Book 3. Chapter 13: Working Around the Clock

Book 3. Chapter 13: Working Around the Clock

Jakes question was met with some sadness, and they learned that the men, including the chieftain, had already died. Many of them had gone to aid the fallen Alliance HQ, Jake learned was called Lifes Haven, having been convinced to aid their brethren in its defense. Whether they joined the Framework or not, there were still many that came to aid in the defense of the other beastkin at the HQ. It was unknown whether any of them would have joined the Framework or not after they left.

He learned that there wasnt even an Alliance Node here, and eventually was able to talk Damara into allowing one to be placed. Many integrated after Jakes speech, and giving them a status update on the war. There were none willing to join Hearthtribe, leaving their home in defense of others, for now. Some children close to coming of age were interested, however.

It wasnt only the men that left. Many of the more warrior focused women did, too. But this village was small, and their focus was on carpentry and woodworking. Jake learned that the biggest thing that they exported was furniture, and they would sort of ship it down the river, even down the waterfalls, strapping barrels to their works. Their work would arrive not far from Lifes Haven, and it would be carried the remainder of the distance and traded for there. There was some kind of elevator powered by animals or powerful beastkin that could carry up things onto the plateau, such as large furniture.

Jake let them know that if they came to Kenwodi, there were many other beastkin meeting there. They could use carpenters to rebuild and build houses, and they should think about selling their products on the Alliance Market. There was a way for them to sell locally, the products being transported within the world to other alliance nodes, for a significantly reduced transfer fee. They could also earn various woodworking skills and improve their crafts.

Damara responded to his offer, Wed like to go, but theres a problem. Many of us stayed to care for the children. Theres simply no way we could travel as we are now. We are not even two hundred adults, but there are over a thousand children below the age of 10 among us.

Jake and the girls were shocked at this revelation. They must have sent more than half their adults. Jake did see a lot of children, but he had a hard time believing there were that many there, until Ira pointed out the pavilion tents with them in it near the center of the village, away from the fighting.

He would now need it to be a priority to get some kind of blimp or other method running sooner rather than later. Jake thought that leaving this village here would be quite the burden for defense, as every time a rift spawned on the plateau, him or his people would need to rally to here within a day to close it before anything spawned. Perhaps, once they retook Lifes Haven, it would be easier to move them there somehow. For now, the node had helped solve any food problems, though with the river it appeared this was hardly an issue for them. There were all sorts of fish for them to consume, the reduced population making it simple for them to live on that alone.

Jake said, I see. For now, well just have to help with clearing any rifts near you. You can use the Alliance Node to send my guild a message, if theres trouble. Well go clear out the orc rift, and then we need to head to the next rifts and villages.

Damara said, I think youll find that those in the surrounding area are quite similar to ours. Some might have had better access to head to another village when the worst happened, but some plateaus nearby are smaller, and cant support many.

Jake had purchased a number of wooden weapons that they had spare from their crafting, for use in practice with his enchanting. He mostly purchased arrows, javelins and spears, but had purchased a number of other weapons as well.

They headed out, and took on the nearby rift. They faced an orc commanders rift once again, Berri enjoying smashing everything. She became a veritable death blender, and they finally had gotten a good chance to really use the fiery counter that was on Sacrificial Barrier. When melee attackers hit the barrier, flames would peel off the barrier and harm them. Combined with Jakes heavenly aura and Bloodberris armor, it was like the orc warriors were killing themselves by attacking her.

Jake and Ophelia just made sure to control the ranged orcs, and took them out safely. An Orc Commander spawned, and Bloodberris new [Maul of Hestia-Echidna] made quick work of the creature, while Jake and Ophelia turned the battlefield into a sea of flames with consecration. Jake had wanted to capture the Orc Commander, but found that [Rift Challenge] creatures could not be captured.

They moved on to other rifts, and cleared two more villages that were similar to Riverbend, and two more lone rifts besides. Jakes stories of whats happening to the other villages went a long way towards getting people to integrate, and they did find a fourth village crammed full of people from other villages. Jake watched as they quickly traded their hides and plants for food, and several entered their beginner incursions nearly right away, after Jake hammered home the importance of preparation and they got themselves set up.

These people were desperate, and Jakes party arrived just in the nick of time. Some were very close to braving the dangers of the wilds to escape those assaulting their plateau.

It was now close to dusk, and they were traveling to their last rift of the day before they would move to their territory and portal home to their Refuge.

