Tiber gave a practiced salute before stepping forward in a professional manner to begin providing introductions.

  "Commander Maxwell, I am pleased to introduce the leader of the human community we have formed an alliance with: a brave and powerful young man named Lucius."

  Next, Tiber turned toward Lucius, gesturing toward Maxwell as he continued speaking.

  "Lucius, may I introduce the man whose leadership has ensured the survival of over a thousand human beings during the most dreadful emergency in the history of our species—Commander Maxwell and his draconic companion, Long."

  Commander Maxwell stepped forward with a stern expression as the dragon Long floated around Lucius’s shoulders. Whisper began complaining immediately about being left out until Lucius waved his hand and closed half of the blinds on that side of the room to allow him to safely join them. With a puff of purple smoke, Whisper emerged from the storage ring and began chasing Long around the room.

  Maxwell ignored the mythical creatures, stepping forward with his thick, wrinkled hands on his hips as he stared down at Lucius unhappily.

  "You owe me half a mythical minotaur egg, young man; don't think your sneaky maneuver went unnoticed."

  Tiber began blinking rapidly, a look of unease on his face, when Maxwell introduced such an unpleasant topic, but Lucius merely shrugged as a smile spread across his face.

  "I had just met Tiber, Garrick, and Roland. I wasn't sure how trustworthy they were yet, so I couldn't risk handing them something so valuable. Now it's too late—my friend has already bonded the creature—but I agree that what I did was not fair. Here, this can make up for your share of the minotaur spoils."

  Lucius waved his hand, and a slip of glittering silver paper appeared on the table. Maxwell's eyes narrowed as he stepped forward to lift the item, prompting the system to display its description.

  Item Upgrade Token - [Rare]

  "I didn't know you could turn Upgrade Tokens into physical objects; that is a valuable piece of knowledge in and of itself," Maxwell mumbled casually while rubbing his chin for a few seconds—the angry expression from a moment ago nowhere to be seen. After he finished scanning the paper, he casually stuffed the Upgrade Token into the front pocket of his uniform pants and reached out one hand toward Lucius.

  "Deal!"

  Tiber visibly relaxed as Lucius and Maxwell shook hands before steering the topic back to the more important issue of the pending move and the human beings still held hostage by the goblins.

  "Regardless of what you decide, I am heading toward the goblin village tonight, when my abilities are at their strongest. It would be useful if you could organize a team to follow along and retrieve any surviving humans while I am engaged in battle. Because of my unique talents and aspect, I am much more dangerous alone than when I am part of a group that I must look after, so I only want your team to focus on saving the hostages."

  Maxwell's expression turned severe as he stared at Lucius for a long moment before responding.

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  "Do you realize what you are walking into? The summoner who rules over the goblin village has broken into C-Class. His giant spider matriarch is also C-Class, and he commands hundreds of D-Class hobgoblins along with thousands of F-Class goblins and spiders. If you really want to strike a blow to the goblins, infiltrating the Anomaly that leads to their home world and cutting them off from further reinforcements would be the strongest counterattack; however, another rift summoner will eventually take the place of the one you kill. It is a losing battle—the only choice is to flee."

  Lucius’s expression remained unchanged as he listened to Maxwell’s summary of the risks, shaking his head slowly in response.

  "Let me worry about the dangers. At the very least, I can throw the village into chaos and make it more difficult for them to intercept us during the move. Plus, I refuse to leave without at least attempting to free any surviving humans remaining in the goblin village."

  Maxwell’s eyes narrowed slightly as he nodded.

  "Very well, then—I will leave you to your own devices. We intend to depart first thing in the morning, so there is much preparation that needs to be made. I will organize a small platoon of scouts to follow you toward the goblin village. We have learned from what your community has done, and managed to steal a few mounts from the goblins, I will send them along as well so the soldiers don’t slow you down too much. It was good to meet you, Lucius; I pray your mission will be a success."

  Lucius shook the old commander’s hand once more before forcing Whisper to stop harassing Long. The green and red dragon had tucked itself into a ray of sunshine in the corner as Whisper flew around the outskirts menacingly. With Lucius' words, Whisper finally relented so that the draconic creature could follow the commander out of the room.

  He spent the next few hours of the day outside getting to know some of the civilians who would soon be joining his community.

  Eventually approaching the group of children that had been playing soccer earlier, but who now appeared to have lost all motivation to continue. The kids were sitting along a concrete wall, their faces filled with sadness as they quietly stared at the distant barricade.

  Lucius picked up the soccer ball as he walked over, bouncing it on his knee a few times before setting it down on the wall near the children.

  "Hello, I saw you playing earlier. What’s got you all looking so depressed?"

  The oldest child in the group—a young, skinny girl with an abundance of freckles on her face—glanced up at Lucius slowly before casting her gaze back toward the distant barricade.

  "M-Mathew got taken by the hobgoblins. That is his soccer ball—he was the one who convinced us all to play soccer in the first place. It doesn't feel right to play anymore without him," the girl said, squeezing her crossed arms over her chest as she quietly responded.

  A deep frown spread across Lucius’ face as a heavy sigh escaped his mouth, thinking about the boy he had failed to save earlier.

  "Was Mathew about this tall, with brown hair and a number 7 on his shirt?"

  The girl nodded at Lucius’s words, casting another curious glance at him.

  "Did you know Mathew too?"

  Lucius shook his head as he did his best to offer a reassuring expression.

  "No, I only saw him once when he was being taken, but I intend to go and get him back tonight. Along with any of the other humans who have been taken in the past that are still alive."

  The children seemed to lose interest in Lucius after hearing such an outlandish statement. The freckled girl pursed her lips as she looked up at him unhappily.

  "You shouldn't tell lies just to try to cheer us up; that's not a nice thing to do."

  A tiny grin crept across Lucius’s face as he stared back at the girl, raising one eyebrow. He held out one hand in front of him. The next moment, the kids looked up in surprise as a long, black spear suddenly appeared in his hand.

  The spear began to glow with a light-blue magical glimmer as Lucius channeled Burst. An instant later, the spear extended from five to eight feet long before turning into a blur of motion as Lucius sent it digging across the ground with considerable strength.

  The children jumped to their feet, mouths agape, as a massive scar was torn into the earth right before them, with rocks and soil spraying high out into the air. They all looked up at Lucius with newfound appreciation, their depressed expressions slowly giving way to hope.

  "I don't like lies either. I'm going to go get Mathew back tonight. Keep his soccer ball safe for him."

  Lucius picked up the ball and placed it gently into the young girl's hand before walking away.