6 Chapter 3-1 - Hidden Gem

Six months had passed since Serin, Allister, Rachel, Jericho left with their possessions and began their trek towards the wildlands. Their trek had taken them through the winter. However after roughly a month they veered off of the trade roads and took a more difficult path.

Whether their new path was from the pre-shift era, a failed settlement, or something else, this was not known. Instead, they only knew distance and bearing. Then even the paths disappeared and they had to continue through untouched forests. Then, a noticeable path began to emerge again.

But even if the path was not present, Serin seemed to instinctively know where to go. Whenever a fork in the path appeared, he would see the whispers of fate pointing him in one direction over another. It was his Luck skill, [Precognition]. It was slowly growing in power, but Serin made sure not to keep it active all the time. It was absurdly draining on his stamina and mana when he fully engaged it. Passively it had no drain. Nights grew shorter, Snows fell less heavy, and other than the occasional run in with an Ice bear or Snow fox, most of the animals had gone to sleep.

Travel continued like this and before long, they had arrived near their destination. The last snows of winter had fallen and an early spring was beginning to bloom.

The first night camped out near their destination, Serin used a Divination Spell called [Map] with a handful of powdered deadheart. Instead of just giving him the rough layout of the surrounding lands, he instead was greeted with a gigantic map, drawn on 16 pieces of parchment that had to be laid into a square. The spell even detailed their current campsite.

As the map revealed itself of their destination, Serin was amazed. He saw a valley with mountains almost completely surrounding it, in a land where mountains hadn't been seen for months. However the entrance was sort of hidden. There was an overlap between the mountains that from the current position made it look like a continuous mountain. There existed a curving narrow single entrance to the valley was a large forest, with a river coming off the mountain. From the outside it looked like a large mountain, and no one would be aware that it was a mountainous facade with a lush valley inside. The map even showed what looked like small plains areas inside the mountain. Within the valley and extending down the river path there was untouched wilds as far as the eye could see.

With that they left Lord Koni to guard the campsite and headed off to take a closer look at their new home.

***

It took an hour to reach their destination but soon they were standing near the entrance to the valley. If they did not know of the valley's existence they would have thought it was just any other mountain.

Jericho smirked, "Naturally protected, far from other nations, with room to expand."

Allister looked at the river, "This is too much water to be coming from the mountains this early. A river like that must be pulling water from an elemental plane. Which means unlimited pure clean water."

Rachel looked at the mountains, "Rocks mean stone and minerals. Both needed for infrastructure, and there is a possibility for metal. And there are game trails for dozens of creatures. This place has a complete functioning ecosystem."

Serin then smiled, "I really don't see anything wrong with it." he was interrupted by his guild sign blinking. He brought up the foundation quest and saw a new message. "With your arrival the current defenders of this land have come in force to accept your challenge."

Serin was confused by what that meant, and then an arrow narrowly missed his neck.

Serin yelled "Bring up defenses!"

A horn sounded in the distance. Hundreds of arrows flew. Serin erected a quick thin [earth wall] dome and arrows soon shot through it. It seems that to claim this land they would need to take it by force.

***

Serin, Jericho, and Allister had worked quickly to create an earthen tower. Domed at the top and with arrow slits in place they were currently defending. But their enemy was smart so how long this defense would work was unknown. While out scouting the area they had left Lord Koni in charge of watching the wagon, and with him out of earshot and visual range, he could not be ordered to assist.

The four of them took turns peeking over the partial earthen cover, taking shots at the innumerable forces below them. It was goblins. Serin was using unpowered [firebolts], as that was enough to kill single goblins. Had it been even just several dozen goblins, this would have been a simple battle of attrition.

But it wasn't a goblin raiding party. It wasn't a goblin village. They had instead run into an established goblin horde, with hobgoblin leaders interspersed. Normally this was an Electrum level elimination quest, as it took several dozen mid rank adventurers with large guild support, to accomplish. They had definitely bitten off more than they could chew, and the foe had swiftly surrounded their tower and were firing arrows and rocks from every direction.

Jericho knew it was established by the sound of the war drums. He knew that this earthen barrier's defense would be slowly chipped away, but that the drums signaled the advanced forces. Jericho stopped firing and grabbed Serin.

