Ben laughed. “Impress us with your expertise.”
“So you remember that we can let people outside of the Protectorate access the Energy Enhanced Evolution Chamber if we buy the add-on,” Adam asked.
Everyone nodded.
“Now it looks like the spatial node that comes with that add-on for one city can be used for multiple purposes. Or at least for two purposes. Because, and now hold on to your hats, if we buy an add-on to the guild hall, people within the area of effect of the spatial node can also access our dungeons!”
Ben’s thoughts raced. If they could sell access to the dungeons, that would not just mean another significant source of revenue for the Protectorate, it would also mean a lot less stress for them in keeping up with the dungeons on a daily basis.
Of course, they would still run them for the learning experience and resources they provided, but if that became the focus, instead of the stress of keeping them from breaking, that would be huge.
“How much is it?” he asked.
“It costs 10,000 SCs.”
“Mhh, twice the price of the evolution chamber add-on. Probably has a good return on investment and pays off quickly. If you think about it, this should be something that the systems want us to do, because it leads to more utilization of the dungeons,” Ben mused.
“The logic behind spatial nodes being usable for multiple activities suggests they want us to build a global network. Think about it, we could have people from all over run the dungeons and use the chamber. Maybe we can also build gates at some point. Then we could also have them trade with us via the auction house or otherwise.” Adam started to fantasize about the future.
Allison cleared her throat to stop Adam from going on. She pointed towards the small wall-like block that Ben had looked at earlier. “This will be the mission board. Not sure how it will look like once it has missions to show. Let’s maybe check out the strength assessment.”
She walked confidently towards one of the doors in the back and walked through.
As Ben followed her, he entered a moderately sized room with three booths against the back wall. In each booth stood a plinth, and on the top rested a golden orb, about the size of Ben’s palm.
Allison stepped to one of the booths and placed her hand on it, seeming to read notifications. Ben shrugged and followed suit.
Welcome to the relative strength assessment. It is implemented to de-risk dungeon runs and missions. You will be rated against a baseline of a human individual fully focused on fighting. Within each Tier, there are five sub-steps. As an example, a Tier 2 human with two rare perks relevant in a confrontation, would be assessed as T2.3. Having above average attributes, number or power of perks can sway the assessment.
Typically, the assessment corresponds to dungeon levels / danger zones. For example, a T1.5 human should be able to fight a Tier 1 dungeon down to level 5 if in the appropriate party composition.
Hold on for assessment… … …
Assessment complete: T2.4
Good luck.
Ben thought about it for a moment. If he understood this correctly, with one rare perk he should be T2.2, so he was operating two sub-steps above what he was expected to and just one step below the maximum for his tier.
Given that he had yet to settle into his new fighting style and that some of his perks did not have a direct impact on fights, that was quite good—at least in his assessment.
He also wasn’t sure whether this took his equipment into account; he felt that his armor and axe would give him an extra edge if included.
His mother was also done, and Adam and Barry were apparently not interested right now. He clapped his hands. “Very good. Before Barry explodes from holding in his anticipation, we should maybe have a look at the Academy building…”
***
The moment they stepped back into the large reception hall, Ben heard the faint voice of Mesa. A housewarming gift from Meta, I believe… Good luck!
A light started to shine from one side of the hall.
The mission board started its operation.
Above the hip-high wall, a golden, translucent shimmer appeared. Within that, columns appeared, labeled Tier 1 through 3.
Under the Tier 2 column, a line started to blink rapidly.
Ben stepped forward and touched the blinking line.
Available Mission – Protect humanity’s heritage
Scan the scriptures of the Tripitaka Koreana, an eight-hundred-year-old library, before it is overrun.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Recommended strength: 4+ individuals T2.1 and above
Urgency: High (4 hours)
Reward: 1,000 Credits per individual
Accept?
Ben sighed. It had been a long day with an exhausting dungeon run and lots of new things to process. He accepted.
It seemed that Allison could also read the message without having to touch it.
“Son, why don’t you take Akira along, if he is up for it? Let’s talk once you are back, okay?”
Ben looked at her for a moment, then nodded and notified the rest of the team while making his way to find Akira.
***
“Akira!” Ben shouted as he jogged to catch up with the man. “I realize it has been a long day, but we have a mission to complete, and I was wondering whether you want to come along?”
“Mission? Are the Drakniks back?” the man said, shocked.
“No, no, don’t worry. We get lots of missions, the vast majority being without having to fight at all. The Draknik mission was a huge exception, and it is just going to be my team, except that my mother has opted out and suggested asking you to come along in her place.”
“Ah,” Akira seemed relieved. “Yes, I am honored to join you. Do we go right now?”
“Yes, in a few minutes. The rest of the team is assembling, and I need to pick up the other scanners for the library.”
“Scanners?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll explain later.”
***
A few minutes later, they had assembled on the plaza, and Ben navigated to a new tab on his Status Interface for missions. So far, they had been linked to his [Knight Protector] perk, but the new set-up seemed to be more generic, and he could add the rest of the team to the mission easily.
