PenguinKills
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Chapter 126 - Closing Hours
🕑 Added 2024-09-03 20:00:06 +0000 UTCPicking myself up took longer than I cared to admit. It was more than just my body I had to put back together. I prepared for injuries, though, and had potions to help with that, my outburst... not so much.
Healing potions were stashed inside the keep to use and I had a few on me for emergencies. I had to keep a few stashed to make sure not all of them broke if I got pummeled a little too hard. If I kept all of them on me, like I did for the Vine Bears, there was the possibility of them breaking.
These healing potions were a bit better than normal because I anticipated needing a decently sized pick-me-up. Plus, we had plans starting not long from now that I needed to be fighting fit for.
I bought some of the more expensive materials for Conner to use and he managed to brew a batch of peak grade Common-tier healing potions out of them. They worked significantly better than the generic ones we bought from the store.
The pylons wouldn't conquer themselves and my body needed stitching back together. Ice wouldn't hold it together forever.
Still, I took a bit of extra time to get myself in order before meeting up with everyone. I wasn't sure how well they would have handled the wave but I didn't fear for their safety.
After feeling the wave for myself, I was confident that they would be fine. Jonathan and Austin together would be able to dull a lot of the force and the rest were strong enough to handle the leftovers. Only having to fight one wall worth also helped matters.
Tracy and the new group, on the other hand, would probably have casualties depending on how well they did. I suspected Tracy's group lost quite a few.
They weren't on the same level as us in terms of strength. Both in levels and experience fighting which would hurt them when it came down to it. They weren't prepared for what was going to happen.
Limping back down South gave me the answer I was looking for. 16 faces met me halfway into my journey and I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding. Even though I expected to see them, I couldn't help but hold doubts.
It was hard not to worry, even when I knew they weren't weak.
"It's good to see you," I huffed at them.
Abigail came up to me with glowing hands to start the healing, "It was as bad as we thought."
The other healers came up to add their skills to the bowl as I turned and we headed back up north.
Abigail and the other healers worked to fix me up and make me a little less holy while everyone else started walking back to our camp. It was a bit of a waste for me to turn around and walk back to where I started, but it saved time in the long run.
Giving the healers time to work through all of the wounds I had endured before we kicked our plan into motion.
"How did they fare?" I asked.
"Tracy's camp lost 22 people. The Eastern wall fared the worst and had the most deaths of the wave. Kurt, the newcomer, lost 5 defending the Southern wall."
Tracy losing that many was surprising. I knew they wouldn't handle the last wave very well but that number was still higher than I thought it would be.
"Why so many?" I questioned.
"There was some... collateral damage." She said cryptically, she looked around to make sure none of the kids were in range before continuing with a quieter voice.
"Some of the explosions and traps went off when people were still fighting at the gate. I wasn't able to see all of it, but it looked like she went scorched earth when the gates fell even though people were still there fighting."
With everything that had happened, that wasn't surprising. The type of person Tracy presented herself as in my head wasn't someone above doing something like that.
She didn't have an attachment to the people in her camp like I did. She didn't really care if they lived or died. She only cared about living through the tutorial and she got her wish.
It was a distasteful thing to do but not all that shocking. It made what I was about to do easier at least.
Tutorial End: 01:19:32:43
One of the first things we needed to do was allocate the next 44 hours. We already had plans set up but now we knew for certain how much time we had left and could draw up a timeline.
The wave and subsequent healing, along with travel time, took 4 hours giving us just under 2 days to conquer as many pylons as possible. We didn't even plan to get all 50 as that was unfeasible.
We had estimates we came up with but those were just guesses at how many we would get.
The teams were planned out and we had all prepared for the coming hours. Austin and I would go out alone together. Rachel, Jonathan, and Hal would go together. Carrie formed a team with a few other family members and the rest stayed at the camp.
They needed to watch the kids and keep hold of our camp. Abigail was one of the people who stayed behind as well to coordinate and keep track of the points coming in. We needed to buy a few last-minute things before the timer ran out and she would be able to message me if anything came up. It wouldn't do to have Tracy or Kurt try something while we were out.
I almost wanted it to happen just to have an excuse.
"You ready, buddy?" I asked to my partner for the coming days.
"Woo, can't wait!" His flatline tone and dripping sarcasm weren't enough to get him out of it. All the fighting was going to be tiring but it was something we needed to do.
"Let's go then,"
~~
We fought and fought, well past sundown and late into the night. Austin's skills were nice for being able to see without the sun and his nightlight powers were getting better. Even if he didn't like me calling them that.
We got 4 pylons before we called it a night which was a decent haul for the time we spent. Austin was slagging by the end and I wasn't much better. He didn't have the sun to give him strength and my outburst took more out of me than I thought.
The next day, we managed to get 8 more. Austin was a lot more powerful during the day and we grew more experienced with the monsters we were fighting. We understood their tactics and habits after fighting them for nearly 32 hours straight.
We didn't sleep that night, fighting throughout as we were leaving the tutorial at noon the following day. We didn't have that much time left and I wanted to squeeze every last drop of effort out of it as I could.
Throughout the night we only got 3 more before the sun came up. Both tiredness and being out of steam played a role in our stalling effort.
The sun crept along its path in the sky and it was time for me to depart. All told, Austin and I fought and conquered 19 pylons. 19 out of 50 for just the two of us wasn't that bad.
"You don't have to do this if you don't want to," Austin said, knowing I wasn't thrilled with what we had planned.
"Getting cold feet now? It was your idea." Even my half-hearted chuckle managed to sound unenthused about the course I was on.
I had tossed and turned about the idea and no matter how I thought about it, I didn't like it. Even though I didn't like it, I would do it anyway.