"Soon elite forces will arrive to deal with us. It might be cavalry. It might be siege. But it will most likely contain Warg riders or Drakes. If we are unlucky, it will be Ogres. Regardless of who it is we will need to dispatch them quickly or they will make quick work of this tower, and if the tower falls, we all die. Regardless of which elite forces arrive when that happens, we need to not have to worry about these smaller enemies shooting us in the back."

Jericho looked at Serin. He knew it was time. For years he knew that no small creature, no matter the number, could defeat him. His only threat came from high level threats and other adventurers. He had grown tired of the adventuring life, so when he was granted his automaton leg and the curse it bestowed to his attackers, he saw it as a way to live out the remainder of his years quietly teaching the next generation. However, he knew that he would not survive this encounter unless he was at full strength and Luck was on their side. He sat down and removed his automaton leg, which had become his shield, and his crutch, in these last few decades.

"Serin, regenerate my leg. Because of the age of the wound, you will need to spend essence to do it, but with high magic you should be able to regrow the entire thing." Serin started to ask questions, but then Jericho cut him off. " We haven't much time. I will need to be at full strength if we are to survive this day."

Serin didn't know what Jericho was planning, but he nodded, took a handful of essence, and started working.

Serin had never heard Jericho yell, but the scream that was elicited was enough to stop all of them from what they were doing. Rachel turned around and had to start using her healing magic to help with the pain. Jericho's automaton linkage was installed inside his body, which was forcefully ejected by the healing magic. Jericho turned white and bit onto a leather knife sheath. But he kept consciousness. His health and stamina fluctuated rapidly. It seemed that years of damage and degradation from having an automaton leg had to be repaired. Hips realigned, back uncurved, muscles restretched. Allister did his best to use a bit of calming magic on Jericho, but it was not enough.

But after three minutes it was done. Although his eyes were bloodshot and he had gone cold in a pale sweat, Jericho was healed. He was shaking, and looked at Serin. Jericho didn't waste anytime. He stood, stretched, pulled both his swords, and started to glow. Serin could tell he was activating several skills. Jericho winked at Serin and in a flash burst through the dome, slicing the arrows out of the air that were headed towards him. The opening closed behind him.

Landing in a well timed roll he immediately came up with his sword in hand and ran between scores of enemies at a speed Serin could barely follow.

Then Serin smiled. Rachel and Allister watched in amazement what Serin had seen before. Serin described how this grey haired blur started killing dozens of goblins and hobgoblins per second.

"He is using the power Dash, which triples his extremely high speed but quickly burns through his stamina. Normally if someone else used this they would be exhausted in about a minute. But as a high level monster hunter he learned the Reaper perk. It refills his health, stamina, and Magical Essence with each kill. Jericho is meant for killing hordes. And he will take care of the small targets. It is up to us to take care of the larger threats that are going to come."

Soon the arrows being fired at the tower began to slow with more and more archers being cut down by a speeding Jericho. Others attempted to fire at him as he ran by but he was too fast.

Serin then heard Jericho call out, "Your targets are almost here!"

Serin used his acute vision, and he then saw it.

Jericho had taught them about goblins, as they were the second most common enemy in the lands. In small numbers they were dangerous, in large numbers deadly. Hordes usually took armies or entire guilds to combat.

It was because besides the hundreds to thousands of small goblins there were dozens of hobgoblins, which could individually overpower younger adventurers. Then there would be the elites. And finally there was the Goblin King.

At that moment the king came into view. He was being pulled by hobgoblins on a cart and sat on a throne of bones. He was flanked by two dozen Ogres. These must be the elite troops. Serin looked at their weapons and smiled. Large Metal Hammers, Battleaxes, and Greatswords with Giant Iron shields. The goblin king is an apex warrior, which means he doesn't rely on magic. Which means that he won't have magic to defend against it. His elites are all close range soldiers, so if we can take them out on range, we will not have to worry them knocking the tower.

Serin realized that his strategy of not using a lot of magic at first had luckily worked into his advantage. The Goblin King wasnt dumb. He had sized up Serin and was not afraid of the simple [firebolts], bullets, and arrows that they had fired at his forces. Serin smiled "You entered the battle before you had the full information on your target."

Serin overpowered his rifle with Essence, and took aim at the goblin king. Being carried on a throne of bones, he was directing forces and inspiring the surrounding armies. The morale of the surrounding goblins visibly improved under his call. Serin could tell that soon the Ogres would be directed to take on Jericho en masse, which would spell their end. The goblin king could see Serin readying a shot, but seemed unafraid of a firebolt.

