Chapter 214: Voting Season

Drake glared at the large boulder with a deep hateful scowl, pouring his mana slowly into it to condense the black earth into something even more sturdy.

After leaving the kids, he had been pulled around most of the day by Natto and the other administrators, Hammond and Blaire.

"I feel like I have no freedom anymore…" he grumbled.

"Quite! Less complaining and more rock-making!" Natto yelled from his shoulder, "Do you want this town to grow or do you not?! We need building materials and seeing as we have a lack of skilled craftsmen and non-combat professions this is the least you can do."

Drake turned his head, "Can't I just go and chop down some trees or something?"

Natto scoffed, "Do you remember how difficult of a time you had with mining?" she reminded.

"Yeah and?"

"To chop down mana-infused trees would be much harder than that. The system differentiates when one is intentionally gathering or crafting or simply 'destroying' material in a crass manner. Not only that," she continued holding up a finger, "Even if it did allow you to gather these trees there would be a limit in how we could process them at the moment."

"The craftsmen…?" Drake assumed.

Natto nodded, "Currently we have less than five skilled craftsmen outside of the Rhak's warsmith. One technically is not a craftsman but a basic earth mage with an architect profession. There are also some other skilled ones but their professions deal with supplementing their main classes. We simply have no non-combat classes currently."

She looked at him deflated and with slight worry.

"I am not sure how to tell you this Drake, but it would seem your iteration of tutorials seems to have been more bloody than normal. Meaning combat classes seem to be the majority. Even if there were a large portion of your population that chose to be non-combat classes I assume they were either killed or did not make it through the tutorial for some reason or another."

"I thought you could teach the citizens most of that stuff?" Drake asked, taking a break to move to a new spot and beginning to form a new boulder of stone.

Natto shook her head, "While I can guide them for the most basic of construction and deal with some infrastructure with the town features I have access to. This is not the same as truly being a craftsman or allowing them to begin a profession or non-combat class. Only the system can provide such things."

"Hmmmm," Drake hummed, "So you're still pretty useless?"

Natto smacked him in the back of the head.

"I will transform this town into a properly functioning world capital! It is the lack of personnel, not my administrative ability! Even without more fools to do the hard labor I can still provide a wealth of manpower on my own!" she screamed defending herself, "By the time you come back you will not recognize what this sorry mud hole has become," she huffed.

"Yeah… I already don't recognize my wallet…" Drake laughed wryly, thinking back to their time signing the bank contracts with the other two administrators.

After leaving the kids, Natto had forced him to immediately open his account, dumping all of the resources he did not absolutely need into it. The account was for the town as a whole, meaning that the future contribution point system, town budget, war expenses, and anything else pertaining to the growth of the city would be pulled from it.

As the head administrator for the town and Drake's direct assistant, Natto had been made the second highest authority for the account. Hammond and Blaire falling under her supervision as well as having to receive her approval for taking and placing anything into the account.

Drake had to hold back his laughter for the first time in a while as he watched Natto lord over the two grown adults, as a less than one-year-old construct, her nose stuck in the air haughtily.

"Do not forget that you will need far more for the production that we seek. The amount of resources it will demand will exceed anything you can produce at the moment even with your abilities," Natto explained, pointing to the next location for Drake to travel to within the town.

"What do you mean? I can gather quite a lot of stuff," Drake asked confusedly.

"There are simply too many people we need to nurture. You have your hands full simply providing for the small number of children you have hand-picked do you not? Imagine doing the same for hundreds, no, thousands of others. I will admit it may not be to the same degree for each individual but the point still stands."

Drake paused, giving it some thought, his ability to visualize the amount of wealth and resources he would need escaping him. Even making his head feel as if it was splitting while his stomach began to hurt.

"I-i see your point… Kinda… But if it is going to grow to that extent how are we ever going to provide that type of support for the town?" he wondered, "It's not like I can spend all of my time just farming materials. There's the hordes in a few months which should bag us some stuff, then there was the mention of a dungeon that might get me some cool titles and maybe some rare skill stones for rewards but…"

Natto gave a chuckle raising her head high, "Leave such things to me! Certainly this is my moment to shine bright like a diamond!" she chortled only to cough embarrassedly at her wording, "I mean to say, it is part of my modus operandi to take care of your town while you are away shooting things with your flashy lights," she said.

