Chapter 204: Anchored

"Let! Go! Deceiver!" Kalik Tu' growled swinging his arms wildly.

"Calm down kid, you'll want to see this if you wanna beat me at some point," Drake scoffed, holding Kalik by the scruff of his leather armor like a kitten.

"Won't listen!" he barked back.

"Then don't listen, just watch and learn," Drake fired back, dropping him on his tush next to Sah Ul' and the rest of the group who were observing at the moment.

Landin glanced over, then turned his attention back to Mikhail's group, "He doesn't seem happy."

"When does Kalik ever seem happy to you?" Drake laughed, looking down at the kid.

"Not sure, I can't understand him. But he's always wearing a scowl, at least when he's looking at us."

"That's true…" Charlotte agreed, "Are we going to be able to understand everyone when we get our classes?"

Drake shook his head, "Not until you become F-Rank a little later and we would have to find a specific book, that I'm not sure drops anymore. I'll have to bring it up with Natto later. If it isn't around, you two will have to learn their language the hard way," he explained, giving a shrug.

Sah Ul' looked over at Drake and Kalik briefly, giving an uninterested grunt before addressing Drake.

"Woman here for Patriarch," Sah Ul said, motioning towards the other side of the wall.

Drake turned, spotting Bridgette looking on eagerly at Mikhail's group.

Sighing he moved over, honestly not looking forward to another conversation with her.

"What do you want, Doc?" Drake asked.

Without turning Bridgette greeted Drake, keeping her attention on the party dealing with another wave of monsters beyond the wall.

"Hello again Mr. Wallen. I see you've adopted some strays and so soon…"

"I would hardly call them strays, they were the ones who came to find me," Drake replied.

"Interesting. I would have thought people would have waited until at least the anchoring of your crystal… Quite interesting indeed. That man," Bridgette said pointing to Mikhail, "He is especially interesting. Do you know his class?"

Drake shook his head, "Nope, I'll know soon though. Speaking of him, he gave me the idea of how I'll vet people coming into the town. Assuming there will be more."

"I'm sure there will be, excluding the fact that this is a system sanctioned area. I believe the prospect of being under the protection of one who has already killed a Guardian Beast would tickle the fancy of any competent persons…." Bridgette snickered, puffing on her cigarette, "Regardless, I will get to my reason for looking for you. I would like a place to conduct experiments and research."

"No," Drake said flatly.

"Ah thank you for- What? Why?!" she gasped.

"After what you did at the library? Why would I give the green light for you to become a mad scientist?" Drake scoffed.

"I am nothing of the sort! I wish to simply see how these new infectious diseases affect monsters. Discovering how my paralytics and other concoctions interact with both the world and those that inhabit it will only prove to be useful to you."

"No."

"I see, thank you for seeing it- What? Did I not just explain how it would be beneficial?!"

"No, I mean no I don't have time to do that. At least not until the crystal is anchored. How many things do you think I'm dealing with right now? I don't have the infrastructure to even consider putting up anything close to buildings or the like yet. I'm lacking personnel, guards, a way of defending this place, and not to mention a school to teach the young children who take sanctuary here at the moment. Your little experiments can wait," Drake explained, waving her off.

Bridgette held up a finger, wanting to open her mouth again, but instead thinned her lips and narrowed her eyes.

"I understand… You simply need to find administrators for this town, yes?" she asked.

Drake looked at her suspiciously, "Y-yes….?"

Bridgette nodded and walked away wordlessly.

"Oh that's trouble…" Drake mumbled. But shook his head and returned to where the rest of the teens were.

"Having fun?" Drake asked sarcastically.

"What do you think…" Landin asked, still leaning forward on the wall from his seat, his head in his hands as his eyes stayed on Mikhail's group.

Drake chuckled, "I know it's probably boring right now but try not to fall asleep at least. I was never one for studying either but this will be the foundation of everything you do as a group here. I have high expectations of you three," he looked at Charlotte who was, despite looking tired observing in earnest.

