"Are you sure this is even a smart idea?" Maike asked hesitantly, her voice laced with concern. "With the elves and Kael involved, it'll turn into a massacre., even if we do manage to beat the undead. And out there, we won't have any walls to hide behind." She crossed her arms, clearly uneasy about the looming operation.
"Oh, youāre always so gloomy," Jack replied cheerfully, flashing his trademark grin. "Just like Josh. This will be our first real grand adventure. A perfect chance for team bonding!"
"Don't start that again," Josh interjected, scowling. "I'm not negative. Iām realistic. The last time we followed one of your āadventures,ā I was nearly killed by a witch!"
Jackās grin only widened. "You mean your little make-out session? Back then, you didnāt complain so much."
"Thatās a lie. I was exhausted. Thatās all," Josh huffed, turning away, feigning disinterest.
"Oh no!" Kargul added dramatically, laughing in a high-pitched mockery. "The poor little human got tired from a couple of teeny-tiny kisses!"
"Enough." Thalion's voice cut through their banter like a blade. His expression was stone-cold serious. "We need to focus. If we don't prepare properly, weāre all dead. Weāre heading back to the main base. I need to consult Lucan and a few engineers. Iām not marching an army into vampire-infested territory with nothing but skyships and hope."
The tone shifted instantly. Everyone knew when Thalion meant business. Time was running thin, and the final pillar wasnāt going to destroy itself. Even if they cleared the undead, they'd need hours to place the right explosives, assuming the defenders gave them that long. Everything they had faced so far would seem like childās play compared to what lay ahead.
"Why arenāt we bringing the Black Fortress with us?" Evelyn suddenly asked, her brow furrowed in thought. "Itās smaller than the main city. Maybe it could revert into its crystal form in a few hours?"
Thatā¦ was actually a great idea. Thalion silently cursed himself for not thinking of it earlier. Without wasting a moment, he sent a command to the troops stationed at the fortress to begin the process immediately.
"Evelynās clearly the brains of the group," Kargul said proudly, still riding high on their recent victory. Thalion was tempted to remind the orc about the wyvern incident or the red orc mess, but he let it slide.
"Letās head back. If weāre lucky, we can pack up some additional defenses to reinforce the fortress once itās rebuilt. Honestly, I doubt thereās any other group in this tutorial strong enough to launch a serious attack against us." Maike nodded in agreement and led the way to the skyship's portal, the others close behind.
Back at the base, Lucan practically glowed with excitement when Thalion told him they needed something strong enough to obliterate a pillar. The old craftsman had recently become obsessed with the explosive potential of certain crystals. Though originally a master of armor, weaponry, and portal construction, Lucan had slowly spiraled into the art of destruction.
His beard bore the marks of his new obsession. Singed ends, smoke-blackened tips and his hair jutted out wildly as though heād just walked away from a magical blast. He looked like a mad professor pulled straight from a fantasy novel.
Thalion couldnāt help but think of that scatterbrained wizard from the Harry Potter stories who always accidentally blew things up.
Other blacksmiths had frowned upon Lucan's recent focus, especially after several of his prototypes detonated early and scorched a few eyebrows. But now, someone not only wanted his creations. They
needed
them. The joy on Lucanās face was impossible to miss.
"Over here, we have exploding swords, spears, gloves, even helmets!" he announced with pride, gesturing to a row of bizarre-looking gear. "The explosions arenāt as refined. These were early experiments. But follow me to the cellarā¦ that's where the real fun begins."
Eagerly, Lucan led them downstairs. Only Thalion, Josh, Jack, and Maike had joined the visit. The others were either issuing orders to the troops or enjoying a meal at the local inn, though to be fair, only Kaldrek was actually working.
The cellar felt like walking into the belly of a dragon. Black torpedoes and giant metallic spheres lined the walls like sleeping beasts. A faint humming filled the air, and the scent of gunpowder clung to every surface.
