The morning air was cool and crisp, the first signs of a slowly coming colder season becoming apparent at a snail's pace. That, or the morning was just a tad colder than usual. Regardless, Jack and the group of six maids, and Spartacus walked through the towns gate, cold and vary gazes locked on their group. It had been two days since the whole incident at Kirinoids shop entrance where Jack had shown off his might and word had traveled fast, by now circulating the whole town, perhaps even a few messages were already finding their way to the closer other allied cities. What would come of it was unknown as of yet, but no matter what, a great change was about to start- for better or worse.
Looking at a map in his hands, Jack led the way, his seven attendants following close by, their eyes and ears open, looking out for any danger- be it animalistic in nature, or beastmen like. Sure, most of the locals knew not to mess with Jack, but plenty more had not been back to the city, traveling to other places for trade or exploring the parts of the stepped that had not been raided for a while, looking for new settlements that were ripe for the taking, preparing a path for when the next Season of Conflict begins.
Jack's destination was clear- a location almost a day away from this city, located in a place known as 'The gray field'. Normally, it would have been a nightmare of an excursion, the rather monotonous patch of grass that was the great steppe surrounding them- without a single proper mountain or forest in sight to serve as a landmark- a nightmare to navigate, however, thanks to the centuries, millenia perhaps, of people inhabiting the place, a set of roads, trails more like it, had developed organically, guiding travelers from one place of frequent visitation to another. Why well made and proper roads had not been built to streamline the infrastructure was a mystery to Jack, but he would not lose sleep over the lack of it either. He could get from one place to another just fine and it was not his place to fix it after all. Topple the current regime and let them strive for better on their own, leaving the new group in charge with a couple of advices and whatnot at most. Unlike with 'his kids' whatever happened here, except for his maid group since he had taken them under his protection, was a simple side project to stave off the boredom while he prepared to return back home.
They trotted along the trail, every now and then passing by a sad excuse of a road sign, placed at crossroads of sorts, intersections of several different trails, marking their current location and what laid further along each different trail, with Sindu reading the directions as they all were written down in beastmen language. As they advanced, maids chatted among themselves, still a bit confused as to why they were taken along, though at the same time somewhat happy as well they were not left behind in the town either. They could feel the death glares, veiled as they were- or so their owners no doubt hoped- directed at Jack, and them in extension. There was no telling just how far the more radical members of beastmen society would go in an attempt to exact some revenge, screw the consequences. Or, more than likely they themselves believed that unlike those who had already suffered at Jack's hand were some scraps of their society, nowhere near the standing they had. Jack's maids knew better though. There was no status that could protect from their masters wrath.
The grass on both sides of the trail was almost a meter tall, providing plenty of space for all manner of small animals to live and thrive, ensuring a healthy ecosystem remained. From what Jack learned, there were plenty of middle sized animals living within as well, providing plenty of meat to be hunted for those who did not live near the large cities.
"Spartacus" Jack turned his attention towards the man, all while maintaining his current path "You lived as a free man for some time before your capture. What can you tell me about the structure of that side of this steppe?"
"You mean the humanoid wandering groups? Of course, though I have forgotten plenty by now. Been in capture for near two decades, with more masters than I can remember."
"Doesn't seem like that had managed to kill your spark. If I would have to guess, it had done precisely the opposite." Jack inserted his observation.
"Rage is one hell of an anesthetic and even better taskmaster. It will push you through things you could never imagine yourself surviving." Spartacus replied, continuing to reply to the question "As far as their system goes, I don't know much. What I can tell is that they have some sort of a system they follow, a way that they decide which lands on the outer ring will they raid which season."
"Elaborate." Jack interjected, pulling out a map of the steppe. On one side, the great river created a natural border, right next to which was Avalante. Then, another six cities were marked on the map, approximately a month on foot away from it, if the map was to be believed, creating something of a half circle, with the great river as the border seperating from the other half.
"Their cities are placed strategically, creating a half circle of sorts, providing each of them with a rather large steppe to explore when the Season of Conflict begins. During Season of Calm they migrate between cities and trade, all while scouting the next zone they would raid during the Season of Conflict. In those outer steppe zones, plenty of humanoid tribes live, most of whom are either gifted that managed to get away before being branded as slaves and formed their own tribes of sorts, along with like minded individuals and their descendants, always on the move, trying to avoid the beastmen who will no doubt come hunting, or a rare few beastmen tribes, living a nomadic lifestyle."
"I am guessing the steppe is just large enough for each Season of Conflict to produce plenty of slaves and loot without drying up the 'supply'?" Jack asked to confirm, though he had plenty of reason to think that would be the case.
"More than plenty. Every zone experiences such a raid one every few decades, with enough people escaping and then trying to restart their lives, scarred as they then are, only for their descendants to experience the same down the line."