They arrived in front of a makeshift water tower made of roughly put-together wood as the sound of the system resounded in Drake's ears.

[Suisei Yuki - The Witch of the North is the 97th to complete the anchoring of their Honing Crystal]

[The city 'Yuki no Kuni' has now been established and recognized by the system]

[Brett Nieudacznik - The Golden Key Holder is the 98th to complete the anchoring of their Honing Crystal]

[The city 'Uruk' has now been established and recognized by the system]

[Pablo Cortez - The Slave King of the Wandering Isle is the 99th to complete the anchoring of their Honing Crystal]

[The city 'The Wandering Isle' has now been established and recognized by the system]

[Valor Alvea - The Life Giver is the 100th to complete the anchoring of their Honing Crystal]

[The city 'Avalon' has now been established and recognized by the system]

[100th System Established locations have been detected. Activating World Wide Event.]

[New System Event! The Fight for the Top!]

[With the establishment of cities within your world passing its beginnings you will now have to select a leader to represent you in the coming fight against the aggressors of the opposing World. You will have 40 Days to prepare and form alliances to choose a representative.]

"That was more notifications than usual," Drake said, digging into his ear with a finger.

He had gotten used to hearing the announcements for the towns over the past weeks, they would come in groups as most needed only a day to three days for their anchoring of crystals. The longer the time to anchor the stronger the person and the tutorial they came from. This last batch had been the same length as Drake's, meaning they were quite strong by default.

Drake wasn't surprised to see the notification of the system wanting to elect a representative. He had heard a bit about it from Natto while in the tutorial as well as a bit more in detail once they had established the town.

What he didn't expect was it to happen so soon. It seemed that many of the people, well maybe other races based on the majority of names he saw, had their priorities straight. Nearly 70% of the names he saw were more fantasy in nature which didn't bode well for the humans as it meant that they were snatching up land at a faster rate than them or the humans had different priorities after coming back.

Drake pursed his lips, wondering what the hell they were doing. As far as he knew humans had given in to their more base desires, capturing other races and enslaving them, going after wealth through stealing others. He had not heard of anywhere yet that was even remotely normal.

Not that Drake was entirely normal. His town was growing steadily but the majority of his citizens so far had been Orcs and beastkin right now with only a small majority being humans. Was it just the nature of things now?

The other races came from worlds that lacked the same technology that humans were familiar with and Drake thought it might have benefited them more in this world where they had to fight tooth and nail for anything and everything.

But he digressed. "So looks like we have 40 days. I honestly don't think that's enough time to do anything substantial," Drake mused.

Natto nodded, "Yes, I am inclined to agree. Certainly a short amount of time for the first meeting of town lords. I assume that there will not be a definite conclusion for the first vote. Your world is vast, very vast. Just looking at the number of races in your town, I would venture that the system merged at least 4 planets together at minimum. So I do not believe that anyone would have time to make contact with very many other towns. And without the use of teleporters at this time, there will be no way to communicate efficiently."

"Teleporters?" Drake asked.

"Yes, after you have reached a higher nobility rank, town teleporters will become available. But that will not happen until a World Capital has been established, which will take years, and will only be available to a few capital cities. For other towns and cities, you will have to bear the timely travel of being on foot."

Drake listened casually as he jumped up to the edge of the water tower, beginning to pour water into the large tank.

"The system really doesn't want to make things easy, does it… For me, that won't really be a problem, but for pure mage or healer classes that's going to make traveling take forever," Drake mumbled, "So what's after this?" he asked.

"You will need to plant the man-eating seeds, our food stores are somewhat low for the amount of citizens we have. We can hunt and give merit points for bringing in extra food, skill stones, cores, and the like once I have set up the system for it and talked to the other… lower constructs from the Center," she sneered, "But until then it is better to plant a tree early as they say. I assume you are going out soon as well? Certainly, you will need a mountain of monster cores and skill stones for your little army?" Natto asked.

Drake nodded, finishing up filling the tower as it began to creak and wobble.

"It would be best if you minded the monsters you find. Bringing back any slimes you encounter will be greatly appreciated."

"Mind the monsters? You mean capture monsters? I understand the slimes but why others?" Drake asked, then a lightbulb went off as he realized.