They ran into such a tribe, with skeletons chasing them. Ophelia quickly flew over the ridge Bloodberri was climbing when Ira spotted them, and she cut off the chasing army. There were nearly 200 beastkin fleeing, with almost half of them children.

Some warriors were fighting a retreating battle in the back, trying their best to give their people reprieve. Ophelia blazed past them in a near streak of light, and immediately set to work. She used her hearth of Hestia, and cut down the various undead in scores. She cleared out most of them before Jake and Bloodberri could even arrive, the beastkin watching on in awe as she did.

Jake met with the Elder of the village, and found that most of the area was already blighted, with many beastkin sick. They werent sure what they were going to do when they got to the ledge, but their hope was for many to climb down carrying children. Jakes party quickly moved to heal those that were blighted.

The escaping tribe had killed off a few waves of the skeletons, and decided to escape before the latest one arrived. But they were cut off by the enemy, and had to fight through. It was a bear beastkin elder who was awakened that lead his people.

I cant thank you enough, Jake, for helping us in our time of need. We owe you a great debt.

Both Ophelia and Jake smiled at the elder, Berri off talking with some kids.

Jake said, Im glad we were able to get here before the worst happened. If you want to repay me, Id appreciate if you could convince others to join the Framework, and join the cause of fighting back this evil. I was sent by the Goddess Hestia, so you can thank her as well. Were here to protect families, and fight off these invaders.

This is largely what Jake had been offering, for people that were overly thankful. He required more warriors, but currently, he couldnt travel with them. They also simply werent strong enough to provide meaningful assistance in a fight.

We would go back to town after you clear the rift, but The entire plateau is almost blighted now. Im afraid we can no longer live here.

Jake frowned. He had realized that Rookards plateau was blighted, but now his food was coming from an external source. They had managed to keep it out of their village proper originally for the most part, but it was certainly true that farming was not going to be something that would work for them until the blight was removed. Yet again, he had run into some people with the same problem, and it had ruined their home.

Jake would need to make it a priority to find an efficient way of removing the blight. The censers that they used simply took too long, and Jakes party was effectively the vanguard. He couldnt have Brock and the rest come here in a meaningful amount of time. His time was already pulled too thin for him to have Berri and Ophelia removing the blight from crops and things of that nature with their holy energies. Perhaps, he could make something with enchanting, and hope that the outcome served a dual-purpose in terms of being able to harm the undead.

For now, if you make it over to Hunters Terrace, they will have plenty of room to accommodate you. They had sent many warriors off to defend Lifes Haven, and despite several villages joining them, they still have room.

Thats where we were headed. We should be able to make it before night fall if you just help us down. Well be able to get all the kids up on our own.

Bloodberri carried many children down with her basket and hanging onto her, taking a few trips. Jakes party continued to clear the rift they had planned on, and it was now getting dark out.

Jake needed a repeatable method for the beastkin to follow. The runic etching tool could in fact be powered by mana crystals instead of Jakes own mana, so if these worked, he could still teach the beastkin, or have them learn their own methods. But perhaps, there might be some way to make them a more appropriate tool, that used their own auril. Perhaps, on a certain level, they could just use their claws with ink and their own auril. A possibility for later.

He worked on enchanting various items with the demonic runes and beastkin language, making sure to have many things for beastkin to try.

He had one other thing he wanted to work on. Jake looked over the market, and found that he was far from the first person with the difficulty of requiring conveyance in the multiverse. Mobility was considered in the [Conquest Game], so something like an airship that could move potentially hundreds of people rapidly had a significant cost, way outside of Jakes price range. Even if humans could make something with technology with Tier 0 materials, this was not allowed, just like building cannons.

The line on what was allowed was strange for Jake, as it wasnt as simple as using chemicals or technology versus magic. Making magitech style items would not bypass the games rules. From what Jake could tell, only by purchasing an item close to what he wanted, and modifying it lightly to accomplish almost the same thing could he ensure that his actions were safe.

From what he noticed, anything that resembled a jet engine was not allowed, no matter how it was accomplished. Any propeller-style with a motor had strict limitations for Tier 1, but it looked to be possible as long as the motor was below a certain output. Jake had a thought of those strange swamp boats that were like a giant fan behind the rider they used down in the bayou, called airboats. From what he could tell, the best propeller and motor would be much weaker than that.