As they walked, Jack asked Spartacus and the maid squad about their lives before being enslaved, if they were willing to speak of it. Some did, some didn't, but Jack got the overall feeling that while somewhat simple, their lives had been fulfilling and laced with plenty of joy, only for it to be cut short by the raiding parties that looted their temporary camps, slaughtered their fathers and brothers and then enslaved them. Men are harder to break and happen to be worse as anything but arena or extra hard labour slaves, or so the beastmen overseers often said.
Along the way, they encountered a couple of beastmen parties, either returning from their own dungeon runs or groups of traveling merchants, using the chance to travel and trade, preparing themselves for the next Season of Conflict. And while plenty of stares were shot their way, none actually took any action, either cautious of a pure humanoid group, expecting it to be a trap of sorts, or feeling actual bloodlust from the group, warning them to stay away. Either way, those groups had been smart, getting out of a possible death sentence without any actual trouble.
It was almost dark by the time the group reached The Gray Fields. A rather large zone that was filled with gray grass, no higher than reaching an adults knee, with large, bullet like rocks the size of a fully grown man standing seemingly neatly arranged as creating some sort of a formation. Just decorations, many would say, but Jack knew better, his advanced knowledge and downright illegal amount of spirit told otherwise, revealing a natural formation to his eyes.
'Hmm, I wonder if other dungeons have similar stuff around them?' Jack mused in his mind, already starting to realize certain truths that no one living in the great steppe seemed to have understood, though most likely not for lack of trying. Jack,with his spirit at thirty was simply cut from a different cloth, so much so that he had access to such esoteric skills like soul extraction, something he had used to a great degree against Grunka the Wicked.
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At the very center of the whole gray field stone formation was a swirling vortex of color changing energy, clearly indicating the entrance to the dungeon, with a rather large camp sitting just further away from it. Fort Beginner the place was called, a name Jack found to be perfectly suited, and served as a place of rest for the adventurers diving this near constantly open dungeon. The place was filled with low level monsters- goblins, kobold and the like, serving as a perfect place for youngsters to learn their ropes in monster hunting and gain their first ten to fifteen levels, though that is where its usefulness ended. Anything beyond level fifteen could not gain any experience at all here, forced to face the cruel reality of the steppe then. Anything above was available in much smaller quantities, with those wishing to level up forced to sign up and wait in line months at a time.
Clearly, there was no benefit for Jack himself do delve in such low level dungeons, but something inside his head screamed that there was more to things here than he saw. A secret of sorts that was damn near begging for him to solve it, and if there was one thing Jack had learned to trust in, it was the gut feeling he had developed during his time in The Abyss. The rock formation was a good start, giving him the first few leads in unraveling the whole situation, though not nearly enough to reach the full truth. No, if he wanted to get to the bottom of it all, he would have to dig deep on his own, and the first task was clearly entering a dungeon.
With a quick extension of his spirit sense, Jack came to the rather obvious conclusion that it was in no way a desirable thing for his group to try and spend the night in the Fort beginner, the place filled with numerous, admittedly low leveled, beastmen, none of which would be inclined to show hospitality or even neutrality towards his group. Sure, the Season of Calm was in full swing, with certain rules in place when it came to attacking travelers and what not, but at the same time Jack heavily doubted that such courtesy extended towards free humans and their ilk. And obviously, Jack could wipe out any and all fools around here deciding to try their luck in subduing this particular traveling group, even leaving not a single soul alive to spread the tale, but he had no desire to do so just now. Spartacus, and the unit he will inevitably acquire, would need combat training at a later date. That then would be the time when such places would come in handy, full with arrogant and willing training dummies, lining up to be cut down.
Finding a decent spot among the stone pillars that suited his needs was easy enough- plenty of space between the formation circles, all while keeping them safe. Setting up a couple of tents was no issue either, the girls already aware of the process and capable of helping along. Only Spartacus needed directions, and that too was easy enough. The man, realizing that they would actually delve a dungeon the next day could hardly contain his excitement, the first steps on what would no doubt be long and arduous path towards his revenge.
To boost the groups morale, Jack taped into his food Picaso skills, creating weird looking dishes- clearly intentional this time at the very least- that tasted almost divine, sending the group on a small self questioning trip before getting their taste trip to extremely exotic and unfamiliar, yet incredible places, all while providing proper nutrition and even relaxing their minds a bit. Then, once the meal was dealt with, he sent them all to sleep, his own mind splitting focus in three directions.
First, he was obviously keeping an eye out for opportunistic and suicidal visitors, be they of beast, monster of any other variety. Secondly, he pulled up all the information he had on his maids and Spartacus, going through his mental library of classes, figuring the ones he would need to make class change tokens for. The girls would all receive at least an epic quality maid subclass, of which there were more than one would like to imagine. As it turned out, plenty of powerful entities loved their servants skilled and highly specialized. As for Spartacus, Jack was considering some battle leader class, one that inspired his troops and led from the frontlines, carrying quite the presence on the battlefield, while still having the rains to lead. Clearly, such a class was also of epic quality at the very least.
