Chapter 44

Chapter 44

Day twenty-one of the boot camp from hell quickly made its appearance in the blink of an eye. The community as a whole was in a much, much better position compared to the first day of The Descent. The only people who hadn't yet reached level fifteen in either their profession, class, or both, were the children too young to receive them. But even they had access to The System and stats. Sindra had even been nice enough to create a regimented training course for the kiddos to boost their stats and give them a better starting position in life once they received their classes. The kids loved it though, it was like one giant recess to them.

Drew had his doubts going into the training program about it's effectiveness compared to straight leveling and grinding out monsters and beasts, but those doubts were now completely erased. Even the non-combat members were now sporting attributes well past the twenty point range, each of them easily as strong and as fast as the Olympic athletes of Old Earth. The children were getting into the ten point range, despite their age. All in all, the survivability of individuals was at a much higher place. The people that had cut out of the training program early all ended up coming back after seeing the ridiculous progress their fellow humans were making. The older folks had a fire lit under their asses, and were suddenly inspired to become more than they had been their entire lives.

Envy and inspiration of their peers' progress wasn't their sole motivation however. Drew was close to evolving, and Sindra had taken the time one day to go over what that meant. New, more specialized classes and professions would be made available to everyone at level twenty-five, increased stat point gains per level, and all that fun stuff. But, the major difference was the race evolution. When their race evolved, it massively increased their lifespans. So, all the old folks decided that given the option between living longer, or dying, they'd prefer to live longer. Who would have thought? An E Grade human would live to be around one hundred and fifty years old or so, which was nothing to sneeze at given the average lifespan for humans was in the seventy to eighty year range on Old Earth.

All that said, Drew hadn't evolved yet. Any starting class, profession, or race would be able to be evolved at level twenty-five, however if he chose to wait until all three were ready to evolve, he'd achieve a 'perfect evolution' title, which was supposed to be quite beefy according to Sindra. That had been another major benefit of having the Valkyrie around for the last three weeks, her knowledge of The System was vastly superior to Spock's and she knew a lot of the ins and outs, the loopholes, titles, and things people could do to have a chance to get the upgraded classes and professions they wanted.

She was the apocalypse strategy guide, and Drew was happy to abuse it as much as possible before she left to go back to work for The Baleful Lady. That wasn't to say that everything was perfect in the community. Far from it in fact. The farm was up and running, plowed and seeded, and work had begun on a secondary one. The shelter had been up for over a week now, and people's morale was much higher, and the community was no longer lacking tools, arrows, or construction materials. Weapons were almost finished, but the armor hadn't been started yet. Jonathan was only one smith, and there was only so much he could do even with his workers.

Iron deposits had been found locally, at least in small quantities, which was helping shore up the bottleneck that armor production would encounter, but they still only had one proper smith. Drew was tempted to put a second Soulsmith Workshop down, but he didn't want to wear out his welcome with The Baleful Lady.

The property had been assaulted many times over the course of the three weeks, but it was never as bad as the goblin or crow hordes had been. Now that everyone had proper training, a bunch of stats and levels, and weapons, they were able to handle the assaults with ease. They hadn't even lost anyone!

Part of that was the three new healers that Miranda had managed to recruit. One of the healers used to be a veterinarian before he retired, and the other two had been in the medical field. All three of them were older though, so unless they evolved, the community would find itself in the previous situation again in the future. Drew's swordsmanship had improved drastically, as even Sindra had commented on how impressed she was given the short amount of time that he had been practicing. She felt that he might be offered a free Grade increase shortly if he kept up his practice and drills.

The other members of Drew's main home team had also improved drastically. Mark had become extremely agile, being able to leap and flip, and dodge constantly without any major drain on his endurance, and he always managed to execute the defensive and offensive moves perfectly. Sindra thought he was perfect for a rogue-style build. When Drew sparred with him, he found that he needed to focus at all times in order to have a chance to react to Mark's swift entrances and exits. Mark also managed to find the tiny little gaps in Drew's armor and slip his short swords in to wreck havoc if he wasn't careful.

Miranda was always on hand for the spars and needed to heal people as they had begun to test the limits of their stats and skills far more often now. Her healing speed, and mana capacity had increased greatly, and she could now heal all day without long breaks. She still needed a bit of work in increasing her healing skills potency, but overall she'd made great progress. She had also picked up some buffs she could apply to other people that stayed in close proximity to her.