"You mean the dungeon anchor?" he surmised.

"Certainly. Right now you have only one, so we will have to use it wisely. But once you have advanced a bit further in Nobility Rank. The Center's shop will open up the option of basic ones you can use for entry-level Mana Vessels starting their journey. It is possible to buy specific ones from the auction, but they come at a horrendous upcharge…"

Drake's head slightly tilted in thought, then nodded in agreement, "I'll keep an eye out. I still haven't had a chance to scout the area very well, so I'm not exactly sure what the level range of monsters is around us. On the way here there were some even reaching 30. I'm going to have to map out the area going out to where Taliya's map shows for the kids."

As they discussed a little more of their plans going forward the sounds of an argument became louder and louder below them.

Looking down he saw Sah Ul' dragging a disgruntled Kalik Tu'.

"Sah Ul', just let me take the blessing of the gods already! Then I can free you from that unworthy human!" Kalik spat, growling as he held his braid that she held in her grip.

"You have heard the Patriarch, you must wait with the others until they are ready. He has a plan to help all of you grow. Maybe even stronger than him and myself, Kalik Tu'. Must you dishonor yourself by throwing dirt at him when he is not even here? I thought you were taught better. Your skill as a hunter may be sharp as a newly made war-ax but your eye for the perspective of your surroundings is as dull as ever," Sah Ul' reprimanded.

"When will you learn being a genius fighter does not mean there are not people above you? Have you not fought with him every day since he arrived and not won once?" she added, eliciting a frown from the young man.

"It is only because he has the blessing and I do not! If it was a fair fight, there would be no contest! He fights like a wild pack animal separated from the group!"

Drake smiled as he heard them go back and forth, surprised Sah Ul' was defending him so adamantly despite always being so short with him.

It was true what she said, Kalik was incredibly gifted at fighting. If it wasn't for Drake having been through the tutorial and his month-long practice with the people of Shigure's camp. He would be no match. But that was just it. He was gifted, in the vacuum of the Rhak.

Kalik had fought with vigor and precision, aiming for Drake's vitals and weak points as if he were an animal to be hunted. But in a fight with another person or monster, he was average. Kalik fell for feints and anything that even came close to misdirection in the fight.

It looked like the argument below was heating up once again as Drake was lost in thought.

"I guess it's time to humble the kid again. I need him to be competitive for the group, but if he takes it too far it's going to only slow everyone down as a whole," Drake muttered, hopping down from the tower.

He fell right behind Sah Ul' with a light thud accompanied by the crunch of snow beneath him, forcing them to turn around at the sound.

"Patriarch?" Sah Ul' said, surprised, her eyes going from him to the top of the tower in understanding.

"Deceiver…" Kalik growled.

Drake smiled back at the scowling teen, "I've heard you've been talking smack kid."

Kalik stared back at Drake, not recoiling in the slightest.

"You only have the advantage of the blessing, if I had it as well I would have no problem in besting you," he said.

"Think so?" Drake asked evenly.

"Without a doubt, by the bountiful mother!" he shouted back.

Drake sighed and nodded, "Then I'll allow you to get your class on one condition."

Kalik's face brightened in surprise but soon his eyes thinned hearing Drake's words.

"Name it," Kalik answered after some thought.

"If you lose you must do what I say until you reach your second-class advancement. No more questions, no more arguments, no more whining."

Drake held out his hand, only for Kalik to look at it questioningly.

"It's how we seal the deal, a promise between people, or men I guess in this situation," Drake explained, "You shake it with your own hand."

Kalik looked at him suspiciously but finally grabbed the hand as firmly as he could, making Drake smile at the attempt.

"It is a deal as you say then."

"Good," Drake smiled, "Then let's go get this boy his class shall we?" he said turning to Sah Ul'.

They began moving to the system center, Natto on Drake's shoulder looking bored as she swiped away at screens, sometimes vanishing for a few moments only to pop back on his shoulder eating something a little bit later. After a little bit a slightly worried Sah Ul' moved closer to Drake bringing her voice to a whisper.

"Patriarch, are you sure it is wise to allow him to gain a class before the others? I've known Kalik Tu' since he was a babe. He is headstrong because of his skill with an ax, but he looks down on others, and this will only further fuel that in him I fear…"

Drake gave her a placating wave, "I understand that, but there's nothing to worry about. I'll be letting him know exactly the distance he has to travel before he can call himself strong. We've all been frogs at the bottom of wells until recently. Even I've been humbled as of late, seeing Talyia and the Dragon Bitch…." he said, grumbling as he trailed off.

