18:00 AT, Day one | Arce Lunae, Flag Room

  Everyone has just returned from our planned scouting expedition. We basically said that everyone would go as far as they could for nine hours. Then head back a different way. Some people are still cleaning off and such, so we are waiting in the flag room for everyone to assemble.

  We managed to uncover a decent bit of the map around our castle. Of course, the arena is gigantic, so in comparison to the whole, it's barely anything. But, that can wait until we have more manpower, survey drones, etc. For now, the goal was primarily to find the first Fort, but also just to figure out what the arena is like.

  As far as we can tell, at least fifty kilometers in every direction around the castle is a massive grassland. Dotted with a few hills and the occasional tree. The grass is extremely tall, about 2.8 meters on average.

  During the rest of the expedition, I found and killed another Bisoclo. Also, Ray managed to find one and slayed it as well. Though, I hear she had quite a panic when it charged into her out of nowhere.

  Emil also managed to find another type of beast. A small lion-like creature called a Risp. Rated as a low-level, he quickly dispatched it.

  So as far as we know, there are two types of beasts that hide in the grassland. But, it would make sense that there would be more. It seems the farther we get from the castle, the more diversified the landscape gets.

  I can only imagine the crazy stuff that is at the center of the arena. Wouldn't be surprised if there is a massive immense-level dragon or something.

  That'd be a fun raid to undertake. Sneaking into an all powerful dragon’s lair to kill it. We would probably need multiple squads of people to do so. Heck, we might even need to team up with one of the other factions.

  I can only imagine the rewards would be immense for such a feat though.

  “Hey Ko, whatcha thinkin about?” Ray asks. She is super duper cute. The lighting in the flag room makes her hair look really pretty. It also is slightly tinted, so it makes her eyes look like they are glowing a bit.

  “Nothing much, just contemplating some of the cool things that we might encounter in this trial.”

  “Yeah, I can't wait to see more. We've barely scratched the surface, I can feel it. The first two trials were nothing like this.”

  “Now that you mention it, the first two trials were quite different. Each trial has been pretty unique. Which makes sense, they are meant to test all aspects of our humanity. So I think we can expect the rest to be fairly unique too.”

  Ray leans her head against my shoulder as we sit at a meeting table we put in the center of the room. I can feel a bit of her hair against my back. It's a bit ticklish, so I wouldn't be surprised if she is doing it intentionally.

  “Well, no matter what comes next. We will face it together. Right, No.1?”

  “Of course, ain't nothing we can't do, so long as we are together. So, don't try to go anywhere, No.2.”

  “Wouldnt dream of it, disappearing is your department, Mr. NEET. In the future, lets make sure to have lots of fun times. Give plenty of opportunities to lose ourselves laughing.”

  “Of course, always gotta remember the first rule.”

  “Hmm, I think we should make that rule the second one instead. Having fun is important, but I think there is something else more important.”

  “What could it possibly be?”

  “Headrubs of course.”

  I look down at my super duper cute girlfriend. She has a very cheeky smirk on her face. I think she is going to be the death of me someday. Wouldn't be surprised if that turns out to be literally the case. What a way to go that would be, a girl causes partner to laugh himself to death. It'd make net headlines for sure.

  I give her a few pats on the head. I'd love to go for full headrubs, but unfortunately it is at this time that the rest of our friends walk into the room.

  “Milords, good to see you weren't eaten by one of those Risps.”

  “Emil, that's a silly thought. They would never lose to one of those tiny things.”

  “Linda, I'm not quite sure that's a true statement. My darling Ko here might be able to manage it.”

  Everyone bursts out into laughter. Though, I wish it wasn't at my own expense. I can always see the practical use for lightening the mood a bit.

  “Alright, time to get down to business.”

  “But, Kooo. I don't wanna do business.”

  “This business likely involves explosions.”

  “Ooo, alright, sign me up for this business then!”

  I walk over to our map. Which has been updated with the newest information.

  “So, we have currently scouted a decent bit of area, considering our only method of transport is walking. In doing so we have learned two important things.

  Firstly, we have learned about the existence of beasts, and that we can hunt and slay them to earn currency. Plus have fun of course.

  Secondly, Emil here managed to discover the location of the first fort. It seems to be about twenty klicks north of Arce Lunae. From the intel we have gathered, it seems to be minimally garrisoned.”

  I pulled up a few of the pictures and diagrams that Emil made. It's a pretty basic fort, obviously intended as a practice target to get us into the whole sieging thing. The IEC may be somewhat mysterious at times, but they sure know how to design a game.

  “However, there is one key point of concern. As you can see, mounted at the top of the fortress is a massive hellfire cannon. If you are unfamiliar with the weapon, as I presume you all are.”