Robert... was Robert. His leadership qualities had risen and he was now shown a lot of respect from other members of the community. He knew how to talk to people, how to inspire them, and how to solve arguments, which saved Drew a ton of hassles. He'd taken well to the mace, spear, and sword. But he almost always kept a large shield with whatever weapon he was practicing with. Drew could tell that something had been bothering the older man, and he had a sinking feeling that it had to do with his religious beliefs, but Drew tried to stay away from any conversations like that with the man.

Beefcake and Drew's mother had become closer, and it seemed like she'd found herself a friend that shared her love for television. They could often be found having friendly conversations and debates about the shows they'd been watching. That was something Drew was extremely thankful for on a personal level. It'd been such a long time since his mom had friends that he'd been worried about her social interactions. It warmed his heart to see her so happy when talking with her large demon friend. She'd also became a lot more involved in the training sessions and had started to provide personal advice to people who'd been struggling emotionally, acting as a form of therapist for the many people who needed that kind of help.

Amber's archery was doing much better, she was now capable of reliably hitting targets in specific locations repeatedly with her arrows. The power of the arrows had increased as well, and she'd gained multiple abilities to boost her flexibility. She could now fire multiple arrows at once, the penetration power of said arrows were much higher, and she was in the process of creating her own skill with Sindra's help to create exploding arrow tips.

Freya...was still Freya. Farts and all. Her intelligence had grown the most out of her attributes, and she seemed to be almost humanlike with her reactions to conversations. Her strength and agility were much higher now too, and Drew felt like she could probably run down a cheetah from Old Earth if needed. According to Amber, the shepherd had gained another buff boost of some kind, and now had an aura ability that acted like a constant minor regeneration heal.

Spock had shown some...strange growth. He had picked up the Animal Husbandry profession due his excitement and enjoyment of working with the new Dickens, and interacting with Freya. His work with the spear had greatly improved with Sindra's help, but he'd picked up the strange habit of having a kind of 'catch phrase'. It was a phrase Sindra had drilled into him, and Drew had caught him muttering it to himself when they sparred. 'The spear advances'. It was a bit cheesy to Drew, but it was good to see his friend so motivated. Spock had also taken to spending more time with the flock of Dickens, and was in the process of training them to become reliable transportation.

The hunting parties had success in getting many of the newcomers levels, although it was difficult to call the people newcomers anymore, as they'd been there for three weeks now. Now they were simply members of the community. The hunting parties had begun to bring back the occasional cow and horse that had managed to survive the monsters and beast, but a stable was still in the works, so the animals were now being held in a newly fenced-in section on the property. Or rather, Drew had expanded his holdings into his old neighbor's lands. Not that he truly had neighbors anymore. The groups that had gone out hunting had confirmed that any families that had been holdouts, refusing to come to Drew's property, were now well and truly dead.

He felt bad about the loss of life, but he had extended a hand to help those holdouts of people several times, only to be rebuffed or refused. In the end, he couldn't force people to save themselves, and he wasn't about to go out kidnapping folks either. If they wanted to live and die on their own land, on their own terms, then that was ultimately their choice. Was it really considered his neighbor's property anymore if they were all dead then? He didn't think so. Plus, if he needed more room at this point, he wasn't going to turn a blind eye to the available resources around them. So the new cows and horses, along with two donkeys, were now in that newly fenced-in section just west of the outer defenses.

Drew had lost several of the goblin minions he'd raised previously as he sent them out to level up as well, which freed up some of his minion capacity. So when hunting parties or his minions found the dead bodies of the holdouts, he did the practical thing and raised them as normal skeleton minions, equipping them with bows, and setting them on guard duty at the watchtowers. A new watchtower was also built out of the construction material he had purchased and saved from hardware stores, and the tower now sat in the new grazing area for the animals. At Beefcake and Spock's suggestion, the Dickens were moved to that area as well. They would act a lot like donkeys and would protect the herd if anything attacked them.

The groups of minions he'd been sending out were also in charge of scavenging supplies from the houses nearby. Any non-perishable foods, linens, blankets, toilet supplies, tools, and construction materials were constantly being hauled back and added to the community's stockpiles.

