Watch Captain Doran had received more than a promotion since the Tyrant had taken over Aughal, he’d awakened a new class. It hadn’t come from the gestalt themself, he’d refused, politely, the offer that had been made to him. No, it was from reaching level 3. Between the potential he’d earned during the siege and on the hunts since he’d encountered a period of rapid growth that had pushed his wisdom across the threshold.

  Before, he had been one of the rare few to multiclass, going into both Martialist and Cleric. His personal opinion that there was more to that option than most people knew had been supported by a few odd powers like Squad Sight and wholly confirmed with what happened next. His two classes had become one; Praetorian. He’d never heard of it, though he’d also never heard of two separate classes combining into one before.

  Either way it had done what he’d hoped taking two different classes would, distinguish him to the point that he stood equal in the city’s hierarchy to the fearsome giant that was Gtoll. Aughal hadn’t even had a Watch Captain before its fall, there’d either been no one the Council had trusted to put in that position, or they’d preferred having multiple lieutenants they could play off each other.

  Now, Doran stood on the Eye of the Spires as dawn broke across the horizon, preparing for what was to come. “You know, I kind of liked it back when we just had to deal with uppity Blessed,” Vascott, the only other survivor of Doran’s HURT squad, opined. That was the only reason he was here as Doran had refused to allow his subordinate to be mixed back in with the regulars.

  “Can it, Vascott. This is something new.” He could tell by how odd this recent attack wave was. Since the second Collapse and the assignment of his new role, Doran had taken over directing the city’s defense. The powers from his new class had been essential, allowing him to form communication networks akin to Telepathy and spread out his Squad Sight further than those immediately under his command. Better yet, anyone who was below his level could mark creatures he would then identify.

  That wasn’t to say there hadn’t been close calls. The Tyrant’s decision to bottle up Aughal’s people had led to many difficulties, chief among them allowing the monsters of the region to run rampant. Several level 5s had assailed the walls, claiming lives and destroying city blocks with ranged attacks, but Aughal had yet to fall due to two new factors. His ability to coordinate defense, and the cornerstone of it: the dragon.

  “Rorshawd, pull back behind the wall.”

  The voice of the dragon was carried across the distance to him by his power, though honestly he might have managed without it if his throat weren’t injured. “You want me to flee? They run like pathetic insects.”

  “Do it,” the firm intent of the Bastion Saint ordered through the voice of Famar, their current and preferred vessel. “I see what my Praetorian does. You are being drawn too far away from Aughal.”

  “As if I could not be there in moments,” the draconic voice rumbled in complaint, but already he was swerving back in obeyance of the Tyrant’s commands. The sight of that made Doran glad for his decision not to take the deal, regardless of the benefits others had espoused. His thoughts on that were cast aside as multiple marks suddenly appeared around the walls, designated spotters reacting to something.

  “You are already too late,” the Tyrant chided, sharing in Doran’s Squad Sight but not seeing what he did immediately. The dark outlines of the monsters that had somehow made it to the walls undetected were to be expected, but the tags were not.

  Duneshadow Packleader - (2) (Ranger: 1, Forced Transmutation)

  Gods, the rumors are true. “Full alert!” he called out, mentally linking everyone his powers could reach. “Recall our hunters, wake the duskers, and mobilize the Divine Quarter! I need everything up on the walls yesterday!”

  …

  Daniel had decided to defer investigating the remains of the armory until after he’d slept for multiple reasons. The first was that he needed what little mana burn he could get from Regeneration to fully heal, which was important as he’d almost tapped himself out of mana between his uses of Telekinetic Reach and attempts to influence a monster that was higher level than he was. Better to take a look at whatever was here with a fresh mind and body.

  As there was no way for anyone else to control the armory’s doors, the team had used the two walls he’d deployed to provide some measure of privacy. Between that and disabling the teleportation function of the armory’s rift, Daniel felt safe enough to get some measure of comfortable rest. The only thing weighing on his mind was how Hunter was faring.

  Upon waking, Daniel returned to the lobby area to find there was no sign of the hexscuttle stalker. “You dominated it?”

  “Yeah.” Tlara didn’t elaborate, but Spinner, still in the room with the rift as she couldn’t comfortably fit through the doors, did.