With a simple confirmation, the portal rose out of the ground, and they stepped through.
“This is the Tripitaka Koreana!” Akira exclaimed as they appeared on a small hill within a mountain range, overlooking a temple compound with about a dozen mostly single-story buildings with beautiful pagoda roofs.
“You know the place?” Anne asked.
“Yes, this is the most complete and preserved library of Buddhist texts on the planet. It is unique. It has tens of thousands of wooden plates, carved in reverse, for printing purposes. I’m not sure how old it is, but it must be close to a thousand years.”
Ben hadn’t seen Akira this animated yet. “Good. We are here to make sure the knowledge is not lost. Let’s try to find our way down there,” he pointed to their right.
As they neared the buildings, Ben noticed the silence. He did not hear any wildlife, except for a few bugs here or there. He also did not see any sign of humans being around.
The entrance was just a few minutes away, guarded by two large stone lions, and led up a hill towards a large building that likely held the library.
Ben was focused on the environment but didn’t see any movement in the beautifully preserved but very old compound, nor behind them as Jamal shouted.
“Attack!”
It took a moment for Ben to spot the attackers until he noticed the stone lions had risen, both opening their jaws, displaying terrifying teeth, to roar at them loud enough to deafen people with a low Body attribute. But it wasn’t just that. The roar was a powerful Mind-based attack that made Ben tremble for the moment until [Palisade of the Mind] activated.
Anne and Jamal were hit the hardest, Akira seemed to be mostly fine and preparing an attack.
Ben activated [Strength of the Protector] to give his friends a boost and ran towards the first lion.
Haetae – Temple Guardian Lions. Energy-Born. Tier 2. Uncommon Challenge.
He dodged under the claw of the beast and tested the spatial edge of his axe against the apparent stone body of the creature.
It worked.
But it took a lot of strength to damage the temple guardian. He was not confident that normal weapons would have a huge impact.
Fortunately, his team wasn’t limited in the same way.
Anne appeared beside him and unleashed [Flurry of Blows], doing significant damage to the creature. As the lion struck out at her, Jamal intervened with his shield, and Ben did not hesitate to use [Unyielding Retribution], smashing the lion to pieces.
At the same time, he heard a thunderous blast and saw from the corner of his eye how a brilliant lightning bolt detached itself from Akira’s staff, hitting the other creature and Michael following up with a backstab with his finely crafted dagger made from the scorpion they had fought a long time ago in the mine dungeon.
It seemed hardly necessary, but Ben leaped over to the creature and slashed at it with all his might.
A few seconds later, the beast had crumbled apart as well.
He turned to Akira. “That’s a powerful attack!”
The man nodded. “It is, but it also has a long cooldown and takes a lot of Energy.”
After harvesting two Tier 2 Energy cores—a great find—they moved on. It seemed like the location was completely abandoned.
The main building consisted of two long rectangular halls, with two smaller ones at their ends, forming a large courtyard. The building seemed to be completely formed from wood and clay.
Ben stepped inside and found a spectacular, ancient-looking ensemble of wooden shelves stacked with thousands and thousands of large plates with Chinese characters. There was a faint resin smell in the air, and it left Ben deeply impressed.
He handed out the scanners and moved with the others through the narrow paths between the long shelves. Akira seemed bewildered by their activity but didn’t ask any questions.
They quickly finished the first hall and then continued through the others.
Within 15 minutes, they were done. Ben looked around to see if there was anything else they should take along to preserve, and he was sure there was plenty that was worth it, but he didn’t know what.
So, they returned to the portal and the Protectorate.
Congratulations on completing the mission. 1,000 Credits have been transferred.
Good luck.
That was a short, concise message—and a new feeling to receive a thousand Credits like that. Together with the two Tier 2 cores, it was a very rewarding excursion, and he didn’t even know yet what the library had received as a reward.
He decided to show Akira the Library.
“Sorry for not properly explaining what we were doing. Let me show you.”
Together they walked the short distance, and Akira was visibly impressed by the spectacular building—but even more so, once he had stepped inside and understood the spatial magic involved. Rose, who had come over once she was notified by the library about the new ‘acquisitions,’ patiently explained the ability to copy books and the other features they had received.
Finally, they inspected the new area with the copies of the works they had just acquired, and Akira’s mind was truly blown.
“Did we receive something as a reward, Rose?”
The older woman, who also looked younger than at the time of her arrival in the Protectorate, smiled and nodded. “We did. Look at this?” she said as she pulled a large tome from beneath the reception desk.
‘Bronze Body’ was its title, and Rose explained that from her cursory examination, it looked like it was a follow-up to the Body Triune, so another way to strengthen the Body attribute.
Ben was pleased but also overwhelmed. He felt he was already far behind on the Mind Triune and some of his other perks. Nonetheless, he would, of course, explore it soon.
Despite it being quite late, it was now time to get at least a quick debrief of what the Academy main building brought to the table, before getting a short rest and tackling the Tier 2 area.