  Ray rudely interrupts me with one of those *cough* ‘nerd’ *cough* series. Which gets even me giving a bit of a chuckle.

  “Okay, back on topic, the hellfire cannon is basically a giant, long range, explosive shotgun. Basically, the exact enemy of any army composed entirely of infantry, as ours is.” Linda raises her hand very politely. Like we are in some school classroom. “Yes, what is it, Linda?”

  “So, it seems this thing will completely deny all advances we try to make. So how are we going to get past it?”

  “Well, very simply. We are going to use a decoy to bait its first shot while we sneak through the grass and breach the walls.” A collective groan goes through the crowd at the idea of a decoy. Which makes sense, I don't think anyone is eager to try out the respawn feature.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “Wait, don't worry. None of us will be the decoy!” Everyone gives a collective sigh. “Instead of one of us, we are going to lure a beast to act as our decoy. I'm thinking a Bisoclo will do the trick, though we should be careful of its horns.” Once again, the group gives a collective groan. Guess people aren't that excited about Bisoclo wrangling either. I don't know why, it sounds like so much fun.

  Rigar:”On the topic of beasts, should we turn in the trophies? Perhaps we will be able to purchase something of use.”

  “Good idea, big fella. So, Ko, how do we do that?”

  Moments after she asks, a screen appears in my vision, and the others’ too, I presume. It says ‘trophies can be deposited at the flag holder.’

  “Woah, did you all just get that too? Wait, is it.. Alive?”

  Linda:”This is kinda creepy. Like, is it watching us?”

  “You are aware that we are being watched by the entire universe right now, right? Plus, aren't you like an Elvan? Don't you guys basically live within other living beings and stuff.”

  “Ooo, good burn Ko. I guess she is like a plant lady. The plant lady!”

  Linda seems to get a bit flustered at our teasing. She tries to say something but can't seem to get the words out.

  Emil:”Why don't we go deposit the trophies now?” Emil saves Linda from her embarrassment by quickly changing the topic. Smart guy he is, real princely.

  We walk over to the flag holder and a screen appears asking if we wish to deposit our trophies. Of course, we all do. They disappear from our inventory screens and we each get a notification.

  ‘Kovon Ducker Deposited 2 Minor Bisoclo trophies, worth 6 Ti.

  Rayleigh Inan Deposited 1 Bisoclo trophy, worth 8 Ti.

  Emil ao Aethos Deposited 1 Juvenile Risp, worth 2 Ti.’

  “Wait, why does mine say Bisoclo but yours says Minor? Did I defeat one stronger than yours? Hah, take that, worthless NEET.”

  “Its not a competition. But it does seem yours was stronger. I wish we had some sort of index for information.”

  Not even half a second after I say this, one of the icons on my bar glows, it's a book icon. I open it, and there appears a list of beasts that have been defeated and trophies deposited.

  “This is cool! Did you guys unlock the thingy too?” Everyone nods in agreement.

  That's cool, it seems like there is some sort of shared progression between us. At least when it comes to information. Which makes sense, since we are supposed to be an army.

  “According to this index, Minor Bisoclo are rated at a high-medium-level. Whereas normal Bisoclo are rated at a high-level. That means it must've been much stronger. Geez, now I feel bad for laughing at you getting all scared.”

  “I did not get scared!”

  Rigar:”You do realize the comms were on and we could hear your screams of terror, right?”

  Ray looks absolutely murderous. But, she seems to have a moment of rationality and realize she can't hope to fight Rigar. They do still possess a lot more experience than probably everyone in this room combined, multiplied by a few dozen. Even though we are supposedly at the same level physically, experience and knowledge likely makes them far stronger.

  Linda:”So, what's with this ‘Ti’ that it said we earned?”

  “Well, I suppose that's what the currency is called.”

  The screen appears again, this time it says ‘Yes, there are three types of currency. Ti, Ri and one that is still a secret. The contestants have now unlocked access to the market tab.”

  Surely enough, yet another icon has been added to our bar. This time, it looks like a coin. I open it up and am presented with a hilariously game-like shop. There is even a cat that is peeking its head out the side of the window, with a speech bubble saying ‘estimated time of delivery to current location: 5 minutes.’ It's honestly hilarious and I break into a fit of laughter.

  A few seconds later, Ray does the same. Presumably having just opened the shop as well.

  The delivery time thing is interesting, perhaps the farther we are from a control point, the longer it will take? To prevent us from buying stuff and having it delivered straight to a battlefield I suppose.

  Hilarious cat aside, the menu has some quite interesting things.