Something slow like a blimp with many smaller propellers was in fact possible. Jake could find a way to enchant it and power it himself, to make it a little faster than what the purchased item would be able to by itself. With this, he should be able to pick up and carry dozens of people. For now, the problem was carrying something large enough to fit many people on it. Jake could purchase an upgraded version of the storage bracelet that was actually a ring, that might be able to contain a blimp, but it was outside what he wanted to spend on such an item at this time.

He reasoned that he would have to get his guild working on using the blimps. While Jake didnt have many hours to go picking up people with a blimp, perhaps, he could get people in his guild to do it. This would be a project for another night, to get something acceptable in his mind for conveyance.

He found that something like a permanent fixture for traversing landscape was more than affordable. He was able to purchase a package for making and building gondolas, buying several of them, and filling several storage bracelets.

Jake had bought some that cost T0 Credits, but left out an important, yet expensive, component. The power source for the engine, that propelled the gondolas forward. Jake wanted something a little more permanent, that wouldnt require him running out and recharging mana crystals every few days. Jake also found he could save a significant amount of credits, spending just a short time on this.

He made six of the power sources for each of the places he needed to install, similar to the ones that went into Bloodberris necklace. They were a lot bigger, but because of that, he was able to use much cheaper gems. He tested the motor, and found that they would accomplish what he needed. As far as Jake could tell, this should last for months as it is now, instead of the other version that would have actually costed him more. The more expensive one would also require a refill of large, expensive mana crystals every few days if they saw a lot of usage, but this one would pull mana from the surrounding environment.

Jake still had some time before Ophelia would complete his request, but he himself was getting kind of tired. His body had improved significantly from his divine hearth, and he really only required a few hours of sleep in order to feel rested. But he still required three or four after a day filled with deathly combat, and it really felt like they didnt have time right now. It was already the middle of the night, and if he wanted to be rested in time for morning training, he would need to sleep now. But Ophelia too was still working.

Fhesiah entered the room, surprising him out of his thoughts. She was carrying a large body pillow, and he looked at her in question.

Arent you happy to see me, husband? So busy playing with your pen alone again, you didnt even notice me coming. You ought to lock your door when you do that, you know.

Jake was happy to see her, and he was surprised. She was holding a pillow, and wearing her cultivator robes, as she often did while doing her alchemy. With her joking around and the pillow, hed think that she would be wearing lingerie trying to tease him for some action. It was her night tonight, after all. But he got the feeling that was not why she was here.

You were running yourself ragged, so I thought that I should help. It is my night, but life is about a lot more than just having fun. Sometimes, we do have to work hard. That will make it all the better for when its time to enjoy. She placed the pillow down, and kneeled next to it, patting her knees.

He laid down, his body on the pillow, and his head on her knees.

What about you, though?

Im more than alright, it will take more than a month or two of this before it would really bother me. My body doesnt need rest beyond my cultivation each day, but the mind can always use it. This is why I hope this does not become a habit, for you. Take a nap, and I will do my best to remove the need for sleep from you. I should be able to win you back some time. It should only take but thirty minutes, but youll need to be asleep, first.

Jake closed his eyes, and did his best to keep his mind from wandering. He had so much to do, and so little time to do it. Fhesiah shushed him, as she ran her fingers through his hair. Her nails on his scalp felt calming, and Jake felt his stress melt away, as he fell asleep.

Fhesiah then used her knowledge of the body, to remove the toxins that build up in his brain and body over the day, that are removed by processes that occur during sleep using her heavenly energy. She also rapidly stimulated the glands that produce the hormones to restore the body much more rapidly than it usually took to begin making them, often requiring people to enter REM sleep.

He woke up, when the door opened.

Here you are, Jake. It was a little odd, but I was able to make this container. We only have a couple of hours before training begins, you know.

Jake found that he actually felt well rested, he looked up to see Fhesiahs smile.

Thank you, Fhesiah. I appreciate it.

Youre very welcome, husband. Come here, sister Youre next.

T-Thanks, Fhesiah. I could use a little shut-eye.

She laid down the same way as Jake had, and Fhesiah once again ran her fingers through her scalp.

Jake said, Thanks for your hard work too, Ophelia. I think with this, we should be able to make something to clear the blight. I guess Bloodberri is still working?

They dont really need sleep, I guess they can sort of take turns? Its weird, like everything else about them.

She closed her eyes, and Jake could tell it wouldnt take her long to fall asleep. He began working on what he hoped to be his Epic censer.