Looking over to Kalik, the boy was surprisingly standing next to Sah Ul' observing as well with some interest. Whether he was interested in seeing other people fight or was just infatuated with how their teamwork seemed to be fine tuned enough to allow them to dispatch the monsters with relative ease despite being outnumbered.

Looks like things are good here. Drake thought with a smile.

"Don't stay here too late, remember to eat and get some rest, they'll be here for the rest of the week at least," Drake announced.

Landin gave him a lazy wave, Charlotte nodding. Drake said it once again, directing it at Kalik Tu', who spat in his direction.

I hope finding other talented kids his age will fix his attitude… Drake sighed.

"I'll be returning to patrolling, don't wait up."

With that Drake stepped back off the wall, returning to the center of the encampment where a line of people were still awaiting his return.

—---------

That day went by quickly without any particularly strong monsters entering their area. Drake dispatched whatever Mikhail's group could not, also taking care of his challengers with ease as most were simply disgruntled warriors who had their eyes on Sarah and the seat of being the next chief.

The next day followed the same rhythm. Drake stayed up dispatching monsters that were drawn to the presence of the crystal throughout the night, returning to Natto's side once he was done.

Once dawn broke he would fight the line of challengers who still wished to remove him from his position. All while giving them tips on their fighting as best he could.

Drake was no world class fighter by any means, but his current stats and his Subtree Skill, Asuran's Warbook, seemed to have accelerated his ability to fight by an enormous degree. If you were to ask him it was almost like he had earned a skill accelerator in games that allowed him to learn more quickly.

When it came to fighting, he was absorbing the information like a spunge, and each time he did it invigorated a small part of his soul.

Drake continued this for four more days bringing him to the final day of the anchoring.

Walking from the small island over the icebridge as usual Drake was met with challengers once again.

"Alright, who's up first this time?" Drake sighed rubbing the back of his stiff neck, his breathe leaving a small puff of white mist.

"First," Kalik Tu' grunted.

Drake eyed the teen, "Again?"

"Again!" he shouted pulling an ax from his side, but this time he pulled a knife as well making Drake raise an eyebrow.

Looks like he is teachable. Drake though looking at the blade with a smile.

"Alright, let me have it," Drake scoffed.

Kalik didn't rush Drake this time, opting to slowly gauge him, moving his footwork with meticulous intention.

Drake simply observed, having no need to rush the fight himself. This wasn't a proving ground for himself but for the challengers. And Drake had no intention of forcing the issue and striking first.

Kalik continued to inch closer with his blade and ax at the ready until he was only a few feet from Drake's blindside. And in a quick sudden motion, he hurled the ax forward then took off to the side before it landed trying to time the impact with another strike.

Drake dodged the ax, letting it pass by him harmlessly as he followed the teen with his eyes. Kalik continued to circle, pulling another ax from his side this time tossing it into the air above Drake.

Ignoring the ax for now, Drake followed the teen as Kalik made a hairpin turn, b-lining for Drake with his blade lunging forward.

Moving to the side Drake dodged the thrust, grabbing Kalik's wrist and flipping him over onto the snow below.

Kalik let out a grunt of pain as the air was pushed from his lungs but quickly recovered. Jumping into the air his eyes were slightly unfocused but he still managed to catch the ax he had thrown earlier, bringing it down with his blade in a cross slash.

Drake whistled, impressed, but the boy had left himself vulnerable in his jumping position. And with one swift motion Drake allowed the blades to come down as he lowered his stance, lunging below Kalik, his hand passing under the weapons and with a firm thrust upwards his palm struck the teen's chin throwing him backwards.

Kalik hit the floor, unconscious.

"Now where did you learn all that…" Drake muttered with a smile, picking up the boy.

He looked at the crowd who looked just as impressed and surprised as Drake had a few moments before.

"Alright quick break, need to make sure he isn't dead and all that," Drake chuckled as he quickly sprinted towards where Mikhail's party was at the wall.

A few short seconds later Drake arrived outside the tents he had set up for them.

"Wakey Wakey! Yorth I have a patient for you!" Drake shouted at the tent.