Last, but not least, Jack was also checking in with the kids, listening to their report and making sure they knew he was fine and working on a way to get back, all while not forgetting to rest and relax when necessary. Too much work is not good for anyone after all. He also helped the kids plan ahead, noting their changing needs and filing away design ideas that would soon be made for them, deposited in their shared spatial storage. He did not forget to joke around and offer advice as well, encouraging them to keep pushing forward and grow ever stronger, though with the same caveat of knowing when to rest and not risking the team. As Jack sometimes half joked, they all had to come back home, for if any one of them died he would drag them back from the other side just so he could do it all over again for their audacity.
Once again, a night of relative peace passed by, with only a couple of foolish night predators trying their luck at Jack's camp, only to fail and fall for his tricks. By the time the maids and Spartacus were woken up, the first rays of sun began to illuminate the steppe. Breakfast was much simpler than their supper, though plenty filling. Their camp was then quickly disassembled and stored away, with their group heading towards the swirling gate by the time the first group left Camp Beginner, their backs just barely seen by said party.
The dungeon here was open for six of every seven days, with separate instances forming for each group, ensuring no conflicts could arise when two, hostile forces meet and cannot split the loot acquired, not that there was much to split to begin with. Goblins and kobolds did not have much of value on them usually, so it did make sense.
As soon as the group came out the other side, a notification popped in their visions, informing them of their arrival inside Labyrinth of the Beginner. A rather fitting name for the place, going so well together with the small fort not far from here, though Jack was quite sure that the fort was named after the dungeon, not the other way around. His gaze moved around, taking in the rather interesting interior of the place. Unlike what he had expected, he was not met with the walls some sort of a cave, reaching further and further down. No, what awaited them was seemingly man made labyrinth, fitting to the name, with what looked like brick walls, dim lit torches lining said walls in near identical intervals, as though to provide acceptable amount of light, while still making it rather uncomfortable for ordinary people, but not quite so much that it was too hard to advance. It was, indeed, easy mode on.
As expected, such low leveled zone could do nothing to suppress Jack's spirit senses, allowing his mind to map out the place for quite the distance. Jack used the information he was gathering in such a way to compare it with the maps he had acquired, looking for disparities in the two. As far as the knowledge he had acquired speculated, the general path was always chosen from among four different variants, with side rooms changing more often than not. It was there that some extra treasures, as cheap as they were, could spawn.
"Alright then!" Jack clapped his hands, drawing the attention of his companions for the run, in his hands appearing the first weapon set and some light armor, clearly intended for one of the group "I'm distributing your starting gear right now, so focus and wear it as soon as it's handed out." He added, first calling over Spartacus. The man was given a seemingly simple set of sword and shield, along with a rather simple chain mail armor set. Not too heavy, not too light, serving as the perfect item for someone with his limited training and constitution.
All maids received a battle maid outfit, equipped with light, but durable metal plates that covered their vitals, with the rest of the outfit being made of magically reinforced cloth, providing a high level protection without interfering with their movement. As for the weapons, each girl, except for the twins, received different weapons, each and every one chosen with a fair bit of thought, all so their current stats and classes would not go to waste.
Sindu, as a Wind Whisperer, received a battle fan with razor sharp outer edge that served as a magic conduit, allowing her to manipulate air with much greater ease. She would serve as one of groups mages, battering the enemies from afar while providing support for her team. Arsha, as a hunter received a bow and energy arrow quiver, ensuring she would have no issue with runnin out of arrows. Lita, as a slave maid class, was a bit more tricky, though in the end Jack decided to equip her with sword and shield combo, placing her as one of the front line fighters. Valente, as apprentice mage received a staff, her development path would eventually lead her to the class of maid enchantress. Last, but not least, the twins- Virgo and Nesta- were handed a spear each, their Lancer class more than enough to ensure they had no issues with adapting.
Jack Raja(?)
Age- 27
Species- human(?)
Level- 30
Class- Awakened twin aspect of Creation and Destruction(Ex)
Stats unassigned: +4
Attributes:
Strength- 34 (14+7+13(gear))
Vitality- 28 (12+8+8(gear))
Dexterity- 29 (15+6+8(gear))
Intelligence-20(15+ 5(gear)
Spirit- Spirit- 30 (20+10)
Skills- Wisdom of Creation and destruction(EX), Choice of the creator(EX), Eyes of procurer(EX), Matter storage(EX), Arukain language(C), Spark of inspiration(EX), Origin of matter(EX), Unbound by laws of the lessers(EX), The end made manifest(EX).
Spells- none.
Titles(unlocked): The real Monster, Big Game Hunter, The brilliant rookie, The insane Solo. Monster debugger.The actor. Executioner. Survivor. Pioneer, Record breaker.The new champion supreme. Slavemaster.
Gear: Two handed sword(t3)+ 5 str +5 vit: Armor 3str +3 vit +3 dex; Ring 1 - spatial storage, ring 2 +5int, ring 3 +5 str; amulet +5 dex.
