Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 102: The Day before the Storm

“I’ll give you 100 000 Nexus coins as an investment to get you and your fellow villagers on the right track. You should know that the number of crystals I can sell is limited at the moment, as we need them for the war preparations. But enough to last you for a few weeks of cultivation shouldn’t be a problem,” Zac said after mulling it over for a few seconds.

There were only 6 villagers with four eldery men and two old ladies, and their expenditure shouldn’t really impact their daily production. He didn’t mention anything about paying back, as he might as well consider it a gift in case they proved useful. If not, he could always come to collect at a later date.

The Vietnamese villagers looked excited, and quickly got to their feet and bowed toward Zac, who lightly nodded back. However frowns appeared on the other group of people, who also started to glare at the fishermen.

“Why are you only giving them all those resources? What about us?” one of the men angrily asked.

“They seem like they can be useful to my town, you do not. Why should I spend Nexus Coins on you?” Zac said with a dismissive glance, which only made the former tourists angrier.

“There are various tasks that need to be completed on this island. Go earn your keep if you want coins but don’t want to fight. Mr. Trang, take your villagers and come with me,” Zac continued and started to head out.

The fishermen quickly followed in tow, but when the tourists tried to follow a glare from Zac stopped them in their tracks. As he left the infirmary he briefly updated Janos who sighed and reactivated his illusion, keeping the humans inside.

Next he walked over to Adran’s canopy. Adran was a stocky demon who was in charge of the logistics of the temporary town, and one of the people who had been present at the meeting discussing the town design some time ago. He was a common non-combat class called Administrator Zac learned earlier, which was an important reason for his current position.

It was apparently quite similar to the Scribe class that Zakarith possessed, but their differences lay in their upgrade paths. The Scribe class had upgrade paths that veered toward the mercantile class. It could actually also be upgraded into Inscriber, a craftsman class that focused on inscribing fractals onto gear.

Administrator focused more on the management of towns and countries. It could be upgraded to things like Magistrate in the future, where the individuals almost became like supercomputers, keeping track of innumerable things in their heads. It apparently also could be upgraded into certain mentalist classes.

There actually wasn’t a too rigid system that split up the types of classes, but it was rather fluid. Some classes were mixes of various things, and the type of class could change when evolving it. Of course, planning out your path from the start often was preferable in order to not allocate attribute points in the wrong direction.

Zac had Adran make arrangements for the humans. He simply provided the Nexus Coins and different lodging for the fishermen. For anything else they first would have to prove themselves. As for the tourists he set some ground rules to whip them into shape. If they didn’t volunteer in doing some tasks around the camp, then work would be handed out. If they didn’t complete it then no food or lodging that day.

He didn’t want groups of people who just drifted about like in Fort Roger. And if they wouldn’t pick themselves up like the fishermen, then Zac would drag them forward no matter their opinion. Besides, he had a feeling that incoming second monster horde would help them realize their new reality. If thousands of monsters charging at them didn’t wake them up, nothing would.

After dealing with his latest citizens he left to look for Alea. After asking around he found she was meditating on top of the repaired wall. He soon found her sitting down with the sun in her back, illuminating her horns to truly look as though they were licks of fire.

Zac did not want to interrupt her meditation and simply sat down close to her and gazed out over the mostly prepared battlefield.

“You’re back,” Zac suddenly heard Alea say after some time and looked over at the demoness.

“I am glad to see you’re better,” Zac said after some hesitant silence.

“Your pill was very effective,” Alea answered as she looked calmly at his face.

The intent stare was starting to make Zac a bit uncomfortable, and he tried to come up with something to discuss. Finally, he detailed his excursion through the teleportation. The Ishiate, the mink, and Fort Roger. Alea calmly listened through the story, seemingly content to let Zac blabber on, until he got to Emily.

“This human, is she cute?” she asked with a light voice.

“She’s just a kid,” Zac answered with a roll of his eyes. Then he caught himself as it felt like he was defending himself to a girlfriend.

“Hmm…” was the only answer from the demoness as she slowly closed her eyes to keep meditating. Zac felt that he was approaching a weird territory and with a grunt got up to his feet. Before he jumped down the wall he looked down on the meditating demoness a few seconds.

“Thank you,” he said before he left. That was the real thing he wanted to convey. Alea had risked her life to help him in the battle against the Fiend Wolf and was still recuperating from its attack. She was under no obligation to do that but she still did it, and Zac was truly grateful.

With that, he was done with everything he needed to do for now. The demons knew what they needed to do, and Zac’s only goal now was to get stronger. He didn’t want to get mired down in weeks of battle again. The few days of freedom as he explored the new planet made him feel alive, and he was anxious to get back to it.