A few moments later a long drawn-out sigh came from the tent and a man with bright fiery red hair pulled back the flap, his blue eyes sunken slightly, his hair a mess, and his clothes unkempt.

"What? Did you knock him out again?" Yorth grumbled.

"That I did. Kid might be a M," Drake smirked, laying Kalik Tu' down next to the tent.

"Or you're just a sadist… Every day you knock this kid out, couldn't you go a little easier on him?"

Drake shook his head, "No can do, that would be an insult to his warrior spirit. You know who taught him the thing with the ax?" Drake asked.

"Ax thing?"

"Yeah, he tossed an ax as a distraction, and when I didn't bite he used it as a weapon to attack from above."

"Oh, he probably saw Blake and Mikhail fighting? They both don't fight directly but use more indirect methods, they aren't strength type fighters after all," Yorth guessed, laying a hand on Kalik's head.

"May the mother guide this weary soul to their former peace. Healing Drip."

Drake laughed at the spell name like he did every time, "Healing Drip? I still don't get this system's naming…"

"Hey I don't name the spells, I just chant them."

"Right," Drake smirked, "Last day huh…" he mused aloud, "Anyway, were there any more people showing up?"

Yorth nodded, "We turned the group away though, it was pretty obvious what they were here for…"

Drake frowned, "More?"

Nodding Yorth also frowned, "We took in the ones they had but well…"

"You don't have to answer to me for doing it," Drake said, his brow furrowing, "I've seen it in the tutorial but people doing it here… I'd like to know where they all keep coming from. Next time keep them here before anything happens. I want to ask them some questions."

"Questions?" a voice asked from the side, Mikhail exiting his tent.

"You didn't mention new slavers trying to get inside when you talked to me yesterday," Drake scowled.

"I apologize. We took care of them as we have before. I just assumed that would suffice," Mikhail said, raising his hands, "I will inform you of such things in the future, of course."

Drake sighed. He wasn't mad at Mikhail, he was just disgusted with the people who seemed to be popping up more and more lately for some reason.

Slavers.

They were people who specifically found other races and sometimes even other humans and placed them in chains, trying to find easier prey or even sell them off to town owners for various reasons.

Drake had felt disgusted the first time he saw them the day after meeting Mikhail and his group. It was a stark contrast to their group and it took all of Drake's willpower to not just kill the worthless group of people on the spot but he wanted to do what he could without bloodshed if he could manage.

Fortunately, most of the slavers were not the brightest bunch, and would go back on their word constantly after seeing Drake was only a 'Level 10' and try to take advantage of him.

And of course, Drake obliged, making sure they would never make the same mistake again as well as never harm another soul.

"Did you direct the rescues to the Doc?" Drake asked finally.

"We did, she complained as always. There were a few beastkin, elves, and a few humans. Detestable really," Mikhail sighed his face scrunching up.

Drake nodded, but there wasn't much he could do to prevent it. He didn't have enough influence or personnel to send out on moral righteous missions like some sort of church or relief service.

Thankfully the crystal should anchor…

[Drake Wallen is the 13th to complete the anchoring of their Honing Crystal]

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

[Quest Complete: Be One of the first to Establish a System Sanctioned Town!]

[Quest Complete: A Land All Your Own!]

[You have been designated the rank of Baron]

[You have been awarded 300 Nobility Points]

[You have been awarded 500 Nobility Experience]

[You have been placed as #1 on the Nobility Board]

[You have received a new Title: Baron]

[Baron]

You have received a Nobility Title deserving of your status.

+3% Experience Gain to all Affiliated persons.

[You have received a new Title: Catalyst of the Capital]

[Catalyst of the Capital]

You have gained great renown in your new world and are an incredible prospect.

+2% to Experience Gain of all Affiliated Persons

+5% to Health, Mana, and Stamina Regeneration while inside Town influence.

[You have been registered as the owner of the town, Reunite]

[You have received a Standard System Center]

[You may choose from a list of System Authorized Buildings]

[You may choose from a list of System Authorized Buildings]

[You have Received a Ticket to the World Summit x1]

"Speak of the devil," Drake shrugged.