Civilization

Getting back to my house, I take off the armor and drop it on the floor, before sitting on the chair by the table. I lean my head back and look at the ceiling, thinking about last night. It was a long arduous night, full of back and forth movement and this is the first time I had some proper quiet time, free from anyone else's calls and free from the monsters. Stretching my limbs as I slouch in the chair, I begin to think seriously about the event.

The title of the event already gives so much away, and the appearance of the skeletons only further cemented the idea. The Reaper, who was the King of the South, had somehow created portals through those doors everywhere in the continent. Each door became a pillar of light allowing the Reaper's forces to exit and invade.

Knowing that all the Kings were at odds with each other, this attack is not only directed at the Players but also at the other Kings. The Reaper wants to invade other territories while expanding his territory but then, that makes me think. How big are the Reaper's forces to be able to invade everywhere on the continent? And if there were more monsters as strong as the Bone Wyvern, how many Players would have died, and how many would have survived?

What about us? What about HavenFall? How are we going to fit into this puzzle? Our forces are split into two main camps, HavenFall and the Krepost but was that the right choice? Just last night, the fight was already difficult, but maybe it was because we were just under-prepared. No matter how much I prepared, I didn't know about the event before last night and I didn't know how to approach it.

Then, it might be better to set up a simple barrier at the cave entrance and set up torches near the top of the cave, so we have sight of the enemies. The cave entrance is small so, it would be easier to defend, and it would allow more rotations in troops. Defending the canyon floor, was too difficult as the front line's strength was too split.

Howard and Gobi were strong and with the help of Gewari and Lynn as well as the wolves they could defeat a lot of skeletons. However, the individual troops were too weak. Demi-human, human, hobgoblin, and goblin alike were unable to handle the overflowing skeletons, and they slowly got pushed back making Howard and Gobi handle more skeletons.

Unfortunately, I don't have a magical way to make them stronger other than the Ikanda, but even that is a slow process. With only 1 person going in at a time and taking a week to a fortnight to finish, it wasn't a quick way to make my common troops faster. It would help any of the leaders like Howard or Gobi and make them as strong as 10 or even 100 common troops.

Old man Hus wasn't able to make a breakthrough in any new armor or weapons yet either, maybe I should search up ideas for defensive siege weapons like catapults or trebuchets or even ballistae. I ruffle my head in frustration as my thoughts run wild before accidentally falling to the side. Luckily my spider legs caught me and at the same time, Stellar and Melody opened the door.

"Ian! I'm here to help." - Melody

"My lord, I'm here with the loot." - Stellar

"Come in, what do we have?" - Ian

Stellar and Melody comes in with a small wooden crate each, placing them down next to the table after I sat back down. Stellar also moves a shield inside before telling me that these were the only loot that was different. 2 skills books, an orb, a knife, and a shield.

"A very interesting combination of loot, isn't it?" - Stellar

"I don't know if we are lucky or unlucky to acquire this much after all the skeletons that were killed last night. The amount of bone fragments is staggering. Every time someone moves a big pot to old man Hus's workshop and comes back it is like they didn't make a dent at all." - Melody

"The sad thing is that we can't use the bone fragments at all but for now, let's look at what we have here." - Ian

Grabbing each individual item, I look at the descriptions and become speechless. Was this event meant to increase every surviving player's strength to become closer to the Kings?

[ Skill Book: Bone Wall (Active)  10 MP

Create a 10 x 1 x 0.5 meter wall made out of sharp bones that erupt from the ground. It will block a total of 100 damage or last for 1 hour. Cooldown 6 hours ]

[ Skill Book: Bone Armor (Active) 5MP

Defense +5

Envelop the user in white bone armor, covering head to toe. It will also block a total of 50 damage or last for 15 minutes. Cooldown 30 minutes. ]

[ Orb of Darkness

An orb filled with condensed dark element magic. If a person were to absorb the orb they will be able to gain a dark-element-related skill. However, there will be consequences. ]

[ Knife of the Dead

Attack: 25

Agility: 10

Vitality: - 10

A cold black metallic knife with a skeleton's neck and skull as the handle. It emits a dark aura that weakens the wielder however allows them to move faster and hit harder.

Made by ??? ]

[ Bone Shield

Defense: 35

Agility: -5

Skill: Bone Spike

A large tower shield made up of skeleton arms and legs as the frame with rib cages crisscrossing around a singular skull head in the middle. Despite its bony materials it ends up being quite heavy. ]

Bone Spike (Active) - When the skull on this shield is struck, a bone spike will eject out of the shield dealing 20 damage as well as inducing a bleeding status effect. Cooldown 30 seconds.

This loot is game-changing, especially the shield and the Bone Wall skill. It helps greatly in the upcoming battles as well, making the defense stronger. Maybe fighting for so long had its perks since I was able to obtain this loot.

As I was reading the descriptions, I was already forming a plan on whom to take the loot. Bone Wall should be on someone with high enough Intelligence that they can cast the skill while also using other skills in conjunction. This led me to think of Lynn since she was a natural mage, and it complimented her other skills, allowing a barrier to block attacks while the cooldown on her skills slowly reset.

Bone Armor had to be on the front line, and I was leaning towards the Gobi since he looked like he was struggling more during last night's battle. His current skills allowed him to boost allies' stats, however, his skills didn't allow him to grow stronger in the middle of battle. While he has offensive skills, he didn't have any defensive skills, and using the Hobgoblin's Club he would receive extra strength, but leaving himself open to attacks, making Bone Armor a perfect skill for him.

The Knife of the Dead fit either Gewari or Stellar since they would be able to use the extra Agility well. Their Vitality wouldn't matter as much if they were faster than their opponent and the Attack on the knife wasn't that much lower than the Copper Knives. In the end, I gave it to Stellar since she was here already and with the Moon's Ghost, it would allow her to deal damage silently and efficiently.

Since Gobi took the Bone Armor, I think it was only fair that Howard would take the Bone Shield. The shield would fit perfectly with Howard and since he was in the front line the skill attached to the shield would activate constantly providing another source of damage.

After telling Stellar and Melody about who would receive the rest of the loot, I let them give them to their respective owners. While they went to give out the loot, I went upstairs and lay in bed. Melody had notified me that the sun was already high up in the sky, so it was only a matter of time before I go back to the real world.

I didn't realize that I had spent so much time thinking about the current situation before Stellar and Melody arrived with the loot. Not before long the ceiling of my house gets replaced with the ceiling of my real home.

I get up from bed, putting away the VR helmet and as I was able to question where Rebecca was, my phone was already vibrating and buzzing on the table. I look at it and see that there were dozens of messages from everyone in the group chat. It seems like a lot going on last night. I walk out of the room to see Rebecca walking out of the toilet.

"Lots of stuff happened last night. I think you need to read it asap." - Rebecca