  “Of course! Mistress Tlara saw that it was worthy of joining the others under her command.” Daniel blinked bleary eyes at the drider, caught off-guard as he realized she was still wearing the cloak he’d given her like an apron. He would have considered enchanting her some armor that would at least wrap around the back, but he doubted she would fare well against an elite on her level and had to ration his time appropriately. The first fight had exhausted a fair number of his smoke bombs, including all of the elemental ones.

  “Might as well. Thing’s fucking strong. If the rest here are like it…” Tlara trailed off, and Daniel could see the conflict within her wasn’t completely resolved. He’d been surprised to find how deeply Spinner had troubled her considering, well, the entirety of his experiences with Tlara. Once she worked past that, though, she’d be properly scary again.

  An entire team of elites under her? Damn. Though they might not all be level 3. The majority of those taken during the raids had been un-Blessed, which would result in level 1 monsters without mortal powers. At the same time, he couldn’t imagine weaker elites being sent here. As for how they got here, it’s still hard to believe it’s Soraso. He took out one of the horde leaders by himself. The monster god may have a way to bypass Spokes now that its system is intruding back in. Hell, it put its entire domain into mine.

  He wasn’t sure. Soraso’s use of some kind of social power on him had tanked any trust he’d had in Murdon’s friend, artificial or otherwise. At the same time, if the air gestalt was a double agent they’d probably be screwed. Daniel really didn’t want a repeat of Casia.

  Needing something to take his mind off the issue, Daniel turned to the back rooms of the armory. “Hey, I’m opening these up now,” he called out, seeing everyone had woken up. Walking past Spinner, Daniel could hear everyone beginning to gather in the rift room. While the front of the armory, including the side rooms that adjoined it, had been as barren as the rest of the ruins, here there was a difference. “Shuni, you’re not going to want to miss this.”

  “Not greedy, but yeah,” she said as she worked her way over, still sore from how the last fight had treated her but otherwise fine. The Rogue stood next to him as he observed what he was about to open.

  Several large cabinets made of the same fortified material as the doors were set into the wall. They were tall enough for swords, though there was no way to know what was inside until he hit the button. Come on BFG. Looking down at his buckler, Daniel used the new method of telekinetically accessing his phone to move to the right screen. Each action required a separate use of the ability, but the overall cost was still negligible.

  Everyone watched as the shutters began to open, rolling back into a recessed space behind the cabinet. To Daniel’s surprise and delight, both had items within. Each cabinet had identical weapons, the first some kind of light sword, and the second Daniel would have to let Identify Item determine.

  ???

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Aw come on-

  Arcadian Administrative Alert

  >Warning! Request for secure information registered by !?UNKNOWN?!, acting administrator.

  >Request suspended due to pending security actions logged for !?UNKNOWN?!.

  >Override security check?

  Yes / No

  Daniel looked blankly at the alert asking if he would give himself permission to know something and hit yes with a bit of mental aggravation, identifying the sword at the same time in case that became an issue.

  Frostlock Projector (Weapon: Ranged, Nonmagical, Nonlethal, Level: 1*)

  A constructed Item that uses concentrated pulses of Damage: Cold to incapacitate targets. Use of this item against most Creatures will not result in Death. Exceptions to this may exist depending on the target’s Elemental Affinity.

  *System note: This item is assessed as level 1 despite its nonmagical nature.

  -

  Arcadian Security Sword (Weapon: Melee, Nonmagical, Level: 1*)

  A constructed Item used by the security forces of the ???. This item possesses no special properties beyond its sharpness and durability.

  *System note: This item is assessed as level 1 despite its nonmagical nature.

  It was admittedly a bit of a first world problem to feel disappointed by a trove of enhanced weapons. The taser-looking frost weapon was interesting as a way to extend Elemental Onslaught, but it wasn’t something he could use as an enchanting formulae due to its nonmagical nature. Maybe Padri could do something with it.

  What was more valuable was discovering the Octyrrum both had an entry on the Arcadian, and that it was unidentified. Neither Cloak nor Torch were present to do that at the moment, so it must have been done at some time in the past. Daniel had new thoughts on this place that had been prompted by other system messages, but not enough information to confirm them.

  “They’re all just level 1 though,” Daniel said in summary of his findings to the team. “Probably valuable, but I can make better swords myself.”

  “Why go through all the trouble to lock these up?” Shuni asked skeptically, as if there were a false back that they could remove to reveal the real treasure.

  “This place is old. Could they not enchant weapons back then?” Khiat wondered. It was a fair question, but he couldn’t see a society that had put together a teleportation network struggle to make something higher than level 1.