Natto looked at him suspiciously as Sah Ul' retreated a few steps behind him.

"You are doing this because you want to take your frustrations out on a kid," she whispered looking at Drake in disbelief.

Drake tripped a few steps before righting himself.

She knows me too well…. He thought, giving a wry smile.

"O-of course not. I'm just going to teach him a lesson by rewarding him a bit. I think letting him hold onto his class first won't be a problem. Once he understands he will be a little less of a problem child, probably..."

Natto scoffed, biting into a potato chip as she turned her head away, leaving Drake to his own devices while she went back to looking at blue screens.

Drake wondered exactly what she was looking at but he would have to ask later. There was Kalik to take care of first, not to mention the announcements from before still made him question where he stood on the scale of power on this new planet. Some of the other Lords had titles attached to their names like Drake, leaving him feeling a deep eagerness in the back of his mind that he tried desperately to suppress.

Damned Asuran blood… It's going to get me into a lot of trouble and the desire to fight is only getting worse. Drake grumbled to himself.

Before they knew it they had arrived at the bustling System Center. It had garnered far more traffic than Drake thought was possible but he quickly understood what was happening when they entered.

People were purchasing and selling things left and right to the constructs. It would seem that the lady who had helped him, had not helped him as much as he thought again.

The system center also doubled as a basic shop it appeared. People buying small books that Drake could see were language and profession books, as well as some basic skill stones. There were also people gleefully looking at the new coins they had exchanged their Monster Cores for, some walking away with what looked like basic tools for trades. Carpenter tools, looms, and other somewhat large equipment could be seen disappearing into thin air as well.

Well I don't need anything like skill stones, I have a mountain worth of the common and uncommon ones. But I'll have to see if there are any rare stones here when I come back.

Kalik looked for an open line feverishly once they had entered, finally deciding to get in line behind a few people as Drake and Sah Ul' followed suit.

Waiting in line allowed Drake to see a little of the coming and goings of the Center. Many humans that he knew and helped get here passed in and out as they nodded to him briefly. He was happy to see they were growing accustomed to the system.

But he also saw many other races, the beastkin, orcs, avians, some light skinned elves as well mingled in the lobby as they waited to be helped. These people however didn't really acknowledge Drake. He did not directly help them outside of the orcs.

The orcs and Mikhail's group had been the ones helping some of them as Drake dealt with the monsters during the anchoring and his administrative duties, although they were sparse compared to Rvul's and Natto's duties.

After a bit more waiting they finally reached the counter to a familiar face.

"Hello…. What do you w-" the woman began saying then spotted Drake and cringed as she fixed her attire and coughed, "Ahem, I mean How may I help you today?"

Drake gave her a cold look, "Behaving?"

"O-of course!" she replied nervously.

Drake let her help Kalik and would come back later to grill her about not informing him of the basic shop contained in the Center.

"I wish to receive the blessing of the gods!" Kalik said enthusiastically.

The construct woman tilted her head then righted as her eyes lit in understanding, "Ah you are receiving your basic class I assume?" she asked.

Kalik nodded.

"Then, please accept the prompt," she said tersely.

Kalik's eyes went distant for a moment, a clear sign he was looking at a screen in front of him that Drake and Sah Ul' couldn't see.

Soon his eyes turned back to normal.

"Now what must I do?" he asked.

"Now select the class you wish to start as and the quest to advance will be provided after you have confirmed it," she said, slightly irritated.

Drake gave a clear of his throat, the construct woman quickly fixing her attitude.

"The basic equipment that was provided in the tutorial will not be provided for you. Unfortunately, that was a benefit of tutorial goers. But I assume that should not be a problem for you?" she said, looking at Drake.

Drake shook his head. He had already prepared some basic equipment for all the kids. Asking the warsmith to make some basic non-grade equipment for each of them specific to what he wanted for their advanced classes outside of Atropos and Clotho as they had just joined the town. And he was not sure if they would join them on their travel to his family or not.

"What will you pick?" Drake asked.