  There are a couple tabs; Weapons & Armor, Vehicles, Ammunition, Information, Gadgets. In addition, there are grayed out currency exchange, manpower and commendations tabs.

  When I look at the currency exchange tab, the cat’s bubble changes to say: ‘Currency Exchange for Ti and Ri will unlock once you have defeated your first legend. Manpower and commendations will also be unlocked at that point.’

  So, it appears we have to defeat a legendary creature before we get access to more manpower. Plus whatever commendations are. It seems even The Gamekeeper’s long speech left out an insane amount of details. I can't imagine just how many more ‘surprises’ are in store for us. If the basics were that long, I feel like there is a lot more to come.

  “Hey Ko, this system is alive, isn't it?”

  “Yep, it seems to be some form of AI. Or perhaps it's a bunch of people, though that seems unlikely.”

  “Yeah, it's kinda cool. Now, what's this about Ri, and commendation stuff?”

  “With my limited experience, I would guess that defeating legends would give us Ri, which can be used to acquire manpower. Plus we might be able to convert Ti, which we get from normal slaying and forts into Ri. Commendations are likely related to that third secret currency. Perhaps we also get that from legends?”

  “Ohmygosh, this is so much information. How are we supposed to remember all this?”

  “Dont worry, I've got it all stored in this big noggin of mine.”

  “I guess so. It is a very cute noggin too.” Ray says, then she leans over and gives me a kiss on the forehead.

  “Alright comrades, how about we go wrangle us some Bisoclo?”

  20:00 AT, Day one | Grasslands near First Fort

  “Alright fellas, do yall know the plan?” Ray asks. She for some reason is wearing a cowboy hat and speaking in a olden accent. She looks super cute, so I can't complain. I wonder if I should ask her to dress up in certain clothes sometimes. That could be fun.

  Though, she might try to make me wear a dress in exchange. Which I'd rather not do if I'm not about to die.

  Nothing against dresses, I just don't think they are very practical, and I'm a practical sort of guy. Of course, if it makes my girlfriend look super cute, a little practicality could be lost in a fair exchange…

  Also, we made our first purchase using the market.

  Three ATV-like vehicles. Though, rather than wheels, they have tank treads. We got them at a discount, three for the price of two and a half, so practically a steal! We also bought something that I will keep as a surprise, we got three for a single tiny purchase! We could get a few other things. But, for now, we've gotta do some Wrangling of Bisoclo.

  Ray and I are currently doubled up, as are Emil and Linda. Rigar is so big that they needed one all to themselves.

  We are rolling across the plains, through the dense grass.

  A gigantic guy with squidlike tentacles for a mouth, with a large warhammer on their back.

  An Elvan with a fairly large antimaterial over her shoulder. Looking quite terrified and clinging onto an angelic guy with a katana at his waist, like she is about to fly off into space or something.

  Of course, there is also a super cute girl (wearing a cowboy hat) holding the waist of a worthless NEET and big jerk.

  I can only imagine how much the audience on the net is laughing at such a sight.

  If that isn't enough to crack them up, our goal sure is.

  After all, we are going to herd a Bisoclo into the firing range of the Fort’s hellfire cannon to act as a decoy. Then we are going to sneak in while it's recharging its shot.

  Emil, who is holding a pair of binoculars, speaks a set of very good words. “Milords, I have spotted our target, sending you the heading.”

  “Great work, Emil. You’re shaping up to be a great scout. Have you ever tried to work in intelligence?”

  “I did spend a semester of university interning in the Intelligence corps. Perhaps I picked up a few tricks during my time there.”

  “Sure seems like it. Do be sure to put them to good use.”

  “As you wish, Milord.”

  “Alright troops, you know the drill. Spook that Bisoclo and make it run straight into a wall of fiery hell.”

  After a few minutes, we reached Bisoclo. It appears to be a normal-class one. Shame we won't get the decent price on its head. But presumably, the fort will give us far more value than a single trophy.

  “Yee-haw! Rear your engines, fellas! Time to give the old girl a real spook.” I think Ray is enjoying this dialect change far too much. It's kinda cute, but I prefer her normal speech far more. Hopefully she goes back soon.

  “Milord, it appears that Bisoclo has sensed us and decided we are a threat. It is now running in the direction of the fort.”

  “Good work, comrades. Now, let's go siege a fort, shall we?”

  Wow, this is shaping out to be a ridiculously eventful day. So much information, surprises, and even more hints at future surprises. I'm sure there is plenty more to come. But, no matter what comes next, Ray and I will overcome it, together. So, bring it on.

  End of Chapter 84

  Next: Chapter 85 | Fort Ridere