Tracy doing what she did eased my conscience but not enough to be comfortable with it.
"Have fun with the rest of them," my parting words said, I marched back to camp. There were a few things I needed before heading to my final destination.
Tutorial end: 00:02:03:34
The timer ticking down added to the suspense and the closing hours were upon us.
Abigail gave me a once-over as I walked into camp making sure I was fighting fit.
"How many did you get?" She asked for the number even before any healing flowed through me.
"Not even a hello? How are you doing Christopher? Oh, I'm fine, how are you?"
She gave me a flat look until I gave her the information she wanted, "We got 19."
She was unfazed by the number which hurt my feelings a little and barreled on without comment, "Jon managed to get 11 so far and they're out trying to get another before the time's up. Everything is packed and ready to go, all we have left is for you to give me your points."
Everyone was using Abigail as a bank for points so that we could get a quick total for how many we had.
On every trip to camp, Austin and I dropped our points on her and the others were doing the same. I handed over the points from the last few pylons and couldn't help but startle at the total we had managed to accumulate.
The pylons rewarded nearly a million a pop, making Austin and I rake in nearly 10 million points each from the 19 we conquered.
The others conquering 11 meant another 10 million would be added to that total.
Overall, with the points we had saved up and the haul we had managed to pull in, Abigail was most likely the richest person in the tutorial right now.
"What does that bring us to?" I knew roughly what the number was but it never hurt to hear it out loud.
"Austin hasn't been back to give me his share and Jon and them still have a pool to give me," She said dragging it out, "But, I have over 40 million right now."
"Is that enough for everyone? We need what, 11 more?"
Her nod confirmed that 11 people still needed a bloodline, "We have enough for the bloodline essence, but not enough to buy all the materials people want. Some might have to make do with a less expensive part or a lesser tier."
I mulled over that information and nodded. That sounded about right. We would be able to get everyone a bloodline but wouldn't be able to get the parts for everyone.
We hoped that they would be able to get them as prizes for the tutorial if we didn't make enough for everyone and had plans for the occasion we didn't make enough.
"Do you think she will be able to do it?" The she I was talking about was Rachel.
She had been fighting nonstop trying to get enough points for the bloodline she wanted. She got less sleep than even I did.
"I don't know." Abigail shrugged, "She hasn't been back in a while so I don't know how many she has. Jon tried to get her to slow down but she refused. I wouldn't be surprised if she passed out from exhaustion after the time is up."
At least she was persistent. We went over a few more things until the conversation ground down. The timer was ticking down and I lingered for probably longer than I should have.
"You know you don't have to do this if you don't want to," Abigail said.
I couldn't help but chuckle at that.
"What? What's funny?" She asked, confused.
"Nothing, it's just the second time I've heard that today."
With nothing left to say, I began my march down south for the last time.
Everything was packed up and everything I wanted to take with me was accounted for. I wouldn't be taking anything with me during my trip as the others would make sure everything made it back.
I didn't have a lot of things that I wanted to take but there were a few that stood out. I was wearing my armor and the only other things I wanted to keep were my tools.
The blacksmithing tools I had made were something I would take with me. I could make them again but why waste them? Plus some of the trophies I wanted to keep.
The pelt of the Vine Bear especially.
We didn't know how our stuff was going to work but we assumed anything being carried would be transported with us. We had Sam and Ashely make up a few backpacks for us to store everything in and to make it easier to carry.
Mine was already packed and ready to go.
With nothing else to delay myself with, it was time to do something less than honorable.
I'm sorry, Dad.
Comments
Alexander C Hyde
Abigail and the other healers worked to fix me up and make me a little less hol(e)y while everyone else started walking back to our camp.
Richard Brazier
Nah.. I'm in favor of somerito, although it is true that Tracy acted badly with her subordinates, the protagonist himself said that it is just an excuse and apparently the protagonist would act that way no matter how she behaves. This leaves him in a very bad position since from the reader's point of view Tracy was very cooperative and it is because of her that his family has so many survivors. I suppose that in the following chapters they will be demonizing her to make what will happen more bearable. Even with these it was an incredible tutorial.
piqs
Yeah i don't like this path to. Why make enemys?
IgnisPrimus
I don't know man, Tracy has shown she is ready to slaughter dozens for a small extra chance to survive (so fuck her). And how is it shortsighted? Is it not the exact opposite? The MC is trying to get as many resources as he can so his family can survive in the long term. The MC has also shown and said to himself that he would do almost anything for his family, so I don't see why it is so weird for him to put his family above some random people.
Dave Kemp
Also not a fan of this path. Wanted a hero and not an anti hero. Different if the family was in trouble
Chris Fox
Can't say I love this path Chris is going down
IgnisPrimus
Idk why, but your mc remind me of a young Ned stark.
Demonlord
Thanks for the nice chapter 😊 He's going to rob tracy of her points she collected from everyone? It's a bit ironic but I don't hate it...
Somerito
Also waiting for the other shoe to drop with the god controlling this tutorial. In those early chapters if seemed like there would be no survivors so I thought this wave was going to be tougher or there would be some hidden condition or challenge to screw them over. Something like falling below a minimum number of survivors or factions would trigger some ridiculous peak e grade boss.
James Faulkner
Welp here we go again. There’s no way Tracy hasn’t planned for this, I hope his family doesn’t get hurt.
Somerito
I'm a little disappointed Chris made this choice. The author has made a big deal of the influence his father had on his development as a leader and it feels like that's being thrown away for unknown marginal gains. If it was a situation where the perverse god controlling this tutorial only allowed one faction to survive I would get it. This just feels petty and shortsighted.
Bacon Sir
He's probably going to force Tracy to give up control of the faction
Maxime Cusson
He's gonna take his body with him, isn't he...