Serin then fired. The Goblin King failed to realize two significant issues. The first is that the spell Serin fired was not a firebolt, but fireball. A spell that was stronger by a factor of 10 if you include its increased radius. And Serin had overpowered the spell with a quarter of his ME, and a significant portion of powdered essence. Between these two things the goblin king realized too late his mistake. The blast vaporized the goblin king, the cart, and the several hobgoblins that were pulling it. The mage that was casting a resist spell on the two of them and stood at his side, was also vaporized.

And just like that, the horde no longer had a leader. The cohesion between units started to quickly breakdown. Serin then realized he had made a tactical error. There were the 24 elite ogres that guarded the king. Without a king to protect, they were running towards the most dangerous person, which was Serin. Serin noticed that they all had red icons above them, indicating that their level difference was vast enough to be a threat. Serin yelled "stop the Ogres!"

Serin and Rachel kept firing hobbling shots at the ogres. Serin knew he wouldn't have time to fully overpower a spell before the Ogres reached him, so he simply used his own mana as immediate overpowering. Allister had a different plan and worked darker magic, and the dozens of dead goblins began to rise up.

Survival was not guaranteed, but with a wave of undead goblins there to slow down the charging ogres, it would give Serin a chance. With the Ogres slowed, he was able to start overpowering the shots with magical essence. He didn't wait and started taking handfuls of Essence and using it with each shot. Each casting drained him more than firebolts would. Adding in the high magic and it was giant balls of fire that scorched the ogres, and if not outright killing them, it stunned and knocked them back.

Rachel's Arrows were almost more useful, as she aimed specifically for Ankles, knees, and eyes, effectively slowing any ogre she shot.

Allister was heavily breathing and laying down. Constantly summoning then binding multiple goblins only to have them be wiped out was draining his Magic quickly. He was using magic to transfer his pitiful stamina into Mana.

Allister looked at Rachel, "Mind if i borrow some magical energy Rachel?"

Rachel gritted her teeth. "Do what you need to. But if we get out of this alive I am punching you in the face."

They all knew draining someone's mana was a painful and unsettling process. Allister threw a green thread into Rachel with one hand, and used his other to quickly keep spawning undead from the continuous corpses of goblins.

And as the sun started setting, the goblins' fervor finally broke. With piles and piles of corpses, and a lightning bolt of a human making quick work of the hordes of weak goblins, arrows raining down on small groupings, and finally, with the numbers of dead goblins exceeding live goblins, they had had enough. A few hundred straggler goblins ran from the valley back towards the way that Serin and his party had come in from. Serin had Started giving his excess mana to Allister and was using Magical Essence to kill the remaining crippled Ogres. The battlefield was clear of enemies, as the only things that remained on the scorched area were dead goblins and undead goblins.

Jericho stood, his breath heaving, legs shaking. He was covered in dozens of gashes and hundreds of small cuts. He immediately fell over tired. Serin jumped off the tower. Using [Slow Fall], an abjuration spell, he safely landed the 3 stories down. Then he ran to Jericho's aid.

Jericho's health was full, and his stamina was empty. However Serin saw a special condition called "Peak Exhaustion". Serin then knew Jericho would be down for the count. Serin covered him with a spawned blanket, and helped Allister and Rachel down. Allister was brought down unconscious. Rachel looked haggard.

Serin looked at Rachel, who was dragging Allister next to Jericho. "Please take care of these two Rachel. I am going to grab our useless butler and the cart."

Serin had to look tough, but he had been hit several times. If he wasn't using several layers of defensive magic and had his [physical resistance] skill, he would have been easily killed. Instead, he was covered with bruises.

But the day had been won.

***

Upon retrieving Lord Koni and the cart, Serin took a ride. He had dropped his magical energy dangerously low, so much so that he couldn't heal himself at the moment. So he had to ride in pain. Serin arrived at Rachel watching over Allister and Jericho. Serin and Rachel then loaded them into the cart. Serin used his [mapping] spell to give lord Koni a map of where they were, and where they needed to go.

"Lord Koni, we are all going to sleep. While we sleep, protect us from any threats that would do us harm. Stop the cart when we arrive at the spot marked on the map. "

And with that Serin fell asleep.

