lord," he said pointing to the gate.

Drake nodded, "Good! Then let's get this train a chugging! Next stop tomato town!"

"I hate it here…" Natto sighed.

—--------

"Alright! Everyone settled?" Drake shouted over the crowd of people as he stood on top of his usual guard tower, "This is going to only be a few hours journey, but everyone stay calm and vigilant! Those of you with identification, observation aura sense skills and the like will be on the outside of the group to identify any threats! I have placed members of my group within the caravan to help with anything. You all know who they are and what they are capable of so there is no need to worry! Hudson has also gone all out with his skills to give us the utmost protection with his little dudes. And if anything shows up that might even look at us the wrong way, you can rest assured I will make sure it regrets it!" Drake finished with a boom of his voice, using his magic to make it reach the entire group.

"Color me surprised. That was actually not a bad speech. Usually you'd say something mad," Jacqueline jabbed.

"Yeah well, something like this is going to have tensions high so no need to joke around, but don't worry I have some spicy one's ready if anyone tries to do anything," Drake laughed.

Jacqueline rolled her eyes and scoffed, looking over the crowd below them. Harley and Sherry were also with them. Sherry needed protection as well as Jacqueline as their sole high potency healer.

With the addition of Julia and Megan they had some more powerful healers but Jacqueline far outstriped them in raw healing efficiency. It also may be that Drake did not want to lose the only person who could heal his arm right now.

There were of course other healers within their mass of people but they unfortunately paled in comparison to the ones he knew personally.

A byproduct of Drake and his team protecting the majority of the Outpost was that many of the people within had stalled on levels, the average around 12. And many of them having only common or uncommon classes. The other particularly unfortunate aspect was that anyone with a Rare or better class had been unwilling to join Drake.

Those people as well as many of the other survivors of the horrors of the Goblin Invasion had been scared and traumatized to the point they wished to never see another monster and Drake could understand.

He didn't like to mention it, but many of the women he had saved had given birth to the creatures during their time in the Outpost.

Wincing at the thought, Drake remembered how hectic it had been when the first incident had happened. Since then they had set up measures but every event where it was the source, was not a pleasant one and had only fueled his anger and vindication for killing the King.

Despite all of this, many of them had come leaps and bounds forward since then. The system, if good for nothing else, had helped many of them become resilient to the mental traumas if only slightly. And with the help of Claire and her forming a group where the survivors could speak and express their traumas and others, safely.

The entire ordeal was the worst of the issues the Outpost had dealt with over the week when Drake was essentially out of commission.

Some people had taken him not being in full capacity as a green light to do whatever they wanted in the camp, but it was quickly snuffed out by the rest of his party members, and they were placed into the cage with the rest of the naughty naughty people.

Unfortunately, Dake was not so heartless to do away with them and had them placed under the watch of Tom, Hudson, and Amir at the end of the group. The worst of the culprits were placed under an Oath made by Sherry to not flee and cooperate on the way to Shigure's Camp where they would be tried for their crimes by a third party.

With all settled Drake gave one last booming voice outward as he moved to the center of the group where he was in reach of his party for the initial move.

"My soldiers, Rage. My soldiers, Scream. My soldiers, Fight. This is my Command!" Drake chanted as his aura spread out from him, encompassing and flowing over 10s of people as he increased the proficiency to 2, allowing him to double the number of people effectively, reducing the cooldown by several minutes and increasing the effects and duration for several minutes as well.

Drake nodded to his party members around him as they all moved to their designated positions. Chelsea and Theodore shimmered out of vision as they cloaked themselves in their skills. Harley moved to the front to help with scouting, alongside Drake, Sherry, and Jacqueline.

Hudson, Amir, and Tom moved to the rear. Hudson's robots spread out as Drones began to hover overhead, his two Big Boys spreading out evenly in the rest of the group.

Drake opened the gate, then turned to the woman that Theodore had found for him.

"Miss Braun, pleasure to meet you, and after you," Drake said, offering her the lead to guide the way.

The brown haired, average height woman nodded terse as she kept her distance from Drake, not bothering to speak as she shook lightly.

"Ugh, another one…" Natto sighed.

She is hardly being aggressive. She was one of the victims of the Goblins. I can't very well be mad that she's apprehensive to be near me and to have to guide us. Drake shot back.

"Why ask her to even lead, we know where we are going do we not?"

It's about having everyone feel included and participate. They may not like it now, but once we get to the camp, I hope they will feel at least some accomplishment and relief from making and contributing to the journey. I'm trying to build people up, not have a flock of mindless followers that just fall in line like chicks. Besides, if I've noticed I'm sure you have as well. There are a few people here that shouldn't be. I need them to think we are spread thin and people within the group are easy targets. Why do you think I had Theo and Chelsea 'scout' ahead? Drake mused.

Drake followed in tandem with Miss Braun as the rest of the makeshift caravan of people moved with them.

He made sure to stay alert, scanning the surroundings and stretching his Aura sense as far as possible looking for anything out of the ordinary.

"Hey….. I'm hungry Shot. Do you have any more snacks dude?" Sherry grumbled dragging her feet.

"Didn't ya just eat? Damned endless black hole of a stomach you got there Sherry, wish I could eat as much as all that," Jacqueline said, her face wrinkling in a tinge of green.

"I just use up a lot of mental energy… uhhh….." Sherry continued to groan, as she picked up the pace just to grab at Drake's sleeve.

"Fine, fine. Don't pull at me. You're a grown woman, why do you act like a little pet…" Drake chuckled wryly pulling out some pork skewers he had saved, "Here, now ju-" Drake began saying when he felt a disturbance in his sphere, his eyes honing in on a person with a cloaking skill on.

Drake quickly snapped his fingers, changing to his Lightning Endowment, his hair cascading into a bright golden yellow hue, his tattoo shimmering in a similar fashion as he surged forward, his left arm gripping at the air.

"Who are you?" Drake asked evenly, startling the surrounding people in the caravan as he appeared.

For a moment Drake glared at the invisible person as they refused to reveal themselves even though they had been caught.

Drake clicked his tongue, gripping his fingers more tightly around whatever he had a hold of, beads of red quickly flowing from them outlining the form of a person from the waist down as a scream shrieked out.

The person quickly lost their concentration under Drake's pressure and the skill dispersed, revealing a man in all black, their face covered by a familiar mask Drake had seen before. And his identification skill useless.

[Cw%odi2n Level *1nC]

The man coughed and struggled under Drake's ironclad grip, both of his hands clawing at Drake's before he spoke in a seething tone.

"You're too late... Thanks for finally leaving your damned hole with such juicy experience and TP!"

Drake's head turned to a scream that was heard from the back of the group.

"Shit."