There had been so much going on in the last three weeks, that Drew would have never caught up if it wasn't for the occasional meetings he was having with his home team, they were keeping him updated of all the happenings, but even then some things would escape his notice. He didn't know they had that new grazing area until several days later when Spock and Robert had let him know. Not that he wasn't thrilled with it. Cattle would continue to be an important resource in the long term for food, diary, and leather, and the horses could be trained to be ridden, much like the Dickens, and Drew would never, ever ride a Dicken. There wasn't a snowflakes chance in hell.

The parties hadn't made their way into the local town yet, as they were too busy leveling, collecting supplies and animals, and trying to stay relatively close to the community, but Drew had sent out several of the zombie crows for reconnaissance. From his crow's eyes, the situation looked grim, and he was planning on taking a large group to scout the area in a couple of days to try and find any survivors.

His four soulflame minions, besides Dickbag, had all been doing well also. Drew had been true to his word, and had given Dickbag all the wonderful jobs that other people didn't want, like latrine duty! Oh, how it put a smile on his face watching the grumpy skeleton dive head first into the outhouses to unclog any major stoppages that occurred. Truly, it was almost a kindness that Dickbag had been around to take up those duties. But even with Drew being a mean son of a bitch to Dickbag, he still sent him out to gain levels with his other minions, and he was progressing pretty well. He did well in the training regiment as well, along with the other Soulflames, due to their untiring physiques.

The other Soulflames, he had allowed to live like they had in life, he didn't command them, and when he did interact with them, he treated them like the humans they used to be. He had grown especially fond of the child who'd died saving his mom, Daniel. All five of the Soulflames, Dickbag included, had chosen the Heavy Warrior class. Maybe it was their deaths that made them decide they wanted the greater protection that the class afforded them, because Drew couldn't think of another reason that each one had chosen that class over all the other choices. Still, it made him feel secure knowing the community would have more heavily protected frontline fighters for down the road, once Jonathan started working on armor.

It had been three weeks, and Sindra was due to leave today, as her vacation on Earth came to a close. The Baleful Lady had clued him in on a little secret however. When Sindra finally made it back to The Halls of Reflection, she was going to get a promotion, and a big fat raise for her efforts on Earth. The goddess took Sindra's willingness to volunteer her limited time off to help her Champion, and his people very seriously. But it was all very hush-hush, The Lady had asked Drew to keep it quiet and not tell anyone until Sindra had left. Still, he was excited for his winged co-worker, she really did deserve the promotion. She had turned around the community's survival chances from a 'maybe' into a 'very comfortable' position. He was extremely thankful for all her help.

They'd grown closer over the last three week as well, and he was beginning to think of her as more of a friend, than just a co-worker. Today was the day of her departure. He'd offered to let her keep her house on his property so she could come visit whenever she'd like. She'd also offered to keep the training field up and running, and although she wouldn't leave all the weapons, she'd agreed to leave a couple as spares.

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Sindra would be leaving soon, but while she was still on Earth, Drew had asked her to watch over the people while he evolved. He was just missing one level in his profession to achieve a perfect evolution, and he knew just how to get it. With the lighthouse being able to safely store souls for long periods of time, he hadn't done a Rites of Passage ceremony since it had been summoned in from The Halls of Reflection. He was going to keep all the damned souls that had been pulled in by the lighthouse so they could be used by Jonathan, but he was going to send off all the other souls to their afterlives.

There was just one minor snag. There were a lot of souls. Like, hundreds of them.

The ceremony itself was much like the previous one, but the major difference was the whole community joined in to watch and pay their respects to the people who'd lost their lives. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, the community was a bit more...zealous in their religious beliefs recently. Between The Rites of Passage, and Sindra, who many saw as the 'The Divine Messenger', the people had begun to worship The Baleful Lady. Not all of them, but there were definitely a few people who were open about it. Others, due to their upbringing, seemed to keep more in the closet so to speak.

Several people didn't worship The Lady, but a lot of them did now, including all the soulflames. Drew wasn't sure where Robert stood on the matter, but it wasn't any of his business so he never brought it up. The ceremony went well, and several souls were recognized by community members. Some were neighbors, others came from the nearby town, but there was a sizable portion that no one knew. Still, everyone stood and paid their respects. They waved and offered their condolences for the souls' deaths. Seeing everyone come together, and do something kind for these souls brought a lot of warmth to his heart.