Kalik ignored him his eyes going distant again before they returned and he smiled.

"It is done. I have finally received the blessing!" he shouted, gripping his hands tightly.

"Then shall we?" Drake said, handing Kalik two newly made bearded axes.

They were non-grade but nearly as good damage-wise as an early F-Grade Common weapon.

Kalik's face beamed at the weapons but quickly turned to a scowl as he snatched the weapons from him, storming out of the Center.

Drake scoffed and was glad he guessed correctly. He assumed that Kalik would choose the warrior class based on his fighting style and it looks like he was right after the youth took the weapons. But that would be the only gift he would receive from Drake for some time.

Now that he had gotten a class, his life was going to get harder, much much harder as reality was a harsh mistress.

Natto saw the look in Drake's eyes and sighed as she disappeared, not wanting to deal with the mess.

Sah Ul' looked concerned but followed Drake outside to where Kalik was waiting, a small group of younger Orcs forming around him.

They were congratulating him on receiving his class, slapping him on his arms, and looking in awe at the new weapons that he held.

Drake gave a soft smile seeing the scene but soon turned serious.

"Alright, let's see it then. Mighty warrior. No more excuses, you have your blessing and it's time to put your money where your mouth is."

Kalik turned from the group, his face frowning as they stepped back a good distance.

Sah Ul' also waited behind Drake on the steps of the Center looking on with a slightly scrunched face. She knew how strong Drake was, she had fought him when he arrived and her only concern was if Kalik would be fine.

"Today is the day I will remove you from Sah Ul's side! I will protect the Rhak! Not some foreigner!" he shouted pointing one of his axes at Drake.

"Talk is cheap," Drake said evenly, Kalik Tu' growling back as he dashed forward.

Drake stood there unmoving, not even changing to an endowment as he watched the teen in slow motion rush him.

He had no intention of doing anything but showing their difference in strength to the boy and waited there patiently for him to swing his ax empowered with the basic Heavy Blow skill.

The weapon glowed red as the skill activated around it, Kalik smiling as the blade inched closer to Drake's neck.

But to Kalik's surprise, when the ax slammed against Drake, it was not Drake's neck that was damaged, but the ax in his hand.

Kalik's eyes followed the broken blade spinning in the air comically as his mouth gaped in disbelief.

Drake still stood there unmoving and indifferent.

Kalik's head turned with the blade as he touched back down on the ground from his leap towards Drake. His head snapping back to Drake, furious anger in his eyes.

"But I have the blessing! You may have one as well but I am a prodigy! A genius! The elders told me this every day! That I would be a great warrior, that I would be the one to become chief and protect the tribe! Me!" he screamed, gripping his remaining ax so hard his green skin turned a pale gray.

"You may in the future. But reality is harsh and the system is even harsher," Drake said softly, staring back at the teen, "You remind me of a bright-eyed kid I met in the tutorial, he was just like you."

"Your words mean nothing! You deceived Sah Ul' and the chief but your lies will not work on me! I will win!" Kalik sneered, rushing Drake again with frustration deep in his eyes.

Drake sighed, his words wouldn't reach Kalik Tu' it seemed, so he would have to show him.

"It's better you learn this here instead of where you might actually die."

"Marked," Drake muttered.

Kalik stiffened looking around confused at the unfamiliar feeling stopping his blitz.

"That is called a skill, just like your Heavy Blow, but it marks an opponent for me. Allowing me to deal more damage to them," Drake explained.

"To the death."

Drake used another skill, Kalik Tu' freezing in place this time as he felt the brunt of the skill sending a chill down his spine and putting his hair on end.

Walking forward Drake could hear the sound of Kalik's teeth chattering increase with every one of his steps.

"You may be a good hunter, but you haven't faced death. You haven't had to struggle for days without rest, not knowing if you would see the sun come up the next day. You haven't experienced the feeling of numbness that comes with moving forward even though you know death might be right around the corner."

Drake unloaded on the boy his aura and his mana presence laid to bare.

"This is the wall you are going to have to overcome if you want to beat me."

Looking down, Drake frowned. The boy had already passed out long ago. Drake surveyed the area and saw that everyone in the audience had fallen unconscious as well, the only one struggling to stand being Sah Ul'.

"Ah. I might have overdone it," Drake chuckled wryly, sticking his tongue out.