"Sweet gods," Josh muttered, eyes wide in disbelief. "Thatās enough to blow this entire base off the map."
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"Please, Josh, you're underestimating me," Lucan said with eyes gleaming like a child discovering a secret treasure. He moved around the workshop with manic energy, gesturing at the assortment of dangerous-looking weapons spread across the tables and shelves. "These aren't just bombs. They're art. With this arsenal, we could flatten much more than just a single fortress."
He pointed to several large, rounded bombs and others shaped like enormous iron darts. "The round ones are built for catapults, perfect for wide-range destruction. The long ones, though, those are my pride. They're fitted with a wall-breaking head and a propulsion engine. Think of them as rockets, only slow ones. Sure, they crawl through the sky, but imagine the suspense. Watching your enemy stare at doom inching toward them. Isn't that glorious?"
Thalion listened in stunned silence, his thoughts swirling. Slow-moving rockets. That had to be harder to make than fast ones, right? He wasn't sure whether to admire Lucan or be genuinely worried. One look at the blackened tips of Lucanās beard and the wild, scorched hair sticking out in all directions made it clear that he had at least tested everything once. The man had definitely gone slightly mad, but his madness might be exactly what they needed.
"So why didnāt you bring this up sooner?" Maike asked with a raised eyebrow. Her tone was skeptical, bordering on annoyed. "Even if we didnāt need it last time, knowing about all this wouldāve helped."
Before Lucan could respond, Jack stepped forward and bowed dramatically. "Maike is absolutely right. Lucan, do you realize how hard I worked trying to break that last pillar? I am not built for smashing those pillars. I am built for style. So please, great master of destruction, gift me your sacred bombs. I am but a humble servant of your explosions."
Lucan seemed deeply moved. With a grin stretching from ear to ear, he waved Jack over and began describing each explosive device in loving detail. Jack followed him with the joy of a child in a candy store.
Josh leaned in and whispered to Thalion with a smirk. "Should we leave them to it? Theyāre clearly bonding over shared insanity."
"Yeah," Thalion replied, amused. "Letās get going. Weāll take Lucan and every bomb he has. I have a feeling weāll need all of them."
As they stepped outside, Maikeās tone turned serious again. "What about the other human bases? It might start out peaceful, but once weāre in the catacombs, weāll be in real danger. Escape tokens wonāt work down there."
Thalion had already considered that. He had even thought about using the bombs on Kaelās base, just to test their power. But that idea didnāt sit right. Too many innocent survivors were following Kael simply because they had no better option. Thalion wanted to be done with Kael, yes, but not by becoming a monster. He needed a better plan.
"First, we stay in the Black Fortress and help eliminate the enemy guarding the catacomb entrance," he said after a pause. "Then we claim that territory before any other camp can. That gives us a strong position moving forward."
He looked thoughtful for a moment. "As for what happens inside the catacombs, I donāt have a clear answer yet. Kael might not betray the other humans, but the elves almost certainly will. Especially that female. Sheās already out for blood."
"Canāt we just wish them good luck and stay on the surface?" Josh asked hopefully.
"That wonāt work," Maike replied quickly. "Noone will enter the catacombs when they fear an attack from another faction."
"Then we stay cautious," Thalion concluded. "We move in large, well-equipped groups. No one goes alone. If weāre smart about this, we can survive whateverās down there."
With the major decisions made, Thalionās mind wandered to his own preparation. He considered spending some time cultivating his essence blood or using the gravity array one last time for a strength boost. But could he even take the array into the next world? That was another frustrating unknown.
The whole tutorial system had serious flaws. Sure, it turned them into near-superhumans, but the lack of information was infuriating. Worse, many of the items they relied on would disappear once they left this place. If Thalion had to rate this experience, heād give it a four out of ten. You gained power, yes, but everything else was a mess.
Just as he turned to leave Maike and Josh behind and begin his training, a flood of system messages hit him at once. One stood out immediately. It was from Evelyn, short and to the point.
"Hey Thalion. Annie is back."