***

Serin was the second one awake. He awoke to Rachel caring for Allister and Jericho. She had been singing a calming song. He had not heard her sing, ever. And although there was nothing magical about what she was doing, he could tell that was helping relieve the built up stress. It reminded Serin of home. Rachel, on noticing Serin being awake, stopped her singing and looked a bit embarrassed. She then said to him "The quest is complete, but only you can claim the reward." Serin took a moment to realize what she had said. He then looked down at his arm and noticed the blinking guild symbol on his arm.

Serin opened up his guild menu. "Do you think Jericho would mind?"

Rachel scoffed, "I think the longer you wait the angrier he will be when you do decide to do it."

Serin then nodded, and with excitement overcoming his stress, he pressed the claim symbol.

And like that time when he first was plated, when his adventure truly began, Serin felt himself being transported back to the divine.

***

"Ah, I am glad you are here! And much sooner than expected. Needed some breathing room to grow huh? Only so far you could go under the grand general's gaze. "

Serin found himself back in the white room he sat in on his plate day, sitting across from the desk from the ball of light and shadow. It swirled and swirled, and then took the shape similar to a humanoid. This was new. Serin smiled at the spirit. "You have also changed, spirit. You filled out a bit." Serin could see a hint of a smile. "You see more of me because you have grown closer to the world. But that's a conversation you haven't earned yet." And with that the Spirit pretended to clear his throat and read a pre-scripted message.

"By the rights of the Claim, you and your guild have taken control of Site 6: Codename Hidden Jewel. Hidden Jewel was not designed for ease of access as you may have figured out. There is only one feasible way in or out unless someone can fly. However that makes it perfect for a starting city. With a handful of soldiers you could defend that place from all but the greatest nations on Terra!."

Serin was happy. "So how does all this work? What happens from here?"

"Well your nation is still a nation, even if it's only one tiny town, or in its present state a campsite. When named it will be added to the National registry. And all decisions are made by those appointed by you. You have the right to determine how it is ruled. You also get to choose a few things to make it a bit easier to get started. Specifically, you get to choose your nation's starting perk. Every perk has a positive and negative so think carefully. "And with that a short list of starting perks appeared on a magic screen in front of him.

Serin looked at them. He saw one that would make life a bit safer called Isolationist. It would make the valley impossible to find without invitation, but make it difficult to bring immigrants. He saw one that he was sure belonged to the grand general, which was Bountiful. It made the land easier to farm but increased the number of Content that were born due to the calmer agrarian lifestyle. There was also Technocratic, which increased the ability of crafters and technology, but all other magic became difficult to cast. Then there was Deceitful Whispers, which increased the knowledge of other nations' secrets, but at the cost of producing more societal deviance. All of the perks were listed as "starting perks".

Then he saw one that he did not understand. It was called Open to All and it gave him the power to summon refugees.

"What is Open to All? Can you explain what refugees are?" Serin watched the spirit smirk.

"Oh that one? It's kind of hard to explain. Your continent isn't the only continent on Terra. Or the only world. Or the only Instanced Dimension. There are dozens of Continents on this world, and this world is connected to many others. Many of these worlds are inhabited by their own plated creatures. There are countless intelligence species that are plated, yours just happens to be the only one on this Continent." The spirit continued, "Many of these intelligent people face erasure from existence. The reasons for their impending doom is as varied as the peoples are. Open to All grants you the power to bring in these people, named refugees, into your capital as a form of immigration. As long as your nation can accommodate more residents, gates will start to appear in your capital and you will have groups of refugees come."

Serin looked confused. "What is the downside?"

The spirit laughed. "That is the downside. The divines have noticed that the Nations of Terra tend to be Xenophobic, or having a fear of that which is different. Nations kill members of other nations without cause, and do not have open boarders with them. Humans have a tendency to fear what is different, as they view it as dangerous.

Serin then peaked. "What's the upside?"

The spirit laughed, "Well, all those people bring knowledge, and their status of refugee means that as long as they are cared for, they will not revolt, as their loyalty will be given a permanent buff. There are many nations of different races. And no other nation took this perk. So you will be the first to discover many of them. When you have room, that is."