  “Who cares?” Tlara, the only one in the group to have received something worthwhile from this mess, commented. “Just take them and get on with it. We’re not here for this and I’m already fucking done with this place.”

  “Right, glad you brought that up.” Daniel turned away from the cabinets after taking two of each for himself. “I need an hour to enchant and then I’m going to the next rift. There’s probably another elite there. I know the last fight was rough. Shuni, I’m sorry it got that bad.”

  “Eh, happens,” the Rogue replied unconvincingly. “Honest, not sure how I feel that we’re keeping it around.”

  “I’ve got it under control,” Tlara replied suspiciously. “You want me to come, don’t you?”

  “Willow and Spinner are safe here,” Daniel pointed out. “You’ve got a strong monster that might be able to take out the other one on its own.”

  “It doesn’t work like that,” she replied dismissively. “When something’s dominated, it’s fucking dominated. It’ll only do what I say, and in case you’ve forgotten, I just got this fucking thing. To say nothing about me being rusty as Crest with using my powers on anything other than me.”

  “But if there is another elite monster, you could dominate that too as long as Willow clears it.”

  “You think you can convince me that fucking easily?”

  Daniel gave that a few seconds of thought and then nodded. “Imagine how strong you would be with a full roster of them. Find a converted Knight and you could put Wisp in it, get a perfect bodyguard for Willow.” He still wasn’t sure how he felt about using the bodies of former mortals like that, but when there were gods in the mix you couldn’t turn down any advantage as long as it wasn’t blatantly evil. Still, it was a shame they couldn’t rehabilitate the souls of those that had been taken. This will have to be good enough.

  Tlara threw a reluctant look at her sister before sighing. “Fuck. If I knew caring about family would suck this much I’d never have made that bond.”

  “You’d think someone who could say that while I’m standing right here wouldn’t have,” Willow jibed. “I take it the rest of you are all going, then?”

  Spinner jumped in at that. “Not me, Willow. Don’t worry, I’ll stay and keep you safe.” That matter settled, Daniel turned to his enchanting while the others prepared. He was mostly replenishing the smoke bombs, but also thinking about his attributes at the same time.

  The Octyrrum had only graced him with one potential following the fight with the hexscuttle stalker. He’d deserved more based on how strong it had been. While he was provided with more information than most people, Daniel didn’t get to see the exact justification and math behind each point. Could it have been reduced because the Octyrrum didn’t value killing mortals as highly as monsters, and the elite monster’s possession of class levels gave it a penalty? Or, it could have been the fact that they had only subdued it. Frankly, Khiat might have ended up soaking most of the experience due to how she’d bashed its head in with her monster of a bow, though it was hard to tell with her because she didn’t earn advancement potential.

  The fact that there were a lot of factors behind the last fight that muddied the picture wasn’t the real point. Daniel was considering where he should place his potential, or if he should at all. He was keeping one point for a rapid level up of intelligence if needed. That had been part of the reason he hadn’t shifted to Beast Mode toward the end of the fight as he’d been considering that option, though there was also the fact that he couldn’t have controlled the doors without his phone working.

  That wasn’t too big of a deal, he had two other potential he could spend, which brought him back to the age old question of which attribute. As things stood, he had a 21 to both strength and charisma that stuck out, while dexterity, endurance, and wisdom were all 24. Actually wait, Daniel thought as he reflected on those numbers, I haven’t advanced strength since I leveled up. That had been all the way back when he was sharing a body with Rorshawd and benefiting from dual advancement.

  Might be time to give it more points, but I could also use more endurance after the last fight. All this being said, Daniel didn’t have the time to agonize over it like he’d done in the past. Strength. It could be an attack power, and Beast Mode really benefits from it.

  Your Strength is now 23! You have gained Ability: Recollective Strike

  Alright it’s an attack power, but what’s that name supposed to mean?

  Recollective Strike (Ability, Strength, Spell, Domain: Enchantment, Level: 2):

  You possess the Power to call upon the history of your craft to assault your enemies. For a moderate Mana cost, summon a temporary copy of a Weapon: Melee that you have made through a Power: Crafting that independently attacks a target you Designate. Mana costs scale with the size of the weapon generated. This Effect may be sustained for a modest mana cost per second. This is a Magical Ability that does not function in an area of Magical Suppression.

  …now we’re talking.