The fact that the beastmen closed their portal was a bit troubling as it threw a wrench in his plans, but since that small village managed to buy a teleportation array already then many other towns would likely follow suit soon. Perhaps even a government-run one that wanted to gather people.

He went back to his camp and to his surprise saw Ogras and Emily sit under a red canopy in a comfortable chair each, contentedly watching a movie. They obviously were successful in setting up the new Television, as it currently was showing a rom-com movie with an extension cable running through the illusion array, presumably toward the camper.

He wanted to kick the demon and make him do something more productive, but he also felt that it might be good for Emily with some company. The apocalypse obviously had toughened her up, but both her parents were killed just a week ago, and no one could simply shake that off.

“I am going to absorb some crystals before the next horde arrives, don’t disturb me unless it is something important,” Zac said as he looked over at the demon.

“No problem, I can charge up the energy storage of your tin can through that wire, so we won’t need to disturb you,” Ogras answered without taking his eyes off the TV.

Zac blanked out a second before he understood the demon meant the camper’s battery and the extension cord.

“What are you doing?” Emily perked up as she looked over at him.

“I need to train and get stronger,” Zac answered.

“Can I do it too?” she eagerly asked. Zac had noticed her hunger for power since they started traveling together, and was very much in favor of it.

“Not until you turn 16. Find Alyn later, she’ll help you prepare. If you follow her instructions you will have better prospects in the future,” Zac answered with a shake of his head.

“Oh the disgraced teacher will finally have a student again,” Ogras said with a pitying glance at Emily.

“Wait, what do you mean?” Zac asked with a start.

“She got fired because of her, uh, unusually strict training methods in our clan. She was mainly brought over here because she already had the language skill and people figured she would make a good slave driver,” Ogras said with a widening smile. “Otherwise what use would a teacher have during an invasion? Did you think we would go around opening a bunch of schools for you humans?”

The eyes of both Zac and Emily widened at this, and Zac’s image of the calm and proper lady clashed with the image of Alyn screaming on top of her lungs while whipping a bunch of slaves.

“Well… Don’t let her overdo it. Emily, stay strong,” he said as he entered his camp.

“Wai-“ the teenager tried to interject, but another shield superimposed over the illusion array. It was a [F-Grade Small Scale Defensive Array], the cheapest and weakest defensive option in the town shop.

It wasn’t something Zac bought to protect himself, but rather a means to show the surroundings he didn’t want to be disturbed. It only cost 75 000 Nexus coin, and a random punch by him or Ogras would break it. It was, however, effective against a girl who still hadn’t started on the path of cultivation.

For the next four days he simply sat down and absorbed his [E-Grade Nexus Crystals]. He was able to absorb roughly 2 a day, and he already consumed two of them before. He left his 10th and last crystal for emergencies though. During the whole time he barely slept or ate, he just sat down and let the huge power wash over him.

He stood up and after a quick shower and dinner he opened up his quest panel.

Incursion Master (Unique): Close or conquer incursion and protect town from denizens of other alignments for 3 months. Reward: 5 E-Grade Nexus Crystals, town upgraded to City, status upgraded to Lord. (1/3) [1:03:22:34]

A bit over a day remained until the next wave started, and only the finishing touches were needed now. He removed his defensive array and walked out to the makeshift movie-canopy. During the four days it had gotten some upgrades, with walls that kept the glare out of the TV, and a rug and coffee table. It was however empty so he headed toward the town.

After asking around he learned Ogras was with Adran, and walked over. As the two saw Zac approach they nodded toward him.

“How are the preparations?”

“Everything is finished. This time we had time over to create a few siege weapons as well. They might be useful, and they can even be manned by the non-combat classes or your new citizens after some training. The only thing remaining is purchasing the aces with Nexus Coins,” Ogras answered. “I have taken the liberty of collecting three million Nexus Coins for the war effort. I mean five million.” He continued, correcting himself after a glare by Zac.

Zac nodded and after some discussion purchased a few defensive measures.

“How are the humans?” Zac asked Adran after that was done.

“The old people are working hard cultivating with Nexus Crystals. Their leader has even gained a decent speed at killing Barghest by now. He has been getting assistance though, of course,” the administrator answered.

“The youth are a bit more troublesome, but they’re getting there. Nothing is as effective in getting people in line as a few days of filling old latrines and digging new ones,” Adran continued with a small smile while Ogras openly snickered. “Oh and speaking of the last little human, here she’s coming”.

Zac turned around and saw Emily approach like a small thundercloud. Next to her a visibly irate Alea and Alyn were walking along. Zac sighed and stood up, and unhesitantly started to powerwalk away.