When it was all over, and everyone had left, Drew was left standing on the dais with Sindra. His notification icon was blinking, and he knew what it was going to say. He was ready for his perfect evolution.

Profession: [Baleful Warden (Unique)] has reached level 25

Attribute points allocated

[Caster] class skill available

[Baleful Warden (Unique)] profession skill available x2

[Caster] class ready for evolution

[Baleful Warden (Unique)] profession ready for evolution

[Dhampir (Grade - F)] race ready for evolution

Begin Evolution?
Yes/No

No, not yet. First he needed to select the new skills. He jumped right into it, starting with his class. He already knew the skill he was going to pick when he saw it. It looked like it was a direct upgrade of the [Undying Horde (Grade - Uncommon)] skill that he hadn't chosen in the past. And, it was pretty damn juicy if he was being honest.

[Army of the Dead (Grade - Rare)]
This is a passive skill that grants greater regeneration to your flesh based undead minions, and moderate regeneration to all other undead minions. This effect also applies to Soulflame minions. Effectively doubles the effect of your willpower attribute, allowing for twice as much minion capacity. Constructed minions will now have enough intelligence to form their own personalities, and in time, may form their own souls.

Yup! He was super excited about that option and went ahead and chose it. Making his minions regenerate far quicker, were more intelligent and could form personalities, and thus they would be able to react to situations without his direct supervision. Not to mention it increased his minion cap by a lot. He didn't regret his choice at all. He needed it, he wanted it, and now he had it.

Moving onto his profession, he took a bit longer to look through the options, noticing some new ones that popped up. As with his previous profession skills, these were far more specialized, so he wanted to take as much time as possible considering the options. Sindra had already spoken with him about possible options that may pop up, and he was keeping his eye open for them. One of the skills she'd thoroughly encouraged him to select appeared on the list.

[Pillar of Civilization (Unique)]
Grants a single, one-time use building to be summoned. This building will act as its namesake, a Pillar of Civilization, and allows a settlement to become System recognized. As the settlement grows, new options will be made available at the Pillar.

He went ahead and selected it. From Sindra's description, it would create a localized area that prevented the spawning of monsters and beasts within. Additionally, down the road, it would open up access to specific System functions for the settlement itself. That last part was something that his winged friend had remained tight-lipped about, but she promised him it would be worth it. Given her knowledge and the trustworthiness she'd earned, he decided to accept her advice. He felt pretty good about the utility of his profession's skills so far, but he wanted something a little bit more combat-oriented for this next skill. Hmmm... bingo!

[Baleful Strike (Unique)]
An active skill to be used during combat. This ability creates an ethereal mirror of your weapon, the mirrored weapon will strike when the physical weapon strikes, due to its ethereal nature, it cannot be physically blocked. Each hit against an enemy with the ethereal weapon will drain a portion of their soul and direct it into your Baleful Lantern. The soul is meant to be whole, thus draining portions of it will cause excruciating pain to the target and cause physical damage to their body as it reacts poorly to the draining. This ability stays has a moderate cost in mana points.

He felt pretty good about the skill, it seemed useful, it would add damage to the strikes he would already be doing, damage that couldn't be blocked by armor, shields, or toughened skin, and it would cause enough pain to make the enemy hopefully lose any focus they had during battle. It was very powerful, but it would be limited by his mana points. He could use it, or spam it for sure, but doing so would limit his versatility as the mana points could also be spent on his other skills. It would be a balancing act to make sure he was using it properly.

Drew relayed his choices to Sindra, and let her know he was about to begin. He pulled up his status page one last time before he evolved and threw the free points into intelligence. He'd gained a lot of points due to the training, at least in the physical attributes, but it seemed like he'd hit a limit of some kind as the physical stats were all rounded. Oh well, no point in thinking about that at the moment!

Status

Name: Drew Wright

Race: Dhampir (Grade - F) - lvl 25

Class: [Caster] – lvl 25

Profession: [Baleful Warden (Unique)] – lvl 25

Health Points (HP): 3100/3100

Mana Points (MP): 3100/3100

Stamina: 2800/2800

Stats (Attributes)

Strength: 180 (280)

Vitality: 210 (310)

Endurance: 200 (280)

Toughness: 210 (300)

Agility: 160 (220)

Perception: 113

Intelligence: 275 (310)

Willpower: 115

Begin Evolution?
Yes/No

Yes.