Reincarnated As The Heroes Guide

The argument about what to name the assault speeders was a small one compared to the argument about who got to fly them.

”I’m telling you, we can’t trust Yara on the controls. Don’t you remember what happened the first day of driving school? That girl is a menace,” Reggie insisted.

”That was not my fault and you know it. The brakes failed on the practice car.”

”So your lawyer said during the property damage trial.”

”You’re a warrior, you are the one with shooting skills. Now get on the back, I’m driving.”

The rest of the group laughed quietly as their tank and their healer argued about who was the worst driver, when they knew perfectly well that neither of them had passed the course.

The team in the APC had already chosen Reggie’s team mage to drive the larger vehicle, so it was up to the other four who would drive and who would gun on the assault speeders.

”What about you two? Who’s driving and who is shooting?” Yara asked, ignoring Reggie’s rant about how bad her driving was.

”Well, we’re both warriors so we just did a rock paper scissors for it. Then, next patrol rotation we switch.”

Yara smiled, while Reggie groaned. ”Not that again.”

”Yes. Rock Paper Scissors. One, two, three, go.”

Reggie showed rock, while Yara showed paper, and all the other heroes laughed.

”You really are bad at that, you know that. Why do you keep agreeing?”

”I DON’T! She just decides, and somehow I’ve lost before I can object.”

Yara whistled happily as she hopped onto the assault speeder, with one leg on either side of the driver’s seat, the same position as for a motorcycle.

”Get on, loser, we’re going to escort heroes,” she shouted.

Kalli patted him on the shoulder. ”Don’t worry, Reggie. You’re in power armour. Even if you fall off at a few hundred kilometres an hour, you’ll be fine.”

”If you intended that to be comforting, you were wrong, Coordinator.”

”But you’re out of time to pout. Next time, you just need to switch with one of the other warriors to get a gunnery spot that isn’t with Yara.”

Reggie gave his teammates a pleading look, but they just pointed to the back of Yara’s speeder.

”Get on, it’s time to go. Like the Coordinator said, you’ll survive. She’s not going to do anything that would risk her own life, and the APC is going to be slower than the speeders by quite a large margin.

Our route is just to the tree line and then to the ocean and back.

Keep your eyes peeled for edible plants, surviving monsters, and potential food animals.”

That got the first patrol out the gates, followed quickly by the others so that they could take the steps everyone agreed were likely to make the System confirm their territory.

They also sent a team to the plains on the other side of the trees, just in case that area could be considered theirs as well, even though it was mostly out of range of their guns or behind hills that blocked direct line of sight.

The more that they could claim, the better.

And with them gone, it was time for Kalli to take a trip and go talk to the residents of the larger Arks.

They were likely planning a proposal to move people to the city by now, to ease overcrowding. But they would also need supplies, and they had quests to turn in.

That was another project that she could have the heroes doing. If they extended a wall around the Arks, Kalli could add more greenhouse space for the larger Ark residents, and some more residential buildings.

The Arks themselves would become something like low-income housing, the place you stayed because you had to, in cramped quarters with low living costs.

But eventually, she hoped they would have enough heroes and weapons to defend a much larger city.

Putting the Arks within the city walls would stretch the heroes dangerously thin around the perimeter, though. So, Kalli wasn’t certain that it was best to do that part of the upgrade yet. Perhaps when they had another few hundred or few thousand heroes?

They had a lot of new ones after this trial, and they would have even more after the next one, with so many new guns for the level 0 residents to crew.

But it would take time for them to be strong enough and skilled enough that they could actually work on the lines. You couldn’t put a level 1 or 2 hero up against Giants. They didn’t do enough damage with their skills, and they didn’t have enough additional skills to keep up with a prolonged battle at that level.

There was weight in numbers, and they could do something if they tried. But that was a high-risk option, and likely to lead to them losing heroes.

If there was any way to avoid it, she would definitely keep the level 1 heroes away from danger. They would lose their status if they died, a risk that anyone from level two or higher did not take.

Losing physical abilities was a setback. Losing hero status was a death sentence.

The other heroes watched the convoys head out, and a mood of celebration began to spread through the city. They had the power, they were no longer locked inside the walls. All that was left was to weather the trials, and they could definitely begin to live well.

The city was already in a state where it should sustain itself, but the question was if it could survive what was coming.

The Trials were not gentle, and they were designed to tear apart a civilization. So, a small enclave of technology and luxury was nothing compared to what this world was likely to throw at them for the fourth trial.

Or even the rest of the third trial, if there was a second week of this schedule.