Serin nodded. "Alright, I am sold. We will take that Nation perk" The spirit was ecstatic, "Only through our differences can we realize what is truly important in this world. You have made a good choice." The spirit continued. "The other thing that must be decided is your form of governmental leadership." Serin furled his brow, "Is there one where I can get input from others? And all people having the same basic rights regardless of social status?"

The Spirit smiled, "There is the Consular model. It means recognized citizens can be given counsel right underneath a Sovereign, or leader. The Consulars, or representatives are elected each year, but the Sovereign is elected for life."

Serin smiled. "That should work."

The spirit smiled, "Alright then. The last option is whether you want additional assistance. Specifically, do you want us to give you quests? These come with rewards, but they can be a bit difficult."

Serin then just chuckled, "I won't say no to rewards"

The spirit smiled, "That is quite good to hear. Keeping up a good relation with the divines is important."

Serin cocked his head. "What do you mean?"

The Spirit laughed, "There are places that have denied us. Deemed us meddlers. We just have left people to their own devices. Almost every time it fails. The difficulty curve of this existence is too steep to go through it without the assistance of the divines."

Serin had no idea what the spirit was talking about. But he knew that the divines ran the adventurer's guild, and the magics of that allowed for most economies to start. It also garnered access to things normally not found locally.

Serin then asked, "Am i allowed to know any more?"

The spirit seemed please, "Technically, but in this session it can only answer Foundation questions. And even then I am limited."

Serin smiled, "Will I ever get any more Perks?"

The spirit grinned, "Maybe!"

Serin shook his head, "Any suggestions?"

The spirit smiled, "Don't slack off"

Serin then asked, "Are we in danger?"

The spirit replied, "Always, but other nations cannot declare war on you until you perform the announcement rites."

"What are those?" Serin asked.

The spirit replied, "It's when you decide to inform other nations of your existence. It allows for trade and travel between nations. It also allows for nations to declare war. You can stall as long as you want, but if you decide to claim the lands between your capital and other nations you will begin to increase the risk of discovery. If you are discovered, and you have claimed lands outside your capital, you announcement rites are forced three days later."

Serin then asked, "So if I never extend past this valley and mountain range, I never need to worry about having announcement rites forced upon me?"

The spirit smiled. "That is technically correct, but no nation has been efficient with their land and has found a need to expand every time. And although nations cannot formally invade, that doesn't mean they can't goad 'interested parties' into hunting you."

Serin then asked, "How many nations contain unchained boundless?"

The spirit answered, "What a way to frame that question! Normally you would have to figure that info out for yourself. But sure. I will give you this one. The answer is one. Yours. In fact as of last month, you are the only boundless in any of the known nations. The grand General hunted the last of them down. One slipped the chains, you see."

Serin then asked, "What about the plates we had made when we came of age? Does he still have a copy?"

"Oh! Another good question!. The plates were an effective method for determining citizenship. As you are no longer citizens of his country, those plates have now been removed."

Serin blew a sigh of relief. "Will he notice?"

The spirit then answered, "Most assuredly. Plates are tracked quite well. Those who die have their plates crumble to dust. But yours will have just disappeared, leaving no trace. A report will be made, but it will probably take some time for him to find you. And he will probably never find you before your announcement rites."

Serin then thought about it. "I want to have a way to identify citizens, but I don't want to keep a bunch of plates."

The spirit smiled, " Then there is a spell pair. The first one is called [Naturalize] It gives someone the permanent identifier as belonging to your nation. You already know the [Identify], so I will upgrade your spell to [Greater Identify], which identifies host nation and current affiliations."

Serin was impressed. He was not expecting to gain too much out of this meeting.

The spirit looked at him. "Any other questions you have?"

"Yes, How will we receive quests and get rewards?"

The spirit smiled, "Through a quest board of course. Also you will notice that the [Kingdom Point (KP) Store] is available to you now from your system. It will be a part of your [kingdom management] screens."

The divine spirit then smiled, "That is all the answers I can give you at this time. I truly wish you the best of luck, and remember, we won't tell you how to run your nation, but we will hope that you become a great and just ruler. Goodbye for Now Serin, and I look forward to your announcement rites.

And with that Serin was back, looking at Rachel. She started to speak, "I was going to ask if anything happened, but then that popped up mysteriously behind you."

Serin looked. In a small grove of trees, between a few large boulders, there stood a request board with quests starting to populate on it.

Serin just looked at it and said, "We have a lot of work to do."

***