Chapter 903 T.D.O.N.B: The War Begins

Left alone to our own devices, we came up with a plan for the future days. Since there were still plenty of crystals left in the wastelands, we decided to go look for them until The Great One left to start the war. Then, we would use the remaining time to learn more about our fighting styles and prepare for our assault, until we got the signal to attack.

That's exactly what we did, until the fake Queen Ixa suddenly appeared among us, in the wastelands, holding a bracelet. It was black, solid, with a round part on top.

- Greetings, humans - he said to us.

As we noticed him, one by one we stopped the work, to turn our attention to him. Once again we were surrounding a pile of stone with, picking the crystals from it.

- And you Druoag, and you as well, little one - he switched briefly from looking directly at me to glancing at Ki'rai.

- Something happened? - I asked, but I already knew why he came.

After all, I did notice the bracelet.

- Yes. The guiding device is ready - he said, then extended the hand with the object towards me. - My forces will be ready in four days. After that, you should be ready to depart at any possible moment. Wait for a signal. Either from me or from Hope. Shortly after either one of us will move you to the closest possible place for you to start the mission.

I nodded as I came to take the bracelet from his long, slim fingers. I immediately put it on my wrist.

​ - Tap the round part, and it will visualize where you should go. Right now it won't work, because you are not in the correct location, but when you arrive at the correct spot, it will work flawlessly. Just make sure it won't get damaged as you go - he explained and warned me.

I nodded, then still lapped the round part. A 3D red arrow, more or less the size of my finger, showed above it, and it started spinning like crazy in every direction, including up and down.

- Tap it again to turn it off - The Great One added seeing that.

I followed his advice, making the arrow disappear.

- That's all I had to tell you. Be prepared - he said, then briefly glanced at Druoag before disappearing.

It made me glance at him too, as I found this little thing odd. My alien friend had a confused look on his monstrous face. It was obvious to me that he didn't understand why either The Great One or myself, were looking at him like that.

- Let's go to work - I said loudly. - We don't have much time left.

So we did go to work. A work that lasted a few more days, before we all received the same mental message: 'We are departing. Await signal'. This made us all return to Loistavadvaa, so we could spend the crystals we worked so hard for all this time.

I bought 200 000 000 upgrades of my dexterity and constitution, leaving myself still quite a stack of points, but since any upgrades that could matter needed way more, I decided to leave it, as an emergency fund.

After me, the others shopped for the rest of the day. We stayed in Loistavadvaar for the night, to get some rest. Mainly because the rest of the group wished to have some more time to think about what they actually wanted to buy.

Inevitably, the morning came. I didn't know it because there was any change in the environment. I knew it because Will said so.

- Get up, you lazy bastards. It's morning - he started yelling.

This made me come out of the building I decided to occupy. The rest also came from other places all around. Nobody seemed tired, and they all were already dressed.

- We should eat, and then go try ourselves - Hatta proposed. - A quick visit to Arc would also be nice. I have some of my stuff left there.

Everybody seemed to be fine with this proposition, so we bought ourselves a quick breakfast, filled our bellies, and popped quickly back to Arc. We found that due to Ixa's order, many hunters were taken to participate in a special operation.

Our city wasn't the only one that got their hunters into this world. Everybody was talking about that. Some were happy because suddenly most of the hunting grounds were completely free, but there were also those who couldn't stop to worry.

Such a large-scale draft could only mean one thing. It happened, very quickly. In a span of the last few days, we spent in the wastelands.

Since we knew what it all was about, nobody thought too much about it. We split and assembled once again in a matter of a few minutes. Most of my friends were carrying heavy backpacks and holding their weapons of choice in their hands.

This earned us some attention since we did it openly in the city center. We didn't care, vanishing just as fast as we appeared. Back in Loistavadvaar, we picked up Druoag, who didn't go at first, then finally left for our destination. The ruins of the alien city were left by him since he consumed his fruit.

The partially destroyed architecture was weird. Filled with oval capsules, most metallic, or painted white, now quite dirty, working as homes.

- This way. There should be nice and empty space over there for us to do some practice - said Druoag.

Without waiting for anybody, he headed forward in the direction he pointed before, forcing us to follow.

We quickly reached a partially collapsed gate. Behind it was a vast, empty grassland. A perfect battlefield to synchronize, learn about our new abilities, and do some sparring to test what we actually could do.

Nobody wasted even a second. They all dropped the heavy bags, opened them up, and started gearing themselves. Martin, Druoag, and I were the three exceptions to that rule, though. We didn't bring anything with us, nor looked like we were going to take something out. We just stood there, looking at the others.